Sunday, October 27, 2013

The Bible Challenge: Day 300

The scriptures read are Daniel 9-10, Psalm 96 and Revelation 20.

Daniel 9. Daniel confessed the sins of his people and asks God for his compassion. I love how Petersen translates v. 18: "Act out of who you are, not out of what we are."

Then we get to the prophesy of the 70 X 7 weeks. Dispensationalists make a lot of this for it seems to predict precisely when Jesus will come, not to mention his death. But there are other interpretations; get a good commentary and explore all of explanations. But notice the use of the number 7. And note that it is 70 times that, the same number of times that Jesus told Peter to forgive an erring brother who asks for forgiveness. 7 is the number of perfection and completeness. The number might just mean at the perfect time.

Daniel 10. Daniel has another vision, this time of a man-like creature who seems to be made of precious stone. We learn that angels apparently act as representatives of nations and sometimes conflict with other nations.

Psalm 96. This extremely upbeat version of this psalm should get you moving!

Revelation 20. The Millenium. Steve Gregg in his book dropped the fourfold commentary by chapter 17 because the 4 schools of interpretation converge. These events are future no matter how you slice it. But here he adopts 3 columns to deal with the Pre-millennial, Post-millennial or Amillennial positions. That is, does Christ return before this 1000 years of peace on earth, after the 1000 years (ushered in by the church) or is this 1000 years another symbol, not to be taken literally? You can find plenty of material arguing for each of the main options.

Eventually God will judge all people. The dead will be resurrected so that everyone has their day in court. It couldn't be fairer than that. Then all evil, including Death itself, will be destroyed.

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