Today's Scripture Reading (November 5, 2026): 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, a plutonium implosion-type fission bomb, was detonated over the
Japanese city of Nagasaki. Most people don't realize the two bombs had subtle
but real differences in how they were built. We simply think of them under the
general title of "Nuclear Weapons." The reason is that, although the
weapons differed, both were unlike any weapon ever used and shared more similarities
with each other than with any other historical weapon. They were a new kind of
bomb and a new way to destroy the enemy.
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 these weapons was seen as the only viable way to defeat Japan
and end the war in the Pacific without a long, drawn-out fight that would kill
millions of people on both sides. The island nation was well protected by
nature, and the casualties from a traditional military assault on the nation
would have been too high to consider. Yet, with Germany and Italy defeated in
Europe, only Japan remained to fight the United States and its allies. The
destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought Japan to the negotiating table in
an effort to sue for peace, something they were reluctant to do before
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 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 question about the use of nuclear
weapons in Japan has 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 dedicated to eliminating the world's
nuclear arsenal.
Many theories have abounded as to the identity
of the nation Daniel describes in this chapter. This strange description of a
nation with ten horns has led to many interpretations. But the key is that this
nation would head an empire unlike any seen before. This kingdom would be
different and far more powerful than any that came before it. This Empire would
be as different from the nations that went before as the bombs used in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were different from the bombs used in Japan in the weeks
leading up to the August attack. This Empire would be different and much more
destructive.
Some empires that have been suggested as
fulfilling this prophecy include the Roman Empire, the Turkish Empire, and even
the European Union. Of these possibilities, I favor the theory that the fourth
beast was the Roman Empire, especially after the fourth century, because after
that time Rome came under the control of the Christian Church and its hatreds
and fears. Rome then began to crush its enemies, not just physically but also
spiritually and morally. Let me make this clear: this was not our finest hour.
We (the Christian Church) did things we should never have done, and we were
involved in things in which we should never have been involved. We forgot we
needed to follow Christ, and in doing so, we became like an anti-Christ.
Daniel's prophecy contains a warning. The
warning is this: whenever we crush others, no matter who they are, we are not
fulfilling God's will. We resemble the fourth beast in Daniel's prophecy and
become not like Christ but an anti-Christ.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Daniel 8
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