Daniel Lesson 6 October 17,
2004
We left Daniel last week in a pressure situation. The executioner was at the door!
2. Focus now shifts to Daniel
a. Daniel's response to the decree vs:14-16
b. Daniel's preparation for a pressure situation vs:17-19b;
1. It involved fellowship! Vs:17
2. It involved prayer! Vs:18
3. It involved the Word of God! vs:19
c. Daniel's response to the answer. 2:19b-23
In his prayer we will see that he strongly focuses on God; on Who He is, His attributes!
The focus on 4 basic aspects of God's essence.
1. Omniscient; through out.
2. Omnipotent; has the power to control the events of history. vs:21
3. He is Sovereign; through out
4. He is self revealing. vs:21b-22a
Let's compare the God of Israel, YHWH, as seen in vs:22 and the pagan gods of
Ø Observations on Daniel's great prayer.
1. (vs:20) Daniel recognized that because of God's wisdom and power, God is in complete control of history and this gives Daniel great inner peace and contentment. (even in the eye of a crisis)
2. (vs:21a) God's power is illustrated by His complete control over the events of history; the destiny of nations; as seen in the removal and establishment of kings, rulers of nations.
3. When he says, it is God who changes, makes different the times and the epochs; he is saying that it is God who determines when in history events are to take place and how long each process or phase in history is to last.
4. These events of history, the rise and fall of nations are according to His timetable, not ours.
5. (vs:21b) God is the possessor of wisdom and power and He gives His wisdom to the wise.
6. This wisdom is from the source of God and therefore stands in contrast to the wisdom of this world; which we find from James 3:13-17 is earthly, natural, and demonic.
7. (vs:22) Daniel recognizes that light dwells with God in the sense that there is nothing unclear, unknown to Him.
8. And this God has chosen to reveal what is unknown to man.
9. Darkness here refers to that which is hidden to man, beyond his power and ability to perceive and understand.
10. (vs:23) "O God of my fathers" = uses this phrase to denote that he is the recipient of the same grace, wisdom, and power which God had poured out on his forefathers and to which they testified in scripture.
11. Daniel gives God all the credit and the glory for making the truth known to Him.
d. Daniel's report 2:24-30
He has the answer from God; the revelation of the Kings dream.
Notice the difference between Daniel and Arioch in vs:25.
In Vs:27-28 Daniel makes the statement that there are only 2 options for one's viewpoint.
In his message to the king in vs:28-30 notice that Daniel makes the same assumption as all of Scripture.
What we must ask and answer is in the latter days or end of days in reference to what?? Latter relative to what??
Documentation. Gen. 49:1; Deut. 4:29-30; Jer 30:24; Isa 2:2; Hos. 3:5; Micah 4:1-2