The book of Daniel
Introduction
In this time of fear and turmoil – where wars abound and rather than dialogue we ridicule and protest, in a time where it is so difficult to separate truth from fiction, in a time when murder through abortion has been enshrined as a women’s right, in a time when the powers that would be, vie for power and glory in the world we need this book of Daniel. In a time when Christianity has been regulated to the private sphere of life, and we are asked to leave our faith at the door - as if it were possible, in a time when faith is treated as opinion and opinions are treated like facts, in a time when the church seems about to be engulfed, this book could not be more relevant - At this time we need this Daniel more than ever.
We need Daniel for its comfort that God is the god of History. We need it for the encouragement it gives to remain faithful – and loyal to our king no matter how things look from an earthly perspective. We need it for the faith to believe that nothing is self-enduring – except his Kingdom. His kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom.
This is a book that tells us not so much what Daniel is doing, but what God is doing. Not about Daniel’s great works, but God’s works. Not about Daniel’s faith, but about Daniel’s faith in God’s Faithfulness. There are also a number of visions toward the end of Daniel that we can so quickly skip over. But these visions are part of God’s word
God declares himself to be the God of history in this book – a history, a story that is moving toward a specific point. Take comfort says God through Daniel –I will stand with you in the present and I will protect you in the future.” In the last chapters God says, “Let me draw back the curtains of history, Daniel, to show you what I will do in the Future. Times will get bad but victory is coming. The Son of man will come! Remain faithful – and see the salvation I will work for you. I am sovereign.” The I AM is sovereign in history. And not just in history but in my life.
Today what I would like to do is give us an overview of the book. There are so many questions surrounding this book and its themes, that I would like to spend some time on these.
So let’s take a look at this book…. Starting with Daniel, then the date and finally we will look at some major themes.
Daniel the Man
Daniel: a statesman, a politician, and a prophet. Some considered him Babylonian, some Persian, and everyone considered him a Jew. A man who was grounded in wisdom. Not the earthly kind. But the heavenly kind. The forward looking kind. Not a man who had his eyes on earth, but a man who kept looking to God. He was a man that believed in truth. The uncompromising sort of man that would die for his convictions. He loved his God more than anything, and was deeply aware of his people’s sins.
He knew the sins of the Jewish people was the reason that he had been ripped from his home, family and all that was familiar to him at the age of 14 or so, and lived as a sojourner in a foreign country till he was about 90 years old. In his life he saw the coming and going of world leaders, and even saw the rise and fall of entire empires. Much like people that have lived to the age of 90 have seen the fall of the Soviet Union and the British Empire. So they too come to realize just how small and short the life of powerful men is, and even the kingdoms they ruled over. Here today. Gone tomorrow. But one thing that would last forever was the word of His God.
He lived until Gods people got the news that they could return to their own country. His life is a testimony to the promises of God.
Dating
Daniel is one of those books that hit unbelieving scholars squarely between the eyes, one that they need to do mental gymnastics with so that they don’t have to believe it. The reason for this is that the visions of Daniel, especially the one in chapter 11, are so historically accurate that liberal scholars simply do not want to believe that this book could have been written four hundred years before these events took place exactly as predicted. It would be like Martin Luther predicting all the major world events up to the beginning of World War II.
Ultimately it comes down to the question: does God rule and govern every human historical event that has ever happened in history from the ancient Hittite empire, to the Syrian war, from the ascension of president Trump, to the loss of your hair or doesn’t he? That is the question. Do we believe in a God who knows and rules history? And the second question that comes out is: do you trust the reliability of Scripture in this book? Will you stake your life upon it?
There are some people, even evangelicals, that try to date this book after the events which they predict. But it makes Daniel out to be a fraud. And all those people that gave their lives believing in this book gave up their lives for a fake. As one author says, “If the predictions are not actual declarations of event’s yet to take place, the book is nothing more than a curious piece of fiction from the ancient world, retaining no right to bind the conscience. It may entertain us. But if it is not historical then it is no better than a mythological account. In other words, a late date for Daniel demands an author that lied – A scoundrel of the highest order. A liar who encouraged generations of believers to take on impossible odds, because of the promises found in this book. That is why the dating of this book is so important and I want to spend some time on it.
Those that take Daniel at face value, and believe that Daniel did write the book, date the book around the 6th century before Christ. Those that believe it to be impossible to predict events four hundred years in the future, or say it makes no difference to the meaning of the book if these events were historical, will date the book around the 2nd century before Christ. Let’s quickly looks at the facts.
First of all Daniel is one of the only books along with Ezra to be written at least in part in Aramaic. The Aramaic in Daniel is generally very close to the language of the sixth century found in the ancient papyri, and Ezra. Thus the Aramaic in fact constitutes a strong argument for a sixth century date of composition.” The proud independent Jews of the 2nd century would NEVER have written part of a holy book in a pagan language.
Second of all, there are also a number of Persian words found in Daniel. These words are older Persian words, which mean that they only occur in the history of the language till about 300 B.C. And we don’t find them after that. This would make total sense if Daniel was a man that served in the Persian court. This is exactly what the author of the book claims in Daniel 10:1: “in the third year of Cyrus…”
Finally the historical accuracy with which Daniel writes about events in his own time (the 6th Century before Christ) even has some critics amazed. One unbelieving scholar admits, “We shall presumably never know how our author learned that the new Babylon was the creation of Nebuchadnezzar, as the excavations have proved… and that Belshazzar, mentioned only in Babylonian records, and in Daniel, was functioning as king when Cyrus took Babylon in 538.” No one writing in the 2nd century could have written about history of the 6th century with such historical accuracy. There is more evidence but you get the point.
Beloved, the word of God is true, reliable, and predictive. And it is real history. Each of these stories really happened. God was telling his people in a very dark and lonely time, when they felt like they had no power and no influence, and they were pushed to the fringes that, ‘ I AM IN CONTROL’! I have the past, the present and the future in my hands. I AM who I AM. In today’s world this gives us hope as the church more and more loses influence and goes into what one might call a sort of exile.
Especially in this messy political time in our country’s history we have to hold onto to our unwavering faith in a sovereign God that is leading history. We have to be able as church to stand absolutely on the word of God: To trust it as wholly reliable and true.
No one puts their neck on the line for something they kind of, sort of, trust in. The time will come when your faith will be tried – When our necks will be on the line – in that moment when God seems far away, when you feel alone – will you still hold onto the promises? Will you still hold on to the fact that the sovereign one is your father? He will hold onto you if you are his. He will not let his children be destroyed or defeated no matter how defeated and worn out they feel.
Will we be the church in our culture? Respectfully. Sincerely. Not trusting or using the leverage of political power, or money. But the word of God. Knowing that he is sovereign. His word is sure. Will we live by faith and not by sight?
Themes
The biggest theme, hands down, in this book is the sovereignty of God. Absolute, total rule of God. He does what he wants, when he wants, for the sake of his people, and his glory. Daniel’s message is, “God is sovereign, he rules over all, and will eventually overcome all human evil.” In contrast to great evil and human pride stands the Ancient of Days, and the Son of Man, who in the end will be totally and absolutely victorious.
History is moving forward people – don’t ignore it. Every seemingly amazing coincidence is a providential act by an almighty God. We see this even throughout modern history.
As one author said, “Suppose Britain had not broken the “Enigma” code machines. Would the Battle of Britain, and even World War II, have gone another way? Suppose Hitler had not held back his panzers at Dunkirk, sending in his planes instead. Would 150,000 British soldiers have been captured or killed, once again changing the face of the war? Is it not remarkable that Hitler’s persecution of Jews drove some of the best scientific minds out of Germany and into the United States and England? Had he not done so, is it not entirely possible that Hitler would have invented an A-bomb before America did? What then would the history of the past fifty years have looked like? Suppose Khrushchev had not blinked at the Cuba missile crisis, and a nuclear exchange had followed. What would be the state of the world today? …Christians cannot possibly suppose that any of these events and billions more, small and great were outside of God’s control. Suppose that De Klerk had not freed Mandela. Suppose Mandela had not been born at the time he had. You can go through history and see a theme…. Kingdoms and nations come and go, but the church remains.
God fulfils his purposes in space and time – on this earth – through individuals. His kingdom is not established in an otherworldly mystical way but through the lives of men and women- flesh and blood. You and me. Which leads us to the second main theme running through this book.
God’s Kingdom v. Man’s Kingdom
The kingdom of God stands opposed to the world’s kingdom(s). The city of man against the city of God. The point of Daniel is that although the temples and empires of this world seem strong, and indestructible, they will keep falling, but Gods kingdom will endure forever. Nietzsche said, “God is dead,” but in fact Nietzsche is dead. Or, where are the great empires and temples of the 20th century? Where is that great British empire that so many worshipped, that controlled a quarter of the world? Where is the temple of communism? Where is the temple of apartheid? Where will the temple of Hollywood, or Silicon Valley, where the west worships today, be tomorrow? Yet the temple of God not made with hands endures and the kingdom of God is alive.
Dawkins and Hitchens say atheism is the end of God. Really? I say atheism just invented the newest god on the scene of history: naturalism. God had predicted their religion a long time ago through his servant Paul when he said people worship the created things rather than the creator. This worlds kingdoms, built on great humanistic ideologies, are just old philosophies repackaged. Satan is still building his kingdom on the same old shifting sands of lies, decay, and death.
Daniel encourages us to see the coming of the kingdom through the eyes of redemptive history. His time will help us understand our time. He was looking toward the King’s first coming; we are looking toward the return of the King. He was waiting on the kingdoms establishment upon the rock Jesus Christ, we are looking for its fulfillment as the rock grows to fill the whole earth.
The kingdom of God was ultimately only a future promise for Daniel – but for us this kingdom was inaugurated with Jesus Christ. We are living in the time of the kingdom. His kingdom is being built on this earth. Our ultimate destination is not heaven, it’s right here on an earth - An earth which will see with the return of the king in glory, when he will come and renew all things. Jesus Christ is coming not to make new things, but to make all things new. Our work here is not in vain – it has eternal value. Daniel sees this, he gives himself to the work he is called to do. Because you are contributing to the eternal kingdom of God. This leads us into the third theme.
Faithfulness against all odds
Daniel was in exile – at 14. It was not his fault you might say, he was one of the faithful ones. But he was going to a strange country, strange customs, and strange gods. This country would do everything in its power to eliminate any memory of God from his head; they would kill anyone that didn’t adhere to their ideals. He was alone. How did he remain faithful? He remained faithful, not because he was so good, but because his God was faithful. His God would not go back on the promises to Adam, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to David, and the prophets. NEVER EVER EVER has God broken one of his promises even a little.
In most of the conflicts in which we find ourselves, not least conflicts about the Gospel and the life and health of God’s people, we won’t know the outcome. That knowledge is reserved for God alone. Yet Christian faith is never to be confused with fatalism; God’s sovereignty does not equal man’s fatalism. Never should our confidence in God’s ultimate victory dilute our own passionate involvement, intercession, and insertion into the affairs that touch God’s covenant people.
In fact God’s sovereignty should do the opposite – it should give a hope that drives us toward working for a better tomorrow – towards contributing to Christ kingdom-building work in all we do. It’s not just ministers that are servants of the kingdom, it’s all of us.
This is not a quick and done battle. It is a generational battle, a battle of covenant faithfulness throughout each generation as the truth gets passed on in word and deed. Each generation holding onto and looking to Jesus as the one who calls us onward through his word and Spirit. Daniel knew it would be hundreds of years, and four kingdoms later before the kingdom would be ushered in and the King would say, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand!” In the meantime the Israelites were to live by faith. Through Daniel’s message God was preparing his people for the long-term: A long-term with some difficult times ahead.
Throughout the ages the kingdoms of this world have tried to cut down the kingdom of God, through persecution, and hard times, and through times of success, and plenty. But the point of Daniel is that just when evil powers reach their highest point or full potential – they are cut off. Because it is not the great and powerful despots that are in charge but the Most High God.
Conclusion
So as we look at this book over the next year I pray that our view of our God will be enlarged. Not only that he is sovereign, but that he cares about what we do Monday through Saturday. We are all in full time service to the kingdom. 24/7.
This book will encourage us to keep our eyes on Jesus, and live out of Him, even in a world that is not Christian, or becomes more post-Christian. In other words we are going to ask the question of the Psalmist “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” How can a Christian, whose citizenship is in heaven, sing the Lord’s song as a sojourner on this earth? The principles that govern Daniel’s life – grace, faith, Scripture, prayer, fellowship, obedience, hope, provide the answer. What does it mean to have a Christian world view? What does it mean to believe in Christ – and what significance does that give to the everyday? Your work, your home or your school?
Dear brother, dear sister of mine in Jesus Christ, although we be led as sheep to the slaughter, although the world comes crashing down around us, the economy sinks like a rock into the heart of the sea, and our man-made protections in life crumble. No matter what happens it will be all good – because of his love found in Jesus Christ our King. That He cares. He is in control. Trust him to provide no matter what, for everything. Body and Soul.
Amen.