Summary:

We know the “books” Daniel was reading (v. 2) were the books of the Bible, for he mentions the Book of Jeremiah. He may have been hearing from God directly in visions, but he still made time to read the Bible, even though he was busy “in the first year of Darius” (v. 1) being head over two presidents, 120 princes, and the entire kingdom of Babylon (5:31—6:2).  Shouldn’t you make time for it?  It gave Daniel the courage to face the lion’s den in the rest of Daniel 6, and it will give you courage in your life’s biggest challenge to faith too—and all your little daily challenges to faith as well!

Daniel had obviously been reading Jeremiah 25:8-12 and 29:10, where God said that Israel would be released from captivity in Babylon after 70 years, and 70 years were up!  He no doubt rejoiced, all because he knew exactly where he stood in the program of God. We do too! That’s what “right-ly dividing the word of truth” is all about! (II Tim. 2:15).

But if he was happy, why did he act sad (v. 3 cf. Esther 4:3), and begin to confess his sins (v. 4, 5)?  It was because he knew from another book of the Bible that Israel’s release wasn’t an automatic thing just because time was up.  They had to confess their sins (Lev. 26:27-42) and admit they deserved to have spent 70 years in bondage to Babylon’s king for ignoring God’s warnings in His Word, and His prophets (Dan. 9: 6).  That left God no choice but to do what He said and judge them 70 years.  He’d have been unrighteous if He didn’t, and as Daniel pointed out, righteousness belonged to Him (v. 7).

“Confusion of faces” means shamefacedness (cf. Ps. 44:15), so Daniel was saying, “God was righteous to judge us, and we should be ashamed of ourselves.”  When he mentions Jerusalem, Judah, and “all Israel” near and “far off,” that can’t mean Gentiles, for they didn’t need to be ashamed for breaking a law God never gave them.  But many believers teach that those “afar off” in Acts 2:39 are Gentiles because they think the Body of Christ, made up of Jews and Gentiles, began there, instead of later when God sent Paul to the Gentiles.  But if it did, we should preach the same “baptism for salvation” message that Peter preached there.  We know it didn’t, because Peter mentions a “promise” God made those afar off, and He never made any to Gentiles (Eph. 2:12)

“Seventy years” of captivity wasn’t an arbitrary number.  There were lots of ways Israel’s “fathers…rebelled” against God (Dan. 9:8, 9), but one specific way caused God to judge them exactly 70 years.  They were to let their farmland rest every 7^th year (Lev. 25:2-4; 26:33-35), but they ignored that law for 490 years, just like they ignored the prophets.

That means the punishment fit the crime perfectly.  God’s judgments always do!  When unbelievers say God is unrighteous to punish men in hell for eternity, that just shows they don’t know that a sin against an eternally holy God demands an eternal punishment.

The “curse” of Daniel 9:10, 11 is the last of five courses of curses God outlined in Leviticus 26, each one of which got more severe if they ignored the first judgments.  And they ignored them all, as they ignored the law and the prophets.

“Confirmeth” (Dan. 9:12) means to do what you say you will do.  God’s people in Israel said they’d obey all the law (Ex. 24:6, 7), but when they didn’t confirm their words by doing them (Deut. 27:26), God “fulfilled” or confirmed His Word by punishing them as He said He would.  And when He was faithful to His Word, I doubt they were singing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” But Daniel was, as was Jeremiah (Lam. 2:17).  The reason Jeremiah could say that, and then say “great is Thy faithfulness” (3:22, 23) is—as he points out there—because it was of God’s mercy that they weren’t consumed instead of enslaved for 70 years.

Daniel said the captivity was the worst thing that ever happened to anyone (9:12), and Ezekiel added it was the worst that that ever would happen to anyone (5:7-9).  So why’d the Lord say the Tribulation was (Mt. 24:15-21)?  The captivity was a type of the Tribulation, so many of the things said about it were types of the Tribulation, just as many things said about the fall of Babylon will have another fulfillment in Antichrist’s Babylon.  That’s why Daniel told the Jews to “turn” (9:13) or repent, just as John did (Mt. 3:2; 4:17).

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: Daniel and the Book of Books – Daniel 9:1-14

Summary:

The “man” here (v. 15) is identified as the angel “Gabriel” (v. 16 cf. Lu. 1:26), and “the man’s voice” must have be-longed to God, for only He can order angels around.  But here we have a dispensational difference.  Under God’s program for Israel, He taught His truth to angels and used them to teach the people of Israel, as Gabriel is about to do here.  Under grace, He teaches us His truth through His Word, then uses us to teach angels (Eph. 3:10).

Now the reason God used a man’s voice is that His own voice thunders (II Sam. 22:14; Job 37:4, 5; 40:9, etc.), and thunder can be scary. And God knew Daniel was about to be frightened by the mere presence of Gabriel (cf. v. 17).  Angels usually say “Fear not” when someone sees them (Mt. 28:5; Lu. 1:13, 30; 2:10) because they are so awesome looking!  If someone tells you they saw an angel, and doesn’t mention fear, you know he didn’t see one.  We have Paul’s word on it that they are “not seen” in this dispensation (Col. 2:18).

People in the Bible always fall on their face when they see an angel or the Lord (v. 17).  Only God’s enemies fall backward in the Bible (Isa. 28:13; John 18:3-6), yet they often fall backward when touched by modern “healers”!

Evidently Daniel fell on his face because he fainted (v. 18).  That means he couldn’t hear what Gabriel said!  He could tell us what he said, for he wrote by the Spirit, and the Spirit heard Gabriel.  That’s one of the many proofs we have that the Spirit wrote the Bible.  Gabriel could lift him with just a touch because of his great strength (v. 18 cf. 10:10).  He then repeated what he said when Daniel was passed out (v. 19).

“Indignation” is anger caused by something someone did that you find extremely offensive (Mark 14:3-8; Lu. 13:14).  Antichrist will do something extremely offensive to God (v. 19) when he speaks against Him (Dan. 11:36) by claiming to be God (II Thes. 2:3, 4), making God righteously indignant.

The ram Daniel saw in 8:1-3 is here identified as Media-Persia (8:20), and the goat he saw in 8:5-7 is identified as Greece (8:1).  “The first king” of Greece, Alexander, was “broken” when he died drunk (cf. Jer. 23:9).  So he didn’t  give His “four” generals (8:22) his kingdom “in his power,” but rather in his weakness.

That’s when the antichrist was supposed to rise (8:23), and transgressions were to have “come to the full” in the Tribulation.  When that happened, God was supposed to judge Israel (Mt. 23:35, 36) in the Tribulation.  “Understanding dark sentences” probably means he’ll be something of a genius.

Antichrist was supposed to rise out of “one” of those four kingdoms (Dan. 8:8, 9, 11), but the mystery interrupted things.  But after the mystery ends at the Rapture, he will rise out of the Syrian branch to the north, for he is often called “the Assyrian” (Ezek. 31:3-7; Micah 5:2-6).  The “dragon” (Rev. 20:2) will give him his power (8:24 cf. Rev. 13:1, 2).

The mighty and holy people he’ll destroy (8:24) is Israel.  They’re called mighty because God multiplied them (cf. Ex. 1:7) and holy because He set them apart from the world.  Antichrist will “prosper” by all the things his church in Babylon will buy and sell (Rev. 18), including the “craft” (8:24) of idolatry (cf. Deut. 27:15; Hos. 13:2; Acts 19:24-27).

The beast will also destroy many by peace (8:25), because in the beginning he’ll be a peacemaker (11:21).  But when they say “peace and safety” the “sudden destruction” of the last half of Daniel’s 70^th week will fall on them (I Thes. 5:3), followed by the Lord’s “sudden” coming (Mal. 3:1,2).  But he’ll be broken “without hands” (v. 25), i.e., without human instrumentality (cf. Col. 2:11).  The Lord won’t need human help to defeat the Antichrist and his armies (Isa. 63:1-4).

That all sounds pretty unbelievable, so Gabriel told Daniel it’s all “true” (8:26).  He mentions that Daniel had an evening and morning vision because “the evening and the morning” were the first day, etc. (Gen. 1), and his vision was about the dawn of a new day—the day of the Lord.  But it wouldn’t be “for many days” (8:26 cf. 10:14).  Finally, after seeing such stupendous things, Daniel just went back to work (8:27), just as we must after seeing them in Scripture.

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Angel Gabriel Lends a Hand – Daniel 8:15-27

Summary:

Daniel wrote Daniel 2:4-7:28 in Syriack so the Gentiles nations could read their future in their language.  But beginning here in Daniel 8:1, he resumes writing in the Jewish language of Hebrew, for He is about to start revealing clues as to who the antichrist will be and where he will come from.  That’s information that Jews will need in the Tribulation, so God had Daniel write it in their language.

“Shushan” (8:2) is where they hanged Haman and his 10 sons (Esther 7:10; 9:13).  He was a type of Antichrist and his ten “toe” kings (Dan. 2:41).  In giving Daniel this vision of the antichrist in Shushan, that’s God’s way of assuring Tribulation Jews not to worry about Antichrist and his 10 kings, for God will slay them as He did Haman and his 10 sons.

The “ram” (v.3) was Media-Persia (8:20).  One horn represented Media, the other Persia.  The reason the one that came up last was “higher” is that eventually Persia became the dominant kingdom.  That’s why Media gets top billing at first (Dan. 5:28; 6:8, 12, 15), but later Persia did (Esther 1:19).

The reason no nation could stand before Media-Persia (8:4) was that God helped the king of Persia become powerful (Isa. 45:1-3).  Babylon destroyed God’s temple and He wanted “vengeance” on Babylon for His temple (Jer. 51:11).

The “he goat” (Dan. 8:5, 6) is Greece (8:21), which is “west” of Media-Persia.  He “touched not the ground” in that Greece conquered Media-Persia in 3 short years, seeming to fly against them.  The “notable horn” is “the first king” of Greece (8:21), Alexander the Great.  When he was “strong” at age 33 he got drunk and died, “broken” of a fever (8:8).  When he died, “four notable ones” took his place and divided up the kingdom of Greece (8:21, 22).  History says Alexander’s four generals fulfilled this prophecy.

The “pleasant land” (8:9) is Israel, a land filled with milk and honey, and the “little horn” that rises against it is thought by many commentators to be Antiochus Epiphanes, who attacked “the holy people” of Israel as Daniel 8:23, 24 says this little horn will. But he didn’t “stand up against the Prince of princes” (8:25).  He died before Christ was even born.

So the little horn must be the antichrist, who was supposed to rise up from among those 4 generals, but didn’t because the mystery interrupted this prophecy.  But after the rapture he will, and “wax” (8:10) or grow great (cf. Gen. 26:13).  He’ll start out small and insignificant-looking, but magnify himself against “the host of heaven” (8:10), e.g., God’s heavenly host of angels (cf. Lu. 2:13).  Antiochus didn’t.

The “stars” (Dan. 8:10) Antichrist will cast down from heaven are the fallen angels of Persia and Greece (10:13, 20).  When they see him conquering the earthly kingdoms of Persia and Greece, they’ll object and try to defend them.  Satan’s kingdom is one of envy and strife and hatred.

Antichrist will magnify himself against Israel’s Christ (8:11), the prince of God’s host (cf. Josh. 5:13, 14) by claiming to be Israel’s Christ (II Thes. 2:3, 4).  When he does that, he’ll take away the daily sacrifice (Ex. 29:29, 30, 38) by dying and rising again (Rev. 13:4) and claiming he died for their sins, fulfilling the type of those sacrifices.  That’s how he’ll take away those sacrifices.  That’s the abomination the Lord warned about (Mt. 24:15, 16), and Daniel 11:31 says it shall take away the daily sacrifice.  The only seat he can “sit” on in the temple (II Thes. 2:3, 4) is the mercy seat.  Sitting where the blood of the daily sacrifice was usually sprinkled is how he takes those sacrifices away.

That will get his people so excited they’ll cast down the sanctuary of the temple (8:11 cf. 9:26), causing a “host” of people to follow him (8:12 cf. 11:31-35).  For him to claim to be Christ, he’ll have to cast down the truth that Jesus is their Christ (John 14:6).  They will “practice” (8:12) their religion, that of enforcing the mark of the beast, without which many will be hungry and thirsty (Isa. 32:6).  That will cause believers to suffer financially when they lose their businesses, which will cause their oppressors to “prosper” (8:12).  It will take 220 days for the temple to be built (Dan. 8:13, 14 cf. Rev. 11:2, 3), but it will finally be cleansed by the Lord’s coming.

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Prophecy at the Palace – Daniel 8:1-14

Summary:

Daniel’s vision “troubled” him (v. 15) so he asked a bystander what it meant (v. 16).  His vision took place in heaven (v.13,14) so this bystander must have been part of the “cloud” of angels that brought the Lord to His Father (v. 13).  He interpreted the vision, as another angel did in Zechariah 1:8,9.

The four beasts (v. 17) were kings who appeared 2,000 years ago (8:21, 22) and were supposed to produce the antichrist (7:8).  “The first king” of Grecia was Alexander, who was “broken” when he died and four kings took over Greece, as history also affirms.  But the mystery interrupted this prophecy and four more kings will arise in the Tribulation.

Verse 17 says these kings would “arise out of the earth,” making them human kings as opposed to angels who would descend from heaven.  But 7:3 says they’d arise from the sea, a type of the Gentiles, so they’ll be Gentile human kings.

The “kingdom” that those Jewish kingdom “saints” will “take” (v. 18) is the kingdom of the four beasts.  That’s when an angel will cry what we hear in Revelation 11:15.

After the angel gave Daniel an abbreviated version of his dream, Daniel asks for more information about the fourth kingdom (v.19), the one that will produce the antichrist (v. 20).  One of the reasons that kingdom will be able to “stamp” the others is that the antichrist will be more “stout” than them.  “Stout” means strong.  King Saul was a type of the antichrist, and he was big (I Sam. 9:2) and strong (II Sam. 1:23).  “Stout” can also mean proud (Isa. 9:9), and pride will be Antichrist’s fall, just as it was Lucifer’s.

After Antichrist conquers those kingdoms, he’ll begin to persecute the saints (Dan. 7:21 cf. 8:23, 24). We know this will begin mid-Trib, for that’s how long he lets the two witnesses preach (Rev. 11:3-7) as he tries to appear to be Israel’s Christ.  This persecution will end when Christ returns (Dan. 7:22).

Judgment was “given” to the saints in the sense that they’ll be made the world’s judges (Rev. 20:4 cf. Mt. 19:28), judging the earth while we “judge angels” in heaven (I Cor. 6:3).  Of course, they could only righteously “possess” the kingdom (Dan. 7:22) if it were given to them by the rightful possessor of heaven and earth, and that’s God.  That’s what that phrase “the Most High” means in Scripture (v. 22 cf. Gen. 14:18-20).

The angel adds (v. 23) that Antichrist will be able to subdue “the whole earth” by subduing three of the ten kings (v. 24 cf. Zech. 11:8-17), after which the other seven and the world are intimidated by him.  We know this because he begins his career with only one crown (Rev. 6:2) but later ends up with ten (Rev. 13:1), after which the world is intimidated (13:3, 4).  After that he’ll speak “great words against the most High” (7:25) claiming to be God (II Thes. 2:3, 4)

He’ll “wear out the saints” (7:25) or weary them by issuing his mark and making it impossible to buy food or water (cf. Job 22:7).  God will increase their strength with “eagle’s wings” (Isa. 40:29-31).  That’s what God did in the wilder-ness (Ex. 19:4) by giving them manna from heaven and water from a rock, and that’s how He’ll “nourish” them in the Tribulation as well (Micah 7:14; Rev. 12:13, 14).

Antichrist won’t weary or wear out the saints just to make them tired, but to make it easier to kill them, as Amalek smote them when they were “weary” (Deut. 25:17, 18) after they thirsted for water (Ex. 17:3-8).  A type of the antichrist named Absalom did the same to David (II Sam. 17:1-3), who was on the run from him, and David was a type of these persecuted Tribulation saints who’ll be on the run from Antichrist.  Antichrist will also wear out the saints with his sorcerers (Isa. 47:13 cf. Rev. 18:21, 23).  Satan always tries to wear us out, so we must keep Galatians 6:9 in mind.

Judgment will be given to those saints (Dan. 7:26) and the world will be theirs (v. 27).  The times of the Gentiles will end and the time when God’s people in Israel are back in charge of the world will begin again and never end.

Daniel didn’t understand it all, so he did what Mary did when she didn’t understand it all (7:28 cf. Lu. 2:19, 51).

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Trouble With Daniel – Daniel 7:15-28

Summary: 

The “wind” (7:1) is often a type of unseen spiritual activity.  It indicated the Holy Spirit was at work in Acts 2:1-4, but unholy spirits tried to sink the Lord and the 12 (Mark 4:39).  They don’t try that when we cross a lake. Instead, they try to sink us doctrinally with “every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).

We know these “winds” (7:2) are unholy spirits because Daniel had this dream at night.  Daytime is symbolic of the time the Lord was here (John 9:4), but as He said, the “night” of the Tribulation was coming.  The mystery interrupted it, but it will come in the night (I Thes. 5:2-5).  When He returns He’s called a “Sun” (Mal. 4:2) and His saints are likened to suns (Mt. 13:43) in the day of the kingdom.  But Daniel says three times this vision came to him at night (v. 2, 7, 13), telling us that this is a vision about the Tribulation.  In that day, those 4 unholy spirits will strive upon the sea, a type of the Gentiles (cf. Isa. 60:5).  “The great sea” (7:2) is the Mediterranean, and Daniel’s dream is specifically about unholy spirits stirring up nations that border that sea during the night of the Tribulation.

The “four beasts” (7:3) “are four kings” (7:17).  They can’t be the same as the four kings in Daniel 2, for he said they “shall arise” (7:3), and he said that in the first year of Belshazzar (7:1).  That means the kings of Babylon and Media-Persia had already arisen.  These are four kings that will arise in the Tribulation and produce the antichrist (8:22, 23).  He too will rise out of the “sea” of the Gentile nations (Rev. 13:1) and will be a Jew born in a Gentile nation.

The first beast (7:4) sounds like when Nebuchadnezzar went mad and acted like a beast 7 years, but we’ve seen it can’t be him.  The second beast (7:5) doesn’t fit Media-Persia well, so some figure it might be Russia, but Russia is nowhere near the Mediterranean.  The next beast (7:6) is thought to represent Greece because a “leopard” is among the fastest of animals—and this is a leopard with wings—and Alexander took “only” 7 years to conquer the world.  But that’s not fast! The next kingdom (7:7) sounds like Rome, but this kingdom will produce the antichrist (v. 8), and Rome didn’t.  We know this little horn is the antichrist because he ends up conquering the lion, the bear and the leopard and assimilating them (Rev. 13:1, 2). He will have “seven heads” after devouring the lion’s head, the bear’s head, and the leopard’s four heads.  His 10 horns are 10 kings that rise with him (Rev. 17:3-12).

Since Hosea 13:2-8 says God will be like a lion, a bear and a leopard to Israel, that means God will be using antichrist to chasten Israel just as He used Nebuchadnezzar, whom he called “My servant” (Jer. 25:9).  The “great things” antichrist will speak (Dan. 7:8 cf. 7:24, 25; 11:36) will come out of his mouth when he claims to be God (II Thes. 2:3, 4).

The “thrones” (Dan. 7:9) of those ten kings are “cast down” by the Lord at His 2^nd coming, called “the Ancient of Days” here.  His clothes and hair are white because that’s associated with how He looks in judgment (Rev. 1:12-15).  It’s why British judges wear white wigs.  “Fire” (7:9) is also associated with judgment (Heb. 10:27).  The Lord’s throne has “wheels” because it must be mobile to judge those kings.

He’ll come with a “fiery stream” (Dan. 7:10 cf. Ps. 50:3; Isa. 66:15).  Angels will be in those Isaiah 66:15 chariots (Ps. 68:17), the millions of angels who will return with Christ (Jude 1:14) and then witness the Great White Throne judgment when the books will be open (Dan. 7:10 cf. Rev. 20:11). Daniel sees that judgment as coming when the beast is destroyed at the 2^nd coming (7:11) because the millennial aspect of the kingdom wasn’t revealed to him.  Daniel 7:11 describes Rev-elation 19:19, 20.  The beast is cast into the lake of fire, but the lives of those 10 kings are “prolonged” in hell (Isa. 24:21, 22) for 1,000 years, then “visited” with judgment at the Great White Throne and join the beast in the lake of fire.

The Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:13 is God the Father.  He and His Son are both called “the first and the last” (Isa. 44:6 cf. Rev. 1:13-16) as well, because of the oneness they have as members of the Trinity.  Only “clouds” of angels could escort the Lord to the Father (Dan. 7:13).  Clouds are angels in Psalm 104:1-4, where they are also called chariots, which explains the wheels in Daniel 7:9.  Daniel 7:14 describes the culmination of the ages (cf. I Corinthians 15:24).

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: Daniel’s Flashback – Daniel 7:1-14

Summary:

“Darius” (6:1) conquered Babylon (5:31) and set up 120 princes. That doesn’t contradict Esther 1:1-3, for that took place 17 years later after they conquered 7 more provinces.

How is “Daniel” alive (6:2)? He refused to be a ruler in Babylon (5:17), knowing the city was about to be conquered and her rulers slain. But the king insisted (5:29). Well, they probably didn’t kill him because they heard he predicted Babylon’s fall and figured his God must God. That’s also why he was the “first” president set over the 120 princes (6:2) so the king would receive none of the financial “damage” kings get when princes steal tax money (cf. Ezra 4:13).

The princes were jealous that he was about to be made ruler over the whole realm, so tried to find a fault in Daniel “concerning the kingdom” (6:4), i.e., in his management of it. But they couldn’t find any fault of any kind, making him a type of Christ. Israel’s rulers tried to find fault with Him because they knew He too was about to be head over the
whole realm of Israel (6:4 cf. Lu. 20:19, 20), but failed (23:13, 14).

Daniel’s also a type of Tribulation saints. They will be rulers in the kingdom (Mt. 5:5), so Antichrist’s followers will try to find fault with them (Ps. 37:11, 12). Psalm 10:49 calls them lions in a den (Ps. 10:4, 9). That’s why Peter tells Tribulation believers to obey the king so they can find fault in them concerning the kingdom (II Pe. 2:12-15). The Spirit will help them be as sinless as Daniel (I Jo. 3:9).

So the princes knew they had to find a way Daniel’s religion broke the law (6:5). That’s what the Lord’s enemies charged Him with too (Lu. 23:1, 2). But Daniel’s religion didn’t break any laws, so they proposed a new law (6:6, 7). Daniel would have to break that law because his law said he had to pray thrice daily (Ps. 55:17). By the way, prohibiting prayer to any God or man (6:7) makes this a type of the Tribulation, when a man will claim to be God.

The king signed the law, making it unchangeable even by the king himself (6:8, 9). This established a state religion, one men had to accept or die, like Rome had for centuries and Antichrist will have. He’s called a lion (I Pe. 5:8) and his “many” antichrist’s (I Jo. 2:18) made up a den of lions. On the cross, the Lord prayed to be saved from the “lion” of the devil (Ps. 22:1, 20), and so will Tribulation Jews.

Daniel refused to stop praying to God because his prayers took the place of the offerings that God’s law said he had to bring (Ps. 141:1, 2), and because while in captivity he was supposed to pray “toward Jerusalem” (I Ki. 8:44-50 cf. Dan. 6:10). His 3 friends weren’t caught praying because Daniel is in his 80s and they were probably dead by then.

Darius was mad at himself because he knew the princes envied Daniel and tricked him into passing the law. He knew Daniel was innocent so tried to save him (6:12-14). That’s a type of how Israel’s rulers envied the Lord and delivered Him to Pilate (Mark 15:10), who knew the Lord was innocent so tried to save Him (Mt. 27:11-26). Since Darius could have no power against Daniel except it were given him of God, he’s a type of God, who anthropomorphically tried to figure a way to save His Son from the lion at the cross. But He too had a law that couldn’t be altered, and it said sin had to be punished. He’d like to save His sons in Israel in the Tribulation too, but they broke His law and will have to be punished.

Darius sent Daniel into the lion’s den with an assurance he’d be delivered (6:15, 16), a type of how God sent Christ to the cross with the same assurance (Pr. 16:10). Being sealed in the lion’s den with a stone was a type of Matthew 27:57-60.

Darius found out Daniel was okay “early in the morning” (Dan. 6:19), picturing how they found out the Lord was okay “early in the morning” (Lu. 24:1, 2). God raised Daniel out of the den because he served God continually (Dan. 6:20), and that’s why God raised  Christ out of the tomb too.

Daniel 6:23, 24 proves the lions weren’t drugged or overfed, and typifies what will happen to the unsaved Jews who accused the Lord, and the ones who will accuse Tribulation Jews. Darius knew what Daniel taught in Daniel 2, that God’s kingdom would never end (Dan. 6:25, 26), so if he wasn’t saved then, he was well on his way!

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: Daniel in the Lion’s Den – Daniel 6:1-28

Summary:

Nebuchadnezzar was actually Belshazzar’s grandfather, not his “father” (v. 2), but Daniel was writing in Chaldean, and there was no Chaldean word for grandfather, nor any Hebrew word for it (cf. II Sam. 9:6, 7) or Greek word (cf. Mt. 1:1).

Belshazzar asked to drink out of the vessels from Israel’s temple (v. 2, 3) to show his contempt for Israel’s God.  So God allowed him to be conquered by the Medes and Persians (Jer. 51:37-39; 51:57, 58) later that night (Dn. 5:30, 31).

Daniel 5:5 mentions the hand’s “fingers” because back then “the finger of God” was a figure of speech that meant God must have His finger in something (Ex. 8:18).  But in the Bible, “the finger of God” was a symbol of “the Spirit of God” (Mt. 11:28 cf. Lu. 11:20).  God’s Spirit wrote the law (Deut. 9:10) and the rest of the Word of God (II Pe. 1:20, 21).

The Spirit wrote on the wall by “the candlestick” (Dan. 5:5) the king probably also got from the temple (Jer. 52:12-19). God predicted the king’s fear 100 years earlier (Isa. 21:2-4).

Belshazzar could only offer his wise men “third” place in the kingdom because his father Nabonidus was actually the king; he was just out of town.  That made Belshazzar himself second in the kingdom, so he couldn’t offer that position as a reward as Pharaoh did for Joseph (Gen. 41:42).

Belshazzar’s wise men couldn’t interpret the writing (cf. Isa. 44:24, 25) for it was God’s Word, and unsaved men can’t understand the Word (I Cor. 2:14).  Only a man with the Spirit can, something we see symbolized by the way God laid out the temple.  The bread on the table of showbread had two rows of six loaves (Lev. 24:5, 6) to represent the Bible’s 66 books, for man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from God’s mouth.  God parked that bread under the candlestick that represents the Spirit to symbolize that only He can shed “light” on God’s Word.

The queen heard the king’s fear and came in (5:9, 10).  She must have been his mother, for “all” his wives were already at the party (5:2).  She told him to call Daniel in to interpret the writing (5:11-17).  Daniel refused the king’s offer to be Babylon’s 3^rd ruler, even though he accepted a reward from his grandfather (Dan. 2:48), because he knew Babylon would fall that night and most of her rulers would likely be killed.  Besides, he had all the “chains” (5:16) he needed (Pr. 1:7-9).

After Daniel reminded the king that pride had been his grandfather’s downfall (5:18-25), he began to interpret his dream. “Mene” (v. 26) means numbered and, being a prophet, Daniel amplified it to mean God had numbered the years of his kingdom to be 70 years (Jer. 25:11, 12), and his number was up!  “Tekel” (Dan. 5:27) means weighed, which Daniel amplified to mean he’d been weighed and found wanting.  “Peres” (v. 28) was a form of “upharsin” and meant his kingdom would be “divided” to the combined kingdom of Media-Persia.  God predicted this 100 years ealier and said they couldn’t be bribed to not conquer them (Isa. 13:1, 17).

Daniel eventually had to accept a position as 3^rd ruler because the king “commanded” it (Dan. 5:29), and God’s people are supposed to do what the king commands.  Besides, he just got done acting like the 3^rd person in God’s kingdom, the Spirit, when he interpreted the Word of God.  Joseph was a type of Christ, the 2^nd person in the Trinity, so God allowed him to be made the 2^nd ruler in Egypt.

God sketched out how Babylon would fall (Isa. 21:4-9), but didn’t give the full story that history gives us.  History says the Medes and Persians dammed up the Euphrates River that ran through Babylon, allowing them to sneak in under the massive walls.  Belshazzar and all his rulers were too drunk to fight them off, or even believe the initial reports that the wall had been breached.

Why wouldn’t God include that great story in the Bible?  Because Babylon will rise and fall again, and this fall is a type of that fall, and God didn’t want you to think future Babylon will fall the same way, for it will burn (Rev. 18).  Future Babylonians will be saying “peace and safety,” just as they did in ancient Babylon, but destruction will fall on them just as suddenly (I Thes. 5:3) “in one hour” (Rev. 18:10).

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: A Feast Unfit for a King – Daniel 5:1-31

Summary:

In an official proclamation to his people, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon told how the signs and wonders he saw in Daniel 2,3 made him realize that Daniel’s God was God, and that he was only king of the world because God made him king of the world  (1:1-3).  But a lot of years had passed by Chapter 4, and he’s gotten pretty full of himself (v. 30), so God gave him another bad dream (4:4-7).  He consulted the wise men who couldn’t interpret his last dream because he was still calling Bel “my god” (v. 8), so still believed in them.

Trees (v. 10) in the Bible often represent men (Mt. 7:15-17), and this one represented a man that got big and powerful (Dn. 4:11, 12).  The mention of birds and beasts may have had the king wondering if the tree represented him, because of what Daniel had told him back in Daniel 2:37,38.

The “watcher” (v. 13) was a holy angel.  God sees all, but chooses to use angels to see (cf. Gen. 18:20, 21 cf. 19:1; II Chron. 16:9).  That means if the king thinks the tree represents him, he knows he’s being told he’s about to lose control over the world (Dn. 4:14).  But he also knows he won’t die, for if you leave a tree’s stump (v. 15) it will grow back.  He learns this man’s heart will be turned into the heart of a beast (v. 16) for “seven times,” or seven years (cf. Rev. 12:14).

The watcher’s decree (v. 17) came from God (cf. v. 24), the same God who made a “base” man named Pharaoh king of the world (Ex. 9:16), and now Nebuchadnezzar.  “Base” means lowly.  Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar probably thought a lot of themselves, but God didn’t.

Daniel told the king that his dream was good news for his enemies (v. 18, 19) because it meant he was about to go mad for seven years (v. 20-25).  That explains Daniel’s astonishment (v. 19), for Nebuchadnezzar probably quit worshipping idols after Chapter 3, so Daniel probably couldn’t figure out why God would do this to him.  But the watchers saw the pride in his private life that Daniel couldn’t see.  All that being said, the preservation of the tree’s stump meant the king would live to get his kingdom back (v. 26).

Daniel went on to tell the king that if he’d mend his ways he could avoid all this (v. 27), and for awhile it seems he did, But then his pride got the best of him (v. 28-33).  Becoming like a “beast” for seven years makes him a type of the Anti-christ in the Tribulation, aka “the beast.”  An “ox” is associated with Satan.  God created him a cherub (Ezek. 28:14), and cherubs were oxen (Ezek. 1:4-10 cf. 10:14).  That’s why Satan was cursed “above all cattle” (Gen. 3:14).

We see more proof that the king was a type of the Antichrist when Daniel told him that he’d have bird claws, for birds in the Bible are not good things (Mt. 13:4, 19).  They are associated with leaven (Lu. 1:18-21), a type of sin.  Antichrist’s kingdom will be full of devils called birds (Rev. 18:2).  This symbolic type is telling us that after the Rapture, the world is going to be under the dominion of a bird-like beast for seven years, and ruled by a madman.

But how can Nebuchadnezzar be a type of the beast if he ends up blessing God (Dn. 4:34, 35)?  Well, there will be “many” antichrists (I Jo. 2:18) called “natural brute beasts” (II Pe. 2:12; Jude 1:10).  If they don’t take the beast’s mark they can be saved and end up blessing God like Nebuchadnezzar, who typifies those antichrists in his conversion.

We can’t be sure, but I think Nebuchadnezzar gets saved here (Dn. 4:36, 37) by doing what Daniel told him to do: being merciful to the poor (4:27).  The poor in Babylon would certainly involve the Jews.  And blessing Jews is what Gentiles had to do to be blessed by God with salvation (Gen. 12:1-3).  That’s also what Gentiles and Jews will have to do in the Tribulation to get saved, as the Lord told people who were heading into the Tribulation—the Tribulation that would have come if God hadn’t interrupted Daniel’s prophecies with the mystery (Lu. 18:18, 22).  If Nebuchadnezzar did get saved, someday you’ll get to ask him how much weight he lost on The Oxen Diet, and you ladies can ask him how he kept those long nails from breaking for seven years.

Pride can be your undoing as well, for “pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).  Don’t let it undo you!

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: An Attitude Adjustment – Daniel 4:1-37

Summary:

The king’s image was probably not solid gold (cf. Isa. 40:19; Hab. 2:18, 19), but it was gold from top to bottom.  That was his way of telling God that no “inferior” kingdoms were about to come along and conquer his kingdom as God had predicted (cf. Dan. 2:36-38).  That makes him a type of the Antichrist.  God predicts his rise and fall too, and he won’t like it either, and will also erect an image (Rev. 13:11-14).

The dimensions of the king’s image are too narrow to be a man.  It was probably a phallic symbol.  He commanded people to worship it or die in a fiery furnace (3:2-6).  That was how the Babylonians executed people (Jer. 29:22).  He was establishing a state religion, like they did at the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:4), with a “city” to head their religion.  Rome was a similar state religion for centuries that used to kill people who didn’t accept her religion.  The Tower of Babel was located on a plain in Shinar (11:2), and so was Nebuchadnezzar’s image (Dan. 1:2; 3:1), possibly the same plain!  And possibly the same one where Antichrist will erect his image in “Babylon” (Rev. 17:5) and command men to worship it or die (13:12-15), establishing his state religion.  Six times we are told the king “set up” this image, this image that was 60 cubits by 6 cubits, and there are six musical instruments mentioned in this passage, making all of this a type of the number of the beast (Rev. 13:18).

The “Chaldeans” (Dan. 3:8) who ratted out the three amigos were the ones Daniel asked the king to spare (Dan. 2:10-12), but he and his friends made them look bad when they interpreted a dream the Chaldeans couldn’t.  They were also jealous that the king gave them positions in the government of Babylon (Dan. 2:49).  Daniel was probably away on state business during all this (cf. Dan. 8:1, 2), making him a type of Christ, who will be away on God’s business when His friends in Israel (John 15:15, 16) are ordered to worship Antichrist’s image.  When his friends were “brought before the king” (Dan. 3:13), that’s a type of Luke 21:12.

Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego (Dan. 3:14) were not their real names. The king replaced their Hebrew names with heathen names (1:6, 7).  But you’ll notice that Daniel didn’t insist on using their Hebrew names, so don’t let anyone insist that you call the Lord Jesus by His Hebrew name of Yashua!

But what happened to the king who recognized Daniel’s God (cf. 2:47)?  He’s made two more trips to plunder Jerusalem and her temple, and in those days if you conquered a nation, it was thought your god was more powerful than his.

When the Hebrews refused to bow to the king’s image (3:17, 18), they became a type of Tribulation Jews (Rev. 15:2).  When verse 17 says “He will deliver us,” they didn’t know if God would deliver them out of the king’s hand by preserving them in the fire or just taking them to paradise.  You and I have the same promise of deliverance from all our troubles as well.  Paul knew God would deliver him, because he trusted the God who raises the dead! (II Cor. 1:9, 10).

The fiery furnace was a type of the Tribulation (Mal. 4:1), and heating it “seven times hotter” than normal was a type of the seven years of the Tribulation (cf. Lev. 26:27-33).  Our heroes were thrown into the furnace “bound,” but were instantly walking around “loose”—meaning all that burned up were the ropes that bound them!  That makes them the answer to the question in Isaiah 33:14, 15.

How’d the king know God had a son (Dan. 3:25)?  Ever since Daniel interpreted his dream, he had his wise men studying Daniel’s Scriptures (cf. Prov. 30:4).  And since the fourth guy in the furnace was probably shining brighter than the fire in the furnace (cf. Acts 26:13), the king figured out who he was.

It’s precious to see that Nebuchadnezzar had to command them to come out (3:27)!  They’d rather be in the fire with the Lord than out of the fire with the king!  Can you say the same thing about the fiery trials you’re going through?  They were probably the ones in Hebrews 11:34, as they enjoyed the Lord’s promise to be with them (Isa. 43:2, 3).  When the king promoted them to new positions in the government, that’s a picture of how Tribulation saints who endure the fire of the Tribulation faithfully will be rewarded with positions in the Lord’s government (cf. Rev. 3:21).

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The King’s Tall Order – Daniel 3:1-30

Summary:

As we have seen, God inspired Daniel to predict that the Media-Persian empire of silver would conquer Babylon, and the Greek empire of brass would conquer them.  But He didn’t inspire Daniel to name the iron kingdom that would conquer the Greeks.  We know it was the Romans, but we also know from the rest of Daniel that the iron nation would produce the antichrist.  And God knew He would interrupt Daniel’s prophecy with the mystery, so He left Rome unnamed.  After the dispensation of the mystery is over, another iron kingdom will rise and produce the antichrist.

But both kingdoms are associated with iron.  Rome was “strong as iron” and conquered all who got in her way (2:40).  But Antichrist’s kingdom will be too.  Satan’s fallen angels will again “mingle” with the seed of men (2:43) as they did in Genesis 6:1-4.  But fallen angels like that are associated with “iron” (Rev. 9:1-10), and so were the giants they fathered (Deut. 3:11; I Sam. 17:4-7).  All of this is why the Lord said that they’ll be “marrying and giving in marriage” in the Tribulation (Mt. 24:37-39).

The “clay” of the image the king saw represents people (Job 4:18, 19; Isa. 64:8).  So Antichrist’s kingdom will be made up of the seed of fallen angels mixed with people.  They will mingle with the seed of men, but they won’t “cleave” to them (v. 43).  The mingling refers to fathering children (cf. Ezr. 9:1, 2), but cleaving means to mingle and stay with someone (Gen. 2:24; Deut. 11:22).  Those fallen angels will be more of the “love ‘em and leave ‘em” type of deadbeat-dad men.

That means Antichrist’s kingdom will be one nation, but “divided” (Dan. 2:41), as Babylon was one nation but was “divided” to the one nation of Media-Persia (Dan. 5:28).  When verse 42 says the nation will be “broken,” the word broken there means not strong.  It will be “partly strong, and partly broken”—strong as the fallen angels, but weak as the men with whom their seed will share the kingdom.

The “toes” of the nation represent ten kings (Dan. 7:7; Rev. 17:3-12).  Years ago, prophecy preachers started saying the Rapture must be “very near” after ten nations formed The European Common Market.  But God says these ten kings will receive power as kings “one hour with the beast” (Rev. 17:12), so they cannot rise until he rises.

We see a type of them in Psalm 83:1-8 though, which suggests they will be kings of Mideastern nations, not European nations.  When they rise and start their saber-rattling to get people to fear them more than God, people will have to remember that God says not to join their “confederacy” (Isa. 8:12, 13) or else be “broken to pieces” (8:9) by the 2^nd coming of Christ, as Daniel predicts again in Daniel 2:44.

“These kings” (v. 44) are the ten kings that will rise and be broken to pieces by the kingdom that God will set up in that day.  It was the kingdom that the Lord said was “at hand” in His day (Mt. 4:17), but was put on hold when the Jews rejected it when they stoned Stephen.  But it’s coming!  And when it does, “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa. 2:4).

God’s kingdom will not be “left to other people” (v. 44), as the kingdom of Babylon was left to the Medes and Persians, and their kingdom was left to the Greeks, and their kingdom was left to the Romans.  God’s kingdom will “stand for ever” (v. 44), although after the first 1,000 years it will stand forever on the new earth (Rev. 20:7—21:1).

After telling the king all that, Daniel knew it was a lot to take in.  After all, he’d just outlined the entire course of human history to come!  So in case the king missed any of it, he summed it up in verse 45.  And all of this means you don’t have to worry that the world will end in a nuclear holocaust, or in a flood caused by global warming, etc.  Daniel just told you how it will end, and I believe him.  How about you?

The king was so grateful to Daniel and the three Hebrews for interpreting his dream that he gave them positions in the government of Babylon (Dan. 2:46-49)  “The gate” (v. 49) is where elders of cities met to discuss business (cf. Pr. 31:23).

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Unidentified Nation – Daniel 2:40-49