I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
Many modern Bible scholars hold the opinion that the book of Daniel was written in the time of the Maccabees. Today’s passage helps one see why. In the vision of today’s passage, Daniel gives a fairly good synopsis of the events which will happen in world politics in that part of the world from the time of Cyrus to the time of Antiochus IV. Since this passage is written in the style of apocalyptic literature, I do not put much thought into when this passage was written. The purpose of apocalyptic literature is to communicate that God is in control of events. Political leaders will from time to time arise who convince religious leaders to distort God’s word to support a political agenda. At those times there will be wise leaders who remain faithful and teach others to be faithful to God’s word. However, those wise leaders will often suffer persecution.
John reminds us that, even though we have an intercessor with the Father for those times we do sin, if we continue to sin we belong to the devil, not to God. If we are truly children of God, we will be unable to make a practice of sinning because God’s Spirit is within us. There are two ways that we can tell that we are truly God’s children, we will do what is right and we will love all of our fellow believers. Chances are good that the reason one person will hate another is because that second person makes the first person aware of their sinfulness. If we hate our fellow believers we are no better than murderers.
Jesus showed us what real love was by giving up His life for us. This means that we should be willing to lay down our lives for our fellow believers. It is not enough to say that we love one another, we must show it by our actions. If we have enough and more than enough to meet our daily needs and do not help provide for our fellow believers in need, we do not truly love them. I ask God to help me to show my love whenever the opportunity arises for me to do so. If we do what God asks us to do, He will give us whatever we ask of Him. God asks of us that we love one another, not just in thoughts and words, but in deeds and actions.
Am I truly glad to go to the house of the Lord, to gather with fellow believers to praise Him? This psalm encourages us to pray for peace in Jerusalem and what is best for Jerusalem and I believe that we should do so. However, in this psalm, Jerusalem is also a metaphor for the Church, the Temple of God which He has built out of those who follow and serve Christ. We should pray for peace in the Church and for what is best for the Church, as well.
Those who refuse to accept criticism, who refuse to change their ways after being repeatedly rebuked, will suddenly find destruction coming upon them, with no hope of escape.