Who Are the Two Gods in Daniel 7:13-14?
Daniel 7:13-14 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
This is a particularly exciting passage of scripture. It records God, here described as the “Ancient of Days” on the throne, yet someone who looked like a human being was presented to Him. Yet, implied in the original language, this human being was not mortal. In fact, this Human was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, and that all peoples and nations and languages should serve him. I would ask, is this Human then a God on par and equal to the Ancient of Days?
The Israelites of Jesus’ time new the scripture well… in fact they knew this very passage referred to the Messiah, they also knew that the Messiah would reign forever, as is clearly expressed by the last phrase in the passage. They also knew the Messiah was God.
In John 12:27-34 there is an interesting conversation between Jesus and a crowd of Jewish followers. The Jews ended with some questions posed to Jesus. “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
Curiously, Jesus Himself declared He must be lifted up, and would die. Those Jews present knew what the scripture said of the Messiah, or son of man, in Daniel 7:13-14. It surely must have perplexed some… but let us look at another New Testament passage… this time in the book of Matthew. Jesus is on trial before the high priest.
Matthew 14:60-63 “And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need?”
Here, recorded for us, is exactly what the high priest and Jews believed before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The son of man was indeed God, as Jesus Himself quoted and even ascribed Daniel 7:13 to Himself, calling Himself the Son of God. The reaction of the priest is self-explanatory.
And as the priest declared, I then ask you… “What further witnesses do we need?”
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Are you sure of salvation?
Are you sure of your salvation? Can you be sure? What exactly is salvation again?
What is salvation again?
In an ealier post I described salvation in terms of the three tenses of salvation: past, present and future. Justification is the past tense (if you are saved that is) where you are removed from the penalty of sin. Glorification is the future tense where you are removed from the presence of sin. In between these is sanctification, the present tense, where you are removed from the power of sin. Sancification is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit and you agreeing with the Spirit to make choices to follow the Spirit in his quest to make you like Jesus. This is what goes on as a believer “works out his salvation with fear and trembling”, as Paul said in Philippians 2:12
Unlike santification the believer has very little to do with what happens in justification and glorification. As Paul says in Romans 8:30
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
(I won’t get into the apparent paradoxes involved in predestination vs. freewill except to say what appears to be predestination is really freewill, depending on whether you are inside or outside the created universe. The Holy Spirit calls everyone with a soft voice. Eventually, you either listen to that voice and enter the transaction that triggers justification, or you ignore the voice until the Spirit stops calling you.)
The main point of the verse is that justification and glorification are up to God. Nothing you could do could possibly affect your justification or glorification. Once you make the decision to agree with God that you need to be saved, God takes care of justification, cleaning up your sin debt, sealing your spirit with the Holy Spirit, etc. see 2 Cor 1:21-22. Glorification takes place at the rapture or resurection, depending on which side of the grave you are on when Jesus comes back for us. see 1 Cor. 15:51-53 and 1 John 3:2 on glorification.
Can you be sure?
The big question, though, is can I be sure of my salvation? John 10:27-30 answers that pretty well.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father’s hand.I and [my] Father are one.
If if no man is able to pluck me out of Jesus or his Father’s hands, and I am a man (human, that is) then nothing I can do will cause me to lose my salvation.
What is the point of sanctification?
Sanctification, as I said, is that process that goes on in a believers life between Justification in the past and Glorification in the future. Sanctification is the present you give back to Jesus for giving you eternal life. 
A lot of people do not get too far along with sanctification. It is a lot of bother, what with going to college or finding a job or working to support a family. They might go to church regularly or just Easter and Christmas, throw some money to charity, read the bible when they notice it. Except for Sundays and holidays, they probably do not think about God very much.
Mainly though, they just will not grow very much spiritually. How they they be more like Jesus when they do not set themselves apart from the world and draw close to God? How can they be transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:1-2) when they do not read the word of God?
You might say, “what difference will it make? I am going to heaven and all that, so who cares?” If you look at 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 you might change your mind:
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
The works you do to “get brownie points” by following rules or doing what people say “a Christian should do this” is what Paul calls wood hay and stubble. What you get out of following the lead of the Holy Spirit in the sanctification process is gold, silver and precious stones. So what? Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 tell us that we shall all stand before the jusgement seat of Christ. This is where all believers will give an account of how they spent their lives, in good ways and not so good. As your life is reviewed you will probably be disappointed at time you wasted, not following the spirit, not living up to what you could have done. I say this to explain why God should have to wipe away our tears. (Rev 21:4) This also explains Paul’s paranoia about losing his rewards (1 Cor 9:27)
This judgment is not for saying you go to heaven or hell. That has been decided by your response to what Jesus did on Calvary. The “judgement scene” you see at the Judgement House dramas churches do is a bit misleading. Believers and non-believers do not stand at the same judgement seat. Non-believers are judged at the end of time, after the second resurection. This is called the great white throne judgement. Rev 20:11-15
Basically sanctification is a choice of hanging out as a hippy or refugee after Jesus judges our works on earth, or hearing him say “well done my faithful servant” and being rewarded with crowns for service to Him. I don’t know if you know this, but hippies and refugees stink. I would rather not have all my works burnt up. I would rather hang with the people who smell good. Still, being a hippy in heaven is better than being in hell.
You might want to check out these pages too.
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How GREAT is your God?
I heard something interesting today and I have to share…
Science has amassed great knowledge, and a particular piece of this knowledge is estimating the number of stars we know about. There are 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1 sextillion) stars in our universe. This number is astronomical (yeah, I know, pun intended,) let me try to make it a little simpler…
There are enough stars for every one of the over 6 billion people on earth to have 160 billion of their own!
That is an amazing thing to know! The number of stars you can call “your own” is probably even more, since light has not reached us from the edge of the universe yet, these are the probable number of stars we know about.
But, can I tell you something even more astounding?
God, yes the God of the Bible created it all. Everything you see in nature is here because of His handiwork. He has named ALL of them. And yet He knows you so well, He can count the number of hairs on your head. Think about it… the distance between the Earth and Moon takes us days to travel, yet in the entire universe, God can tell you right now, how many hairs are on your head. My jaw drops open just thinking about it!
Psalms 8:3-4 says: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
Truly, I am in awe of this God Who knows us all, and wants us to agree with Him. And I often ponder this verse knowing my own condition and the things that I have done and do to offend Him. I often ask why… but the only answer I can come up with is because He chose me, just as He has also chosen you. Did you know that?
He chose us first, and then sent His Son to show us. You all know the verse in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” But have you read the verses that follow, John 3:17-19? “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”
See, Jesus came to give life, eternal life. He does not condemn, because we are condemned already by OUR CHOICE, because we have not believed. The last sentence says it all, we love darkness rather than light because what we do is evil! The flesh does love evil… but it is the choices we make condemn us! SO what do you do about that?
Well… let’s just step back to two verses right before this section, John 3:14. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,” you might be asking what that means. I will refer you to the story this refers to in Numbers 21:4-9. It is a short story click, here to read it.
You see, the people who did not look to the serpent died. It was too simple for some, too simple because it was foolish. Too foolish, because it required faith! How silly to look at some bronze snake on a pole to be cured of a fatal snake bite! Why was this old story recorded and why was it referred to by Jesus Himself?
The answer lies in the next verse, John 3:15. I will put both verse 14 and verse 15 together, John 3:14-15 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (Emphasis mine)
That is all that is required, you must look to the Son of Man lifted up, that is Jesus on the cross who carried the penalty for all the sins in the entire world, ever… past, present and future! Matthew 27:45-46 says “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This is the precise moment in ALL OF ETERNITY, that He took your punishment, my punishment… the entire punishment for all sin, ever! Then He cried “It is finished!” This declaration is the exact same phrase in Greek that is written on a debt note when it is paid in full! Our sin debt was paid in full!
But…. remember John 3:14-15, to get the benefit of this escape, you must look to Jesus, and Him alone. John 14:6 makes it perfectly clear there is only one way… and in Jesus’ own words in John 10:1, ”Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”
If you choose to look at Jesus as your only Way to salvation… here is what you need to do. Romans 10:9 says “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” A few verse later, in Romans 10:13 it says, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Yes, it is that simple!
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What is salvation?
You hear a lot about salvation: are you saved?, John 3:16, sinner’s prayer, walk the aisle, whatever. Something to the effect that you say a prayer or something and you are going to heaven. They might hand you a bible or a pamphlet and tell you to get baptized or join a church or something, but what is really involved in this salvation thing?
The three tenses of salvation
I am saved, I am being saved, I will be saved! The past, present and future tenses of salvation. Interestingly, you have three parts that need to be saved: your spirit, your soul and your body.
Salvation is a 3 stage process. When you decide you want Jesus to be your lord and trust that He paid for your sins when He died on the cross, that is what most people call salvation, as if it is a destination in itself. John 3:16, Eph 2:8-9
Past tense of salvation: Justification
Actually it is a beginning. This is what the bible calls justification. (Romans 10:9-11) This fancy word word means that to God it is just-as-if you had never sinned. Justification is a complex process but all of the heavy lifting gets done in the spiritual realm. This is a transaction that takes place at one point in your life. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit and your spirit is made alive. (Eph 1:13) At this point you are free of the penalty of sin. (Rom 8:1-2) Continue reading »
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The Person of Christ
This appeared in a tweet I received today. It is an interesting article that expounds on the deity and humanity of Jesus. There are numerous references to scripture throughout. It is a worthwhile read!
It is interesting to note… and reflect upon the fact that while the God of the universe, forever put on flesh… He will forever bear the marks of His purchase. Yet we are given temporal bodies and we mark them with sin, and when we repent of our sin and accept the finished work of Jesus, we are given an eternal PERFECT body!
Happy reading… by the way, the article is in a pdf file, so you can take it with you. And for those who already have the ESV Study Bible… it is in there, too!
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Radiometric Dating… is it infallible?
I was asked by an atheist about how I can question radiometric dating, the basis for dating the age of rocks in science. Evolutionists use this data as “proof” for the age of the earth. Radiometric dating is a measurement based on radioactive decay of certain elements to validate the age of artifacts and rock layers. Some will claim this is infallible, but is it?
It is a bit odd, for the evolutionist who rejects Christianity because of its “assumptions.” However, the premise that we can know the rate of radioactive decay may be essentially based on assumption. The assumption that the speed of light is a constant, meaning it is the same today as it was 1,000 years ago, 5,000 years ago, or even (allegedly) 1,000,000 years ago. Radioactive dating alone would seemingly put any creationist out of business… but to put it in perspective, there are outs! Continue reading »
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The Room
Brian’s Essay: The Room…
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The Greatest Gift
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