Flight DAN01 - Part C

Daniel is thrown into a den of lions. You know the story.

Everybody does know the story. So Daniel got a sleepover with the Lion King. It seems that Daniel, I can't prove it, but probably had a pretty good sleep because the lions laid down didn't bother him. So Daniel probably slept.

In contrast to that, King Darius had insomnia. Do you take God at His Word? He's given us many promises in the Bible.

The question is, do you trust Him? Today on Connect with Skip Hi-Tech, Skip shares about a significant event in Daniel's life that will boost your trust in God's promises. Before we begin, here's a resource that will help you lock into the peace that Jesus offers you. So how is your stress level on a scale of 1 to 10? Stress is a thief, a robber of peace and joy. Here's Skip Hi-Tech with a pointed observation. If you don't live with an anchor of faith, you're going to drift in a sea of anxiety. And most people in the world, they don't have anything to anchor.

They have no real grand scheme or purpose in life. We want to help you live with an anchor of faith so you can learn to lean into God in times of anxiety by sending you three powerful resources. Skip Hi-Tech's new booklet, Overcoming an Anxious Mind. His teaching, Worship and the Uncertainty on CD. Plus, The War is Over Worship CD. This bundle is our thanks when you give $35 or more today to help expand the Bible teaching outreach of Skip Hi-Tech. Jesus as Savior brings peace with God, but Jesus as Lord brings the peace of God. Call now to request these three encouraging resources when you give, 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer.

Okay, let's dive into today's teaching. We'll be in the book of Daniel as Skip Hi-Tech begins the study. Nebuchadnezzar's palace was called the Marvel of Mankind. He had hanging gardens to look like a mountain peak because his wife hated Babylon. It was flat desert and so he built a mountain in the city that was watered.

It was one of the wonders of the world and that was where he lived. There's a proverb in Proverbs 6 that says, there's six things God hates. Remember that scripture? Seven are an abomination so God gives you a list of everything he hates.

You do well to memorize that list because you don't want to ever do any of those things on that list. I mean if God hates it, you don't want to do it, right? One of the things God hates is a proud look.

This man was filled with pride and so the tree gets chopped down. Verse 31, while the word was still in the king's mouth, I'm awesome, look at the Babylon, a voice fell from heaven, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you. He was going, I did this and I did that and God is saying, I'm speaking to you and I'm taking this from you. Verse 32, they shall drive you from men and your dwelling shall be with the beast of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen.

Seven times shall pass over you until you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses. Essentially, King Nebuchadnezzar sinks to the level of an animal and he lives outdoors, not like I'm camping out with REI gear outdoors, like a lunatic, like an animal. He had what experts call Insania Zoanthropica. That means he was nuts because he thought he was an animal. And I have been in mental institutions where there are people that I have met that believe there are that they are animals.

Some think that they're a werewolf, some think that they're this or that animal. Nebuchadnezzar thought he was ox man. He acted like an ox, so he's living out in the fields eating grass. Well, he gets humbled. He acknowledges that God is God.

He turns around. It's monumental. He posts that testimony everywhere that there's only one true God. That's the God of Daniel. Now chapter 5, as we're moving along, is famous for supernatural graffiti.

You know what I'm talking about, right? The handwriting on the wall. The year is 539 BC. That's a historic year because that's the year Babylon fell to the chest and arms of silver.

It fell to the Medo-Persian empire. Nebuchadnezzar is dead at this time. This is now his grandson, Belshazzar.

The grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabonidus, this is Belshazzar. He is a party animal. He's having a cocktail party. He's bringing in the vessels, the cups from the temple where they stole them from God's house in Jerusalem.

A lot of alcohol is going on at the party and have you noticed that people say really stupid things when they drink and they do stupid things when they drink. I remember witnessing to a guy who was drunk, I was so proud, I led him to the Lord. I think it was the first person I ever led to the Lord. He was drunk and skunk and he was, and he was praying with me and I thought, that's awesome. I was just so stupid, so naive. I found him the next day. He didn't even know who I was.

Had no recollection of the night before. I do have to say that I did stand in this hall, so this is a very precious scripture to me. I stood in the in the banquet hall of Belshazzar and was pointed out by archaeologists the wall they believe where the handwriting was.

Just an awesome moment to be there. Daniel is in his 80s at this time. Chapter 5 verse 24, Daniel gets brought in because he sees a hand, a man's hand writes something on a wall, mene mene tekel ufarsin. So Daniel says, the fingers of the hand were sent from him and this writing was written. And this is the inscription that was written, mene mene tekel ufarsin.

This is the interpretation of each word. Mene, God has numbered your kingdom and finished it. Tekel, you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Perez, your king them has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. In other words, your number is up, you lightweight.

That's essentially what he's saying. The word mene mene tekel ufarsin means numbered, numbered, weighed, divided. You're a lightweight, God weighed you, you're lighter than fluff, your number is up, you're about to lose it all tonight. At that very moment that Daniel was making this interpretation of the inscription on the wall, the Persians were already inside the gates of the city unknown to Belshazzar. They went through underwater as they diverted the flow of the Euphrates River upstream. They got in, it was up to a man's waist, they weighed it in, hundreds, thousands of soldiers opened the gates so the army was there ready to take the city. So by the time we get to chapter six, Babylon is under new management. Chapter six opens with new management. It is Persian rule, not Babylonian rule.

Darius the Mede is the viceroy of King Cyrus who is in charge, they are joint ruling. Daniel is 87 so he's pushing 90 years old. You might think, boy when you get that old you're ready for retirement home. Not Daniel, Daniel is still fruitful in old age. I love this, such an encouragement. Psalm 1, his leaf also shall not wither.

I may wither, but I'm praying my leaf and the fruit doesn't wither. So Daniel's pushing 90 and he's still going to be used of God in this chapter. Daniel has been promoted in chapter six and all of the people, all the younger guys who didn't get the promotion are jealous about it and they want to see Daniel dead.

They want to see him gone. I mean come on, he's almost 90 years old. Who is this guy? This guy's been around way too long. You know, get the millennials in charge.

Get rid of this old guy. So they try to find a crime to pin on him. They can't. He's flawless.

It's not a crime. He's flawless. It says in this chapter he's a man of just an upright spirit. You can't pin anything on him. So they knew the only thing we can do to get him is to find something in the spiritual realm, something in his devotion to God. So verse five of chapter six, the men said we shall not find any charge against Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God. So they had the king pass a law that you can't pray to any other god but the king.

You got to pray to the king as God for a month, for 30 days. That's the law. You think Daniel's going to obey that law?

Not at all. He went right home after the edict was signed, knowing that it was signed, opened his windows. Everybody could see him toward Jerusalem, bowed down, and worshiped Yahweh. He gets arrested. He gets arrested and Daniel is thrown into a den of lions. You know the story.

Everybody does know the story. So Daniel got a sleepover with the lion king. It seems that Daniel, I can't prove it, but probably had a pretty good sleep because the lions laid down didn't bother him. So Daniel probably slept.

In contrast to that, King Darius had insomnia. He was so worried for Daniel. He was trying to figure out a way to bail him out. He couldn't do it and all sleep went from him. So this reminds me of Peter in the book of Acts who was arrested and it was announced the next day we're going to take you out in Jerusalem and kill you, cut your head off. And it says that Peter was sleeping between two soldiers.

I love that. How do you sleep with soldiers attached to your wrist knowing that tomorrow you're going to be decapitated? How could he do that?

Now you can give me a good answer. Oh, he just trusted God. No, he knew he wasn't going to die tomorrow. Oh no, they said he's going to die. I know, but he knew it's not going to happen. You know how he knew that? Because Jesus said to Peter before Jesus ascended, Peter, when you are old, they're going to take you where you don't want to go, stretch out your arms and kill you.

Peter was still a young man. So when they said you're going to die tomorrow, he said, I'm going to sleep. I'm not dying tomorrow. I've been dying for years. I'm still a young guy.

Wait till I'm old. He had a promise and he rested on that promise. Well, chapter 7 through 12 is that second part of the book. It is an appendix of prophecies that span Daniel's entire career. Chapter 7, as I mentioned, is Daniel's own night vision of the succession of kingdoms. He sees a winged lion, which is an emblem of Babylon. He sees a bear raised on one side, an emblem of the Medo-Persian empire.

It was off balance because one empire was stronger than the other, though they came together in a coalition. The third was a fast-moving leopard and the fourth was a dreadful and terrible beast. Look at chapter 7 verse 17, sort of as a key to unlock it. Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth. By the time we get to chapter 8, we have a conflict between kingdom number 2, which is the Medo-Persian empire, and kingdom number 3, which is the Greek empire. So it's the chest and arms of silver in chapter 2, the bear in chapter 7, against the belly and thighs of brass in chapter 2, the leopard in chapter 7.

Different motifs, same truth. There is a language change in this chapter back to Hebrew. Chapter 1 is written in Hebrew. Chapters 2 through 6 are written in Aramaic.

Beginning in chapter 7 to the rest of the book, it's written in Hebrew again. I'm not going to tell you why. I just like to assign that as homework. How's that? Go have fun with that. But there's a good reason why, and I'll let you find that out. So chapter 8 becomes the historical precursor to somebody who is coming in the future who will be the ultimate persecutor against the Jewish people called the Antichrist.

You follow? One becomes the historical precursor. It's historical to us. It was still prophetic then. It was in the future. All of it was. But this portion is fulfilled.

But it's a precursor of something greater. So it is a vision of a ram and a goat. The ram is the Medo-Persian empire. The goat is Greece. And the kingdom, the second kingdom, Greece, gets divided into four parts.

Let me just give you a snippet. Verse 5, as I was considering, she's seeing this ram and goat, as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the east. He's considering this ram with its two horns. As I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, the area of Greece, across the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground. And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. A horn in the scripture, by the way, is always a symbol of authority. So this goat is moving so fast it doesn't touch the ground. This is turbo goat. The national emblem of ancient Greece was at one time a goat.

So it all fits. A goat with a horn. Verse 8, therefore the male goat grew very great.

But when he became strong, the large horn was broken. And in its place, four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. Now again, we don't have to guess what this is.

We don't have to kind of put some of our own meaning in. Go down to verse 21. The male goat is the kingdom of what? Greece.

It says so. The male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. First king was Alexander the Great. As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation but not with its power. There's a couple things that occurred when Greece met Medo-Persia. Number one, what is remarkable is the speed of victory. A relatively small army, Alexander the Great had 35,000 men, conquered the entire horde of the Medo-Persian empire.

Some of you've seen movies and you know read the books. You know that. Amazing victory. Very, very quick victory.

Very speedy. Alexander the Great was very young and very ambitious and he had a desire to rule the world. By the way, he did that and died at age 33 in Babylon. So the speed of the victory of Greece was amazing.

The second amazing thing was the speed of its breakup. Once Alexander the Great ruled the world, he died shortly thereafter and it immediately broke into four. Why four? Because when he died, they said, well, who is going to take the kingdom? He said, give it to the strong. They interpreted that to mean his four generals by the name of Seleucus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cassander.

Those are the names. They became four empires. Cassander took Macedonia and Greece. Lysimachus took Asia Minor and the kingdom of Thrace. Seleucus took the Asian provinces, especially Syria to the north of Israel, and Ptolemy took Egypt and Israel. And there was always battles between north and the south. King of the north and king of the south. Verse 9.

Out of one of them, I'm not going to go through all the battles. I've done studies on this book in depth, so I'm just going to touch on this. Out of one of them, out of one of the kingdoms, came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. What do you think that refers to? Israel. The nation of Israel. Now this can only be, and it's dealing with that king of the north, the 8th Seleucid king. Remember I mentioned the name Seleucus, one of the generals of Alexander? So Seleucus, his empire was the Seleucid empire.

The 8th king in the succession of Seleucid kings Seleucid kings was Antiochus the fourth or Antiochus Epiphanes. How many of you have ever heard that name? Good. You're Bible students. You've been around.

You know that. Antiochus the fourth reigned from 175 BC to 164 BC during the inner testamental times between the old and the new testament. He reigned. He persecuted the Jews. He tried to assimilate them into the Greek culture. They refused because after all they're Jewish. They're loyal to their God. So he goes to Jerusalem. He kills 80,000 of them, and he takes another 40,000 to 80,000 captive as slaves. He plunders the temple.

He takes unclean flesh, a pig, sacrifices it on the altar of sacrifice in the temple courts. The Jews see that. That's an abomination to them.

Their courts are left desolate because of that. So that becomes what they call the abomination of desolation, historically. It's fulfilled. He did that. And yet Jesus said after that happened, and when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet, which he does predict again happening in chapter 9 of this book. That was done by Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus Epiphanes.

He gave himself a name and he put it on coins. Theos epiphanes. Theos epiphanes, a Greek word, two Greek words that mean God manifest.

You think he had a pride issue? I am God in flesh. I am God manifest. So he called himself that. The Jews did not call him Theos, which means God. They didn't call him Theos, Epiphanes. They called him Epimeneids, not Epiphanes. Epimeneids means the beast or the animal. Antiochus the animal. So got him into trouble.

A lot of them were killed. The Syrian rule gets ended and see I'm looking at the clock because I'm realizing, you know, I did it again. I swore this time I can do Daniel in one fell swoop. So next time we're going to be going through some of the deeper prophecies of Daniel 9 and the rest of the book.

So we'll close it at chapter 8. I apologize. It's hard for me not to drill down.

It really is. But let's close on an up note, shall we? 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev is when a group of freedom fighters in Israel between the Old and the New Testament, called the Maccabees, overturned the Syrian army and drove them out of Jerusalem. They found one cruise of oil. Enough oil that would keep the lamps in the temple in the temple, re-lit, as they would open it back up for service and worship of God for only one day. They put the oil in, they lit the lamps. It lasted through the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day, the seventh day, the eighth day. Lasted eight days miraculously. That's the legend. It's not in Scripture.

It's the story. That miraculously the cruise of oil that lights the menorah in the tabernacle of the temple lasted for eight days. And so that became known as the festival of lights. You know it as Hanukkah. When you hear the name Hanukkah, remember Antiochus Epiphanes and the Syrians were overturned by the Jewish freedom fighters, the Maccabees, on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. And that's what Hanukkah, it's not like a Jewish form of Christmas. It's not like a competing holiday. It's their celebration of the festival of lights. Which, by the way, Jesus celebrated in the New Testament Hanukkah, festival of lights. That also I'm assigning you for homework to find that.

Okay? That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from the series The Bible from 30,000 Feet. Now here's Skip to tell you about how you can keep encouraging messages like this coming your way as you help connect others to God's truth. Simply put, God's word has the power to change lives.

That's why together we're taking these Bible teachings to more people around the world, because we want to see lives transformed. If you've been encouraged by these teachings and have grown closer to Christ through His word, then I want to ask you to give a gift today to help make these teachings available in more places and through more outlets. Your generous gift will help others experience the power of God's life-changing word. Here's how you can do that today. You can give online at connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Or call 800-922-1888.

800-922-1888. Thank you. Tomorrow, Skip Heitzig shares how you can bring the light of Jesus into our dark world. The best course of action is not to try to escape the world, but try to engage the world. That is to try to face it head on, to embrace it in all of its complexity and confusion, to bring healing and love and light and purpose and meaning and hope into this dying world through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.