My Glorious Brothers

One of my favourite novels of all time is Howard Fast's "My Glorious Brothers". It was published in 1948 and it tells the story of the Maccabean revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes IV. As you study Daniel you are reminded that the enemies of God always make war against God's people but you know that their time is only limited. As a matter of fact God knows when that time will come right down to the day. He did says 2300 evenings and days so there is no doubt that He know the time and we can take comfort in that.

A brief description: They were farmers-until the tumultuous events of history caught up with them. Simon, the eldest of five brothers, tells how Judah molded the people of Judea into an army capable of defeating the mighty Greek Battalions. For three decades, the Maccabees carried on the struggle, which, in terms of resistance and liberation, has almost no parallel in human history. It was the first modern fight for freedom, the first victory for religious freedom, and it laid a pattern for many movements that followed. My Glorious Brothers, by the master novelist and historian, Howard Fast (Spartacus, Freedom Road, April Morning), is a powerful recreation of the epic events, still celebrated by Jews the world over as the holiday of Hanukkah.

You also be ready . . .Oswald Chambers

A Christian worker’s greatest need is a readiness to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience has been. This battle is not against sin, difficulties, or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in our service to Jesus Christ that we are not ready to face Jesus Himself at every turn. The greatest need is not facing our beliefs or doctrines, or even facing the question of whether or not we are of any use to Him, but the need is to face Him.

Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This sense of expectation will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious. In other words, we must stop using religion as if it were some kind of a lofty lifestyle-we must be spiritually real.

If you are avoiding the call of the religious thinking of today’s world, and instead are “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2), setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts, you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer. But when He suddenly appears in the work of the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he blocks your sight of Jesus Christ.

Are you ready?

I have heard this question ever since I was a child. we would hear sermons on the Second Coming and we would be challenged to be ready. After all we were told that the Lord could come at any time and we should live in expectancy.
But are we ready to live if the Lord does not come back during our life time? Are we prepared to live through the tribulation period? Being ready is more than being ready for the Lord's return immediately but to be ready to live if He does not come back in our life time.

A Theology of Non-suffering

Only in North America there seems to be the idea that Christians will not go through the tribulation. It only seems natural in the rest of the world. In Daniel 7 we read about the beasts that rule the world. These beasts continue until the close of the age and then the saints will reign with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those that promote the theology that the Christians will not go through the tribulation say that after Revelation 3 the church isn't mentioned but if you read it carefully you will notice that the saints are mentioned over and over again. Arguing from silence is not good Bible study.
Christians in North America are afraid of suffering but those in China, India, the Middle East and so many other countries know what it is like to go through the tribulation, they are experiencing it now.

Side Hill Gouger

Every year around this time of the year one of the biology teachers at the school I taught had a lesson he taught on side hill gougers. He explained that through evolution the cows that grazed on the sides of the hills in Wisconsin grew legs on one side that were longer than the other side so that they could walk and graze easily on the side of the hills. He gave them an assignment that involved using resources from the library. When the students went to the library they found all the resources had been checked out. It wasn't until April 1 that the learned this was just an April Fool's joke.
Daniel saw a creature like a bear that had legs longer on one side. This we believe represented the Media-Persian empire where one was stronger than the other. Eventually the Persians took over from the Medes. This was no April Fool's joke but prophecy.

One World Government

As you study Daniel you cannot help but notice that the kingdoms of all believe that they could be the one world kingdom. Today there is talk about a one world government but all you need to do is watch the the United Nations Security Council. They cannot agree on what to do about Lybia.

Dreams 2

There are two times when dreams occur more often in Scripture and that is during the exile. Both Joseph and Daniel had dreams and interpreted dreams. It could well be that it was during the exile that the scriptures were not available. However we should not make think that it is the usual way that God communicates with people. He has given us His word.

Serving his God

Daniel was a faithful servant. He served when things were tough as a young man snatched from his home, when things went well as he saw Nebuchadnezzar grow in faith, again in bad times when Belshazzar ignored him, and again in better times under Darius. If he was tempted to quit or retire he remembered Who He was serving. Interestingly Belshazzar promised him the position of third ruler in the kingdom but could not deliver but Darius who was tricked into distorting try to destroy Daniel promoted him to number two position.

THe Law of the Medes and the Persians

It is interesting that in Nebuchadnezzar's rule his word was final. At his word people could live or die but in the time of the Medes and the Persians the king's word was not final. The law was the final word.
So what is the final word for the Christian? Is it the law or the Ten Commandments? Is it the sermon on the mount? The final word for the Christian is Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. The Ten Commandments find their completion in Him. It is not "what would Jesus do" but what He has done.

Sleepless in Babylon

In the front of my Calculus text someone had written "printed sominex".
A friend's father used to say that if everyone who slept in church was laid end to end they would be more comfortable.
A student in a seminary class had fallen asleep when he hurt the professor call on him to answer a question. Not knowing what the professor had said he asked the student sitting beside him who told him the professor had asked him to close in prayer. He jumped to his feet and started to pray only to hear his classmates laughing.
The only ones having little trouble sleeping were Daniel and the lions. Darius couldn't wait until morning to see if Daniel was okay. Obviously he must have believed that Daniel's God was able and probably would rescue Daniel.

His only fault

Daniel's associates had a problem, they wanted to discredit Daniel to the king but he was above reproach. They finally decided that if they were going to trap him it would have to be with regards to his religion. His only fault according to them was that he was too religious. Daniel's problem was he prayed and he did that three times a day.
Why do people make such a fuss over not being able to pray in schools? We should first be concerned about prayer in the homes. We even have churches without prayer but we get our prayer shawls in a knot because we cannot pray in schools.

Finishing Well

Keith Price told his family when he learned that he was dying that he had always taught them how to live well but now he was going to show them how to die well. Keith Price finished well as did Daniel. Daniel continued his practice of praying daily even though he had been in exile for seventy years. He finished well. If you want to finish well then you better start well, live well and don't wait until you are near the finishing gate to live well.
By the way, Keith Price is the one standing beside me.

Two Feasts

As I studied Daniel 5 I was struck by the fact that Belshazzar was known only because he gave a party. I couldn't help but think about the fact that there will be another feast at the end of the age. Jesus didn't have the wherewithal to have a party while he was on earth but he will host a party at the end, it will be the marriage supper of the Lamb. We will be there, not because we want to be associated with Belshazzar but because we will be the honoured guests.
It stuck me also as I looked at Daniel how we see the comparison of two in each chapter.
In chapter two we have the two kingdoms; the kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of Christ.
In chapter three we have two world views; the worldly view and the Biblical world view.
In chapter four we have two trees; Nebuchadnezzar that was a beautiful tree and the cross.
In chapter five as I mentioned the two feasts.
Now what about chapter six? I see two tombs with stones rolled in front and two resurrections. I would like to study this idea this week.

One thousand

I began this blog on January 17, 2008 and I never dreamed that I would be now doing my 1000th post. There have been times when I thought of stopping but I was encouraged to keep going, especially by my sons. It does a father's heart great to know that his sons follow him on his blog. They have been a tremendous encouragement to me. So I will continue for awhile longer. I have posted mainly concerning what we are discussing in our adult Bible class but occasionally I wonder from that to do book reports or missions reports. Thank you for reading this.

A pathetic man

Belshazzar was a pathetic man. His forefather, Nebuchadnezzar, was a proud man but he was proud because of his accomplishments. He had forged the most powerful nation on earth, he had built the most magnificent city, he had untold wealth and his word was law. Belshazzar gave a party. That is his only claim to fame.

Daniel 5

I thought Daniel 5 would be an easy lesson to teach. After all it is very unique in that we meet Belshazzar who throws a wild party and then sees the writing on the wall. Before the party is over he is dead and the kingdom is destroyed.
So what is the problem? I cannot help but see the comparison to Daniel 4 and how the judgment on Nebuchadnezzar brought repentance and salvation while the judgment on Belshazzar led to destruction. Daniel seemed to know the hearts of these two men because he gave Nebuchadnezzar the opportunity to repent but he only speaks judgment against Belshazzar.

Quito

Ecuador day 6

Quito

My family loves Quito and after visiting the city I now know why. Quito got into my blood. Let me just give my thoughts about the city.




Most of the days we were there we had cool temperature along with fog and some rain.

On the first day we went up the highest mountain of the mountains around Quito. We took a chairlift to the top but it was foggy and rainy. We were so high up, over 12000 feet, that some of our team had trouble breathing.




The next few days we were busy visiting many different churches but had little time to do sight seeing. Here are some of the pictures of the city including the bull fighting arena.




We did drive through the old city and saw some of the historical churches. These churches stand in contrast with the small churches we visited. The old churches are rich and ornate but dead while the church plants were very poor and primitive but they were alive.




On Saturday we did have time to do some sightseeing. We went to the official sight of the Ecuador.



We then had lunch at a crater but it was too foggy to see anything.

Our next stop was the unofficial sight of the equator where we had the true experience of being on the equator.


Here Paul was able to get his GPS to register the true equator.

A few more pictures of the city.


I would like thank the Bible League of Canada, Bibles for Missions and the Multiplication Network. Thank you Paul and Dale, John and Angela, Juan Carlos and Saara, and a special thanks to Beto.