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. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     Daniel was reading the scripture when he read Jeremiah’s prophecy and realized the time for Jerusalem to be abandoned was almost complete. He began to fast and pray. He acknowledges that God’s judgment on the people of Israel and Jerusalem was just and righteous. Daniel confessed his own sins and those of his people. He then prayed for God to restore Jerusalem, not for the sake of the people of Israel or because of their righteousness, but in order to glorify God’s name. Daniel did not request this on the basis of either himself or the people of Israel deserving it, but on the basis of God’s mercy.
     Daniel records that the angel Gabriel came to him with a message. The message is very cryptic, containing references to seventy sevens and sixty-two sevens. The passage does not tell us if those “sevens” are days, weeks, months, years, or some other unit. What it does tell us is that the Anointed One will come after Jerusalem is restored. The Anointed One will die without seeming to accomplish anything. Then a ruler will arise who will destroy Jerusalem and the Temple again. This is a clear prophecy of the first century to me. Jesus was born and lived His life. He died without seeming to accomplish anything. A generation after His death (more or less) a Roman emperor attacked and destroyed Jerusalem, including the Temple.

     John writes that we are in the end times. We have heard that “the Antichrist” is coming in the end times. John tells us that there is not one antichrist, but rather many and they are already among us. There are those who have gone out from the Church and preach against it. John tells us that if they belonged to God’s Church, they would not have gone from it. This is a difficult statement because not all Church splits (even ones that create new denominations) involve people who deny the true Christian message. Fortunately, John tells us how to recognize when someone has gone beyond just a personality conflict run amuck to the point of being an antichrist.
     John tells us that he did not write to us because we do not know the truth but rather because we know the difference between truth and lies. Anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ (Anointed One) is a liar. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is a liar. If you deny the Son, you will not have the Father. Anyone who falls into any of these categories, falls into all of them and is an antichrist. We have received the Holy Spirit who will teach us what is true. We need to remain in fellowship with Christ the Son and by doing so we will be in fellowship with God the Father. It is not written here, but I believe it is consistent with John’s writing here. Any religious group that has “scripture” which supersedes what is written in the Bible has left the Body of Christ.

     I can look to the mountains, but that is not where my help comes from, my help comes from the Lord. He watches over me and will not let me stumble or fall. God does not slumber or sleep. He watches by day and by night. There is never a time when He is not watching over me to protect me from danger. He watches me when I am at home and when I am away, when I am in one place and when I travel. This is both a blessing and a warning. It is a blessing because it means that God is always there to keep me from harm. It is a warning because it means that God is always there to see when I do what I ought not do. Of course, that second part can be a blessing as well because I will be happier if I never do what I ought not do.

     Those who give to the poor will have plenty, those who try to pretend that the poor do not exist will be cursed. Oh Lord help me to find the time and resources to help the poor. Show me how to change my life so that I have more to help those with greater need than myself.