Daniel 11:5-30 “The Jewel of Contentment”

Beginning with verse 5, the angel tells Daniel about the period of time from the death of Alexander the Great until Israel’s arch-villain Antiochus Epiphanes. The prophecy covers a period of about 150 years. As the angel told Daniel in verse 4, upon his death, Alexander’s kingdom was divided “to the four winds.” It was split up between his four generals. Of particular interest to the Jewish people and to Bible history were the ones the angel calls “the kings of the north” and “the kings of the south.” As was often the case, the land of Israel ended up in the cross-fire between those kings all through that 150-some year period.

As I’ve observed before, this prophecy is so intricately detailed and historically accurate, the scoffers have no choice but to say it had to be written after the fact. If anyone wants to trace it from verse to verse, there are many, many books written which provide that information. Personally, I am finding it of more value to step back and see what I can learn from the prophecy as a whole.

What we’re reading about is 150 years of endless war and murder. That should come as no surprise as that is business of kings – war and murder. Amongst us peasants, there is the general idea that it would be great to be a king. We see their wealth and power and long to live in a palace “like them.” That same perception extends to everyone who is “rich and powerful,” including professional athletes, Hollywood actors and actresses, corporate CEOs, politicians, and the like.

What we all fail to realize is what their lives are really like. Paul warned us in I Timothy 6:9,10, “People who want to get rich fall into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. [They] pierce themselves through with many sorrows.” The problem with being rich and powerful is that everyone else wants your wealth and power. If you want to keep it, in this world, you’ll have to fight to keep it. To be rich and powerful is to enter into a lifestyle consumed with the fighting to keep the wealth and power you’ve gathered.

It means living behind walls and having to maintain 24-hour security. It means living in a world where you can’t trust anyone, even your own family, as they connive and scheme to get your wealth and power for themselves. In today’s world, it means being photographed everywhere you go and everything you do, then having it all manipulated into news and magazine stories fabricated by journalists with no regard for truth. Why do kings need armies to begin with? Is it not to either protect them from everyone else who wants what they have, or to go and take what belongs to someone else? That’s what armies do.

As you read through Daniel 11:5-30, that is all you see – wars and murder. Add to that the intrigues and deceit, with much of it rising from their own family members as everyone vies for power. Verse 27, for instance says, “The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other.” Even Israel’s history of their kings became the same story, as we see it in David’s family with Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah.

So what can you and I learn from all of this? As Paul said in that same passage in I Timothy 6, “But godliness with contentment is great gain…If we have food and clothing, let us be content with that” (vv.6-8). Contentment. Let Daniel 11 remind us all what a jewel contentment is. I am not rich and I’m certainly not powerful, but I also don’t have to live behind a wall! Joseph Sutcliffe (ca. 1820) noted here in Daniel all the endless strife and murder and wrote: “Happy the cottager, dwelling on mount Caucasus, milking his goats, and living for a hundred years.” What he is saying is it is better to be a poor farmer than a king in his palace!

I am very thankful for my family. I grew up in a world where we were anything but rich and powerful, yet my parents and grandparents were always very content people. We were quite aware there were “rich” people around us, but there was never even the slightest expression of discontent with the world in which we lived. Contentment was simply our way of life. On both sides of my family, both the Bixbys and the Nevins, everyone just worked very hard and found some way to get by from day to day. We did not ever even think about being envious of the rich, or long to be like them. Of course, as a child and growing up, I had no idea what a blessing it was to grow up in a world of contentment.

When I took my job at Chamlin, my total salary/benefits package went to nearly three times what it had been for years. When that happened, looking back now, I realize that Joan and I didn’t change our lifestyle at all. It never even occurred to us that we could buy a big expensive house or two new cars. We just went on living the same way we always have. The result was that we actually had a nice amount of “extra,” which did take away the awful, constant worry of how we’d pay the bills. It also allowed us to be generous with others who were in need.

When we’d leave for a vacation, we used to laugh that we didn’t need to worry about the house while we were gone. There was nothing worth stealing! We might not live in a palace, but neither did we have to worry about it when we were gone! As the Bible says, “The sleep of a working man is sweet, but the wealth of the rich permits them no rest” (Eccl. 5:12).

James tells us that God “has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith” (2:5). Why is that? We need go no further than Jesus’ parable of the sower and his seed. What did He say? “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the Word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Matt. 13:22). To live a life of contentment is one thing that actually protects us from being spiritually deaf!

One thing we should insert here is that the Lord does choose some people to be rich and powerful. Back in I Timothy, Paul doesn’t say the rich should make themselves poor. He says, “Command those who are rich not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God...Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share” (6:17,18). Obviously, there are some people who can actually handle wealth and power. Let us not despise them for that wealth and power.

We need someone to run the companies and provide us with jobs. We need people to serve in the government. We need people in all kinds of leadership positions. Someone has to be the king, though it will mean they live in that world of constant battle. Us peasants are to pray “for kings and all those in authority,” and why is that? “That we may live peaceful, quiet lives” (I Tim, 2:2). Rather than envying their position, we should be thankful that they are willing to live in that world of endless fighting – specifically because it allows us to live peaceful, quiet lives.

That is precisely what the Lord desires for the vast majority of human beings. He says in II Thes. 4:11 to “Make it your ambition to live a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands.” Rather than envying people of wealth and power, we should pray for them and then just be content to live our own “peaceful, quiet” lives.

Daniel 11 must have been quite a comfort to the Jews who lived through that awful period of 150-some years. Every step of the way, they could have seen that, obviously, the Lord is still quite in charge, even though their world was in constant convulsions. That, of course is another lesson we could learn from stepping back and considering this prophecy as a whole. However, may you and I let it open our eyes to see the old adage, “All that glitters isn’t gold!” It is actually a great blessing that you and I are not rich! The Lord has very kindly withheld power and riches from us, precisely to protect us from the miseries that attend that lifestyle.

Contentment is a precious jewel. Jesus reminded us, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). We all can today thank God not only for what He has given us, but also for what He has withheld! May Daniel 11 remind us of exactly this truth!

 

Daniel 11:1-4 “Observations”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, [was] standing to strengthen and to [be] a protection for him. ²And now I will tell to you truth: Behold! Yet [there will be] three kings standing to Persia and [the] fourth will be far richer from all and according to his strength in his riches, he will rouse up all of the kingdoms of Greece. ³And a mighty king will stand and he will rule from great rule and he will do according to his pleasure. ⁴And when he stands, his kingdom will be broken up and it will be divided to the four of the winds of the heavens and not to his descendants and not according to his rule which he ruled, because his kingdom will be rooted up and [it will be given] to others separate from them.

Before I leave these first four verses, there are a few “for whatever it’s worth” observations I’d like to record. First of all, I am once again fascinated to observe an angel and realize just how much they are like us. Note in my translation above, I underlined the angel’s “And I…” Note he is an I. He is a real person with his own individual identity. We all refer to ourselves as “I.” So do angels. Note he says it was in the first year of Darius the Mede. He is aware of the passing of time and he knows this other person named Darius the Mede.

This specific angel was given the job of strengthening and protecting Darius. After the Lord created Adam, one of the first things it says was the Lord put him “in the garden to keep it and to till it.” The Lord gave him a job to do. He assigns jobs to us and to angels. Then the angel says to Daniel, “And now I will tell you the truth.” Have you ever looked in someone else’s eyes and said, “I need to tell you the truth”? Pause for a second and remember how personal that was between you. You see, angels do that too.

It never ceases to amaze me to realize just how much they really are our brothers. They are real, personal, intelligent beings who, though we can’t see them (yet), are quite present and quite active. What a thrill it will be to finally get to heaven and actually meet them all, especially the ones who were assigned to us and have been there all along “strengthening” us and “being a protection to us.” I’m quite sure they’ll have some amazing stories to tell – and they’ll be our brothers (whom we then can see) forever and ever! Like us in so many ways, yet very different creatures from us.

The second thing I want to note is how, although prophecies may be very specific, yet they still always possess a cryptic element before they occur. For example, the angel is telling Daniel about the coming kings of Persia and the one who will stir up the kingdoms of Greece. Then he says, “A mighty king will arise…” As we go on to read the description, it is crystal clear now he’s talking about Alexander the Great. Note the angel never said he’d be the first king of Greece. We only know that now because the prophecy has been fulfilled. If you go back and read verses 3 and 4, you’ll realize everything the angel said is, in a sense, quite cryptic. It is today intuitively obvious only because it is already fulfilled. I’m quite sure, even as Daniel wrote it down, he probably puzzled over it and wondered, “What on earth does that mean?”

My observation would be that perhaps we should always allow in prophecy this cryptic element. Although we should study prophecy and we should strive to understand as much as we can, yet we need to allow for an element of “What on earth does that mean?” and not feel we have to explain every detail. When it comes to prophecy, I identify closer to Dispensationalists than I do to Reformed theologians. The Reformed guys tend to just throw up their hands as if we can’t understand much of it at all. On the other hand, I fear sometimes Dispensationalists go too far assigning their interpretations of prophecy. For instance, they divide themselves up into the camps of “Pre-Trib” and “Mid-Trib” and “Post-Trib,” then act like anyone who disagrees with them is a heretic.

I guess I’m just suggesting, if we allow for this cryptic element in prophecy, we’d do well to be a little more humble and admit that, no matter how much we study, there will always remain that cryptic element, until they are fulfilled. As Jesus said to His disciples, “I have told you these things beforehand, so that, when they occur, you will believe…” (John 14:29). Note the “when they occur…” Prophecy itself calls for very diligent study – but humble interpretations.

The last thing I want to observe, and I’ll try to be brief, is to realize how much this chapter ties back to pretty much all of the prophecies which Daniel has recorded ahead of this. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (chapter 2), Babylon was the head of gold. Daniel himself saw as that kingdom was replaced by Medo-Persia, the chest and arms of silver. Now in the very first year of that kingdom’s rule, what the angel is telling him about is the thighs of bronze which another angel tells him later would be the kingdom of Greece.

In chapter 7, Babylon was the lion with wings, while Medo-Persia was the bear raised up on one side, and Greece was the leopard with four wings and four heads. Then in chapter 8, Persia is the ram with two horns and Greece is the shaggy goat with one prominent horn which “crosses the whole earth without touching the ground.” As we’ve noted earlier, what has happened is that the prophecies have grown more and more detailed until we arrive here in chapter 11 and what becomes an extremely specific one. I would myself even observe this chapter as shockingly detailed and accurate. Once again, it is, in fact, so detailed and accurate, the scoffers are left with no choice but to claim it had to be written after the fact.

So fascinating. So much to learn. Love it all!

 

Daniel 11:1-4 “Truth”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, [was] standing to strengthen and to [be] a protection for him. ²And now I will tell to you truth: Behold! Yet [there will be] three kings standing to Persia and [the] fourth will be far richer from all and according to his strength in his riches, he will rouse up all of the kingdoms of Greece. ³And a mighty king will stand and he will rule from great rule and he will do according to his pleasure. ⁴And when he stands, his kingdom will be broken up and it will be divided to the four of the winds of the heavens and not to his descendants and not according to his rule which he ruled, because his kingdom will be rooted up and [it will be given] to others separate from them.

In verse 2, it is interesting that the angel says to Daniel, “And now I will tell you the truth.” We live today in this crazy world that wants to tell us there is no “truth,” that “truth” is whatever you want it to be. To anyone with even half a brain, that statement has always been ludicrous. If you step out a seventh floor window, you can believe all you want to that you won’t die. When you hit the sidewalk below at about 90 MPH, you’ll find out (too late) that “truth” is a very stubborn thing. Of course there is “truth.” Angels know there is “truth.” Daniel knows there is “truth.” Wise people know there is “truth.” Only literal, Biblical fools refuse to acknowledge “truth.”

Jesus said, “And when you know the truth, the truth shall set you free!” “Truth” is exactly why we all need so desperately to study the Bible. We need to know the truth. I will soon turn 68 years old. At this end of life, I will say emphatically that life is, in general, a very confusing mess. We are constantly faced with that old, old question, “What should I do?” Even at my age, I would still say about 95% of the  time, I really don’t know “what to do.” Life is bewildering. People are bewildering. I am bewildering!

Yet, at the same time, I am amazed at how much peace I enjoy knowing what really is the truth. As the old song says,

“Many things about tomorrow,

I don't seem to understand;

But I know who holds tomorrow;

And I know who holds my hand.”

“I know.” Are those not wonderful words? I know that God is good. I know He’s working all things together for good. I know He’ll never give me more than I can bear. I know that Jesus died for me. I know that “Whosoever will may come.” I know that, no matter what, the Lord wants me to love Him and love people. Even when I feel I have no idea how to respond to another person, at least I know God wants me to love them. I may not know how, but I know that’s my charge, and so I shoot up prayers, and He always helps me.

That simple “I know” is an enormous well of peace. And where do we get it from? The Bible. To know more Bible is to know more peace. And so we study on. His truth does, in fact, set us free! And so we study on. This angel knows there is truth. He’s telling Daniel the truth. Daniel listens. You and I should too!

This truth the angel tells Daniel concerns world events which reach out far beyond the earthly life of our elderly friend. This vision is being given to Daniel “in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia.” If we can believe ancient timelines, that would put us around 536 BC. In just these first four verses, this prophecy reaches out to the time of Alexander the Great, who conquered Persia in about 332 BC. Daniel, now somewhere around 90 years of age, is immediately learning of events which will occur 200 years after he is dead and gone. In a sense, this truth isn’t really for Daniel. He’ll watch it all happen from heaven. He is writing it down for people who will live long after him.

In fact, Daniel’s prophecies cover all of human history clear into eternity! It’s crazy to think that, since his days, there has never been one minute where the human race didn’t need to be studying and understanding what he wrote! Our world is not spinning wildly out of control, even though it sure seems like it. No. For those of us who do read and study and believe our Bibles, Daniel’s prophecies assure us the Lord is quite in control. As others have said, “History is His story!”

So let’s take brief look at the truth the angel tells Daniel. He says there will be four more kings in Persia, with the fourth being fabulously rich and his reign marked by some kind of massive campaign against Greece. In fact, that fourth king is probably the Ahaseurus (or Xerxes) who was Esther’s husband, whose wealth is related in the first chapter of her book. I don’t put a lot of stock in ancient timelines or “facts,” yet there is apparently plenty of evidence to “prove” there was in fact a Persian king who mounted a massive campaign against Greece.

Then we learn of a mighty king who will appear, who will “do as he pleases,” yet no sooner than he stands, His kingdom will be broken up into four. In spite of his greatness, none of those four kingdoms will be ruled by any of his descendants, and none of the four will be as great as his. Those events are so precisely true of Alexander the Great, once again, scoffers can only assert the prophecy had to be written after the fact.

The rest of this chapter 11 will go on to relate intricate details of those four kingdoms and all the intrigues and warfare which ensue. Back then, for anyone who studied their Bible, they could have traced the history of the world even as it unfolded before them. You and I have not only Daniel’s writings but also all the prophets, the words of Jesus Himself, and everything else right down to John and the book of Revelation. We know what is happening and what will happen, if we know our Bibles. Just like this angel, we can know the truth.

Just like Daniel back then, as we read and understand prophecy, for the most part we have to admit it is downright scary. What Daniel recorded in this chapter 11 and what John records in the book of Revelation is a very scary world where most of the time, it looks like evil is winning. Yet, because we have the truth, all along the way we can live in the peaceful confidence that our Lord is quite in control.

Let us then study His truth and let it “set us free!”

Daniel 11:1-4 “Thankful”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, [was] standing to strengthen and to [be] a protection for him. ²And now I will tell you: Behold! Yet [there will be] three kings standing to Persia and [the] fourth will be far richer from all and according to his strength in his riches, he will rouse up all of the kingdoms of Greece. ³And a mighty king will stand and he will rule from great rule and he will do according to his pleasure. ⁴And when he stands, his kingdom will be broken up and it will be divided to the four of the winds of the heavens and not to his descendants and not according to his rule which he ruled, because his kingdom will be rooted up and [it will be given] to others separate from them.

This is quite a chapter before us. It reminds me a lot of the book of Revelation. I say that because it is so detailed. Ever since Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of the statue in chapter 2, Daniel’s prophecies have been getting more and more detailed and more and more specific. However, there was never before anything like this chapter. It is so intricately detailed and so historically accurate, scoffers can do nothing but say it had to be written after the fact. To a large extent, such is the book of Revelation. It is not just a chapter, but an entire book of such detailed prophecies that, for those alive at the time, they will be constantly seeing the Sovereign hand of God in the events of their world as one by one its prophecies are precisely and accurately fulfilled before their very eyes.

It is just one more testament to the kindness of God that, before horrific times, He would give His people such a detailed prophecy. It gives them the peace of knowing, while their world convulses around them, yet our great God knew it all beforehand and rules over it. That certainly would have been true in the five hundred or so years from Daniel’s day until the coming of Jesus, and it will be true during “the Day of Jacob’s trouble,” those horrible last seven years – the Great Tribulation – the “Seventieth Week of Daniel” as predicted for us by John in the book of Revelation. As I have often said, that book is, in essence, Daniel Vol. II! Daniel’s chapter 11 and John’s book of Revelation are both gifts to believers “that we might understand the times and know what God’s people ought to do.”

On the other hand, I believe it worthwhile to note here that this chapter is a continuation of chapter 10. All of chapters 10-12 are recording Daniel’s vision by the Tigris River. In fact, this chapter 11 is the main content of the message which the angel is bringing to Daniel, while chapters 10 and 12 relate for us the events and discussions before and after.

We begin with the angel telling Daniel, “And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, [was] standing to strengthen and to [be] a protection for him.” Ignoring the chapter division, people debate whether the “him” is referring to Darius or back to Michael in the last verse of chapter 10. Personally, I am confident the angel is talking about Darius, not Michael. Back in 10:13, it was this angel who needed Michael’s help to stand against the prince of Persia. Michael is an archangel. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think Michael needs our angel’s protection. Darius certainly does!

It is good to pause here and think about what we learn. Why does Darius need strengthening and protection? He may think he has earthly enemies, but he has no idea there is a powerful demon, this “prince of Persia,” determined to use him for great evil and ultimately to kill him and drag him down to hell. Like us, all Darius can see is this world of men around him. He has no idea there is a cosmic spiritual battle swirling around him. What’s worse is, he doesn’t even realize he’s on the wrong side! He not only needs protection from this demon, he needs protection from himself!

Are you and I any different? I may not have the likes of this prince of Persia assigned to destroy me and my family, but we can be quite sure the devil has (at least) one demon assigned to do exactly that. In fact, this is precisely why the Lord warns us, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). If we would for a minute realize the enormity of the danger we’re in, we’d understand just how important is Hebrews 1:14: “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” As important as it may be to know they are there, protecting us from all kinds of harm – only the Lord knows how many times they’ve protected us from demons! Surely for each of us, the words of an angel are written somewhere in heaven: “And in the first year of  (your name or mine) , I took my stand to support and protect him/her.” Only in heaven will we truly know just how much good the Lord’s angels have done us, but let us more and more (by faith) appreciate them here.

I’ve said this before, but I truly wonder if part of the secret to Daniel’s faith was that he saw this. He was allowed to see into that spirit world, and how did it affect him? It drove him to prayer! It drew him closer to the Lord. And what a glorious gift that he wrote down some of what he saw – so you and I could read his words and “see” (by faith) what he saw. I honestly feel that is exactly the effect he has had on me. He has truly helped me to “see” the great cosmic battle of that spirit world around me, and it has had the same effect on me – to drive me to prayer and make me love the Lord all the more. I am eternally grateful to our good friend Daniel and all he and his three friends have taught me!

Romans 11:25-36 “Lost in Wonder”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁵For, brothers, I am not wishing you to be ignorant of the mystery in order that you might not be thinking [too highly] of yourselves, that a hardening in part has happened to Israel until that the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, ²⁶And thus all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, “A deliverer will come out of Zion, [and] He will take away godlessness from Jacob, ²⁷and this [is] the covenant from Me to them, when I take away their sins.” ²⁸On the one hand, [they are] enemies to you (s.) with respect to the Gospel, but on the other hand, beloved ones to the fathers according to election, ²⁹for the gifts and the calling of God [are] unchanging. ³⁰For, just as you (pl.) were once disobedient to God but now you (pl.) have received mercy to the disobedience of these, ³¹thus also these are now disobedient to the mercy of you (s.), in order that they might also receive mercy. ³²For God has bound together the all into disobedience, in order that He might have mercy on them all.

 ³³Oh, the depth of [the] riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable [are] His judgments and His ways beyond searching out! ³⁴For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor or ³⁵who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? ³⁶Because from Him and through Him and to Him [are] all things. To Him [be] the glory into the ages. Amen.

 Oh, my. I keep expressing that I feel this chapter is delving too deeply into the eternal counsels of God. This last section from v. 25 to 31 has done me in. I keep saying it all makes me want to throw up my hands and admit it’s just too much for my feeble brain. Yup. That’s where I am. Once again, I could go through and try to comment on each individual verse, but I don’t care to even attempt that. Clearly, Paul wants us Gentiles to respect and appreciate the Jewish people, to be assured the Lord still has a glorious future planned for them. However, beyond that, I need to just wrap up this study and walk away with whatever few crumbs of truth have “fallen from the children’s table.”

It actually encourages me to note that, having said it all, what is Paul’s response? “Oh the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God, for His judgments are unsearchable and His ways past finding out!” Now that I understand! Even Paul is essentially throwing up his hands. And if one of the most brilliant theologians that ever lived says that, then I guess I’m in good company!

I suppose that is the main thing I’ve learned from Romans 9-11. Although the Gospel is simple enough for a child to understand, yet it defies the greatest theological mind to plumb its depths. People have argued endlessly over the centuries trying to understand this balance between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, this business of predestination and election standing beside man’s total responsibility, this business of God saying, “I will have mercy on whom I’ll have mercy, and the rest I’ll harden,” compared to Jesus saying, “Whosoever will may come!”

How do we make sense of it all? I actually think the answer is, we simply don’t. As we learn in Deut. 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things which have been revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” Personally, I’m happy to just leave it there. No, I don’t understand it all. Of course I don’t. As I projected back in 9:1, we’re talking about God. We’re talking about the infinite God who inhabits eternity, who exists in a timeless Now, who is our Creator and the Creator of all we know and see, who created time and space for us to live in, while He Himself exists entirely above it all. He is Yahveh, the eternal I AM. He has, in fact, revealed much to us and it behooves us all to be active students of those words. However, there is a point where we need to be humble enough to admit we do not and cannot understand it all.

At some point, we need to set aside our studies and just look up in rapturous wonder at this God who is far above us. At some point, we just stop and say,

³³Oh, the depth of [the] riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable [are] His judgments and His ways beyond searching out! ³⁴For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor or ³⁵who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? ³⁶Because from Him and through Him and to Him [are] all things. To Him [be] the glory into the ages. Amen.

Romans 11:17-24 “Belief and Unbelief”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in [among] them and became a joint partner of the root of the fatness of the olive tree, ¹⁸do not boast over the branches, but if you boast, [you must realize that] you do not support the root, but the root [supports] you. ¹⁹Therefore, you will say, “Branches were broken off in order that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰Granted. They were broken off in unbelief, but you stand in faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear. ²¹For, if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. ²²Therefore, behold the kindness and severity of God – on the one hand, severity on ones falling, on the other hand, the kindness of God upon you, if you continue in the kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off. ²³And they also will be grafted in, if they are not remaining in unbelief, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴For, if you were cut out of a naturally wild olive tree and grafted into a cultivated olive tree against nature, how much more will these according to nature be grafted into their own olive tree?

Hmmmm.

This passage of Romans 9-11 has been one of the most difficult studies I think I’ve ever engaged in. I am glad I’m studying it, as it is Scripture and I’m sure, in some way, it is feeding my soul. However, I’m constantly barraged with this sense that it is simply more than I can comprehend. Perhaps I’ll understand more, if I live long enough to ever come back and study it again. However, I kind of doubt it. Once again, my sense is that this is simply delving too deeply into the eternal counsels of God.

So…having studied through it the best I could, I’ll try to record a few observations, then move on in the awe of God’s incomprehensible and infinite wisdom.

Clearly, Paul wants us to understand this strange new relationship between the Jews and us Gentiles. He compares us to wild olive branches and the Jews to the branches of a cultivated olive tree. Both are fed by “the root.” There is a lot of discussion of what exactly is “the root” which supports both. My two cents would be to say it is the Abrahamic Covenant, wherein the Lord promised to Abraham that his descendants would be “His people,” but also that the whole world would be blessed through him (Gen. 12:2,3).

As Paul says in Ephesians 2:11-22, we Gentiles were once “strangers to the covenants of promise,” “...but now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once afar off have been made near by the blood of Christ.” In that passage, he goes on to say, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and member’s of God’s household.”

So, specifically, the way in which Abraham blessed “the whole world” was through his descendant Jesus, who, by His Cross, threw open the doors of salvation to us Gentiles. What is of particular interest to me in this passage is to be reminded how we plugged into this blessing. There in Ephesians 2, we are told “By grace you have been saved through faith…” (v.8). Here in Romans 11, Paul urges us to realize the difference between our “acceptance” and the Jews’ “rejection” is this simple matter of belief or unbelief.

Though the Jews are all Abraham’s descendants and form nationally “the people of God,” yet for any one of them to actually enter into the blessing required their own personal faith, their own personal belief in God and His promises. Over the centuries, they developed the arrogant conception that they were naturally the objects of God’s favor, just because they were Jews.

Over those centuries, the Lord warned them again and again that their sins would be judged until finally they murdered their own Messiah and He “rejected them” as His people and turned to us Gentiles. However, notice here in Romans 11, the issue is not whether we sin or not. The issue is belief and unbelief.

I don’t know that I’ve ever thought through this before, but I believe this passage would remind us that, in a sense, it isn’t our sins that get us in trouble with God. Those sins are actually arising from another far more poisonous “root” which is unbelief. Of course sins are bad, but their consideration can devolve into a very cold, impersonal approach to God. We can say, “Here are the Ten Commandments. How am I doing? I’ve either obeyed them or not.” Check, check, check. What’s missing? God. On the other hand, what if we probe our hearts and ask ourselves, “Am I believing God or not?” Does that not immediately draw us into our relationship with Him?

This question of belief or unbelief calls us to seriously consider the question, “Do I trust God or not?” Why do I sin? Is it not, at its deepest root, an expression of unbelief? Is it not a personal affront to God, specifically because what moves us to sin is in some way doubting Him? That question is not something cold or impersonal. It is very personal.

That helps me. Here, even in this passage, we could reduce this matter of belief or unbelief to the simple question of whether I’ve been saved or not – whether I have actually experienced saving faith or not. However, is it not far better to see this as a matter of my entire life? I am very thankful that the Lord saved me and gave me the understanding and the grace to trust Jesus for my eternal salvation. That is a wonderful thing. However, that should only be a beginning. In a sense, the rest of my life here on earth is a journey of truly learning to trust God – all day, every day, in every situation. That very personal relationship of trust is the thing that matters. That, according to our passage is what makes the difference.

That is all a very personal matter for you and me to consider. In the larger scheme of things, Paul wants us Gentiles to realize we are just as susceptible as the Jews of falling into unbelief. What did Jesus tell the churches in Revelation? “Repent, or I will come and take away your candlestick.” Where today is the church of Ephesus? Colossae? Antioch? Gone. All we have to do is look around us here in America and everywhere we see empty church buildings – churches that “once were.”

That is bad, but I would suggest there are even more that might still be meeting week after week, yet there is no Gospel light shining from them. Long ago, the Holy Spirit rose from their thresholds and the glory of the Lord departed from them. They may call themselves a church, call themselves Christians, even think they are ”champions” of the Bible, but they have no influence for Jesus in this world. Years ago, He did exactly what He warned and “took away their candlestick.”

Once again, let’s consider the “Why?” Why do some no longer even exist? How is it that some are “churches,” but have no Gospel light whatsoever in this world? The issue is again, this very personal matter of belief or unbelief.

For myself, I can’t answer for any entire church or even any entire nation that used to be a Gospel light. However, I can commit my heart once again to trusting the Lord today. I don’t want to be guilty of unbelief. I don’t want to sin because in reality I just wasn’t trusting Him. For me, that is the best thing I draw from this passage.

Other than that, there is much here I am quite sure I do not understand. However, I like being reminded of the truth expressed in Psalm 91:1: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

“It is good for me to draw near to God.”

Romans 11:13-15 “Us Gentiles”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³But I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am [the] apostle of [the] Gentiles, I am making much of my ministry, ¹⁴if somehow I might provoke to jealousy the flesh of mine and save some out of them. ¹⁵For if their rejection [means] reconciliation of the world, what [will be] [their] acceptance, except life out of dead ones?

It seems to me there is an enormous amount of truth packed into these three short verses. I’ll try to record at least the high points of what I think I’m seeing.

First of all, we should stop and think about Paul’s words, “But I am speaking to you Gentiles…” Of course, no one knows today the makeup of the church at Rome, whether it was mainly Gentiles or if it included a significant Jewish membership. There certainly were Jewish Christians there (16:7,11; Acts 18:2,3) and the book of Romans was written “to all in Rome who are loved by God and called saints…” (1:7). Regardless of how many Gentiles were there, what he has to say, he is telling us it is specifically for them (us).

Then, when he says, “I am speaking to you Gentiles…,” we can ask to how much of the book of Romans is he referring? I would suggest he’s referring to this specific section – chapters 9-11, answering the question, “What about the Jews?” As for the Jewish believers, they had their Scriptures to explain to them what was going on. From their childhood they would have known well all the prophecies relating to their future as a people. It seems natural to me the Gentiles would be the ones asking, “What about the Jews?” and, as we’ve observed earlier, for them that question needed to be answered, especially after chapter 8 and the great promises of eternal security in Christ.

Finally, we should note Paul is being emphatic here, to suddenly pause and say, “I’m speaking to you Gentiles…” What if, right in the middle of a sermon, the minister was to suddenly say, “I’m speaking to you Bixbys…” That would sure make us sit up in our chair and listen! No doubt that is how us Gentile believers should respond to these very words here in the book of Romans – sit up and listen! Somehow, as we would read and study the rest of this chapter, we need to assume that posture – one of especial attention to whatever Paul is saying. It is for us.

Then, one thing I’ve never thought about before. Paul says, “Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry…” I wonder what Paul thought back in the beginning. On the road to Damascus, Jesus told him, “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:6). Surely, being a Pharisee of Pharisees, he would totally assume any ministry he was given would be to his fellow Jews. Then, as he relates in Acts 22:18,21, later on, Jesus told him, “Quick! Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about Me…Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.”

“To the Gentiles?”  Would that have been a shock to this Pharisee of Pharisees? Peter had quite a struggle being sent to the house of Cornelius. The Lord had to give him the vision of clean and unclean animals to get him to go (Acts 10)! Jonah had quite a problem with being sent to Nineveh. Jews were basically raised to despise Gentiles. Why should Paul be any different? One can almost hear him saying, “Now, wait a minute, Lord. I don’t want to do that. I don’t like Gentiles. Why can’t I go to some Jewish community?”

I’ve never thought about this, but I wonder if he had to go through a period of mental struggle to accept that this is what the Lord had for him? I rather suspect, especially for young people, there is a serious need for them to realize they must accept whatever ministry, whatever life, the Lord chooses to give them. No doubt, any born-again believer would love to be a Billy Graham and be given a world-wide ministry of reaching people. However, we can’t all be Billy Grahams. As someone once remarked, no matter what you’re doing, what you need is not a lot of chiefs, but a lot of Indians! Most of us need to accept that God’s place for us in this world is to be the Indians! Not great, famous leaders, but just everyday people.

It would be good to get it clearly in our young heads what Daniel observed, “The Most High rules in the nations of men.” We all need to accept whatever work, whatever life the Lord gives us, whether that is what we wanted to be and do, or not. He rules. Of course, for us older folks, that is still a daily issue. He says “All things work together for good,” then we find ourselves constantly struggling to accept “this is for good!”

The hope is, just like in Paul and Peter and Jonah’s cases, as we accept what the Lord gives us, over the years, we invariably begin to realize it turns out to be far better and far beyond anything we could have ever imagined. When Joan and I were young, we loved the verse, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4). What I see now, on this end of life, is that I didn’t even know what were “the desires of my heart.” The Lord knew and I’m very glad today He didn’t give me what I thought I wanted! His plans are always far better – but, just like I’m assuming with Paul – sometimes we have to struggle to accept His plans.

I’ve never considered what Paul must have thought at first of being sent to the Gentiles

Then he says he “makes much” of his ministry in the hope that some from his Jewish people might be moved to jealousy and be saved. This is something else I don’t suppose I’ve ever thought about. Hmmmm. What would it be like to have been Jewish, to be Abraham’s descendants, to be the keepers of the very Scriptures themselves, and to basically see Yahweh worship as your exclusive possession – then to suddenly see this movement of despised Gentiles who take your Scriptures, who form their own synagogues (churches), and then seem to gain all the blessings of love and joy and peace – blessings you feel have eluded you?

Apparently, most Jewish people’s response was only to hate Gentiles all the more. That is the usual outcome of jealousy – hate. Yet, it does make sense that there could be a few who would say, “Now, wait a minute. My neighbor was nothing but an idol worshiping pagan. Now all of a sudden he’s this happy guy – and it isn’t just him. His wife is happy. His kids seem happy. “Whatta they got that I ain’t got???” I can see where this “jealousy” could lead that Jewish person to wonder if maybe this Jesus thing isn’t real after all. Perhaps he’d walk over to his neighbor one day and “ask a reason for the hope that is in him?”

I believe that is a ministry that everyone one of us has but one we rarely realize is happening. We go out to our jobs, we mow our grass, go to our kids’ track meets, and just generally live our lives. For us, we’re just trying to be like Jesus. We’re trying to trust God whatever happens. We try to be gracious to people. However, we probably all generally feel pretty useless. We’re definitely not Billy Graham. Yet, what we don’t realize is just how much others are watching. There was once a big layoff at a friend’s factory. As he was walking out, even struggling himself to see God above it all, a man said to him, “This doesn’t bother you like it bothers us, does it?” People are watching.

Paul’s big “ministry” was to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Yet he was keenly aware that the seeds of his faith fell in all directions, even as he tried to live the life God gave him. We all need to be encouraged realizing we may never know some of our greatest impacts in this world – we may never know that we did “save some,” that someone did see the difference and that was the tiny spark of light which eventually opened their heart to Jesus. That was one of Paul’s hopes and should be ours as well! So, live on, my Christian friends! Let’s all just let the Gardener decide which of those seeds will sprout.

Then, finally, there is verse 15. Paul says, “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” There is a lot that could be said from this verse, but remember Paul is speaking very specifically to us Gentiles. And what is really the main thrust of what he’s saying? That you and I should never lose our respect for the Jewish people. Though they may seem temporarily rejected by God, yet still it is through Abraham’s descendants that the Lord said. “…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” The Jewish people gave us Jesus and, in spite of how things may look today, they still are and always will be the unique people of God. They still hold a special place in the heart of God…and always should in our hearts too!

So just from these three little verses, may we all learn to be content to live the lives God gives us, to remember we may never know the greatest impacts we have had in others’ lives, and to always respect and appreciate Abraham’s descendants – the people of Israel.

 

Romans 11:7-11 “Understanding…And Not”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷What then? What Israel sought, it did not find, but the elect found [it], and the rest were hardened. ⁸Just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor – eyes not seeing, ears not hearing – until this very day,” ⁹and David says, “May their table be a snare and a trap and an impediment and a retribution to them,” ¹⁰[and] May their eyes be darkened, that they [are] not seeing, and may You bow down their back through always.” ¹¹Therefore I say, have they stumbled that they should fail? May it never be! But the salvation [has come] to the Gentiles by their transgression, in order to provoke them to jealousy. ¹²But if their transgression [is] riches of [the] world and their loss [is] riches of [the] Gentiles, how much more [will be] their fullness?

Oh, my. Once again, I’m studying these verses and inclined to just throw up my hands. The truth they’re teaching is plain enough – I just don’t know how to make things reconcile. Again, I am left with that feeling I’m delving too deeply into the eternal counsels of God. “His ways are [in fact] past finding out.” As He tells us in Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor My ways your ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My thoughts above your thoughts and My ways above your ways” (55:8,9).

However, He did give us this Scripture, so we should study it and try to understand, at least as much as we can. Clearly, what He wants us to know is that He did not reject His people Israel. They are still Abraham’s descendants and thereby the chosen people of God. Though, as a nation, they may reject Him, yet there has always been and always will be a remnant of Jewish people who do believe. One day this Church Age, as we know it, will end and once again, the Lord will raise up the Jewish people to worship Him not only individually but nationally. When the Church is gone, the Jewish people will once again be the people to show the world who God is.

That’s all plain enough and I would suggest that is the main point we should all take from it. What is difficult to explain is this business of hardening and blinding. Then too there is the business here of what are called “imprecatory” prayers – praying down judgment on people. Since this is what the Bible says, I want to at least slow down and think about these things.

As far as hardening, this one definitely takes us back to the infinite counsels of God. The verse is plain enough: “…the rest He hardened.” Paul spoke more at length about this back in chapter 9, where he said, “Therefore, God has mercy on whom He has mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden” (v.18). How do you reconcile that with Jesus’s words, “Whosoever will may come”? This, I believe is precisely where you and I need to clap our hand over our mouth and acknowledge we’re talking about God. I don’t have to understand and I don’t have to explain. The words are plain enough. Both are simply true.

No one can ever say, “I never had a chance. God hardened my heart,” or “I don’t think I’m one of the elect. I can never be saved.” What did Jesus say? “Whosoever will may come.” On the other hand, those of us who have been born again can’t get it in our heads that we’re somehow “better” than other people because we chose Jesus. No. Clearly, He chose us. If I am a saved man today, if I spend eternity in heaven, I will have no one to praise but God Himself and our wonderful Savior. So, does God choose? Yes. Am I responsible to choose? Yes. How do we reconcile the two? We don’t. We believe what He says, fall on our knees, and worship our incomprehensible God!

What about imprecatory prayers? There are several of them – particularly in the Psalms. The quotes from David here are from Psalm 69, but you will find other similar prayers in 5, 6, 11, 12, 35, 37, 40, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 79, 83, 94, 109, 137, 139 and 143. Our first response is probably, “Isn’t that ‘unchristian’ to pray down judgment on people?” Is it? Read Matthew 23 sometime. Jesus has some very harsh words for the religious teachers of His day. “Woe to you, blind guides! You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Look, your house if left to you desolate.” Paul says of the Judaizers in Galatians 1:8.9: “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally cursed!”

Here is what I would suggest. Note that David was a king. Jesus is God. Paul was an apostle. They are all in leadership positions. One of the divinely ordained responsibilities of leaders is to maintain justice. “They do not bear the sword in vain.” Yes, it is unchristian for me to pray down imprecatory prayers on my neighbor just because I don’t like him. However, the minute I step into any kind of leadership position, as they say, “It’s time to put my big boy pants on.” We have all worked in places where the weak-willed management didn’t have the guts to fire people. We now live in a world where too many in government don’t have the guts to aggressively punish crime. And who gets hurt? The good people.

For myself, I can pray down judgment particularly on the evil people who are oppressing our world. The only thing is, I say it something like, “Lord, I pray first of all that so and so may be saved. However, if they will not be saved, I ask you knock them out of their position or even kill them if that’s what it takes to stop their evil.” I don’t believe that is “unchristian.” I think it is loving justice. So, for me personally, imprecatory prayers don’t bother me and, in this case, I don’t believe it is at all hard to understand.

Paul goes on to talk then about how God has actually used Israel’s failures to instead bless us Gentiles and, in fact, the whole cosmos. He will go on to explain this at length in the next several verses, so I’m going to leave this section and go on to see what all he has to say in the rest of this chapter.

In the meantime, we can all say, “Praise God for all the things we can’t understand. May we be humble enough to admit that’s the case. Then let us praise Him for so much we can understand – if we’ll only slow down and think about it.

“And when you know the truth, the truth shall set you free!”

Romans 11:1-6 “Grace”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Therefore, I ask, did God reject His people? May it never be! For even I am an Israelite, out of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ²God did not reject His people whom He foreknew; or do you (pl.) not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, as he spoke to God against Israel? ³“Lord, they have killed Your prophets; they have torn down Your altars; and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” ⁴But He said to him what response? “I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed a knee to Baal.” ⁵Therefore, thus also there is by grace in the now time a remnant according to election. ⁶And if by grace, [it is] no longer out of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Well, here I am, back in this section of Romans 9-11, and finally embarking on chapter 11 itself. Even just looking at these first six verses, my first inclination is to throw up my hands and say this is all just too deep for me. As I’ve said earlier, I feel we are almost delving too deeply into the eternal secret counsels of God. When we start talking about predestination and election and faith and salvation, I personally think the first thing we should all admit is that it is all largely beyond us.

We’re talking about God. Everything we know and see and understand is this Creation the Lord has given us. We are created, finite beings who live in time and space. God is the Uncreated, the self-existent, eternal, infinite God who, in fact, created us. The plain simple fact is that all we can possibly understand of Him is what He tells us. Other than that, it us utterly beyond us to understand this infinite God who lives in the eternal Now -- for whom there is no past, present, or future, but only Now. He created time for us to live in, not Him, and we need to humbly admit that this whole discussion of salvation is deriving from His eternal, sovereign counsels. I believe I am correct in these observations, as I see that even Paul closes this section saying, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!” (v.33).

I guess what I’m suggesting is that, if we would study and understand what He has told us in this chapter, we do well to start at the end – in rapturous wonder at the greatness of our God. I don’t have to understand all He does. I don’t have to be able to explain it to anyone else. I need only read His Word, believe what He says, and leave the seemingly unsolvable mysteries where they belong – hidden in the glory of His Divinity.

So, what do we find?

We’re still addressing the question of “What about the Jews?” It appeared in Paul’s day that the Lord had rejected the Jewish people and turned to the Gentiles. There has even been a major vane of Christians all down the centuries who believed exactly that – that the Jews had rejected and crucified their Messiah and so God cast them away and raised up His church.

That is precisely the question which confronts us here in Romans 11. Right out of verse 1, Paul asks, “Has God rejected His people?” And what is his answer? Emphatically “May it never be!” “Absolutely not!” That is a very important question for understanding the Jewish people, but it is also eternally important to you and me.

Why do I say that? Because the most basic element of the Lord’s relationship with Israel is the Abrahamic Covenant. God promised Abraham that He would multiply Abraham’s descendants, that He would be their God and they would be His people. What is critically important about that to us is in realizing that was an unconditional covenant. It was an absolute promise from the God of heaven to this man. However, if because of Israel’s sin, in the end He rejected them and turned away forever, then where does that leave you and me? Jesus said, “He who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47). He said, “My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish…nothing is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29). Paul’s  exhaustive explanation of the Gospel in Romans chapters 1-8 ended with those glorious words, “…nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I hope you see our dilemma. If God made an unconditional promise to Abraham, then rejected His descendants because of their failures, where does that leave you and me? I will say it again, if Jesus didn’t save me from me, then He didn’t save me at all. If there is anything I could do to mess up my eternal salvation, you can be quite sure I’d do it. The whole wonder of grace is He won’t reject me! “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!” (Romans 5:8) – we can’t be any worse than we were when He saved us. And as Paul addressed back in chapter 6, that security does not lead real born-again people to license. It overwhelms them with gratitude and only makes them love Jesus all the more. My praise for His grace and my desire to serve Him only grows stronger every time I fail and go to Him, knowing He still loves me – knowing He only wants to help me get up and try again.

All these thoughts are the big picture of what is going on here in this passage. Back to the Jews, did God reject His people? “Absolutely not.” Elijah is a case in point. At the time he was trying to minister to Israel, it looked as if no one was left who even cared about God. “I and I alone am left – and they are trying to kill me!” But what was God’s answer? “Yet have I reserved unto Myself seven thousand men in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

If one and a half million Jews left Egypt in 1445 BC, what would be their population now in about 800 BC? Surely something in the millions. Yet out of that number only 7,000 were faithful. That might seem an extremely small number, yet what does it prove? That the Lord had not rejected His people. Even back then, “the gate was small and the way was narrow.” However, what explanation can Paul give for why God wouldn’t give up on a people of whom only a tiny fraction had faith? Why wouldn’t He? Grace.

This is where we pass into what I consider to be beyond me. In verse 2, he says, “God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew.” Then in verse 5, he says, “So, too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” Here is precisely where the logic circles back and draws in you and me: “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works, if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (v.6). Salvation comes to you and me purely as a gracious gift from the hand of God. I did nothing to deserve His grace (or it would no longer be grace) and I can do nothing to un-deserve it (or it would also no longer be grace).

“Deserving” and grace are mutually exclusive. If our works are part of the equation, then it is not grace. That is the point of verse 6, and that is again the wonder of grace. The Jewish people are and were and always will be the people of God – because the Lord’s promise to Abraham was gracious. It was unconditional. If you’ve been born again by the blood of Jesus, that same faithful God who “begun a good work in you, will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

Those are all simply facts, the obvious and very clear teaching of this passage (and the entire book of Romans). Where we get in trouble, I feel, is trying to understand things like predestination and election and foreknowledge, and all of that. What we are doing then is trying to draw God into our understanding. Even the word “foreknowledge” – what does that mean to a God who lives in an eternal Now? The “fore” is a term that only applies to us, not Him. He is not sitting in heaven waiting for us to be saved. Only we can “wait,” precisely because we live in time. He does not.

As I began, this is precisely where I am inclined to throw up my hands. It is all beyond me. It’s a knot I can’t untie. For myself, however, that doesn’t bother me. I am more than happy to worship this great God who is utterly beyond my understanding. It’s okay if He reveals things to me that my puny, finite mind simply can’t reconcile. He’s God.  I will go out into my day today, fully responsible for the choices that I make, yet living it all in the wonderful comfort of knowing I’m securely in the hands of my wonderful, gracious God.

Daniel 10:20,21 “Seriously”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁰And he said, “Do you know to what I have come to you? And now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia and I [am] going and Behold! the Prince of Greece [is] one coming, ²¹but I will tell to you what is written in the book of Truth and not one strengthens himself with me on these [things] except Michael your (pl.) prince.

More from these verses: Consider for a minute the angel’s statement to Daniel, “But I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth.” Note he starts with “but.” In Hebrew, the word used is actually a strong adversative. He is saying he has to return to fight against the demonic prince of Persia, then another one will arise over Greece. Demons, demons everywhere! You’d think such news would be fearful – “BUT,” he says, “I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth.”

Is this not one of the wonders of God’s Word – the He can tell us what appears to be (and may actually be) bad news, yet for us believers, that gives us peace, not fear! It gives us peace because prophecy assures us He is in control. And because we love Him and trust Him, as long as He is in control, we live in peace. “The good man will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, confident in the Lord” (Ps. 112:7). All things really will “work together for good!”

Beyond that, first of all, I want to praise God that there even is a Book of Truth.  Truth. What is true. What is truly true! Francis Schaeffer wrote his book, “How Then Shall We Live?” The whole point of the book is the importance of what he calls “absolute truth.” Especially in this world of swirling lies and seemingly endless deceptions, social engineering, political spinning, and all the rest, people need absolute truth. There must be somewhere a person can go to get true truth! Schaeffer shows that, because it alone is that absolute truth, the Bible was the cornerstone for the very rise of Western Culture. We have enjoyed about five or six centuries of unprecedented prosperity and scientific advance, but Schaeffer demonstrates that was only possible because we all had the Bible as our common source of truth. Clear back in the 1970’s, he saw Western Culture casting aside the Bible and warned our world would then devolve into chaos. As late as the 1950’s, the Supreme Court still acknowledged openly that our entire system of government is based on the Bible. We cast that away and look where we are today – right where Schaeffer said we’d be!

I am so thankful there is true truth. As Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free!” Jn. 8:32). Truth is a wonderful thing. It has been my lifelong observation that, as long as you tell the truth, life can be simple. When you’re dealing in truth, everything fits together. Everything makes sense. When it doesn’t make sense, you need only dig in and, one way or another, you’ll eventually figure out what’s missing. Truth really does set us free.

On the other hand, as soon as you start lying or believing lies, your whole world gets complicated. Things don’t fit together. Things don’t make sense. If you lie to someone at work, you’d better remember who you lied to about what. When they come back around and you tell them the opposite, you’ll have an ugly situation before you! I’d rather not be cynical here, but that is one thing that tells me we are all being massively lied to in this world – because nothing makes sense. All day every day, you click on the news and nothing makes sense. The government is lying. Big business is lying. Hollywood is lying. Scientists are lying. And what is the outcome? Chaos and confusion for common people like us.

For me, it is a glorious freedom every morning to sit down with my Bible and study true truth! The Bible tells me the truth, I tell the truth, my wife tells the truth – and as far as that goes, life is very simple. Beyond that…yikes! And look again what we see in this passage – even an angel knows there is a Book of Truth.

I also want to note here there is a book in heaven. A book. I realize it’s possible there isn’t a “book” as we would know it, that the Lord may just be using terms we understand. However, how many times in the Bible are we told of books in heaven? Jesus has a “Book of Life.” At the Great White Throne, it says, “And the books were opened…” (Rev. 20:12). Also, in Rev. 5:1 we read, “And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.” I personally see nothing in these texts to tell me they mean anything except “books.” If words mean anything, then a book is a book. The Lord never says they were “like a book.” He says, “Book.”

To me, this makes perfect sense. Once again, I think we share far more with angels than we realize. They are thinking, rational created beings who are finite like you and me. They can only be in one place at one time and they cannot be omniscient, like God. That means they actually have to learn like us. Remember Peter tells us they’re curious, that they “long to look into these things” (I Pet. 1:12). All of that said, why wouldn’t there be “books?” If heaven is a place of learning, why wouldn’t knowledge be preserved in books that angels or you or I could “check out” of a heavenly library and dig into? Of course, that would be wonderful news for us bibliophiles! What if part of heaven will be the glorious pleasure of curling up with a really good book and enjoying reading – and knowing I’ve got literally forever!

Finally, we note that Michael’s name appears again here. Notice, the angel calls him “your prince.” In Hebrew, the “your” is plural. That is because he isn’t just Daniel’s angel. In 12:1, we’re told, “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people will arise…” Michael is specifically the angel (and called an archangel in Jude 9) who guards the people of Israel. Once again, I’m reminded how the nation of Israel today has what they call their “Iron Dome,” which is some kind of missile defense system. However, we can see by faith that the real “Iron Dome” over their people is none other than Michael, the archangel.

So, we know from the Bible that there is a good prince of Israel. We also learn there is an evil prince of Persia (Iran) and we read of the evil prince of Greece. I personally do not doubt that every nation on earth has an angel specifically assigned by God to protect them and an evil angel assigned by Satan to destroy them. Then, what determines which side is “winning?” I suspect it is the people themselves. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” Where there is a love of God and the prayers of His people, His angel is strengthened to push back the evil and give them a measure of Jesus’ love and joy and peace.

Where there is no regard or love for God, the people are sitting ducks to suffer endlessly under the lying, stealing, murder and chaos that comes from Satan’s rule. Probably the only reason those nations even go on existing is because God has an angel assigned to protect them, although that protection is (because of their godlessness) provided only because the Lord still loves the people. Even though they’re godless, He will only let the devil go so far. The people certainly don’t deserve it, but still His grace provides a measure of protection. As Matthew wrote, “He makes His sun to shine on the evil and the good” (5:45) and we learn in Psalm 145, “The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made…The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing” (vv.9,15,16).

So then, each of us believers need to realize we are a soldier on the front line of the cosmic spiritual battle for the peace and prosperity of our nation. To whatever extent we truly try to live godly lives and lift up our people and our nation in prayer, we are at least one small part of seeing evil pushed back. And, of course, what were we supposed to learn from the feeding of the 5,000? Even when all we have is “five loaves and two fishes,” what do we do? We bring them to Jesus. In the hands of Jesus, even our feeble prayers and broken efforts to live godly can be blessed to feed thousands!

I would go on to suggest that this angelic/demonic presence extends into every place of authority and into each individual life. The Bible doesn’t tell us much on this subject, but, on the personal level, we have Jesus’ words, “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 18:10,11). From this passage, believers have long understood that there really are guardian angels. That makes sense to me. Satan would no doubt assign a demon specifically to destroy you and me, so why wouldn’t the Lord make sure we each had an angel to protect us?

I also suggest the battle extends into every place of authority, but this is totally an observation on my own part. What I see in our world is that, every time someone is placed in any position of authority, they immediately possess significant power to make people’s lives better or miserable. How often do we see a family’s peace and happiness depending on the father? Mothers of course also play a massively important role in the happiness of their families, but is it not generally true, where the father is a godly man, you see smiling happy children? Then, sadly, we all know the alternative. Where a boss is a truly godly man, you can expect to see an entire office, or even corporation, of basically happy people. Then there is the alternative.

I have never really understood why the angel says to Daniel, “No one supports me against them, except Michael your prince.” I still don’t understand that. My mind wanders in a million different directions, but nothing adds up for me. Either I just don’t have the maturity (yet) to understand it, or it is bound up in that great spiritual warfare of which we can only see in parts. Perhaps if I live long enough to come back and study through Daniel again, then it will make sense.

For now, Daniel 10 has certainly taught us enough to open our eyes and move us to be more like him. May we, by faith, see the battle raging around us, our families, and our world. And may we take our own faith more seriously, when we see we really are soldiers.  Our lives matter.

 

Daniel 10:20,21 “Seeing”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁰And he [the angel] said, “Do you know to what I have come to you? And now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia and I [am] going and Behold! the Prince of Greece [is] one coming, ²¹but I will tell to you what is written in the book of Truth and not one strengthens himself with me on these [things] except Michael your (pl.) prince.

So we come to the last couple verses of Daniel 10. I suppose I always say this, but I’m sad to have to leave this wonderful chapter. Somehow it’s like my heart wants to just crawl inside what I’ve learned and then hide there ‘til Jesus comes! The Lord’s truth is so calming and comforting, while the world outside is so chaotic and frightening. However, He then reminds me that is exactly the world where He wants me to live the truth I’ve learned! So I am always loathe to move on, but I know I must. (Heavy sigh).

Fortunately, I have these two last verses to nurse on at least for a few more glorious minutes. As usual, though it’s only two verses, they are packed with truths and I’ll have to restrain myself. The first thought I want to record is that I’ve always found the angel’s question curious. He asks Daniel, “Do you know why I have come to you?” then, seemingly not waiting for an answer, he tells him he has to return to fight the prince of Persia. This all seems odd. He’s already told Daniel why he’s there and, in fact, it is very specifically in answer to exactly what Daniel has been praying about for three weeks. Then it seems strange that he doesn’t wait for any answer from Daniel, or even reiterate himself why he’s there. All just seems odd.

Perhaps I should just accept that it’s “odd.” Remember this is 2,500 years ago in a culture on the other side of the world and not only do those people not talk like us, they don’t even think like us. We shouldn’t be surprised, especially when the Bible is recording dialogue, if what they say and how they say it doesn’t always make sense to us. I’ve read many suggestions of how to understand the question, but the one I like best is that the angel is realizing just how rattled and disoriented Daniel may be.

Although he says to the angel, “Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength,” remember just a few seconds ago, he was on his face trembling in terror and saying, “I can barely breathe!” Perhaps the angel is asking the question rhetorically, mainly to get them both back on the whole point of their meeting, and also to give Daniel a chance to “gather himself up” and clear his head? The fact that the text pushed immediately on to “Soon I will return…,” that doesn’t mean the angel didn’t pause. If I let myself feel the ethos of what’s happening, that is exactly what I suspect happened – that he did pause until Daniel could come to his senses and nod “Yes” in return. That explanation would be consistent with the angel’s kindness and graciousness to poor Daniel.

Just to inject once again, if I’m correct, it reminds me how much you and I need to learn from angels. I’m sorry to realize how insensitive I’ve been most of my life. It is easy to be so caught up in what I’m thinking, what I’m doing, what I’m wanting, it doesn’t even occur to me to ask how others around me are doing. This angel is keenly aware of how Daniel is being affected by it all. He’s paying attention to Daniel! How I wish I did a better job of that! I think it all goes back to how this angel sees Daniel. He thinks he’s precious.

The angels in Daniel have taught me to sincerely try to see other people as precious. It’s one thing to say I’ll try to love people. I feel it is another step deeper to say, “Lord, help me to see them as precious – all of them, everyone I meet. They’re precious to You. They’re precious to angels. Let them be precious to me!” These are new thoughts to me, but I do find, on those rare occasions I remember to apply this, it is much easier to be sensitive. When something is “precious,” we all just naturally handle it with far greater care – like we should with people.

Then notice what we learn, that this angel is very busy “behind the scenes.” He was very specifically sent to answer Daniel’s prayer. He was delayed for three weeks fighting the demonic prince of Persia. As soon as he leaves Daniel, he’ll go back to that battle. Then it won’t be long and he’ll be fighting another demon, the prince of Greece. Let us all again note, we don’t “see” any of this. As we look at history, we can learn all about the rise and fall of the Persian empire. We can read about Cyrus’s decree. We can read about the battles between Greece and Persia, until Alexander came along and actually conquered Persia and took over the rule of nearly all we call the “civilized world.”

However, was that really all that was happening? Daniel would teach you and me a very loud “No!” No it is not. In fact, there is a massive cosmic battle going on in the spirit world, whether we “see” it or not. It was going on then and it is still going on today. As I’ve said before, by faith you and I can “see” that battle. By faith we can fully realize the events of this world are not just people making decisions. There are extremely powerful forces – both angelic and demonic – constantly battling and vying for influence over people’s minds.

The current battle between Russia and Ukraine isn’t just between Putin and Zelensky. The strife in the Middle East isn’t just between Iran’s terrorist ogres and the people of Israel. The battle between good and evil here in America isn’t just a conflict between Democrats and Republicans. As much as it may look like it is, you and I, by faith, can realize the battle is far, far greater. If we do, I believe it will even change our prayers.

There is more to note here, but this has been long enough, so I’d better stop for now. Whether it’s “seeing” the needs of other people or “seeing” the cosmic battle around us, we all need to heed Jesus’ advice and “buy from Him salve for our eyes, that we might see!”

Daniel 10:19 “Being Strengthened”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁹And he [the angel] said, “Do not fear, man greatly valued. Peace to you. Be strong and be strong.” And as he [was] speaking with me, I was strengthened and I said, “Speak, my lord, because you have made me strong.”

One more thing before I leave this verse: Notice the order of the angel’s admonitions to Daniel: “Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed. Peace! Be strong now; be strong!” I believe it is quite deliberate. First he tells him, “Don’t be afraid.” If we are to be “strong in the Lord” we must vanquish our fears. In particular, I’m thinking of our inappropriate fears of God. The right fear of God arises from worship, but there is a slavish fear of God which believes He cannot be trusted, that He will only hurt us, that He is fed up with us. Paul says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a well-ordered mind” (II Tim. 1:7). John tells us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment” (I John 4:18).

Instead, we must believe we are, in fact, “O man, O woman greatly valued” – precious in the sight of God. In Ephesians we’re told to live our lives “as dearly loved children” (5:1). In Zeph. 3:17, we’re assured, “The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty; He will save. He will take great delight in you. He will rest in His love. He will joy over you with singing.” These thoughts are exactly the “perfect love” which casts out fear. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” This is precisely why we must believe Romans chapter 8, that, being born again we are eternally secure in the arms of His love, that “nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When we fill our minds with these thoughts and allow ourselves to be assured of His great love, then (and only then) can we know true peace. There can be no greater peace in this world than the confident assurance that I am loved by the infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, and infinitely loving God. That is what the psalmist means when he says, “The righteous man will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, confident in the Lord” (112:7). I am personally amazed at how much peace the Lord has injected into my life, not because I do such a great job trusting Him, but because He fills my heart with that very confidence. People ask me, “Aren’t you worried about this or that?” and my honest response is, “No, not really. The Lord has it covered.”

I am quite aware that He may allow hardship and pain, but He's been doing that my entire Christian life. At this end of life, I can look back and easily see in so many cases what He was doing, and the fact is I’m thankful He did. I don’t want to go through it again, and I am not asking for pain, but I’ve lived long enough to be convinced it really is true that “all things work together for good.” He is totally trustworthy to only allow what He knows is the absolute best for my life. So, because of who He is, I can be confident in Him. That is peace.

In a similar vein, read the words of the old Anglican minister, James Vaughn: “Notice the order of the words of the heavenly messenger when he spoke to Daniel. They are suggestive. He places ‘peace’ before ‘strength.’ ‘Peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.’ ‘Strength’ must have a foundation. And in proportion as you feel quite at peace with God, you have a foundation. In this, as in everything else, pardon, and the sense of pardon, come first. Then you are upon a rock…There must be quietness: and there is no real quietness till the soul sits pardoned at the feet of Christ.”

To have that kind of peace and to know I am precious to God transforms me! Instead of running from one fear to another, I can stand my ground and be strong – and it is “strong in the Lord,” not me. We can look up to Him and say with Daniel, “Speak, my Lord, for You have given me strength.” It is amazing, because that strength allows you to do what needs to be done, but, like Daniel, to do it in complete humility. It is a wonderful feeling to do what needs to be done, but know it is the Lord who is enabling me, so I have no reason to get proud, or, for that matter, even worry about who I am or whether I’ll personally gain or lose. As Jesus said, “The truth will set you free!”

I’m guessing every true believer could write the rest of this blog and we would all be encouraged to hear whatever they have to say. For myself, my mind goes particularly to work. Every day, the challenges seem overwhelming with ridiculously short deadlines, with difficult decisions which need to constantly be made. In addition, rubbing elbows with people for such a prolonged period of time, one can’t help but see their needs and sometimes to have to listen and respond to what are to them huge worries or fears. It is an unspeakable blessing to be praying even as we face those things and saying, “Lord, help me make the best decision here, or help me have the right words to encourage this person, to say anything at all that you can use to draw them to Your own heart” – and to have that wonderful peace of just knowing/trusting that He is using me, even if I can’t see it. It is wonderful to truly be able to say in our heart, “Who I am really isn’t important here. What matters is who God is.” As Daniel said, “Wisdom and power belong to Him.” If we “abide in the Vine,” we can “bear much fruit.”

We could multiply examples at home, in our marriages, with our children and grandchildren, with neighbors and fellow believers. However, whatever happens to be on our plate right now, this angel’s words are exactly what we each need to hear: “Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed. Peace! Be strong now; be strong!” Then, having ourselves drunk deeply from that well of grace, may we be angels in the lives of those we interact with, to help them not be afraid, to remember even as we speak, they are precious to God (and must be to us too!), to point them to God’s peace, and pray they’ll find God’s strength!

God wants us to be strong (in Him), angels want us to be strong – like our friend Daniel, may we receive their encouragement, then “be strong” for whatever it is the Lord would have us be and do in this world. There may be thousands and thousands and ten thousands times ten thousands of angels, but it is likely the only ones most people will ever see is you and me.

 

“For I can do all things through Christ,

 who strengthens me” (Phil.4:13).