Manthano

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Daniel 11:32-35 “The People Who Know Their God 1”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²¹And a despised one shall stand upon his place and the honor of the kingdom shall not be given to him and he will enter in quietness and he shall seize the kingdom in slipperiness. ²²And the arms of the flood will be overwhelmed from before him and they will be broken and also [the] prince of [the] covenant. ²³And from joining themselves to him, he will make deceit and he will go up and he will be mighty in a few people…²⁹To the appointed time, he will return and he will come to the South and it will not be as the former of the latter, ³⁰And the ships of Kittim will come to him and he will be pained and he will return and he will be enraged upon the holy covenant and he will do and he will return and he will discern upon ones forsaking [the] holy covenant. ³¹And forces from him will stand and they will (intensely) profane the sanctuary of the fortress and they will take away the regular [sacrifice] and they will set the abomination of desolation. ³²And he will corrupt evil doers of [the] covenant in flatteries, and [the] people ones knowing their God will be strong and do. ³³People being wise will instruct many, and they will be staggered by sword and in flame, in captivity and in spoiling [for] days. ³⁴Those being staggered will be helped [with] a little help and many will join themselves to them in hypocrisy. ³⁵And [some] from ones being wise will be staggered to refine them and to purify and to make white upon [the] time of the end, because yet [will be] to the set time.

As we’ve seen throughout the book of Daniel, events on earth are in reality only expressions of that great spiritual battle swirling around us, the battle between good and evil. In the last post, we observed how that battle expresses itself through humans who choose to be evil. We particularly observed that through the life and profound wickedness of Antiochus Epiphanes. In this post, let’s see how that battle expresses itself in the lives of those who choose the good.

In a world awash in deceit, of hating and being hated, in a world where it even seems that evil is winning, who are the people who stand? Verse 32 tells us they are “the people who know their God.” There is much to learn here from them, but first I want to focus on this simple designation the Lord grants them: “the people who know their God.”

These are real born-again people. And what is it that distinguishes them from everyone else? They “know their God.” It would do us all well to pause and ask ourselves, “Is this my faith?” Is my faith about knowing God? Notice it’s not about all the rules and practices of whatever faith group with which we happen to identify. It’s not about whether we attend church or teach Sunday School. It isn’t even about whether or not we claim to be saved. The thing about anyone of these kinds of “faith” is that none of them require a genuine change of heart. None of them necessarily change anything about our real personal relationship with God.

Can you or I make Paul’s simple statement, “I want to know Him…” (Phil. 3:10)? Jesus said, “For this is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only true God…” (John 17:3). This is eternal life. To know Him. I’m drawn again to the contrast between Mary and Martha. Martha was busy and "troubled," but Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. And what was Jesus’ response when Martha complained? He told her, “You’re stressing about many things, …but Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:41,42).

Real faith doesn’t call us to be busy first of all. Instead, it hears Jesus’ invitation, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…” (Matt. 11:28-30). I love how one man described his devotional time. He said it’s when “Jesus comes to meet with me.” What a wonderful thing it is to just be still in prayer and enjoy the wonder of who God is! It is peace itself to just know Him, to dwell in the infinity of His love and wisdom and justice. It is strength itself to have spent that time with Him and be thus prepared to face the world of our daily lives!

What a wonder to know that 2,200 years ago, the true believers could be recognized as “the people who know their God.” They stood strong in their generation. May you and I be strong because the Lord has done that same wonderful work in your life and mine – to call us into a very real, very personal relationship with him. May you and I be today “the people who know their God.”

Friday, May 16, 2025

Daniel 11:21-35 “The Problem of Deceit”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

As I said in my last blog, there is much to learn by stepping back and seeing what we can learn from what Daniel says in this passage. Commentaries almost unanimously focus on tying historical records to these verses and demonstrate how literally and accurately they were fulfilled by the events surrounding the horrific reign of Antiochus Epiphanes and the legendary resistance of the Jewish people, as led by the Maccabee brothers. I believe it is very instructive for anyone to read such commentaries and even to seek out the Apocryphal books of I and II Maccabees, to read it all and to ponder the lessons it provides. However, since (many, many) others have done exactly that, I prefer to step back and even learn from the bigger picture behind these events.

As I related in that last blog, there is a much larger unseen spiritual battle raging behind even the words of this passage. What you and I must realize is that the battle rages on today just as furiously as it did in Daniel’s day (6^thcentury BC) and when these verses were first fulfilled (2^nd century BC). One of the things commentators do is to observe that there have definitely been times very similar to these events, then they all need to argue which one exactly these apply to – whether in fact Antiochus Epiphanes or the Roman general Titus or whomever.

I would suggest what they are failing to see is the reason why the events are so similar. It is because the same spiritual battle is raging unseen with the same angelic and demonic forces driving the human actors who just happen to be alive in that generation. Satan was a liar, a thief, and a murderer back then, just the same as he has been in every generation of us humans since the Garden of Eden. Lost people go on “hating and being hated,” and believers go on “putting on the whole armor of God” – one generation after another after another.

All of that is why you and I can step back and learn from this passage to be wise in our own generation. As our Bible tells us, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come” (I Cor. 10:11). “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). Let us then hear those warnings, learn from their lessons, and allow the Lord to give us endurance and encouragement!

The next thing I think worthwhile to observe from this passage is the devil’s strategy. Note again and again how he carried Antiochus along. In v.21, we learn Antiochus took the kingdom “when its people feel secure, and he will seize it through intrigue.” The word translated “intrigue” is literally the idea of “slipperiness.” It can also be translated “flattery.” In v.23, he acts “deceitfully, and with only a few people he will rise to power.” In v.27, “The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other.” In v.32, we read, “With flattery (same word “slipperiness”) he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant…”

In the last days, Paul warns us, “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they believe the lie…” (II Thes. 2:9-11).

What is the obvious current that runs through all of this? Lies, deceit, flattery. It worked in the 2^nd century BC and it will work again in the end. Paul said in II Cor. 2:11, “For we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices.” What is obviously one of his most powerful devices? Deceit. Deceit worked in the Garden of Eden – “You shall not surely die,” and, as we see in the Bible and in every generation of human history, it still works amazingly well.

It is a good thing for Daniel to remind us we live in a world spinning in deceit. It is one of Satan’s devices and just one more expression of the spiritual battle that rages around us. Paul could say he wasn’t unaware of Satan’s devices. Can we?

Deceit. It actually starts nearer than we think: “The pride of your heart deceives you” (Obadiah 1:3). Our own heart is a deceiver! From there deceit spins away in every direction until it would seem we literally swim in it – like fish in the water. The entire advertising industry runs on deceit and, obviously, it works well. Most politicians are nothing but professional liars – from the very beginning they practice telling people whatever they want to hear, just to get their votes. Sadly, the thronging masses believe them and elect them again and again, in spite of the fact they do nothing they said they would. Then there is false religion. It has always shocked me that anyone goes into ministry, knowing full well they themselves don’t believe it, then deliberately leads people into their same agnosticism and downright atheism.

The biggest problem with deceit is that we don’t know we’re being deceived. Now, there is something inside of me (and I suspect it’s in all of us) where I think to myself, “If I was being deceived, I’d know it.” …Hello? That thought is so ludicrous and illogical it would be laughable if it were not so ultimately fatal. No. I do not know when I’m being deceived. I may be very aware when someone is trying to deceive me – like listening to today’s fake news – but once the deceit has taken hold in my heart I do not know it until I come crashing into the wall of reality in one way or another.

While we’re on the subject, it’s interesting to note the Bible says, “…Adam was not the one deceived, it was the woman who was deceived” (II Tim. 2:14). What do we have here? You have two people who both sinned, but clearly one sinned fully conscious of what he was doing, while his wife was genuinely deceived. They both sinned -- one in conscious willfulness, the other being deceived (tricked) into it. We could argue which is worse, but the bottom line is they both sinned and were expelled from the Garden.

So, in this world, like Adam and Eve, I may sin knowing full well what I’m doing, but sometimes I may be genuinely deceived. In either case, I am accountable for the choice that I made, but clearly there is a difference. I am thinking it is instructive to know this. I’ve certainly never thought of that before. It’s like as if we were fish. One may see the wiggly worm but not see the hook. He truly was deceived into “taking the bait.” In the case of us humans, we have the ability to see the hook, know it’s there, but want the worm, so we bite it anyway. My point is that, in either case, we end up with a hook in our mouth and frying in the devil’s skillet. So, like Adam and Eve, we’re accountable whether we were deceived or just plain stubborn.

So, what are we seeing? In our text, we are seeing that Antiochus came to power and succeeded largely by deceit. However, Daniel is allowing us to see that deceit is not just the human to human problem we face every day. It is rather an immediate expression of that cosmic spiritual battle swirling around us. That battle is, even at this moment, enveloping us in a world seemingly awash in deceit. Our Bible also tells us that problem runs so deep, my own heart joins the enemy: “The pride of your heart has deceived you.” “The heart of man is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9).

What hope is there then for you and me? The same hope there was for the people in the horrific days of Antiochus Epiphanes: “The people who know their God shall firmly resist him.” The people who know their God. Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life! He said, “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” In John 17:17, Jesus made the simple statement, “Thy Word is truth.”

In Psalm 119, the psalmist asks, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” (v.9). Today we might ask that as, “In a world swirling in deceit and where I myself can make very bad decisions, what will protect me?” The psalmist’s answer is “By living according to Your Word.” Our first line of defense is very, very simple – we need to know our Bibles. That may sound cliché to someone, but what other answer can there be – but to know the Truth? And, as we read and study our Bibles, let us remember from this passage – who were the people who were not deceived? “The people who knew their God.” The more we go to our Bibles, the more we read them as the voice of Jesus speaking directly to us, the more time we spend in prayer actually meeting with Him, the quicker we will be to detect when this world (or even our own heart) is trying to deceive us.

Believers, of all people, should be the first to detect deceit precisely because they know the truth and choose rather to make their daily world swirl in truth, not deceit. To keep my mind swirling in God and in His truth is my defense. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer” (Ps. 19:14). “Teach me Your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart to fear Your Name” (Ps. 86:11).

In Daniel 11, we learn of an evil man whose “success” in life was accomplished by deceiving other people. This whole section of Daniel chapters 10-12 show us that battle was much bigger than the man, that rather there were powerful unseen spiritual forces driving him then, and we may be assured those same forces are driving people to do what they do today. I would suggest that knowledge should compel you and me toward at least four responses: First of all, one of our prayers should be “God deliver me from myself.” My own heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things, so let me buy from Jesus “salve for my eyes” that I might see the truth. Second, let us be all the more driven to know our Bibles and thus to know our God. Let us literally strive to be “grounded in truth.”

Third, let us realize we live in a world of deceit and may we be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Christians, least of all peoples, should be found “gullible.” And finally, even as we seek not be gullible, let us see the people around us through Jesus’ eyes of compassion. He urges us to be gentle with people, “in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (II Tim. 2:25,26). While we’re trying to be wise, let us never forget what it was to be blind, to be a slave, to live with no hope in a world of deceit.

“Teach me to do Your will,

for You are my God;

May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground”

(Ps. 143:10).

Saturday, May 10, 2025

Daniel 11:21-35 “Wisely Discerning”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

These verses prophesied very specific details of the Jewish people’s future and were fulfilled in the immediate by the actions of Antiochus Epiphanes in the 2^nd century B.C. They introduce as well the Maccabean revolt (which was recorded in the apocryphal books of I and II Maccabees). If one wishes to study those verse by verse details, there are many, many commentaries which discuss them.

Once again, I would rather step back and see what can be learned from the events as a whole. I would suggest there is a great deal to be learned. What we have before us is, in fact, spiritual warfare. Again and again, Daniel has given us glimpses into the cosmic spiritual battles that are raging unseen around us, with the likes of Michael and Gabriel and other angels fighting against the evil Princes of Persia and Greece. As we have noted before, those battles are all unseen and can only be recognized by faith.

Daniel chapter 11 now shows us how those battles show up in our world, through the lives of people who are guided by those unseen forces, whether for good or for evil. As Paul admonishes us, we need to “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might…for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:10-12).

If we want to speak of good and evil even right now in our day, I’m sure none of us would have any problem putting names and faces on the players! Sometimes we see the battle as between good and evil, but I would suggest most of the time it’s evil on evil. In Titus, Paul describes the people of this world as, “Hating and being hated” (3:3). The Lord destroyed the pre-Flood world in part because He saw “the whole earth was filled with violence” (6:13). On the other hand, sometimes it really is a battle between good and evil.

Consider verses 29 to 35. In verse 29, Antiochus invades the South (Egypt), but ships of Kittim (Rome) oppose him. War, war, war. Lost people fighting and killing to either steal what someone else has or to keep them from it. You might say, “That’s just life,” but, when Antiochus can’t get what he wants, what does he do? He turns back and “vents his fury against the holy covenant (Israel).” He shows favor to who? “Those who forsake the covenant.” History records that he slaughtered thousands of Jewish people and also sold thousands into slavery. He desecrated the temple and set up the “Abomination of Desolation” (probably a statue of Zeus in the temple). And yet we read that “the people who know their God will firmly resist him” (v.32).

So what is it that moves lost people to be constantly killing each other? And why is there this unrelenting hatred against this one small and historically innocent people group – the Jews? And why is it “the people who know their God” are the ones to resist it all? Because it isn’t just about bad people being bad. Daniel is showing us again that there are far greater unseen forces at work in this world. The “people” issues we see are, in reality, just the outworking of that much greater spiritual war raging unseen all around us.

Hmmmmm. Battle, battle, battle. What is going on? – spiritual warfare. Behind the visible, human actors are truly the forces of good and evil. Here in Daniel 11, we read about the evil of this man named Antiochus Epiphanes. The man was a murderer and a liar and a thief. He did tremendous evil to the Jewish people. Who else do we know in the Bible who was a murderer, a liar, and a thief? None other than Satan, himself, yes? Do we all see that Antiochus, as evil as he was, was just a stooge for the devil and his minions? The devil played him like a marionette.

I have said for years, I have no doubt that Adolf Hitler was demon-possessed. It is estimated that over 20 million people died between 1933 and 1945 due to his evil. All over the world today, there are people so evil, you’d think they were literally demons themselves. Too many of them find their way into government, whether ours or any other nation’s. They show up in positions both high and low. Sometimes they are simply the thugs who roam the streets, sell their drugs, traffic helpless children, and do so much other evil. Or they may be those who weasel their way into good churches, good organizations, and good companies only to sow discord, to turn people against each other, and to finally destroy whatever good was ever there.

However, let us ask again, what is going on? The question, in fact, is, what is really going on? Daniel is allowing us to see what is really going on and that is this cosmic spiritual battle. One of the griefs I’ve observed in life is to see some evil person finally taken out, only to soon realize someone else just as evil (or worse) takes their place. I find it enlightening to understand from Daniel why this is true. We humans are mortal, with one generation following another. People live and die, but the forces that are truly driving the events of this world do not die. The same Prince of Persia is today driving the exceeding evil of that nation which today we call Iran. Is it any surprise that Iran is the worldwide source of terrorism? They, as a nation, have always been and continue to be driven by no less than a very powerful demon, the Prince of Persia. Just like him, they are of their father the devil, and the lust of their father they will do. He was a murderer from the beginning…and so, they are too.

On the other hand, why are there so many truly good people in this world? They may be comparatively few (the Lord warned us the gate was narrow), but they are always there, in every generation. Is it not because the Michaels and the Gabriels are also still there? In the unseen world, as Elijah showed his servant, “they that are for us are more than those who are against us.”

All of this is why I have no problem stepping back to see what we can learn to help us in our world today. The human names and faces may be constantly changing, but it is all really just the outworking of that same massive spiritual battle which rages on even while one generation of humans turns into another and another and another.

And so, what do we learn? First of all, you and I must choose to “see” by faith the battle. That is a choice we must deliberately make. As we live our lives and especially as we pray, we need to look above the names and faces, look past the fearful, threatening people, and even look past those amazing people who are the spiritual giants of our generation, and see it is all just the outworking of a great spiritual battle which will rage on and on until Jesus finally puts an end to it forever.

Let us not be too distraught by the evil we see in our day, nor put too much of our faith in those spiritual giants who happen to be present right now in our world. Daniel called our God “the Ancient of Days,” and the very fact that he can record prophesies that stretch out thousands of years into his future, is proof that, as he also has taught us, “the Most High rules in the nations of men.”

We’re told in the book of Hebrews that “strong meat belongs to them who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern good and evil” (5:14). Let us then put to use the knowledge faith has given us, that we might wisely discern the good and the evil, and then may we be, in fact, “the people who know their God.” May our wise discernment move us to truly “Put on the whole armor of God,” to pray more passionately, and may those prayers, our lives, and our words be used of the Lord “to instruct many.”

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

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!

Sunday, March 30, 2025

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!

Saturday, March 29, 2025

Daniel 11:1-4 “Truth”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

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!”

Friday, March 28, 2025

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!

Sunday, March 16, 2025

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,

Saturday, February 22, 2025

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.”

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

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.