The second half of the Book of Daniel is an example of what is called “apocalyptic” literature. An “apocalypse” means a revelation and this kind of writing contains revelations given to God’s people, often by angelic messengers. These are usually dreams or visions of “the end times” which also sometimes unveil insights about current events. As with lots of prophecy, the language used to describe these visions is often more symbolic than literal. Chapters 7-12 in Daniel are the most developed apocalyptic literature in the Old Testament, although we can find the same kind of thing in the second half of Isaiah, particularly chapters 24-27 and 33. The first eight chapters of Zechariah and Haggai chapter 2 are similarly apocalyptic. The most obvious example of this kind of language in the New Testament is of course the Book of Revelation. In some ways apocalyptic literature follows on from the writings of the Old Testament prophets. But while the prophets more often delivered messages of judgment and calls to repentance, the emphasis in apocalyptic literature is messages of hope and encouragement.
That is certainly the case in Daniel’s vision in chapter 12. Remember how Chapter 10 gave us a disturbing vision of the spiritual war which is going on in heavenly places, behind the scenes of the human conflicts and the persecution of God’s people on earth. Building on the visions in chapters 7 and 8, chapter 11 foretells battles between Kingdoms in the North and in the South with God’s people as the pawns in the great war. Chapter 11 also foretells a great and evil king who will trample on God’s people. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see how all these prophecies were fulfulled in historical wars. But the central truth which the whole of the Book of Daniel declares is that it is Almighty God Most High who is ultimately in control of history. God is on the throne! Even if a great king rises up to oppose God’s people, the final sentence of chapter 11 declares the reality,
Yet he will come to his end, and no-one will help him.
So God is in control and will come to the rescue of his chosen people. Which brings us to chapter 12 and a powerful message of hope and encouragement for times of suffering. Daniel is given a vision to inspire and sustain God’s people. Although the beginning of the message is far from cheerful!
Daniel 12:1 ‘At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.
A terrible time of distress. Jesus also warned his followers that tribulation would come in the end times.
Matthew 24 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
Times of suffering are coming. That was true for Jews in Daniel’s time and is still as true for Christians in the world today. But in the midst of these terrible times, Daniel’s vision encourages God’s people to hold on to their hope of rescue.
But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.
God will rescue his chosen people. Here we have the wonderful promise of the book of life.
We saw this book, or books, at the judgment seat of God the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7.
10 …. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated, and the books were opened.
The book of life also features in John’s vision of the holy city in Revelation 21
27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
The book of life offers great hope for all who put their trust in God. Even though they may die physically, they have the happy certainty of sharing in the resurrection of the dead! Daniel 12 goes on with a message of hope.
2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
Here we have one of the clearest promises in the Old Testament of the resurrection to eternal life.
Job held on to this hope.
Job 19 25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another.
Isaiah made this promise.
Isaiah 26 19 But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
So God’s people have this wonderful hope of the resurrection of the dead. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: But here is also one of the clearest places in the Old Testament which speaks of eternal judgment and the classic Christian understanding of hell.
2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
Hell is the dark side of hope. C.S. Lewis called the day of judgment, “the great divorce”. On that day, when multitudes who are sleeping in the dust of death awake to resurrection life, it will be
some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
The book of Revelation carries the same grim warning.
Revelation 20 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.
Some people object that Daniel 12 and Revelation 20 are apocalyptic literature and so the language should be interpreted symbolically and not literally. But the same argument cannot be used with the words of Jesus himself.
John 5 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 ‘Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
Rising to live, or rising to be condemned. Those are the words of Jesus himself. The parable of the sheep and the goats ends with this dreadful warning for the Day of Judgment.
Matthew 25 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
The ending of Jesus’s parable of the weeds seems to echo Daniel’s vision.
Matthew 13 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
The righteous will shine like the sun. On the other hand, “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” is the phrase which Jesus uses on no less than seven separate occasions to describe the destiny of those who do evil.
Daniel 12 puts it this way. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
And here is the good news, in Daniel vision, God promises great blessings to those who remain faithful to him.
3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
The vision calls God’s people to be wise, and to lead others to righteousness. They will share in God’s glory forever. What wonderful encouragement to the Jews Daniel is writing for in the middle of such difficult times! This vision has already warned that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. So understandably Daniel wants to know how soon the end might be coming and just when the prophecies will be fulfilled.
5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. 6 One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, ‘How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?’
7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand towards heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives for ever, saying, ‘It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.’
There isn’t a clear answer to the question. We aren’t told what this time, times and half a time might mean in earthly years, or decades, or centuries. God’s people are only warned that terrible times will come. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.’ When God’s people are completely defenceless, God will bring the end. But even in this, there is great reassurance in the fact that these visions reveal that that God knows in advance what will happen. God already knows when the end will come and he knows the final outcome. Even when things appear hopeless, God is sovereign – God is in control. The final outcome is already decided.
10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
Here is God’s promise to his chosen people. 10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined. On the day of resurrection, God will purify his chosen ones so that they can spend eternity in the presence of his holiness.
But as we just said, there are other people who will face a different end. The prospect of the resurrection of the dead is not good news for everybody. As we have already seen in verse 2, there will be people who will not awake to everlasting life but instead will awake to shame and everlasting contempt. Verse 10 repeats the warning that such people face a different destiny.
The wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand.
The message is clear and indisputable. Our actions in this life will have consequences into eternity on the day of the resurrection of the dead. So how should God’s people be living?
11 ‘From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
We don’t have time tonight to talk about what “the abomination that causes desolation” might refer to. That prophecy, like many others, may well have been fulfilled not just once but in two or even three historical events in the centuries that followed. The vital promise is in verse 12.
12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end. Daniel’s vision calls God’s chosen people to patience and endurance and perseverance through the difficult times to come. Waiting patiently for God to act. Jesus warned his followers in a similar way,
Matthew 24 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Whatever believers are brought to endure, God calls us simply to stand firm, to wait for and to reach the end. And finally there is a personal promise for Daniel himself.
13 ‘As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.’
Daniel won’t be alive to see the terrible times which are to come. Daniel will rest – he will die. But that won’t be the end for him. God promises that Daniel will rise again to receive his reward from God!
So here is the message of the Book of Daniel. God is in control. Terrible times are coming. But God will bring deliverance for his chosen people. And beyond human history, even if we die, we have the glorious promise of the resurrection of the dead.
… everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined,
12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end

What kind of a God do you believe in? What kind of a faith do you have? What kind of a God do you serve? I’ll explain what I mean by those questions towards the end. Until then I will just leave them hanging. What kind of a God do you believe in? What kind of a faith do you have? What kind of a God do you serve?
We come this evening to Daniel chapter 10. Different interpretations of this chapter have caused more controversy than for almost any chapter in the Old Testament. We are going to focus on just two aspects of the passage. Like chapter 9 it comes as a testimony by the prophet Daniel himself. As Daniel was fasting for three weeks, a vision came to him. The first aspect of that vision was
An overwhelming encounter with God.
4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, 5 I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz round his waist. 6 His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.
Daniel saw a vision of a man. We are obviously reminded of the description of one like a man who appeared in the blazing furnace alongside Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. We also call to mind the appearance of the Ancient of Days in the vision of Daniel 7.
9 ‘As I looked, ‘thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.
This then takes our thoughts to the “one like a son of man” who also appeared in that vision in Daniel chapter 7, prophecies fulfilled in Jesus himself. We aren’t told if this was an angel appearing to Daniel in chapter 10. Or was it a Theophany, a Christophany, an appearance of the Son of God himself in human form, before the incarnation at Bethlehem more than five centuries later? With hindsight we are also reminded of the later appearance of Jesus at his Transfiguration, and of the “one like a son of man” who appeared to the apostle John in exile on Patmos at the beginning of the Book of Revelation. Because of what we will read in a few minutes about a spiritual battle, I think in this case that Daniel saw an angel. Daniel saw gold and topaz, lightning, flaming torches and a voice like a multitude. Daniel had a dramatic encounter with the Living God. What is of particular interest to us tonight is the effect which this vision had on Daniel.
7 I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. 8 So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. 9 Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. 10 A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
No strength left. My face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. I fell on my face into a deep sleep. Trembling and falling down. The experience of being struck speechless in the presence of God. Daniel explains some more about his experience lower down.
15 While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face towards the ground and was speechless. 16 Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, ‘I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak. 17 How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.’
An experience of the presence of God which completely overwhelmed Daniel. A precedent which might be repeated. Indeed this kind of experience was not unique to Daniel. Over the last hundred years, countless believers have claimed to have encountered God in similar ways and turned to Daniel chapter 10 to explain and justify their experiences.
It started gently enough with the outpouring of gifts of the Holy Spirit early in the 20th century, creating the Pentecostal churches. In the mid 1960s – when charismatic renewal began to break into ordinary churches across the UK, speaking in tongues and other gifts of the Holy Spirit became a part of the spirituality of many Christians in every tradition. But then just as people thought they knew what was going on, along came John Wimber in the mid-1980s with his teaching on Signs and Wonders and the Third Wave of charismatic renewal. Vineyard churches and others such as St Andrews Chorleywood brought a real expectation of miracles of healing and deliverance into the mainstream charismatic churches. They brought into the lives of churches that simple prayer which invites God into our midst and invites God to surprise us – “Come Holy Spirit.”
Then in 1994 the Toronto Blessing hit England through Holy Trinity Brompton. Here were new experiences of the Holy Spirit, holy laughter, falling to the ground under the influence of the Holy Spirit, overwhelming experiences of joy or love or holiness, and other dramatic forms of encounter with God. Experiences which had only been seen in the fringes of Pentecostalism burst out into the lives of ordinary believers all around the world! Many people had experiences of being “slain in the Spirit” (the classic Pentecostal label) or “resting in the Spirit,” (as the Toronto Blessing preferred to call it). These people look to Daniel’s encounter with God in chapter 10 as the pattern legitimising their own experiences of God. They also point to the similar experience the apostle John had when he had a vision of one like a son of man in Revelation 1:17 “ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.” I know many Christians who have had such an experience (and usually not once but many times) and who testify that it has been a great blessing to them. What they say happened to them sounds very similar to what happened to Daniel and to John.
Overwhelming and dramatic encounters with God. But are these experiences reserved for special individuals? Are these just for a few Bible characters? Or can ordinary believers expect to meet with God in such ways as well? “Resting in the Spirit”? “Slain in the Spirit?” I wonder how you react when you hear of people who claim to have had similar experiences of falling down or “resting in the Spirit”? Would you welcome God or would you resist God if He wanted to touch your life in such ways? What kind of a God do you believe in? What kind of a faith do you have? What kind of a God do you serve?
Daniel’s overwhelming encounter with God came in
A vision which revealed a great war
Daniel 10:1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war.
A revelation concerning a great war.
10 A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 He said, ‘Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.’ And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.
12 Then he continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.’
The rest of the Book of Daniel consists of visions describing the great war going on in the world. It is a battle between good and evil, between God and all those people and those nations who oppose God. Depending on when interpreters choose to date the Book of Daniel, it is either predictive prophecy about what is going to happen or looking back over history at what did happen in the three and a half centuries following the Return of the Exiles back to Jerusalem. I prefer to see it as predictive prophecy written down in the sixth century BC.
But either way, Daniel’s vision in chapter 10 reveals that the battles which will take place between empires on earth are just echoes of a far greater battle going on in heaven between angelic beings.
Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
In Jewish understanding, Michael is an archangel. He is the leading defender of God’s people against the powers of darkness. Revelation 12 tells us this about Michael.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient snake called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
To be able to challenge Michael, and to be able to oppose the figure who had appeared to Daniel, “The Prince of Persia” must therefore be a spirit of equivalent power, Michael’s evil counterpart. In Daniel’s time the battle was against Persia, but in due course it would be against Greece. It would be a mistake to think that these evil supernatural beings, the Prince of Persia and the Prince of Greece, had control over particular countries. It is better to understand them as princes over the people of Persia and Greece and their sociopolitical structures rather than over their respective geographical boundaries. But the picture is still very clear. Behind all the battles on earth and the struggles which believers in every age have faced, there are supernatural beings fighting spiritual battles. That is exactly the picture Paul paints in Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
There’s a war on! Our battles on earth are only echoes of spiritual warfare in heavenly places. We see the same picture in other places in Scripture. Jesus described Satan as `the prince of this world’ (John 12:31). Paul says Satan is `the God of this age (who) has blinded the minds of unbelievers’ (2 Corinthians 4:4). The tenth plague of the deaths of the firstborn was in God’s words `judgement on all the gods of Egypt’ (Exodus 12:12). Isaiah and Ezekiel imply that there may well have been demons behind the earthly kings of Babylon and Tyre (Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:12-16). Some passages do suggest that some demons are tied to particular geographical locations. The demons who called themselves Legion seemed to fear being sent out of `their’ region (Mark 5:1-20). The Book of Revelation describes Pergamum as the place `where Satan’s throne is’ (Revelation 2:13). So some people argue for the existence of “territorial spirits.” Spiritual battles behind the scenes of human conflicts.
18 Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. 19 ‘Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,’ he said. ‘Peace! Be strong now; be strong.’
When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, ‘Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.’
20 So he said, ‘Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come; 21 but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince.
11:1 And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him.)
So Daniel’s vision is a revelation of a great war. But that war is not limited to the physical world. Behind and beyond what we can see and touch, there is also a supernatural conflict against the kosmocrats, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Daniel 10 is one of the most important passages for our understanding of this spiritual war. But how do you see the world?
Daniel chapter 10 is so controversial because many people don’t believe that people can have dramatic encounters with God. And they don’t believe in the devil or evil spirits. They would say that these ideas of spiritual warfare and territorial spirits are just myth and superstition. Many people will remind you that the second half of the Book of Daniel, like the Book of Revelation, is written in apocalyptic language. It is all symbolic, they say, and not meant to be taken literally. But what do you think? What kind of a God do you believe in? What kind of a faith do you have? What kind of a God do you serve? What place is there for the supernatural in your faith and your Christian life?
I am perfectly happy to read Daniel chapter 10 in a literal way. I am happy to believe that some Christians will have dramatic and even overwhelming experiences of God’s love and joy and holiness. But what do you think? And my experiences of the Christian life, and not least in the ministry of driving out demons, lead me to believe that we are indeed all in a spiritual battle against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places, the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, (NLT) “a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.” (Message) But what do you think? How does the supernatural fit into your faith and your Christian life? What kind of a God do you believe in? What kind of a faith do you have? What kind of a God do you serve?

The Book of Daniel was written to give the Jews in Exile in Babylon encouragement and hope. It records the lives of four Jews, Daniel and his companions, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, as examples for believers in every age who struggle against opposition and persecution. It tells of God’s miraculous deliverance from the blazing furnace and the lions’ den. The Book’s central themes are faith in God and faithfulness to God. And the vital thread throughout the book is Daniel’s life of prayer.
In Daniel 2 we saw our hero in companions in great danger. King Nebuchadnezzar had experienced a troubling dream and all the wise men in Babylon including Daniel and his friends were facing death if they could not tell Nebuchadnezzar what the dream was, and then interpret the dream for him. So Daniel prayed
Daniel 2 17 Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
The reminder is clear for believers in every age. When we face problems or challenges, we should pray. We should plead with God. And then we should pray some more. And then we should pray again. They prayed for mercy and they also put their trust in God that he would reveal the dream and its meaning to them. They all pleaded with God.
19 During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven 20 and said:
‘Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his.
21 He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
22 He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.
23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: you have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.’
Daniel’s prayer here begins by recognising God’s greatness – he is the God of heaven. He recognises God’s wisdom and power. God is Sovereign over kings and over nations. Daniel acknowledges that any wisdom or insights he may be given comes from God. And quite rightly Daniel thanks and praises God.
God gave Daniel prophetic wisdom to understand mysteries. We should not forget the close relationship between us speaking to God in prayer and the Holy Spirit speaking to believers in prophecies, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, dreams and visions. Here In Daniel chapter 2, and then again in chapter 4 and again, in chapter 5 we see God speaking to Daniel.
Then in Daniel 6 our hero of faith was challenged by a decree from Darius which would forbid him on pain of death in the lions’ den from praying to the Almighty God of Israel.
Daniel 6 10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened towards Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Before we see Daniel praying about the crisis he face, we are shown his pattern of prayer. Daniel prayed three times a day. I have often quoted the wisdom of John Dalrymple.
“The truth is that we only learn to pray all the time everywhere after we have resolutely set about praying some of the time somewhere.”
As well as having set times for prayer it can also be good to have a customary place to pray. It was Daniel’s custom to worship in his attic (or upstairs room). The windows looked towards Jerusalem. Daniel knew that God is everywhere and so God would hear his prayers from anywhere, even in Babylon. But the Lord, Yahweh, had made his presence known particularly in Jerusalem, and in the Temple where the ark of his covenant was brought.
We can note the attitude of thanksgiving which filled Daniel’s prayers, even though here the context was grave personal danger. It is always right and good to give thanks and praise to God, whatever our personal circumstances at the time. We can also see from Daniel getting down on his knees how earnest he was in all his praying.
So the Book of Daniel teaches us from Daniel’s example of prayer. Which brings us to chapter 9 where Daniel gives his testimony on prayer in his own words.
In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom—2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
We find Daniel pleading with God. He pleaded in prayer – the broad term which would include praise and thanksgiving, worship and adoration. And this more general prayer turned to petition – specific requests. As Spurgeon said, “Asking is the rule of the Kingdom.” James 4:2 reminds us of the importance of asking God for particular things in prayer. “You do not have because you do not ask.”
I pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting.
In the Old Testament, fasting in prayer was a way of showing God how important the subject of the prayer was. Fasting was an expression of strong emotion – I really care about what I am asking for. And then Daniel prayed in sackcloth and ashes. That practice was an outward expression of grief and mourning and of true and sincere repentance. The prophet Jonah mourned and repented in sackcloth. The practice is illustrated by Jesus’s words in Luke 10:13.
13 “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
Daniel is praying.
3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
And this is the issue which brought Daniel to such intense prayer.
I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
God had promised that the Jews would only be in Exile in Babylon for 70 years.
Jeremiah 25 8 Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: ‘Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. … 11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12 ‘But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will make it desolate for ever.
So Jeremiah revealed that all the events of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple and the Exile in Babylon were God’s judgment on Israel for rebelling against God and worshipping idols and false gods. But at the end of the seventy years God promises to bring his chosen people back to the promised land and to Jerusalem again.
Jeremiah 29 10 This is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfil my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
These were God’s promises to his chosen people Israel. And Daniel knew that the time was coming when these promises were due to be fulfilled. He had been a teenager when he and his friends had been taken to Babylon ten years before the Fall of Jerusalem. When Darius took the throne Daniel was probably at least 80. So probably around 65 years had already passed. The time was approaching for God to take the Exiles home again. Maybe it was imminent – maybe this was the seventieth year. Daniel was burdened! Would God keep his promises? So he prayed.
4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
‘Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
Daniel confessed on behalf of the whole people, acknowledging their rebellion and their rejection of God’s laws. Recognising that God’s people had ignored his servants the prophets. So their punishment was entirely deserved.
But the God of the Bible is the God of the covenant. Did you notice that this is the only chapter which uses the name of the God of Israel, Yahweh, the LORD (shown in our translations spelled with capital letters). Usually this Book talks about the God Most High, but in this prayer Daniel speaks of Yahweh.
4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
‘Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
Daniel recognises God as righteous and holy but confesses the sin and shame of the nation.
7 ‘Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. … 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him, … 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.
‘Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. 12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. … 14 The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.
Daniel is clear that God’s chosen people Israel deserved to be in Exile. They deserve all God’s punishments. They had been warned but they still sinned and turned away from God. And so disaster fell on them. But still Daniel reminds God of his righteous character.
9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;
Daniel is appealing to God’s loving kindness and reminding him of the covenant he made with Israel. God had created them to be his holy nation when he rescued them from slavery through the Exodus.
15 ‘Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. …
17 ‘Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favour on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.’
Daniel was not asking for something for himself. He was praying for Jerusalem, the city of God on her holy hill. He was praying that God would be glorified once again in his chosen people who carry his name. Daniel was praying that God would bless the Jews once again, as he had promised.
Daniel is reminding God of his covenant promises. Israel’s sins were great, but God’s mercy is greater. Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay. This makes me believe that the 70 years are almost up. Daniel is reminding God of the promises he had made through Jeremiah.
So Daniel gives us an example of how to pray. Confessing our sin. Casting ourselves on the mercy of God. Claiming his covenant promises for ourselves and for the church.
But we must be very careful not to wrench these verses out of their context in history and apply them wrongly in the world today. People do make that mistake when they use this example as a prayer for our nation. Because God made his promises to his chosen people of Israel. Not to Britain. They were the people for his possession – our nation is not. No nation on earth is. The promise of restoration after 70 years of exile was made to Israel in the sixth century BC, not to the United Kingdom in the 21st century. As we saw this morning from 1 Peter 2, it is the church which is the spiritual temple, God’s chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession. So what this chapter does give us is a pattern of how to pray for the church. Christians are the exiles learning to sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land. Christians are the aliens and strangers in the world longing for God to bring us home to him. Even when the church has failed in holiness and failed in witness,
9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;
So it is right and good for us to pray for the church as Daniel prayed for Israel.

Last week we looked at Daniel in the lions’ den and said that this was one of the best known passages in the Old Testament, perhaps alongside the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the blazing furnace. Tonight I want to say that Daniel chapter seven is actually more important and more exciting than either of those other stories. Here we have the first of a series of dreams and visions which Daniel himself experienced. It takes us back to the beginning of Belshazzar’s reign as King of the Babylonian Empire and in many ways it echoes the dreams which King Nebuchadnezzar had which we read about in chapters 2 and 4.
Daniel’s dream revealed four beasts. One was like a lion, another like a bear, a third like a leopard and a fourth which was even more frightening and did not resemble any animal. This is apocalyptic language. It reveals truth in pictures and symbols and so we should not necessarily interpret any parts of it too literally.
God revealed to Daniel the meaning of his dream.
17 “The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth.
Conservative interpreters who date the Book of Daniel back in the sixth century BC, which I do, generally understand the beasts to refer to the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire and the Roman Empire respectively. Empires so brutal that they are represented by animals rather than by people. The dream foretells how these Empires will oppose and oppress God’s chosen people.
21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them,
God is warning Daniel and all the Jews that there would be many painful times ahead.
24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.
Terrible times of suffering and persecution were coming. But that would not be the end of the story. There are a number of wonderful promises for God’s people to cling on to.
18 But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it for ever—yes, for ever and ever.”
Whatever may unfold in the centuries to come, God’s holy people will ultimately receive an eternal kingdom, which will indeed endure for ever and ever!
21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favour of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.
The day would come when God would vindicate his chosen holy people. They would possess the eternal kingdom!
26 ‘ “But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed for ever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.”
This is the wonderful promise God is making to his people through Daniel’s dream. An everlasting kingdom where all the world will worship and obey God Most High, is waiting for them. The eternal God is named in the dream as The Ancient of Days.
9 ‘As I looked,
‘thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
What an amazing vision of the glory of the Almighty and eternal God. Perfect in holiness, white as snow, white as wool. Burning with glory, flaming with fire, wheels all ablaze, with a river of fire flowing from him. With millions of angels serving him and hundreds of millions of people standing before him. Sometimes we forget how glorious and majestic God really is.
O WORSHIP THE KING, all glorious above; O gratefully sing His wonderful love;
Our shield and defender, the ancient of days, Pavilioned in splendour and girded with praise.
IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, God only wise; In light inaccessible hid from our eyes.
Most blessèd, most glorious, Ancient of Days: Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.

The Ancient of Days will bring salvation for his chosen people.
The court was seated, and the books were opened.
11 ‘Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. 12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)
The Almighty and Eternal God is the Ancient of Days. And the Ancient of Days will bring salvation for his people. But he will do so through another person, his agent, “one like a Son of Man”.
13 ‘In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
It is this “one like a Son of Man” who will bring salvation to God’s chosen people. This “son of man” is given authority, glory and sovereign power so that all nations and peoples will worship him. It is this son of man who will be given an everlasting dominion which will never pass away. The Ancient of Days will give to this son of man the kingdom which will never be destroyed, which God’s chosen people will inherit.
And here is why I say that this chapter is more exciting than any other passage in the Book of Daniel, indeed more than most of the Old Testament. Because it points directly forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man.
We have thought before about this name which is used for Jesus 82 times in the Gospels – the name Jesus used most often for Himself, “The Son of Man.” Instead of saying “I”, Jesus would often refer to Himself in the third person as “The Son of Man.” That phrase, “The Son of Man”, was not a title in use in first century Palestine so that everybody would know what Jesus meant when He used it of Himself. Although there are echoes from the Old Testament, “The Son of Man” did NOT refer to a specific person found in the Old Testament. If it meant anything in the world Jesus lived in, “Son of Man” just meant a human being, or perhaps, “a man like me.” When Jesus called Himself “The Son of Man” that title didn’t have a whole bundle of ideas already associated with it. The phrase meant what Jesus used it to mean.
Jesus did not announce Himself as the Messiah. In the synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus generally did not call Himself the Son of God, or even the Son, but rather “The Son of Man”. In John’s Gospel Jesus usually referred to Himself as the Son, but even there He also called Himself the Son of Man sometimes. There are different threads we can pick from of the ways Jesus spoke of Himself as the Son of Man.
As the Son of Man Jesus shared all our human experiences
We don’t find the phrase “The Son of Man” very often in the Old Testament. When we do it usually means “a human being” and emphasises the mortality of human beings and the “smallness” of humanity in comparison to the Almighty and Eternal God. So when he called Himself “The Son of Man”, Jesus was emphasising His complete humanity and His solidarity with all human beings, and especially with the poor and the oppressed and the marginalised. One aspect of the human condition which The Son of Man particularly identified Himself with was human suffering.
As the Son of Man Jesus suffered as a human being.
Time and again Jesus foretold that the Son of Man would go to Jerusalem, be rejected and be crucified by sinful men.
Yet at the same time as He took that title for Himself, Jesus said and did things which proved He was much more than just a human being.
As the Son of Man Jesus has unique authority
When he healed the paralysed man lowered in through the roof (Matthew 9:6) Jesus said that miracle was proof that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins.
When Jesus was challenged for healing people on the Sabbath, Jesus replied, “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:8)
The Son of Man ha unique authority. But there’s more! At the same time as confirming His humanity, Jesus was revealing bit by bit that there is much more to The Son of Man than that.
As the Son of Man Jesus has a glorious destiny!
When he explains the parable of the weeds in the field in Matthew 13, Jesus says, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
So Jesus is saying that the Son of Man will be the agent of judgment at the end of the age. He said the same in Matthew 16 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
Again in Matthew 19 28 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
And this brings us to the prophecies of Daniel 7.
13 ‘In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Here we see God give authority over all things and an everlasting dominion and an indestructible kingdom, to “one like a son of man”. Jesus is clearly referring to Daniel 7 when He is teaching in Jerusalem about the last days.
Luke 21 25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Finally at the end of His life, on trial before the High Priest, Jesus reveals that The Son of Man is indeed that “One like a Son of Man” foretold by Daniel.
Matthew 26 63 The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64 “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
This is the glorious destiny of “One like a Son of Man.” And Jesus claims that be be His own destiny as He defends Himself before the High Priest. When Jesus admits that He is that “Son of Man”, He is admitting that, yes, He is indeed the Christ, the Son of God! And with hindsight and the eye of faith we might see that amazing claim every time Jesus refers to Himself as “The Son of Man.” Jesus was completely human. Yet at the same time Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, whose destiny is to sit at the right hand of God and one day to come again in glory on the clouds of heaven.
So here is Jesus, “The Son of Man.” As the Son of Man Jesus shared all our human experiences. As the Son of Man Jesus suffered as a human being. As the Son of Man Jesus has unique authority. As the Son of Man Jesus has a glorious destiny! Jesus is the fulfilment of Daniel chapter 7.
13 ‘In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 HE was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Bow down and worship – for this is your God.

Last week we saw how God humbled the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The cosmic tree was broken down as God sent periods of madness on the king. But then we read Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony. He acknowledged that God Most High, the God of Abraham and Isaac, The God of Israel and Daniel’s God, is indeed Sovereign over heaven and earth, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Nebuchadnezzar showed true repentance.
Daniel 4 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

Nebuchadnezzar had learned his lesson. But sadly his descendants also needed Almighty God to break into their lives and reveal his Sovereign power in their generations. Which brings us to Belshazzar’s Feast. History tells us that Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson on the throne of the Babylonian Empire.

5 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2 While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.
So Belshazzar and his subjects were all desecrating the holy objects which had been plundered when the Babylonians had overrun God’s Holy City Jerusalem, and destroyed Solomon’s Temple which had been the centre of the religious and political life of Israel for 400 years. That was blasphemy. But then things got even worse.
4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

Drunkeness turned into idolatry. These goblets had been consecrated to be used in the Temple for the worship of Almighty God. But the Babylonians were using them in worship of their own idols and false gods. The one true God would not tolerate such appalling sins.

5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. 6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

Nobody could understand the writing on the wall. None of the Babylonian enchanters, astrologers and diviners had a clue. But the queen, by which it probably means the queen mother, remembered how Daniel had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams decades before. So Daniel was summoned. He rejects the idea of any reward, and reveals the meaning of the writing on the wall. And Belshazzar isn’t going to like it. Daniel was probably in his eighties by this time, but he still doesn’t pull his punches as he reminds Belshazzar of what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar.

18 ‘Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendour. 19 Because of the high position he gave him, all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. 20 But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. 21 He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.

Here was the truth which every generation needs to learn afresh – the Most High God is indeed sovereign over all the Kingdoms of earth. God had humbled Nebuchadnezzar, and now his judgment was going to fall on Belshazzar. God had given his grandfather the opportunity to repent. But Belshazzar had gone past the point of no return. He wouldn’t be given a second chance. Judgment was coming. And to demonstrate to the world that God was behind the events which were about to unfold, God sent the message in the hand writing on the wall.

22 ‘But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. 23 Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honour the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.

Did you notice that Daniel challenges Belshazzar directly. He says “you” or “your” no less than 15 times in those two verses. The King has sinned and also led his subjects into sin. So Belshazzar himself is personally responsible and accountable to God.

24 Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.
25 ‘This is the inscription that was written:
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN
It isn’t obvious why the Babylonian wise men had not been able to understand the writing when Daniel was able to. It might be that God the Holy Spirit revealed to Daniel the meaning of strange characters which nobody could recognize. Some interpreters have speculated that the writing was in Aramaic, where only the consonants are written down and only a Jew would be able to fill in the vowels and interpret the words. They suggest that Daniel reads each word first as a noun, and then using different vowels as a verb. We don’t know how he came to the meaning, but Daniel reveals to Belshazzar the deadly seriousness of the warning.
26 ‘Here is what these words mean:
Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
Mene means numbered or counted. As happens elsewhere in prophecy, the repetition is for emphasis. God has decided and is not going to change his mind. He has been counted and Belshazzar is finished!

27 Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
Tekel means weighed, and also to be found wanting.

28 Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.’
Peres, or Upharsin, means divided. A play on words refers to the Persian Empire which would overrun the Babylonians along with the Medes.

The writing is a grim message of inescapable judgment. Belshazzar gives Daniel the great reward he was promised. But Daniel’s time as the third most important person in the land is very short lived. God’s judgment fell the same day.

30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

The message of Daniel 5 is very clear. If God pronounces judgment on those who rebel against him and break his laws, that judgment will take place. Belshazzar should have learned from Nebuchadnezzar’s experiences. Instead, Daniel’s message is clear. Even worse than worshipping idols,
22 ‘But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, … 23 Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. … you did not honour the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.

When the writing is on the wall, it foreshadows impending doom which is inescapable. Of course, over the centuries the phrase, “the writing is on the wall”, has become a common expression. In our generation, people say “the writing is on the wall” for particular political leaders when they no longer have the confidence of their supporters. Or people say that “the writing is on the wall” for a political party when they have lost touch with their original support base. Some people would say that “the writing is on the wall” for fossil fuels in the face of the challenges of global warming. But actually “the writing is on the wall” in a sense much closer to the original events, for kings and presidents and governments who follow in the ways of Belshazzar. “The writing is on the wall” for anybody following the ways of the world in worshipping idols, in our days the false gods of Money and Celebrity and Entertainment. “The writing is on the wall” for anybody who refuses to humble themselves before the Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Because the message throughout the Bible is very clear. Almighty God is the God of justice and righteousness. And the day is coming when God will call everybody to account for how they have lived.

Ecclesiastes 12 13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:
fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

Hebrews 9 27 … people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

Some people think that all the warnings of judgment we find in the Bible are irrelevant because, they say, Jesus only preached love. But that view is mistaken. It ignores the fact that Jesus told 37 parables and more than half of those were warnings about judgment. Like the story of the rich fool who traded eternal blessings for material wealth. The parables of the wheat and the weeds, and of the fishing net, and of the workers in the vineyard, and of the sheep and the goats, all warn of the inevitability of judgment. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus makes clear to everybody that our eternal destiny is fixed during this earthly life. The parable of the wise and foolish builders shows the importance of building our lives on solid foundations. We need to enter by the narrow gate and follow the narrow path to salvation, because the wide gate and the broad path lead to destruction. The parable of the wise and the foolish virgins warns everybody to be ready for the day of judgment. Because, Jesus says, the son of man is coming at the hour nobody expects, like a thief in the night. Judgment day is coming! The writing is definitely on the wall.

As the apostle Paul preached in Athens,
Acts 17 29 ‘Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.’

We might wish that God would send more hands to write his messages on the walls, portents of inescapable doom, so that people would listen and repent. We might think if he did then more people would listen and repent. But “the writing is already on the wall”, in page after page of the Bible. The message is as clear as it was to Belshazzar. The incontrovertible proof that judgment day is coming is there for all the world to see in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.’

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám says this.

“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

The writing is on the wall for the whole world to read. Judgment day is coming. The sad truth is this. “Most people CAN read the writing on the wall. They just assume it is addressed to someone else.”

Last week we saw God rescue his servants Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the blazing furnace. And at the end of the story we saw King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon taking early steps of faith and making a dramatic decree.

3 28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.’

Promising signs of faith in Nebuchadnezzar. But Daniel chapter 4 reminds us that it often takes many steps of faith before a person comes to complete repentance. The chapter takes the form of a letter Nebuchadnezzar himself wrote as a testimony of the way the one true God had transformed his life.

Daniel 4: 2 It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.
3 How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.

That will be the end of the story. But Nebuchadnezzar had to meet God in a new way to reach that point. His life had going very well, but then he had another dream which terrified him.

. 10 These are the visions I saw while lying in bed: I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. 11 The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the wild animals found shelter, and the birds lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed.
13 ‘In the visions I saw while lying in bed, I looked, and there before me was a holy one, a messenger, coming down from heaven. 14 He called in a loud voice: “Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field.

The dream was of a mighty tree which brought blessing to everything. Some have described it as the “cosmic tree”, a manifestation of the whole of creation. Yet in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the tree will fall into ruin. A heavenly messenger announces that the tree will fall under God’s judgment.
‘ “Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times pass by for him.
17 ‘ “The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.”

Once again it is down to God’s servant Daniel to interpret this dream for Nebuchadnezzar. The tree represents Nebuchadnezzar and the whole of his empire. And it is a solemn warning that God’s judgment was going to fall on Nebuchadnezzar himself, because of his pride. The king had become proud and arrogant. So Daniel warns him
27 Therefore, Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.’

Sadly Nebuchadnezzar ignored the warning of the dream. And God’s judgment fell.
. 29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, ‘Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?’
31 Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, ‘This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: your royal authority has been taken from you. 32 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.’
33 Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

It isn’t clear whether seven times means seven years, or seven other periods of time. In any case it would be a long time before Nebuchadnezzar would come to his senses and repent. But in the end that did happen.
34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes towards heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honoured and glorified him who lives for ever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
35 All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: ‘What have you done?’

Here at last we see true repentance. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that God Most High, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Daniel, the God of the Jews is indeed the one true God. Only when that happens, does God restore Nebuchadnezzar’s fortunes.
36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honour and splendour were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisors and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

“Those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” A reminded that Almighty God is indeed Sovereign over the whole of Creation, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God is on the throne and in charge of history.

So that brings us to some questions which we are going to discuss now.

Is God still on the throne? Is God still sovereign over history?

If so, why does God not intervene in the world today?

Why does God not humble tyrants?

Why does God not intervene today to prevent wars and suffering around the world?

Here is one of the best-known stories from the Old Testament. How God saved Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego from the blazing furnace. It was an inspiration at the time for the Exiles in Babylon learning to sing the Lord’s Song in a strange land. And it has given courage to believers ever since whenever they have been facing persecution. These events are even celebrated in the New Testament as examples of true faith.
Hebrews 11 32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
It was indeed an amazing miracle that saved these three courageous believers. And it is their faith which has continues to be an inspiring example. The heart of the story lies in verses 17 and 18. Nebuchadnezzar threatened them,
, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?’
Shadrach, Meshach and Adbednego replied to Nebuchadnezzar in one voice,
17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’
Their faith expressed itself in two ways: confidence in God’s protection, and at the same time refusal to sin by breaking the first and the second of the Ten Commandments.
Confidence in God’s protection
17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.
Psalm 91 promises God’s protection to his people who put their trust in him.
Psalm 91:1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’
3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
When it comes to being thrown into the blazing furnace, centuries earlier, God had promised through the prophet Isaiah that he would protect his chosen people.
Isaiah 43 43 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel:
‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour;
Precious promises of God’s protection for the Exiles. Perhaps the three had those very Scriptures in mind when they put their trust in God to deliver them.
Faith in the God who protects his chosen people. And then determination not to sin by breaking the Commandments.
18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’
The Bible is always realistic about what awaits those who stand firm for God in the face of persecution. Sometimes God rescues his chosen people from terrible dangers. Sometimes he does not and they become martyrs in his name. Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were ready and prepared to face that terrible end. The first and second of the ten commandments are clear about the sinfulness of worshipping false gods and graven images.
Exodus 20 And God spoke all these words:
2 ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 ‘You shall have no other gods before me.
4 ‘You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would rather die than compromise and break God’s law. They knew God’s love would protect them even beyond death. Job showed a similar faith in God.
Job 13 14 Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.
Unswerving trust in God’s protection and a commitment to purity without compromise. And God did indeed save them in a dramatic and miraculous way from the blazing furnace which was heated seven times hotter than usual, and even killed the guards.
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, ‘Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?’
They replied, ‘Certainly, Your Majesty.’
25 He said, ‘Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’
So who was this mysterious fourth figure, looking like “a son of god”? We could say it was just an angel taking human form. But Christians through the ages have seen this as more than just an angel. They have described this as a theophany, or a Christophany, an appearance of the Son of God himself in human form before the incarnation. There are other possible theophanies or Christophanies throughout the Old Testament.
God walking with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3.
God meeting with Abraham in Genesis 18 and Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32.
In Joshua 5, Joshua met the “Commander of the army of the LORD”. Joshua saw this “Commander” holding a sword, and He accepted Joshua’s worship, something that angels always refuse to do. A figure called “the angel of the Lord” also appeared to Gideon and Manoah. Some people think that these were the Son of God himself appearing in human form before the incarnation. Whether it was Christ, or whether it was some angel, God rescued Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace without even the smell of smoke on them.
And this miracle accomplished more than encouraging Jews in exile. Remember how Nebuchadnezzar reacted when Daniel interpreted his dream at the end of Daniel 2.
47 The king said to Daniel, ‘Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.’
While that shows that Nebuchadnezzar was becoming more open to the God of Israel, it was only superficial repentance at best. But the deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had an impact not only on Nebuchadnezzar but also on the whole Babylonian Empire. Here we see true repentance.
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
Nebuchadnezzar recognized the faith and the commitment of our three heroes.
29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.’
So God’s intervention in the blazing furnace was not just a blessing to our three heroes of faith, but to all Jews in Exile spread out all over the Babylonian Empire. A wonderful, inspiring miracle which can inspire us when we are struggling!
To help us experience this event afresh we are going to read a passage now which comes from the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha is a collection of books which the Roman Catholic Church includes in their Bible but Protestants since the Reformation have not. This passage doesn’t appear in the Hebrew or Aramaic text of Daniel but they do appear in the Septuagint, the Greek Translation of the Old Testament which some Jews in Jesus time used and which the first Gentile Christians used as their Old Testament. These verses appear in Daniel 3 between what we call verses 23 and 24. So here is a passage from the Apocrypha in a book called
The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews (from the Apocrypha)
1 They walked around in the midst of the flames, singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord. 2 Then Azariah stood still in the fire and prayed aloud:
3 “Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our ancestors, and worthy of praise;
and glorious is your name forever!
4 For you are just in all you have done;
all your works are true and your ways right,
and all your judgments are true.
5 You have executed true judgments in all you have brought upon us
and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our ancestors;
by a true judgment you have brought all this upon us because of our sins.
6 For we have sinned and broken your law in turning away from you;
in all matters we have sinned grievously.
7 We have not obeyed your commandments,
we have not kept them or done what you have commanded us for our own good.
8 So all that you have brought upon us,
and all that you have done to us, you have done by a true judgment.
9 You have handed us over to our enemies, lawless and hateful rebels,
and to an unjust king, the most wicked in all the world.
10 And now we cannot open our mouths; we, your servants who worship you, have become a shame and a reproach.
11 For your name’s sake do not give us up forever,
and do not annul your covenant.
12 Do not withdraw your mercy from us,
for the sake of Abraham your beloved
and for the sake of your servant Isaac and Israel your holy one,
13 to whom you promised to multiply their descendants like the stars of heaven and like the sand on the shore of the sea.
14 For we, O Lord, have become fewer than any other nation,
and are brought low this day in all the world because of our sins.
15 In our day we have no ruler, or prophet, or leader,
no burnt offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense,
no place to make an offering before you and to find mercy.
16 Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted,
17 as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and bulls,
or with tens of thousands of fat lambs;
such may our sacrifice be in your sight today,
and may we unreservedly follow you,
for no shame will come to those who trust in you.
18 And now with all our heart we follow you;
we fear you and seek your presence.
19 Do not put us to shame, but deal with us in your patience
and in your abundant mercy.
20 Deliver us in accordance with your marvelous works,
and bring glory to your name, O Lord.
21 Let all who do harm to your servants be put to shame;
let them be disgraced and deprived of all power,
and let their strength be broken.
22 Let them know that you alone are the Lord God,
glorious over the whole world.”

READING Daniel 2:1-19

From the earliest days God’s chosen people had always known that God would speak directly to his people. God revealed himself on many occasions to the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. We could add Laban Solomon and Abimelech, and from the New Testament Joseph the Carpenter, the Wise Men, Pilate’s wife and the apostle Paul. The God of Israel, the God of the Bible, speaks to people through dreams.

But it was not only the Israelites who believed that deities could speak in dreams and visions. Along with many ancient civilisations, the Babylonians also believed that their deities would give revelations through dreams and visions. So it is not surprising that King Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by a particular dream or that he would consider finding the interpretation of the dream a matter of such great importance. But Nebuchadnezzar was asking the impossible from his advisors. He wanted them not only to tell him what his dream meant. To prove the interpretation was correct, they had to tell him correctly what his dream had contained! The Babylonian advisors all failed to do this. Only Daniel was able to reveal what the dream had been, and then interpret it. And of course he could only do this by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Interpreting dreams is still big business today. Psychologists make big fortunes out of it. Followers of New Age spirituality and religions, astrologers, Pagans, wiccans, all write book after book about dreams. Daytime TV and even the Sunday colour supplements have features on interpreting dreams far too often. I do NOT want anyone to be drawn into any of this New Age deception by what I say. But the story of Daniel does hinge in several places on the interpretation of dreams, so I do want to remind us of what the Bible has to say about dream.
Dreams can have different levels of meaning and significance. Most dreams are absolutely MEANINGLESS- a just a jumble of images. Francis Crick who discovered the double helix of DNA has pioneered the theory that dreams are part of the process of the brain’s filing system remaking memories. Some dreams may have PSYCHOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE – dreams may reveal things about our subconscious, our hidden inmost feeings. At least according to some schools of psychology.
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) said,
“Every dream reveals a psychological structure, full of significance.… The dream is not meaningless, not absurd … it is a perfectly valid phenomenon, actually a … disguised fulfillment of a suppressed wish.”
Carl Jung (1875–1961) had similar ideas.
“The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens into that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was a conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.” Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961)
“This whole creation is essentially subjective, and the dream is the theater where the dreamer is at once scene, actor, prompter, stage manager, author, audience, and critic.” Carl Jung
Different schools of psychology interpret same dream in conflicting ways – but professional psychiatrists MAY sometimes have valuable insights.

Dreams CAN be THE VOICE of CONSCIENCE. Our conscience is given to all human beings by God to help us know right from wrong. And sometimes our dreams can be the voice of our conscience speaking to us.
Job 33:13-18 (NIV) 14 For God does speak–now one way, now another– though man may not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, 16 he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, 17 to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, 18 to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.
Sometimes a dream may show us a side of our character which we do not like, and which God would not be pleased with, or even bring to light some sins we have committed in real life – and for those things repentance and seeking God’s grace to become more like Christ are certainly a proper response.

As well as having psychological significance or being the voice of conscience,
Dreams CAN be a REVELATION FROM GOD
Some dreams can be a MESSAGE from GOD. Some are simply an ENCOURAGEMENT, others can be a WARNING from God. Some dreams CAN contain REVELATIONS ABOUT FUTURE EVENTS such a number of the dreams in the story of Joseph. In Daniel we find dreams foretelling events here in chapter 2 and again later in chapters 4 and 5.
Job and Isaiah describe dreams as “visions of the night” or “visions in the night” and the Bible speaks of visions exactly 100 times. Dreams and visions are both forms of prophecy.
Numbers 12:6 (The LORD) said, “Listen to my words: “When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.
WE can EXPECT God to speak to US through dreams and visions sometimes too, because we have all received the Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets..
Joel 2:28 -> Acts 2:17 “`In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
We need GOD to tell us what our dreams mean. NOT psychologists. Certainly not New Age dream freaks ! The Holy Spirit will give the interpretation, if we ask God. And it’s always right to check out the interpretation with other wise Christians if we think God is speaking to us through a particular dream. Interpretations belong to God!
In the Old Testament kings certainly believed that God gave them direction in dreams. If they wanted to know what they were supposed to do in their administration, they would try to receive a direct word from God in their dreams. If they weren’t getting any messages in their dreams while lying in their own beds, then they would sleep in the Temple, where they believed it would work better. Perhaps that’s why some people go to sleep in church – to hear God better!
But the serious point is that God can speak to his people through dreams. I have spoken before about three important dreams which I have had which I believe were messages from God. We have all received the Holy Spirit who inspires prophecy, so we can all be eager for God to speak to us. As the young prophet Samuel was taught to say. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
Margaret Jarman, in her Presidential Address to the Baptist Union back in 1987, said, “Have you listened for God’s voice speaking directly to you? Have you considered that He may speak through your intuition, through your imagination, through dreams and visions, through flashes of inspiration?”

READING Daniel 2:24-48

So God gave Daniel the interpretation for the dream. And to prove to Nebuchadnezzar that the interpretation was correct God even revealed to Daniel the details contained in the dream.
The dream referred to what will happen in days to come (28).
Since the head of gold was specifically identified as Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom (38),
We may assume that the other parts of the statue also represented specific empires or dynasties.

Their identity was not yet unveiled to Daniel and his contemporaries but are explained in Daniel 8:19–21 in the interpretation of a different vision.
19 He said: ‘I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. 20 The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. 21 The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king. 22 The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power.

To help interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2 we can also look back at history with the benefit of hindsight.
So – the golden head is Nebuchadnezzar’s Kingdom of Babylon
The chest and arms of silver (32) represent the Medo-Persian Empire ruled over by Cyrus from 539
The belly and thighs of bronze (32) would then symbolize the Greek Empire which would rule over the whole earth (39)
Followed by the Roman Empire (although some conservative interpreters have taken the legs and feet to refer to the successors of Alexander the Great).
This interpretation has often led to the understanding of the rock as Christ and its growth as a reference to the advance of the kingdom of God.

Some commentators have problems with the idea that predictive prophesy can reveal events which are yet to occur. This is a powerful motive for them dating Daniel much later in the second century BC. But if we believe God does speak to people through the Holy Spirit in dreams and visions and prophecies, then we have no problem in thinking that the Book of Daniel was written in Babylon in Daniel’s own time to encourage the Exiles seeking to sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land.

But what does this story of Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream have to say to us? Let’s go back and read the middle bit of the story I skipped over earlier.

Daniel 2:19 During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven 20 and said:
‘Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
21 He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
22 He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:
you have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king.’

To wrap up, this story shows us at least three things. It shows us the almighty, all-knowing God of Israel who is Sovereign over all nations and all peoples.
‘Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
21 He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.

In times of trouble, like during the Exile, and also over the last year of upheaval, it is good to know that God is on the throne. God is in charge of history.

Then also it shows us that God knows the future and that he can reveal what is going to happen to his people when they need to know.

22 He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.

God is never surprised. He knows the end from the beginning. God knew his plans for his chosen people even in the painful times of exile. And he knows his plans for our lives too. That brings us so much peace when everything around us seems to be falling apart.

23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:
you have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king.’

Finally, the fact that God did reveal to Daniel both the content and the meaning of the king’s dream is a demonstration to us of the first two points. It was proof to Nebuchadnezzar and it is proof to us that that God is Sovereign over history and that God knows everything which is going to happen in the future. So whatever the situation we find ourselves in, we can put our trust in God and his unfailing love.

46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honour and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. 47 The king said to Daniel, ‘Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.’

After the time of Great King David a thousand years before Christ, the history of God’s chosen people is a story of gradual decline. Early on the nation split into two and by 722 BC the Northern Kingdom of Israel had fallen under God’s judgment and been overrun by the Assyrians. Successive kings rebelled against God and led the people into worshipping the false gods of the surrounding nations. At the beginning of the sixth century BC God brought judgment on the remaining Southern Kingdom of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieged Jerusalem and took King Jehoiachin into captivity.
This is where the story of Daniel begins. Daniel was a young man when Nebuchadnezzar took him to Babylon along with King Jehoiakim and the others. 10 years later in 587 BC the Babylonians overran Jerusalem, destroyed the city and the Temple, and took the remaining survivors into exile as well. The Book of Daniel is God’s answer to the simple question posed in Psalm 137:4, ‘How can we sing the song of the LORD while in a foreign land?’
Before we get into the story, we need to address the elephant in the room. We need to recognize that there are two different views about Daniel. A theory first suggested in the third century has become popular over the last hundred years. People suggest that the Book of Daniel was not actually written until the second century BC. That was a time when the Jewish people in Judah were experiencing fierce persecution by Antiochus Epiphanes, King of the Seleucid Empire in Western Asia. Some interpreters think that the Book of Daniel was written specifically to encourage the Jews in those times of trouble. They think that Daniel was not a historical figure but instead a creation of fiction or maybe an inspiring legend. These interpreters think the stories of Daniel and his companions were simply made up to encourage and inspire Jews to stand firm in their faith. Many people now understand Daniel that way.
On the other hand, the traditional view is that Daniel was a historical person in the time of the Exile. The events in the Book of Daniel actually happened as they are described, and this was all written down in the Sixth Century BC in Babylon to encourage the Jews in Exile in that generation. The Jewish Bible includes Daniel alongside other histories in the books called the Writings, even though our English tradition puts Daniel among the Prophets. The New Testament treats the Book of Daniel as history. Hebrews 11 includes closing the mouth of lions and surviving through flames in its list of Old Testament historical events even though these only appear in the Book of Daniel. The mainstream church has always understood Daniel as a historical record. More than that, it is very hard to see how the stories of Daniel would have encouraged Jews in the Second Century BC if everybody knew they were just fiction and had only just been written. So I am saying up front that I am convinced by the traditional understanding of the first half of the Book of Daniel as a historical narrative. This assumption will underly the early sermons in this series. I will have much more to say about the different kind of literature we find in later chapters of the Book of Daniel when we get to them. But for now, let’s see what we can learn from the example of Daniel.
Psalm 137:4, ‘How can we sing the song of the LORD while in a foreign land?’
How could the Exiles who found themselves forcibly spread out across Babylonia grieve for all they had lost when Jerusalem was destroyed. How could they stay close to God so far from home in a foreign land? And following on from that, how should we live as Christians who are “in the world but not of the world.”?
The prophet Jeremiah gives us one answer to these questions in a letter he sent to the exiles.
Jeremiah 29 4 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
The example of Daniel shows us how this advice from Jeremiah can work out in practice. Settling down, seeking the peace and prosperity of the city and praying for it. It all came about like this. Many times in the Old Testament God worked behind the scenes to bring chosen individuals into the places he wanted them to be. Joseph through Potiphar’s house into Pharoah’s court in Egypt. Moses the Hebrew baby brought up into the Pharoah’s family. David the shepherd boy who became King of all Israel. In the same way, God was working in the background to bring his servant Daniel into a place of great influence and power in the Babylonian Empire.
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
Nebuchadnezzar chief of staff selected a number of talented teenagers to be trained to work in his palace, ready to become anything from attendants, scribes and advisors, to diplomats or even provincial governors. They were individuals who were most likely to be natural leaders, because they came from the royal family and the nobility. They had the intellectual abilities necessary to master the language and literature of the Babylonians. By treating them royally, the King was turning these potential enemies into his allies. It was a very shrewd process of assimilation. To reinforce their new allegiance, they were given new Babylonian names. Three of those Israelites are remembered by their new names Shadrach; Meshach; Abednego. The fourth kept his Jewish name, Daniel.
Daniel and his companions were perfectly happy to be recruited into this process. It was an excellent expression of the principle seeking the peace and prosperity of the city. There is nothing at all wrong with Christians using their natural abilities, working hard and pursuing careers. Although Christians are aliens and strangers in this world, we also should be seeking the peace and prosperity of the city, praying for the community and the society God has placed us in because if it prospers, we too will prosper.
It is generally right and good for God’s people to get stuck into their communities and work at their careers. But Daniel chapter 1 gives us an inspiring example of one individual who recognized that there should be limits on the ways we fit in to the world around. Daniel stood up against the process of assimilation. He dared to be different. In the first place, he was given the new name of Belteshazzar, which means “a prince favoured by Bel”. But Bel was the name of a Babylonian god so it is understandable that as far as he could Daniel insisted on keeping his Jewish name, which means “God is my judge”. And then Daniel took a stand on another issue.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favour and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, ‘I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men of your age? The king would then have my head because of you.’
Daniel felt it would be inappropriate for him as a Jew to enjoy the fine dining of the royal food and wine. It is not that there was anything bad in those foods in themselves. This was nothing to do with the matter of ritually clean and unclean foods set out in the Law of Moses. Daniel could easily have been selective about only eating the foods which Jews were allowed to eat and rejecting the others. We should also not read into this the kind of issues of eating meat which had been offered to idols which the apostle Paul addresses in Romans and 1 Corinthians. In addition, there is also no implication here that drinking wine or other alcoholic drinks would be in itself wrong.
But Daniel wanted to make a stand. He wanted to show his loyalty to God and to his own people. He chose to do this by refusing the royal Babylonian food and instead eating very simply. Daniel chose to demonstrate that he was different. There are times when God calls us to stand out as different in all kinds of ways. For me one such time was when I was representing my university at my chosen sport. There were parts of the after-match activities which the team indulged in where I refused to take part. Most Christians would put limits on the kinds of things they might be expected to do to further their careers. God’s people should always show the difference Jesus makes to our lives. We should always refuse to compromise. We should always follow our conscience, even if that sometimes means abstaining from things which are not in themselves wrong. Daniel knew that God wanted him to take a stand over the foods he ate. He followed his conscience – and God blessed Daniel and his companions in that.
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 ‘Please test your servants for ten days: give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.’ 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
The four dared to be different and God blessed his servants for taking this stand. Essentially they adopted a vegetarian diet, or possibly even Vegan, which is becoming a very popular approach to eating today. The Daniel Diet is probably healthier than the eating patterns of many rich Western Christians. The periods of lockdown have shown very many people that they actually don’t need business lunches or evenings in the pub. Healthy eating habits are good for our bodies and good for the planet and the ancient principle of “moderation in all things” is a wise approach to a Christian lifestyle.
Some Christians go further in adopting Daniel’s practices in their own lives. This was not the only occasion when Daniel adopted a simple diet.
Daniel 10:1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.
2 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. 3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.
“Just vegetables to eat and water to drink,” in chapter 1. “No choice food, no meat or wine” in chapter 10. Many people have picked up on these passages and developed the idea of the “Daniel Fast”. Eating very simply for a period, often of three weeks. Many authors and websites see the “Daniel Fast” as a secret way to spiritual growth and blessing. Personally it seems to me that such a practice would bring far less blessing than a proper fast, abstaining completely from food for a shorter period. The Daniel Fast is only really on the level of giving up chocolate for Lent – changing your diet for a while to help you focus on God. But if you think the Daniel Fast might help you, give it a try.
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
These young men had natural abilities and God also blessed Daniel with prophetic gifts to understand dreams and visions.
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
Daniel took a stand – and God blessed him for it. There are times when Christians should refuse to blend in with the world around. And if we stand up to be counted as Christians, God will be glorified in our witness. Dare to be different!