Thursday, October 10, 2013

Alexander the Great of Greece (Daniel 8:5-9, 21-22)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/10/2013 4:46 PM

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Alexander the Great of Greece

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Dan. 8:5-9, 21-22

            Message of the verses:  “5 While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. 6 He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath. 7 I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power. 8 Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.

            “21 “The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king. 22 “The broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power.”

            This is the third time we have seen the country or empire of Greece in the book of Daniel as we first saw it in the 2nd chapter of Daniel in the great statute of Nebuchadnezzar, then as a leopard in Daniel chapter seven, and now we see it as a ram with a long horn which represents the first king who was Alexander the Great.  One of the things that we can see from these different empires is that the Lord was getting the world ready for the Messiah to come to the earth. Paul writes to the Galatians “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, (Gal. 4:4).”  This is what God was doing when He brought these different empires to come to fruition.  We have heard in earlier SD’s that the word “history” really means “His Story.”  After the Greeks came the Romans with their roads and bridges and laws, and all of this made it possible for the Gospel to be spread throughout the known world.

            Alexander was the man who brought all of the different people’s of Greece into one nation and began a language which was called “common Greek,” and this was the language that was used in the NT times, and the language that the New Testament was written.  He took the best parts of all the different Greek dialects to make this common Greek language and the reason for this was so that he could communicate specific orders to his officers so that they would not be able to misinterpret them.  His father developed a new way of fighting which was called the Macedonian Phalanx system and he used it to conquer the known world, but after that he drank himself to death at the age of 33 in June of 323 BC in the city of Babylon.  He did have a son, but he decided to give his empire to the strong and so he broke it up into four parts giving each part to his generals.  This is exactly what was in the passage that we read in Daniel chapter eight. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that when I read about world history, a subject that I do like, that I did not think of it as being His story too much, but that is the truth, for it is His story.  We saw the empires come together just as prophesied in Daniel’s book which made it possible for the Messiah to come to earth the first time, and now we are seeing the nations align for the second coming of the Messiah just as Daniel prophesied too.  God will keep His Word and no one will stop Him from accomplishing what He desires to accomplish.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Proverbs 3:5-6.

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-7

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, but the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;  3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.  5 Now for this reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your moral excellence, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance godliness, 7 and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “The East” (Matthew 2:1).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who said ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son?’”

Answer in our next SD.

10/10/2013 5:29 PM

 

No comments:

Post a Comment