Category: Daniel

Day 318 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

James 4. Pride promotes strife but humility edifies when it comes from an active faith. ”Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Do not judge a brother, that is God’s domain and do not boast about tomorrow, be humble and recognize that God is in control.

Daniel 12. This chapter deals with the end times. Many have tried to make a final timeline out of this and out of Revelation, but the book is sealed until the time of the end. As Jesus himself said: “Only the Father in heaven knows.” It makes for a very interesting and thought-provoking read.

Psalm 113. This Psalm is part of the “Hallel”, consisting of Psalm 113-118. Two are sung before and three after the Passover meal. It begins and ends with Hallelujah, and praises God how He lifts up the lowly, even the barren woman.

Day 317 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

James 3:13-18. There are two types of wisdom, heavenly wisdom, coming from God and earthly wisdom coming from man and it can even be demonic. Heavenly wisdom produces peacemakers, earthly wisdom, not so much.

Daniel 11 is the Great Prophecy chapter. It contains many prophecies already fulfilled but also many yet to be fulfilled. Read it all, including the comments, carefully!

Day 316 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

James 3:1-12. We can tame a horse, put a bridle in his mouth to control him, steer a ship with a small rudder but we can not tame our tongue. There are two types of wisdom, heavenly wisdom, coming from God and earthly wisdom coming from man; this wisdom can even be demonic. Heavenly wisdom produces peacemakers, earthly wisdom, not so much.

Daniel 9 is all about Daniel’s prayer and the “seventy sevens”. Many have tried to predict the return of Jesus Christ based on this prophesy. So far, all have failed. Even Jesus said he could not predict the day of his return, only that it is imminent. God only knows, and He is not telling. We live in “today” and “today” is the day of salvation.

Daniel 10. Daniel saw a vision of a man. It is described in colorful images, much like the way Jesus Christ is pictured in the book of Revelation. Daniel became completely exhausted, fell asleep and had a dream. In this dream the angel Michael spoke to him and told Daniel about his own struggle and about future events.

Psalm 111. A short, beautiful psalm with this truth: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Psalm 112 like Psalm 111 is an acrostic Psalm, meaning that each line (not verse) begins with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet, starting with Aleph and ending with Taw. It tells of the blessings that follow the man that fears the LORD. Not so for the wicked.

Day 315 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

James 2:14-26. Faith without works is dead. The example is Abraham. The apostle Paul used the same example to show that Abraham was justified apart from works in Romans 4:2-3 “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” This seeming contradiction is solved in Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:Not of works, lest any man should boast.For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Daniel 8 tells of the prophet Daniel’s vision of a ram and a goat, with the two-horned ram representing Media and Persia, and the goat representing Greece.

Day 314 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

James 2:1-13. Do not show favoritism, especially to wealthy or famous people! Love thy neighbour as yourself.

Daniel 7. Daniel’s dream of four great beasts.

Day 313 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

James 1:19-29 is more than any letter a bridge between the Old and the New Testament. It encourages us to be swift to hear and slow to wrath, and above all; be doers and not hearers only of the word, for that is true religion – faith in action.

Daniel 5. This is the famous chapter with the handwriting on the wall: “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin“

Daniel 6. Time passed. Daniel was by then about 80 years old. He was still praying as he always did, three times a day but not to King Darius, and for that he was thrown into the lions’ den. God sent his angel to protect Daniel, so the next morning he was rescued unharmed, but for his accusers, thrown into the same den after Daniel came out it turned out the lions were really hungry.

Psalm 109, of David. Leaving vengeance to God, David prayed for the full measure of God’s vengeance to be poured out on his wicked enemies. He is “poor and needy” and vengeance is God’s business.

Day 312 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

James 1:1-18 is more than any letter a bridge between the Old and the New Testament. It starts out with a greeting to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. It encourages to meet trials with joy, demands the rich to do good and love God even under trials.

Daniel 4 tells in vivid detail Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a tree, Nebuchadnezzar’s fall and restoration.

Day 311 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

Hebrews 13. Show love for each other, be hospitable, practice outreach, honor marriage and be content. But “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Remember, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever”, and we have a heavenly altar, not made with hands, and our sacrifices are sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving, doing good and with joy. This was the last two of the “let us” in the book of Hebrews for a total of fourteen. The theology part ends with “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” This covenant was instituted before time began, that is why modern translations call it the eternal covenant. Finally, I add my personal thoughts on who was the author of the book of Hebrews.

Daniel 3 tells about the image of gold that all had to worship, and the fiery furnace prepared for the three Hebrews that refused. From Sunday School we all know how that went.

Day 310 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

Hebrews 12:14-29. Let us fix our eyes to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. This and four other “let us” in the book of Hebrews bring us to a total of twelve, all intended to teach us how to live and bring us closer to Jesus and in so doing we get disciplined by God for our benefit. But it also comes with the fifth and final warning to us: “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven”

Daniel 2 contains Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and only Daniel could interpret it. Of particular interest is “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.“

Day 309 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

Hebrews 12:1-13. Let us fix our eyes to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Daniel 1. This book is most probably written by Daniel during his life. This has been questioned because of the many, accurate prophesies in it. It begins with Daniel and three other Hebrew children as they are taken into the Babylonian King’s administration as interns, and are given new names. They refuse the non- kosher diet and pass the test.

Psalm 107. God to the rescue. It is a telling of four “saysos” as the Southerners used to say as they called for testimonials in their revival meetings:  “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so“. The Israelites kept getting in trouble and finally cried out to the LORD, and He saved them out of their distresses. This is a remarkably positive Psalm.

Psalm 108, a Psalm, a song of David. Here David repeated parts from Psalm 57 and Psalm 60 and used it to ask for God’s help in his further conquests as he subdued nations around him.