Journey Through The Bible Daniel: Prophet to the Nations

Journey Through The Bible
Daniel: Prophet to the
Nations
Bible Reading: Daniel 2:1-49 (Page 625)
1
Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
are Thrown into the Furnace
2

King Nebuchadnezzar is
Humbled by God
• “And at the end of the time
I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my
eyes to heaven, and my
understanding returned to
me; and I blessed the Most
High and praised and
honoured Him Who lives for
ever: For His dominion is an
everlasting dominion, And His
kingdom is from generation
to generation.”
(Daniel 4:34, NKJV)
3

Belshazzar’s Feast
4

Daniel in the Lions’ Den
5

• “In the time of those
kings, the God of heaven
will set up a kingdom that
will never be destroyed,
nor will it be left to
another people. It will
crush all those kingdoms
and bring them to an end,
but it will itself endure for
ever.”
(Daniel 2:44, NIV84)
6

• “In my vision at night I
looked, and there before me
was One like a son of man,
coming with the clouds of
heaven. He approached the
Ancient of Days and was led
into His presence. He was
given authority, glory and
sovereign power; all peoples,
nations and men of every
language worshipped Him.
His dominion is an everlasting
dominion that will not pass
away, and His kingdom is one
that will never be destroyed.”
(Daniel 7:13–14, NIV84)
7

• “Now listen and understand!
Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two
sets of seven will pass from
the time the command is given
to rebuild Jerusalem until a Ruler
—the Anointed One—comes.
Jerusalem will be rebuilt with
streets and strong defences,
despite the perilous times. “After
this period of sixty-two sets of
seven, the Anointed One will be
killed, appearing to have
accomplished nothing, and a
ruler will arise whose armies will
destroy the city and the Temple.
The end will come with a flood,
and war and its miseries are
decreed from that time to the
very end.” (Daniel 9:25–26, NLT)
8

• “And many of those who
sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, Some to
everlasting life, Some to
shame and everlasting
contempt. Those who are
wise shall shine Like the
brightness of the
firmament, And those
who turn many to
righteousness Like the
stars for ever and ever.”
(Daniel 12:2–3, NKJV)
9

Life of Daniel
• Taken to Babylon in 605 BC among the first group of exiles.
• He lived in Babylon for around 70 years until 536 BC. He
never returned to his homeland.
• Daniel was called Belteshazzar which was the name of a
Baylonian god.
• He was given an education program to make him fit in.
• He suffered attacks and intrigues from jealous and hostile
colleagues.
• He was put under great pressure to abandon his faith and
conform to the idolatry around him.
• He had to work for autocratic and unpredictable employers.
10

Four Personal Commitments
First Commitment
• He made a personal commitment to remain 100%
loyal to God.
• “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the
royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official
for permission not to defile himself this
way.” (Daniel 1:8, NIV84)
• All who live in a fallen society need to
determine where they will draw the line over
which they will not cross in every aspect of life.
11

Second Commitment
• The second commitment was personal prayer.
• Even when threatened with death, Daniel did not stop his
habit of prayer.
• “But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he
went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with
its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a
day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.”
(Daniel 6:10, NLT)
• Regular meaningful communication with the Lord
through prayer is critical to your ability to resist the
pressure of the world.
12

Third Commitment
• Commitment to reading the Scriptures.
• “In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by
descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom
— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from
the Scriptures, according to the Word of the Lord given to
Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would
last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded
with Him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth
and ashes.” (Daniel 9:1–3, TNIV)
• Daniel read, believed, studied and applied the Word of
God. Today we have the complete revelation of God in
the Bible. This is our reference point for all we do.
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Fourth Commitment
• The fourth commitment that was critical to Daniel's survival in a hostile
work environment was his commitment to professional excellence.
• “Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the
satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over
the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find
grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs,
but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him,
because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.” (Daniel
6:3–4, NIV84)
• His professional reputation at work was a testimony that could be
understood by those who had no understanding of God or Daniel's
relationship with Him.
• If you are known to be a Christian and a have a bad work reputation
you will bring Christ into disrespect.
14

• God reveals things to Daniel
through dreams, visions in the
night or through angelic
messengers.
• “while I was speaking in prayer,
the man Gabriel, whom I had seen
in the vision at the first, came to
me in swift flight at the time of
the evening sacrifice. He made me
understand, speaking with me and
saying, “O Daniel, I have now
come out to give you insight and
understanding. At the beginning of
your pleas for mercy a word went
out, and I have come to tell it to
you, for you are greatly loved.
Therefore consider the word and
understand the vision.”
(9:21-23 ESV)
15

Six Visions of the Future
First Vision: The Great Statue
Chapter 2
• The vision of the great statue
of gold, silver, bronze, iron and
clay. The interpretation makes
it clear that these are five
successive empires.
16

Second Vision: The Great Beasts
Chapter 7
• Four great and
monstrous beasts that
arise out of the sea:
• A lion with wings
• A great bear.
• A leopard with wings
• A beast with iron
teeth and ten horns
that totally destroyed
the other beasts
17

Second Vision: Parallel to the
Vision of the Statue
• “I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within
my body, and the visions of my head
troubled me. I came near to one of those
who stood by, and asked him the truth of
all this. So he told me and made known to
me the interpretation of these things:
‘Those great beasts, which are four, are
four kings which arise out of the earth. But
the saints of the Most High shall receive
the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for
ever, even for ever and ever.’” (Daniel
7:15–18, NKJV)
• The beasts are God's view of these
idolatrous and bloody empires full of
slavery and human suffering.
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Third Vision: The Goat and Ram
Chapter 8
• The vision of a goat and a ram. Then
an angel tells him that this concerns
the future events in Israel
• The Angel Gabriel tells him the
vision also concerns the end times.
19

Fourth Vision: The Seven Sevens
Chapter 9
• A detailed message about the coming of the
Messiah and the end of the world with a
specific time frame.
• It has been proved that Jesus entered
Jerusalem and was greeted as King and
Messiah – Palm Sunday) exactly on the day
foretold by the angel to Daniel.
• In the timing given by the angel there is a gap
between the death of the Messiah and the
beginning of the predicted end times events.
• We are in that gap of an unknown number
of years between the death of the Messiah
and the events that are predicted to begin
the end-times and the return of Christ.
20

Fifth Vision: The Kingdoms of the
North and South
Chapters 10 - 11
• This is a more detailed prediction of
the conflicts between the kingdoms
surrounding Israel from 200 – 100 BC.
• Shown to be historically accurate.
Sixth Vision: The Resurrection
Chapter 12
• The final vision concerns the end time
events that predict a time of
tribulation and a general resurrection.
21

The Future is in God’s Hands
• The visions of the future in the
book of Daniel tell us that God
truly is in control of the future of
this world.
• God already knows what has
happened and what will happen. He
knows the beginning and the end.
God knows what will happen in
great detail.
• Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows
sold for only a penny? But not one
of them falls to the ground without
your Father knowing it.”
(Matthew 10:29, NIrV)
22

OUR Future is in God’s Hands
• “God is our Refuge and Strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though
the earth give way and the
mountains fall into the heart of the
sea, though its waters roar and
foam and the mountains quake
with their surging.”
(Psalm 46:1–3, NIV84)
• “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
(Psalm 46:10, NIV84)
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