Advent 2018

This year for Advent (December 2-24) I decided to look at Christ in Daniel. For a while I was thinking about The Second Advent in Matthew 24-25, which I may do later, but I settled on Christ in Daniel.

Today, in addition to announcing my planned series Christ in Daniel, I want to take a brief look at Daniel, his book, and give my planned schedule of posts.

Daniel

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, first attacked Jerusalem in 607-605. When he took the city he took captives back to Babylon. Daniel, just a youth, was one of those captives. His name means God is my judge (dan= judge; i=my; el=God). He was a righteous young man who stood firm in righteousness (ch 1) and was blessed by God. He and his friends were granted great favor with the Babylonians and rose in stature and to positions of authority. Daniel especially rose to a position of great authority in Babylon.

Daniel was clearly anointed by the Spirit – with favor, wisdom, knowledge; he interpreted dreams and had dreams/visions himself, in which he saw the period of gentile domination over Israel; he also saw the Messiah, who would bring the promised and hoped for kingdom of God!

Book of Daniel

Daniel 1:1-2:4a is written in Hebrew. At 2:4b the language changes to Aramaic, and this is retained till the close of the seventh chapter. At 8:1 it returns to Hebrew and continues to the end of the book. How cool is this? The parts that apply to the gentiles is in the language of the gentiles. Was this an accident? I think not. Of course, all my quotations of Daniel will be in English!

As we will see, Daniel, through interpretation of the dreams of others and his own visions, speaks of the times of the gentiles and of Messiah who will bring the kingdom of God to the nations. Despite Daniel’s prophetic dreams and visions the Jews do not consider him to be a prophet. They list his book among the “Ketuvim, the Writings, and not the Neviim, Prophets.”† Our Bibles place him among the prophets, putting him between the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) and the Scroll of the Twelve (Hosea et al). In the Old Testament of the Greek Orthodox, the Septuagint, The Scroll of the Twelve is listed first, then follows the Major Prophets. Daniel still follows Ezekiel and is the next to last book of the Old Testament.

Christ in Daniel

Here is my planned schedule. The main posts are in bold and are planned for Tuesdays. I felt like Chapters 7 & 9 called for two posts, the second one planned for Thursday of that week.

December 04 – Daniel 2 Christ: the stone cut without hands
December 11 – Daniel 7 Christ: the Son of man coming with clouds
December 13 – Daniel 7 Postscript on Daniel 7
December 20 – Daniel 9 The Seventy Weeks
December 22 – Daniel 9 The prayer of Daniel

My prayer is that you will be blessed and your faith strengthened as we look at Christ in Daniel!

† https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1735365/jewish/Why-Isnt-the-Book-of-Daniel-Part-of-the-Prophets.htm

You may want to read the whole book!

Armed Guards At Church?

On October 27, 2018, eleven people were killed, and seven were injured when a gunman attacked Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA. This was evil. May God have mercy on those grieving.

I only give cursory attention to the news, but I did hear that President Trump called for armed guards at all houses of worship. When I googled that this morning I learned that there are synagogues that have been doing this for years; and that there are rabbis that go to synagogue armed.

After the shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, TX, where 26 were killed and 20 wounded, I saw a poll asking whether church members should go to church armed. The poll results were a resounding Yes, with many commenting, “Heck yeah! I’m not going to be a sitting duck for anybody!” (That would be the sentiment, not necessarily the actual words.)

Should there be armed guards at all houses of worship? I am not speaking for Jews, or Muslims, or any other faith that regularly meets for worship, but I am speaking as a Christian for Christian assemblies. In other words, what I say should not be taken as a reflection on armed guards at synagogues or mosques. I am only seeking to offer an opinion on the question, Should churches have armed guards at their services? Should church members come to church armed?

No.

That was easy. Why not?

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matthew 5:43-44)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?   As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Romans 8:35-37, emphasis mine)

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21, empahsis mine)

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

If the church I am attending announced they were hiring armed guards to protect us at every service or began encouraging members to come armed, I would leave. This is not about the right to own and near arms. I fully support this. But our faith is in God, not the sword. God is our refuge and our strength. I believe it would be incompatible with the gospel.

I’m sure that if you cross-examined me on this you would find inconsistencies in my answers. I can think of some myself before you ever ask me the first question! I’m simply offering my opinion on whether churches should hire armed security guards. In my opinion the answer is No.