The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 245: The Faithfulness of Daniel (2024)

Episode Date: September 1, 2024

Fr. Mike takes us through the last chapter of Daniel and explains how Daniel models for us on how to live in exile and still be faithful to the Lord. We also see in Jeremiah the Lord promise a new covenant that will ultimately be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Today’s readings are Jeremiah 31, Daniel 14, and Proverbs 16:21-24. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 245. Well done. We're reading Jeremiah chapter 31, as well as Daniel chapter 14. So

the last chapter in Daniel, as well as one chapter from Jeremiah. We're also reading Proverbs chapter 16 verses 21 through 24. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the revised standard version, the second Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe in wherever you listen to podcasts, unless it prohibits you from subscribing for whatever reason. That'd be so strange, though, wouldn't it? Because we want you to subscribe.

I can't say the word subscribe today. It doesn't matter, because I don't think the word subscribe is in either Jeremiah 31 or Daniel 14. But here we are, reading day 245, Jeremiah 31, Daniel 14, Proverbs 16 verses 21 through 24. The book of the prophet Jeremiah chapter 31. At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people. Thus says the Lord, the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. When Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from afar.

I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again, I will build you and you shall be built, O virgin Israel. Again, you shall adorn yourself with timbrels and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. Again, you shall plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria. The planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit. For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim, Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.

For thus says the Lord, Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations. Proclaim, give praise, and say, The Lord has saved his people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. Among them, the blind and the lame,

the woman with child, and her who has labor pains. Together, a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back. I will make them walk by brooks of water in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel. And Ephraim is my firstborn.

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the islands afar off. Say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from the hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd. Their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the maidens rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow.

I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord. Thus says the Lord. A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children because they are not. Thus says the Lord, keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears.

For your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country. I have heard Ephraim bemoaning, you have chastened me, and I was chastened. Like an untrained calf, bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God. For after I had turned away, I repented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my

youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore, my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord. Set up waymarks for yourselves. Make yourself guideposts. Consider well the highway, the road by which you went.

Return, O virgin Israel. return to these your cities. How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth. A woman protects a man. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Once more, they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities when I restore their fortunes. The Lord bless you. O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill. And Judah and all its cities shall

dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish. Thereupon I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me. Individual responsibility for conduct. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beasts. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge, but everyone shall die for his own sin. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. A new covenant promised. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant, which they broke, and I showed myself their master, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If this

fixed order departs from before me, says the Lord, then shall the descendants of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the descendants of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord. The city will be rebuilt. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the corner gate, and the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill of Gerab, and shall then turn to Goa. The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes in all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown any more forever.

The Book of Daniel, Chapter 14. Daniel and the Priests of Bel. When King Astyages was laid with his fathers, Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom. And Daniel was a companion of the king and was the most honored of his friends. Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they spent on it twelve bushes of fine flour and forty sheep and fifty gallons of wine. The king revered it and went every day they spent on it twelve bushes of fine flour and forty sheep and fifty gallons of wine. The king revered it and went every day to worship it. But Daniel worshipped his own god. And the king said to him, Why do you not worship Bel?

He answered, Because I do not revere man-made idols, but the living God who created heaven and earth and has dominion over all flesh. The king said to him, Do you not think that Bel is a living God? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day? Then Daniel laughed and said, Do not be deceived, O king, for this is but clay inside and brass outside, and it never ate or drank anything.

Then the king was angry, and he called his priests and said to them, If you do not tell me who is eating these provisions, you shall die. But if you prove that Bel is eating them, Daniel shall die, because he blasphemed against Bell. And Daniel said to the king, Let it be done as you have said. Now there were seventy priests of Bell, besides their wives and children. And the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bell. And the priests of Bell said, Behold, we are going outside. You yourself, O king, shall set forth the food and mix and place the wine, and shut the door and seal it with your signet.

And when you return in the morning, if you do not find that Bel has eaten at all, we will die, or else Daniel will, who is telling lies about us. They were unconcerned, for beneath the table they had made a hidden entrance through which they used to go in regularly and consume the provisions. When they had gone out, the king set forth the food for Bel. Then Daniel ordered his servants to bring ashes, and they sifted them throughout the whole temple in the presence of the king alone. Then they went out, shut the door, and sealed it with the king's signet and departed. In the night the priests came with their wives and children, as they were accustomed to do, and ate and drank everything. Early in the, the priests came with their wives and children, as they were accustomed to do,

and ate and drank everything. Early in the morning, the king rose and came in Daniel with him. And the king said, Are the seals unbroken, Daniel? He answered, They are unbroken, O king. As soon as the doors were opened, the king looked at the table and shouted in a loud voice, You are great, O bell, and with you there is no deceit, none at all. Then Daniel laughed and restrained the king from going in and said, Look at the floor and notice whose footsteps these are. The king said, I see the footsteps of men and women and children. Then the king was enraged and he seized the priests and their wives and children and they showed him the secret doors through which they were accustomed to enter

and devour what was on the table. Therefore, the king put them to death and gave Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed it and its temple. Daniel kills a dragon. There was also a great dragon, which the Babylonians revered. And the king said to Daniel,

you cannot deny that this is a living God, so worship him. Daniel said, I will worship the Lord my God, for he is the living God. But if you, O king, will give me permission, I will slay the dragon without sword or club. The king said, I give you permission. Then Daniel took pitch, fat, and hair, and boiled them together and made cakes, which he fed to the dragon. The dragon ate them and burst them together and made cakes, which he fed to the dragon. The dragon ate them and burst open, and Daniel said, See what you have been worshipping. When the Babylonians heard it, they were very indignant and conspired against the king, saying,

The king has become a Jew. He has destroyed Bel and slain the dragon and slaughtered the priests. Going to the king, they said, Hand Daniel over to us or else we will kill you and your household. The king saw that they were pressing him hard and under compulsion, he handed Daniel over to them. Daniel in the lion's den. They threw Daniel into the lion's den and he was there for six days. There were seven lions in the den and every day they had been given two human bodies and two sheep, but these were not given to them now, so that they might devour Daniel. Now the prophet Habakkuk was in Judea. He had boiled pottage and had broken bread into a bowl and was going into the field to take it to the reapers. But the angel of the Lord said to Habakkuk, Take the dinner which you have

to Babylon, to Daniel in the lion's den. Habakkuk said, Sir, I have never seen Babylon, and I know nothing about the den. Then the angel of the Lord took him by the crown of his head and lifted him by his hair and set him down in Babylon, right over the den, with the rushing sound of the wind itself. Then Habakkuk shouted, Daniel, Daniel, take the dinner which God has sent you. And Daniel said, You have remembered me, O God, and have not forsaken those who love you. So Daniel arose and ate. And the angel of God immediately returned Habakkuk

to his own place. On the seventh day, the king came to mourn for Daniel. When he came to the den, he looked in, and there sat Daniel. And the king shouted with a loud voice, You are great, O Lord God of Daniel, and there is no other besides you. And he pulled Daniel out and threw into the den the men who had attempted his destruction, and they were devoured immediately before his eyes.

The Book of Proverbs, chapter 16, verses 21 through 24. The wise of heart is called 16 verses 21 through 24. The wise of heart is called a man of discernment, and pleasant speech increases persuasiveness. Wisdom is a fountain of life to him who has it, but folly is the chastisement of fools. The mind of the wise makes his speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to his lips. Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory.

Thank you so much. Gosh, Lord God, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for getting us to the book of Daniel and through the book of Daniel. We thank you so much for bringing us to this moment. God, you're with us through everything. You bring us through distress. You bring us through tornadoes and tempests. You bring us through storms of life. And we ask that you please remind us of your presence this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. You know, I, gosh, I said that, you know, God gives us the grace to get through storms because I neglected to say yesterday when we were looking at Jeremiah chapter 30, how, I think the Lord says it twice. He says

in chapter 30 verse 7, he says, alas, the day is so great. There is none like it. It is a time of distress for Jacob. And then here's the key line. Yet he shall be saved out of it. God says this a couple of times. And even just this one chapter, he shall be saved out of it. And this is so, so important. Again, in verse 23, behold, the storm of the Lord, wrath has gone forth, whirling tempest. But you understand that you're going to be saved out of it. For the believer, we need to be reminded that God has promised. He says, in this world, you'll have trouble.

Take heart. I have overcome the world. That that basically he's going to bring us through. But that means we have to be in the midst of it, right? In order to go through the storm, we have to be in a storm. And here's God in chapter 30 saying, I'll bring you out of it. And then here we are in chapter 31, which is just a gorgeous chapter. What an incredible, incredible chapter, because God talks again. He says, people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. And this is so good. And here's the verse three in chapter 31. I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you. I will build you and you shall be built.

You know, this is so, so incredible. Hear the word of the Lord. This is verse 10. He who scattered Israel will gather him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock for the Lord has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from hands too strong for him. And this is just, this is us. I mean, of course, this is Israel. The God brings Israel back to the land in 70 years. He's going to do this, but God ransomed us by the power of Jesus Christ, by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He's ransomed us from hands too strong for us. And gosh, and then the maidens shall rejoice in the dance and young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy.

I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow. And this is just so important because remember, we have to, in order to get through the storm, we have to be in the storm. Now, the last thing I want to highlight, last two things, last thing, last two things, last three things in chapter 31 of Jeremiah, where God himself, he speaks about this and he speaks that there will be individual responsibility for conduct. Now, God has made this clear a number of times already, but he says, basically, in those days, they have the saying, the saying was the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are

set on edge. He says, but no, no, no, but every one shall die for his own sin. So you're not going to, your children will not die for your sin and you are not going to die for your

children's sins. There, there is a responsibility each in every individual one of us has to carry. And that's so incredible. And then lastly, we have the new covenant. Oh, I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel, the And then lastly, we have the new covenant. I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers. Remember, what does Jesus say at the last supper? This is the blood

of the new and eternal covenant. Take it all of you and drink from it. Do this in remembrance of me. So, so important. And that's the sign of the covenant, right? It seals the covenant, strengthens the covenant. It's a sign of the covenant, right? This is the, it seals the covenant, strengthens the covenant. It's a sign of the covenant. But here's part of it is I will make the house of Israel after those days. I'll put my law within them. I will write it upon their hearts

and I will be their God and they shall be my people. What an incredible, incredible gift by the Lord to give us this covenant, to bring us into the new and eternal covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ. And we get to renew every single time we celebrate the mass and get to receive the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. What a gosh, incredible gift, the way God fulfills Jeremiah 31 in Jesus. And in the church right now, we get to experience this on a daily basis,

day-to-day basis, but you know, gosh, I'm just so excited. And then we have the book of Daniel, the end, chapter 14, which is just so good. We have these three little vignettes of Daniel, Daniel and the priest of Bel, Daniel and the dragon, and Daniel again in the lion's den. And one of the things it shows or demonstrates is here is Daniel who's faithfully Jewish, so completely Jewish that he's not even close to abandoning worship of the Lord God, not even close. And he's able to survive in Babylon without becoming a Babylonian. And this is one of the pieces in Daniel that really reveals this, is here's how you can live, here's how it's possible to live in exile. It might cost you everything, right? Daniel might

have been thrown in the lion's den once or twice and been eaten the first or second time that Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, they might've been cast into the fiery furnace and burnt up, but it demonstrates that, but this is what faithfulness looks like. You can live in exile. You can be far from home. You can be surrounded by people who do not believe what you believe. In fact, you can be not only surrounded by people who do not believe what you believe, but you can be surrounded by people who do not believe what you believe. In fact, you can be not only surrounded by people who do not believe what you believe, but you can be surrounded by people who are more powerful than you who do not believe what you believe. And it might happen that you can still hold on to your faith. You can still live out your faith.

And this is what the last couple of chapters of the book of Daniel really, truly reveal. We have that section in the middle right there, I think chapter 7 to 12, where it's this revelation, incredible revelation. But we also see from 1 to 6 and these last two chapters, here's how we can live in exile, to be faithful to the Lord God, no matter what the cost. And that's what we're called to do because gosh, you guys, this is us. You know, our culture around us is changing dramatically. Our culture around us doesn't necessarily respect anyone who believes the Bible or anyone who is following after Jesus Christ. It might, some people might, but we're increasingly becoming strangers in a strange land.

We're increasingly becoming more acutely aware of the fact that we are sojourners, that this world is not our home, not our ultimate home. And so we recognize, yep, we're going to do everything we can to follow the Lord. We do everything we can to help our brothers and sisters, regardless of what they believe or where they're at in life. We just follow Jesus's commandment to love those who hate us and to love those who persecute us. But we find ourselves more and more in that place, right? That place of misunderstanding, that place of powerlessness, that place where others are more powerful. And that's why the book of Daniel is so incredible. Because Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, they all show us it is possible to live in exile and to be faithful.

Some of us might have more exile in our lives than others. Some of you might think like, no, are you kidding me? I am surrounded by people who support what I believe and that's awesome, that's incredible. That, and just realize what a great gift that is. But many of us, we might experience some of this exile living where we are far from home and maybe even a little afraid.

But Daniel reminds us that you don't have to be afraid. And Jeremiah reminds us that the day will come when no one who belongs to the Lord will be afraid again. So until that day, we're praying for each other because to one degree or another, we are away from home. To one degree or another, we are in exile. And so we need our brothers and sisters who are united with us in faith, united with us in prayer. And so I want to let you know I'm praying for you. Please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.