Many of you have asked me, “When are you preaching on Daniel again?” Well, I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to be given at least two weeks in a row to preach before tackling Daniel 10 & 11. I’m excited to announce that, with Paul on vacation for two weeks, the time has arrived! This next Sunday I will have the great privilege of preaching through two of the most thrilling and enlightening portions of scripture.
Have you ever had questions such as these?
- How does prayer work?
- What is the purpose of fasting?
- Why does it seem like God does not answer my prayers?
- What would it be like to talk with God in person, face to face?
- What are angels like and what are they doing all day long?
- What about demons and Satan? Are they real and what are they doing?
I will be addressing questions like these and many more over the course of the next two Sundays.
For those of you who don’t recall the previous messages I gave from Daniel 1-9, refer to this link https://bit.ly/3ergwFI to listen to them as a refresher. Below is a short summary of what we have already covered.
The book of Daniel starts with a very tragic time in the history of the Jewish people.
After God was faithful in redeeming them out of slavery in Egypt and giving them their own land, the land of milk and honey, the Jewish people turned their backs on their God, Yahweh. For centuries, He had given His people chance after chance to repent and turn back to Him. But ultimately, they refused to listen and obey. So God sent the Babylonians to conquer them and take them into captivity, exiled in a foreign land.
Daniel was a teenager when he was forcefully taken from his home in Jerusalem and made to serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He also was forced to learn the language, culture and religion of the Babylonians.
To the watching world, it looked like the God of the Jews was unable to save His people and fulfill His promise to the patriarch Abraham. However, this was not the case. In spite of how dire things looked for the Jewish people, God had not forgotten about them or His promises. Everything was actually happening exactly according to God’s sovereign plan.
The book of Daniel is all about God revealing His plan for the Jewish people for the rest of human history. Who knew that God would use powerful Gentile kings and nations to accomplish His plan? What is revealed in this exciting book is often referred to as “the times of the Gentiles.” God wants the readers of this book to know that He is sovereign over all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, and He will fulfill all His promises to His people. He wants people to know that He is God and there is no other.
Chapter by Chapter Summary
- In Chapter 1, God protects four young Jewish slave boys (including Daniel) by blessing them with the ability to serve the Babylonian king better than anyone else.
- In Chapter 2, God miraculously uses Daniel to show King Nebuchadnezzar the future empires of the earth, including the last one, Kingdom of God, which will never end.
- In Chapter 3, God miraculously saves Daniel’s three friends from certain and painful death because they remained faithful to Yahweh and would not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue.
- In Chapter 4, God humbles Nebuchadnezzar by making him act like an animal because he proudly believed that the Babylonian empire was his own great accomplishment, instead of God’s. In the end, God restores Nebuchadnezzar to his throne, as he acknowledged that Yahweh was the only true God who raises up kings as He wishes.
- In Chapter 5, God fulfills the first prediction of chapter 2 by allowing the Persians to overthrow the city of Babylon and its wicked and prideful King Belshazzar.
- In Chapter 6, God protects his faithful and elderly servant, Daniel, from wicked and jealous Persian officials who had him thrown into a den of lions. Ultimately the Persian king, Darius, ends up feeding these officials to the lions after an angel was sent to save Daniel.
- In Chapter 7, God reveals to Daniel another vision of the future Gentile kingdoms which will reign upon the earth and ultimately rule over the Jewish people. In this vision, Daniel is overcome with fear as he sees the reign and terror of the future anti-Christ who will persecute the Jewish people. Ultimately, the vision shows the Son of God who will defeat the anti-Christ and set up His kingdom which will never be destroyed.
- In Chapter 8, God gives Daniel a vision of the time when Greeks will overthrow the Persians and will rule over the Jewish people for a time.
- In Chapter 9, Daniel prays a wonderful prayer of repentance and intercession on behalf of his people. He wants to know when the Lord will restore His people to their land. God answers his prayer by revealing the “70 weeks” plan for the 1st coming of Christ and ultimately the fulfillment of all His promises.
Do you see a theme here? Israel was in captivity, but God was still working. All of these amazing prophecies and visions given to Daniel, over the course of 70+ years, were meant to give hope to the people of God who are living through tough times, especially the Jewish people. The sovereign plan of God was revealed not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles whom God had used and will continue to use until the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ.
During the next two weeks we will begin to study the last vision of the book of Daniel. Chapter 10 contains one of the most dramatic revelations from God in the entire Bible. And chapter 11 reveals fulfilled prophecy so detailed that it makes the critics of the Bible lose their minds!
Hopefully, all of this motivates you and convinces you to join us these next two Sundays as we study these amazing revelations from God.
May the Lord bless you as you seek Him in His Word!
Pastor Randy