The topics I chose from our Lenten list for today are “God has rescued us from the Dominion of Darkness”; “He has Freed Us from the Power of Sin”; the Kingdom of God is at hand. Do we believe that? Do we live that? In theology we use the term ‘prolepsis’ to refer to the time when the Kingdom of God begins, which is now, the time between the resurrection of Christ and His return at the eschaton. This is the time in which we are living and as Christians it is our responsibility to be willing instruments of God to display what it means that He has rescued us from the Dominion of Darkness; He has Freed Us from the Power of Sin, that the Kingdom of God is at hand. But do we even actually believe that He has already done this? And if He has why does it not seem that the Sin and Darkness still reign? We know the parable of the bridesmaids (holy ones) in the Bible who needed to keep their lanterns lit – because lit lanterns were to be there when the Bridegroom Jesus returns...
This book is written in a couple of different languages as we have it tod ay. Ch apter 7 that Susan looked at with us is the last Aramaic chapter - if that is on purpose then chapter 7 probably concludes the first section of Daniel rather than beginning the next section but Ch apter 8 that we are looking at today (and everything flowing from it) is obviously connected to Chapter 7 as Da n iel refers to the first dream when relaying the second one. Chronologically speaking, Chapter 8 and Chapter 7 take place before C hapters 5 and 6. In Chapter 5, Babylon falls, Belshazzar is killed and the Persians take over. None of that has happened in Chapter 8 which we are about to read . Verses 1-4 8 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 ...