Jesus: The Deliverer

When I was a kid growing up, at some point a cat “adopted” us. What I mean by this is that this cat consented to let us admire it, pet it, and give it the free reign of our property. The cat had no tags but was actually a very pretty cat, and as most cats do, it took very good care of itself. I was somewhat indifferent to it until I realized that my mom didn’t like it, and at that point I became much more interested, and even, you could say, a “fan” of that cat.

One reason my mom didn’t like the cat is that it wanted free reign not only of our property, but of our house. When my mom would be carrying groceries into the house, the cat would try to run in. Well, my mom would have nothing to do with that, and so she decided to start spraying the cat with a water hose when it came around. The cat did not like that at all. And for a while it seemed that things had more or less settled down – the cat ran away when it saw my mom, but when it was just the rest of our family outside, the cat would happily walk between our legs and consent for us to give it a gentle scratch at just that place behind the ears which would make it loudly purr.

Out from the Tomb

Daniel 6

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing in on Chapter 6. To begin, I want to give a bit of a recap of where we have been.

Daniel was a Hebrew, an Israelite, who lived in Israel during his childhood years at a very turbulent time in Israel’s history. For generations, even going all the way back to Moses, God had warned that His promises of blessings on Israel were conditional on the people remaining true and faithful to God, practicing His commandments and decrees, and refusing to worship false gods. Over the centuries, Israel had strayed farther and farther away from God, and at last, God’s warnings were coming to pass. Removing His protection, God now began to allow foreign nations to attack into the heart of Israel, including Jerusalem, and take apart the nation piece by piece.

The Human Hand

Daniel 5

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing in on Chapter 5. I want to start today by giving you a reminder of what has happened in the first 4 chapters.

The history of the Israelites in the Bible is not a pretty one. From the days of Moses until the fall of Israel, times in which the people worshiped God and obeyed His commandments were the exception rather than the rule. Finally, after nearly continuous warnings from prophets, people God spoke to directly to warn them to change or else witness the fruit of their forsaking Him, it really happened. God raised up Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and turned the nation of Babylon into the strongest, largest, most terrifying empire the world had ever known. Syria, Phoenecia, Tyre, and even Egypt were overwhelmed and absorbed into this empire. And the tiny nation of Israel, just a dot on the map compared with some of these other nations, lost God’s protecting hand and was overtaken as well. God’s presence left the Temple made by Solomon, and the Temple was looted and destroyed. 

Message from Heaven

Daniel 4

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing in on Chapter 4. To get started, let me remind you of the highlights of Chapters 1 through 3.

Recall that God had used prophets in Israel to warn them that unless they changed from their wicked ways, unless they stopped rejecting and forsaking Him, He would allow foreigners to come in and overtake the land, effectively putting an end to the nation of Israel. Some of her people would be killed in the process, and others would become captured and taken away to other lands to serve as servants and slaves under foreign kings who worshiped foreign gods. And this is exactly what happened.