Sept 22

I put an addendum on yesterday's blog and if you receive this by eamil or don't visit our Chronological Bible site, you may have missed it. If you follow the link that I posted, it takes you to a site by endtimepilgrim and there is a youtube video that helps explain Daniel's 70 sevens and a how it fits exactly with Jesus presenting himself as Messiah. I tried to watch the other associated videos and got on some weird ones (you tube just throws all 'associated videos' together). So, if you watch it, and I reccomend that you do, make sure you stay on the Gavin Finley ones. It's been suprisingly difficult to find a theologially sound site to link to. I checked out all this guys doctrinal statement and went to his bio. I feel it is all sound. Here is a link that puts all the 70 Seven videos in order (bottom of the page) http://endtimepilgrim.org/70wks1.htm
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I just love Daniel (my son and the book :)! He had lived through all these rulers, had been shown these awesome visions, read that captivity was about to end and had been shown the end of times. Ah, Jerusalem will be restored....maybe in his lifetime....maybe he will return himself......in any case just a few more years of this Babylon nonesense........smooth sailing from here.........NOT!! The unchangable decree comes down-anyone who prays to any god but the king will be thrown in the lions den. Hey- that wasn't the plan!

We don't have any experience with unchangable decrees. Any law can be bent, broken, changed or rewritten in our modern culture -even the 'unchangable' ones (like royals are not allowed to divorce).  But in these days a king could not even change his own decree. Daniel knows that nothing is going to get him out of this. There will be no last minute appeal or pardon.  So......he panics and starts praying in secret. NOT. He does what he's always done....prays three times a day toward Jerusalem. If the prayer we read yesterday is any indication, he is a powerful intercessor. I tend to think that he was praying that same type of prayer of confession of national and personal sin that he had done previously. I would have been temped to start out something like, "hey you remember my buddy Gabriel? If he's not too busy.....could you send him to me again?? I'm in a tough stop here!!"

I think this comes in a fitting place after talking about beasts and empires and tribulation and end times. It can be easy to be frightened by it all. But Daniel trusted God and the God he served shut the mouth of the beasts. Not a wound was found on him. And in the end, the ones who are indeed devoured by the beasts (lions in this case) are the ones who tried to harm him in the first place.