Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Sunday afternoon Bible study. Today will be study #10 of Daniel, chapter 1, and we are going to read Daniel 1:16-17:

Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

In our last study we spent some time looking at the word “pulse” and we saw that it is food that comes from “seed.” It could be fruit or vegetables in the natural realm and this is a result of the rain. We read in Isaiah 55 that God sends the rain which, in turn, gives seed to the sower. Therefore, the “pulse” that Daniel and his friends preferred and risked their lives to obtain represented the Gospel that was falling outside of the churches and congregations and which the Bible calls the Latter Rain. This rain was falling in the world and Babylon is a picture of the world and Daniel and his three friends chose the true Gospel and God granted it to them.

Again, Melzar is either the prince of the eunuchs or he is one operating under the authority of the prince of the eunuchs. The prince of the eunuchs is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and it was Christ that gave His people the Latter Rain that nourished and fed them as they left the churches during that second part of the Great Tribulation period.

Now we will move on to Daniel 1:17:

As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

The first part of verse 17 says, “As for these four children,” and we have mentioned this before, but there are four main characters insofar as the Jewish people in Babylon and these four young men are God’s people and they represent God’s elect. We know that the number “four” in the Bible means “universal” or that which is “all encompassing.” It identifies with the four points of the compass – North, South, East and West – or the four corners of the earth, which indicates it is universal or worldwide in scope. It is the same meaning here. It is the furthest extent of what is in view and, in this case, it is “four” elect children. These four children of God are representing God’s elect in all of Babylon (the world).

We know there were thousands of Israelites that were taken captive to Babylon and there would have been hundreds or thousands of children and, yet, the Book of Daniel concentrates on Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. You will not find other Israelites named, except in Daniel 1, verse 1 where the king of Judah’s name is mentioned as a time reference. But, as far as the narrative portion of the Book of Daniel (the first six chapters), we will only read about these four young men. We are not going to read about others that may have been in Babylon. Certainly, there would have been other true believers. We know that the prophet Ezekiel tells us that he was among the captives in Ezekiel 1:1:

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

Now it turns out this was the year 593BC that Ezekiel refers to, so it would be several years into the future from the time of Daniel, chapter 1, but keep in mind that the Book of Daniel covers the whole life of Daniel in Babylon and he was there for decades. Ezekiel would have been there when Daniel was there, but we do not read of Ezekiel in the Book of Daniel and we do not read of any other Israelites except for these four young men. That is because these four represent all the elect. What we read concerning these four can be applied to all God’s elect in spiritual Babylon during the Great Tribulation period when the elect had come out of the churches. Judah is a picture of the corporate church and they have gone out of the churches into captivity in Babylon, which is a picture of the world. As we read of Daniel and his three friends, their exploits in Babylon gives us spiritual information regarding the exploits of the people of God during the last (about) 17 years of the Latter Rain, from 1994 to May 21, 2011, during which time God evangelized the earth and saved the great multitude. The Book of Daniel is primarily focused on their “trials,” as God would test His people especially hard during that period of time.

We have mentioned this before, also, but I want to turn to Revelation, chapter 9, a chapter that deals with Judgment Day. It reveals information concerning the final judgment of the world (Babylon). It says in Revelation 9:14:

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

Let us stop here for a moment. God commanded, “Loose the four angels,” and in both the Old and New Testaments the word “angels” can also be translated as “messengers.” God is commanding to loose the four messengers that are bound. Being “bound” identifies with someone that is a captive – you are a captive or prisoner – and Daniel and his three friends were captives in Babylon. This was according to the commandment of God that they would go into captivity in Babylon, so the “good figs” went into captivity. They went to Babylon to be bound. In Revelation, at the sounding of the sixth angel, God is mysteriously declaring, “Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.” The Euphrates River identifies with which nation? It identifies with Babylon. It says in Jeremiah 51:60-64:

So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words; Then shalt thou say, O JEHOVAH, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

You see, the instructions to Seraiah was that when he came to Babylon he would take the words of the book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates. What does that tell us about the Euphrates? It tells us it must be a river in Babylon because the instructions were to do this once he arrived in Babylon. Without any question, the Euphrates represents Babylon.

So, here in Revelation, chapter 9, it says to loose the four messengers that are bound (help captive) in the great river Euphrates. They are in Babylon, so we have a parallel Scripture to what we are reading in Daniel 1, verse 17. The four children are bound in Babylon and in Revelation the four messengers are bound in Babylon. These ideas relate. We know God identifies “messengers” with His elect in many instances. The word “angelos,” or “angels” identify with messengers and the four children also identify with all God’s elect. Both represent all of God’s elect, so let us go on in Revelation 9:15:

And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

The four messengers are loosed. Again, when is the setting of Revelation, chapter 9? It is Judgment Day. It is the end of the Great Tribulation period. In the Old Testament God set up a figure of a 70-year period, from 609BC to 539BC, which was the period of time that Babylon was victorious and the king of Babylon conquered Judah and Jerusalem. They destroyed Jerusalem and burned it with fire and they took the vessels of the temple into Babylon. They ruled in a tremendous way over the people of Judah and over many nations, practically the entire known world at that time. The king of Babylon was a great ruler and it was that way for 70 years until in a night King Cyrus of the Medes and Persians came and took the kingdom of Babylon. This true historical record is a spiritual picture that points to the Great Tribulation when Satan overcame the camp of the saints and took his seat in the temple showing himself that he is God. He was victorious over the corporate church and his rule in the world was greater than ever before in history during the entire period of the (actual) 23 years of the Great Tribulation.

But, then came the end of the Great Tribulation and the end of that 70-year historical period when Babylon fell. Satan’s rule in the churches and the world was overcome by Christ and Christ took the kingdom like Cyrus took Babylon. Christ began to rule with a rod of iron, but it was after the Great Tribulation. The Bible tells us that the time immediately after the Tribulation is the time when the sun is darkened, and so forth. There is no more Gospel of salvation and it is time for judgment on the world, but the Bible also tells us that this was the time when King Cyrus issued the decree to release the Jewish captives. They may return to Jerusalem and leave Babylon. They were loosed, so the loosing of the four angels or messengers (in Revelation 9) relates to the period of the end of the 70 years or the end of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of Judgment Day.

This also fits with Daniel and his friends being in captivity in Babylon. Of course, at this time they are just beginning the time of their captivity. Yet, by the time we get to Daniel, chapter 5 Cyrus takes the kingdom and in Daniel, chapter 6 Cyrus is ruling over the kingdom of Babylon and the loosing of the four messengers relates to God’s deliverance in salvation of all the elect that were living in the world. Each and every one that God had chosen to become saved had become saved by this point (May 21, 2011) and there was no longer any elect individual that was still held captive to sin and Satan, as typified by the king of Babylon. No elect person of God is held captive any longer once Judgment Day came. That is why it says in Revelation 9:16:

And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

From where did the horsemen come? We had been reading of four angels or messengers that were loosed and, all of a sudden, God switches and beings to speak of 200 million horsemen. This is because the 200 million horsemen is language that either gives us the literal number of all God had saved or they represent the completeness of all those God had saved. All have been saved. It is another way of saying, “four messengers,” because “four” represents the four corners of the earth in all the nations. The 200 million horsemen are the “four angels” that had been loosed from Babylon of this world. Then God speaks of the 200 million going forth in judgment. They are those that slay the “third part.” Because there are no more to become saved, this means that all those that remained in the corporate church (third part) have been destroyed; they did not listen to God and they did not obey the command to depart out and they insisted on staying in Judah (the corporate church). Finally, at the end there is no more Latter Rain and no more salvation and this kills the “third part,” spiritually.

Let us go back to Daniel 1:17:

As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom…

The word “knowledge” is Strong’s #4093 and it is the same word that was translated as “science” earlier in Daniel 1, verse 4. This word is only found six times in the Old Testament and three of those times appear in 2Chronicles, chapter 1. It says in 2Chronicles 1:10-12:

Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great? And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king: Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like.

Solomon requested “wisdom and knowledge” and God granted “wisdom and knowledge.” This is a very important teaching of the Bible and we see it in our verse; God gave Daniel and his friends knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. God gave Solomon knowledge and wisdom. That is the important point.

When we look at how the world obtains knowledge and the how the people of the world gain understanding of things, how do they do it? They think they have to put in a lot of effort. You have to go to school and study hard. You have to go from high school to college. Then after college, you may go to a Master’s Program and then you go for a Doctorate. You put in all kinds of effort to obtain it. Then you can become a lawyer or a doctor or a computer technician. You can get the knowledge necessary for the career you want – it is work, work work!

You know, actually there is a good deal of work involved in studying the Bible. We know that. God tells us to compare Scripture with Scripture and He says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” So, we know you have to put in work in studying the Bible – you must put in time and effort in comparing Scripture with Scripture. You look at the original words and how they are used elsewhere, and so on. Yes, we are aware of these things and, yet, there is another extremely important truth and that is that a man could work from morning until night, day after day and year after year, and never come to the knowledge of the truth. He would never obtain right knowledge and understanding and wisdom. As a matter of fact, he might end up a million miles away from knowledge and understanding and wisdom concerning the things of God, because God has hidden truth in the Bible. The Bible tells us that God is a God that hides Himself. He conceals knowledge and understanding.

God, in effect, does tell the reader of the Bible to get out their shovel and pickax and dig for truth as for buried treasure. Theologians have gone to work and put in hours of study and, yet, if they lack the Spirit of God, it does not matter how much time or effort they put into studying the Bible because they are never going to come to truth. God will resist them and, ultimately, in their hearts they may be proud because that is the natural condition of the heart of the unsaved and God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The Lord will resist the pope, the bishop, the elder and the deacon and even the layperson that does not have His Spirit. God tells us to go to work in the Bible and search for spiritual truth, but we have to know that it is the Holy Spirit that guides us into all truth and it is God that must grant understanding. In Luke, chapter 24 Jesus had a discussion with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. It says in Luke 24:44-45:

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

He opened their understanding. That word “opened” is interesting because it is a word that indicates that their understanding had been “closed.” If your understanding is not open, it is closed. Jesus had been telling them about the things in the Law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms concerning Himself and these were things they had probably heard often, as they were Jews that would have gone to the synagogue and they would have heard the Pharisees or others teaching. They may have read these same Scriptures and, yet, their understanding was not opened until Jesus “opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” In order to rightly understand any teaching in the Bible, it really requires action of Christ’s part to grant that understanding. He has to open up or eyes. We say that all the time, as it says in Psalm 119:18: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”

We might be reading the Bible and reading the Bible and, all of a sudden, we read a verse and now we have some thoughts and we put those thoughts together with some other verses and we gain a bit of understanding concerning that verse and we see something new spiritually and we say, “Oh, now I see what that is saying!” Our understanding has been opened. Was it a result of our own effort? No – we may have read that verse a hundred times and we had not seen that truth before. In other words, there is nothing in us that would bring us to understanding. As a matter of fact, we could read it a thousand more times and still not understand it, but according to God’s timetable for us individually, it is the Lord’s doing to grant the child of God understanding on that particular verse and now we “see” and now we “know” or now we “hear.”

The word “open” in Luke, chapter 24 is used in Mark, chapter 7 where the Lord encountered a deaf man. It says in Mark 7:32-35:

And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.

This is the same word and it is a word that is not used too many times in the New Testament Greek, but there is a deaf man who also has a speech impediment. The Lord Jesus took him aside and he said, “Be opened.” This is very similar to what Jesus did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He opened their understanding, but here Christ opened the ears of the deaf. Of course, this means that physically the man could not hear, but now he could hear. He could hear sounds and we understand that, but this is the Bible and the pictures is of opening the understanding. When someone that is deaf begins to hear, it is like they can hear the Bible for the first time; they can hear the truth that God has recorded on the pages of the Scriptures. Turn to Matthew, chapter 13, the chapter with the parable of the sower in which Jesus reveals why He speaks in parables. It says in Matthew 13:13:

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Notice how Christ speaks of not seeing and not hearing and He ties it to not understanding. It goes on to say in Matthew 13:14-16:

And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Christ could have added, “Blessed are you because you hear and you understand.” To “hear” is to understand and to “not hear” is to not understand and that is the conditional of the natural man; in his spiritual deadness he does not understand the things of God. God tells us this again, and again, in the Bible. For instance, it says in Proverbs 28:5:

Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek JEHOVAH understand all things.

We could add, “Evil men hear not, but they that seek JEHOVAH hear all.” Seeing and understanding and hearing and understanding go hand in hand.

It says in Daniel 12:10:

Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

It is the natural situation of the unsaved not to understand the Bible. As a matter of fact, they cannot understand because they are deaf and blind, spiritually. They are dead. What understanding does a dead person have? What can a dead person perceive? They can perceive nothing. They have no understanding in them, but the wise man’s heart discerns time and judgment. God’s people understand or “hear” time and judgment. We hear the Bible and God opens our understanding in the proper season and we begin to come to knowledge and gain understanding that only God can give regarding His program of times and seasons. For the rest, it says in Romans 3:10-11:

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth…

None understand and that is an all-encompassing declaration of God in regard to every unsaved individual in the world. It is why the wicked treat the Bible the way they do. It is why other religions have gone the broad way to destruction. It is why so many have “signed up” and professed to be Christian, but they follow other gospels. It is because they have none understanding. They do not understand the narrow path God has laid out in His Word.

In Isaiah, chapter 29 God makes an incredible statement that can only be found in a holy Book like the Bible, a Book that transcends all other writings. A statement like this would make no sense in an earthly book, but in the Book of God it makes perfect sense to those that have ears to hear. It says in Isaiah 29:18:

And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

What a glorious prophecy this is concerning God’s salvation program. The reference to “in that day” especially points to the day that would come at the time of the end when the Great Tribulation would begin the ending stage of the world: “And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book.” That book is the Bible. The Bible is the divine revelation of Almighty God. It is a spiritual Book. There have probably been a greater numbers of natural men that have read the Bible than the number of God’s elect and, yet, they have heard the Bible with natural ears. It has been read aloud to them. They heard the words in a physical way, but they have not been able to perceive a proper understanding of the spiritual dimensions of the depths of the Word of God. They just cannot hear it, but God opens the ears and the understanding of His people and they do hear.

It says in Isaiah 28:9:

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?

Notice how these verses are phrased where God said He gave them ears to hear and understanding. It goes on to say, in Isaiah 28:9-10:

… them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

Or, we can go to Nehemiah, chapter 8 and this chapter is related to the Feast of Tabernacles and the time when God does open up His Word during what can be identified as the “feast of the Bible” at the time of the end. To emphasize this, there are “13” men involved. Ezra, the priest, is reading the Bible to the congregation of Israel and this was the congregation that have come out of Babylon. Let me read Nehemiah 8:5:

And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:

In this case, Ezra is a type of Christ and he is opening the Scriptures, just like Jesus opened the Scriptures that they might understand. Then it says in Nehemiah 8:6-7:

And Ezra blessed JEHOVAH, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.

So, they read the Book of the Law of God distinctly and these 13 men caused them to understand the reading. You see, this is all God’s doing. Ezra opens the Book and 13 men cause the people to understand the Law. Even in that day long ago we can be sure they were not just reading the literal words and having a literal understanding. They were the people of God and God has operated this way with His people throughout history. He gave the people understanding.

This reminds us of how Jesus broke the loaves and miraculously multiplied the bread. Then He gave it to His disciples and they gave it to the multitude.

Here, Ezra, a type of Christ, opens the Book and he has 13 helpers. It is like Christ giving the disciples to the multitude. These 13 caused the people to understand the Law and the number “13” points to the end of the world. The year 1988 was the 13,000th year of earth’s history and it began the Great Tribulation. During the Great Tribulation, it was God’s plan to unseal the Bible and for knowledge to increase, according to Daniel, chapter 12. The way knowledge increases is when God grants understanding. He causes or makes people to understand.

You know, this is actually a wonderful hope for the child of God. I am sure that you and I have read passages in the Bible and we have shook the head and said, “Well, I do not understand that.” Maybe after the 10th time or the 50th time or the 500th time you read it, you start thinking, “I am never going to understand. I am never going to see the spiritual truth that God has there. It is beyond me. It is above me. I just do not have the ability.” You know what? You are absolutely right. You lack the ability to understand the entire Bible and so do I and so does everyone. We do not have it in us. To begin with, it is not our Book – it is God’s Book. Who can understand the things of the man except the spirit of man within him? Who can understand the things of God except the Spirit of God?

We have to come to a point (and this is a wonderful thing) where we go to God with a verse or a chapter and we say, “O, Lord, I lack understanding.” We have all kinds of examples in the Bible regarding what we should ask: “Open my understanding. Make me to understand. Cause me to understand. Grant me understanding and knowledge.” Again, and again, we can go to the Word of God with this prayer.

Going back to our verse in Daniel, it says in Daniel 1:17:

As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom…

The word “learning” is a very interesting word. It is Strong’s #5612. It is most often translated as “book.” Of course, the “book” that is in view is the Bible. It says in 2Kings 22:8-11:

And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of JEHOVAH. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of JEHOVAH. And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.

It is the Book of the Law and the word “book” is the same word translated as “learning” in our verse.

Also, it is the same word used in Psalm 40:7:

Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,

We could look at many other verses where this word is translated as “book” and in verse after verse it identifies with the Bible.

So, here in Daniel, chapter 1, it says that God gave them knowledge and skill in all “learning” or in all “the book” and he gave them wisdom. Therein is hope and encouragement for each of God’s elect. God gives knowledge and skill in all the Book. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth.

Now it does not mean that we are going to know everything about everything in the Bible, but it does mean that God will give us knowledge regarding everything He wants us to understand and to know. The Book of Daniel, especially in the historical narrative part in the first six chapters, is a book that greatly encourages the child of God. When we lack understanding or we lack knowledge, we can turn to God.

We see that when King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, there was no way in the world that Daniel and his friends could know the dream. The soothsayers of Babylon were correct when they said that nobody can tell another person what their dream was and then interpret it, but Daniel said, “But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets,” and God gave Daniel the dream and its interpretation. That is how we must approach the Bible. Daniel had no possible way of knowing the dream.

Due to our creature limitations, we have no possible way of knowing the spiritual meanings of the Scriptures. All we can do (and it is really a big thing) is to turn to God and make request of Him. Prayer is extremely important. We have stressed this and we have emphasized that we must compare Scripture with Scripture to make sure our conclusions harmonize with the rest of the Bible, but what is even more important is that we make request of God for His help and guidance as we put in the time and work to understand a verse. We also have to pray: “O, Lord, open my understanding.”