Daniel

BOOK REPORT The book used for this study: Daniel Verse by Verse Study Oliver B. Green THE GOSPEL HOUR, INC. Fourteenth printing, May 1981 508 pages Class: Old Testament Literature 2 Grade rec'd: A Word count=2375 THE STUDY OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL IS THE STUDY OF PROPHECY, AND AS SUCH, DEALS WITH THE FUTURE. IN STUDYING THESE, WE, AS CHRISTIANS, CAN GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE BIBLE AND OF GOD. THROUGH THIS STUDY AN UNDERSTANDING IS OBTAINED OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE FORCES OF GOOD AND EVIL, AND THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH OF JESUS. THE PROPHETIC SYMBOLS OF DANIEL MUST BE INTERPRETED BY THE BIBLE ITSELF. MAN-MADE INTERPRETATIONS HAVE NO VALIDITY AT ALL. THE COMPREHENSION OF THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL GIVE US A CLEARER UNDERSTANDING OF JESUS.

DANIEL, ALTHOUGH WRITING IN THE THIRD PERSON, GAVE A PERSONAL HISTORY, AS HE LIVED IT, IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL. JESUS ATTESTED TO DANIEL'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WORDS FOUND IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL, AS HIS THIRD POINT, WHEN HE TOLD HIS FOLLOWERS TO UNDERSTAND THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL, THE FIRST TWO BEING: TO STUDY THE PROPHECIES, AND THEY COULD BE UNDERSTOOD. DANIEL IS SET DURING THE REIGN OF KING NEBUCHDREZZAR OF BABYLON, WHICH BEGAN IN 605 B.C., AND EXTENDS INTO THE MEDO-PERSIAN REIGN, WHICH BEGAN IN 538 B.C. WE CAN DETERMINE, THEN, THAT THE BOOK WAS WRITTEN SOMETIME DURING THOSE YEARS. BECAUSE OF THEIR DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD, THE NATIONS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH FOUND THEMSELVES CONQUERED BY NEBUCHADREZZAR AND THEIR PEOPLE TAKEN CAPTIVE TO A HEATHEN COUNTRY. ALTHOUGH, THE BOOK OF DANIEL WAS WRITTEN WHILE GOD'S PEOPLE WERE CAPTIVE IN BABYLON BECAUSE OF THEIR SINS, THE FOCUS OF THE BOOK IS NOT ABOUT THE CAPTIVITY,

BUT ABOUT THE END TIME. THIS DISCOVERY ABOUT THE BOOK, GIVES DANIEL RELEVANCE FOR US TODAY. THERE ARE TWO DISTINCT PERSPECTIVES FOUND IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL: THE HISTORICAL, WHERE WE SEE STORIES ABOUT DANIEL'S TIME; AND THE PROPHETIC, WHERE WE SEE PROPHECIES POINTING TO THE END TIME. THE STORIES OF DANIEL ARE NOT JUST GIVEN AS SIMPLE STORIES, THEY ARE GIVEN TO ILLUSTRATE WHAT THE PROPHECIES PREDICT. REMEMBER, THE POINT OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL IS THE END TIME...THE ERA OF THE ENDING OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. WE STUDY THE HISTORICAL PASSAGES TO DISCOVER THE MESSAGE THERE FOR THE END TIME, AND THEN WE DISCOVER HOW THE PROPHETIC SECTIONS HAVE PREDICTED THOSE VERY CONDITIONS IN THE LAST DAYS. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT PROPHECY IS CERTAIN, AND THAT REAL ANSWERS CAN BE FOUND ONLY IN PROPHECY. OUR PATH IS LIT BY THE LIGHT OF PROPHECY, AND THROUGH IT'S STUDY WE FIND JESUS PLACED IN OUR HEARTS. MUCH OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL IS WRITTEN IN SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE. THE FORM THAT DANIEL USES IS CALLED 'OUTLINE PROPHECY',

IN WHICH HISTORY IS OUTLINED FROM DANIEL'S DAY TO THE END TIME. WE CAN SEE THAT WE ARE LIVING IN THE STREAM OF HISTORY BECAUSE DANIEL BEGINS HIS PROPHECIES IN HIS OWN DAY, CONTINUES THROUGH HISTORY AS THEY UNFOLD, AND THEN FOCUSES ON THE END TIME. WE SEE THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL ARE CONSISTENT WITH BIBLICAL EVIDENCE, THEY SPAN THE AGES, ROOTED IN HISTORY BUT FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE. THE BOOK OF DANIEL OPENS WITH THE APPARENT DEFEAT FOR GOD'S PEOPLE WHEN THEY ARE DELIVERED INTO THE HANDS OF THE KING OF BABYLON AND TAKEN INTO CAPTIVITY. THESE EVENTS ARE SYMBOLIC OF THE FINAL CONFLICT THAT WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE END TIME, WHEN, IN THE LAST DAYS, SATAN'S FORCES ARE AT WORK TRYING TO DESTROY THOSE WHO ARE FAITHFUL TO JESUS. THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL IS EVIDENCED WHEN NEBUCHADREZZAR HAD DANIEL'S THREE FRIENDS THROWN INTO THE FIERY FURNACE. HE CLEARLY SAW A FOURTH PERSON IN THE FIRE, TO PROTECT AND DELIVER THE HEBREW CHILDREN, AND HE KNEW SOMETHING SUPERNATURAL HAD OCCURRED. NEBUCHADREZZAR IS SHOWN OVER AND OVER THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL OF HUMAN EVENTS NO MATTER WHAT. THIS SAME DELIVERER IS WITH US TODAY. WHEN CHRISTIANS GO THROUGH TRIBULATIONS, THEIR OWN 'FIERY FURNACE', THE SON OF GOD IS RIGHT THERE TO GO THROUGH THE FIRE WITH THEM. THERE ARE TWO ISSUES THAT ARE AT THE FORE OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL...WORSHIP AND OBEDIENCE. THROUGHOUT THE BOOK OF DANIEL WE SEE HOW HIS OBEDIENCE TO GOD AND WORSHIP OF GOD ARE THREATENED AND TESTED.

HIS PROPHECIES POINT TO THE LAST DAYS WHEN THESE ISSUES WILL ARISE AGAIN. THEN, AS NOW, GOVERNMENTS TRY TO PROHIBIT TRUE WORSHIP AND IMPOSE FALSE WORSHIP. THE BOOK OF DANIEL CLEARLY TELLS US THAT GOD WILL HAVE A VICTORIOUS PEOPLE. THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE AND REMAIN TRUE AND FAITHFUL, AS DANIEL DID, WILL BE DELIVERED. FALSE WORSHIP AND DISOBEDIENCE HAD LED TO ISRAEL'S CAPTIVITY IN THE FIRST PLACE. WE SEE THAT DANIEL AND HIS FRIENDS, WHEN TAKEN INTO CAPTIVITY, FACED IMPORTANT TESTS, IMPOSED BY NEBUCHADREZZAR, BUT DIRECTED BY GOD, TO TEST THEIR FAITH AND CHARACTER. THE TESTS DESCRIBED IN THE BEGINNING OF DANIEL SEEM MILD WHEN COMPARED TO THOSE THAT CAME LATER, BUT DANIEL WAS ALWAYS CONSISTENT IN CHOOSING OBEDIENCE TO GOD RATHER THAN OBEDIENCE TO MAN, ALTHOUGH, IN DOING SO HE RISKED EVEN HIS MORTAL LIFE. THE FIRST TEST, SEEMS SIMPLE ENOUGH. DO DANIEL AND HIS FRIENDS EAT WITH THE KING OR NOT? THEY CHOOSE NOT TO BE TEMPTED BY THE KING'S BOUNTY BUT TO REMAIN LOYAL TO GOD AND WERE REWARDED. AN IMPLICATION NOT TO OVERLOOK HERE IS THAT THESE FOUR CHILDREN WERE NOT THE ONLY ONES TAKEN INTO CAPTIVITY. THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO ARE KNOWN TO US TO HAVE REMAINED FAITHFUL TO GOD; WHO NEVER COMPROMISED EVEN, WHAT SEEMS TO US,