Last time we looked at how God was bringing hope to the darkness of the exiled Israelites in Babylon, through the prophet Ezekiel (see here).
Twenty-one years prior to the complete fall of Judah, the soon-to-be prophet Daniel, was exiled to Babylon while King Nebuchadnezzar was laying siege to Jerusalem. Daniel, being a teenager at that time, was being trained to serve in the king’s court.
During that training, Daniel made friends with three other exiles, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, who were also being trained to serve the king. However, regardless of their Babylonian indoctrination, they still adhered to Jehovah’s dictates. For this, they were blessed:
God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind. Dan. 1:17 CSB
Thus, we see that Daniel is being supernaturally endowed.
Much later, King Nebuchadnezzar suffered a troubling dream that none of his ‘wise men’ could interpret, so he had them killed. Daniel prayed to God to give him the contents of the dream and the correct interpretation of it, which he received.
Daniel told the king that his dream contained a symbolic image of a statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of clay. He said the statue revealed the future.
(Some biblical scholars interpret the image to be representative of four successive future kingdoms: Babylonian > Medo-Persian > Grecian > Roman. Others have deduced it to mean four successive reigns of kings of Babylon.)
Furthermore, Daniel said that he saw a rock ‘cut without hands’ being hurled at the statue, destroying it. Then the rock turns into a mountain that fills the earth. He interprets the king’s dream, saying that Nebuchadnezzar represents the head of the statue, and the rest of it depicts three successive kingdoms following his.
Finally, he says that the stone cut without hands is the power of God, who will establish an eternal kingdom to rule forever:
“During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.” Dan. 2:44 NLT
King Nebuchadnezzar gives Daniel a big promotion in his court for his decipher…
Later still, the king decides to have erected a golden edifice of himself and commands all the people to worship it. Daniel’s three friends refuse to do so. They are then threatened with being burned alive; but these boys stuck to their guns:
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.” Dan. 3:17 NLT
That is some kind of faith. The king makes good on his threat and has them tied up and tossed into a blazing furnace. As Nebuchadnezzar watches, he sees that they do not burn. Furthermore, he is shocked by something else that he describes:
“Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” Dan. 3:25 CSB
The king didn’t know how right he was, as the fourth person was the pre-incarnate Christ.
Nebuchadnezzar dies, survived by his son Nabonidus, then his grandson Belshazzar, who would be the last king of Babylon.
Belshazzar decides to throw himself a party and has all of the holy utensils that were stolen from the Temple in Jerusalem to be used in his pagan rituals. During the festivities, a ghostly apparition of a hand appears and writes something on the wall.
Daniel was brought in to make sense of it. He first admonishes the king for his pride, paganism, and for defiling the holy artifacts. Daniel further reveals that the writing is a message from God that judges the king, saying He will remove him from his reign and give the kingdom over to the Medes and Persians.
King Darius of the Medes (credited with being the first Iranian empire) and King Cyrus of Persia captured Babylon that very night.
King Darius elevated Daniel to become one of three governors over Babylon. He could detect God’s blessing upon him and was going to give him authority over the entire kingdom.
When the other governors caught wind of this, they went to the king and told him to make a proclamation that all of the people should worship him only. (They knew that Daniel would never take the knee.)
The governors laid in wait until they caught Daniel worshiping his Creator and brought a charge against him to the king. Darius was saddened because he was really taken with Daniel, but his hands were tied. He had to punish him by throwing him into a pit of lions. Still, the king encouraged him:
“Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.” Dan. 6:16 NKJV
And deliver him, He did:
When Daniel was brought up from the den, he was found to be unharmed, for he trusted in his God. Dan. 6:23 CSB
The book of Daniel now leaps back in time to ten years prior to the ‘handwriting on the wall’ incident. At this time, God was providing him with eschatological visions. He begins describing them:
“As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal – it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.” Dan. 7:13, 14. NLT
So, his prophecy begins with a vision of Jehovah’s throne room. We see God (Ancient One) bestowing eternal lordship over the entire world onto His Son (son of man). And we get to be a part of that!
‘…the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.’ Dan. 7:18 ESV
It is further revealed to Daniel that an ‘antichrist’ will appear and persecute God’s children for a time. (Dan. 7:25) However God prevails, destroying him.
Daniel has another vision two years later. This time he sees the future conquest of the Medo-Persian empire by Alexander the Great, as well as how Alexander’s empire falls apart. In addition, Daniel sees the rise of a Syrian king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who would persecute the Jews 400 years into the future.
In the first year of King Darius’ reign, Daniel is visited by the archangel Gabriel, who helps him make sense of his visions involving the end times, which we will visit when we consider the book of Revelation.
The prophet received his final vision where he was sitting by the Tigris river and was visited by an angel who said he was fighting satanic forces. Then, the angel gave Daniel a glimpse of the end of time:
“At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation, will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued. Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.” Dan. 12:1 – 3. NLT
Is your name in the Book of Life? Stick with Jesus and you can count on it!
Goodnight and God bless.