Daniel

PROLOGUE

This study in the Book of Daniel is presented with the hope that students and lay reader alike will benefit from an easy to read exposé of the mysteries of this prophetical book.

The key to the book lies in the comprehension of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and Daniel’s interpretation.  In this dream, God’s plan for the kingdoms of this world are revealed from the time of the Babylonian Empire through the Persian and Grecian eras, on to the time of the rule of Rome.

He then describes the rise of ten kings within the confines of the Old Roman Empire in the last days.  A description of the Antichrist will then appear as he governs in his fullness for three and one half years.  He, in turn, will be defeated at the battle of Armageddon and thrown into the lake of fire by Christ at His Second Coming.

The truths of this dream are repeated throughout the book of Daniel that we might know and have hope that God truly reigns in the affairs of men to accomplish His sovereign will.  For this age will soon terminate with that blessed hope in the soon coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who will completely destroy the powers of that wicked one and bring in everlasting righteousness in His millennial reign upon earth.

PREFACE

As a preface to Daniel, let us consider Isaiah 46:10 which says, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.  This statement sums up the theme of Daniel—the sovereignty of God.

God, through Daniel, shows us what will happen, even in our own dispensation. God declared the end from the beginning.  This is one of the major ways in which God challenges idol worshippers.  Isaiah 41:22-23 says, Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.  Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

One of the attributes of God is to show the end from the beginning.  If you are a god, Isaiah declared, you can tell us the past and the future, and you can bring them to pass.  Of course, the idols could not respond.  But through Daniel, God revealed His wonderful knowledge.  He showed the things that were yet to come long after the days of Daniel, even up to our lifetime as well.

The Book of Daniel can be divided into two parts.  Part A includes the first six chapters and records the historical period of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign until Darius the Mede.

Part B of the book may be entitled, Visions of the future.  These last six chapters are concerning Israel’s destiny in relation to the Gentile kingdoms.  Of particular interest to us are the visions concerning the coming Antichrist and the Great Tribulation.

Daniel himself was taken captive in 605 BC, during the third year of King Jehoiakim, and taken by King Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon.  During this period of his life in Babylon, he rose to great prominence as an able administrator and as an interpreter of puzzling dreams and mysteries that confounded Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar.

According to Ezekiel 14:14, Daniel himself was one of the three most righteous men, along with Noah and Job.  His life was one of holiness and intimacy with God.  This, of course, enabled him to be a channel of some of the most outstanding revelations ever given to mankind.  He was renowned for his wisdom, even in his own lifetime (Ezek. 28:3). When Ezekiel made this declaration, Daniel would have been only 40 years old, and he lived to be nearly 90 years of age.

INTRODUCTION

Let us briefly review the contents of the twelve chapters of the book of Daniel to lay a foundation for our study:

Chapter 1 is about Daniel’s training.  Daniel was chosen by Nebuchadnezzar for his gifts: skill, wisdom, knowledge, ability to understand science and his ability to stand before kings to be taught the wisdom and language of the Chaldeans.

Daniel purposed not to defile himself with the king’s meat.  Brought into favour with the prince of eunuchs, he was proven for ten days by eating only lentils.  He was found to be fairer than the other candidates.  Thus, he was excused from eating food that had been offered to idols from the king’s table. God gave Daniel and his three friends knowledge, skill, learning and wisdom.  Daniel had understanding in visions and dreams.  Along with his three friends, Daniel was found superior by the king to all the magicians and astrologers in his kingdom.

Chapter 2 concerns Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interpretation.  Although the dream was forgotten by the king, it was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.  The dream consisted of a great image representing the successive kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.  The last kingdom will be broken with the Stone made without hands, which represents the Rock of Ages, Christ, whose kingdom will stand forever.  His kingdom will bring down all the kingdoms represented in the image.  Therefore, it points to a re-emergence of those kingdoms in the last days before the Second Coming of Christ.

Chapter 3 describes Nebuchadnezzar’s image and the preservation of the faithful three in the fiery furnace.    According to Revelation 13:15, Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold was a prophetic type of the image to be set up to the Beast.  As with Nebuchadnezzar’s image, the image of the Beast in the last days will demand worship.

Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, refused to bow down to the image and were thrown into a fiery furnace by command of Nebuchadnezzar.  They were preserved and unharmed by the presence of the Lord, the fourth man in the fire.

Chapter 4 is Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony of how God humbled him.  He had been given a dream about a tree.  In his dream, the tree was cut down by command of the holy watchers, yet the stump remained with its roots in the earth.  The tree represented King Nebuchadnezzar whose heart was to be changed from a man into a beast’s for seven years.

Daniel interpreted the dream for Nebuchadnezzar.  He warned the king to break off his sins by righteousness and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.  But at the end of twelve months while walking in the palace, Nebuchadnezzar boasted of the greatness of Babylon which he attributed to being built by his own might, power and the honour of his majesty.  While these words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice from heaven warned him that his kingdom had departed from him.  In the same hour he was driven out, and he became as a beast.  However, at the end of seven years he was restored to his kingdom.  At that time he gave honour to God, who rules in the affairs of men and is able to abase those that walk in pride.

Chapter 5 is about Belshazzar’s feast and the fall of Babylon.  Assuming his city was impregnable, King Belshazzar gave a great feast to his lords and ladies at the time that Babylon was surrounded by Cyrus, king of Persia.  Not only those at the feast, but all those in the city became drunken, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah 51:57.  In this drunken stupor, Belshazzar commanded the vessels to be brought into the banqueting house, which Nebuchadnezzar, his grandfather, had taken from the temple in Jerusalem.

It was at this time that a hand appeared and wrote upon the wall, the words, MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN.  Until Daniel came in to the king, no one could be found to interpret those words.  In effect, his interpretation stated that God had numbered and finished the kingdom of Babylon. Belshazzar had been weighed in the balances and was found wanting, and his kingdom was to be given to the Medes and Persians.

That night, in fulfilment of the prophecy in Isaiah 44:27, the rivers surrounding Babylon were diverted by the army of Cyrus, and the city was overthrown.

Chapter 6 describes Daniel and the lion’s den.  Darius was tricked into making a decree that forced him to put Daniel into the lion’s den.  However, God preserved Daniel by sending His angel to close the lions’ mouths.  Daniel’s wicked accusers, later perished in the lion’s den instead.

The reign of Darius is a type of the millennial reign of Christ on earth. It reveals that even though Satan shall be imprisoned during the Millennium, there shall be rebellion to the authority of the saint’s rule by wicked men (Compare Zech. 14:18).

Chapter 7 reveals the four great beasts and the little horn.  These four beasts represent the Satanic influence behind the nations of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome.  They are followed by the ten horns and the little horn, which represents the Antichrist, who arises after them.

The Second Coming of Christ then takes place, and He receives the Kingdom from God the Father, the Ancient of Days.  After that, the saints take the Kingdom.

Chapter 8 is about the ram and the he-goat.  These were emblems of the Persian and Grecian armies respectively.  In this vision, Daniel was shown the dominance of Persia which would be broken by the notable horn of Greece, Alexander the Great, in 330 BC. Alexander’s kingdom would then be divided between his four generals at his death in 323 BC. In the latter time, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, the type of the Antichrist, came to power.

Chapter 9 concerns Daniel’s prayer and the revelation of the 70 weeks.  Daniel had studied Jeremiah’s prophecy of the 70 years of Babylonian captivity (Jeremiah 25:12), which was fulfilled between the years of 605-536 BC.  Daniel prayed and confessed the sins of his people to the Lord.  He was visited by the Archangel, Gabriel, who gave him skill and understanding and revealed unto him the 70 sevens that were to come upon His people.

The counting of these 70 sevens began in the seventh year of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:7-9). Calculating from that year (457 BC), 69 sevens (483 years) came to the time of Christ’s presentation to Israel by John the Baptist at the River Jordan in AD 26.

There followed a prophecy about the siege of Jerusalem that was fulfilled in AD 70 by the Romans under Titus (Lk. 21:20).  This prophecy will be finally fulfilled by the Antichrist. He will come in the last days to fulfil the last seven of the 70 weeks or the 70 sevens, which begins when he makes a covenant with Israel.

Chapter 10 describes Daniel’s three-week fast and the warfare in the heavenlies.  Some nations are governed by principalities and powers that war against God’s purposes for them.  In this particular vision, the angel revealed that the prince of Persia had withstood his coming to Daniel.  That prince opposed being replaced by the prince of Greece.

Chapter 11 is about the history of Israel and also gives us a glimpse of the Antichrist.  Prophetically, this chapter gives the most detailed account of historical events in the whole Bible.  It covers events from approximately 539 BC to 165 BC.

Chapter 12 depicts the Great Tribulation.  At the time of the abomination of desolation, the Archangel, Michael, will stand up and the Great Tribulation will begin.  The time of the Great Tribulation is given as three and one-half years. This event will be followed by the Resurrection.  Daniel, as a wise one who has turned many to righteousness, will shine as the stars in heaven and will stand in his appointed lot at the end of the days.

CHAPTER ONE

Daniel’s Training

DANIEL 1:1-2

Daniel 1:1-2 says, In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim King of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.  And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure of the house of his god.

Normally, the historical background is not of great importance in the understanding of a book.  With Daniel, however, it is necessary that we understand the historical setting because there are many references made to the time of the events.

We are told in Daniel 1:1 that during the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem.  God gave Jehoiakim, and the vessels of the temple into his hands.  This was the first of three main captivities experienced by Judah.  The date was 605 BC. That is an important date because the 70 years of captivity started at that time.

A chronology of the kings of Judah is necessary if we are to understand the prophetic unfolding of Jeremiah, Isaiah and Daniel, who prophesied concerning this period.

We need to remember the truth that God handed His people over to the Gentiles when they chose not to walk uprightly.  There are many Scriptures which support this. During the first captivity in 605 BC, Daniel was taken captive to Babylon.  In the second captivity under Jehoiachin, the prophet Ezekiel was taken prisoner.  Therefore, during this time, there were two major prophets exiled in Babylon. Isaiah had already prophesied.  His ministry and life were terminated when he was martyred during the early reign of Manasseh.  Isaiah had fully prophesied about the fall of Jerusalem and also the fall of Babylon.  He had also prophesied concerning the Medes and Persians.

Jeremiah followed, and he prophesied in Jerusalem from the thirteenth year of King Josiah until the fall of Jerusalem.  In Babylon, the other two major prophets were active. Daniel was under King Jehoiakim, and Ezekiel was under King Jehoiachin (Incidentally, Jehoiachin was the only king to go into captivity voluntarily.  Zedekiah was taken in chains).

Let us