Young People’s Blog

“And I (Daniel) heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And He said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Daniel 12:8-9).

During his long life, Daniel received from the Lord many wonderful prophecies about what would happen in the future. Some of these events have already happened, so that critics have tried to say that Daniel wrote about them after they had happened, instead of as prophecy about the future. But Daniel wrote about them long before they happened.

However, when Daniel heard these prophesies, he did not understand it all, and asked the Lord about it. The only answer he got was that the words were “sealed until the time of the end.” Daniel had to be content with that. But now you and I, since we have the truth of the New Testament, can understand how everything will happen. The Lord has told us how what Daniel received fits into the whole picture, and everything is clear. It is wonderful to be living at this very time when the last pieces of God’s prophecy puzzle are fitting into place! The Apostle Paul could say in Acts 20:27, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” We are living in the most wonderful time in this world’s history.

“Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions” (Daniel 6:16).

Probably many who are reading this calendar are young, but we must remember that when Satan is attacking us, he never gives up. We have been speaking about how Daniel and his three friends were faithful to the Lord when they were young men, perhaps only in their late teens. Back in January we spoke about Daniel being thrown into the lions’ den, but you may not have realized that he was a very old man when this happened.

Daniel was captured and taken to Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar back in 605 B.C., and faithfully served the kings of Babylon until that nation was defeated by the Medes and Persians in 539 B.C. If Daniel was in his late teens in 605 B.C., then by 539 B.C. he must have been over eighty years old! He was probably in retirement by then, but king Darius recognized his ability and faithfulness, and gave him a very high position in the government. Yet even at this advanced age he was called upon to be tested as to his faithfulness to the Lord.

Even though you may be young, remember to pray for those who are older, for it is not only younger ones who go through difficulties in their Christian lives. We older ones need the Lord’s help too!

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him (the Lord Jesus)…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:9-11).

The Lord Jesus was first of all humiliated and mistreated by man, and then crucified. Then He suffered the judgment of God for sin during the three hours of darkness. But now God has exalted Him, and in a coming day every knee shall bow to Him. Even those who are not saved will be compelled to do this, and to acknowledge Him as Lord. Those of us who are saved will be glad to do this, but how serious it is to think of those who will be cast into hell! They also will own Jesus as Lord, but it will be too late to be saved then. Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? It is a serious thing to neglect the salvation of your soul, for we do not know when the Lord may come, or when we may be called into eternity.

If you have accepted Him as your Savior, then on a Lord’s day like this you can join in the praise and thanksgiving given to Him.

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king…our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace…but if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Daniel 3:16-18).

In previous times, Daniel’s three friends had relied on him to take the lead and speak up for them, but this time Daniel was not with them. He must have been away from the area, and now these three friends are compelled to take a stand for the Lord without him. But they had learned courage from Daniel, and now they boldly tell the king that they will not worship the big idol he had made. As a result they were indeed thrown into the fiery furnace, but the Lord protected them. The only things the fire burned were the ropes with which they were tied up! Best of all, the Lord Himself was with them in the fire. You can read this story in Daniel, chapter 3.

Sometimes we may be strengthened by the faith of others, but then the time comes when the Lord wants us to trust only in Him, and to stand up against Satan. He will give us the strength to do it, and as we see with Daniel’s friends, God gave them the courage to do so. He is able to give us courage today to stand firmly for Him, and to deliver us from trouble!

“As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17).

Yesterday we saw how Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the meat that the king was serving him. Evidently Daniel had a little more courage than some of his companions, and took the lead in spiritual things. Because of his boldness, he had a good effect on some of his friends — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They also wanted to avoid defiling themselves with food that they should not eat, but it was Daniel who spoke up and asked for a vegetarian diet. Then all four of them honored the Lord. As a result, the Lord honored them, for we read in 1 Samuel 2:30, “Them that honour Me I will honour.” As we see in our verse today, God gave them special knowledge, skill, and wisdom, and the king was very pleased with them.

When we have the confidence and boldness to honor the Lord in our lives, we can be an encouragement to other Christians who are watching us. Perhaps someone else really wants to please the Lord, but does not quite have the courage to step forward and do so. But if you and I are willing to take a faithful stand, it may encourage them to do so too! Then they, in turn, are an encouragement to us!

“Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank” (Daniel 1:8).

As young men, Daniel and his friends had been taken captive by the Babylonians when the kingdom of Judah was conquered back in 605 B.C. But king Nebuchadnezzar recognized their ability and wanted to train them to serve him. Daniel might easily have neglected the law of Moses, but even in captivity, he wanted to please the Lord, and he “purposed in his heart” to do so. You may remember that according to the law of Moses, the Israelites were not allowed to eat certain kinds of meat. Daniel was determined that he would not defile himself with the food the king offered, and the Lord honored him and his friends by making a way for them to do this. They had to be content with what we would call a “vegetarian” diet, but they were happy with this, for they were keeping God’s law.

Sometimes in our Christian lives we need to purpose clearly in our heart to avoid something that would defile us. We are not restricted as to what we eat as Christians, but there are other things that we may be tempted to do that would defile us. If our hearts are really right with the Lord, we will want to avoid what would not please Him, no matter what it may cost us.

“My son, give me thine heart” (Proverbs 23:26).

Sometimes we hear gospel preachers tell those who are not saved that they need to give their heart to the Lord Jesus. Those who say this mean well, but it is important to notice that we do not find this kind of gospel preaching in the Bible. Why not? It is because of what we had in our verse on March 4 — “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Can we bring that kind of a heart, and present it to the Lord? No, for we also read in the Word of God that “Thou (God) art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13). God cannot accept our sinful hearts.

Rather we need a new heart and a new nature, which we get when we accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior. Then, as true believers, we can give our heart to the Lord. In our verse today, God says, “My son, give me thine heart,” and this shows that He is speaking to those who have a real relationship with Him. Then we can give our new hearts to the Lord, and use our time and energy for His glory. It is because we love the Lord that we willingly give our heart to Him, and this can happen only after we are saved.

“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Sometimes other people, perhaps relatives or friends, may tell us that they love us. Yet we may not be convinced of their love, for sometimes they do not do anything to show their love. The right words are there, but there is no proof that they mean it. At other times, people may deliberately deceive us by telling us that they love us, and then use our confidence in them to do us harm when we are not expecting it.

Judas Iscariot, one of the Lord’s twelve disciples, was like that. He was a good pretender, and all during the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus he appeared to love and serve the Lord Jesus. But in his heart he was a fake, and eventually he betrayed the Lord Jesus. One of the worst things he did was to kiss the Lord Jesus, to show His enemies who He was so that they could arrest Him.

But God has fully proved His love by sending His Son to die for us. What more could God do to prove His love? He could not have given a greater gift than His beloved Son.

“As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

This verse is talking about someone who wants to deceive us, and who may appear friendly, but underneath does not really like us. However, the truth of the verse applies to all of us, for our thoughts tell us what we are by nature. I well remember reading about a little girl growing up in a Christian home, and to whom the Bible was read every day. She had accepted the Lord as her Savior and wanted to please the Lord Jesus. One day she came to her mother and said, “Mother, I don’t want to do bad things, but I have a naughty ‘think’.” We can understand what she meant, for although she did not want to do naughty things, bad thoughts came into her mind from time to time.

Even if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we still have the old sinful nature in us, and it keeps wanting to make us sin. It is important for us to ask the Lord to help us to push those wrong ideas out of our minds, and to think about the Lord Jesus instead. Sometimes repeating a verse to ourselves will help, or starting to sing a hymn that we have learned. We can choose what we think about, and we do not have to allow wrong thoughts to dominate our minds.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

We have seen that the heart of man in incurably wicked, and that nothing can change it. Before we are saved we are like the rotten eggs we talked about yesterday; everything inside is bad. But what a contrast is the heart of God! If the heart of man is bad, the heart of God is all goodness and love. The Bible shows us what the heart of God is like. God wants to have a relationship with us, and wants us to know Him. We cannot have a relationship with Him in our sins, but through the precious blood of Christ, our sins can be washed away, and we can be brought back, or reconciled, to God.

We do not learn to know God through our intellects; rather, we learn Him through our hearts and consciences. Through our hearts God reveals to us His heart of love, while through our consciences He reveals His holy nature. He could not have us in His presence in our sins, but His love found a way to bring us back to Himself, without going against His holy nature. The sufferings of Christ on the cross fully paid the penalty for sin, so that God could show His heart of love to us, and forgive our sins.