Join us as we explore the depths of Daniel’s visions and what they signify for our understanding of divine and earthly realms. Through engaging commentary and personal anecdotes, discover how a near-fatal experience led to a lifelong commitment to daily Bible reading and spiritual growth. Delve into the mission of the Ezra Project, as we reflect on faith’s power to connect and transform lives.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we’re in Daniel chapter 8. We’ll listen to our guest reader Brad Lidge, the former closer for the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies, as he reads the 27 verses of this chapter. Brad went to Cherry Creek High School here in Denver with my two sons. He’s a friend of the family and the Ezra Project. So let’s listen to Brad Lidge, former Major League Baseball player, on Daniel chapter 8.
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Daniel chapter 8. in the third year of the reign of king belshazzar a vision appeared to me daniel after that which appeared to me at the first and i saw in the vision and when i saw i was in susa the capital which is in the province of elam and i saw in the vision and i was at the ulai canal i raised my eyes and saw and behold a ram standing on the bank of the canal It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue him from his power. He did as he pleased and became great. As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him, and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, And instead of it, there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. It grew great even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down onto the ground and trampled on them. It became great, even as great as the prince of the host.” and the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. And a host will be given over together without the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot? And he said to me, For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state. When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai. And it called, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end. And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. He said, Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great. but not by his own power. And he shall cause fearful destruction, and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. But his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many, and he shall even rise up against the prince of princes, and he shall be broken, but by no human hand. The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now. And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.
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If Daniel doesn’t understand the vision, do we think we can? Let’s look at my journals to see what I had to say about Daniel chapter 8. At 33 years old I wrote, Visions of end times, hard to understand, except many kings or leaders magnify themselves exceedingly according to verses 4 and 8. We need humble leaders who will stand under the grace of God, not in their own strength. In 2005, at 50 years old, I wrote, I was astounded at the vision, and there was no one to explain it, according to verse 27. In that year, I wrote a prayer after reading Daniel chapter 8. I wrote, Thanks for dreams and visions, and the future is in your hands. And in 2012, at 57 years old, I wrote concerning Daniel chapter 8. So many of the visions in Daniel are about kingdoms and power and But do they really only extend to the immediate period around Daniel’s life? For example, Gabriel proclaims, The vision is for the time of the end, according to verse 17. The end of what, I wrote? Seeing an angel like Gabriel cause Daniel to be frightened and fall to his face. Does the end refer to the latter end of indignation and the appointed time of the end, according to verse 19? Under the kingdoms, saints are destroyed, according to verse 24. The vision overwhelmed Daniel. He could interpret dreams and visions for others. And even with Gabriel’s help, Daniel did not understand this vision. And we think we can understand the mind of God? In verse 15, Daniel himself tries to understand the vision. It says, So who was the man’s voice? We don’t know. It very well could have been Jesus saying to an angel, Gabriel, help Daniel understand. In the New Testament, in the book of James, chapter 1, verse 5 says, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. Daniel sought to understand, and God provided Gabriel to give an interpretation. I don’t know if that’s how it works in the New Testament. I don’t know if that’s how it works today. But I know I often seek understanding. Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. And I believe God has answered that prayer for me over and over in my life. And let’s not pass over what happens in the presence of an angel. Yes, this may be Gabriel, but let’s look at verse 17. So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was frightened and fell on my face. And that, friends, is just before an angel. That’s not like when we get in the presence of Jesus himself or the Ancient of Days. Gabriel then explains the vision to Daniel. And in verse 26 he says, but i was appalled by the vision and did not understand it our application from daniel eight may be simple how many of you have ever asked to see the future how many of you have just ever thought if i just knew what to-morrow would bring i would know how to act to-day well this is what it’s like to see the future Daniel was overcome and lay sick for days. He was appalled by what he saw. And even at that, with an interpretation from Gabriel himself, he couldn’t understand what he saw. I, for one, do not ask God to reveal the future to me. I just trust God for my future, revealed or not. Father, we trust you with our future. We thank you that we worship the sovereign God. Oftentimes, man appears to be in control, appears even to be wise, yet we know better. Here was Daniel, having the help of even an angel, and he couldn’t understand what he was seeing. Lord, we don’t need to see the future. What we need is to improve our trust in you. So, Lord, we do that today as we read Daniel chapter 8. We gain confidence and we gain trust in you. You hold the future in your hands. And we’ll give you thanks for that. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Speaking of the future, the Ezra Project has been around for 16 years. We have connected God’s people to God’s word in hundreds of churches. We have recorded over 40 books of the Bible and Ad Bible audio daily devotions. We have one-third of the Bible yet to go. That’s our future. Maybe God would lay on your heart to invest in the future of the Ezra Project. Visit EzraProject.net to see how. We know the future of the Ezra Project is in his hands, but he might use your hands as well. God bless you as you visit EzraProject.net. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You might wonder how I became a daily Bible reader. When I was 15 years old, a buddy and me stole his father’s car. We could steal his father’s car because his father was in Vietnam, serving in the war, so he was never home. So we took the car that day, neither one of us with a driver’s license, and we took off out east of Colorado Springs on a dirt road. We were flying down this dirt road at 60 miles an hour, and he lost control of the car. We began to spin, and we were going down the road, fishtailing, and he spun the wheel of the car, 60 miles an hour. The car tumbled, crushed the top, tucked the wheels under, totaled the car. I was on a dirt road. I don’t know if I was thrown out of the car or crawled out of the car, but I looked at that car, and I thought, am I even alive? Am I broken? Am I bleeding everywhere? And I began to pat myself down, and I felt like I was okay. So I stood up, and I was uninjured, amazingly. The sheriff came to draw up the accident. He said, it’s a miracle you guys are alive. I got home that night, went down into my bedroom. My mother came to me and said, you ought to thank God you’re alive. I was laying on my bed, and I was thinking about the day’s activities. And I just thought, wow, I could have been dead today. I wasn’t the driver. I was the passenger. I wasn’t in control. But God was. At that moment, I figured out at 15 years old, God could take my life any time. He could have that day. So as I laid there, I thought, okay, you could take my life any day. So you saved my life today for a reason. For whatever reason that is, I’m going to live for you and that reason. As I said that, I heard a voice say to me, there’s a Bible on your bookshelf. Get it down and read it. I must have heard something, because I got up, I went over to the bookshelf, and I pulled down a Bible. I opened it to the first page, just like I would any other book, and I began to read God’s Word. I read Genesis chapter 1. The next day I read Genesis chapter 2. The next day I read Genesis chapter 3. And a chapter a day, I began to read God’s Word at 15 years old. If you do that, by the way, it’ll take you about three and a half years to finish reading the Bible a chapter a day. And that’s a good plan. So that’s how I became a daily Bible reader. And when I finished going through the Bible the first time, at 18 years or so, I just started over because I thought that’s what Christians did was read their Bibles every day. So that’s how I became a daily Bible reader. I know you’re going to like it and want to share it with others.
