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July 18 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 Year
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If you would like to download my FREE calendar for keeping track of your commitment to read the Bible every day, you can find that on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/pages/read-the-bible-in-1-year
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Today we will read about Daniel's visions in Chapters 7 and 8.
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Transcript
Introduction and Materials
00:00:03
Speaker
Hello everybody, today is July 18th. Thank you for joining me for our daily Bible reading. We are going through the Day by Day Kids Bible, written by Karen Henley.
00:00:15
Speaker
And we are also using our commitment calendar, so if you have that, go ahead and take it out and your sticker, and we are getting ready to hear the Bible today. i try to mix it up just a little bit so you can't quite say it along with me.
00:00:33
Speaker
That's for you kids. Maybe by this time you're saying it along with me. And I love that. But i tried to I try to mix it up so you can't quite do it all the way.
Daniel's Prophecies
00:00:45
Speaker
We are picking up in the book of Daniel today. Daniel 7 and 8 is what we are going to be reading. You may remember that Daniel's book is full of prophecy.
00:00:56
Speaker
God gives Daniel a lot of visions. Daniel is ah taking place during the time of the exile to Babylon, and he is working in the Babylonian court.
00:01:08
Speaker
He is now working under a different king, and this name ah the name of this king is Beltesh. Belshazzar. So you may notice that a lot of the names start with Bel, like they gave Daniel a name that started with Bel.
00:01:24
Speaker
And we had Nebuchadnezzar's name did not start with Bel, but a lot of the names to do. And that's because they would be named, ah they would be given names after one of their idols.
00:01:39
Speaker
So I just thought that was interesting that I thought I would point that out. So here we go. ah We're picking up in Daniel 7. These prophecies can be difficult to understand.
00:01:52
Speaker
And they, ah you know, God is so wonderful because he doesn't just give us amazing things. He often explains amazing things and he tells us what he's going to do in the future as we saw when he kept telling the people that he was going to send them into exile if they did not behave properly and change their attitudes.
00:02:16
Speaker
And in here what we are going to be seeing is prophecy about ah closer to the end times and that is what the angel will tell Daniel. So we want to be encouraged. These things can sound very scary, but I want you to keep your ears open for God to be coming up in these prophecies, for God to be in control.
00:02:42
Speaker
So keep your ears open for God.
00:02:47
Speaker
Daniel chapter seven, four big animals. Belshazzar was now king of Babylon. And during the king's first year, Daniel had a dream.
00:03:02
Speaker
He was in bed at night and he saw pictures in his mind. That's called a vision. So he wrote down his dream.
00:03:12
Speaker
I saw four winds from heaven. They made big waves in the great sea. Then four big animals came out of the sea and they were all different from each other.
00:03:26
Speaker
The first animal was like a lion with eagle wings. The next animal looked like a bear. Another animal looked like a leopard with four wings and four heads.
00:03:42
Speaker
The last animal was terrible, scary, and strong. It had iron teeth and 10 horns.
00:03:55
Speaker
I was thinking about the horns. Then I saw a little horn grow up with the others and it pushed three of the first horns out.
00:04:07
Speaker
This little horn had eyes like a person's eyes. It had a mouth and it talked proudly. And I watched.
00:04:20
Speaker
King's thrones were brought in. Then the God of all time sat down. His clothes were as white as snow.
00:04:32
Speaker
The throne he sat on burned with fire. It had burning wheels. A fire river flowed out in front of him.
00:04:44
Speaker
And thousands and thousands served him. 10,000 times 10,000 stood in front of him. The judge and his helpers sat down.
00:04:59
Speaker
Then the books were opened.
00:05:04
Speaker
In my dream, I kept watching. I saw someone like a person. He came with heaven's clouds. He went to see the God of all time. i He was given power and greatness, and all people and all nations worshipped him.
00:05:27
Speaker
His kingdom will last forever. it will never end, and it will never, ever be torn down. so and
00:05:37
Speaker
I, Daniel, was upset. The pictures in my mind troubled me. I went up to someone who stood there and I asked him what the meaning of the special dream was.
00:05:51
Speaker
And he told me the meaning. He said that the four big animals stand for four kingdoms. They will come on the earth, but God's people will get the kingdom.
00:06:05
Speaker
They will have it forever. Yes, forever and ever.
00:06:12
Speaker
Then I wanted to know the meaning of the last animal. It was the most scary. I wanted to know about its ten horns and that little horn.
00:06:25
Speaker
And the man told me that the last animal is a different kingdom. It will eat up the whole earth. It will run over it.
00:06:39
Speaker
The man said that the 10 horns stand for 10 kings and they will come from this kingdom. Then another king will come and he will be different from the others.
00:06:53
Speaker
He will take over from the others, from the three kings, and he will talk against God. He will give God's people a hard time.
00:07:06
Speaker
He will try to change God's special days and laws. He will rule over God's people for a while. But the judge and his helpers will meet together.
00:07:20
Speaker
They will take the different kings power away. They will get rid of him forever. Then God will give the kingdoms to his people.
00:07:33
Speaker
he will give them the king He will give them the kingdom's power and greatness. His kingdom will last forever. All rulers will worship and obey God.
00:07:49
Speaker
This was the end of what I saw. I, Daniel, was very upset. My face lost its color. But I didn't say anything more about it.
Symbolism of the Ram and Goat
00:08:05
Speaker
Chapter 8, A Ram and a Goat Belshazzar had been king of Babylon for three years. Then I, Daniel, had another special dream.
00:08:19
Speaker
I saw myself in a city far away beside a river. There I saw a ram with two long horns. No other animal could stand against it.
00:08:32
Speaker
No one could save others from its power. He became great.
00:08:38
Speaker
All of a sudden, a goat came from the west. This goat had a big horn between its eyes. He pushed the ram with his two horns down to the ground, and the goat with one horn became very great.
00:08:56
Speaker
Then his big horn broke off. Four horns grew where it had been.
00:09:05
Speaker
Another horn came out of the four horns. It was small at first, but it grew until it reached the stars. Then the horn made itself as great as the Prince of the Stars.
00:09:20
Speaker
It pushed down the special Holy Worship House. It pushed truth down too. Then I heard a special Holy Angel talking.
00:09:34
Speaker
Another special holy angel answered, How long will it be before this dream comes true? He told me, It will be 2,300 evenings.
00:09:48
Speaker
It will be 2,300 mornings. Then God's holy worship house will be special again.
00:09:57
Speaker
I tried to understand the dream, and then I saw someone who looked like a man. I heard a man's voice. It said, Gabriel, tell this man what the dream means.
00:10:13
Speaker
He came close to where I stood, but I was scared. I fell down with my face to the ground. Son of man, understand this, he said.
00:10:27
Speaker
This special dream is about the end of time.
00:10:33
Speaker
Now I was sleeping deeply, but he touched me and he lifted me up to my feet. He said, I will tell you what is going to happen.
00:10:46
Speaker
The dream is about the time when the end comes. The goat with the long hair is the king of Greece. The big horn between his eyes is the first king.
00:11:00
Speaker
The four horns that grew up are four kingdoms. They will not be as strong. People will be against them and the people will get mean.
00:11:14
Speaker
Then another king will come and he will have a hard look on his face. He will be very good at planning lies. He will get very strong and he will win at whatever he does.
00:11:31
Speaker
This king will get rid of strong people and holy people. He will lie to get riches and he will think he is the best and people will think they're safe, but he will get rid of many of them.
00:11:48
Speaker
He will stand up against the prince of princes and then the king will be torn down, but not by people's power.
00:11:59
Speaker
The dream about mornings and evenings is true. It's about what will happen a long time from now.
00:12:11
Speaker
And that is the end of our reading today.
00:12:17
Speaker
Daniel was given some amazing visions, some amazing dreams, and he was told that they were true. So we also know that they are true.
00:12:29
Speaker
And God is so gracious to explain to Daniel what it is he was seeing. Some of these events are also corroborated. They are confirmed in Revelation where John was given very similar visions as well.
00:12:46
Speaker
And we will get to those probably. I'm sure that they will talk about those when we get to that ah book, which is at the very, very end of the Bible.
00:12:57
Speaker
So we see that there are terrible things that will come. God tells Daniel that all people and nations will serve Jesus. That is the good thing.
00:13:15
Speaker
Did you see God in there too?
00:13:19
Speaker
God's people will eventually get the kingdom. for forever and ever. But before that happens, terrible things will happen. There will be a king who comes.
00:13:32
Speaker
And now in today's society, we may call that king a country's president. I think not many countries anymore call their leaders kings.
00:13:45
Speaker
We are told that this king, who will be very bad, will talk against God He will take over three kings and he will give God's people a hard time.
00:13:59
Speaker
He will try to change God's special days and laws. What are God's special days? God's special days are the days of Passover and the counting of the Omer.
00:14:17
Speaker
And days like that, those are called the Moedim, the appointed times. We have Yom Kippur that is coming. We have the tabernacle, the feast of tabernacles. Those are God's appointed times.
00:14:30
Speaker
They are called God's special days. So according to the book of Daniel, a king or a ruler will try to change those days.
00:14:41
Speaker
That tells us that those days were still meant to be observed. ah So this is further confirmation that we are meant to continue to observe God's special days.
00:14:54
Speaker
He says that the king will get, ah that they will take the different kings power away. ah The judge, who is the judge? God is the judge.
00:15:06
Speaker
In the big Bible, it calls ah it says his counsel, but here we've worded it as his helpers. The judge and his helpers will meet together and they will take the king's power away and they will get rid of him forever.
00:15:22
Speaker
And then God will give the kingdom to his people and he will give them the kingdom's power and greatness and his kingdom will last forever and all rulers will worship and obey God.
00:15:37
Speaker
So I want to point out that what we talked about yesterday, God's themes repeat and we see the same theme. This gives us confirmation that what God says and does is true and he does not change from one to the next, from one day or from one event to the next.
00:15:58
Speaker
We talked about yesterday that we are on the winning side. God knew that Job would be faithful to him. And so God always sets us up for success, even though it looks like terrible things are happening and bad things are occurring.
00:16:16
Speaker
And we may not understand why these things are occurring. But when these things do occur, when we reach these times, and it may not be in our generation, but for the whatever generation this occurs in,
00:16:29
Speaker
This bad person will overcome and hurt many of the saints. We are the saints. We are God's people. He will hurt and kill and get rid of many of God's people.
00:16:43
Speaker
And people may say, why would God allow this to happen? Why are these things happening? Why didn't God protect them? We read yesterday that God said that all people belong to him.
00:16:58
Speaker
And who are we to say what that God owes anybody anything? God is telling us that bad things will happen. But we also know that at the end, that God will raise up those people who have died for as, oh,
00:17:18
Speaker
I'm drawing a blank on the name, ah martyrs. That's called a martyr when God's people are killed for being God's people. And we know that this person, whoever comes, will be very, very powerful.
God's Ultimate Control and Intervention
00:17:35
Speaker
And he will not be able to be stopped by people. God himself has control. And he will stop this bad person.
00:17:47
Speaker
This person will be so great that people cannot stop him. So it's going to look very, very, very bad. And people are going to say, there is just no way any of this can be stopped. We can't do anything. It looks hopeless. It looks helpless.
00:18:02
Speaker
But God is telling us in advance that while it will look helpless and hopeless and that no person can do it, he alone will do it. And he tells us the same thing with Daniel's second vision, with this other prophecy, where he says that people will be against them.
00:18:26
Speaker
The people will get mean. And Jesus told us as well that in the end times, the love of most will grow cold. So it says people will be against them.
00:18:39
Speaker
The people, meaning against God's people. The people will get mean and then another king will come and he will have a hard look on his face and he will be very good at planning lies.
00:18:51
Speaker
He will get very strong and he will win at whatever he does. So he's going to look very successful. And he says that this king will get rid of strong people and holy people.
00:19:04
Speaker
So it will look terrible. It will look like he he's just successful at everything he does. God already tells us in advance. He will succeed. But we need to remember who is in control.
00:19:18
Speaker
God is in control. it Daniel is told that this king will think he is the best and people will think that they are safe. But he will get rid of many of them.
00:19:32
Speaker
This awful person will get rid of many good people and people may be tempted. Believers may be tempted to say, how could God do this? How could God let these people be killed?
00:19:45
Speaker
But God is telling us in advance that this will be the case and God will stand up.
Encouragement and Faithfulness
00:19:54
Speaker
He says, oh, this King will stand up against the Prince of princes who is Jesus.
00:20:00
Speaker
And then the king will be torn down, but not by people's power. So again, it will the battle belongs to the Lord. And that is our big application today is to see that still, even though things may look terrible, horrible, horrible things could be going on.
00:20:21
Speaker
But you need to remember that God is still always in control. And God does allow these things to happen for a time. And then when it looks like everything is helpless and hopeless, he will show that he is powerful and nothing is impossible for him.
00:20:40
Speaker
And he will strike down that king. We are on the winning side, even if it means going to our death as Jesus went to his death in order to bring us life.
00:20:54
Speaker
Jesus obeyed God even to death, and he is our great example of how we are to behave and maintain our faith, no matter what, that we not turn away from God, that we are firm like Job and like Jesus, that we not be tempted to speak poorly of God,
00:21:14
Speaker
and that we stand firm in our faith. so that And Jesus tells us at the end, ah we've read about that, that in Revelation, when Jesus is giving the warnings to the different ah cities.
00:21:30
Speaker
He tells them that to those who who are stand strong in the faith, to them, he will give the crown of life. And that those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, let them hear and let them see.
00:21:47
Speaker
So Jesus tells us, he says, And then he tells the next one, And again says,
00:21:54
Speaker
which is in the paradise of god and then he tells the next one the one who overcomes shall never be harmed by the second death and again he says I will, to he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messiah's communities.
00:22:13
Speaker
To the one who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and written on the stone a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.
00:22:31
Speaker
Jesus says, then all of Messiah's communities will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your deeds.
00:22:44
Speaker
He who has an ear, even as I have received from my father, so I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to Messiah's communities.
00:22:56
Speaker
And in the same, so this is just like Job. where Job, in after he was faithful, God gave him twice as much as what he had before.
00:23:08
Speaker
But he did have to suffer, and he did have to go through those trials. In the same way, we as God's saints will have to go through hard times. But Jesus has promised that for those who hold fast and overcome, he has given us many promises of rewards.
00:23:27
Speaker
So we will be granted so much more than what we have here on earth. We are not to love our life so much so as that we are to deny him, but to be maintained faithfulness to him.
00:23:42
Speaker
So there was a lot in today's ah reading, don't you think? But again, God always gives us encouragement and positive outcome.
00:23:53
Speaker
And he tells us that he is in charge. and he will win. And we too are able to overcome and be strong and be faithful. Even though it may be hard, God has set you up for success.
00:24:07
Speaker
So you can do it. Whoever is alive during this time, when these times come and comes across these readings, let us share this event and help others to be aware so that we can spread the word about reading God's word.
00:24:22
Speaker
And so that people will see those lights and say, hey, what was what were people reading and writing about before this happened? And God will lead those who need to hear this message at the time.
Conclusion and Gratitude
00:24:35
Speaker
So thank you for joining me today. Thank you for clicking that light button. Thank you for sharing this and spreading the word about reading God's word. I hope you have a fantastic stick rest of your day. And remember that you are set up for success by our wonderful, great, and loving, holy, all-powerful, nothing is impossible for God.
00:24:57
Speaker
And I will be here for every everyone again tomorrow.