we have sinned against you

Posted on July 19, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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we have sinned against you

Daniel 9:3-15 (JDV)

Daniel 9:3 So I turned my attention to Yahveh God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Daniel 9:4 I prayed to Yahveh my God and confessed: Ah, Lord – the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands –
Daniel 9:5 we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commands and ordinances.
Daniel 9:6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, fathers, and all the people of the land.
Daniel 9:7 Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but this day public shame belongs to us: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel– those who are near and those who are far, in all the countries where you have banished them because of the disloyalty they have shown toward you.
Daniel 9:8 Lord, the public shame belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, and our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
Daniel 9:9 Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him
Daniel 9:10 and have not obeyed Yahveh our God by following his instructions that he set before us through his servants the prophets.
Daniel 9:11 All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him.
Daniel 9:12 He has carried out his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of the sky.
Daniel 9:13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of Yahveh our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth.
Daniel 9:14 So Yahveh kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for Yahveh our God is righteous in all he has done. But we have not obeyed him.
Daniel 9:15 Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and made your name renowned as it is this day, we have sinned, we have acted wickedly.

we have sinned against you

What a prayer of repentance! Daniel acknowledges the sin of his nation along with the righteous judgment from God. He does not plead for God to reduce the suffering, because God is the judge who has brought it about as a just sentence.

LORD, nothing is happening that we do not deserve, because our sins are great, and you are fair in punishing us for them. Restore us for your name’s sake.

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understood from the books

Posted on July 18, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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understood from the books

Daniel 9:1-2 (JDV)

Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans –
Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of Yahveh to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.

understood from the books

There are 66 books that you and I need to understand. God has revealed himself and his plan in them. We ignore them to our peril and shame.

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the burden of knowing

Posted on July 17, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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the burden of knowing

Daniel 8:18-27 (JDV)

Daniel 8:18 While he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me, made me stand up,
Daniel 8:19 said, “I am here to tell you what will happen at the outcome of the time of wrath, because it refers to the appointed time of the end.
Daniel 8:20 The two-horned ram that you saw is the kings of Media and Persia.
Daniel 8:21 The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king.
Daniel 8:22 The four horns that took the place of the broken horn are four kingdoms. They will rise from that nation, but without its power.
Daniel 8:23 Near the end of their kingdoms, when the rebels have reached the full measure of their sin, a ruthless king, skilled in intrigue, will come to the throne.
Daniel 8:24 His power will be great, but it will not be his own. He will cause outrageous destruction and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the powerful along with the holy people.
Daniel 8:25 He will cause deceit to prosper through his cunning and by his influence, and in his own mind, he will exalt himself. He will destroy many in a time of peace; he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken – not by human hands.
Daniel 8:26 The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true. Now you are to seal up the vision because it refers to many days in the future.”
Daniel 8:27 I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was greatly disturbed by the vision and could not understand it.

the burden of knowing

If there’s anything worse than not knowing your future, it’s knowing the future and feeling helpless to change it. Daniel’s dilemma made him physically sick for days and left him greatly disturbed. Are you facing a problem that is overwhelming you? Do you find yourself saying “How can I go on?” You are not alone. Some of the greatest people in the world have faced the challenge of living with — not the unknown, but the known.

Daniel eventually found the strength to go on doing the king’s business despite the terrible burden of his knowledge. I pray that you will find that strength as well.

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the end time

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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the end time

Daniel 8:15-17 (JDV)

Daniel 8:15 While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me someone who appeared to be a young strong man.
Daniel 8:16 I heard a human voice calling from the middle of the Ulai: “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.”
Daniel 8:17 So he approached where I was standing; when he came near, I was terrified and fell face-down. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision refers to the end time.”

the end time

The end time that this vision referred to was not the end of the world, but the eventual end of the exile. We need to be careful in our interpretation of prophecies. Many mistakes have been made by not allowing the context to provide the necessary clues to a prophecy’s future fulfillment.

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tested and found to be true

Posted on July 15, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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tested and found to be true

Daniel 8:5-14 (JDV)

Daniel 8:5 As I was observing, a male goat appeared, coming from the west across the surface of the entire land without touching the ground. The goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.
Daniel 8:6 He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with savage fury.
Daniel 8:7 I saw him approaching the ram, and going into a fit of rage against him. He struck the ram, breaking his two horns, and the ram was not strong enough to stand against him. The goat threw him to the ground and trampled him, and there was no one to rescue the ram from his power.
Daniel 8:8 Then the male goat grew even more arrogant, but after he became powerful, the large horn was broken. Four conspicuous horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of the sky.
Daniel 8:9 From one of them a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land.
Daniel 8:10 It grew as high as the sky army, made some of the army and some of the stars fall to the land, and trampled them.
Daniel 8:11 It acted arrogantly even against the Prince of the sky army; it revoked his regular sacrifice and overthrew the place of his sanctuary.
Daniel 8:12 In the rebellion, the army was given up, together with the regular sacrifice. The horn threw truth to the ground and was successful in what it did.
Daniel 8:13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the speaker, “How long will the events of this vision last – the regular sacrifice, the rebellion that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and of the army to be trampled?”
Daniel 8:14 He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be restored.”

tested and found to be true

The first invasion of the Holy Land by Antiochus IV was on September 6th, 170 BC. The temple was cleansed and restored on December 25th, 164 BC. The prophecy was fulfilled exactly as his oppression of Israel took 2,300 literal days. The fact that this revelation is in the Hebrew section of Daniel also corresponds to the subject matter of the prophecy: the oppression of Israel under a Gentile king.

Our Bibles can be trusted. The word of God is reliable, and its messages to us have been tested and found to be true. We can trust what the gospel says about the eternal destiny of those who put their faith in the Messiah revealed in the Bible.

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whatever he wanted

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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whatever he wanted

Daniel 8:1-4 (JDV)

Daniel 8:1 (Hebrew resumes here) In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me earlier.
Daniel 8:2 I saw the vision, and as I watched, I was in the fortress city of Susa, in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal.
Daniel 8:3 I looked up, and there was a ram standing beside the canal. He had two horns. Both two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up last.
Daniel 8:4 I saw the ram charging to the west, the north, and the south. No animal could stand against him, and there was no rescue from his power. He did whatever he wanted and became great.

whatever he wanted

In his vision, Daniel saw an animal who did whatever he wanted and became great. This is the highest of accomplishments for our evil hearts. The Holy Spirit within us wants more of us. He knows the danger of greatness. He offers goodness. It comes at a price — submission to the Father’s will, and Son’s commands. We will get some of the things that we want, but not whatever we want. But if we choose the Father’s will, he will be glorified, and we will be satisfied.

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all rulers will serve and obey him

Posted on July 13, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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all rulers will serve and obey him

Daniel 7:23-28 (JDV)

Daniel 7:23 “This is what he said: ‘The fourth animal will be a fourth kingdom on the land, different from all the other kingdoms. It will devastate the whole land, trample it down, and crush it.
Daniel 7:24 The ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom. Another king, different from the previous ones, will rise after them and humble three kings.
Daniel 7:25 He will speak words against the Highest and oppress the holy ones of the Highest. He will intend to change religious festivals and laws, and the holy ones will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time.
Daniel 7:26 But the court will convene, and his dominion will be taken away, to be completely destroyed forever.
Daniel 7:27 The kingdom, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky will be given to the people, the holy ones of the Highest. His kingdom will be a permanent kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey him.’
Daniel 7:28 “This is the end of the account. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts terrified me greatly, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself (Aramaic portion ends here).”

all rulers will serve and obey him

The prediction made in this text is not yet fulfilled. We have rulers that try to serve Christ, but we also have rulers with entirely different agendas. We can be comforted in the fact that our present situation of enduring ungodly rulers is temporary. Christ’s permanent kingdom is on its way.

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preparing for possession

Posted on July 12, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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preparing for possession

Daniel 7:19-22 (JDV)

Daniel 7:19 “Then I wanted to be clear about the fourth animal, the one different from all the others, extremely scary, with iron teeth and bronze claws, devouring, crushing, and trampling with its feet whatever was left.
Daniel 7:20 I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three fell – the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke arrogantly, and that looked bigger than the others.
Daniel 7:21 As I was watching, this horn waged war against the holy ones and was prevailing over them
Daniel 7:22 until the Ancient of Days arrived and a judgment was given in favor of the holy ones of the Highest, for the time had come, and the holy ones took possession of the kingdom.

preparing for possession

Dr. Roller says that this fifth animal represents the establishment of a fifth world empire. As such, his application of the text is “Eventually every human kingdom falls, and ultimately God will judge; and the saints — the holy ones — will rule. That being the case, does it not behoove us as Christians, to prepare ourselves now for the positions of authority and responsibility God is planning to give us when he assumes control of the world? And how would we go about doing that? Wouldn’t it be by living holy lives?” (44).

Roller John H. God Is in Control: A Study of the Book of Daniel. Advent Christian General Conference 2002.

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bad news / good news

Posted on July 11, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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bad news / good news

Daniel 7:15-18 (JDV)

Daniel 7:15 “As for me, Daniel, my breath was deeply distressed within me, and the visions in my mind terrified me.
Daniel 7:16 I stepped up to one of those who were standing by and asked him to clarify all this. So he let me know the interpretation of these things:
Daniel 7:17 ‘These huge animals, four in number, are four kings who will rise from the land.
Daniel 7:18 But the holy ones of the Highest will receive the kingdom and possess it permanently, yes, for an age of ages.’

bad news / good news

The bad news was that superpower nations will dominate history for millennia, The good news is that a permanent kingdom from the sky is coming, and it will be given to the holy ones of the Highest. Things may be bad, but they are going to get better,

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the permanent sky kingdom

Posted on July 10, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

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the permanent sky kingdom

Daniel 7:13-14 (JDV)

Daniel 7:13 I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly one like a mortal human son was coming with the clouds of the sky. He had arrived at the Ancient of Days and was brought into his presence.
Daniel 7:14 He was given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is a permanent dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.

the permanent sky kingdom

When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven, he was referring to the event described in this vision: the second coming of Jesus Christ. His return to earth will not be as a baby in a manger, but as the mortal human son who will take the throne of the permanent kingdom, coming with the clouds of the sky.

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