The Book Of Daniel Introduction - Fairhaven Baptist Church

The Book of

Daniel

Introduction:

Text:Daniel 1:17-21 “As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. 18 Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. 20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm”

Beginning Daniel with Proper Hermeneutics:
1. What is Hermeneutics?
  1. Science of interpreting, especially the bible,
    1. the basic idea of interpreting the scripture is to ask a few questions about what we are reading or studying?
    2. Bro. Gary Wilson would say the first three rules are “Context, Context, Context.”
      - and that is a lot of what we will be looking at over the next several weeks.
  2. The Main Questions:
    1. Who, What, When, Where, Why, and To Whom,
2. The Basics Surrounding the Book of Daniel,
  1. Who Wrote the Book?
    1. Daniel, The book of Daniel records in 8:2; 9:2&20; 12:5 as the author,
    2. however, there are those who take another view,
      - Some say the book was written in the 2^nd century by a Jewish scholar.
        
        This is mainly based on the unbelief of Daniels ability to “Prophesy” the events of the future.
    3. But, Jesus, Matthew 24:15 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” (also Mark 13:14)
      - referring to Daniel 9:27 &12:11
    4. So Jesus accepted Daniel as the Writer,
      - But as always, there is a difference between the writer and the Author,
        
        II Peter 1:21 “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
        
        II Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
    5. But, who was Daniel?
      - Daniye’l- God is Judge, Dan- EL.
        
        So like the tribe of DAN, judge, and the word for God
      - Daniel was carried away captive during the Babylonian invasion of 605 B.C.
        
        As one of the Nobles, and princes of Israel was taken to the kings palace to be assimilated into the Babylonian empire.
        
        We will speak more of this during the study in the next couple of weeks,
  2. What is this book about,
    1. actually the book of Daniel is interesting, it is considered largely as a book of Prophecy,
      - The Old Testament was traditionally broken up into the books of history and the books of Prophecy,
      - but under the original division of the Jewish people, it was placed in the history division.
    2. But as we study, we are going to look at both, the historical aspect, as well as the prophetic aspect.
      - In fact we will also be able to span the distance between the two in certain aspects,
      - there were prophecies that were fulfilled, which gives us the opportunity to see them in the original prophetic aspect, then translate them using the historical conclusion.
  3. When was this book written,
    1. Well, the live of Daniel would have spanned, between 620 B.C. And 530 B.C.
      - This would have spanned across several kings, and different empires.
        
        Think of the transition our nation is going through now, between the Democratic party and the republican party,
        
        the removing of certain positions and the adding of new people,
      - But Daniel would be high in the Babylonian empire, the Meed/ Persian, and the Persian empire.
        
        This speaks a lot of his person.
    2. So the book will record events during this time, surrounding the Exile period of Israel.
  4. To Whom was this book written,
    1. Mainly this was a message to the people of Israel, especially the remnant that would return to Jerusalem/
      - but also to all, both as a book of History, and a book of Prophecy.
        
        But care is needed when making application of the book, considering the intent of word.
  5. Why Was it Written?
    1. This is the heart of any bible study. Why was it written,
3. Key events in Daniel we will be looking at:
  1. Daniel’s Resolve in Nebuchadnezzar Palace ch.1
    1. Daniel, his companions commit to not defile themselves form eating of the kings table
  2. Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream, and the interpretation, ch.2
    1. the king dreams and refuses to tell the wise men, then intends on killing them all, but Daniel prays and gets the interpretation form God.
    2. We may spend a couple of weeks on this looking at the vision.
  3. The Hebrew Children and the Fiery Furnace, ch.3
    1. the commitment of the three Hebrews to defy the kings decree in order to continue in the will of God
  4. Nebuchadnezzar’s punished for his Pride, ch.4
    1. the king boast that the kingdom was built by his own hands, and the Lord, punished him for it,
    2. the king became as a wild animal, eating of the field, his hair grew, and nails became like claws.
  5. Persian overtakes Babylonian, ch.5
    1. Nebuchadnezzar calls for the vessels taken form the temple to drink and be merry with his friends, then they see the writing on the wall.
  6. Daniel in the Lions Den, Ch.6
    1. Daniel continues to pray, even tho, the king was tricked into making a decree to keep him from it.
  7. Daniel’s Dream of Messiah, ch.7
    1. Daniel begins with the dream of the four beast (kings from the earth, 7:17)
    2. then sees the Ancient of Days, and passed judgment.
  8. Daniel’s Second Vision (defeat of the empires), ch.8
    1. The Ram with two horns, the He Goat, the desolation of the temple
  9. 70 day years Prophecy, ch.9
    1. from the decree, 7 weeks 3 score and 2 weeks- until Messiah (483 years)
    2. what was all this point to, and what is the proper way to interpret it?
      - We may spend several weeks here.
  10. Daniel’s Prayers hindered, ch.10
    1. As Daniel prayed over his visions, the “prince of Persian” satan hindered his prayers,
    2. but the angel let him him know the prayers were heard the first day,
  11. The Coming Antichrist, ch.11
    1. vs.21 “And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give honor of the kingdom; and he shall come in peacably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries”
  12. The Last Days events, ch.12
    1. The word declares “…and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time…”
      - think of the horrors of WWII, and consider what is meant…”
4. A Few Bonus Features, we will look at:
  1. A Quick look at Prophecies,
    1. the rise and fall of 4 great kingdoms, followed by the establishment of Christ Kingdom,
      - Incidentally one of the key words in Daniel is Kingdom, mentioned around 50 times, more than any other book of the Old Testament.
    2. The Battle of Arbela, between the Persians and the Greeks, some 225 years before it took place.
    3. The Greatest collections of fulfilled prophecies in the bible,
      - Daniel 11 has over 100 prophecies that have already been fulfilled.
  2. Some Incarnations of Christ,
    1. God of Heaven, (2:18)
    2. The Fourth Man (3:25)
    3. The Most High God (3:26)
    4. The King of Heaven (4:37)
    5. The Living God (6:20)
    6. The Angel of God (6:22)
    7. The Son of Man (7:13)
    8. The Prince of Princes (8:25)
    9. The Messiah (9:25)
    10. The Glorious One from Heaven (10: 5, 6)
    11. The God of Gods (11:36)

So we will look at this book, try to break it down and discover what it has to offer us. I do want to say, I pray this is as much a book about what we can do now to become like Christ as much as it is about those things to come.