What happens when the bottom falls out of your world? Where do you start when everything that gave you your meaning and identity is taken from you and the past is brought to a crashing full stop? The fall of Jerusalem, the sacking of the Temple and exile create the setting for this remarkable book.
Read More compromise, God’s faithfulness, identity
Face to face with the king, even Daniel must have quaked. However, his words were clear and confident. They contained within them a faith that takes God seriously and will not allow him to be excluded from public life. He states the dream which is, in visual form, an outline of “things to come” (v 29).
Read More Future, vision, right livingWas it the dream that stimulated the image? Did Nebuchadnezzar want to take control of his destiny? Perhaps he wanted to assert that he was no one’s puppet, not even God’s! The scene was set for one of the most remarkable acts of compelled submission. It would set the standard for future totalitarian states.
Read More trust, deliverance, courage
“Never show your weakness” is an unwritten rule among those who aspire to have control over others. This chapter is extraordinarily self-revealing. It begins with a confession of faith, different in tone from the responses previously dragged out of the king in earlier chapters.
Read More dreams, power, prideHow do you speak the truth when it will clearly hurt? God’s prophets have no option, but that doesn’t mean they are unfeeling. Only those who love dare to speak words of judgment, for judgment is the shadow side of love. Daniel explains the dream, holding nothing back.
Read More pride, courage, shameRead Reflect It all went wrong when they had too much to drink. When self-control goes, watch out for what follows. They couldn’t help showing off, not just in a display of wealth but in a challenge to the God who had so humbled Nebuchadnezzar. “Do your worst,” Belshazzar seemed to say. God rose to […]
Read More warning, doom, judgmentWas it news of Daniel’s prophecy of Belshazzar’s fall that precipitated his return to public life? The new king saw in him an ally, but though he offered the best service he could, as events showed, he was not in anyone’s pocket. It says much for his integrity that they couldn’t find anything to accuse him of …
Read More faith, integrity, consistencyThe book of Daniel divides into two halves. The stories about Daniel and his friends take up the first six chapters. The second half of the book is far less familiar and, for many, unexplored territory.
Four prophecies are laid out here – prophecies that came to him and were not simply explained by him.
Read More prophecy, Son of Man, beasts, Ancient of DaysSome parts of the church give undue attention to the second half of Daniel and speak with great authority about its meaning. As for the rest of us, we are not left to walk totally in the dark.
Read More prophecy, faith, good news, oppression