Hindsight



Daniel 11:2-35
http://esvbible.org/Daniel 11:2-35/

Today’s reading is rather long and fantastically detailed. What Daniel is being shown is what we now know as history. But he is seeing it as prophecy. Some who want to question the authority and reliability of the Bible have said that Daniel couldn’t possibly have written this during his lifetime for it is so accurate and detailed. They claim that someone else wrote it down long after his death. Other than a denial of the faith, there is no reason to believe this. These are the words of Daniel as shown to him by the Messenger.

What is expounded here are the leaders of Persia from the time of Daniel until the reign of Alexander the Great. Of special note, the fourth king of Persia, mentioned in verse 2 is Xerxes; the same Xerxes who was king of Persia in the book of Esther.

For us, this passage points to the all-encompassing power of God over time and history. Even during the time of Daniel, God is moving nations and people into position for one reason. He is working toward the fulfillment of His promise to send a Savior. No leader is in place whom God did not appoint. No ruler makes a decision that is not known by God and worked into His plan. It is God’s good and perfect will that all should come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior so all that Daniel saw pointed in that direction. Did Daniel know and understand the entire plan? Probably not. But he sure did understand more by the end of this vision than he did when it started!

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