"....that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them...." Romans 1:19 NASB®
"....that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them...." Romans 1:19 NASB®
an introductory story on DanielA little over 2600 years ago, a 15 year old boy (approximate age) was kidnapped from his family. He was taken from his country and transported to the place that we now know as Iraq. This boy was kidnapped so that he and some of his friends could serve in the court of an evil dictator, Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon. When he got to Babylon, they did several things to this boy – first Nebuchadnezzar gave him a new name, named after one of his gods. Second, he was trained for 3 years in the language, customs, and religion of the people of Babylon. And third, the king wanted to make this boy and the others with him eat food, some very good food, from the king’s court. All of these things were designed by the king to brain wash this boy and his friends, so that they would be better servants of the king, instead of having allegiances to their old country and to their old religion. The problem was, this boy was a very devout Jew, and he worshipped the True and Living God - not the gods of the Babylonians, or the god Bel after whom the king had renamed him. This 15 year old boy decided to take a stand, and he chose to honor God even though he knew he might be giving up his own life to do so. Instead of eating the non-kosher food that the king wanted him to eat, he chose to honor and follow God, and he did not eat the food that the king wanted him to eat. God honored this decision, and this boy grew up. He served in the courts of at least 4 kings during his life. In fact, through the example of this man, at least two of the four kings that he served, turned from worshipping their own false gods and became worshippers of the True and Living God – the same God that we as Christians worship today. In fact, it was quite possibly through the legacy that this man left, that around 500 years later, several important officials from the east, the Wise Men or Magi, showed up to worship a New Born King – Jesus Christ – when He was born. But that is a different story. So back to the story I’m telling. Now early in the reign of the 4th king, this man was given a very high position, right under the king himself. This made all of the other politicians angry and jealous, and they devised a plan where they tricked the king to sign a law, that for 30 days, no one was to pray to any god except the king. They knew this man, who was now about 80 years old, was so devoted to his God that he would disobey the king, because they knew that this man prayed to his God openly 3 times a day! And they knew from his character that he would not break this habit, no matter what the penalty was. They made the penalty of breaking this law, death! Death by being eaten alive by lions! So as Paul Harvey would say, “Now you know the rest of the story!” I’m sure that by now you have guessed that the man I am talking about is Daniel. I would think most of you know the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den! -- But you don’t know the rest of the story. This summary only gets you through about one-half of the book of Daniel in the Bible. The second half of the book provides detailed prophecies about the various world kingdoms that would follow after the death of Daniel. They contain prophecies about the end of the world. And they contain one of the most detailed prophecies in the Bible about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, about 2000 years ago. To know more, continue your study! |