Stuff Michael Meeks is doing

Up early, still dreaming of pipes & grinding the teeth - ceiling still dry - amazing what you take for granted; dealt with H.
Gordon sermon on Daniel 11 - "Tomorrow's News"
- Daniel 11: covers at least a span of 300+ years, in great detail; is it wise of God to give so much detail ? much of it would perhaps have had little commercial use at the time, but a good deal of spiritual use.
- This chapter talks about the future to Ch 12. the resurrection, thus a very restricted summary - not all of time, and locations - Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future - not restricted to just Israel, but also: just the bad news.
- Daniel believed at the end of the 70 years, they would be allowed to return to the land, to serve God & enjoy him forever. However, the message is that back in the land, there would be a captivity in their own land - ruled by foreign lands; not all adversity is punishment, this time of trial to prepare his people.
- This is why it's so necessary to have the resounding comfort, that Israel was not in this alone - the Archangels to help; Michael reads selectively from the 'Book of Truth' - nothing is catching God by suprise. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life,...
- Useful to understand Daniel 11: not a helpful chapter division, added in C13th to help people refer to / discuss scripture, can be terribly misleading. I [ Gabriel ] took my stand to support and protect him - in the spiritual realm, everything is black and white - but on earth, it's ~all grey. Here Gabriel was supporting and protecting a Pagan King - Darius the Mede, in that 1st year - he was inspired to issue a decree to allow Israel to return to the promised land. In 1879 archaeologists made an amazing discovery in Babylon that confirmed this decree - part of a comprehensive plan of Cyrus, to allow all of the formerly exiled people to return to their ancestral homes & every one of them to re-build the temples of their traditional faith. Dubbed, the charter of human rights - giving the freedom of religion. Tragic that the modern Iran has withdrawn that freedom from it's own people.
- From Jerome, the 3 Kings have been identified as Cambisies, Smyrdus, Darius the Great, then the 4th King - Xerxes, (husband of Esther the Queen), Herodotus etc. he was fabulously wealthy - launched the 1st attack against the Greeks. Vs, 3: we jump over 130years & 8 Persian kings who arn't mentioned: inconsequential, no great suffering for the people of Israel. vs. 3 clearly describes Alexander the Great, pwrt. reference to previous chapters. Oliver Stone's 173 minute film: 'Alexander' - scripture gives him just 1 verse. [ simply not that much impact on Israel ].
- Vs. 5-20 - 160 years, given a lot of attention - Israel experienced life as it were in a vice grip; situated between 2 of the 4 empires split from Alexander's conquest; constantly warring in the nomans land over the dog-bone (Israel). 'South' - Egypt - ruled by the Ptolemys, in the 'North' - Syria - the Seleucids. Two periods - to vs 14, the South was dominant, then afterwards the North. Why no names ? they all have the same name: 'Ptolemy', in the North, all 'Seleucus' or 'Antiochus'.
- vs. 6 - apparently they were all poisoned; vs. 7, Seleucus the 2nd, vs. 10 'his sons' - Seleucus the 3rd, etc. remarkable how much modern scholarship is in agreement with this. vs. 11: Ptolemy 4th etc.
- Vs. 14 - Antiochus, establishes himself in the beautiful land - vs. 17 gave her Cleopatra in marriage (the 1st of 7 - we think of the 7th usually). vs. 18 - who is this commander: Scipio - who defeats Antiochus the great - and takes his son as a hostage to Rome; not yet ready to gobble up Israel etc. but takes the Son hostage for 15years - we'd later know as Antiochus Epiphanes.
- vs. 21-49 Antiochus' fortunes: He will be succeeded by a contemptible person who has not been given the honour of royalty - the arch villain marches on. vs. 30 Ships of the western coastland - 'Kittim' - Dead Sea Scrolls - a reference to Rome; the Roman Legate coming with his armies who stopped Antiochus Epiphanes, in his expansionist dreams in Egypt, came out of his boat & drew a circle in the sand around Antiochus Epiphanes, told him he could not step out of that circle under penalty of his life, if he did not give in to the demands of Rome: the ultimatum was that he would stop any further expansion & return home. He did that - but not a graceful looser - he takes it out on Israel, back there, news-casts a bit mixed up - delighted to hear that Antiochus had lost (thought he had lost his life) - a rebellion surfaced in Jerusalem; Antiochus decides he's had it - bound and determined to erradicate, not the people but their faith. No wonder so many verses about him - such malevolence.
- The practical application - what do you do when you have an Antiochus breathing down ones neck; an object of such malevolance etc. are we to fight fire with fire ? get a bigger army (the past verses suggest that doesn't work): no you fight at a different level - with wisdom.
- With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him. - if you know God - your religion is not just a religion but a relationship with the living God: you're not going to be fooled by Antiochus' claims to be God on Earth. Striking coins at the time with the name 'Epiphanies' - the image of Zeus on earth. The coins have the traditional idol of Zeus, with Antiocus' face superimposed.
- By giving enormous bribes, flattery etc. The outcome of a wise life: Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. - most people think that if you're wise you avoid that sort of thing, cut the right deal etc. But not the wisdom of Daniel. God's wisdom often ends with martyrdom, but it is the outcome of it that proves it's wisdom. Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
- He knows the way I will take, when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold - as Job says
- What is the wise response ? E-mails from Pastors in the Ukraine, serving & praying with people in Kiev, in the center of the masses; 'Christians for Truth' etc. He writes: "On a very separate not - pray: the churches are too often silent in their quest for justice - the 1st people protesting in down-town Kiev should have been the Christians - whatever side we're on we should have been demanding fairness, the worst side to be on is the neutral side". There is no Golden Middle - by not taking sides, you are taking a side.
- Dr Henry Beecher - an Army doctor, 1944, 100k allied troops at the beach-head at Anzio - 4,400 troops lost their lives, 18k wounded. Writing about his experiences later - troops with deep lacerations, broken bones, entire missing limbs - waving off (with the other limb) the invitation of a shot of morphine to control the pain. Beecher - a pain specialist, when he got back to Boston, setup a study of similar problems here, to measure their needs for pain relief - their pain could not be controled - while at Anzio they had no pain.
  - Conditioning - Soldiers trained to expect pain - the power of negative thinking - you're not taken by suprise. Daniel is blessing the reader by telling them they're going into a war zone, as we do Be self controlled and alert - your enemy the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour, resist him standing firm in the faith - are we suprised that we have cancer ? are we suprised that we have temptations to infidelity in our marriages ? - or whatever problem that is testing your faith.
  - Congruence - you're not alone - the tragic victim of a car accident in Boston - the only one who has just lost his leg, on the beach of Ansio - all taking fire. No temptation has siezed you, except what is common to man, and God is faithful, he won't let you be tested beyond what you can bear 1 Cor 10
  - Confidence - the circumstances of these terrible afflictions, in some way soldiers percieve that the loss of their sight, leg, blood etc. in some way advanced the cause of liberation in Europe - and so it is for us; I want to Christ and the power of his ressurection, the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, and becoming like him in his death, Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. - Rev 2.
- This is where Daniel 12 ends, the promise of the future. Nothing that is happening, is outside the plan of God. God is working through the sufferings of this life - if we bear the cross, we will wear the crown.

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In case it's not painfully obvious: the reflections reflected here are my own; mine, all mine ! and don't reflect the views of Collabora, SUSE, Novell, The Document Foundation, Spaghetti Hurlers (International), or anyone else. It's also important to realise that I'm not in on the Swedish Conspiracy. Occasionally people ask for formal photos for conferences or fun.

Stuff Michael Meeks is doing

2005-01-03: Monday