Posts: Daniel

Daniel

Daniel 2:9 – 11, “…’Tell me [Nebuchadnezzar] the dream and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation.’…The Chaldeans answered, ‘…There is no one who can tell it to the king except the gods…’” Nebuchadnezzar was no fool. Anyone can supply an interpretation of a dream. But only a god could reveal the dream itself, thereby giving evidence that the interpretation was true. The God of Creation supplied such superhuman evidence for thousands of years before Jesus, therefore His message is true.

Daniel 2:44, “In the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms; and it shall stand forever.” More than 600 years before Jesus, Daniel announced a sequence of kingdoms (Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome), and that in the time of the fourth kingdom, an eternal kingdom would be set up by God, which happened in 33 AD. Only the true God could predict such a thing.

Daniel 2:47, “The king [Nebuchadnezzar] answered Daniel and said, ‘Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.’” But, in the rest of Nebuchadnezzar’s story, despite the obvious miracle of revealing his dream, the king soon fell prey to his own ego and abandoned the one true God. History has been repeating itself for millennia. The evidence for the Creator God and His message is overwhelming, yet people continue to fall prey to their own egos and walk away.

Daniel 3:17 – 18, “…Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego declined to worship the king’s idol as commanded. They were absolutely certain that God would deliver them from the king. Whether God saved them from the furnace was not the issue. They understood that, either way, they would triumph.

Daniel 3:28 – 29, “Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!…There is no other God who can deliver like this.’” For the second time, miraculous evidence convinced the king that the Creator God is the one true God. Yet, he soon fell prey to his ego again and abandoned reality.

Daniel 4 records Nebuchadnezzar’s account of his third encounter with God. Because of his arrogance, God caused him to lose his mind for seven years. When he came back to his senses, he knew both how and why. His story concludes with, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.” Nebuchadnezzar had close encounters with the one true God, knowing both Jeremiah and Daniel. I hope the third time stuck with him.

Daniel 5 records the “handwriting on the wall” scene, the night of Babylon’s conquest by the Medes and Persians. The king was the son-in-law of Nebuchadnezzar, but he apparently had not paid attention to his father-in-law’s encounters with the one true God. The eerie and cryptic handwriting caused the king to collapse in terror. Finally, the queen arrived and reminded everyone of the history of the now-elderly Daniel, who was summoned and, after a history lesson, delivered the bad news to the king. Ignorance of history dooms us to repeat it.

Daniel 6:5, “Then these men [all the officials of the Persian Empire] said, ‘We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find if against him concerning the law of his God.’” King Darius of Persia was considering promoting Daniel to the position of Prime Minister. The other officials were envious, so they set about to discredit him. Due to Daniel’s excellent character, all they could do was make it illegal to petition any god but the king. Would it not be wonderful if that were the only way opponents could attack the faithful today.

Daniel 6:16, “But the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, ‘Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.’” King Darius had been so impressed by Daniel’s character and devotion to his God that even he was confident that the God of Daniel would deliver him. The impact of the faithful on those around them should be that they expect something miraculous to happen.

Daniel 6:26, “I, [King Darius] make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end.” The pagan monarchs of two world empires announced publicly the supremacy of Daniel’s God. Biblical faithfulness results in outsiders skipping over extolling the faithful person and going directly to praising the God who obviously made it happen, just like 2 Corinthians 4:7.

Daniel 7:13 – 14, “I was watching in the night visions, and behold One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.:” Jesus applied this description from Daniel to Himself (Matthew 24:30, 26:64, Mark 13:26, 14:62, Luke 21:27).

Daniel 8:20 – 22, “The ram which you saw, having the two horns – they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms arise from that nation, but not with its power.” Two centuries in advance, Daniel announced that the Medo-Persia empire would fall to the Greeks, which in turn would divide into four parts. The God of Daniel is the only God who promises and then makes it happen (Isaiah 46:10).

Daniel 9:24, “Seventy sevens are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” Jesus applied this prediction from more than five centuries earlier to a time shortly after His own (Matthew 24:15, 34): the Messiah would come and die, sinners would be reconciled to God, the Second Temple would be destroyed, and prophecy would cease, which was finished in 70 AD.

Daniel 10:12 – 13, “Then he [an angel] said to me [Daniel], ‘Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me…’” People make choices and God needs to work inside that framework. In this case, God was setting up for the Jewish exiles to return, but the angel sent to do it needed back-up.

Daniel 12:1 – 3, “At that time Michael shall stand up…and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time [Matthew 24:21]. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book [the faithful]. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake [Matthew 27:52], some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall…turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever [the gospel spread to all].”