Daniel

By David Maas
{HISTORICAL AND LITERARY}

[Click on the title below to open an article]
  1. Introduction to Daniel - (An introduction to the book of Daniel with a brief overview of how the book of Revelation applies passages from it) - {PDF Copy}
  2. Empires Rise and Fall - (Imperial arrogance is the legacy of the Tower of Babel, humanity’s first but certainly not last attempt to establish the World Empire) - {PDF Copy}
  3. Land of Shinar - (The arrogant acts of Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel parallel the incident at the Tower of Babel in Genesis) - {PDF Copy}
  4. Babel Lives! - {PDF Copy} - (In the Bible, Babylon becomes a symbol of the recurring rise of empires and self-appointed world leaders)

{INSIDE THE EMPIRE}
  1. God Grants Sovereignty - (God gave the kingdom of Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, but He also equipped Daniel and his companions for service in the court of Babylon) - {PDF Copy}
  2. Food Offered to Idols - (Daniel and his three companions refused to participate in the religious rituals of the Babylonian Empire – Daniel 1:14) - {PDF Copy}
  3. The King's Dream - (Only Daniel could reveal and interpret the Nebuchadnezzar’s troubling dream, thereby unveiling the future of empires and God’s Kingdom – Daniel 2:1-49) - {PDF Copy}
  4. The Great Image of the King - (Nebuchadnezzar implemented his dream by setting up the great golden image as he imagined it to glorify his majesty and realm - Daniel 3:1-7) - {PDF Copy}
  5. Beastly Number - (The Number of the Beast, 666, is based on the dimensions of the great image erected by Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon) - {PDF Copy}
  6. The Fiery Furnace - (Three Jewish exiles are cast into the fiery furnace for refusing to render homage to the “great image set up” by the king) - {PDF Copy}
  7. Downfall and Restoration  -  (The King had another troubling dream that led to his downfall but only after his display of imperial hubris - Daniel 4:1-34) - {PDF Copy}
  8. The Head of Gold Shattered - (The last Babylonian ruler summoned Daniel to read the handwriting on the wall just before the empire’s downfall) - {PDF Copy}
  9. Babylon Then and Now - (The story of ancient Babylon’s demise is reflected in the “sixth trumpet” and the “sixth bowl of wrath” in Revelation) - {PDF Copy}
  10. The Next Imperial Power - (The rescue of Daniel from the ravenous lions demonstrated that Yahweh remained in firm control of history) - {PDF Copy}
  11. Fear the Living God - (The pronouncement by Darius after Daniel’s rescue from the lions is alluded to in the angel’s pronouncement to the “earth dwellers” in Revelation) - {PDF Copy}

{VISIONS OF DANIEL}
  1. First Three Beasts - (Daniel saw four creatures with animalistic features ascending from a wind-tossed sea, representing four successive kingdoms) - {PDF Copy}
  2. Bear and the Leopard - Identities - (In Daniel’s vision in Chapter 7, the identities of the second and third beasts are found by comparing the vision with the Book’s other visions) - {PDF Copy}
  3. The Fourth Beast - (The fourth beast is the focus of the vision, especially its little horn with a mouth speaking great things) - {PDF Copy}
  4. On the Clouds of Heaven - (Portions of Daniel’s vision of the four beasts from the sea and the Little Horn are applied to Jesus and his saints in the New Testament) - {PDF Copy}
  5. Little Horn - Interpretation - (The second half of the seventh chapter interprets the vision that concluded in a judgment and with a declaration) - {PDF Copy}
  6. The Ram and Goat - (Daniel receives a vision of a “ram” and a “goat.” The ram represents the kingdom of the “Medes and Persians,” and the goat the kingdom of Greece) - {PDF Copy}
  7. King of Fierce Countenance - (A malevolent ruler arises from the Greek world who deceives and persecutes the people of God until he is broken without hand) - {PDF Copy}
  8. Word of Jeremiah - (Daniel began to inquire into the promised end to the Babylonian Captivity that was recorded in Jeremiah) - {PDF Copy}
  9. Prayer and Visitation - (Daniel 9:3-23 - After praying for the restoration of Israel, the angel Gabriel appears to explain the “vision” to Daniel) - {PDF Copy}
  10. Seventy-Sevens Divided - (The interpreting angel outlines six redemptive goals to Daniel that must be completed by the end of the Seventy Weeks – Daniel 9:24) - {PDF Copy}
  11. The Word to Return - (The word to return marking the start of the seventy-sevens is the prophecy of the captivity recorded in Jeremiah – Daniel 9:25) - {PDF Copy}
  12. The First Sixty-Nine Weeks - (The first sixty-nine weeks set the stage for the tumultuous events of the final or seventieth week – Daniel 9:25) - {PDF Copy}
  13. After Sixty-Two Weeks - (After the first sixty-nine weeks, a malevolent leader appears who corrupts the city and desolates the sanctuary – Daniel 9:26) - {PDF Copy}
  14. Final Week - Abomination - (The final week of the prophecy includes verbal links to the other visions of Daniel, especially the Abomination of Desolation – Daniel 9:27) - {PDF Copy}
  15. In Plain Sight - (The word to return and restore Jerusalem is identified clearly at the start of the seventy weeks prophecy in Daniel chapter 9) - {PDF Copy}
  16. Final Vision, Introduction - (Daniel chapter 10 introduces the final vision that is detailed in chapter 11, including verbal links to the vision of the Ram and the Goat - Daniel 10:1-21) - {PDF Copy}
  17. Persia Stirs Greece - (Daniel 11:1-4 - The conflict between Persia and Greece portrayed in the vision of the ram and goat is recapped and expanded in chapter 11) - {PDF Copy}
  18. Arrogant King of the North - (The war between North and South culminates in the rise of the contemptible ruler and the abomination that desolates) - {PDF Copy}
  19. The Time of Tribulation - (An angel pronounced the coming time of indignation upon the people of God such as they had never experienced - Daniel 12:1-13) - {PDF Copy}
  20. The End of the Indignation - (The war against the saints will terminate after the period of a time, times, and part of a time – after the tribulation - Daniel 7:25) - {PDF Copy}

{TOPICAL STUDIES}
  1. Two Little Horns? - (The Little Horn is named in two of Daniel’s visions. Is it the same figure each time or two different individual rulers? - Daniel 7:7-8, 8:9-14) - {PDF Copy}
  2. Mouth Speaking Great Things - (The Mouth speaking great things in Daniel appears in Revelation in the description of the Beast from the Sea that persecutes the saints) - {PDF Copy}
  3. Desolating Abomination - (Literary context is vital for understanding the “Abomination that Desolates” in the book of Daniel - Daniel 9:27) - {PDF Copy}
  4. The Son of Man in the New Testament - (The images of the “Son of Man” figure from Daniel are applied to Jesus and his “saints” in the New Testament – Daniel 7:13-14.) - {PDF Copy}
  5. The Start Date of the 70 Weeks - (Daniel coordinates the start of the Seventy Weeks prophecy with Jeremiah's predicted 70-year captivity in Babylon) - {PDF Copy}
  6. Little Horn - Identity - (The description of the Little Horn in Daniel fits the known history of the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV, who waged war on the Jewish nation) - {PDF Copy}
  7. The Missing Seventy Weeks - (Despite its frequent use of the book of Daniel, Revelation does not apply Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy to any of its visions) - {PDF Copy}
  8. The Lawless One - Forerunner - {PDF Copy} - (The Little Horn in Daniel is the model for the Man of Lawlessness described by Paul to the Thessalonians)
  9. The Season is Here! - {PDF Copy} - (In Revelation, the period known as the Last Days began following the death, resurrection, and enthronement of Jesus)
  10. Seated in the Sanctuary - {PDF Copy} - (Prior to the return of Jesus, the man of lawlessness will be revealed while sitting in the sanctuary of God)
  11. The Son of Destruction - {PDF Copy} - (Many saints will apostatize when the Lawless One, the Son of Destruction, seats himself in the sanctuary of God)
  12. Unsealing the Scroll - (Daniel was commanded to seal the scroll, but the angel sent by Jesus commanded John NOT to do so since the season is here - Revelation 22:10) - {PDF Copy}
  13. Imperial Idolatry - (Daniel and his three companions refused to participate in the religious rituals of the Babylonian Empire – Daniel 1:14) - {PDF Copy}

Church and stars - Photo by Evgeni Tcherkasski on Unsplash
[Photo by Evgeni Tcherkasski on Unsplash]

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