DANIEL
- Author
- Pastor Gary Toney
- Published
- Tue 14 Jul 2020
- Episode Link
- https://victory-life-church-ky.simplecast.com/episodes/daniel-_d9YzNgT
- Not only does the book of Daniel give us insight into the future of world events, but more importantly, the future of God’s people, all the way up until Christ returns and establishes His kingdom on the earth. The end of Daniel’s 70 weeks of years.One of the first things Nebuchadnezzar did was change their Hebrew names because every time they were spoken they were declaring their faith and allegiance to their God.
- Daniel- Belteshazzar, God alone is the judge.
- Hananiah- Shadrach, Jehovah is gracious.
- Meshach- Mishael, No one is like God.
- Abed-Nego, Azariah, Jehovah is our help.
- Daniel 1, God brought Daniel and his friends into favor with the ungodly.
- Not only did they prove their faithfulness to God, they maintained a humble and courteous attitude for their new, ungodly rulers.
- v.17, God honors they're faithfulness to the degree that these four get an audience with the king of the most powerful empire on the planet, not to mention their level of influence they have with him.
- Acts 1:8 (NKJV) “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
- Daniel 10:12-14 (NKJV) “Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.
- But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.
- Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”
- Daniel 2:24-28 (NKJV) “Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation.”
- v.25, Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king, and said thus to him, “I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation.”
- v.26, The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?”
- v.27, Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king.
- v.28, But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these:
- v.32-33 gives us the image of what Nebuchadnezzar saw:
- head of gold, Babylon
- chest and arms, silver, Persians
- belly and thighs, bronze, Greece
- legs of iron, Roman Empire
- feet of iron and clay, revised Roman Empire, European Union.
- v.41, “Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.
- v.42, And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
- v.43, As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
- v.44, And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
- Chapter 3 is the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and their faithful stand on their beliefs.
- Daniel 3:16-18 (NKJV) “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
- v.17, If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.
- v.18, But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
- v.26, “Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here. ” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire.
- v.27, And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
- v.28, Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!
- v.29, Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”
- v.30, Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.”
