"So You Want to See Miracles?" June 20 Readings: Daniel 5-8
Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2024
This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.
Bible Readings: Daniel 5-8
Background:
The book of Daniel is self-revelatory. Modern liberal scholars are convinced that it cannot have been written by Daniel because of the prophecies made about the kingdoms to come. If Daniel actually wrote the book then it is evidence of the supernatural nature of scriptural prophecy and skeptics cannot accept that. They claim that the book was written after the events took place and that the words were put into the mouth of the prophet Daniel.
The only evidence for this is their lack of faith in predictive prophecy. Those of us who believe in the divine nature of Scripture have no trouble believing that God is the author of the Bible and that he could describe events accurately centuries before they take place.
The only evidence for this is their lack of faith in predictive prophecy. Those of us who believe in the divine nature of Scripture have no trouble believing that God is the author of the Bible and that he could describe events accurately centuries before they take place.
Daily Devotional: So You Want to See Miracles?
Wouldn't it be great if we could see the kind of miracles today that were seen in Daniel's day? Three men were thrown into a fiery furnace and came out unharmed; a hand writes a message to a pagan king on the wall; a man survives in a den of hungry lions - those were some dramatic miracles. We would all love to see that kind of thing in our day.
None of these works of power was done for entertainment value. They were performed in the lives of people who had risked their lives in obedience to God's Word. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood against an entire culture and refused to bow the knee to an idol. They were called before the king who demanded they acquiesce to his demands but refused. They were thrown into a fiery furnace that was intended to kill them. It was then - when they had risked their lives to the point of death in obedience to God - that God stepped in to act in power.
In Daniel 6, Daniel is an old man but still a loyal servant of the king. Darius trusted him and gave him great responsibility, which created jealousy and hatred among others in the palace. They conspired against him to bring him down. These schemers manipulated Darius to sign an edict that only he should be worshiped for 30 days, knowing that Daniel would violate that rule and continue to worship the One True God. Daniel ended up in a den with hungry lions because of his obedience and faithfulness. And God acted in power to preserve the life of the man who acted in faithful obedience to him.
We would all like to see the kind of power God displayed in biblical days when God performed miracles that would leave his people in awe and his enemies in terror. But those miracles were never curiosities. They were performed to accomplish great works and God used obedient people who put their very lives at risk to serve and obey him.
God's great miracles are acts of war in the great cosmic battle and they are experienced by those who are on the front lines of that conflict! It is in the fiery furnace that God's presence is known. It is in the lion's den that God's power is released.
Would you like to see the mighty power of God at work in your life? You will not see it sitting in your easy chair. God doesn't do miracles through spiritual spectators! Present your body to Christ as a living sacrifice and give yourself fully to him and his kingdom's work. When you are on the front lines of the kingdom conflict, you will see the power of God in ways you never will in places of comfort and peace.
None of these works of power was done for entertainment value. They were performed in the lives of people who had risked their lives in obedience to God's Word. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood against an entire culture and refused to bow the knee to an idol. They were called before the king who demanded they acquiesce to his demands but refused. They were thrown into a fiery furnace that was intended to kill them. It was then - when they had risked their lives to the point of death in obedience to God - that God stepped in to act in power.
In Daniel 6, Daniel is an old man but still a loyal servant of the king. Darius trusted him and gave him great responsibility, which created jealousy and hatred among others in the palace. They conspired against him to bring him down. These schemers manipulated Darius to sign an edict that only he should be worshiped for 30 days, knowing that Daniel would violate that rule and continue to worship the One True God. Daniel ended up in a den with hungry lions because of his obedience and faithfulness. And God acted in power to preserve the life of the man who acted in faithful obedience to him.
We would all like to see the kind of power God displayed in biblical days when God performed miracles that would leave his people in awe and his enemies in terror. But those miracles were never curiosities. They were performed to accomplish great works and God used obedient people who put their very lives at risk to serve and obey him.
God's great miracles are acts of war in the great cosmic battle and they are experienced by those who are on the front lines of that conflict! It is in the fiery furnace that God's presence is known. It is in the lion's den that God's power is released.
Would you like to see the mighty power of God at work in your life? You will not see it sitting in your easy chair. God doesn't do miracles through spiritual spectators! Present your body to Christ as a living sacrifice and give yourself fully to him and his kingdom's work. When you are on the front lines of the kingdom conflict, you will see the power of God in ways you never will in places of comfort and peace.
Father, I want to be on the front lines, not on the sidelines, so that I can see your mighty hand of power at work in me.
Consider God's Word:
Are you experiencing the mighty power of God in your life?
Are you on the front lines of spiritual battle, working in God's power to expand the borders of the Kingdom?
Are you on the front lines of spiritual battle, working in God's power to expand the borders of the Kingdom?
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