Tag Archives: Future

Nebuchadnezzar’s Wise Men

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CrystalBall_thumb      Perhaps you have heard of or seen a magician, who as part of their act reads the mind of a member of the audience.  If so, you know how impressive this seems on the surface.  Just how is it that a man can read the thoughts of another human being?  Later, when you find that there is some sort of trick or gimmick to explain the ‘magic,’ you realize that man just does not have the ability to read minds.  This, however, is not a new discovery.

     In the second chapter of the book of Daniel, we have recorded for us that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had a most troubling dream.  He called for all of his wise men to come to him and tell him what the dream was and what it meant.  The wise men of Babylon were perplexed.  Without any sort of clues, or without Nebuchadnezzar telling them about the dream, there was no way for them to determine what the dream even was, not to mention what it might have meant.  They correctly stated that, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean.  It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh” (Daniel 2:10b-11 NKJV).  They understood that the power to know what was in the mind of a man was not something that another man had the ability to discern.

     This same truth holds today as well.  We are told in the New Testament, “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11).  Man cannot read the thoughts of another man.  That is what makes Daniel’s description and interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream that much more impressive.  Daniel was only able to tell the king of his dream and what it meant, because God made that information known to Daniel in the first place (Daniel 2:19-23).

     This event should prove to us that there is a God who knows all things.  Only such a God could be able to tell Nebuchadnezzar through His servant Daniel the details of his dream.  Likewise, there are things about God Himself that man can only know because God has revealed those things to us.  It is in God’s word, the Holy Bible that we can find out about who God is and what He is like.  Let us not neglect the great volume of information that we have at our fingertips about our God and about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Is Doomsday Approaching?

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The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reported this week that we are now two minutes closer to midnight on their Doomsday Clock, having moved us from five minutes to midnight to just three.  Citing the amount of nuclear weapons in the world and human climate change, they feel that we are close to extinguishing the human race through some sort of doomsday catastrophe.

Kennette BenedictKennette Benedict, the director of the group, says, “The probability of global catastrophe is very high. This is about the end of civilization as we know it” (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/22/doomsday-clock-three-minutes-to-midnight/22158457/).  Interestingly, the clock was once just two minutes to midnight in 1953 following the testing of a new nuclear bomb.  Even though there were no fears of “global warming” and there were not as many nuclear weapons in 1953, we were closer to extinction then than we are now according to this scientific group.

So is this the case?  Are we closing in on Doomsday?  Let us put aside the dubious nature of the “scientific” proof of climate change for the moment.  Instead let us address the question as to whether man is able to bring life on this planet to an end.  Is man able to destroy the planet?  These scientists would answer that question in the affirmative, but is that really the case?

Scripture tells us who is really in control of the planet and all that goes on in it, and it is not man.  In Daniel 2, the prophet tells us that it is God who “changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.  He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him” (Daniel 2:21-22 NKJV).  Man may desire to know what is going to happen in the future, but to us that is darkness.  It cannot be seen by man.  God, however, is the one who knows what is in the darkness.  Thus we might say that we do not know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.

Additionally, God made a promise to mankind through Noah that nothing was going to stop the changing of the seasons while the earth remains (Genesis 8:22).  So while we are running around on this planet, to and fro, worrying about when the end will come, we must realize that we are not the ones who are in control of the planet.  It is God, the One who created it all (Psalm 19:1).  God will bring all things to an end when He sees fit to do so.  Jesus reported that of that day and time, no one knows.  Even He did not know when that would be.  Only the Heavenly Father has that answer (Matthew 24:36).

Instead of worrying about Doomsday, what every person on this planet should concern themselves with is whether they are ready to pass from this life into eternity.  What does grow closer everyday is the appointment that we have with eternity.  One day we will all pass from this life to the next, and we need to be ready for that day.  Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:42-44).  No one knows when they will die, but we all know that we will someday, unless the Lord returns first.  The question is, are you ready for that day to come?