Daniel 7:15-16

Shalom! 

This is your brother Israel Leonard with the Word of God for you!

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Let me ask you a question:

Do you understand and handle your emotions, 

or are they a misterious force, 

obstructing you from doing as you want, and 

urging you to do as you don't want?

There are two verses in the vision of Daniel that show us the emotions he experienced, because of the images he saw:

"I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all this. So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things"

Daniel 7:15-16

The original Aramaic text is this:

Etkeriyát rukhí aní Daniél begó nidné

Vekhesvé reshí yebahalunnáni

Kirbét al-khad min kaamayá

Veyatsibá ebé-minné al-kol-dená

Vaamár-li, ufeshár milayá yehodinnáni 

There are two expressions here, showing an emotional response. The prophet was "troubled in spirit", in Aramaic "etkeriyát rukhí" where "rúakh" is "spirit" and "kerá" is to be distressed, to suffer. The second expression is "disturbed" - the efect of the vision in the prophet's mind - which is the rendering of Aramaic "behál". This verb means to alarm, or to dismay, or to appall. 

The original expressions show us that the vision alarmed Daniel, they worried him and let him in shock. Without knowing the meaning of the visions, the impression they caused on him was strong. But Daniel was a prophet. He knew God was communicating him something through this dream. In spite of his troubled spirit, Daniel overcame his emotions and sought the truth, the meaning of those images he had seen. 

How do you handle your emotions?

The Word of God shows us many verses and passages about this issue. Because the God Who made us knows how we are. He knows that we have emotions, and that these emotions often struggle against our will, or against our reason. 

Do you get nervous sometimes?

Do you feel uncomprehended?

Do you get angry or depressed by failure?

Do you quit easily?

Do you feel useless?

Do you feel your life as a burden, a hard to carry one?

LET'S PRAY

Thank you, Lord, because you made us

Thank you for you take care of everything in us,

including our emotions, the feelings of our hearts.

Thank you for your word.

Thank you for the message that word has for us,

trough the way you have strengthen your servants and prophets.

Give us the same strength, the same wisdom, o Lord

to overcome our weaknesses and to do your will, as they did.

Cause Your Spirit is the same today.

In Jesus Holy Name, o Lord

Amen

The examples about our life in the questions we saw, and many more you could add to the list, are cases when our emotions are struggling against us, and our ability to think and act could be obstructed. When it happens, some ones pray, but other ones give the devil a foothold. 

In a previous message we were talking about Cain, who killed his brother because he got angry against him and against God. If he had asked about his offering, and about the reason why it had been rejected, then he would got the answer: to repent, and to bring to God the right offering, as Abel did. But he let anger, rancour, envy, jealousy and frustration fill his heart. Negative emotions are the perfect terrain where Satan works. Cain couldn't think and act in obedience to God, because of them. 

Daniel's response was a very different one. He overcame his emotions and came closer in order to ask about the meaning of his dream. It is remarkable how he ignored his own emotional state. He didn't ask, why is my spirit troubled? or, why am I alarmed? Because his emotions were a secondary thing. The core issue was the source of these emotions, the vision. And the Lord gave him the interpretation, because the end of the visions was to communicate a prophecy to Daniel, not to trouble him or to cause him to get emotional. 

Moses' call had a purpose and a plan: to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt, to give them God's law and to lead them to Canaan, the promised land. But when God called the prophet, it is not like he wrote some quotations in the lap top and took the first flight to Egypt. Moses had an argument with God, because of several emotions fighting within him. Some of them are evident when we read Exodus, chapters 3 and 4. For instance, we read about:

FEAR, Exodus 3:6

"Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob". At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God"    

MISTRUSTFULNESS, Exodus 3:11

"...Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" He had zero self-confidence.

PESSIMISM, Exodus 4:1

"...What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?" The original Hebrew word for "what if" is "vahén", which means "behold" or "lo". The real translation is, "Lo, they won't believe me". Moses was not considering failure as a possibility, but as the only possible outcome. It is even more pessimist than the NIV translation. In his mind, Moses imagined only a total failure. 

WORRIEDNESS, Exodus 4:10

"...Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue". After Exodus 3:11, where he showed his lack of confidence, God has given Moses several prophetical promises and two supernatural signs. But he retakes the talk about his limitations!

INDECISION, Exodus 4:13

"...Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else". Here we can understand why "the Lord’s anger burned against Moses". He was more worried than confident, even when he knew he was speaking with the Almighty, Creator of heavens and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and this Almighty God had given him total security about the success of his mission. 

We need to remember that this is the great prophet Moses, the same one who performed the signs and wonders in Egypt and in the desert, on their way to the promised land. By his command the Red Sea was opened and the people crossed on foot, and by his command, the waters came back and drowned the Egyptians persecuting Israel. By Moses' command, water was brought out of a rock, and the earth swallowed the rebels who opposed the Lord. This is the great Moses who wrote the Torah, and who heard God's voice from between the cherubim on the ark of the covenant. The great prophet that God used with such anointing and power, began his career in doubt and indecision. Nevertheless, God used Moses as He had in mind, because everything is possible with Him.

It is not only Moses who had to deal with paralyzing emotions. King David knew a great deal about it. In his adventurous life, he experienced many emotions, and he left us a rather comprehensive record about it in the book of Psalms:

DISTRESS, Psalms 4:1

"Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God.

Give me relief from my distress; 

have mercy on me and hear my prayer" 

WEAKNESS, Psalms 6:2

"Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;

heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony"

SORROW, Psalms 6:6-7

"I am worn out from my groaning.

All night long I flood my bed with weeping

and drench my couch with tears.

My eyes grow weak with sorrow;

they fail because of all my foes" 

AFFLICTION, Psalms 31:7

"I will be glad and rejoice in your love,

for you saw my affliction

and knew the anguish of my soul" 

FEAR, Psalms 34:4

"I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears"

GRIEF, Psalms 35:14

"I went about mourning 

as though for my friend or brother.

I bowed my head in grief 

as though weeping for my mother"

SHAME, Psalms 38:4

"My guilt has overwhelmed me

like a burden too heavy to bear"

IRRITATION, Psalms 39:3

"My heart grew hot within me.

While I meditated, the fire burned;

then I spoke with my tongue"

TERROR, Psalms 55:4,5

"My heart is in anguish within me;

the terrors of death have fallen on me.

Fear and trembling have beset me;

horror has overwhelmed me"

There are few examples in the Bible which illustrate a hero's life better than King David's. But that man "after the Lord's heart" was haunted by the same kind of afflictions, weaknesses and fears that most people do. He lived a life that pleased God not because of his lack of emotions, but because he was NOT overwhelmed and defeated by those emotions. Instead, he sought strength and wisdom in the Lord. 

Even the Son of God experienced human emotions in His human body:

COMPASSION, Matthew 15:32

"...I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat..." 

SORROW, Matthew 26:38

"...My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me"

ANGER, Mark 3:5

"He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand”..." 

JOY, Luke 10:21

"At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth..." 

ANGUISH, Luke 22:44

"And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground"

DISTURBANCE, John 12:27

"...Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?..."

The anointing of the Spirit of God, and the divinity of the Lord even in His human form, can be seen in His acts and His words, which operate beyond His emotions. When in disturbance, anguish and sorrow, He asked His Father for help, in order to put up with the terrible hours that He would experience until His death on the cross. A purely human response should be to avoid it. When He felt overwhelming joy because of the disciples' victory upon Satan, He gave praises to the Father. When He felt compassion for the hungry crowd, He called the disciples and, even knowing what He would do, he took His time to make them the instruments of the miracle. 

God's servants are not free from emotions. Not even the Son of God was. But it is not our emotions which determine what shall we do or what shall we say. It is the will of God, that is made known to us through His Word activated by His Spirit. Our Lord, King David and Moses did God's will, dealing with their emotions. In the same way, Daniel overcame his emotions and came closer, in order to ask about the vision.

Why was the understanding of the vision such a vital matter for Daniel?

Let's remember that Daniel was living in Babylonia, in captivity. Belshazzar's first year, when Daniel saw these visions, is 553 BC. It was after king Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem three times, subjugating the last kings of Judah - Jehoiakim, Jehoachin and Zedekiah. The last chapter of the 2nd Book of Kings narrates how the Babylonians killed Zedekiah's sons, it means all heirs to the throne, and put out his eyes. We read there also about how they destroyed the temple, the city wall, the royal palace and the houses of the nobility. The king and all of his nobles were taken captives, and only the poorest people was left behind, so that they would work the land. Nebuchadnezzar not only took the Jews as captives; he did all he could to erase Jewish identity. 

The Babylonian captivity was a terrible tragedy for the Jewish people. At the time when Daniel received his vision, Jerusalem was totally destroyed, and all the men of arms who could have defended her were dead or captive. The last remnant of Israel, the Kingdom of Judah, was no more, and Babylonia occupied a vast territory which included the lands we now know as Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait and Irak, and even parts of Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran. There was no hope that some kind of resistance should arise in Israel, to set them free from the powerful Babylonian Empire. It is in this hopeless situation that Daniel sees the Son of Man coming before God, and receiving a kingdom that would not pass away and would never be destroyed. 

Israel's collapse is a proof that it is not enough to know the only real God; it is necessary to obey Him. If you know that air and water exist, that's good. But if you don't breathe or drink water, you die. That civilization which was founded on the Torah was devastated by the pagan Babylonians. In the same way, our civilization, founded on the Bible, is on the verge of its collapse. We are living in a society which rejects God, and ignores everything that it should have learnt from Israel's history. 

"Diúteros" means "second" in Greek, and "nómos" means "law". From these Greek words we have got the name of the last book of the Torah, "Deuteronomy", which means literally "second law". It is not second as a new and different law than that one God gave to Moses in Mount Sinai; but is rather a recapitulation or repetition of the same laws we find in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. This compendium was given to the people of Israel when they were about to enter the promised land. Moses knew he wouldn't enter Canaan, and he gives to the people this law in a series of messages, to remind them God's law, including the ten commandments and many more. It is on this law that the nation of Israel was founded, in a covenant with God that we can see in Deuteronomy chapter 28.

The 28th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy consists of two parts, the first one being verses 1 to 14 and the second one, verses 15 to 68. The first part is about promises of blessing for the Jewish people to enjoy, "if they fully obey the Lord their God and carefully follow all his commands". And the second part is about all curses and punishment that should come upon them "if they did not obey the Lord their God and did not carefully follow all his commands and decrees". The Jewish people suffered persecution, captivity and the destruction of their nation in the hands of Babylonians, Seleucides and Romans, as it was prophesied in this section of warnings we find in Deuteronomy 28. 

We are experiencing a similar process in these days. Jesus Christ's enemies have transformed "secularism" in "dechristianization". It is one thing "not to be under the papal authority", and it is another thing to refuse to recognize the divine authority of the words of Jesus. "Secularism" was born when the Western world left the Middle Ages behind and adopted "secular" principles as democracy, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of association. Such principles are among the basis of all democracies. They are "secular states".

Now "dechristianization" is a different thing. It is what Islamic terrorist groups like ISIS, Boko Haram, the Taliban and others are doing in order to erase Christianity from their countries. They persecute and even kill Christians, they destroy temples, force people to convert to Islam and wage a genocidal war against every one who is not an adherent to their religion. 

Dechristianization takes place also in western democratic countries. We see more and more anti-biblical laws as marriage between homosexuals, gender ambiguity, prohibition of Christian activity, obedience to precepts which emanate from sharia laws, and many others. The same society which has prohibited Christianity to influence social life, is accepting patterns from a religion which core quality is to control every aspect of the society, transforming everything according to their religious beliefs and persecuting the dissenters to death. 

If you are a Christian, then you know we'll find abominations and evil on a daily basis. This is happening because this world we are living in is not acting according to God's will, but under Satan's control. The Word of God says clearly, "we know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one". If you are in the social network known as "Facebook", you can see that besides the "like" button, there are more buttons now to express other emotions. And with these new buttons, many news origin a wave of "angry" and "sad" reactions. A recent one is the polemic about a controversial law allowing perverted men to use women's facilities. This kind of things show not only a high degree of perversion; abomination is becoming civil law. 

Daniel lived in such condition also. In the book of Daniel we can read about the Babylonian officials worshipping a golden image that king Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and about the noblemen of king Belshazzar desecrating the vessels from the Lord's temple in Jerusalem, that they used to drink wine while they worshipped idols. In that pagan society, God showed Daniel visions to tell him that Babylonia would pass away, and then Persia, Greece and Rome, and that only the Kingdom of God would remain on eternity. 

We have been given salvation and the Spirit of God has come to abide in our hearts. But it doesn't mean that we will not experience trials and conflicts. The difference between us and the non saved ones is that in our trials, Jesus is with us and for us. It is He who calms the storms of our soul, who wipes every tear, who sets us free from that disability caused by our emotions, and who anoints us to do His will. Because He is stronger than our emotions. And because He is coming soon, and the Kingdom of God with Him, we certainly know that this realm of darkness we are going through will pass away, and the will of God shall be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 

If you have not yet received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, let me tell you that you are risking eternal death. This evil world will pass away and its prince will be imprisoned and finally cast in the lake of fire, but the Kingdom of God will endure forever. Our sins make a separation between God and us, and keep us from reaching that blessing. But that's why the Lord suffered death on the cross, to pardon us and give us the right to become citizens of the heavenly realm. The entry to the Kingdom of God, which is being denied to you now, can be granted to you here and now, by receiving Jesus as your personal Savior. Your salvation is only at a prayer's distance. If you don't know how to do it, just pray with me:

Thank you, Jesus, for your Word and your promises

Thank you for your life and for the blood you shed 

on Mount Calvary

Thank you for the promise of the Holy Spirit,

the same spirit who acted in You, 

in king David, in Moses, in Daniel

Thank you for that love You show us

that you don't only gave yourself for our sins,

but also sent a Counselor to abide in our hearts

Forgive my sins, o Lord

Be my Lord and my Savior

Let the Spirit of God come to my heart

and fill me

Let my mind be Your mind,

my thoughts be Your thoughts,

my feelings be Your feelings,

my words be Your words

Cause only in You I can find rest,

and salvation, and peace, and healing,

and the strenght and the wisdom I need

to carry on in this world

until that day I'll fly to You in heaven

In Jesus' Holy Name

Amen