Today's Scripture Reading (July 21, 2026): Daniel 2
Nostradamus
was born in December 1503 in France. He is probably the best-known of the
secular prophets. His prophecies, broken down into a series of quatrains, were
published in three installments between 1555 and 1558. As was common for the
day, no two editions of the prophecies were identical. Some have tried to
describe the differences as a prophetic emphasis, but there is no indication
that this is true. Nostradamus is thought by believers to have accurately
predicted many of the events that have happened since the time of the writing
of the prophecies until the present day. Supporters maintain that Nostradamus
correctly predicted the Great Fire of London, the rise of Adolph Hitler, and
the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.
But the thing
about any prophecy is that the prophecies always make more sense in reverse.
After the events have already happened, we can recognize patterns in the
unexpected waves of time. But this is not really what readers of prophecies
want. What the reader of the prophecy desires is to predict the future, but
even biblical prophecies seldom do that. A case in point would be the birth,
life, and death of Jesus. While Jesus, the Messiah or Christ, is predicted
throughout the Old Testament, the fulfillment of those prophecies was not well
understood, and no one really believed that the prophecies about the Christ
would turn out as they did. We see the Messianic prophecies much more clearly in
retrospect than the people would have before the events happened. And
sometimes, while a prediction may seem to be accurate, critics will always
question whether or not the correct prediction is any more than mere
coincidence.
It would seem
that Nebuchadnezzar was a critic when it came to the subject of prophecy. As a
result, when Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that he needs interpreted, he fears
that once his wise men learn the dream, they will just make up an
interpretation of the prophecy. He actively questions how he could trust a
prophecy given in that manner. And so, he comes up with a plan. If the wise men
could tell him the dream, as well as tell him what the dream meant, maybe then
he could trust the prophecy.
This requirement
that the prophet reveal the dream and its interpretation was a new idea. It
would seem that this was not the usual request of a king concerning the
interpretations of their dream. But the reality was that the request was
impossible, something Nebuchadnezzar's wise men understood. But the
presentation of an impossible situation left an opening for God. And God was
ready to move through that opening.
God still
moves in the impossible if we will trust him and give him that chance to move.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 24
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