August 9: REKINDLING THE FIRE
And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.” Revelation 10:11
Chapter ten closes with a command. It is a final ‘great commission’ to underscore the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). We are living in the time of the end (Daniel 12:4,8), and many centuries of defilement of the sanctuary fortress (11:31) are behind us. But the Gospel message of our gracious God is a message of restoration.
Daniel makes several mentions of the attempted destruction of the sanctuary’s saving message through Satan’s influence upon cultures through the ages. The inroads toward spiritual destruction are cut crudely across pagan cultures, but more carefully and subtly around and among the professed people of God. In our day, a confederation of various religious and political entities is growing daily. This union is given the title BABYLON THE GREAT in the Bible (Revelation 17:5, see also Daniel 7:4). The heavy-handed influence of Babylon has spread to every corner of the globe. Man-centered ideas are being put forward worldwide as the solution to man’s problems. This is why the command to prophesy again will be about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.
After Jesus was crucified and risen, He met and spoke with some very sad and dejected disciples on the road to Emmaus. They had sincerely believed on Jesus and suffered deep disappointment over His death. The end result of the conversation was a rekindling of the fire that they had before, only now it was enhanced with facts that replaced erroneous thinking. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32)
When Christ ascended into heaven as His followers watched, having fulfilled His role as the Lamb of God, He began His ministry in the sanctuary as our High Priest. Scripture confirms a literal sanctuary in heaven, and Jesus has been at work on our behalf there ever since (see Hebrews 2:16-18).
The book of Daniel begins with Babylon’s conquering of Judah. In it we are shown many insights as to the methods of operation that have been put into place to diminish the lively, vital importance of the sanctuary in the minds of the people. Chapter 1 provides a vivid contrast between a worldly diet and a Biblical one. Still today, the worldly diet weakens our minds and bodies. But the study of the Scriptures by a believing, obedient servant of Christ is a powerful safeguard, equipping the man or woman of God to overcome the world as Jesus did. We are clearly told that there will be enemies of God who are used as instruments to downplay or criticize, throwing cold water onto hearts on fire for Jesus. But the joy that awaits us outweighs any bitterness we experience here and now.
Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” Daniel 6:5