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The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary are offered as openings into dialogue about the subject or concept. And the concept behind the readings for this Sabbath is the mind of Christ. Clickable hymns on this page require RealPlayer to be installed on your computer. The download is free. Possible songs include the following hymns: Sabbath Readings For November 24, 2007 The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with
two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that
two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and
inviting the Lord to be with them The many prophecy pundits or
prophecy based ministries that are of this world and not of God routinely
identify the fourth beast of Daniel chapter seven as the Roman Empire and its
many revivals, but nowhere in the visions of Daniel is Rome or the Roman Empire
mentioned whereas Babylonia is named as are the Medes and Persians as well as
the Greeks, who would not reign over Judea for nearly two centuries. These
prophecy ministries will identify the two iron legs of the humanoid image King
Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision as the Roman Empire, for historically Rome divided
into an Eastern kingdom, with its capital at Constantinople [named for Emperor
Constantine], and a Western kingdom, with its capital remaining at Rome. But the
division of Nebuchadnezzar’s image occurs in the bronze portion, not in
the iron portion, if iron were to represent Nebuchadnezzar
saw a standing human-like image that has been represented for the past century
by a painting of a standing Chaldean, arms crossed, scowling, with the focus of
the painting being the Chaldean’s feet, and with a brick-shaped stone
sailing downward toward the feet. * The person conducting services should read or assign to be read Daniel
chapter 2. Commentary: Nebuchadnezzar suspected that
his mystics would, from their own imaginations, produce meaning for his troubling
vision, and the king had reason to be suspicious: since God revealed the vision
to Daniel and Daniel gave the king its interpretation, mystics of all sorts
have assigned various meanings to the humanoid image, for Dan’s
interpretation contains vague referents that tickle human imaginations, thereby
causing too many prophecy pundits to treat secular history books as canonical
Scripture. Imagine what the king’s mystics would have claimed about the
vision if the king had not concealed the vision from them … the king
sealed his vision by not revealing it to his mystics while demanding that they
produce an interpretation. Rightfully, they said, “‘There is not a
man on earth who can meet the king’s demand … no one can show it to
the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh’” (Dan
2:10-11). The
king’s vision could only be unsealed by God, for it was given by God and
it was for the latter days: “‘[T]here is a God in heaven who
reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in
the latter days’” (Dan 2:28). Nebuchadnezzar wanted to know what
would happen after the king’s reign, and God made known to the king what
would occur (v. 29). The
basis, therefore, exists in Scripture to use Nebuchadnezzar’s vision as a
roadmap of world history, as has been done ever since. But note: Daniel says,
“‘[T]his mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom
that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may
be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your
mind’” (v. 30). …
The interpretation of the vision the king saw was given for two reasons: ·
The interpretation was given by God so that
Nebuchadnezzar would know what came after him. ·
The interpretation was given so that the king might
know the thoughts of his own mind. Although
someone will argue that these are not two reasons, but one—knowing the
thoughts of his mind is knowing what will come after him as revealed in the
humanoid image—that argument is without understanding: there was no need
for the king to not reveal his vision to his mystics if the vision only revealed
the future. More was at stake. Why would a thought of his mind be to not
disclose his vision? He had to suspect that he had been told lies; he had
thoughts that caused him to question whether he was being told the truth by
those who advised him—and that thought would have been more troubling
than knowing or not knowing the future with certainty. If
Nebuchadnezzar believed that his advisors “‘have agreed to speak
lying and corrupt words before’” the king “‘until times
changed’” (Dan 2:9), then palace politics were filled with intrigue
and Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was not as politically stable as historically
perceived. In fact, Nebuchadnezzar mentioning until times changed suggests that he suspected a coup was about to
happen, a logical reason for wanting to know what “‘shall be after
this’” (v. 45). So from
the perspective of literary criticism, tumultuous times were occurring within Nebuchadnezzar
believed that his mystics would lie to him—and that would have troubled
him. So when he is given a vision in which a humanoid image has its feet
crushed by a stone cut without hands, his first thoughts must have been that he
is about to be overthrown in some sort of a trap that ensnares his feet,
leaving him to dry up and perish with his gold, silver, bronze and iron. It is
no wonder that he will not reveal the vision to his mystics, for they might
well be behind an effort to depose him. From a
neo-typological perspective, what Daniel tells the king about knowing his
thoughts has significance, for thoughts grow or pop-up from a mental topography
as weeds or wheat grow from geographical landscapes. Thus, thoughts develop
from a landscaped that is presently ruled by the prince of the power of the
air, thereby causing all human beings to be sons of disobedience (Eph 2:2-3).
After Adam’s disobedience, God delivered humankind into the hand of the
prince of this world, who has been defeated but not yet replaced—God did
what the Apostle Paul commanded the saints at Corinth to do with the man who
had his step-mother; i.e., deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the
flesh that the spirit might be saved (1 Co 5:5). This is also what God did with
A
person’s thoughts come from the subconscious mind that is under the
dominion of the prince of this world until God draws the person from the world
(John 6:44) by giving the person a second birth through receipt of the Holy
Spirit. But when born of Spirit, sin [disobedience] no longer has dominion over
the person through having control of the person’s subconscious mind. The
born of Spirit disciple is no longer a son of disobedience; is not under
condemnation (Rom 8:2) even though the law of sin and death continues to dwell
in the flesh of the person (Rom 7:21-25). So from
the neo-typological perspective, the vision Nebuchadnezzar receives is as much
about “knowing his thoughts” as it is about what comes after his
reign. In the
interpretation, Daniel tells the king, “‘[Y]ou
are the head of gold’” (Dan 2:38), but this gold that he is (i.e.,
the gold of the head) shall be present when the stone smashes the toes of mixed
iron and clay (vv. 44-45); so
“‘what shall be after this’” (vv. 45 & 28) becomes problematic if Nebuchadnezzar is as Daniel
tells him, the head of gold “‘into whose hand [God] has given,
wherever they dwell, the children of men, the breasts of the field, and the
birds of the heavens, making [Nebuchadnezzar] rule over them all’”
(v. 38). Nebuchadnezzar
did not rule over The
prophet Isaiah writes, “When the Lord [YHWH] has given you [Israel] rest from your pain and turmoil and
the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt
against the king of Babylon” (14:3-4), with this king of Babylon identified as a spirit being that fell from heaven
and laid low the nations (v. 12), who
shook kingdoms and overthrew cities (vv.
16-17), who destroyed his land and slew his people (v. 20). This king of Babylon is the current prince of this world,
the Adversary, Satan the devil, that old serpent that will be cast to earth
when the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of the Father and His Christ
(Rev 11:15-18; Dan 7:9-14). And this spiritual king of Psychologists
do not speak in terms of a spirit being having control over a person’s
subconscious mind—the concept would be foolishness to someone with
clinical training. “But God,” according to Paul, “chose what
is foolish in the world to shame the wise” (1 Co 1:27) so that no person
can boast in the presence of God (v.
29) about human intellect or goodness. Thus, the psychologist who would examine
a disciple to determine if he or she is sane is a bondservant to disobedience,
and will not be capable of understanding the things of God. Likewise, the
tenured university faculty member who can read and write ancient languages but
who perceives Scripture as a collection of myths cannot understand the
mysteries of God, or even earthly representations of spiritual matters. It is
not from them that a disciple should seek answers about the thoughts of men, or
the mind of God. For the
person who practices typological exegesis, Nebuchadnezzar is a shadow and type
of the Adversary as earthly Babylon was a shadow and type of spiritual Babylon,
the single spiritual kingdom of this world that will fall when that kingdom is
given to the Son of Man … Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom was not of
this world or from this world (John 18:36); rather, His kingdom will be this
world, and He will reign by having control of the mental topography of
humankind. Human beings will then have the mind of Christ in them as they
presently have the rebellious nature of the Adversary—when the Holy
Spirit is poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28) the predatory natures of the
great predators will be changed (Isa 11:6-9). Likewise, human nature is a
received nature that, like Nebuchadnezzar’s mind (Dan chap 4), can be
instantly taken from the person by God. The
kingdom of this world is not given to Christ many times, but once. When the
stone cut without hands (Dan 2:45) breaks to pieces the metal kingdoms of the
image Nebuchadnezzar saw, the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom that will never
be destroyed and a kingdom that shall not be left to others. This is when the
kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High. So the image that
Nebuchadnezzar sees is broken at the same time [same moment] as when the court
of the Ancient of Days sits in judgment and dominion is taken from the four
beasts of Daniel chapter seven (vv. 9-14),
and at the same moment as when the one who rises up against the Prince of
princes is broken but not by human hands (Dan 8:25)—and at the same time
as when “the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an
end” (Dan 12:7), and the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of the
Most High and His Christ (Rev 11:15-18). There is
only one time in the affairs of humankind that dominion is taken from the
prince of this world and given to the Son of Man by the Ancient of Days. There
is only one time when Michael and his angels cast the old dragon, Satan the
devil, out of heaven and into time (Rev 12:7-10). And it is Satan who has
deceived the whole world (Rev 12:9) into believing that the visions given to
the prophet Daniel cannot be understood. Daniel’s
visions were sealed until the time of the end (Dan 12:4, 9; & 8:17, 26; et al), but once humankind entered into
this seemingly mythical period that Israel thought it entered two and more
centuries before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, those seals came off …
how does one know for certain that the visions are no longer sealed and secret?
Or better, how does a person know that he or she is alive and isn’t part
of a Matrix, as described in the
movie by that name? And the answer is that faith is required to believe
anything. Faith is required to believe that a person is today alive. Faith is
required to believe that God exits, or that God rewards those that seek Him.
Equal faith is also required to believe that God does not exist, or that Christ
Jesus is not the firstborn Son of many sons of God. And it is the
person’s faith that will be counted to the person as righteousness (Gen
15:6) or unrighteousness; for the person who hears Jesus’ words and
believes that the Father sent Him (John 5:24) will also believe Moses (vv. 46-47), who wrote of Jesus (Deut
18:15-22)—and according to Moses, “‘[W]hen a prophet speaks
in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that
is a word that the Lord [YHWH] has
not spoken; the prophet has spoken presumptuously’” (v. 22). And Daniel reported that the
vision Nebuchadnezzar saw was for what came after the period in which they then
lived, and the crushing of the toes of mingled iron and soft clay would bring
about the kingdom of this world becoming the kingdom of the Most High and His
Christ. Daniel
either spoke presumptuously when he said that his visions were sealed and
secret until the time of the end, or he did not—and if he did not speak
presumptuously, then the visions of Daniel could not be understood by anyone
before the time of the end. The vision of Nebuchadnezzar could also not be
understood before the time of the end; for Daniel tells the king that he is the
head of gold and that the gold will be among the metals blown away as chaff
when the humanoid image is broken and the kingdom is taken by God. Nebuchadnezzar
thought highly of himself: he defeated the Egyptians, who believed that their
pharaohs would, in their afterlife, become stars in the heavens. He could well
believe that he would rule over the stars in his afterlife, for he was
concerned about “what came after this” (again Dan 2:29,
45)—this expression can well refer to what comes after this life, after
death, something that only the Most High could reveal to him, not something
human imaginations can deduce through logic or by the spots on a goose’s
liver. So Daniel’s explication of the vision pertained to the afterlife,
not this life or the course of human affairs. And if it pertains to the
afterlife, or spiritual realm, then the Babylonian Empire that sacked Jerusalem
and took Israel captive is not the entirety of the kingdom ruled by “king
of Babylon” against whom Israel will take up the taunt, “‘You
said in your heart, / “I will ascend to heaven; / above the stars of God
/ I will set my throne on high. / I will sit on the mount of assembly / in the
far reaches of the north; / I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; / I
will make myself like the Most High.” / But you will be brought down to
Sheol, / to the far reaches of the pit’” (Isa 14:13-15).
Nebuchadnezzar can only be a type of one who thought to make himself like the
Most High. He was, figuratively, a tree whose crown reached to heaven (Dan
4:11), for God used Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans to punish nations,
especially Israel, but the king also acknowledged his humiliation while he
still lived (v. 37). He is not the
king of The
traditional explanation for Nebuchadnezzar being the head and the toes of the
image being crushed by a stone cut without hands is that the image represents
the course of human kingdoms between The now
unsealed visions of Daniel can be aligned by when they conclude, with this
alignment being by the witness mark of the kingdom of this world becoming the
kingdom of the Father and His Christ. Events occur within the other visions of
Daniel: one thing follows another thing. And then the kingdom of this world is
given to the Son of Man. But in the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, the only thing
that happens is the taking of the kingdom of this world by the Most High
through crushing the toes of iron and clay, thereby toppling the entirety of
the humanoid image that has one kingdom arising after another to form,
altogether, one image that is intact and apparently living until the toes are
crushed by the split Mount of Olives, a granite monolith cut without human
hands (Zech 14:3-4), swallowing the armies of the lawless one (Rev 12:16) as
the Sea of Reeds swallowed the armies of Pharaoh (Ex 15:12). How can
one kingdom arising after another form one living humanoid image that pertains
to the afterlife or to the spiritual realm? It can through perceiving the
inter-dimensional relationship between the mindscape (thought-field) produced
by physically living entities and the geological surface of the region between
the Tigris and the But for
those who can understand: the standing humanoid image that Nebuchadnezzar saw stood
in the realm of spirit and cast its shadow across the mental topography of
living entities. This image blocked the light that was/is God, and where the
shadow of the head of this single humanoid image lay was over the thoughts of
the king, who was, thus, the head of the image. The shadow of the arms and
chest lay over the reign of the Medes and Persians; the shadow of the belly and
thigh lay over the reign of the Greeks; the shadow of the legs of iron lay over
the reign of the Seleucid and Ptolomaic kingdoms; and
the shadow of the crushing of the toes lay over the sons of light making war against Seleucid kingdom. But here the
shadow ends, for Christ will destroy and smash the reign of Satan’s
hierarchy differently than did the Maccabees defeat the Syrian-Greek kingdom
that was a far cry from the size and splendor of Nebuchadnezzar’s empire. It is
Satan that reigns as the present prince of the power of the air. But his reign
over the mental landscape from which thoughts sprout and grow will end when he is
cast from heaven. He will then attempt to recover his former bondservants by
requiring that they take upon themselves the mark of the beast to buy and sell
(Rev 13:17). Today,
the psychologist who explains human behavior, and human thought and emotions by
physical and biological means is a mental bondservant of the Adversary,
regardless of how intelligent the person is. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to know his
thoughts, and he was given what he needed to know to explain why palace
politics exist: both he and his adversaries have the mind of Satan, who is
brilliant but a rebel (Ezek 28:11, 15). The person today who is genuinely born
of Spirit will, as the infant son of God now dwelling in the tent of flesh of
the old man matures, realize just how
greatly influenced all of humankind has been by having Satan’s
nature—the person with the mind of Christ does not think like others do, for his or her thoughts sprout and
grow from a differing mental territory. And there is no good way to convey this
difference in “human nature” to the person who has not yet
experienced a second birth. A person
who has been born of Spirit cannot biologically pass on this birth or the mind
of Christ to his or her sons and daughters. This is why Christ sets a father
against his son and a daughter against her mother, making a person’s
adversaries those of his or her own household (Matt 10:35-36). Nebuchadnezzar
sought to know his own thoughts. Daniel revealed the vision he received to him,
and that was probably enough for the king. But for the person who has been
genuinely born of Spirit, what Daniel revealed was the territory over which
Christ Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords will reign when this kingdom of
the world is taken from that old dragon, Satan the devil. Nebuchadnezzar’s
humanoid image isn’t the revealing of world-ruling empires between In his
vision, the angel tells John the Revelator, “‘Let the evildoer still
do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and
the holy still be holy’” (Rev 22:11) … being holy is a mindset,
a state of existence, that is the antithesis of being filthy. This is a mindset
that cannot be produced naturally, or by efforts towards self-improvement. This
is a mindset that only comes from God when the figurative “soil” in
which a person’s thoughts sprout and grow belongs to God and not to the
Adversary. Having the mind of Christ doesn’t mean thinking His exact
thoughts, but means having a person’s thoughts rooted in the same mental
turf. * The person conducting the Sabbath service should
close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking
God’s dismissal. * * * * * "Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved." [ Home ] [ Sabbath Readings ] |