Changing the Clocks

 

At the weekend, our clocks go forward an hour, and we move into British

Summer Time, notes Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall. It is called

British Summer Time, but British summer is a more distant prospect at

the moment!

We will get many reminders to adjust our timepieces before it is officially

due. Still, some folk manage to overlook it, and the next day they find out

that they are out of step with everyone else. Because different people’s

lifestyles are affected in different ways by the change, the need to go

from Greenwich Mean Time to British Summer Time in March and back

again in October is often questioned. But in the meantime, we do it.

Although we can change the time on our clocks, we cannot change time

itself, nor change the regularity of the seasons of the year. These are

linked to the movements of the Earth in its orbit around the sun, 93 million

miles away, just the right distance for life to exist here. Closer to the sun

and everything would roast and expire; farther away and everything

would literally freeze to death. This did not come about by chance. The

God who created the whole universe at the beginning designed Earth to

support life in all its variety.

Through the Bible in 66 Days - Joel

 

There are moments in Scripture when the voice of a prophet seems to ring across the centuries with startling clarity. Joel is one of those voices. His message is ancient, but its relevance is painfully modern. His burden was for Judah, just as Hosea’s burden was for guilty Israel. Hosea preached toward the end of the Northern Kingdom; Joel’s prophecy relates to the closing days of Judah, probably spanning the final seven years of Zedekiah’s reign. If that’s the case, Joel began his ministry in the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s captivity—the very year Ezekiel started—and roughly 100 years after Isaiah’s ministry ended.

We know very little about Joel the man. He is introduced as “the son of Pethuel” (Joel 1:1). But what we do know is enough: he preached to Judah, he loved Jerusalem, he understood the temple, he felt the spiritual pulse of the nation, and he saw—clearly and painfully—that they had turned to idolatry. His prophecy is full of natural imagery: sun, moon, grass, locusts, drought, and fire. Joel sees the spiritual and physical worlds as deeply connected. When God speaks, creation trembles.

Through the Bible in 66 Days - Hosea

Hosea: The Deathbed Prophet of the Northern Kingdom

Hosea has often been called “the deathbed prophet” because he was the final voice God sent to the Northern Kingdom before its collapse to Assyria in 722 BC. His ministry followed a golden age—peace, prosperity, and expansion not seen since Solomon. But prosperity had bred spiritual decay. Israel enjoyed God’s gifts but forgot the Giver.

They worshipped idols, trusted political alliances, and lived as if God were irrelevant. Hosea’s message is God’s final plea to a people drifting toward judgment.

The Lord Jesus warned of the same danger—prosperity without repentance. “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). Hosea exposes the soul‑loss of a nation that had everything except God. This is so like much of western society today.

Through the Bible in 66 Days - Daniel

 

The book of Daniel is one of those remarkable portions of Scripture that lifts our eyes above the chaos of earthly kingdoms and reminds us—firmly, repeatedly, gloriously—that God is in control. Whether in the courts of Babylon or in a den of lions, whether interpreting dreams or standing before kings, Daniel’s life is a living testimony to the sovereignty of God and the faithfulness of His people.

As the book of Daniel opens, the nation of Judah is in a dark place. The nation has been carried away into exile, just as the prophets had warned (2 Chronicles 36:15–21). Jerusalem lies in ruins. The temple is destroyed. The people of God are scattered. Yet even here, in the ashes of judgment, God is at work. He has not abandoned His promises.

Among the exiles are four young men from the aristocracy of Judah—Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—who are selected for training at the Babylonian court (Daniel 1:3–4). They are far from home, surrounded by pagan culture, pressured to conform, and stripped of their identity. Yet they resolve that they will not defile themselves (Daniel 1:8). Their faithfulness in small things becomes the foundation for God to use them in great things.

And isn’t that the Bible pattern? God takes people in weakness, in exile, in difficulty, and He works through them so that His glory shines brighter than their circumstances. As Paul reminds us, ‘God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise,’ 1 Corinthians 1:27.

God Reveals Mysteries

Much of Daniel’s story revolves around dreams and visions—Nebuchadnezzar’s troubling dream in chapter 2, the handwriting on the wall in chapter 5, and the great prophetic visions in chapters 7–12. Kings tremble, wise men fail, and empires shift, but Daniel stands calm because his confidence is not in Babylon’s wisdom but in the God who ‘reveals deep and hidden things,’ Daniel 2:22.

When Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great statue, he declares a truth that echoes through the whole book: ‘The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed,’ Daniel 2:44. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall—Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome—but God’s kingdom stands forever. This is the heartbeat of the gospel: the king has come, His kingdom is advancing, and His victory is certain. Christ Himself proclaimed, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand,’ Mark 1:15.

Faithfulness Under Pressure

Daniel’s life is not easy. He serves under multiple kings and two empires. He is promoted to high office—second in command in Babylon (Daniel 2:48) and later honoured under the Persian administration (Daniel 6:3). Yet with every promotion comes new pressure.

In Daniel 6, jealous officials manipulate King Darius into signing a decree forbidding prayer to anyone but the king. Daniel knows the cost, but he continues to pray three times a day, just as he had always done (Daniel 6:10). His faithfulness leads him straight into the lions’ den.

But the God who rules kingdoms also shuts the mouths of lions. Darius declares, ‘He is the living God… His kingdom shall never be destroyed,' Daniel 6:26. Once again, the gospel shines through: God rescues, God reigns, and God vindicates His people. As Paul writes, ‘The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom,’ 2 Timothy 4:18.

A Greater Son of Man

Daniel’s visions point forward to Christ in breathtaking ways. In chapter 7, Daniel sees ‘one like a son of man’ coming with the clouds of heaven, receiving everlasting dominion (Daniel 7:13–14). Jesus takes this title—the Son of Man—as His own, declaring that He is the fulfilment of Daniel’s prophecy, Matthew 26:64. 

The kingdoms of this world may wax and wane but the Son of Man will one day reign for ever.

Living as Exiles Today

Daniel teaches us how to live faithfully in a world that does not share our values. Like Daniel, believers today are ‘exiles’ (1 Peter 1:1), citizens of heaven living in foreign territory. We face pressures to conform, temptations to compromise, and challenges that test our loyalty to Christ.

But Daniel’s story assures us that:

• God is sovereign over history.

• God is present in our trials.

• God honours those who honour Him.

• God’s kingdom will triumph.

And ultimately, Daniel points us to the gospel—the good news that Christ has conquered sin, death, and every earthly power, and that His kingdom is unshakeable.

May we, like Daniel, live with courage, conviction, and confidence in the God who rules over all.

All photos courtesy of Unsplash