The Anointed One

 Daniel 9:1-26

Welcome! Today we continue our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing on Chapter 9. First, I want to briefly remind you of the big picture, of the context of the Book of Daniel in the history, the true story of God and His interaction of people, in the Old Testament.

At the time of Moses, the Israelites had been delivered from Egypt and promised the land of Israel, but the promise was a conditional promise; it depended on the people continuing to follow after God, obeying His commands and remembering Him in worship and in day-to-day living. Well, the people forgot God, ignored His commands, and even sought to do the very things He had forbidden, such as worshiping false gods. And through Israel’s history, God raised up prophets who spoke warnings that unless the people repented and turned back to God and followed His ways, they would lose the land, Jerusalem and especially the Temple built by Solomon, the place where God’s Spirit dwelled, would become desecrated and destroyed.

Prince of the Host

Daniel 8

Welcome! Today we continue our series in the Book of Daniel, looking in depth at Chapter 8. There is a lot of fascinating stuff to get into today, so I am going to get started with the chapter right away.

In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. – Daniel 8:1-2

Son of Man

Daniel 7

 Welcome! Today we continue our series in the Book of Daniel, beginning the second half of the book and focusing in on Chapter 7. In the first six chapters we saw primarily a historical account of the events surrounding the life of Daniel, with a little prophecy thrown in. In these second six chapters, we see the reverse: primary a series of prophecies, with a little historical account thrown in.

I believe it is helpful to start with a very brief review of the highlights of the first 6 chapters. Daniel was captured with his friends from Jerusalem at the time of the fall of Israel, the culmination of centuries of warnings from God’s prophets and the fruit of centuries of disobedience, ignoring God’s laws and increasingly forsaking God altogether. And so Daniel, likely a teenager at the time, was made to serve in a foreign nation, the nation of Babylon.

Jesus: The Deliverer

When I was a kid growing up, at some point a cat “adopted” us. What I mean by this is that this cat consented to let us admire it, pet it, and give it the free reign of our property. The cat had no tags but was actually a very pretty cat, and as most cats do, it took very good care of itself. I was somewhat indifferent to it until I realized that my mom didn’t like it, and at that point I became much more interested, and even, you could say, a “fan” of that cat.

One reason my mom didn’t like the cat is that it wanted free reign not only of our property, but of our house. When my mom would be carrying groceries into the house, the cat would try to run in. Well, my mom would have nothing to do with that, and so she decided to start spraying the cat with a water hose when it came around. The cat did not like that at all. And for a while it seemed that things had more or less settled down – the cat ran away when it saw my mom, but when it was just the rest of our family outside, the cat would happily walk between our legs and consent for us to give it a gentle scratch at just that place behind the ears which would make it loudly purr.

Out from the Tomb

Daniel 6

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing in on Chapter 6. To begin, I want to give a bit of a recap of where we have been.

Daniel was a Hebrew, an Israelite, who lived in Israel during his childhood years at a very turbulent time in Israel’s history. For generations, even going all the way back to Moses, God had warned that His promises of blessings on Israel were conditional on the people remaining true and faithful to God, practicing His commandments and decrees, and refusing to worship false gods. Over the centuries, Israel had strayed farther and farther away from God, and at last, God’s warnings were coming to pass. Removing His protection, God now began to allow foreign nations to attack into the heart of Israel, including Jerusalem, and take apart the nation piece by piece.

The Human Hand

Daniel 5

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing in on Chapter 5. I want to start today by giving you a reminder of what has happened in the first 4 chapters.

The history of the Israelites in the Bible is not a pretty one. From the days of Moses until the fall of Israel, times in which the people worshiped God and obeyed His commandments were the exception rather than the rule. Finally, after nearly continuous warnings from prophets, people God spoke to directly to warn them to change or else witness the fruit of their forsaking Him, it really happened. God raised up Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and turned the nation of Babylon into the strongest, largest, most terrifying empire the world had ever known. Syria, Phoenecia, Tyre, and even Egypt were overwhelmed and absorbed into this empire. And the tiny nation of Israel, just a dot on the map compared with some of these other nations, lost God’s protecting hand and was overtaken as well. God’s presence left the Temple made by Solomon, and the Temple was looted and destroyed. 

Message from Heaven

Daniel 4

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing in on Chapter 4. To get started, let me remind you of the highlights of Chapters 1 through 3.

Recall that God had used prophets in Israel to warn them that unless they changed from their wicked ways, unless they stopped rejecting and forsaking Him, He would allow foreigners to come in and overtake the land, effectively putting an end to the nation of Israel. Some of her people would be killed in the process, and others would become captured and taken away to other lands to serve as servants and slaves under foreign kings who worshiped foreign gods. And this is exactly what happened.

Jesus: The Light

I John 1:5 tells us that God is Light. And for us, those who believe in Him, He is our light.

Let’s take a moment and pray:

Jesus, you are the light of the world. In You there is no darkness at all. Your light shines in us and through us. We pray that you would light our paths through your Word today. We are dependent on Your direction. Apart from You, everything is darkness and confusion to us. Shine on us and through us Lord Jesus. Amen.

The last 3 weeks, we’ve begun studying through the book of Daniel. Last week we talked about the fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were joined in the furnace by a fourth man. This fourth man had a different appearance than the three friends. He is described by Nebuchadnezzar as a son of the gods and later as an angel. Likely, the fourth man had an appearance of light or brilliance to gain such a description.

Two weeks ago, we talked about how God miraculously revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar said he would not tell his dream to anyone but that his wise men had to prove their worth by telling him the dream and interpreting it. Otherwise, he would kill all the wise men. Daniel stepped in and asked the king for time. That night, God revealed the dream to Daniel. Daniel had a beautiful prayer at that point.

The Fourth Man

Daniel 3

Welcome! Today we look at a familiar passage of Scripture, Daniel chapter 3. This passage is often summarized in children’s Bible story books, and so some of us have known this story since before we could read. But I think there is plenty here that is interesting, plenty that is “meaty,” and plenty that we can apply to our lives.

Let me first remind you of the background for the book of Daniel. Daniel and his friends, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were captured by the Babylonians in one of several raids that ultimately led to the total downfall of the Israelite nation, or more precisely, the split nation consisting of Israel and Judah. This downfall was repeatedly prophesied by the Israelite prophets, who said it was sure to happen unless the Israelite people truly repented and turned from worshiping false gods and performing other detestable practices all while abandoning the Law given to Moses generations earlier.

The Rock

Daniel 2

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the wonderful Book of Daniel, focusing on Chapter 2. To get started, let me remind you of the context of the book of Daniel and briefly review what happened in Chapter 1.

The book of Daniel takes during and after the fall of the land of Israel. God allowed Israel to fall, in fact, He repeatedly warned His people that the fall was coming, because they had forsaken God. God, who is the orchestrator of all of history, used a man named Nebuchadnezzar son of Nabopolassarto do this. Nabopolassar started things by delivering Babylon from its dependence on Assyria and destroying Nineveh. While Nabopolassar still reigned, he sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to lead military campaigns, and under Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians defeated the Egyptian army and drove them back to their homeland, essentially ending the Egyptian empire for good. Nebuchadnezzar continued with other military campaigns to defeat the Syrians and the Phoenicians, and Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon after his father’s death to take the throne of what we call the neo-Babylonian Empire, the greatest empire in terms of might and reach the world had yet seen.