A Breakthrough for the Fallen Race (Daniel 4)

King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream in which he saw a great tree. No astrologers, magicians, and enchanters could interpret the king’s dream except Daniel. The tree was King of the mighty Babylonian kingdom. He was the most powerful and greatest king in history. He exercised the power and authority which no one could interrupt and stop in any degree or form. He was a single authority and power in the kingdom of Babylon. Where does the power come from? The Scripture teaches where it comes from. The world says the power is coming from title, fame, wealth, and birth. But it is not true. All power belongs to God who gives to whomever He wishes. Jesus reveals the source of power to Pontius Pilate who was presiding the trial as the judge.

“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” (John 19:10-11)

“‘The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.’” (Daniel 4:17)

Kingdoms rise and fall not according to the military might and economic power of nation but according to the sovereignty of God. All power is coming from God Himself from the headship of family, all ranks of officials, teacher, police, military, judge, administration, to political and economic power.

What’s the cause of falling? It’s human pride. See what King Nebuchadnezzar says.

“Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, ‘Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?’” (Daniel 4:29-30)

This is the language of deceit and lie provoked by the devil. He reveals the stupidity of human race that he thinks that he accomplishes the majestic glory of the kingdom of Babylon all by his own might and power. He reveals what is look like the deceived and depraved mind of fallen race. He doesn’t speak the truth but the fantasy and illusion. Prophet Isaiah prophesied about the devil’s proud and rebellious mind against God.

“How you have fallen from heaven,

morning star, son of the dawn!

You have been cast down to the earth,

you who once laid low the nations!

You said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to the heavens;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,

on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.

I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.’

But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,

to the depths of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:12-15)

Any form of pride is not from God but from the devil, a liar and the father of lies. Look what happened to the man who boasted of himself and robbed the glory which is not his.

“Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, ‘This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you.’” (Daniel 4:31)

While his words were on his lips he was immediately stripped off all the power and authority and became like a mad man being drenched with the dew of heaven and eating grass like the ox for seven years. This is an act of God’s love for him to be aware of the truth that there is a God who is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people. Although it seems too harsh and brutal it is the way to true and real life for mankind. Jesus says to the disciples whatever is highly exalted among men is abominable to God.

“You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” (Luke 16:15)

There is no value in the fallen humanity in God’s sight. The whole race was dead in sins and transgressions. Since the fall of Adam, all men are lost, broken, and impotent. Man can do nothing to save himself. So God sent the Redeemer Jesus Christ to rescue the fallen humanity through the substitutionary death in our place. We have been made alive in Christ Jesus through the faith in the Son of God who paid the price for the redemption. It has been done by God’s redeeming grace in which we take refuge and rest with gratitude and thankfulness.

Prophet Daniel told the king how he could escape the judgment of God by renouncing the sin and wickedness of his own. However, he did not listen to the words of God and fell into the wrath of God.

“Therefore, Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.” (Daniel 4:27)

Is there any hope in the proud mind of race? Yes, there is in Christ Jesus our Lord and God the Father who is able to humble the proud through the love manifested in the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ is the breakthrough for the fallen race. He is the way and the truth and the life. While we were still sinners, Christ died for our sins in our place. When we were still blind and ignorant, God took the initiative to demonstrate the unfailing love and long suffering patience. God never wants anyone to perish. God is still telegraphing the marvelous language of love through the words of the Son Christ Jesus.

“And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” (Daniel 4:37b)

September 12, 2015

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No Death, No Life (Daniel 3)

Prophet Daniel’s account in Chapter 3 records a dramatic event occurred in history some 500 years before Christ. King Nebuchadnezzar erected a 60 feet high statue and all the people in his kingdom had to bow down before it. The King was inspired by the awesome dream in which he was the head of the great statue according to the Daniel’s interpretation. But Daniel’s three friends didn’t obey the king’s order so they were charged with contempt and condemned to death with fire. They were given a chance to change their minds but they rejected, saying “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)

First, it shows the nature of fallen race. It is not wrong to be great. We are made be great and reign over everything in the universe. Urge to be great is deeply imprinted in our humanity. Now the matter is how to be great either in the right way or in the wrong way. The fallen race has forgotten how to be great because of sin in Adam. So, they ever try to be great in their own way like King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to be exalted and esteemed by erecting the huge statue. From the moment of birth, man wants to be the center of the world.

But the way to be great was demonstrated in the cross of Calvary. Our Lord Jesus though He was God emptied Himself and became a servant in the likeness of man and offered the body of His own as the Lamb of God. Not glory but shame. Not honor but guilt. Not praise but condemnation. Not revenge but loss. Not sympathy but mocking. Not salvation but abandonment. Not dignity but humiliation. Not punishment but grace. Not demand but mercy. He was cut off and became nothing. It was prophesied and foretold numerous times in the Old Testament.

“After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.” (Daniel 9:26a)

“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:3-5)

Second, this account tells exactly the same our Lord Jesus says, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) This is the secret of life. The mystery of Christ reveals that through the death of Christ Jesus the Lord salvation comes to whoever believes in the One God sent. Through the miracles of Jesus Christ a handful of people like the disciples believed in Him. All the miracles proves that Christ is the Messiah according to Moses and the Prophets. But through His death many a people come to believe in the love of God. When Peter delivered the sermon on the Day of Pentecost 3,000 people received the Lord Jesus Christ. And thousands of ten thousands of people have received the Lord Jesus Christ who bore the sin of the world on the cross of Calvary.

The Daniel’s friends risked their lives on the edge of being thrown into the fiery furnace. They were the students of Patriarchs and Moses, so they knew and understood that God was living not dead. Although they didn’t say that God would raise them from the dead as the New Testament says, they believed that God would raise them.

Third, this account tells King and all peoples of the earth that there is a God who can protect His beloved children from any danger even the fiery furnace. In fact, our God is in control on dominions, authorities, powers in heavens and on the earth. Nothing is out of His bound. Even if they were thrown into the fire they were untouched and unharmed by the extraordinary heat of fire at all by the hand of God. “They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.” (Daniel 3:27b)

September 6, 2015

©2015 David Lee Ministries. All rights reserved.

One God the Father and One Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 8:4-13)

Idol is nothing. Christians at Corinth knew it well. There was the Temple of Aphrodite where people worshiped idols offering animal sacrifices. The sacrificed meat then was sold in the market near the Temple. The best meat they could get was the sacrifices offered to idols in the Temple. Those who have knowledge that idol is nothing have no problem of eating the temple meat. But there are some people who don’t have knowledge their conscience was defiled by the food. Paul says he would not eat meat at all for the sake of the weak brothers in Christ.

“So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that ‘An idol is nothing at all in the world’ and that ‘There is no God but one.’ For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” (1 Corinthians 8:4-6)

What is idol? Idol is a man-made thing. It is made out of clay, wood, gold, silver, and bronze. These days in a civilized society there are no more such hand-made idols. However, people worship idols as much as or more than the people in the first century did before. Whatever people worship other than God is idol like money, celebrity, fame, children, degree, status, and religion. There are so many gods in people’s mind and heart.

But there is only one God who is the Father. The whole universe and all things came from the Father and exist for Him. There is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and created male and female in His image and in His likeness. Nothing was not made that has been made without Him. Just look around how nature is running and operating. The size and volume of the universe is so immense and incredible that it is far beyond our understanding. Look at wind the mighty weight of air which causes tempest and hurricane beyond our measure. Look at seas the enormous body of water which holds the uncountable school of fish. Look at heavens the unreachable canopy high above. Look at lands the solid and firm grounds which hold more than seventy billion people and a lot of animals and produce all kinds of plantations and vegetables.

It used to be atom which was known as the smallest unbreakable particle of matter. But now there have been much smaller particles discovered in the physical world. In order break atom it needs a tremendous amount of electric power which runs through a few kilometers long along the huge pipe. It’s called a linear particle accelerator. Why does it need a great deal amount of electric power to break such an incredibly tiny particle? What power does it hold tight? Scientists have no answer but just know that it is true. The power is Jesus Christ, the Scripture says. By the word of Christ Jesus all things are subjected to Him.

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17)

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3)

“But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.” (1 Corinthians 8:7)

The people in the church at Corinth had different levels of understanding in life and scripture just like any other church does. Not all of them possessed knowledge that idol is nothing. What is this knowledge? It means that the sacrifice food is not defiled for idol is nothing. Idol cannot do anything to the food. It can’t smell, taste, touch, and eat it. So the sacrifice food is as clean and eatable as any other meat. But knowledge is not everything for it puffs up and inflates the heart and mind of people. Instead, love builds up as demonstrated in the cross of Calvary through which many a people have been found and saved in Christ Jesus the Lord.

Some people are still so habituated to idols that when they eat the food sacrificed to idol they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god. What does it mean? Some have spent all their lives eating the sacrifice meat and still think that the food has been given to gods. They still think that there is something defiled in the food, so their conscience is also defiled. Such a person is in the scripture called the weak in the faith. Their conscience was shaped under the idol worship environment long years. It doesn’t change overnight. New born Christians experience failures and missteps over the time when they never think to stumble that badly again. No one is transformed and changed into maturity instantly. It takes years and years in life to be equipped with sound doctrines and truths and to be mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

“But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.” (1 Corinthians 8:8-9)

Food diet doesn’t impress God at all either you eat freely or constrain. But God cares how to use our rights. If they being puffed up and inflated by knowledge use the rights to do anything they want, then they are definitely not acting in love. It may be legally clean to exercise their rights. However, that’s not our Lord Jesus Christ did. Although Christ was sinless and perfect in every way God was pleased to put the Son in the place of scorn and humiliation, in our place. Christ obeyed the Father by presenting his body as the ransom sacrifice voluntarily to the point of death. Christ is the only authorized Person to bring justice for everything. But he yielded all His rights to be revered, honored, glorified, and esteemed by all mankind and did not revenge or even threaten anyone who brought false accusations and contempt in a long patience to heal the wounded and broken.

“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:23-24)

“For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.” (1 Corinthians 8:10-13)

This is an example to use right in a puffed-up way not in a loving one. Christianity is not know-it-all which esteems human pride and boast. Rather, it is being cheated and wronged for the cause of Christ Jesus the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:7). Jesus says that the secret of life lies on whether we choose to lose and die with Him. “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) Prophet Isaiah prophesied that our Lord Jesus would be cut off completely and that by the very wounds He bore we would be healed.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

Christianity is exercising love, not right just as our Lord Jesus Christ loved us while we all were still sinners, the enemies of God.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Prayer: Thank you Father for your true love marvelously demonstrated in the cross of Calvary by the Son Jesus. Though we weren’t deserved at all for the love of Christ Jesus, God the Father so loved the world that He gave Himself that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Thank for teaching us Lord the secret of life through the Lord Jesus Christ who did not exercise right as God but gave His life once for all as promised. In Christ’s name. Amen.

September 3, 2015

© 2015 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved. 

Love Builds Up (1 Corinthians 8:1-3)

How do we know that we are in the right track in life? We will never know as long as we see ourselves with the eyes of the world and its philosophy. We can know only when we see through the eyes of God. He is eternally loving and we are eternally in need of that love which was manifested in the Son’s death on the cross of Calvary. Through the death Christ was risen to life. Our God is merciful and compassionate. He not only demands us to love Him but also gives the power to obey Him. Truth known is not obedience but truth done is. Our God knows our heart, so when we love Him in heart we shall be known by the Designer of Love.

“Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that ‘We all possess knowledge.’ But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God.” (1 Corinthians 8:1-3)

Knowledge is good and necessary. But the problem is it inflates the people’s mind and heart. It stimulates the human’s pride and vanity. One of the infantile manifestations in the church of Corinth was quarrels and dissensions. Some favored Paul and others Apollos or Peter. They looked down others because they were puffed up and inflated by the pride and unreality. The Scripture says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It says in another place that it is an abominable thing in the sight of God for humans to exalt themselves. "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight.” (Luke 16:15)

On the other hand, love builds up. It doesn’t destructs but constructs. Truth known is not love but truth done is. So those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know, says Paul. They ought to know knowledge on the mysteries of God. At the same time, they ought to know that knowledge is not all but obedience based on what they know is everything. Who knows better than the Lord Jesus? He is the Creator who made all things and nothing has been made without Him (John 1:3). Yet our Lord Jesus never looked down on anyone but was merciful and compassionate on the people who were like sheep without a shepherd. Our Lord Jesus also was truthful and faithful in telling the truth honestly and bluntly. For example, Jesus told the Pharisees that He was before Abraham was born. Then they picked up the stones to stone Him (John 8:58).

Although the people of His own did not recognize and accept the Promised One, God so loved the world that He gave His Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). God sacrificed the Son Jesus Christ the Lord while we were still sinners. Our Lord Jesus took up our infirmities and transgressions and bore our shame and guilt on the cross of Calvary. He originates all knowledge in the universe and yet obeyed the Father to the point of death for it was the only way for the redemption of the fallen race. Christ demonstrated what love is and what it does. Through the death of the Son many a people have been found in God who released them from the bondage of sin and death. Through the love of God we have been forgiven and made righteous and blameless in Christ Jesus the Lord.

We humans cannot love God. So He loved us first and draws the elect in love. Now since we are loved and drawn by the Spirit we simply respond to that marvelous and unfathomable love in Christ. That’s it. What else can we do more than answering the outpouring love? That’s what it means when our Lord Jesus says that anyone who wants to follow Him he must deny himself and take up the cross and follow Him. We cannot love God without denying ourselves first. Loving God is obeying Him. To obey God we must say no to sin like pride, self-righteousness, complacency, and say yes to the Spirit.

Those who love God is known by God. It doesn’t matter whether or not the world recognize our love for God. That’s less than the least important thing to concern. Apostle Paul says so in this letter, saying “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.” (1 Corinthians 4:3) Why does he say so? It’s because those who love God is known by God. God sees our heart and even the deep inside what we think in consciousness and unconsciousness with His blazing fire. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)

If we are known by God how then can we not know the truth that we have eternal life in Christ? We’re the children of the kingdom of light who once were locked in the dungeon of darkness but now have been washed, sanctified, and justified by the blood of Christ Jesus. Though we care little about what the world says we are not free from who sees the inside of us. “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” (1 Corinthians 4:4) Now we are known by the One who judges justly and righteously for we love Him.

Prayer: Thank you Father for loving us unconditionally through the Son Jesus Christ our Lord and for enabling us to love the One who is the author of love. May we always remember and never forget even a moment that God pours out love on us. In Christ’s name. Amen.

August 27, 2015

© 2015 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.