Scripture Reading: Dan. 1—6
Ⅰ
"What will happen in the last days" depends on the overcomers, who depend on God for their controlling vision of His heart's desire and their living in His economy—Dan. 2:28; cf. Ezek. 14:14, 20:
A
God the Father's eternal covenant with Noah, signified by the rainbow, is His eternal economy to dispense the all-inclusive Christ into His chosen people as righteousness, holiness, and glory to make them the wise exhibition of all that Christ is—Gen. 3:24; 9:8-17; Ezek. 1:26-28; 36:22-38; Matt. 26:28; Heb. 8:8-12; Psa. 25:14; 1 Cor. 1:9, 24-30; 2:9-10; Eph. 5:25-27; Rev. 4:3; 21:18-20.
B
The goal of God's eternal economy seen with Daniel is to have the corporate Christ, Christ with His overcomers, as the crushing stone to be His dispen-sational instrument to end this age and become a great mountain to fill the whole earth, making the whole earth God's kingdom—Dan. 2:31-45; Joel 3:11; Rev. 12:1-2, 5, 11; 19:7-21.
C
The means of God's eternal economy seen with Job is to bring His lovers through the process of transformation by the renewing of the Holy Spirit in their seeing God to gain God and be transformed by God to carry out what is in the heart of God—Job 10:13; 42:5; Eph. 3:9; Matt. 5:8; 2 Cor. 3:16-18; Titus 3:5.
Ⅱ
The principle of the Lord's recovery is seen with "Daniel and his companions," who were absolutely one with God in their victory over Satan's devices—Dan. 2:13, 17; cf. Rev. 17:14; Matt. 22:14:
A
Daniel and his companions were victorious over the demonic diet—Dan. 1:3-21:
１
The Lord's recovery is the recovery of the eating of Jesus for the building up of the church—Gen. 2:9, 16-17; Rev. 2:7, 17; 3:20.
２
We can eat Jesus by eating His words and by being careful to contact and be with those who call on Him out of a pure heart—Jer. 15:16; 2 Tim. 2:22.
B
Daniel and his companions were victorious over the devilish blinding that prevents people from seeing the divine history within human history—Dan. 2:
１
The corporate Christ as the stone and the mountain, the Bridegroom with His bride, the corporate man of God with the breath of God, will crush and slay Antichrist and his armies by the breath, the sword, of His mouth— vv. 24-35, 44-45; 2 Thes. 2:8; Rev. 19:11-21; Gen. 11:4-9; cf. Isa. 33:22.
２
Christ produces His bride as the new creation by growth, transformation, and maturity; thus, there is the urgent need of maturity—Col. 2:19; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2; Heb. 6:1a.
３
Christ as the living and precious stone, foundation stone, cornerstone, and topstone of God's building infuses us with Himself as the preciousness to transform us into living and precious stones for His building—1 Pet. 2:4-8; Isa. 28:16; Zech. 3:9; 4:7, 9-10.
C
Daniel and his companions were victorious over the seduction of idol worship— Dan. 3; cf. Matt. 4:9-10:
１
Whatever is not the true God in our regenerated spirit is an idol replacing God; whatever is not in the spirit or of the spirit is an idol—1 John 5:21.
２
The enemy of the Body is the self that replaces God with its self-interest, self-exaltation, self-glory, self-beauty, and self-strength; in the Body and for the Body, we deny the self and do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord—Matt. 16:24; 2 Cor. 4:5.
D
Daniel and his companions were victorious over the covering that hinders people from seeing the ruling of the heavens by the God of the heavens—Dan. 4:
１
As those who have been chosen by God to be His people for Christ's preeminence, we are under God's heavenly rule for the purpose of making Christ preeminent—vv. 18, 23-26, 30-32; Rom. 8:28-29; Col. 1:18b; 2 Cor. 10:13, 18; Jer. 9:23-24.
２
"He is able to abase those who walk in pride"—Dan. 4:37b.
E
Daniel and his companions were victorious over the ignorance concerning the result of the debauchery before God and the insult to His holiness—ch. 5:
１
"An excellent spirit and knowledge and insight, and the interpretation of dreams, the declaring of riddles, and the resolving of problems [lit., knots] were found in this Daniel"—v. 12a.
２
"You [Belshazzar]…have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this; but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of the heavens; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and of gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see nor hear nor know. But the God in whose hand is your breath and to whom all your ways belong, you have not honored"— vv. 22-23, 20.
F
Daniel and his companions were victorious over the subtlety that prohibited the faithfulness of the overcomers in the worship of God—ch. 6:
１
"Now when Daniel came to know that the writing had been signed, he went to his house (in his upper room he had windows open toward Jerusalem) and three times daily he knelt on his knees and prayed and gave thanks before his God, because he had always done so previously"—v. 10.
２
God will listen to our prayer when our prayer is toward Christ (typified by the Holy Land), toward the kingdom of God (typified by the holy city), and toward the house of God (typified by the holy temple) as the goal in God's economy—1 Kings 8:48-49.