SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2013
8:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
True Faith Confirms the Promises
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel
3:26-30
Message of the
verses: 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of
the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, "Shadrach, Meshach and
Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!"
Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire. 27 The satraps, the prefects, the governors and
the king’s high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that
the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head
singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come
upon them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar responded
and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has
sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating
the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship
any god except their own God. 29
"Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that
speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego
shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap,
inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way."
30 Then the king caused Shadrach,
Meshach and Abed-nego to prosper in the province of Babylon.”
Before I get started on this section of Scripture I want
to insert a quote from John Macarthur that he gave in one of his two messages
on the third chapter of Daniel and then I want to also insert his outline for
this third chapter. “Our decisions, our
attitudes and our behaviors are determined by one of two things: external pressure or internal principle. And the battle is going on all the time in
our lives between these two conflicting items.
And we’re very good at self-justification so a lot of times when we
succumb to external pressure we define it as internal principle. But basically we have to come down to that
bottom line. Do we do what we do, say
what we say and act the way we act because we have convictions about it or because
we feel the pressure coming from the outside?
And are our convictions somewhat altered by whatever pressures are
brought to bear upon us? There are times
when I’m in a situation where it I say what I believe I’ll alienate a lot of
people and I face that same bottom line.
Do I say what I believe based on internal principle or do I succumb to
the external pressure and let them hear what they’d rather hear?”
The following is the outline that is given by John
MacArthur: “The flow of the text is a
narrative text and it flows from the ceremony to the command to the conspiracy to the coercion to the courage, the consequences,
the companion and the
commendation.” As this outline goes we are in the last
section in today’s SD, “the commendation.”
Dr. Wiersbe poses a question as to why this story was
included in the OT Scriptures. Romans
15:4 does give an answer to this question:
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning,
that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Stories like this will also increase our
faith as we go against the world the flesh and the devil.
Encouragement in
Daniel’s Day: As we look at the
prophets from the OT we can read that the captivity by Babylon was going to
happen, and this was a great discouragement to the Jewish people. As they begin to hear of how the Lord had
saved these three young men from the fiery furnace then it would bring hope to
them, hope that their God was still on the throne and in spite of their disobedience
to the Lord, He was still working in their lives as seen through this great miracle.
Encouragement in
our day: Dr. Wiersbe writes on the
coming persecution during the end times:
“As we move toward the end of the age, the furnace of opposition will be
heated seven times hotter and the pressure to conform will become stronger and
stronger. It will take a great deal of
grace, prayer, courage, and faith for God’s people to stand tall for Christ
while others are bowing the knee to the gods of this world. The book of Daniel is a great source of
encouragement, because it reminds us that God cares for His people and honors
them when they are true to Him. ‘Them
that honor me I will honor’ (1 Samuel. 2:30).”
Encouragement for
the future: If we fast-forward to
the future and look at what will happen during the tribulation period,
especially in Revelations chapters 13-14 we will see that there will arise a
man who the Bible calls Antichrist, and he will make a statue and cause all
peoples to worship it or they will be persecuted. Many will worship the statue and also the
beast as recorded in Revelations, and those who follow this will receive a
number on their foreheads or on the back of their hand, and that number is
666. Many believe that it will be a
small microchip that will be inserted under the skin and that chip will be used
to track the people who have it and also they will use it to buy and sell
things as it will be somehow hooked up to the banks of that day. Dr. Wiersbe has an interesting footnote tying
in the statute of Nebuchadnezzar with that of the number given in Revelations. “The
‘number’ of this world leader, the Beast, is 666 (Rev. 13:18), and
Nebuchadnezzar’s image was sixty cubits high and six cubits wide. Six different musical instruments are also
named (Dan. 3:5, 7, 10).”
The really good news as far as what will happen during
this “tribulation” period is that those who are true believers in Jesus Christ
will not have to go through this time: “’Because
you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour
of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test
those who dwell on the earth.’” (Rev.
3:10) Jesus spoke these words to the
church at Philadelphia, the faithful church that was suffering persecution, and
I believe that this is a picture of what will happen to the entire Church, as
it will be taken out of the world before the tribulation begins. “13 ¶
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are
asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of
the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will
not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16
For the Lord
Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel
and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so
we shall always be with the Lord. 18
Therefore comfort one another with these words (1Thes. 4:13-18) “51
¶ Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we
will be changed. 53 For this
perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on
immortality. 54 But when this perishable
will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on
immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS
SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 "O
DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of
sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:51-57).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I realize that I
have used many quotes in this SD today, but I wish to make one more, and it
also comes from John MacArthur’s sermon on this chapter and has to do with courage. The following story is about Studdart Kennedy
who was a poet and also an army chaplain during WWI. He writes “The fist prayer I want my son to
learn to say for me is not – God, make Daddy brave and if he has hard times to
do, make him strong to do them. Life and
death don’t matter, my son, right and wrong do.
Daddy dead is Daddy still. But
Daddy dishonored before God is something too awful for words. I suppose you’d like to put in a bit about
safety too and Mother would. Well, put
it in afterwards, always afterwards for it doesn’t matter nearly as much.” Daddy dead is Daddy still!
My Steps of Faith for Today: I pray for strength to have the courage to
accomplish what the Lord has for me to accomplish today for Him.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Cor. 5:17-18
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creature; the old things passed away; behold, the new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who
reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Darius” (Daniel 6:16)
Today’s Bible
Question: “Of what country was Hezekiah
king?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
5/11/2013 10:08 AM
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