So now we get into the beef of the book and the actual interpreting of the text itself chapter by chapter in its context. As stated before, the book of Daniel exhibits more than one literary pattern. The simplest and most obvious is the division between the stories in Chapters 1-6 and the visions in Chapters 7-12. Two features connect the two aforementioned divisions of Daniel together. One is the similarity between chapters 2 and 7 in that both point in uniquely but synonymously to the setting up of God’s kingdom.
The other feature is the use of two original languages mentioned before. The Aramaic section (2:4b-7:28) links the two halves of the book together like a linchpin. Accordingly Chapters 1:1-2:4a and Chapters 7:29-12 are in Hebrew book-ending the Aramaic section in the center. what is even more focusing is a strong chiasmus/chiastic/“X” shape pattern in the Aramaic section formed around chapters 4 and 5 and I believe this is to draw attention to it. This is about God steering and working through even the most powerful individuals in the world to bring His plans to fruition. We see the phasing out of the worldly power and the ushering in of the power and glory of the Kingdom of God
A. Four empires and God’s coming kingdom (Chapter 2)
B. Trial by fire and God’s deliverance (Chapter 3)
C. A king warned, chastised, and delivered (Chapter 4)
C. A king warned, defiant and disposed (Chapter 5)
B. Trial in the lion’s dean and God’s deliverance (Chapter 6)
A. Four empires and God’s everlasting kingdom (Chapter 7)
I believe, based on this information alone we can lay to rest the liberal theologians wacky opinions and it also helps create a signpost to bring emphasis in the book where it is needed in which show the reward for obedience and the curse for disobedience (a la Deuteronomy 28). Man's empires and kingdoms rise and fall but God's Kingdom is coming and it will breech into this realm. It will be the Messiah that ushers it in. Daniel lived to see the end of the Babylonian empire. The sovereignty of the God he served is absolute. It is the same God we serve as Christians. God’s hand in human events ensured meaning and hope in life because God's ultimate work through His Son is life and is the Kingdom.
In the midst of all this there was a faithful remnant determined to be faithful to God, and God was faithful in providing an advocate within the Babylonian government. The advocate was a young man who was, "handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand" Daniel 1:4. Although God revealed His secrets to Nebuchadnezzar, it was Daniel, a man of God, who was the interpreter.
Focus now shifts to world history and Nebuchadnezzar is the unquestioned world ruler of his day by divine decree (Dan. 2:37-38). He is clearly the statue’s head of gold, whereas his successors will be inferior to him.
“Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. Daniel 2:31-35
When a rock strikes the feet of clay, the whole statue crumbles, and "the rock" that is God’s kingdom fills the earth. The human king bows before God who, because he controls history, gives meaning to each era of history and reveals it to Daniel (Dan. 2:44). In Daniel 3:1-30 - The ceremony to unite courtiers from all the nations before the king’s golden image was the occasion for accusations against three Jews who refused to worship the image: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The king, furious that his orders should be defied, carries out his threat to condemn them to the flames. This test becomes the opportunity to experience God’s saving power: A fourth figure accompanies them in the fire and delivers them from death and the fourth, "looks like a son of the gods.” Loyalty to God takes precedents over personal safety even if the outcome is still unknown. Because of this unquestioning obedience they gained the right to worship God unmolested. God defends those that are faithful.
In Daniel 4 Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a tree was a omen, warning him that his prosperity would be short-lived unless he acknowledged the Most High God and gave priority to righteousness for the subjugated and exploited of his kingdom (vv. 25-27).
"You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes. The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules." Daniel 4:2-26
So....
None of this changes until Neb's goes stark raving mad. So much so that he is exiled from human society and takes on bestial existence eating grass (can anyone say moooooooo). After gaining his senses and his throne back (thanks to God) he acknowledges God having done so. No man has infinite power, only God. Nebuchadnezzar's restoration shows that there is a purpose for all nations and kings as God has allowed such kingdoms and kings to exist.
On the flip side of Nebuchadnezzar's eventual obedience, we will later see the disobedient Belshazzar who summary dismisses God and gives Him no place in his life. His defiance of God contrasts sharply with Nebuchadnezzar’s eventual submission. Subsequently, death came swiftly at the hands of Persian invaders, who brought Babylon’s empire to an end in the form of Cyrus. The United States could learn a lesson from this...leaders and nations--bad deeds inevitably return to them. History repeats and it is divine retribution at work over and over again. In the Bible and outside of it also.
There is a profound message here for all of us, not just rulers, kings and presidents but also parents, teachers managers and politicians who are responsible or are in the role of providing others a means to learn and/or to live such as a paycheck. Roles like these need to be carried out with humility like Jesus. If not, the results are disastrous. In Nebuchadnezzar we see him make the claim to be godlike as human and he is reverted to an animal state. It is the very sin he commits that becomes his judgment in reverse. Humans being created lower than God were given dominion over animals. When man usurps his roll and attempts to either bring God down to his level or elevate himself to God's he is punished by becoming less than human or animalistic. Man not being satisfied with what God has made him reaches for the unreachable and is cut-off at the knees so-to-speak to grovel and graze in a field. Reaching for Heaven prematurely, man reaches only the dirt of the Earth and becomes one of the "base" things of creation! When we reject God and what God has made us we are threatened with and we threaten others with becoming subhuman monsters. Nebuchadnezzar, Nero, Henry the VII, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot your boss, you, etc etc etc.
Pride and the thought that we can be like God or act like we can...the thing that brought humanity down in the first place in Genesis. Have we learned nothing from our past?
The real truth is that the only way we truly rise to be with Christ as co-heirs is to humble ourselves before the "tree" of Christ (the Cross) and accept what He has done in His sacrificial death. There is no other way. Self-exaltation amounts to nothing more than self-condemnation.
Who is really The King? Self or Christ?
The debt based money system known as fiat money, defined as the mandates of the Banker Regime, was designed for investment gain, was used throughout the world community, was widely accepted in payment for goods and services, and in discharge of obligations; served as a measure of value, and was a storehouse of value.
ReplyDeleteFiat money came to an end on May 13, 2014, with the failure of credit, that is trust in the world central banks to provide stimulus for continued investment gains and global economic growth, as evidenced by the trade lower in the Euro, FXE, and the British Pound Sterling, FXB, and the trade lower in Italy, EWI, and Italy’s Debt, ITLY, reflecting the investor’s fear that the monetary policies of the world central banks had crossed the rubicon of sound monetary policy and made “money good” investments bad.
CNBC reports European Bonds Signaling Trouble? The quick move higher in the yields of Europe's weakest sovereigns from historic lows may be just the beginning and on the edges it could start to affect other low-rated credits where investors have hunted for yield, such as US Junk Bonds.
It was the quick move higher in Italy’s Sovereign Yield that caused Italy, EWI, to trade strongly lower.
The new debt based money system, known as diktat money, commenced as peak moral hazard wealth was obtained, reflected in Aggregate Credit, AGG, Major World Currencies, DBV, and Emerging Market Currencies, CEW, topping out in value; and World Stocks, VT, Nation Investment, EFA, Small Cap Nation Investment, SCZ, Dividends Excluding Financials, DTN, trading lower in value.
As foretold in Revelation 13:1-4, diktat money has its origins out of waves of Club Med, read PIGS, sovereign, banking, and corporate insolvency.
Diktat money is defined as the mandates of the Beast Regime, specifically regional fascist leaders; it is designed to establish regional security, stability, and sustainability, and is centered around regional framework agreements, as leaders meet in summits, to renounce national sovereignty and announce regional pooled sovereignty as is seen in the Zero Hedge report The Birth Of Eurasia - Russia & China Do Pipelineistan. And Bloomberg reports Russia, China Sign $400B Gas Deal After Decade of Talks.
The end of empire has commenced. We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the US Dollar as the International Reserve Currency and the beginning of US Dollar Hegemony. This is fulfillment of the Statue of Empires Bible prophecy as foretold in Daniel 2:25-45, where the last of the two global superpowers, that is the US Dollar Hegemonic Empire, and the British Empire, dissolve away; and in their place the Ten Toed Kingdom, with toes of iron diktat and clay totalitarian collectivism, rises to rule the world; this monster is the same as the Beast Regime of Revelation 13:1-4, which rules in diktat in each of the world’s ten regions and occupies in all of mankind’s seven institutions. When it is though ruling it will have utterly destroyed all fiat money and fiat wealth as foretold in Daniel 7:7.
The Beast Regime will be very much a type of Revived Roman Empire, in that it has Latin speaking roots and will have a European ruler, as is seen in Revelation 13:5-10, much like Charlemagne, who will eventually rise to rule the rule the entire world from Jerusalem as is foretold in Daniel 9:25-27.