Daniel and His Times — Daniel 9-12

0:00 Let's pray. Dear God, we wanna thank you tonight for your word. Thank you for your help to preach it. We pray, father, you would grant us grace as we look at this introductory to Daniel. We pray, our father, that you would help us to minister.

0:13 Help us father to be faithful and that the spirit of god would use the things that are said tonight. Oh father, we pray that those that are of us that are older that know the book of Daniel would be encouraged in the things that we are looking at again, and and those of us who maybe have never looked at Daniel or some that are not as familiar, Lord, that we would learn things and they would be profitable to us. We pray this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Daniel is a book of prophecy.

0:46 It's one of the main books of prophecy in your bible. Prophecy can come in two ways. Prophecy can mean to foretell something or to forthtell something. So everybody who stands and speaks for God should be considered a prophet, even in our day. So we're not some kind of mystical fortune tellers, but we do prophecy in the sense that we foretell the word of God.

1:14 Secondarily, it's about Daniel's behavior. Daniel specifically, but also Daniel and three of his companions, and you remember those guys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Okay. We're gonna talk about those. Daniel has other prophets that lived during his life, just for for reference.

1:34 Jeremiah is one. Jeremiah is actually referenced in the book of Daniel. Ezekiel Ezekiel also lives during the the time of Daniel. Zephaniah and Habakkuk. And so, you see the book of Daniel is a real eye opening book for us concerning God's dealing with not only Daniel and his friends, but really the whole world.

2:05 So we're gonna jump in on this outline that I've got here. This PowerPoint thing is to sort of keep me on track, but I want us to to look at what we've got for tonight, and we're gonna start off in the Old Testament book of Daniel, but we're going to end up in the New Testament with some relevant things for you and me. So if anybody has any question when I get done tonight speaking, and it it... Things weren't clear or fuzzy, please come to me. My job is not to fill up space or fill up time.

2:41 My job is to accurately communicate the scriptures to the people of God. That's what we wanna do. So if there's anything that is not clear, please come to me. So throughout this weekend, we're gonna look at the following messages. We've got five planned.

2:57 First tonight, we'll look at Daniel and his times. Okay? We're gonna talk about what times did Daniel live in and why were they relevant. In the morning, Lord willing, we'll look at Daniel and his change. And these were the change changes that were imposed upon Daniel when he was taken captive from his homeland in Israel to Babylon.

3:23 Next, we'll look at Daniel and his purpose. And really, the the the book of Daniel turns on a decision Daniel makes. Y'all have heard that verse before. Daniel purposed in his heart. We'll talk...

3:37 We'll do a message on that. We're gonna talk about Daniel and his friends. We really won't talk about Daniel much when we talk about his friends, but we're gonna talk about the chapter concerning Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And then finally, we'll talk about Daniel and his boldness. And this will be chapter six when Daniel faces the lions in the lion's den.

3:59 Now I was praying, Lord, how in the world am I gonna preach Daniel and not deal with prophecy? And so I asked the Lord, Lord, give me an answer. And the Lord gave me an answer. Jesus himself gave me the answer. Here's what he said, when you shall see therefore the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

4:18 Well, that's the answer from the Lord. In fact, the Lord was saying Daniel is prophet, so we divorce him from that. That was supposed to get a laugh, but it didn't. And I can see you're serious. So I'll get serious too.

4:31 Okay. Alright. The other verses in the Bible that give us the name of Daniel are from Ezekiel. Daniel is compared in Ezekiel fourteen fourteen to to Noah and Job. He's in verses fourteen and twenty of Ezekiel chapter 14, and then he's known for his wisdom in chapter 28.

5:04 We're in chapter nine of Daniel. Let's read this. Daniel nine and verse one. It says, in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

5:38 What's... What Daniel is doing here is he's reading in chapter nine from the book of Jeremiah. The book of Jeremiah gives us on at least three occasions a prophecy that said the nation of Israel would be taken into captivity. That captivity begins at the end of two Chronicles 36. That captivity was to last specifically seventy years.

6:05 Does anybody know why it was going to last seventy years? Yes, sir? They they didn't keep the Sabbath seventy... For seventy years, they didn't keep the Sabbath of the land. The land was supposed to get every seven years?

6:20 That's correct. Exactly. So the Lord did the calculation, and it ends up being seventy whole years in captivity to the Babylonians. So Jeremiah had prophesied that. Now this is five thirty nine BC.

6:35 We're gonna look at dates in just a minute. But Daniel realizes as he's reading this, the significance of the times that he's living in. This is five thirty nine BC. Very soon, or really, what has just happened in the life of Daniel is the Persian Empire has taken over the Babylonian Empire, and Cyrus the Persian, the great Cyrus king of Persia, will announce to the Jews that they can all return to their land. That really is the story of the book of Ezra, as Cyrus tells them to go back.

7:15 And so Daniel, in this spot right here, is at the right place at the right time. He's living in prophetic times. He's living in times that are designated by God, that God has foretold would happen. That's what we mean when we say Daniel and his times. Daniel says here in the text, I, Daniel, understood.

7:40 I understood. Tonight, the question would be, as we move through the text and we understand Daniel, do you not understand the times in which you live? Are these just meaningless times? Are these kind of times that God has just kind of cast aside and said, well, ho I'm gonna sit back in heaven for a while, and I'm not gonna do anything and let... Sorta let this modern age play out, and then I'll get serious when the Lord comes back and everything will pick back up.

8:10 Or is God absolutely in control? And that's really the theme of the book of Daniel. Now I'm a person that likes dates. Want you to look at these dates behind me. These dates right here represent for us sort of a timetable of the nation of Israel during the period of Daniel.

8:29 In six zero five BC, Nebuchadnezzar became the king of Babylon. That was the year that the Babylonians invaded Judah, and Daniel began to prophesy. Daniel began to speak. In 586, nineteen years later, the Babylonians came in and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. All this is recorded for us in the book of second Chronicles chapter 36.

8:55 So Nebuchadnezzar made this initial invasion, and he takes these young men captive, Daniel and his friends, along with several others. And then about nineteen years later, Nebuchadnezzar feeling, you know, pretty strong and cocky, he goes in and he ravages the whole city and stamps it down, burns it to the ground. Anybody ever read or heard of the book of Lamentations? Lamentations is when Jeremiah sees the city of Jerusalem totally stamped down and ruined by Nebuchadnezzar. It happens in 586.

9:32 In five fifty BC... Well, 586, the Jews were deported to the final deportation. There were three deportations of Jews to Babylon. In 550, Cyrus became king of Persia, and in 539, Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians, and then 536, the temple was started in Jerusalem. So these are just dates.

9:52 I love dates, and the reason I love dates is because the Bible gives us several dates. Now Daniel began to prophecy in 06/2005, and so the book of Daniel sort of fits where this block is. If you look there, and you see where these arrows... This is sort of the situation of the book of Daniel from 06/2005 to 539. These are the times that Daniel lived in.

10:19 Very, very signature times in the history of God. Signature times for you and me to consider. Okay? Now, this is an entire overview of the book of Daniel. I want you to bear with me while we look at this.

10:35 Because we've got five messages and we can't cover the whole book, but we can look at it by all 12 chapters and by dates. So in 06/2005, Daniel refuses the king's portion of meat. You'll see that in chapter one. That's where Daniel begins to make some make some waves and to make himself known amongst the Babylonians in the king's court. A year later, Daniel will interpret the first dream of Nebuchadnezzar.

11:04 That is six zero four, where Nebuchadnezzar has this dream of the great image. How many of you are familiar with that image that Nebuchadnezzar had? A great image of what represented for us nations or Gentile powers. There's a star next to the next state, and every time I have a star, that's a significant lapse of time. Nineteen years later, in five eighty five BC, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego will be confronted with bowing to the big 90 foot gold statue of Nebuchadnezzar.

11:42 Now that lapse of time is significant, and we'll deal with that when we come to that particular portion. Three years later, Nebuchadnezzar has a second dream about a tree, and Daniel comes to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar again wants his magicians to figure it out. They can't figure it out. He tells him to get out of my face.

12:02 Bring Daniel in here. He's the interpreter of dreams. And Daniel essentially tells Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, you are this tree, and you're going to live like a cow for seven years in the field. And so that's the significance of the five eighty two that's in Daniel four. Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream in 04/19.

12:28 Then there's another lapse in dates here. In five thirty nine BC, Daniel interprets the handwriting on the wall. How many of you are familiar with that chapter? That's when Belshazzar drinks stuff from the vessels of the house of God in mockery to God. A hand begins to write these words across the wall, and Daniel is called in.

12:52 That is the end of the Babylonian empire. Next, Daniel survives the lion's den. That's chapter six. Next, Daniel has a vision of four beasts. Next, Daniel has a vision of a ram and a goat.

13:06 Tonight, what we started with is Daniel's prayer and Gabriel's answer in five thirty nine in Daniel nine, where he's reading the book of Jeremiah. After that, Daniel is comforted by the angel in chapter 10. Daniel will prophesy the overthrow of Persian, Daniel 11. And then in five thirty nine BC, again, will prophesy the deliverance of Israel in Daniel 12. So that is the overview of the book of Daniel.

13:34 Okay? Good? You with me? Nobody asleep yet? Okay, we're getting somewhere.

14:06 Two Chronicles chapter 35 and verse 20 was known as the famous battle of Carchemish. Before the Babylonians came to power, there was another there was another people group that were in power known as the Assyrians. They were Chaldeans as well as the Babylonians. The Babylonians are the Chaldean people to the southern region over here. The Assyrians were the...

14:35 Were in the North. The Assyrian Empire had risen up and taken the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom Of Israel captive. They were led by men like Tiglath, Pilezer, and Sennacherib. You may have been familiar with some of these kings in your Bible. Assyrians were great and strong, but they were caught in a constant battle with the Egyptians.

14:57 The Egyptian was the power to the West. And so the two great powers prior to Babylon were the Egyptians and the Assyrians. And they fought a battle, and this this king of the Egyptians, his name was Pharaoh Nico, he headed north to the battle up in the North. But what had happened to the Assyrian Empire at this time was they had faded, and the Babylonians were beginning to emerge. And a young general named Nebuchadnezzar was the leader of the Babylonian army.

15:36 And we read here in second Chronicles 35, it says, after this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Josiah was king of Jerusalem. Nico, king of Egypt, came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. Now, why are we reading this? Well, it's very important. Josiah goes out after Nico, the king of Egypt.

16:06 Nico is fighting a battle against the Babylonians at the battle of Carchemish. Now, it tells us here, but he sent ambassadors. This is Nico sends ambassadors to to Josiah saying, what have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war. I'm going to war against the Babylonians.

16:34 Now look at what he says. He says, for God commanded me to make haste. Forbear thee from meddling with God who is with me that he destroy me not. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might fight with him and hearken not to the words of Niko from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the Valley Of Megiddo. Now why is this significant?

16:58 Because Pharaoh Niko, king of Egypt, turns around to the Israelite king, and he says, why are you following me? You are meddling with God. You have no control over this right now, mister Josiah. And Josiah didn't. Because God was in control.

17:17 God was arranging it that the that the Egyptians would go up and battle with the Babylonians. And God was arranging it that the Babylonians would crush the Egyptians and send Niko back home, and he did. Look at Jeremiah. We've got another verse here, forty six two. Jeremiah forty six two.

17:39 It says, against Egypt, against the army of pharaoh Niko, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon smoked in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah king of Judah. Now as Nebuchadnezzar becomes this powerful king, the Babylonians become the major nation in the world. They are the nation above all nations. You think, boy, that's terrible. Nebuchadnezzar is not a good guy.

18:32 Nebuchadnezzar becomes the king, becomes the sovereign ruler. It is about this time in six zero five BC that Nebuchadnezzar goes down into the area of Jerusalem, and he takes young men young men, the best of the best, from the tribe of Judah, and that's where Daniel opens up. The book of Daniel opens up. Daniel, at this point in his life, is between 15 and 20 years old. K?

19:07 Well, you think, boy, what a terrible thing. You're a young person, you're 15 to 20, and this mean, ravaging old Nebuchadnezzar comes in and he takes you captive. But God was absolutely in control of this. In fact, Daniel was at the right place and at the right time, just as he was. And so Daniel and his times are given to us in Daniel chapter one.

19:38 Let's go there, please. Daniel chapter one. Daniel chapter one, we're looking at it, it's six zero five BC, and Nebuchadnezzar has gone in so viciously, and you know, just without any kind of interrogation, no permission asked. He didn't go to the parents of these boys and said, I'd like I'd like to invite your boys to come to Babylon University. He didn't say that.

20:11 He grabbed those young men. He took them to Babylon, snatched them away from their environment, snatched them away from their home. And it tells us in Daniel one, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand. Now you see that.

20:36 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. But notice the next phrase, and the Lord the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God, and he brought the vessels into the treasure of the house of his God. Now I know this gets a little technical, but I love stuff like this. In the Bible, when you see the word Shinar, that is the ancient land of Babylon. When you read the word Shinar, that's where they first built the Tower Of Babel.

21:17 Shinar speaks of Babylon in its ancient mystery religious form. They are... Babylon is presented to us in the Bible as the sort of the seed or the bed of all false religion. You see Babylon being destroyed at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation. When we see the term Chaldean, you'll see that in reference to Babylon.

21:46 The Chaldeans represent the culture. That was the language. That was the educational system. When you see the term Babylon, Babylon, that's the political power of the nation. So that is who came, but it was God who allowed it.

22:30 Into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Now what is a Gentile? A Gentile is a non Jew. A Gentile is is any nation that is not part of God's people, the Jews, or Israel. The word Gentile in the Hebrew is the word Goyim.

22:57 In the Greek, it is ethnos. It's translated three different ways in both testaments. It's translated nations, it's translated heathen, and it's translated Gentiles. We are living in a time where God has taken the stewardship of government of the world away from the nation of Israel, and he has placed it in the hands of the Gentiles. And Gentiles love power.

23:26 Gentiles love money. Gentiles love security. Gentiles build big armies. In fact, Jesus said, don't you worry about what you're gonna put on, what you're gonna eat, what you're gonna wear, because all these things do the Gentiles seek. But your heavenly Father knows what you have need of.

23:47 Gentiles love love power, prestige, and security for their people. But at the same time the Gentiles get powerful, Gentiles also degrade morally, and they lapse into all kinds of perversions. That's why Gentiles, nations fall. And you see it right before your eyes in The United States Of America, this great country of ours. We're living in the times of the Gentiles.

24:16 God's people had failed, and God turned over the stewardship of the world to the Gentiles. Now that's not always going to be. God will again again turn at the rapture of the church. He will again turn to his people Israel. But Daniel Daniel himself saw the commencement or the beginning of the times of the Gentiles.

24:41 You see, Daniel was at the right place at the right time. My question is, where are you living today? Where is the significance of your life? What are you investing your life in? Are you into Gentile powers that are ultimately gonna fail?

25:01 Are you investing in the living God? Let's keep moving here. Chapter two, Daniel sees a dream of Nebuchadnezzar. This dream is basically of the Gentile rulers, a head of gold, Babylon, arms of silver, the Persian Empire, the midsection, Greece led by Alexander the Great, and then this bottom section of two legs and the toes would be the Roman Empire. And so right before Daniel's eyes, he he interprets this dream of Nebuchadnezzar.

25:36 He is there when Nebuchadnezzar has the dream. Now how did Daniel get to interpret the dream? Well, according to chapter two in verse 14, Daniel asked why Nebuchadnezzar wanted to kill all the magicians and rulers who could not interpret the dream. And so under a death sentence, how can he stop the king's anger? And the reason why Daniel was able to interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream was because in chapter one, Daniel stood for God, and he became a friend to the Babylonian court.

26:16 And so Daniel had built relationships with people in his life, and he was able to stand before the king in chapter two and interpret the dream. And so Daniel, in this great period of time where he sees God's plan for the Gentiles, was at the right place and at the right time. Next, we come to Daniel and another dream in chapter four. This is the dream about the tree and how Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the tree was cut down, and Nebuchadnezzar ended up living out in a field like a cow. Daniel, because he had built relationships and established himself as a man of God, a faithful man, Nebuchadnezzar called him in to interpret this dream.

27:12 Daniel was in the right place at the right time. So seven years, Nebuchadnezzar lived as a cow and came back... Lived like a cow and came back to his kingdom. Next is Daniel five. Daniel five, the handwriting on the wall.

27:32 Who do you think they're gonna call to come interpret the dream? Well, it's Daniel. And again, Daniel is faithful to interpret the dream to Belshazzar. And he looks at Belshazzar, and he says, Belshazzar, God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, and you have totally neglected the kingdom. You have mocked God by the things that you're doing.

27:56 And so Daniel prophesies the end of Babylon. He saw the commencement of the times of the Gentiles, and now he sees the end of Babylon. And he sees the beginning of the Persian Empire. He sees the first two major Gentile powers. Daniel was at the right place and at the right time.

28:36 And he's visited by an angel. And this angel's name is Gabriel. And Gabriel, the angel gives Daniel a prophecy. And here's Daniel again at the right place and at the right time. And as Daniel begins to get this dream, this or this this vision from Nebuchadnezzar, he realizes being at the right place and at the right time, he is in the midst of the times of the Gentiles.

29:06 And in the midst of the times of the Gentiles, God is going to give the nation of Israel four hundred ninety years of stewardship. Seven periods of seventy years. Four hundred and ninety years, seventy weeks or seventy periods of years are determined upon your people and upon the holy city. Now we're moving along here, seventy weeks upon your people. So now Daniel has not only seen the commencement of the Gentiles, he sees the commencement of this or this prophecy of the nation of Israel and a stewardship placed upon them.

29:48 Seventy times seven years equals four hundred and ninety years. Daniel is at the right place and at the right time. Well, Daniel nine says Daniel would prophesy not only of Gentiles, but the commencement of Israel's allotted time. This four hundred and ninety year period would begin right here, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the prince. Now follow what I'm getting ready to say because now it's gonna get a little tricky, but we're winding up the message.

30:25 From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, a commandment would be issued to go forth and rebuild the city that had been stamped down by by Nebuchadnezzar in five eighty six BC. It's nearly a hundred and fifty years later. And a hundred and fifty years later, Daniel being at the right place in the right time here, four forty four BC, we come to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a young man who was also in a foreign country working for the king. He was working for Artaxerxes.

31:08 And Nehemiah received word that that the nation of Israel or the city of Jerusalem was still broken down after a hundred and fifty years. And Nehemiah was totally overcome with with grief that it could still be broken down. And so Nehemiah needs to get back home. He's working for King Artaxerxes, the most powerful man in the world at the time, the king of Persia. And he goes to the king, and he says, I can't work for you anymore.

31:43 I can't be your wine taster, your cup bearer anymore. I need to go home. I need to go back to Jerusalem. And oh, by the way, I need you King Artaxerxes to give me letters, giving me permission to go home and build the wall. Now, Nehemiah didn't know really the significance of this, but what he was doing, he was fulfilling the prophecy of the book of Daniel when it said, from the going forth of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, this is when the time will start of the four hundred and ninety years.

32:24 Nehemiah chapter two tells us the king gave Nehemiah the letters to go home. And so Daniel and Nehemiah were at the right place and at the right time. Now moving on. This prophecy, this great prophecy of seventy weeks, it begins in Nehemiah chapter two. It was given to Daniel in chapter nine, and now it's fulfilled.

32:56 Nehemiah takes these letters and goes to Jerusalem and gives these letters to the pagan kings and says, this is from Artaxerxes to build the wall. It started in the month of Nisan, the first month of the year for the Jewish people. Well, four eighty three years later, after this was issued, that is sixty nine periods of seven years, the Bible says that Messiah would come. That would be a four hundred and eighty three year period from the issuing of the decree, Messiah would come, and Messiah would be cut off. Well, in the month of Nisan, four hundred and...

33:40 Or four hundred and eighty three years later, that's a d thirty three. And in AD thirty three, in the month of Nisan, Jesus rode into Jerusalem. He rode into Jerusalem on the month of Nisan because that was when the Passover was to occur. And so he erode in to be crucified. That's amazing, isn't it?

34:22 He's at the right place at the right time. And then four hundred and eighty three years later, Jesus rides into Jerusalem. You think Jesus knew about that prophecy? Do you think he knew about it? Absolutely, he knew about it.

34:39 But something happened that day. There were two disciples. You remember those guys? And Jesus said to those guys, he said, hey. I need you to go get a donkey.

34:56 Nobody's ever ridden, you're gonna see a man, got a pitcher of water, just go tell him, the Lord needs your donkey. You think they knew the significance of the times they lived in? You think they knew what was going on that day? Daniel had prophesied of a four hundred and eighty three year period Messiah would come. It would start when the letters went forth to build the wall Of Jerusalem.

35:27 Nehemiah would take care of that one. And then four hundred and eighty three years later, Jesus, as prophesied by the book of Zechariah, would descend the Mount Of Olives just like Zechariah said, behold, your king comes. Here he is. Your king is coming. And they would all shout, hosanna, hosanna.

35:47 Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. What a fulfillment of prophecy. Man, that's gonna happen. God has a plan to the point, and, oh, by the way, I need you two guys to go get a donkey for me. And so these two men went to get it.

36:08 And so Daniel, Nehemiah, and the two disciples were at the right place at the right time. Now that brings up the question, where are you? Where are you? The writer of Romans says this, Paul, and that knowing the time... What time is it in your life?

36:36 Are you just kind of floating through this thing? Oh, yeah, this is 2025. God really doesn't have much going on in 2025. God's kind of kicked back, you know? I mean, we got we got...

36:50 I don't know what your guys' politics are. Right? Some of you might be saying, got the president we wanted. Right? Some of you may say, we we want the other guy next time.

37:00 I don't know. It doesn't matter. God's in control. God's in control. He was in control of Nebuchadnezzar.

37:07 He was in control of Cyrus. He was in control of Alexander the Great. He was in control of all the Caesars, and he was in control of all the rulers throughout history. And a lot of these people see these things happen, they never realize the times. Knowing the time, now it's high time to wake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

37:34 The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let's serve the Lord Jesus Christ. We are living in special times.

37:51 In fact, in in God's period of time, there's never been a time like the time when he builds his church. Upon this rock, I'll build my church. The scripture tells us we are waiting. Jesus sits in heaven. He's waiting for the father.

38:12 He's waiting for the father to tell him to go forward to meet his saints in the air. You and me are part of that time. Daniel, are you are you at the right place and at the right time. Do you know the times you're living in? Has God placed you for these times?

38:41 Do not undervalue or underestimate the significance of God. If God has saved you, that is a personal relationship with the living God. God wants to work in your life. God is still absolutely fully in control as he's ever been. He's in control of all times.

39:17 Thank you for Daniel. Thank you for the story and the study that we have concerning him. In Jesus' name, amen.