In the Lions’ Den
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closing period of this world’s history—he would again be permitted to
stand in his lot and place. It was not given him to understand all that
God had revealed of the divine purpose. “Shut up the words, and seal
the book,” he was directed concerning his prophetic writings; these
were to be sealed “even to the time of the end.” “Go thy way, Daniel,”
the angel once more directed the faithful messenger of Jehovah; “for
the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.... Go thou
thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the
end of the days.”
Daniel 12:4, 9, 13
.
As we near the close of this world’s history, the prophecies
recorded by Daniel demand our special attention, as they relate to
the very time in which we are living. With them should be linked the
teachings of the last book of the New Testament Scriptures. Satan
has led many to believe that the prophetic portions of the writings
of Daniel and of John the revelator cannot be understood. But the
promise is plain that special blessing will accompany the study of
these prophecies. “The wise shall understand” (
verse 10
), was spoken
of the visions of Daniel that were to be unsealed in the latter days; and
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of the revelation that Christ gave to His servant John for the guidance
of God’s people all through the centuries, the promise is, “Blessed is
he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep
those things which are written therein.”
Revelation 1:3
.
From the rise and fall of nations as made plain in the books of
Daniel and the Revelation, we need to learn how worthless is mere
outward and worldly glory. Babylon, with all its power and magnif-
icence, the like of which our world has never since beheld,—power
and magnificence which to the people of that day seemed so stable
and enduring,—how completely has it passed away! As “the flower of
the grass,” it has perished.
James 1:10
. So perished the Medo-Persian
kingdom, and the kingdoms of Grecia and Rome. And so perishes all
that has not God for its foundation. Only that which is bound up with
His purpose, and expresses His character, can endure. His principles
are the only steadfast things our world knows.
A careful study of the working out of God’s purpose in the history
of nations and in the revelation of things to come, will help us to
estimate at their true value things seen and things unseen, and to learn
what is the true aim of life. Thus, viewing the things of time in the light
of eternity, we may, like Daniel and his fellows, live for that which is