DANIEL 11:5-35
AT ALEXANDER'S SUDDEN DEATH
HIS FIGHTING GENERALS TOOK COMMAND
BUT ONLY TWO CAME INTO VIEW
BECAUSE OF ISRAEL AND THE JEW.
AS DANIEL TOOK A SECOND LOOK
THE BATTLE LINES WERE QUICKLY DRAWN
BETWEEN THE KINGDOM OF THE NORTH
AND EGYPT'S KINGDOM TO THE SOUTH.
A RAPID GROUP OF PHOTO APPS
ARE SEEN DEPICTING BATTLES FOUGHT
BETWEEN THE MEN OF PTOLEMY
AS VERIFIED FROM HISTORY.
SELEUCID KINGS WHILE MARCHING SOUTH
ENGAGING WARS AGAINST THEIR FOE
WOULD OFTEN CONQUER JEWISH LAND
ENSLAVING ALL IN THEIR COMMAND.
BUT ONE WHO STANDS ABOVE THEM ALL
THE LITTLE HORN OF DANIEL EIGHT
REVEALS A MADMAN WITH DECEIT
WHOSE SUBTLE SCHEMES COULD NOT BE BEAT.
THIS KING, ANTIOCHUS THE FOURTH
WHO NAMES HIMSELF EPIPHANES
COMPELLED THE JEWS TO CHANGE THEIR LAW
BY OFFERING SWINE, THE CURSE OF ALL.
AS HELLENISTIC CULTURE SPREAD
WITH PAGAN RITUALS TAKING PLACE
THE TEMPLE MOUNT WHERE YAHWEH DWELT
BECAME THE PLACE WHERE ZEUS WAS FELT.
BUT MATTATHIAS, PRIEST OF GOD
CONDEMNED THE BREAKING OF THEIR LAWS
AND SOON A REVOLUTION SPREAD
BY JUDAS MACCABEAN LED.
THE WARS THAT DANIEL SAW THAT DAY
FULFILLED PRECISELY HISTORY'S CHART
BUT VIDEO SCENES THAT NEXT APPEAR
WERE SEALED UP FOR A FUTURE YEAR.
B. Pent
DANIEL 11:1-4
AS DANIEL ROSE TO VIEW THE SCENES
FROM GOD'S PRE-WRITTEN HISTORY COURSE
HE STOOD AMAZED AT WHAT HE SAW
THE FINAL WARS THAT END IT ALL.
THE HUB OF ALL PROPHETIC TRUTH
SURROUNDS THE PROMISE YAHWEH MADE
TO ISRAEL, THEIR ETERNAL HOME
SO SCATTERED JEWS CAN CALL THEIR OWN.
THE FIRST BRIEF CLIP TELLS OF FOUR KINGS
THAT SPRING FROM PERSIA'S RULING CLASS
CAMBYSES, SON OF CYRUS CAME
WITH PSEUDO-SMERDIS NEXT TO REIGN.
THEN DARIUS WHO USURPED THE THRONE
BY CLAIMING PROOF OF ROYAL BIRTH
ALLOWED THE JEWS THE TEMPLE WALLS
TO FINISH WHAT THAT PROMISE CALLS.
THEN XERXES WITH HIS WEALTH AND POWER
DESCRIBED IN ESTHER AS HIS QUEEN
INVADED GRECIAN STATES WITH FORCE
COMPLETING PROPHECY'S FIRST COURSE.
THE VERSES END BY POINTING OUT
A MIGHTY KING OF GRECIAN BIRTH
WHO'S CONQUERING POWER LIKE MIGHTY STEEDS
WERE MARKS OF ALEXANDER'S DEEDS.
--B. Pent
Daniel 10
THE END OF LIFE WAS NEAR AT HAND
THE RACE FOR DANIEL SOON WOULD END
BUT WHILE HE WALKED THE TIGRIS SHORE
THERE WAS ONE FINAL SCROLL HE BORE.
THE VISION THAT THE PROPHET SAW
INCLUDED FORCES NEVER SEEN
BETWEEN ARCH ANGELS FROM GOD'S THRONE
AND SATAN'S DEMONS ALL UNKNOWN.
FOR THREE WHOLE WEEKS THE PROPHET PRAYED
IN DEEP DISTRESS HE COULD NOT EAT
FOR ISRAEL'S FUTURE WAS MADE PLAIN
DESTRUCTIVE NATIONS WERE TO BLAME.
BUT THEN APPEARED THE SON OF MAN
AS LIVING PROOF HE WAS THE LORD
THEN GABRIEL TOUCHED THE PROPHET'S EYES
AS HE LOOKED ON IN GREAT SURPRISE.
THE PRINCE OF PERSIA TOOK HIS PLACE
CONTROLLING ALL THE HUMAN RACE
BUT WHEN THE PRINCE OF GREECE APPEARS
DEMONIC FORCES RAISE WORLD FEARS.
BEHIND THE VEIL FROM HUMAN VIEW
THE BIBLE WARNS OF SATAN'S PLAN
WHERE DEMON POWERS ARE IN CONTROL
ENSLAVING NATIONAL LEADER'S SOUL.
YET EVEN GABRIEL COULD NOT WIN
WHEN FACING PERSIA'S RIVAL PRINCE
BUT WHEN THE ANGEL MICHAEL CAME
THAT DEMON FLED IN YAHWEH'S NAME.
NOW LIKE A VIDEO ON REPLAY
RECORDING HISTORY'S FUTURE, NOW
THE PROPHET VIEWED THE JEWISH RACE
WHEN KING MESSIAH TAKES HIS PLACE.
--B. Pent
Life is the mysterious gift God gives each of us. Like summer flowers, life comes in all sizes, colors and fragrances. The sunlight that dispels shadows also reveals color and affects taste. For some, blooms scarcely appear and quickly vanish. For others, winter frost terminates their existence. Solomon reminds us that there is "a time to be born and a time to die." Yet in between, our concept of eternity is reflected by the quality of our lives and the effectiveness of our witness.
While at supper in Bethany six days before Passover, Mary took a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume, and poured it on Jesus' feet, wiping them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of this perfume (John 12:2,3). This humble act was an expression of Mary's love for Christ. But it also symbolized Christ's poured out love for us from Calvary. As spikenard is squeezed from the heart of a flower, so the crushed life of Jesus issued forth a fragrant love that touches us today. We often forget that God uses crushing trials to develop Christian character.
In writing to the Corinthians, Paul reminds us that our lives distill the sweet odor of Christ wherever we go (2 Cor.2:15)with the resulting invitation to "taste and see that the Lord is good." A fragrant life will issue into fruitful service! So, what kind of fragrance is issuing from your life? That is a good question to ponder as we walk down the corridors of this new year!
THE NEW YEAR LIES BEFORE US
THE SIGNS SPEAK LOUD AND CLEAR
THE END-TIME IS UPON US
THE CHOICE YOU MAKE IS HERE.
THE PROPHETS TELL OF TROUBLE
OF NATIONS IN DISTRESS
WITH WAR AND FAMINES GROWING
OF DEATH AND LONELINESS.
TEN NATIONS, DANIEL TELLS US
WILL FORM A SINGLE HEAD
AND ONE WILL TRY TO CHARM US
BY RISING FROM THE DEAD.
THE BEAST WILL FORM A TREATY
WITH JEWS AND ARABS, TOO
AND ALL THE WORLD WILL WONDER
"CAN LASTING PEACE BE TRUE?"
THEN FROM THE TEMPLE THRONE
THE ANTI-CHRIST WILL SPEAK
AS ARMAGEDDON FORCES
AROUND JERUSALEM MEET.
THE SUN WILL THEN GROW DIMMER
THE MOON WILL HIDE ITS FACE
AS ANGELS POUR OUT JUDGMENT
UPON THE HUMAN RACE.
A CHOICE DEMANDS AN ANSWER
YOU CANNOT NEUTRAL BE
IT'S EITHER CHRIST OR SATAN
THAT MARKS YOUR DESTINY.
--B. Pent
What was it like watching him pray?
How did he respond when he saw other kids giggling during the service at the synagogue?
When he saw a rainbow, did he ever mention a flood?
Did you ever feel awkward teaching him how he created the world?
When he saw a lamb being led to the slaughter, did he act differently?
Did it ever occur to you that the God to whom you were praying was sleeping under your own roof?
Did he have any friends by the name of Judas?
Did you ever scold him?
Did he ever have to ask a question about Scripture?
Did he ever get angry when someone was dishonest with him?
Who was his best friend?
When someone referred to Satan, how did he act?
Did you ever accidentally call him Father?
What did he and his cousin John talk about as kids?
Did his other brothers and sisters understand what was happening?
Did you ever think, That's God easting my soup?
--Max Lucado
"God. O infant-God. Heaven's fairest child. Conceived by the union of divine grace with our disgrace. Sleep well. Bask in the coolness of this night bright with diamonds. Sleep well, for the heat of anger simmers nearby. Enjoy the silence of the crib, for the noise of confusion rumbles in your future. Savor the sweet safety of my arms, for a day is soon coming when I cannot protect you.
Rest well, tiny hands. For though you belong to a king, you will touch no satin, own no gold. You will grasp no pen, guide no brush. No, your tiny hands are reserved for works most precious:
to touch a leper's open wound,
to wipe a widow's weary tear,
to claw the ground of Gethsemane.
Your hands, so tiny, so tender, so white--cluched tonight in an infant's fist. They aren't destined to hold a scepter nor wave from a palace balcony. They are reserved instead for a Roman spike that will staple them to a Roman cross.
Sleep deeply, tiny eyes. Sleep while you can. For soon the blurriness will clear and you will see the mess we have made of your world.
You will see our nakedness, for we cannot hide.
You will see our selfishness, for we cannot give.
You will see our pain, for we cannot heal.
O eyes that will see hell's darkest pit and witness her ugly prince...sleep, please sleep while you can.
Lay still, tiny mouth. Lay still mouth from which eternity will speak. Tiny tongue that will soon summon the dead, that will define grace, that will silence our foolishness. Rosebut lips --upon which ride a starborn kiss of forgiveness to those who believe you, and of death to those who deny ou--lay still.
And tiny feet cupped in the palm of my hand, rest. For many difficult steps lie ahead for you. Do you taste the dust of the trails you will travel? Do you feel the cold sea water upon which you will walk? Do you wrench at the invasion of the nail you will bear? Do you fear the steep descent down the spiral staircase into satan's domain? Rest, tiny feet. Rest today so that tomorrow you might walk with power. Rest. For millions will follow in your steps.
And little heart...holy heart...pumping the blood of life through the universe: How many times will we break you? You'll be torn by the thorns of our accusations. You'll be ravaged by the cancer of our sin. You'll be crushed under the weight of your own sorrow. And you'll be pierced by the spear of our rejection.
Yet, in that piercing, in that ultimate ripping of muscle and membrane, in that final rush of blood and water, you will find rest. Your hands will be freed, your eyes will see justice, your lips will smile, and your feet will carry you home. And there you'll rest again--this time in the embrace of your Father."
---Max Lucado
