Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and he gathers all the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans to tell him his dream and interpret it. Well none of them can do that so Nebuchadnezzar orders all of them to be killed including Daniel and his friends.

Daniel and his buddies pray to the Lord and the Lord responds by revealing the secret of the dream to Daniel in a night vision. Daniel says a prayer of thanks to God for giving him knowledge and wisdom bc Daniel knows that the Lord, “Reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells in Him.”

Daniel then goes to the man Nebuchadnezzar ordered to kill all the wise men and tells him not to bc he can interpret the dream. When Daniel is before the king he explains that no man can tell him his dream but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and He is the one who interprets dreams.

Daniel shares with Nebuchadnezzar what the Lord revealed to him: 2 inferior kingdoms will rise, Medo-Persia and Greece, and then a another really powerful kingdom will rise, the Roman Empire. Upon hearing the interpretation, Nebuchadnezzar praises God saying, “God is the God of gods.” He also promotes Daniel and his buddies to be rulers in Babylon.

Over time Nebuchadnezzar must have forgotten about the time he said, “Truly your God is the God of all gods,” bc he ends up building a large golden image and demands everyone to worship it when music is played or they will be thrown into a blazing furnace.

Well Daniel’s buddies refuse to worship anything or anyone but the Lord. So Nebuchadnezzar has the furnace heated 7 times more than usual and has Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego cast into it.

When Nebuchadnezzar looks inside he sees a fourth person in there. So he brings out Daniel’s friends, who are completely unharmed, and praises the Lord for sending His Angel to save His servants who trusted Him. Then he makes a decree that anyone who speaks against the Lord will be destroyed. 🤷‍♀️ Nebuchadnezzar is one violent, fickle dude.

Back in Jerusalem before the Babylon invasion in 597 BC, Jeremiah is still warning the people not to believe that they are secure just bc the temple is located in Jerusalem. He keeps urging them to stop their evil, repent, and turn to the Lord or the temple and everything else will be destroyed. But the people are still not listening.

More from Jeremiah tomorrow so keep reading.

(Daniel 2:1-3:30, Jeremiah 7:1-8:3)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

From today’s reading in the One Year Chronological Bible dated 8/6:

Today Jeremiah tells the people, who would never heed God’s words, the horrors that will occur when Jerusalem is besieged. There will be a great famine and the people will resort to cannibalism. 😳 Then Jeremiah smashes a potter’s flask symbolizing their inevitable calamities.

Pashhur the priest hears these words and is furious. So he beats Jeremiah and throws him in the stocks until the next morning. When Pashhur releases him, Jeremiah tells Pashhur that he and all his family will be taken as captives to Babylon where they will die with his friends, “To whom you have prophesied lies.”

Jeremiah’s calling upon his life creates quite the personal struggle for him. If he shares God’s words he is mocked and beaten. But Jeremiah can’t stay silent bc, “His word was in my heart like a burning fire.” Jeremiah’s calling causes him so much angst that he even curses being born but Jeremiah will stay faithful to the Lord no matter the cost.

God never promises it will be easy but He does promise to be with us through it. We will soon see more examples of God remaining with His people through the difficult with Daniel and his friends.

This concludes the Divided Kingdom Era! 🎉

We kick off the Captivity Era ⛓ which occurs in 3 waves: 1) 605 BC when Daniel and his friends are taken to Babylon, 2) 597 BC when Ezekiel and King Jehoiachin are taken to Babylon, and 3) 587/586 BC when most of Jerusalem is destroyed by Babylon.

Today we begin with the Book of Daniel. In 605 BC Babylon besieges Jerusalem and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, tells the master of his eunuchs (a eunuch is a man who has been castrated to serve in the court), “To bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.”

This is when we meet Daniel and his buddies. Nebuchadnezzar changes their names: “He gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego.”

Daniel and his friends are determined to serve and honor the Lord in this foreign land. “As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.”

Tomorrow Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and things get hot for Daniel’s friends. Keep reading.

(Jeremiah 19:1-20:18, Daniel 1:1-21)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

14 Eras:

Creation Era (Gen 1:1-11:26)✅

Patriarch Era (Gen 11:27-50:26 and Job)✅

Exodus Era (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) ✅

Conquest Era (Joshua) ✅

Judges Era (Judges, Ruth) ✅

Kingdom Era (1,2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 1-9, 1 Kings 1-11, various Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon) ✅

Divided Kingdom Era (2 Chronicles 10-36, 1 Kings 11-22, 2 Kings, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and some of Jeremiah) ✅

Captivity Era (the rest of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel) up now!

Eras to follow:

Return, Silent, Gospel, Church, Missions, and End Times/New Beginnings

An excerpt from “The 14 Eras” Booklet by Iva May:

The Captivity Era

Lamentations; Ezekiel; Daniel (70 years)

In 586 BC, the king of Babylon invaded Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom of Judah for the third and final time, and took many of the Jews captive to his capitol city of Babylon. In the midst of this turmoil, God raised up and spoke by prophets to lead His people. Among the captives of Babylon, Ezekiel prophesied about God’s

return to His people. In the royal courts of Babylon, Daniel prophesied about the Son of Man who would rule in Heaven. In Judah, Jeremiah prophesied about God’s promise to return his people to their land after 70 years. He called the people to trust God and not to run away back to Egypt. Jeremiah told the people that God had plans of peace for them rather than calamity, to give them a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11).

What does the Captivity Era reveal about God?

God Speaks

• God promises to bless those who surrender to the Babylonians and to bring them back to Judah after seventy years.

God Acts

• God raises up prophets who faithfully warn Israel of imminent judgment.

• God raises up a fierce nation to besiege and destroy Jerusalem and to take her people into captivity.

God Reveals

• God keeps His promises of judgment.

• God shows mercy to His people even in the midst of judgment.

• God does not forget His people; rather, He sends prophets to speak to them and give them comfort.

• Out of the darkest days of Israel’s history come some of the brightest promises of redemption.