Daniel, Part 9
26“After the period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. (Daniel 9:26)
In Chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel, the prophet opens by stating that after reading the prophecy of Jeremiah, Daniel realizes that the people of Israel and Judah will be punished for a period of seventy-years for their refusal to follow the Word of God and the Law of Moses. Daniel offers a beautiful prayer to God (9:4-19), pleading for God’s mercy for His Chosen people, not because they deserve it, but because God is a merciful and compassionate God. At the end of Daniel’s prayer, the angel Gabriel arrives to explain what will come. Gabriel gives Daniel some very specific time frames that have been debated over for thousands of years. Daniel writes that Gabriel tells him that a “period of seventy sets of seven” will pass while the Jewish people will continue their rebellion (9:24). Then, as you see in the verse above, after a period of 62 sets of seven, “the Anointed One will be killed”. The Anointed One referenced here is Jesus Christ, and as Gabriel states, when Jesus is killed, it would “appear” as if Jesus had “accomplished nothing”. The Jewish People anticipated the Messiah as a mighty military leader that would help establish the kingdom of Israel back to a world power, so when Jesus came in preaching a message of servitude, peace, and love, they believed (and still believe) that Jesus was not the long-awaited Messiah. However, as we know today, Jesus’ ministry built a world-changing movement that has swept around the entire world. Christianity is the largest religion and when accurately applied, lifts humanity toward its greatest potential. Of course, many fail to preach, teach, and live the true meaning of being a Christian and instead just hide behind the title of being a “Christian”, instead of living out the teachings of Jesus Christ. You can be a “Christian” and appear to accomplish nothing in your life, or you can walk the walk, helping the poor, the orphan, the widow, the foreigner, love your enemies, love God, and love all people as you love yourself. The greatest freedom we have as God’s greatest creation is the freedom of free will and it falls on us every day as to what kind of Christian we are to be.
There are three more chapters left in the Book of Daniel. I truly hope you have enjoyed this series. I plan on putting together at least one post per chapter remaining before moving onto the next book I want to do a deeper dive in, which will be the Book of Hebrews. I will try to get on here over the weekend, but, as it is St. Patrick’s Day weekend here in Savannah, Georgia, I will be working over the next four nights as hundreds of thousands flock to the city to participate in the largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the southern United States. I will keep with my tradition of sharing a prayer from Saint Patrick on his holiday, as I love the story of this beloved Saint, but I hate how we have twisted his Holy Day to become a celebration of drinking and debauchery. But I was guilty of participating in the wrong side of this Irish holiday until I began to research and learn why this man is celebrated around the world, so every year I try to steer the celebration of Saint Patrick to all the amazing things this man actually did.
I wish you all a blessed weekend. We’ve reached another “New Music Friday” and the Christian Contemporary Music world dropped 65 new singles (plus an unknown amount of new albums). I only shared a few of my favorite singles from last week. Before moving on to today’s new music, I do want to highlight TobyMac‘s new album, “Heaven On My Mind“, as well as Elle Limebear‘s new album, “Welcome To The Bloodline“. And I will leave you with another wonderful single, this one by Switch.
Common Sense Reborn 