Daniel – By David Arnold

Outline

Introduction:
The importance of this book

Discussion:
I. The book and its author
__A. The name given to this book
__B. The leading character and his background
____1. Little is know of his parents
____2. A remarkable young man
____3. His great conflict with evil and triumphant victory through God’s power
____4. His selection to a place of honor
____5. His being cast into the lion’s den, and God’s great deliverance
__C. Miracles of this book and their purpose
II. Prophecy concerning the never-ending kingdom
__A. The king’s dream of Daniel 2, and Daniel’s interpretation
____1. Four kingdoms of great power
____2. The Kingdom of the Lord, to last forever
__B. Some thoughts of this prophecy from Daniel 7
III. The Savior to come
__A. Daniel 7:13-14, prophecy and points of fulfillment in the New Testament
__B. Daniel 9:25, the time of the coming of the Messiah
IV. A brief analysis of each chapter

Conclusion:
God glorified and His spiritual Kingdom foretold

Introduction

That the Bible is the outstanding book of all the ages is something unquestioned by the honest, sincere searcher for truth. In the Revelation from God there is revealed the glory and majesty of the Creator and the possibility of man’s salvation through Jesus Christ, the Blessed Son of God.

Every portion of this great book has its definite purpose. I feel that time could be spent no more profitably than has been so well outlined for this fine lecture program, in a study of the various books of the Old Testament, their main message and relation to the purpose of the entire Word of God.

The book of Daniel, with its varied illustrations of God’s care over His people, and His readiness to answer their prayers, is a favorite of all the Bible, and I am happy to have the exalted privilege of discussing it in this lecture program. The prediction of events from Daniel’s own time, especially concerning the coming kingdom, the advent, work and death of the Messiah, with the attendant blessed results for mankind, make Daniel one of the most valuable books of all the Bible. Sir Isaac Newton has said, “Christianity itself might be said to be founded on the prophecies of Daniel”. One German writer said, “Daniel is the most important witness among all the prophets to the credibility of the prophets in general, and of divine revelation and the Christian religion in particular”. Daniel, and the fulfilled prophecies thereof, is one of the strongest proofs of the divinity of revealed religion.

Discussion

The Book and Its Author

The name given this important book is taken from the leading character, Daniel, which means “God is my judge.” Daniel was a very real, not legendary person. Evidence, internal and otherwise, points to the fact that Daniel himself was the author of the book. Daniel 8:1 states: “In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first”. That the book is genuine was sanctioned by the Christ Himself in Matthew 24:15 where He states, “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet . . .”.

Nothing at all is known of Daniel’s parentage or family; however, it is thought that he was born in Jerusalem of royal descent (Daniel 1:3). We do know from reading this book that he had fine instruction. He was taken captive and carried to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah (Daniel 1:1). Daniel was still a very young man between 12 and 18, and what a remarkable young man! He was determined to serve the God of Heaven, even in the presence of heathenism, and was absolutely unswerving in his religious convictions. Surely, as Daniel stood in the midst of Babylon, surrounded by strange people, wholly given to idolatry, how dark the future must have looked! In the midst of this gloom, a message came from the king that he had been selected as a candidate for one of the officers of the king’s court, a position full of honor and glory. Surely, his young heart leaped with joy. But now, Daniel meets the crisis of his life. The dinner is placed before him, and it contains meat and wine. Meat of an unclean, strangled beast, and the wine both violate his religious training, his conscience, and the commandment of God. If he eats and drinks, he will violate God’s command, yet if he does, there awaits glory and honor in the king’s palace. The decision is Daniel’s to make. What will he do? The decision to make between glory, honor, prestige, power, and righteousness has ever been in man’s path. But Daniel is yet very young! How it thrills our heart and encourages us to press on as we hear these great words: “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank . . .” (Daniel 1:8). The devil made a very powerful bid! A young man of God made a noble fight and was victorious. For this and other triumphs, God richly blessed him as we shall see later. One of the great purposes of this book is to show the watchful care of God over His people, and to exhibit God as the hearer and answerer of the prayers of His children and the privilege as well as the duty of abounding in this exercise. The devil, in offering Daniel this proposition to defile himself for honor, probably approached Daniel with many thoughts: “Daniel, you are far from home–no one will see you; the home folks will never know.” Satan offers us the same proposition at times, but we must, as Daniel did, remember that God is there! “Daniel, there is honor in it,” the devil must have offered, but Daniel put God before honor and office. He could have approached Daniel with the idea that it was customary. Men today are slaves to custom. Custom causes some people to drink just to be with the crowd. Custom makes women feel at ease indecently clothed. But Daniel said, “No!” This answer has been heard clear across the centuries, and in heaven as well as on earth. Doesn’t Daniel cause each of us to long to be better people–to say, “No” to the offerings of Satan? So, he distinguished himself for purity and knowledge.

Even though Daniel turned his back upon sin, he was selected by the king, and through four dynasties he was the first man (Daniel 6:3)! He was honored in a heathen government, was honored of God, and honored of man, but envied by the weak. Those who envied him watched for a flaw in his character, but no flaw could be found. They then came to Darius the king and persuaded him to pass a decree that for 30 days that no one should present a petition to any God or man except himself on pain of being cast into a den of lions. Daniel faithfully continued his custom of praying to God three times a day as if there were no decree, no den of lions, and no enemies watching. Thus, an accusation was brought against Daniel, and although the king tried to rescue him, yet he was cast into the den of lions (Daniel 6:12-16); but as they listen for Daniel’s death scream, they heard not a noise. The great God Of Heaven had gone before and ordered the lions to lie down in peace and wait for the coming of His servant. The king could not sleep, and in the very early morning he went to the den of lions (Daniel 6:18-19). With a lamentable voice he cried unto Daniel, “Oh Daniel, servant of the Living God, is that God whom you serve continually able to deliver you from the lions?” (Daniel 6:20). Daniel answered, “O King, live forever.” God is able! God is able! Today God is able! We should not fear the world, nor man, nor the devil, but only fear God and do right!

Yes, wonderful things are told in this book. To those who find it difficult to believe these things we say: let us remember that for a thousand years God has been nurturing the Hebrew nation for the purpose of, through that nation, establishing in a world of idol worshiping nations the idea that Jehovah is God. Now Jehovah’s nation had been destroyed by a nation that worshiped idols. This was evidence to all the world that the gods of Babylon were more powerful than the God of the Jews. It was a crisis in God’s struggle with idolatry. If ever there was a time when He needed to do something to show who is God, it was during the Babylonian captivity. Strange indeed would it have been had nothing unusual happened. Something would have been lacking seemingly, had not these stupendous miracles been wrought. Surely, this book shows clearly that we must have humility and dependence upon God, and that the persecutors and oppressors of God’s people will not go unpunished, while those who serve and trust Him will in one way or another be certainly delivered. We see plainly how that all worldly power perishes when it enters into an unequal encounter with the Almighty God.

Prophecy Concerning the Never-ending Kingdom

The prophecy of Daniel is full of good news for all nations of today. They set forth God in His greatness as mighty to save, and His righteousness in deeds of grace and mercy. They also see beyond revolutions and fall of empires the advent of a Savior and an everlasting kingdom.

In about 600 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream and forgot it. This troubled him. Daniel, by the help and revelation from God, recalled that dream and gave the interpretation of it. This dream is recorded in Daniel 2:31-35 and the interpretation in Daniel 2:36-45.

In this dream Nebuchadnezzar saw a great image whose form was terrible. The head was a fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, and his feet part iron and part clay. A small stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. The stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

The student of history has but to follow the record, both sacred and secular, to see the fulfillment of this wonderful prophecy, as Daniel interpreted the dream. “The great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter” (Daniel 2:45). “Nebuchadnezzar, you are this head of gold” (Daniel 2:38). At this time he was king of Babylon. The city of Babylon, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, was the capital. At the drunken feast of Belshazzar, while they were praising the gods of gold and silver and brass, and drinking from the holy vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem, there came the finger of a man’s hand writing on the plaster of the wall the doom of the Babylonian Empire (Daniel 5). Proud Babylon bowed her head in 536 B.C. to rise no more. See also another prophecy concerning Babylon in Isaiah 13:17-22.

Cyrus and Darius, one a Mede and the other a Persian, had combined their forces against Babylon and sealed the doom of Babylon forever. The new empire, formed upon the ruins of the old, is called the Medo-Persian, which represents the breast and the arms of the image.

There arose a young man, Alexander, son of Philip, who conquered empire after empire, and wept because there were no more to conquer. His empire was called the Macedonian Empire. His reign was like the flash of a bright meteor across the heavens, lasting the brief period of seven years, ending about 330 B.C. in the shameful, drunken death of the one that history calls “Alexander the Great.”

Finally, the ruins of these kingdoms merged into the Roman Empire. It extended its dominion over the known world, including Palestine and Judea. “The city of Rome” had universal dominion. The Roman Empire was represented by the feet and the toes of the great image. This is the kingdom with which “the stone cut without hands” comes into contact. “The stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35).

Now hear Daniel, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44).

“In the days of these kings.” The New Testament now begins its story. We shall not be startled to hear something of the coming kingdom. The first chapter of the New Testament records the birth of our blessed Savior. The second chapter tells of the decree from Herod that all children two years and under be put to death. The third chapter opens by saying, “In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, ‘Repent you, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 3:1)! Then as Jesus’ public ministry is in progress, we find Him making this statement in Mark 9:1 “. . . Verily I say unto you that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” And what days was this? The days of Herod–of the Roman Empire. Remember Daniel 2:44. Note Jesus said the kingdom will come with power. Now read in Luke 24:49 the words of Jesus, “. . . but tarry you in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high.” Jesus further said, “But you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you” (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit came upon them on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2; the plan of salvation from sin was delivered with power by Peter (Acts 2:22-38); they who gladly received the word were baptized, and the church or the kingdom had its beginning (Acts 2:47); in the days of the Roman kings, even as Daniel had prophesied. This same Kingdom exists today, even as Daniel prophesied.

So the leading idea and purpose of this prophecy of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 might be stated as: the development of the whole of the heathen power, until the completion and glorification of the kingdom of God, appeared to the prophet in the shape of four powers of the world, each successive power always surpassing the proceeding in might and strength, namely, the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman. The kingdom of God proves itself conqueror of them all–a power which alone is everlasting and showing itself in the utmost glorification in the appearance of the Messiah, as Judge and Lord of the world. Until the coming of the Messiah, the people of God have yet to go through a period of heavy trials. This is particularly described in chapters 8 and 11 in the vision of Daniel. In these chapters there is related to Daniel the fate of the most powerful empires of the world, and in particular their relations to the kingdom of God. Their divine tendency was, on the one hand, to lead the heathen power, which proudly fancied itself to be the conqueror of the theocracy, to the acknowledgment that there was an essential difference between the world and the kingdom of God, and to impress degenerate Israel with the full conviction that the power of God was still the same as in Egypt of old.

Daniel, then, seeks to show the superiority of the God of Israel over the idols of the heathen nations. Although these nations punished Israel, they would in time pass from the scene. In the latter days the God of heaven will erect a kingdom that will never be destroyed.

The Savior To Come

In close connection with the coming of the kingdom, Daniel pictures the coming of the Christ, the Prince of peace, the King of the kingdom, the Savior of man. Hear his words in Daniel 7:13-14: “I saw in the night visions and behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages, should serve Him, His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed”. That Daniel is speaking of the Christ cannot be denied. Now hear the New Testament description, more than 500 years later, of this great event. “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). As the Apostle Paul spoke concerning this same Jesus to the Ephesians, he said, “Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and has put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of him that fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:20-23). Again Paul speaks of Him in words like unto those of Daniel: “Wherefore God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

God revealed to Daniel the Savior, to keep alive even in times as were prevalent, the expectation of the promised Messiah. So it was that Jesus said, “All power has been given unto Me” (Matthew 28:18). This donation of the kingdom is represented in scripture as made to the Son of Man, or to the Son of God as the Son of Man, in virtue of His having become such in obedience to the will of God the Father, for the redemption of the lost world, and as the reward for the completion of that redeeming work given Him by the Father to do.

The Son of Man, then, is distinctly set apart as the head of the fifth and everlasting universal power. The world’s blessedness is in this, that, at length it shall be under the rule of the Son of Man as its king [in heaven], the King of righteousness and the Prince of peace, the Son of Man and yet the Mighty God, the Ruler for whom it has sighed for around 6,000 years.

The period until the appearance of the Messiah is a fixed and sacred number, 70 weeks of years. “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks” (Daniel 9:25). Now notice carefully how this is fulfilled specifically, even as Daniel said, although he spoke in 500 B.C. Artaxerxes commissioned Israel to rebuild Jerusalem in the year 457 B.C. “Adding 483 years to 547 B.C. brings us to 26 A.D., the very year Jesus was baptized and began is public ministry. This is a most remarkable fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy” (Halley, Bible Handbook, page 313).

A Brief Analysis of the Chapters

• Chapter 1 – The book’s introduction. King Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem and among the captives which he brings to Babylon are four youths who are trained for service in his court. They refuse to partake of the appointed food and show the triumph of God’s grace, and make remarkable progress in their training.
• Chapter 2 – Nebuchadnezzar is troubled by a dream in which he has seen a great beast. Although the wise men are called in, they fail to offer an interpretation, but the interpretation is revealed through Daniel. The image represents four kingdoms of human origin and temporal and limited scope. While they exist, the God of heaven will set up an eternal and universal kingdom. He speaks of the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman kingdoms.
• Chapter 3 – Nebuchadnezzar erects a golden image in the plane of Dura and requires that his subjects, upon penalty of death, shall worship it. Certain Chaldeans inform the king that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have not worshiped the golden image. Enraged, the king commands that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than customary and that the three be cast into its midst. These commands are carried out, but in the furnace the king sees them unharmed. Their confidence was in God. God is able!
• Chapter 4 – Nebuchadnezzar, being troubled by a dream, summons his wise men, who are unable to tell the dream. Daniel is brought in and relates the dream which, to the king’s disadvantage, said, in punishment of his pride, he was to lose, for a time, his throne, but to be again restored to it after his humiliation had been completed. The dream is fulfilled. Upon his recovery, he praises the God of Daniel.
• Chapter 5 – Belshazzar, the king, makes a great feast, during which a miraculous writing appears upon the wall of the palace. Daniel interprets it as a warning of doom to Belshazzar. The warning is fulfilled, and Belshazzar is slain.
• Chapter 6 – Darius, the Mede, follows upon the throne after Belshazzar. Daniel is cast into lions’ den as noted earlier.
• Chapter 7 – Daniel has a vision of four great beasts. These beasts represent the same kingdoms as the image of chapter 2.
• Chapter 8 – Under the symbolism of a ram and a he goat, Daniel in a vision sees the Medo-Persian Empire destroyed by Greece under Alexander the Great. When Alexander perishes, the kingdom is divided, which fact is represented by the four horns.
• Chapter 9 – Daniel makes a prophecy concerning the specific time of the coming of the Messiah. He prays to God, making confession of the sins of his people.
• Chapter 10 – A Divine message is revealed to Daniel, which serves as an introduction to the revelation given in chapters 11 and 12.
• Chapters 11 and 12 – The wars between the kings of Egypt and those of Syria are depicted. Emphasis is then placed upon the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes to power, his campaigns against Egypt, and his severe persecution of the people of God. The end is spoken of. Daniel is commanded to seal up the book, and the prophecy is concluded.

Conclusion

Daniel has great purposes. It magnifies God, Sovereign of all nations and Deliverer of His own people. Likewise, it encourages the Jews to resist forces that destroy faith. And of course, it foretells the future of Zion, the coming of the Messiah and the church to offer to man a way of salvation and eternal life. Therein is outlined the functions of the great spiritual kingdom over which the Messiah was to rule (and is ruling) by principles of justice and right, and which would subdue kingdoms and be everlasting.

Questions for Class Discussion

1. Give the meaning of the name Daniel.
2. What proof from the New Testament do we have that the book is genuine?
3. Discuss Daniel’s opportunity to obtain glory and power, but his decision not to defile himself. What lesson can we receive from this?
4. What is the purpose of the strange things (such as Daniel’s deliverance from the lions’ den)?
5. What four kingdoms are referred to in this book?
6. Describe the image of that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream of Daniel 2. To what does each portion refer? To what does the stone refer?
7. How long is Christ’s kingdom to last?
8. Give one prophecy from Daniel concerning Christ.
9. Who is to be King of this kingdom? Who gave Him this authority?
10. Briefly give the purposes of the book of Daniel.