Year 3, Day 365: Revelation 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Father, King

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  we get our identity through Him.
• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

Again in this chapter we get a sense of God’s identity-given nature of being our Father.  In the end, He will be the source of all healing.  We will see His face and His name will be upon our foreheads.  He gives us identity.  This is perhaps the most fundamental claim of the whole of the Bible.  We are made complete through God.  He gives us our identity.

As you might expect in the last chapter of our Bible, we also get a sense of the kingly nature of God.  The same section that speaks to God being the source of our identity also speaks of our ruling through Him.  Because He is the Father, our identity comes through Him and we can obey.  However, it doesn’t stop there.  Because God is the King, He seeks representatives.  He seeks people to embody Him to this world.  Through His kingship we have both authority and power to rule under Him.  As this passage says, those in Him will rule forever.

We are complete in God’s identity for us.  We can rule through His empowerment.  But it all starts with Him.  That is how it should be.

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Year 3, Day 364: Revelation 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Father, King

• Father: God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.
• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

In this chapter, we hear that God is the alpha and the omega.  Another way of thinking about alpha and omega is beginning and end.  A different way of thinking of this is source and goal.  God is the source of life and the goal of life.

This brings us to the concept of Father.  God is the creator.  He is the source.  Specifically, He is the source of our identity.  Out of our identity comes our obedience.  Because God is the alpha, we can know who we are and what He desires for us to do.  We only have to respond.

We can do this same thinking with the idea of omega.  God is our goal.  He is the king.  Because He is the king, He grants us authority.  He gives us the power to accomplish His goal.

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Year 3, Day 363: Revelation 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

As we draw closer to the close of Revelation 20, our focus is drawn more and more upon God.  After all, He is the Alpha and the Omega.  He is the King.  He was here before creation came into existence and he will remain when creation has passed away.  He alone is King.  He alone is worthy of being the judge.

It would be one thing if God sat on His throne in omnipotence and meted out judgment after judgment – even if they all were righteous.  But that is not what God does.  As King, God hands out authority.  Notice here in this passage that God gives to some the authority and power to judge.  Furthermore, all those truly in Him have been given authority and power to reject the beast and not worship his ways.  God is not a malevolent dictator.  God is a loving King who seeks people to represent Him in a world that needs to meet Him.

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Year 3, Day 362: Revelation 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Power

• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

In this chapter, we get a clear picture of the Kingdom Triangle.  God is the King.  God gives authority to Christ to be victorious in this world.  Out of this authority, Christ goes forth as the conquering rider on the white horse.

He does indeed subdue the earth.  He strikes down the nations with the sword that comes out of His mouth.  He will rule them with an iron scepter.  This is the power Christ has when His authority comes from the very will of God!

However, let’s look at this power as compared to when Christ came the first time.  The first time, Christ came to conquer sin and death.  He was nailed to a cross, alone.  The power He had was in the resurrection over death.  Yet in this story Christ has come to conquer the world, not sin and death.  Here He comes with an army of followers.  Here he comes with power over humanity.  I think what is important is that we see Christ using His power according to the will and desire of God, the King.  Power comes in many forms.  What is important is that it is used according to the authority bestowed upon us by God.

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Year 3, Day 361: Revelation 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from God.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

As we continue our glance towards John’s description of Babylon, I think it is likewise prudent to continue our focus upon identity.  Look not only at Babylon, but at the way people react to the desolation of Babylon.

The kings lament over Babylon because their luxury is taken away from them.  They lament over Babylon because the easy living is removed.  They don’t genuinely mourn over Babylon’s loss.  They mourn over how her destruction will affect their life.  The identity of the kings is not rooted in God.  Their identity is rooted in their lifestyle, their affluence, their luxury, and their ease of living.

The same is true about the merchants.  They do mourn over Babylon.  But they mourn about their inability to make a profit from within Babylon’s influence.  They mourn about all of the affluence within that could no longer be accessed and from which there could be no more profit.  Their identity is also not in God.  Their identity is on the money that could no longer be made and the goods that will no longer be traded.

Again we see the importance on having our identity truly focused upon God and God’s ways.  Only when we are rooted in God is our focus with God.  Only when we are with God do we mourn for the right things and long for the right things.  Only when our identity is in God can we no longer be at the center of our own universe.

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Year 3, Day 360: Revelation 17

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from God.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

In this passage we can see at least three instances of identity coming into play.  We see two negative examples of identity in the woman and the beast.  We see a positive example of identity in the people unable to be won over by the beast.

Let’s start with the woman.  Her identity is in the pursuits of the world: drunkenness, sexual immorality, lavishness in lifestyle, persecution of the saints, and seduction of the world.  These are the focus of her life.  These are the things that give her power.  These are the things for which God can judge her in righteousness.  Remember the Ten Commandments?  You shall have no other God except me.  Here this woman does not get her identity from the Father but through her own pursuits.   However, notice that God is not fooled.  Although she has sought an identity apart from God, it is God who knows her true name written upon her forehead.

The beast is no different.  What are the things that provide identity to the beast?  Blasphemy.  Violence.  War with God.  One who leads people astray.  This is the identity of the beast.  Instead of gathering its identity from God and being satisfied, the beast finds its own identity and ends up in a war against God.

Finally, we have a brief hint of truth.  Notice who follows the beast?  Those whose names are not written in the book of life.  In other words, those whose names are written in the book of life – those who get their identity from God – will be able to resist the lure of the beast.  What is the way to freedom from the things of this world and peace in your life?  Get your identity from the Father.

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Year 3: Day 359: Revelation 15-16

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: People of Peace

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

It might seem odd to talk about people of peace on a day that we read about the outpouring of God’s final judgment of the earth.  After all, could there be any time of human existence where people were less receptive to God than at the end of this age?

In that question, though, we can find the reason why I decided to focus on the concept of People of Peace today.  The people of Revelation 16 rebel against God.  These people curse God when He comes against them.  These people are antagonistic to God having power in their life.  These people have no interest in repentance.  These people are focused on themselves and that means nothing can be done with them except judgment.  These people are in the time of judgment because none are left who will listen.  These people are in the time of judgment because there is none who desires to be at peace with God.

What can we learn from this?  A person of peace perceives God’s preparation within them and receives it.  A person of peace is willing to submit to the power of truth.  A person of peace is one who desires relationship with God and God’s people.  A person of peace is one who receives God’s proclamation about our need to repent and live according to His ways while rejecting the ways of the world.

When we cease being a person of peace to God and God’s people, there is nothing that remains for us except judgment.

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Year 3, Day 358: Revelation 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity, Obedience

• Identity: Our true identity comes from God.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.
• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from God.

In Revelation 14 we hear about the 144,000 martyrs.  What leapt out before me about these martyrs is that they are sealed on their foreheads with the name of the Father and the Son.  It is clear from whom these martyrs get their identity.  We talked about Up yesterday and unlike the people in Revelation 13 the martyrs of Revelation 14 have God in their Up position.  Their identity is absolutely coming from the Father.  In fact, their identity comes so much from the Father that they are willing to be martyred for it.  Now that’s identity!

However, this passage doesn’t stop with identity.  The passage goes into obedience.  What do these people do with their identity?  They follow the Lamb wherever he goes.  It’s like the inverse of the nursery rhyme about Mary and her little lamb.  Instead of the lamb following everywhere that Mary went, the people of Revelation 14 are smart enough to follow the lamb!

Then we look to the message of the first angel?  Fear God and give Him glory!  Here is another chance at obedience.  Fear God.  Turn to Him.  Get your identity from Him.  Then give Him glory!

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Year 3, Day 357: Revelation 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

As we read through this chapter on the beasts of Revelation, we see something interesting.  The people of the earth see this first beast.  They marvel at it.  It occupies their attention.  They worship it.  For the people of Revelation 13, this first beast occupies their Up.

The beast blasphemes.  The beast makes war against God’s people.  The beast leads people astray.  Because the people have something in the Up besides God, they are cleanly led astray from God, righteousness, peace, grace, and mercy.

We must be careful what occupies our Up.  We must be careful what we worship.  We must be careful what we put in the center of our life.  If we are not careful, like the people of the earth we’ll find ourselves worshiping something that leads us away from God.

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Year 3, Day 356: Revelation 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Invitation & Challenge

• Invitation: God is always inviting us into relationship with Him.  He desires that we know Him and we know His desires for us.
• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

I think that this passage about the woman is a great passage to see both invitation and challenge.  The woman brings forth God’s Messiah.  What an incredible invitation!  The woman understands her role in God’s kingdom.  She understands how God has come to her to bring God’s own Messiah into the world.  What an incredible opportunity for invitation!

However, there is also challenge.  In entering into relationship with God, the woman is made enemies with the dragon.  Her life is at risk.  She is in danger.  War is brought to her feet.  Here we see challenge in bold and crisp stripes.  This woman does not simply enter into relationship with God.  This woman accepts relationship and rises to the challenge of enduring war with the enemies of God.

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Year 3, Day 355: Revelation 10-11

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from God.

Twice in these chapters we have a time for John to decide whether to obey or not.  Because John’s identity is rooted in God, he can easily obey.

In Revelation 10, we hear God tell John to eat the scroll in spite of the fact that it will make his stomach sour.  John does it.  He obeys.  John knows that ministry is filled with pleasant and difficult moments.  John also knows that a spiritual life is filled with moments of great sweetness as well as moments of bitter soul-searching and growth.  Often our obedience to God leads us through a life that is both sweet and bitter.

In Revelation 11, we hear of another time for John to be obedient.  God tells John to measure the temple.  He obeys.  He does the work before Him.  Again we see that His obedience comes from the fact that John’s identity comes from God.

However, within this greater story of obedience we see another example of obedience.  Before the temple two witnesses stand.  The two witnesses are a thorn in the side of the world.  They prophesy to the world and bring about plagues and curses on those who are not humble before God.  Yet because of their obedience to God the world will hate them.  War is made against them.  Eventually they are killed and the world celebrates over their dead bodies.  Yet these witnesses are obedient to God in spite of the rejection that they find in the world.  They are obedient because their identity is rooted in the Father, not in the validation that might come from the world.

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Year 3, Day 354: Revelation 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from God.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Okay, I’ll admit it.  It is fairly difficult to look into this chapter and pull out a discipleship focus.  After all, this chapter is doom and gloom and wrath and judgment.

However, if we look at those around whom the judgments of this chapter revolve, we see that the primary characteristic of these people is that they are not obedient to God.  They have not submitted to God.  They do not have the seal of God upon their foreheads.  Their identity is not “God’s people.”

What is sad about this chapter is that even after the judgments the people who are left still do not repent.  Even after seeing the power and the omniscience of God they do not repent.

There is the lesson for discipleship in this chapter.  When faced with a God who knows us better than ourselves, shouldn’t we get our identity from Him?  Shouldn’t we submit to Him and become obedient to that identity rather than the identity we foolishly make for ourselves?

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Year 3, Day 353: Revelation 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Hexagon

• Hexagon: The hexagon is the symbol that we can use to represent prayer.  The hexagon gives us 6 topics that we can remember in prayer, each coming from a petition in the Lord’s prayer: God’s Character, God’s Kingdom, Provision, Forgiveness, Guidance, and Protection.

As we begin this chapter, we hear about a moment of silence, an offering of incense, and prayers being offered up to God.  We don’t know the subject of the prayers, but I think it is fair to say that the prayers would be encompassed in the general categories of the hexagon.

What is important about this section is to see the cause and effect.  The prayers rise before God and there is a response.  A censer is thrown down upon the earth in judgment.  When we pray to God and lift up our concerns before Him, we do not pray to a dead God or a God who is incapable of doing something.  We pray to a God who can and does respond to us when we genuinely pray in His Spirit.

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Year 3, Day 352: Revelation 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word that speaks to our relationship with God.  God is love.  God draws us to Him.  It is God who gives us truth.  It is God who gives us identity.  It is God who gives us authority. 

In this chapter we hear about a God who is a living God.  Often it is easy to put God on a shelf and not consider our relationship with Him as we go through our life.  But here we hear that God is living.  He cannot be ignored.  He brings hope to the hopeless.  He comes in judgment to those who would oppose Him.  He controls the elemental forces of the world.

It is also God who calls us and sustains us.  It is God that we worship.  It is God who gives meaning to our lives.  It is God in whom our eternal life rests.

As we read this passage, I can’t help but ask if I make enough space in my life for intimacy with God.  Am I at peace with God?  Is God renewing me?  Am I obedient to God?  Do I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life?

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Year 3, Day 351: Revelation 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Power

• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

You might expect me to talk about power with respect to the four hoursemen.  And I can certainly do so.  The horsemen are God’s representatives.  The receive authority to come and interact with the world at God’s request.  They are empowered in the world by God because their authority comes from Him.

However, I’m actually going to talk about power from the perspective of the martyrs at the foot of the altar.  They’re martyrs.  They were slain because they believed in God.  If anyone had circumstance to lash out against their enemies, these people did!

However, notice that they don’t.  They know their place.  It is not in their authority or their power to seek vengeance.  “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.  These martyrs know their authority and their power, and seeking vengeance is not a part of what God has given to them.  Instead, they turn to God and wait for His will to be done.  I applaud these martyrs because in knowing their power, they also know what is not in their power.  Part of being God’s representative is knowing what areas in which you are not given power because you are not given authority.

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Year 3, Day 350: Revelation 4-5

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Who we are.  This is defined by God.  It comes from God.  It comes to us through God’s love for us.

I love these chapters of Revelation for the picture we see of Jesus.

• He is a lamb.  But He is no simple lamb.  He is a lamb who has been slain.  Jesus is the sacrifice for our atonement.
• He is the Lion of Judah.  He is the Messianic ruler of Judah.  He is powerful.  His strength is unrivaled.
• He is the Root of David.  Jesus is of the line of David.  He is of the lineage of kings.  He is the promised Messiah to come.
• He has seven horns.  Seven represents God’s completeness.  Jesus is complete.  He is omnipotent.
• He receives power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.  Jesus knows that He is not the source.  Rather, these qualities come to Him.

Here we see a Jesus who understands His identity comes from God.  Jesus is not out to create an identity of His own choosing.  He embraces the identity that comes from God.  God wanted Him to be born.  God wanted Him to teach and be among the people.  God wanted Jesus to die for our sake.  God wanted Jesus to rise and have power over death and the world.  Jesus can do all of these things in obedience to the Father because He understands that His identity comes from the will of the Father. 

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Year 3, Day 349: Revelation 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Power

• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

As I was reading about the church of Philadelphia, I thought about power.  The introduction is about Christ.  He opens doors that nobody can shut.  He shuts doors that nobody can open.  This gives us a great commentary about the omnipotence of God.  His power is unquestionable.  This also gives us a great model.  As Christ got all of His authority from God, we see that Christ’s power is likewise unable to be countered.

So now we turn to Philadelphia.  Here is a small church.  They seem to be relatively weak.  Yet, they are working near the presence of Satan and they are able to stay true to their faith!  That is power!  They are able to resist the Devil and the influences of the world!  Furthermore, Jesus tells this church that they not only have the power to hang onto the crown that was given to them but to also conquer and in conquering to become a pillar in the temple of God!  Imagine seeming so small and insignificant yet having God turn to you and call you one of His pillars.  What an incredible testimony about the power that comes from God in contrast to the power we can see and evaluate here in this world.

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Year 3, Day 348: Revelation 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: This is the word that describes our relationship with God.  It is God that gives us our identity and our authority.  It is God that gives power to our submission to His mission.

In each of these four churches, we can see an example of the importance of Up:

• Ephesus knows how to test the spirits and endure for the sake of Christ.  However, they also have forgotten their first love.  It is easy to fall into a pattern of ministry where God’s love no longer shines through us as it should.  When our relationship with God falters, we can end up going through the motions for academic or ritualistic reasons rather than for God’s love.
• Smyrna is able to do great things because their relationship with God is what it should be.  They are able to endure persecution.  They are able to understand that they are rich regardless of their financial condition.  They are able to stand under slander.  They are even able to look death in the face and not blink.  Because their relationship with God is strong, they can look forward to the crown of life.
• In Pergamum, we see a group of people who are able to do the work of the Lord even though they are in proximity to the work of Satan.  This is accomplished through their relationship with the Father.  However, we also see that their relationship with God is not as strong as it could be as they continue to see hierarchy among their ranks.
• In Thyatira, we can hear about a group of people who are growing in their relationship with God.  However, we can see that their Up is still not where it should be.  The people of Thyatira have an issue with sexual immorality.  Instead of turning to God as the center of their passion, they are turning to the lust of the flesh.  God wants to be the center of our life.  That’s what Up is all about.

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Year 3, Day 347: Revelation 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus:

• Identity: Who we are.  This is defined by God.  It comes from God.  It comes to us through God’s love for us.
• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

This passage speaks of Christ and His awareness of His identity.  He is the faithful witness.  He is the first-born out of the dead.  He freed us from sin.  He made us priests to serve God.  Jesus knew who He was because His identity came from the Father.  Each of these attributes of Jesus are true not because Jesus desired them to be true but rather because God the Father desired Christ to be each of these things.  Jesus’ identity originated with the Father.

This passage also screams authority.  The King sends out His Messiah.  Jesus comes clothed like a king with a sash around his chest.  His eyes were like flames.  His voice is like a lion.  From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword full of power.  Here we see the conquering Messiah.  He knows His calling.  God has equipped Him and given Him authority.  Here we see Jesus coming in power to accomplish God’s will.

Revelation 1 gives us a balanced perspective.  Jesus knows His identity comes from God and is obedient to it.  He knows His authority comes from the King and He goes forth in power.

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Year 3, Day 346: Daniel 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Father/Identity

• Father: God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.
• Identity: Who we are.  This is defined by God.  It comes from God.  It comes to us through God’s love for us.

In the commentary I wrote three years ago, I spoke of struggling with the words: “Shut up these words and seal the book.”  After all, I’m a person who likes to be informed and who likes to know what is going on.  I enjoy being in the know and being able to make decisions through being informed.  While it’s okay to be informed, it’s not okay to let these feelings push me into the realm of having to be in control.

I’m learning that’s me and unfortunately it is how I want to be.  It’s a rather self-centered attitude to have.  But there is a better way.  Rather than making my decisions and having to be in control, life works best when I remember to take my time and let God be in control and get my identity from Him.  Sure, it’s good to be informed.  But it is far easier to let God be in control and respond to what He brings into my life than it is to have to try and manage the whole world myself.

It’s okay that I don’t have all the answers; God knows what is going on.  It’s okay that I’m not in full control; God is in full control.  It is time I start focusing on that which God has placed into my identity rather than having to exert control over every minutia of detail in my life.  It’s okay for these words – and perhaps more importantly their full breadth of understanding – to be shut up and sealed.  I don’t need to know everything.  I need to know what God needs me to know so that I can be the person He desires me to be.  That’s identity that comes from the Father.

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Year 3, Day 345: Daniel 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character/Competency

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.
• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

God desires leaders who are both having high character and high competency.  Such leaders have unlimited potential for seeing breakthrough in the kingdom of God.  We see these leaders in the likes of Daniel.

However, not all people have both the character of God and competency.  When a person has high character but no competency, there is a possibility for kingdom breakthrough but it is very limited.  Most of us worship in churches where this is the norm.  There is some kingdom development, but hardly what any of us would call a movement.  Our churches are filled with people who desire the character of God but who have little competency for making disciples.

The more dangerous position is when a person has great competency but no character.  Such people actually have unlimited potential for harm.  They are competent leaders who don’t have the character of God and they move people to obey their will instead of God’s will.  Competent leaders who don’t have the character of God are manipulators of people instead of being disciplers of them.

We see this dangerous possibility in the leaders mentioned in Daniel, specifically in Daniel 11:21-35.  Most scholars agree that these verses speak about Antiochus IV, a ruler of Greece who brought great abominations to Jerusalem.  But let’s look at what these verses say about the leadership of Antiochus IV.  He will win by flattery.  Armies will fall before him through war and deceitful alliances.  He will profane the holy spaces.  He will seduce people in power.  He will magnify himself.  He will make rulers those who magnify him.  Do you hear these verses?  Antiochus IV was a very competent leader who had no character.  He had unlimited potential for kingdom harm.

Pay attention to a person’s character, not just their competency.

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Year 3, Day 344: Daniel 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Pioneers/Developers

• Pioneer: One who goes into the world under God’s authority to claim ground for God’s Kingdom that is not currently claimed.
• Developer: One who through God’s power develops and strengthens territory claimed by pioneers so that it is not lost again.

This may seem like an unusual perspective about which to speak today with respect to Daniel 10.  But there are two main reasons that these topics comes to mind.

First, we must understand the spiritual warfare given in this chapter.  Several times we see Daniel weakened.  We hear about the messengers of God struggling against the powers of this world.  Doing kingdom work is a struggle.  It is difficult.  Being a pioneer means going into enemy territory and struggling against those who oppose God’s ways.  But pioneers are desperately needed, and developers need to be mindful that pioneers need to be covered in prayer by those who will develop the fruit of their struggle!

Second, we must understand that Daniel has this vision as the first wave of Jewish settlers head back to Jerusalem to develop the land that has been reclaimed for the Hebrew people.  Daniel – a pioneer – prays and fasts as a group of developers heads off to do the task that God has called them to do.  They are going to develop Jerusalem and the surrounding land once more.  These developers need prayer as they try to hold onto what has been claimed for God’s kingdom!

God’s kingdom needs both pioneers and developers working in conjunction with each other.  Territory should be claimed for God, and that is hard work.  Claimed territory must be developed lest it is lost, and that is hard work, too.

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Year 3, Day 343: Daniel 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Father

• Father: God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.

When we look at this chapter in Daniel, we see an awful lot of prayer.  While this would be a seemingly natural chapter to talk about prayer, I instead felt called to speak about the idea of “Father.”  The Father is in relationship with us because He loves us.  It isn’t because we earn it.  It isn’t because we deserve it.  We have relationship with God because He loves us.

This is shown clearly at the end of Daniel’s prayer in verse 18.  Daniel says, “For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.”  That verse shows us what it is like to understand God as Father.  It is His love – His mercy and grace – that allows us to know Him at all.  That is God, who comes to us.

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Year 3, Day 342: Daniel 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.

When we look at these visions in Daniel 8, we see rams and goats warring against each other.  When the goat wins, we see horns within the goat war with each other.  We see one of the horns practice deception.  We see the powerful rise up and believe they can even take on God.  We see humanity at its ugliest when we see human beings chasing after power and control.

In the midst of that perspective, we remember God is king.  Human beings can wage war against each other all they want.  We can do despicable things to one another.  We can muster our power against God.  But God will win.  He is omnipotent.  He is all-powerful.  In the end, nothing can stand in the face of His absolute will.

That is the God to whom we look when we are looking for authority in this world.

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Year 3, Day 341: Daniel 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Father/Identity

• Covenant Triangle: The Father gives us identity because He loves us, not because we earn it.  Once we know our identity, we can be obedient in confidence knowing that it comes to us from God through His love, not our work.

In this chapter of Daniel, we hear about a vision that God gives to Daniel.  Notice something, though.  Even though the vision comes from God, Daniel is troubled by the vision.  He could be troubled because he doesn’t understand.  He could be troubled because the message is bleak.  He could be troubled for both of these reasons and perhaps a few others.

However, we see Daniel do something when he is troubled and doesn’t understand.  He turns to God.  He turns to God for understanding.  He turns to God for explanation.  He turns to God for identity.  Even when the message is hard or difficult, Daniel understands that truth is found in God because God loves him.  He doesn’t go elsewhere when the road is difficult.  Rather, Daniel turns to the Father.

The road of life may be difficult to grasp and understand, but it is best faced when we remember to turn to God and come to Him for identity and understanding.

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Year 3, Day 340: Daniel 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Covenant Triangle: The Father gives us identity because He loves us, not because we earn it.  Once we know our identity, we can be obedient in confidence knowing that it comes to us from God through His love, not our work.  Father -> Identity -> Obedience.

Again I find myself coming back to the Covenant Triangle as I read the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den.  This is an incredible story of obedience from Daniel’s perspective.

• First, we see Daniel obedient to prayer in spite of the decree against prayer that he hears from the king.  I wonder, how can Daniel be obedient knowing the consequences?  Would I pray where others could see me if I knew that anyone caught praying would be killed?  Yet, Daniel is obedient because he understands his identity is from God.  He is God’s follower; God's will shall be done with respect to Daniel as long as Daniel is living out his calling, or identity.
• Second, we see obedience in Daniel in actually going into the lion’s den.  Again, I have to ask myself if I would voluntarily go to the slaughter.  Might I not try to run and escape the punishment?  Yet, Because Daniel’s identity is from God, He knows God is in control.  God can deliver Daniel if God so chooses.  Because his identity comes from God, Daniel grows strong in his obedience to God.

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Year 3, Day 339: Daniel 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Authority/Power

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.
• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

We know that our true authority can only come from God.  The King of Creation – God Himself – looks for people to represent Him to the world.  He’s not looking for people to give an hour of their life each week and come to give money to support the local religious institution.  Rather, God is looking for people to represent Him to a world that desperately needs Him!  To those people who look to Him and covenant with Him, He gives authority to be His representative.

Once we understand our authority to be His representative, then it is up to us to go forth in His power.  He wants us to go forth into the world and put His power on display.  He wants us to change people’s lives through His power.  He wants us to challenge people out of their sin.  He wants us to be His mouthpiece as He calls the world back to Him.

We see this loud and clear through Daniel in this chapter.  God places a horrible prophecy before the Babylonian king Belshazzar.  Who in their right mind goes before the king and tells the king that he has sinned, he hasn’t repented, and his kingdom will be torn from him?  Talk about your stereotypical “don’t kill the messenger” mission!  But this is exactly what Daniel does.  He does it because he has an understanding of his role under the King.

God is in charge.  Out of God’s kingship, God gave Daniel authority over Belshazzar to proclaim His message.  Out of that authority, Daniel embraced the power to do what God wanted him to do.  I cannot imagine how terrifying it must have been for Daniel to declare that message.  But I give him credit for understanding his role in God’s kingdom.

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Year 3, Day 338: Daniel 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: D₂

• D₂ is the step in the discipleship process where God builds character as we begin to help in God's work.  Often it involves us taking a good long look at ourselves and seeing what needs to be cut away.  Affectionately, this process is referred to as “the pit of despair” because when we see ourselves for who we really are it is easy to despair and feel like we’ll never get it right, we’ll never be right, and we’ll never be useful to God.  It is easy to feel like a failure in the pit of despair.

We need to remember something in the pit of despair.  Romans 5:3-5 says that “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.”  When we are in the pit of despair and suffering, God is actually using that time to build character within us!  D₂ is difficult.  It is hard to suffer.  It is hard to endure.  It is hard to build character.  It is hard to be a disciple.  But in the end, it is worth it!

I believe this is exactly what God is doing to Nebuchadnezzar in this chapter.  Up until now, God has demonstrated His power to Nebuchadnezzar.  Nebuchadnezzar has seen God’s power and been impressed.  But Nebuchadnezzar still hasn’t let go of his pride.  He still hasn’t humbled himself before God.  If Nebuchadnezzar is going to truly be in relationship with God, he needs to take a good long look in the mirror and see his prideful self for what it is.  That’s D₂ if I’ve ever seen it.  God is building character in Nebuchadnezzar by humbling him to be like a beast so he can consider the truth about his ways.

So how do we get out of the pit of despair and build character?  Through time, vision, and grace.  We can see each of these three elements today in God’s dealing with Nebuchadnezzar.

• Time: God gives Nebuchadnezzar seven years to see himself as he really is.
• Vision: God gives Nebuchadnezzar the ability to see himself as he really is – a beast following his own passions – and know that there is a better way.
• Grace: Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king worshipping false gods.  The fact that God continues to search after Nebuchadnezzar’s heart at all is a huge display of grace! 

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Year 3, Day 337: Daniel 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up/Out

• Up: Our relationship with the Father
• Out: Our relationship with a broken world

Here in this story we get a powerful example of each of these two elements of life:

• Up.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego take a stand of faith.  They know what they believe and they act upon it.  As they do it, they literally experience relationship with one who “is like a son of the gods.”  I read that testimony and see a revelation of God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ, coming among Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  When we take a stand of faith, God will dwell with us and allow us to struggle, persevere, and endure to the end.  That is what “up” is all about.
• Out.  Nebuchadnezzar himself makes the comment about “the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego take their stand and impact the broken world around them.  Nebuchadnezzar is brought closer to seeing the power of God.  Nebuchadnezzar is brought closer to truly understanding relationship with God.  That is what “out” is all about.

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