Bucket Full of Grace

The Book of Daniel Explained How four young exiles kept faith in a hostile empire... and how Daniel saw, centuries early, the Son of Man who would receive an everlasting kingdom. Explore the book of Daniel: faithful exiles, the fiery furnace, the lions' den, dreams of falling kingdoms, and the Son of Man who reigns in Christ. A Young Exile in Babylon The book of Daniel begins with a defeat. In 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched on Jerusalem, and among the young men he carried off were four from Judah's noble families. They were teenagers, likely, chosen for their intelligence and promise, and they were about to be reprogrammed. New names, a new language, a new curriculum in Babylonian wisdom, a new diet from the king's own table. The empire's strategy was total: take the best of a conquered people and remake them into Babylonians. Daniel had other ideas. In the very first chapter, before any dream or vision, the book plants its flag on a quiet act of conviction. ...

The Book of Ezekiel Explained How a priest in Babylon watched the glory of God depart from the temple... and heard the promise that it would come back. Explore the book of Ezekiel: the prophet's visions of God's glory, the fall of Jerusalem, the valley of dry bones, and the promise fulfilled in Christ. A Priest by the Chebar Canal The book of Ezekiel opens with a date, a place, and a sky that tears open. It is one of the most precisely dated books in the Old Testament, and that precision is the first clue to how we should read it. Ezekiel wants us to know exactly when and where God met him, because everything that follows hangs on the reality of that meeting. "In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God." (Ezekiel 1:1) Ezekiel was a priest, the son of Buzi (Ezekiel 1:3). He had been trained to serve in the Jerusalem temple, to stand near the ...