Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 12:1-13.  (For those of you who own a printed GAME booklet, please note that we will begin the Gospel of Mark 1:1-20 tomorrow.)  Let’s go!

Daniel 12:1 (NIV)
1  “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people–everyone whose name is found written in the book–will be delivered.

On verse 1:  Chapter 12 continues the message that the angel was giving to Daniel in chapter 11.  The angel notes that “at that time” (meaning the end times) there will be great distress unlike anything that has ever been seen, but that “everyone whose name is found written in the book” (likely meaning those written in God’s book of life in Revelation; see for example Revelation 21:27) will be delivered from that time of distress.  Verse 1 suggests that the archangel Michael will play a role in protecting and delivering those people whose names are written in the book.  How does one get their name written in God’s book of life?  By believing that Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 11:17-33.  Let’s go!

Daniel 11:17 (NIV)
17  He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will make an alliance with the king of the South. And he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plans will not succeed or help him.

On verse 17:  Just as verse 17 predicts, in 195 B.C. the “king of the North” Antiochus III of Syria tries to gain additional control of Egypt by giving his daughter, Cleopatra, to the “king of the South” Ptolemy V of Egypt.  Antiochus’ real intent was that Cleopatra could spy on the Egyptian king Ptolemy and give Syria an upper hand.  However, Cleopatra refused, for she truly loved Ptolemy V.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 10:1-21.  Let’s go!

Daniel 10:1-3 (NIV)
1  In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.
2  At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks.
3  I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.

On verses 1-3:  The third year of Cyrus king of Persia would be approximately 536 B.C.  By this point, it would have been about a couple years since King Cyrus first started allowing Jewish exiles, starting with Ezra and other Jews, to return to Jerusalem.  For some reason, Daniel didn’t go back, maybe because Daniel was now an old man (about 85 years old) or maybe because he thought he would be of better service by staying.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 9:1-14.  Let’s go!

Daniel 9:1-2 (NIV)
1  In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom–
2  in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.

On verses 1-2:  Daniel had been reading the book of Jeremiah where Jeremiah predicts that the Jews of Jerusalem would be exiles and would only return to Jerusalem after 70 years.  See Jeremiah 25:11-12 and 29:10.  Jeremiah had given this prophecy found in Jeremiah 25:11-12 back in approximately 605 B.C. when Daniel would still have been a teenager.  Cyrus, king of Persia, would let the Jewish exiles return to Jerusalem in 538/537 B.C., which is approximately 68 years later.  How remarkable it is that Jeremiah’s prophecy was right.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 8:1-14.  Let’s go!

Daniel 8:1-8 (NIV)
1  In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me.
2  In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal.
3  I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later.
4  I watched the ram as he charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and none could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.

On verses 1-8:  While King Belshazzar was still king of the Babylonians, Daniel receives another vision, this time of an aggressive two-horned ram (representing two kings of Medo-Persia – v20) who is defeated by a large-horned goat (representing Greece – v21).  Some scholars equate the large horn with Alexander the Great.