Today’s Scripture Reading (April 13,
2104): Daniel 7
On August 6,
1945, a uranium gun-type fission bomb was detonated over the Japanese city of
Hiroshima. Three days later a second bomb, this time a plutonium implosion-type
fission bomb was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Most people do
not realize that there were subtle, but very real differences in the way that
the two bombs were constructed. We simply think of the bombs under the general
title of “Nuclear Weapons.” And the reason for this is that although the two bombs
were different, they were both very different from any other weapons that had
been ever used. This was a new kind of bomb, a new kind of power.
August 6 and
9, 1945, are the only times in the history of the world that weapons such as
these have ever been used. At the time, the use of the weapons were seen as the
only real way of defeating Japan and ending the war in the Pacific. The island
nation was well guarded by nature, and the casualties that would be caused by a
traditional military assault on the nation would have been too high to
consider. And yet, with the fall of Germany and Italy in the war in Europe,
only Japan was left to fight against the United States and her allies. The
total destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought Japan to the negotiating
table in an effort to sue for peace. While the official date of the surrender
of Japan to the allied forces is September 2, 1945, the Japanese actually surrendered
unconditionally on August 14, 2014 – only five days after the bombing of
Nagasaki.
The moral
questions with regard to the use of Nuclear weapons in Japan have been asked
ever since the bombs were dropped, and we seem no closer to an answer. Hiroshima
is regarded as a city of peace today, and its mayor serves on a council of
mayors who are dedicated to seeing the Nuclear Weapon arsenal of the world
totally eliminated by 2020.
Many
theories have abounded as to the identity of the nation Daniel describes in
this chapter. This strange description of a nation of with ten horns has caused
many different interpretations. But the key is that this nation was to head an
empire like none had ever seen before. This kingdom would be different – and much
more powerful than any of the ones that had preceded it. This empire would be
as different to the nations that went before as the bombs that were used in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki were when they were compared to the bombs that had been used in
Japan in the weeks leading up to the August attack. This empire was different –
and much more destructive.
Some of the
nation empires that have been suggested as a fulfillment of this prophecy are
the European Union, the Turkish Empire and even the Roman Empire. Of the
possible fulfillments, I think I like the theory this fourth beast was Roman
Empire, especially the Roman Empire after the fourth century, because after the
fourth century Rome began to be controlled by the Christian Church – and the
hates and fears of the Christian Church. Rome then began to crush not just
physically, but spiritually and morally. Let me make this clear, this was not
our finest hour – we (the Christian Church) did things that should never have
done and we were involved in things that we should never have been involved in.
We had forgotten that we needed to follow Christ, and in that we became like an
anti-Christ.
But there is
a warning here in Daniel’s prophecy. The warning is this – whenever we are
involved in crushing others, we are not fulfilling with will of God. We are
resembling the fourth beast in Daniel’s prophecy – and becoming not like
Christ, but an anti-Christ.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Daniel
8
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