Prophecy and Providence

I've been teaching through the book of Daniel this fall. We are nearing the end of the book and this week we have come to chapter 11. It's a difficult chapter because it's a chapter full of prophecy of future things. It's one of those chapters where you can easily get lost and forget the big picture.

The chapter is 45 verses long and as I read it over and over again to prepare to teach it something began to stand out in these verses. In a chapter full of prophecy God's providence began to rise from the pages. It's woven throughout the chapter, but if it's not mentioned I think most would miss it. Here's a brief portion of the chapter....tell me what you see-

² “Now then, I tell you the truth: Three more kings will arise in Persia, and then a fourth, who will be far richer than all the others. When he has gained power by his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece. ³ Then a mighty king will arise, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases. ⁴ After he has arisen, his empire will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the power he exercised, because his empire will be uprooted and given to others.

Did you see it? How could you miss it? The more I read this chapter the more this one word stood out. I was intrigued, so I counted the times this word "will" appears in these 45 verses. It is repeated 119 times in only 45 verses! It began to dawn on me....while men are doing as they will God has already told us what they will do! There is a divine plan, a plan God has told us about in advance. Only the real God could tell us hundreds, even thousands of years before things happen exactly HOW they will happen. They WILL turn out this way. All of this orchestrated so that we, as people living all over the globe, will seek Him and respond to his invitation of salvation. God's interested in the souls of men and so he orchestrates the governments and plans of history to draw all men to himself. I don't think I had ever thought about how prophecy and providence were so woven together until I really studied Daniel 11.