Living the Glory!

Here we go, we’re wrappin’ up chapter 5 today. I hope you’ve enjoyed the concepts so far! We’re going to end with a bang…

I left you yesterday saying that God shows up at this party because of His glory. It was time to show up to a crowd that needed to see Him.

We’ve seen that not one word has been wasted in Daniel. The lampstands are of great significance. We found three things concerning these that will launch us into the last part of this study this week.

In Christ, we as lampstands do three things:

Display God’s glory
Live in His power
Live as a light to the world.

If we can spiritually and figuratively take this idea of Christ, the eternal glory and power of God, the lampstand, and move this identification to us, then we understand more deeply what He was saying when He called us the light of the world. We can also grasp more deeply the word “anointing.” Oil was used for anointing and consecrating things. The Holy Spirit is called the anointing in the Word (see 1 John 2:20). So, we have the Holy Spirit, we are anointed with the Holy Spirit, we then are consecrated to God and filled with His Spirit. We are now a vessel for that anointing, that oil, to be poured out!

Whew! That’s awesome!

Now, how does aaalll this play out in the rest of Daniel?

Here we go. Take time to read verses 10 to the end. No really, I can wait….

Hmm, hmm, hmm. I’m humming waiting for you to read it. La, la, la…

Okay, you done?

Good.

In verses 10-12 we see that positioning of Daniel by the Lord, sustaining him in position and purpose.

To King Belshazzar’s request to tell the meaning of the handwriting, Daniel goes into this long speech about Belshazzar’s father, Nebby. He tells him all the ways Nebby denied God and how God humbled him. He describes the entire thing to Belshazzar and gets to the point in verse 22.

“But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of Heaven. ..you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.”

Kind of saying, “You knew this about your dad and still you did it your own way. Not good, King…not. good.”

Thinking lampstand…what are we focused on concerning God in this chapter (and to be honest, all the other chapters)?

I’ll tell you…His Glory and His Power

King Belshazzar went against both!

Here are the three prophesies written on the wall that night

“God has numbered your days of your reign and brought it to an end.” This is the power he thought he had.

“You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.” This is the glory he thought he had.

“Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” He will be stripped of both power and glory.

God will not share glory and no one can touch his power. But in grace, in mercy, and through Christ, we have been given both.

Wha???

Unlike Nebby and Belshazzar who would not bow to God as Lord, we who humbly bow to His grace receive glory, strength, and power to declare His praises!

He glorifies us as we glorify Him.
He gives us power as we declare our weaknesses.
He gives us light as we allow Him to expose our darkness.

I can see Jesus all over this text.

THE LAMPSTAND!

It’s the very representation of God’s power and glory and this is what Jesus is.

Is this not who fills us?
Is this not who we wait upon to fill us completely with His Spirit?

He is our light, strength, power and all…

FOR HIS GLORY!

You can go ahead and call yourself the menorah! Oh, that is beautiful!

God is all about His glory and He see to it that we, His people, will reflect that glory gloriously!