Today we are in the Book of Daniel. The prophet Daniel contains, I'm sure, very many well-known stories. Many of them have been adapted into children's books and, I'm sure, cartoons. I think there's a famous Veggie Tales that I missed out on about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So there's a great familiarity that you all probably already have with the book. Does anybody just take a little survey? What's the big story? What's going on in chapter one? Does anybody know? They're new to Babylon. Yeah. teach their stuff. And what did Daniel and his friends refuse to do? Eat. Very good. Uh, and then Daniel chapter two is the famous dream of all, uh, of this big image and it represents all the kingdoms that will be broken down by the stone carved without hands. Chapter three is the fiery furnace. We know the fiery furnace, right? Where they refuse to bow to the image. And so Nebuchadnezzar, a little bit of an ego problem can't quite handle that and so chooses to throw them into the furnace. Chapter 4 is my personal favorite. It's Nebuchadnezzar's pride leading to his own insanity. Chapter 5 is the The famous handwriting on the wall, where King Darius, not Darius, I'm sorry, Darius is the next king, but the King of Babylon at that time is having a big party and he brings in the vessels from the Temple of the Lord and the handwriting appears on the wall, mene, mene, tekel, ufarsin, you have been weighed, your balances have been found wanting, and judgment's coming tonight, essentially. And so the book of Daniel is very well known, at least for the first six chapters. People tend to know these stories, Daniel and the lion's den. And we even have phrases from the book of Daniel that have crept into popular culture. Like you hear the expression, the handwriting is on the wall, in places that have nothing to do with the Bible, but they're taking that phraseology. You've heard of people being in unfriendly territories, thrown into the lion's den, as it were. And even, I found in my research that, we don't hear this expression used this way quite as much now, but in the passage about the fiery furnace, where Nebuchadnezzar says, what God can deliver you from my hands? They say, our God is able, but even if not, we will not bow to your image. And that phrase, and if not. It was one of the last transmissions sent from the Allied forces in World War II before storming the beaches of D-Day. And so, these phrases are well-known and well-beloved, and they're very wonderful, and I'm glad that, generally speaking, Daniel is one of the books that we're more familiar with the ins and outs of than, say, Ezekiel from last week. The problem, though, is that because the book is not often taught as a whole, and because we tend to only know the first six chapters because the last six get into kind of strange, apocalyptic visions, which we'll talk about, we can tend to lose sight of the theme of the stories and what it is that holds the book together. We tend to treat each story as like an isolated moral lesson, and they're far more than that. I trust you've gleaned enough from our Bible overview so far that you know that's not the way the book works. That's not the way any book of the Bible works. There is an overarching theme that's being brought into play here. The question is, why are these stories grouped together, and what's going on here? Well, there's a passage that we've alluded to many, many, many times in our overview, specifically of the Old Testament, and it's Genesis chapter 12, verses one to three. Would somebody please read that for us? Genesis 12, one to three. Mr. Gamble. house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will dishonor those who dishonor me, who curse you. And then all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And you shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Very good. So what we're going to see in Daniel is even in exile, God is going to bless those who are faithful to him. And he's going to curse those who, who dishonor God's people. He's going to bless those Kings who treat Daniel and his friends well in the end. And he's going to curse those who do not. Um, and, and more importantly though, in Genesis 12, the very end of the passage, he says through you, Abram and through your descendants, shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Daniel is one of those old Testament books that makes it incredibly clear. that the mission that God has for his people is a worldwide mission. Derek Kidner, who's a revered Old Testament commentator, some of you have asked me for commentaries for biblical papers that you're writing for school. If you ever need to do that again and you find Derek Kidner has written something about the passage you're doing, read Derek Kidner. He's fantastic. But he says this of Genesis 12, blessings for the world was a vision fit, uh, was a vision fitfully seen at first. It disappears between the patriarchs and the Kings apart from a reminder of Israel's priestly role in Exodus. Later it reappears in the Psalms and prophets and perhaps even at its faintest, it always imparted some sense of mission to Israel. Yet it never became a program of concerted action until the Ascension. So what he's saying there is, This promise is in the background of everything in the Old Testament, and it becomes fully realized when Christ ascends and says, go into all the nations, making disciples, baptizing them, and so on and so forth. But Daniel has a lot to do with the kingdoms of the world because of when it's written. It's a very complex book, and it covers the life of one particularly gifted man who finds himself in the first wave of the captives taking into Babylonian exile. Daniel parallels Joseph in many ways. He rises to prominence in a pagan land, and there's the interpreting of dreams several times in the book, but the theme is summed up this way. God is sovereign over all time, over all circumstances, over all nations, and over all individuals. One of my professors put it this way, the God of Israel has a plan for his people that will include the nations of the world. No matter what God's people face in the world, they have the assurance that God's purposes will prevail. God will defeat every foe and his people will participate with him in that victory. That's a message of confidence and assurance that Daniel needed, that the exile generation needed. And it's a message of confidence and assurance that we need today. And Daniel displays that for us very well. I'm going to give you a little bit of background info on the book. Daniel takes place approximately between 605 to 538 BC. So that's the span of roughly 70 some years. And it is a book that, that sees a lot of political regime change and references to major ones that are to come in the distant future. But Daniel is the constant throughout the book. We go through about, I think three or four different Kings that Daniel was going to serve under in the course of his 70 years in captivity. But Daniel is the one constant, and that in and of itself is a reminder that amid the turmoil and chaos of this world where nations rise and nations fall, and kings rise and kings fall, God and his purposes remain constant. God is always at work. The outline of Daniel is fairly straightforward. It can be divided pretty neatly into two parts, which I've already alluded to. Chapters 1-6 being largely historical, and chapters 7-12 being prophetic, or we might even say specifically apocalyptic prophecy. And so these will be the two sections that we look at. God's sovereignty over all things in the life of Daniel, one to six, that's the history section. And then God's sovereignty over all things in the future, that's seven to 12. So first, God's sovereignty over all things in the life of Daniel. We already talked about chapter one a little bit, but chapter one begins with the first wave of the captivity. which I guessed at last week being in the mid-590s. I was about 10 years old. It's 605. And for the sake of time, I'm just going to assume a rather large degree of familiarity with these stories on your part. I'm going to tell the big picture idea and try to connect some dots in them. So if you're not familiar with these stories, take 15 minutes this afternoon and read them. They're awesome. But back to chapter one, uh, Daniel and his friends, as, as Mr. Johnson has already referenced, are, are part of the first wave of the Babylonian exiles. And they've been selected to essentially go to Babylonian grad school. Like they're going to sit and study under the best teachers that Babylon has to offer. And the idea is Nebuchadnezzar is going to take the best and the brightest of his new captives. and indoctrinate them into Babylonian thought and Babylonian loyalties so that the best and the brightest of his newly conquered people are on his side. Why might that be a politically advantageous thing to do? He's taking the most trusted, the most honored, the most revered, and he's bringing them over to his side, and then should the captive people, who generally speaking, people taking into slavery don't really like that, should they decide to stage a rebellion, he's got the best of them already on his side. Does that make sense? That's the idea. That's the goal here. If he can win them over, he has very little to worry about. And while Daniel and his friends, they don't have much to say about this, they can't refuse the training per se, they do refuse one thing in particular. They refuse to take the king's meat or any portion of his food. Why do you suppose that might be? Are they just trying to be difficult? Why would they refuse the king's meat? It's against their law. It's against their law. What law? The Old Testament dietary laws. It's against the law of God. And in refusing to eat the king's meat, they are remaining faithful in whatever way they can find to be faithful. There's a lot of things that God has called his people to do that in the Babylonian captivity they can't do. Mr. Duncan, can they offer sacrifices in the temple while they're in Babylon? No, because the temple's back in Jerusalem, right there in Babylon. There's lots of other things, lots of other religious feasts and practices that they can't observe while they're in Babylonian captivity. But this one small thing, trying to keep the dietary laws, they can do. And so they seek to be faithful where they are able, And God blesses that. Would somebody please read for us chapter 1, verses 17 to 21. Ms. Duncan. As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in the literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them, none were found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all of his kingdom. And Daniel was there until the first year. King Cyrus. Thank you very much, Miss Duncan. So the big picture idea here is, is these men seek to be faithful to what God has commanded and God blesses them in that, right? He makes them 10 times more adept than any of their, their compatriots, any of the other classmates. Um, I know that we've got some exceptionally, uh, academically gifted people in this room. I don't think you're quite 10 times better than everyone else in your class. that comes supernaturally. God is blessing their faithfulness just like he did for Abraham back in Genesis 12. God is faithful. Uh, in chapter two is the famous passage about Nebuchadnezzar's dream. And the big point of this chapter is that God has a plan that's being worked out in history. Okay? So big point of chapter one, Be faithful, trust the Lord. Big point of chapter two, the Lord has a plan that's being worked out in history. Again, I'm assuming a lot of knowledge already on y'all's part, but the short version is King Nebuchadnezzar has this dream and he brings in these wise men to interpret the dream, but to make sure the interpretation is right, he also wants them to tell him the dream. So he says, I had this dream. I want you to tell me what it is and then tell me what it means. And they said, King, nobody can do this. So they call in Daniel and Daniel is able. Daniel chapter two, beginning in verse 27, it says, Daniel answered the king and said, no wise men and chanters, magicians or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. And he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. So this dream is about things that are going to come to pass. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these. To you, O King, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this. And he reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because my wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your mind. And so he goes through the dream and there's this, this image, this giant statue as it were, and it's made up of all of these different parts. The head is of fine gold. The chest of the arms are silver, the middle and thighs are bronze and its legs of iron. And then the feet are part iron and part clay. And what every scholar agrees on, even those that don't believe in the Bible, that don't believe what it says is true, is that what's being intended to be communicated here is the successive kingdoms, right? The head is Babylon, that's the present kingdom. The silver, the chest and the arms, that's Medo-Persia, that's the next kingdom. And then the iron is Greece. and on down to Rome. And you also see this fleshed out in the visions that Daniel has in chapters 7 and 8, where he refers to these kingdoms by name. And this is hundreds of years before these kingdoms are even a thing. Now, the liberal scholars that don't believe the Bible say that it was written after that and retroactively put in here. Or, we go with all the manuscript evidence that says this is an ancient text and say, because God inspired it, he was able to tell them what was going to come to pass. Nonetheless, the point is God has a plan that he is working out in history. He is a supernatural God and he's working things out according to his purposes. And these kingdoms, what we're told essentially is that they all rise and fall, but there is one that endures forever. Chapter two, verse 44. And in the days of those kings, talking about the kings of Babylon and Medo-Persia, and Greece, and Rome. In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever." That's the point of the vision. Particularly in the time of the fourth kingdom, which would be Rome, this kingdom of God will be established. Now, just cursory history lesson. Who's the major world power at the time of the coming of Christ in the first century? Rome. Okay. He's saying, be faithful. Trust me. I have a plan. Was that a question or were you going to answer? Okay. That's correct. All right, so we've got chapter one, remain faithful. Chapter two, God has a plan in history. And chapter three, God is present. I won't go into all of this, but this is the passage of the fiery furnace, right? And we alluded to this already. But King Nebuchadnezzar, as a king in the ancient world, again, has a little bit of a high opinion of himself, makes this giant statue. Everyone's supposed to bow down. The Shadrach, Meshach, and Benegal won't bow down. He throws them into the fiery furnace. But he beholds, he looks into the furnace, and he says, I thought we threw three guys in there. I said, we did. But I see four, one standing with them like the son of God is present even in our trials, even in our afflictions. So be faithful and trust him because he is not just making a plan to take care of things in the future, but he's also present with you in the problems and the realities of now. Chapters four and five make the same point, highlighting that not only does God bless the faithful, not only does he have a plan, not only is he present with his people and their suffering, but he sovereignly controls it all. And we don't have time to look at those in detail, but you can see that, you know, how else do you account for the fact that Daniel doesn't get eaten in the lion's den? It's not just that God is present with him, but God is the God of the lion too. God protects his people. He is sovereignly in control of all things. And that's, that's kind of what's being unfolded in the historical part of the book. Now let's look at God's sovereignty over all things in the future. What's unique to Daniel is it's a theology of time, you might say. Since all history, that is the progression of time, is redemptive in purpose, Daniel's message contributes significantly to God's revelation of his redemption plan, his unfailing purpose. A theology of time centers on the divine work of Providence, the temporal operations of the Eternal God, whereby He preserves and governs His creation to the designed end of His glory and the good of His people." For the sake of time, we're just going to look at two very brief passages about this. One is Daniel chapter 7, beginning in verse 13. Daniel chapter seven is the vision of the four beasts. The four beasts are analogous to the four different kingdoms that were discussed in Daniel chapter two. Now they're depicted instead of a statue, but as, as roaring ravenous beast, this is also a very familiar language to anyone who knows the book of revelation. And as these beasts are making a havoc on God's people, Daniel sees a vision Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him that is to this son of man was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, one, that shall not be destroyed. Now, it's often oversimplified when you're reading the Gospels, and you come across, sometimes Jesus is referred to as Son of God, and we say, well, that's talking about his deity. And then Jesus often refers to himself as Son of Man, and we say that's referring to his humanity. That's a theologically true point. Jesus is truly God and truly man. But I think it's better understood that when Jesus says, I am the son of man, refers to himself as the son of man. He's actually using the Bible's understanding of that term as this one to whom the Lord of heaven has given a kingdom. This one who will vanquish the foes of his people. This one who will bring in the everlasting kingdom. This is what that title, that moniker is referring to. Now the question is, When will this be? When will the Son of Man come and set right what is so obviously wrong? This will be the last passage we look at today, Daniel chapter nine. Daniel chapter nine is, in my opinion, the most important Old Testament passage that most people know nothing about. It's the most important Old Testament passage that is the least taught. So the setting of Daniel 9. Daniel is praying for his people. Daniel, we'll read parts of this. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, by descent Amid, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of the years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. So Daniel says, I'm in exile, I'm reading the prophet Jeremiah, and Jeremiah said that we will be in captivity for 70 years. And at the end of that 70 years, the desolations of Jerusalem will be brought to an end. the judgment of God's people will be complete. And Daniel's looking at his calendar, as it were, and he's saying, 70 years is about up. We're about to get out of here. Now, the problem is that Babylonian captivity was supposed to purify them. It was supposed to set them straight, as it were. And Daniel's looking around, he's saying, 70 years is almost come and gone, and we haven't learned a thing. The people's heart is still far from God. And so he prays this, this amazing prayer. And if you've, if I didn't already give you the assignment to read chapters one to six, if you're not familiar with those stories, I don't care who you are, read Daniel's prayer. It's amazing. He says, O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city, Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins and for our iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all around us. And then skipping down to verse 18, O my God, incline your ear and hear, open your eyes and see our desolations. and that the city called by your name, for we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. Oh, Lord, hear. Oh, Lord, forgive. Oh, Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not for your own sake. Oh my God, because your city and your people are called by your name. God, I need you to act in accord with what you promised. End the desolations of your people and make us fit to bear your name. He's praying this way because he knows God's timetable is running out. And so God sends him the angel Gabriel, which should send off some bells in your mind. Where else do we see Gabriel? But we'll get there in a minute. And Gabriel's gonna give him the answer for when this problem will ultimately be resolved. And he doesn't say, Daniel, calm down, it's only year 68, we got two left to go and then we'll get, that's not what he says. He says in verse 24, 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and profit, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after 62 weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he, that's the prince, shall make a strong covenant with many for one week. And for half of the week, He shall put an end to sacrifice and offering, and on the wing of the abomination shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on desolation." So in these verses, we have the future fate of the people of God, of Judah. 70 years did not get the job done, but 70 weeks will. The translation weeks there is a little bit unfortunate because it almost sounds like we're changing units of time from year to week, right? So you got 52 weeks and one year. That's not the idea. The idea is 70 sets of seven. The word in Hebrew for week and the number seven is the same word. So we've got 70 sets of seven. 70 times seven is what? 490. 490 years. And we're told when the clock starts. The clock starts, verse 25, from the going out of the Word to restore and build Jerusalem. That decree went out approximately 445 B.C. 445 B.C., rebuild Jerusalem. All right. And the text breaks it down. There shall be, from the decree to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of the anointed one of France, there shall be seven weeks. So there's gonna be a period of time after this is done. Seven times seven is 49 years, right? 49 years. off of the 490. This is complicated, I know, but stick with me, it's gonna pay off. Okay? So we start this 490 year clock at this point. There's gonna be significant activity for about 49 years. At which time we're now 400 BC. This is the end of the time of the prophets. So from the going out of this decree to rebuild Jerusalem, to the end of God speaking through his prophets, it's gonna be about 50 years. And then I think we all know or have heard before, Before John the Baptist comes on the scene in the Gospels, there's been 400 years of radio silence from God. So we've got 445 minus 49 brings us to approximately 400 BC. And I know it's not exactly right, but with ancient dates, you're gonna be give or take a couple of years. So after this 400 years, this anointed one, this prince, is going to come about 434 years later. That's the 62 weeks. Are you guys with me? OK. 400 BC, what do you suppose happens around the year 30 to 34 AD? The death of Christ. Well, yes. Jesus' ministry starts. His ministry starts. And his ministry is to begin solving all these problems, to make atonement for sin, to deal with, to put an end to sacrifices, all these things. And we're in now the last week. So around 30 AD, approximately begins the last week, seven years. Jesus' ministry starts right on time. And it says here, what's really interesting, and he shall make a covenant with the people for one week. And for half of the week, he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. How long is Jesus's ministry? About three, three and a half years. There's three Passovers that's recorded in it, so we're looking between three and four years, which is half of a week, half of seven. Then he dies on the cross, makes an end of sin, makes an end of sacrifices, makes an end of that whole system of administration. So we got three and a half years left. And the focus of the ministry of the early church is on the people of Jerusalem and Judea and ethnically Jewish regions. And then around 36, 37 AD, Peter gets his vision of that which had previously been unclean is now called clean, and the gospel goes out at that point to the Gentiles. And that's the end of God's redemptive work with ethnic Israel, specifically as a concentrated people group. Yes, he still saves people who are ethnically Jewish, but that's the end of the focus ministry there. And one generation later, the temple is destroyed, never to be rebuilt again. And this was all foretold 500 and some years before it happened. Daniel nine is the most amazing Old Testament passage that nobody ever talks about. It shows beginning to end the work of Christ. And I've often used this as an apologetic with my Jewish friends. Um, because if Daniel is the word of God and they agree that it is the Messiah must come in this timeframe. And so if Jesus is not the Messiah, then they have nothing. What's their answer to that? Well, their answer is they tend to count at a different point. They count from the beginning of Cyrus's decree to go rebuild the temple, which happened 50 years earlier. The problem with that, and they don't have an answer to this, is then this timetable lands on no event of any historic significance that we know about. Daniel 9 is proof positive that Jesus is exactly who he claimed to be. Let's pray. God in heaven, we thank you for the wonders of your word, that it is truth and that it tells the truth in advance. We thank you for the marvelous ways that you have kept it, that Jesus came right on time, at the right time, Christ came into the world to die for sinners such as us. And we pray, Lord, that you would help us to grow into his image and never take for granted what he has done. In Christ's name we pray, amen.