In Daniel 12, the heavenly figure who appeared to Daniel and gave a word of revelation concerning the future of his people now is giving Daniel instructions of what to do with the vision. When Daniel asked for further clarity of what is going to take place, the heavenly figure tells him to go his way where Daniel will die, but his death will not be the end. We can learn from Daniel 12 how to live as exiles in a foreign world, how to lives as citizens of God’s kingdom in a world that is hostile towards us.
In Daniel 11, the heavenly figure who appeared to Daniel reveals a word of revelation concerning the future of God’s people and earthly kingdoms. We will see that more kings of Persia will rise, but the kingdom of Greece will eventually come to power and divide fourfold. This divided Greek kingdom will witness battles between the kings of the south and the north, ultimately leading to the rise of a contemptible king who will cause great turmoil for the Jewish people. But God will accomplish deliverance, even an end-time rescue from the dead through eternal resurrection life.
Daniel hears a non-favorable report regarding the people of God and rebuilding the temple. The people of God are facing opposition. Daniel response in seeking the Lord in humility with fasting. The Lord hears and responds by sending His Son. The preincarnate Son of God overwhelmed Daniel with his appearance and strengthen Daniel with his touch and gave him words of reassurance.
Daniel prayed to the Lord and the Lord answered his prayer with a promise: The Lord is going to act through His Anointed One and usher in a time of redemption and freedom (Jubilee). To bring rebellion to an end, put a stop to sin, atone for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, confirming the prophetic vision, and anointing a most holy person. These events are fulfilled in the person of Jesus.
Daniel 9 contains one of the most remarkable prayers in the whole Bible. It runs on the dual tracks of corporate confession of sin and recognition of the greatness, awesomeness, righteousness, and holiness of God as expressions of his character. It is both a model prayer and a longing for God to provide salvation through His Son Jesus Christ.
In Daniel’s vision of the four beasts rising out of the sea, the main truths of this vision that we discover is that The Lord is sovereign over the nations and his kingdom. God’s people will suffer in an earthly kingdom, but it will only last for a short while. God’s people will be vindicated and be given an eternal kingdom and we will receive dominion over God’s creation. This vision calls for the Christian to faithfully endure.
Daniel receives a vision of four beasts rising out of the sea, the fourth beast being more fearsome than the others, and its little horn evoking concern. Shifting from the sea to heaven, Daniel’s vision continues with the Ancient of Days judging the fourth beast. Then “one like a son of man” receives everlasting dominion over all. In this vision we will trace the sovereign hand of God over nations and over His kingdom.
One of the purposes that the Lord is accomplishing in the book of Daniel is that even though God’s people are taken into captivity, God is using His people to serve as a witness of Him. We have already seen king Nebuchadnezzar’s confession and in the infamous story of Daniel and the lion’s den, we are going to see the confession of king Darius. We learn that the Lord glorifies himself and makes himself known among the nations through Daniel’s unjust death sentence and the rescuing of Daniel as Daniel remained faithful to the Lord.
A major theme in the book of Daniel is that the Lord is sovereign over human kingdoms, and He gives it to anyone He wants. The last king of Babylon, Belshazzar is going to learn this the hard way that the writing is on the wall. We learn that it is better to learn from the consequences of someone else’s foolish choices than to choose foolishness ourselves and face its consequences. If the Lord sees our sins, confronts it, exposes it, and deals with it, where do we turn to? Jesus.
Proverbs 8:13 teaches us that the Lord hates arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech. Perhaps no one in the Bible came to understand this truth better than King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Proud of his accomplishments and proud in his speech, he learned the hard way that pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall. He learned the hard way that you can be strutting like a king one day and living like an animal the next. He learned the hard way that the Most High God is God and he is not.
As we watch the story unfold in Daniel 3, we will discover men of courage, conviction, and commitment. But even more important we see a faithful God who did not deliver his people from the fire but was with them in the fire and delivered them out of the fire.
The Lord reveals His greatness to the nations by revealing the mystery of His kingdom and demonstrates His power. Christ is King who will rule for all eternity and His kingdom is unlike any other earthly kingdom.
In Daniel 1:17 we are told that God gave Daniel understanding in “visions and dreams of every kind.” Now in chapter 2 we see how valuable this gift from the Lord is. A theme that is beginning to unfold is that the Lord creates impossible situations with the intentions to reveal His greatness to the nations. We learn that we respond to these impossible situations from the Lord through dependence in prayer and proclaiming His greatness to the nations.
Daniel 1 is not a chapter about dieting, it is about courage to live our biblical convictions when compromise would be much easier. Daniel believed the Lord was better than Babylon and anything it could offer. Like Daniel we are exiles, and as exiles we must cling to the Lord as our only hope and remain faithful to live out biblical convictions.