Hello Friends!
Welcome to a new multi-week Daily Devotions series
titled “Daniel’s Devotion”
The book of Daniel is basically a
"timeline" of the "Gentile world powers" from the days of
Daniel until and including the Tribulation period in the future – the seven
years of God’s judgment on the earth. This time period is known as the
"times of the Gentiles" or The Church Age…
Please join us over the next several weeks as we learn more about
the “highlights” of this very important man of God – Enjoy!
Daniel’s
Devotion (Part 1)
As the Babylonian Crown Prince
Nebuchadnezzar was fighting in Egypt, he received the message that his father
had died and he had been promoted to "King of Babylon." On his
journey back to Babylon he passed through Jerusalem and noticed a strange type
of worship of a different God than his god. The worship of this new God was
going on in a Temple like he had never seen before. Knowing that he was to become
ruler of the known world, he was determined to know something about this “new”
religion. Nebuchadnezzar decided to take some "hostages" from the
"royal family" in Jerusalem back home with him to learn more about
this religion…
Chapter
1 of the book of Daniel is the sojourn of
Daniel and three of his Hebrew friends “Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah” to
Babylon to learn the ways of the Chaldeans:
In the third year of the reign
of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem
and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with
some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of
Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure
house of his god – Daniel 1:1-2
They were to be trained to become a part of
the group known as the "wise men" in Nebuchadnezzar's court:
Then
the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the
children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles,
young men in whom there was no
blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick
to understand, who had ability
to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and
literature of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed for them a daily provision
of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of
training for them, so that at the end of that
time they might serve before the king. Now from among those of the sons
of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. To them the chief of the
eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the
name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to
Azariah, Abed-Nego – Daniel 1:3-7
As we read this account we learn how
teenage boys – Daniel was 15 years old when taken to Babylon – could purpose in
their “heart” to honor the Lord
with their obedience to His plan for their lives:
But
Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion
of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he
requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself – Daniel 1:8
God would honor their obedience and give them
"knowledge and skill in all literature and
wisdom":
As for
these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and
wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams – Daniel 1:17
At the same time God was preparing young
Daniel to minister to the King (chapter 2). Daniel would not only win the King's favor but reveal
God’s plan for the future through the interpretation of the Kings dream. God
would also use this man Daniel to give us the prophetic truths that describe
many current events today giving us
evidence that we are quickly approaching the time of the return of the Lord!
Because Daniel purposed in his heart to do
right, God used him and his friends for His purposes to explain to us His plan
for the future:
And in
all matters of wisdom and
understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times
better than all the magicians and
astrologers who were in all his
realm. Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus – Daniel
1:20-21
The twelve chapters of Daniel are
prophecies of the unfolding of the historic events that will take place on the
earth leading up to the time of the coming of Jesus Christ back to the earth.
Our study of some of these prophecies found in the book of Daniel will reveal
to each student of God's prophetic Word that the events foretold 2,500 years
ago are about to be fulfilled in the near future…
Thank you for reading! Don’t miss next week’s continued
investigation of Daniel’s Devotion…
May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you with His perfect
love, mercy and grace!
Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah
and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!
Blessings!
Shane <><
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