THE LORD SPOKE (December 06)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Daniel 11

There’s a turning point in Daniel 11:36. From that point on, Daniel’s prophecy concentrates on the Antichrist at “the time of the end” (Dan. 11:35). Up to Daniel 11:36, the sheer quantity of prophetic detail given has led many to say the book was written after the facts, i.e. it’s history written as though it were prophecy. To be sure, the amount of detail and degree of specificity is noting any soothsayer would ever attempt. Modern “prophets” would never venture into so many variables; they prefer to speak in vague generalities that either cannot be verified or that would admit any number of possible “fulfillments”.

The history of the Ptolemies and Seleucids is complicated enough as history, much less as prophecy. Only God could be the source of such amazing historic detail in advance. Keep in mind that the OT standard for prophetic accuracy was 100% (Dt. 13:1-5). Anything less was to be followed by execution! There are well over a hundred prophetic details ordered chronologically in the first 35 verses of Daniel 11. Who would risk such minutia? The margin for error is simply too great. Especially if your life counted on it!

The second half of the chapter (Dan. 11:36-45) depicts a king of the end times. The details no longer fit Antiochus Epiphanes, who has been the subject since Daniel 11:21. At Daniel 11:35 the prophetic camera jumps forward to “the time of the end”. This king is described in verses 36-39 and then his rush to the apocalyptic finish line is foretold in verses 40-45. After that, you must fast forward to Revelation 19 to view the rest (see especially Dan. 11:19-20).

One question still debated by many is that of the Antichrist’s ethnic origin. Because he rises out of the sea (Rev. 13:1) this has often been taken as a reference to his Gentile origin. However, Daniel 11 gives two other descriptive phrases that are best understood as indicators of his Jewish background:

Daniel 11:37a - “he will show no regard for the God of his fathers” (KJV)

Many later translations have “gods of his fathers” here but the word is elohim, the normal Hebrew plural term for God and translated that way in hundreds of other cases throughout the Bible. True, it could be translated “gods” but the added phrase “of his fathers” is not commonly used in a polytheistic sense. It usually indicates the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Daniel 11:37b - “he will show no regard...for the one desired by women”

This messianic phrase only makes sense in a Jewish context, especially in the same breath with “the God of his fathers”. In what possible way could this term fit a Gentile Antichrist?

This Jewish man will throw in his lot with “a foreign god” (Dan. 11:39) who is described as “a god unknown to his fathers” and a god of force or power (see Jn. 12:31; II Cor. 4:4; and Eph. 2:2). God has not left us without a witness. We could wish for more, but Daniel‘s prophecy is unequivocal - this Antichrist will “come to his end, and no one will help him” (Dan. 11:45). As dark as the future of this earth looks, there is light at the end of the tunnel.


Proverbs 6

Sluggard! The mere name makes you cringe a bit. It sounds like some ugly, oozing creature. No spine. Clammy to the touch.

Beginning here in Proverbs 6, Solomon has a lot to say about the sluggard:

Proverbs 6:9-11 - his love of sleep robs him of all initiative; with eyes wide shut he has stumbled into the snare of poverty; maybe he’ll do something about it when he stops yawning

Proverbs 10:26 - undependable, he’ll leave you feeling like vinegar on your teeth or smoke in your eyes

Proverbs 13:4 - never satisfied, yet he refuses to work to improve his own lot

Proverbs 15:19 - too lazy to remove the obstacles from his own path

Proverbs 19:24 - not enough initiative to follow through on things; always leaves the job half done

Proverbs 22:13 - imagining the worst and inventing excuses for his own inaction

Proverbs 24:30-31 - undisciplined and disorganized, unproductive and penalized as a result (Not the repetition of 6:9-11 in 24:33-34. What goes around, comes around, like a sad refrain.)

Proverbs 26:13-16 - repeating the “lion in the road” and the “hand in the dish” descriptions, this longer proverb adds that he’s always got a reason (“wise in his own eyes”) and is quite willing to repeat it over and over (“like a door on its hinges”) as long as you don’t make him get out of bed

Going back to Proverbs 6:6-8, we find one of God’s smallest creatures shows more sense than a sluggard and sets the example:

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
Consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,
Yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Time to get up and do something worthwhile?!