Series: Resilience
Message: Patience
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 17:1-9.
Read: Daniel 7 & 8 - As you re-read for the final time this week in the ESV translation, what did you discover new about God’s character?
Reflect: Why did Daniel switch the cycle of four beasts seen so far in Daniel 2 and 7 to focus on two middle animals? Why are these two animals not so bizarre but relatively normal? Perhaps to focus our minds on the core of the story, the Sanctuary, as Jacques B. Doukhan noted in his book Secrets of Daniel, p.127 and 128.“What chapter 7 calls the Day of Judgment, chapter 8 tables as the Day of Atonement, they are in fact the same event. Israel experiences the Day of Atonement as the actualization of the last judgement...Jews have understood the 10 days preceding Kippur as a probationary time during which they prepared for the day of judgment. The traditional greeting during that period is Hatima tova, ‘May you be well sealed’—an allusion to the divine judgment that will decide each individual’s destiny and seal it.”
Along the same lines, Doukhan shares a few connections that I found to simply be breath-taking. The creation of the world went through seven stages, the construction of the Sanctuary was seven stages (Exodus 25-40), and the construction of Solomon’s temple was over seven stages and ends with the words: ‘was finished’ (1 Kings 7:40,51). This phrase only appears three times in the Bible, connecting Sanctuary, Temple and Creation all together. Daniel 8 brings home to us how engaged Jesus is in our lives. Not only is the “temple being cleansed” but also our “hearts are being cleansed too.”
Recalibrate:
Respond: Pray to embrace the value of life you have today.
Research: Read one of the books or commentaries for this series on chapters 3 and 4.