DanielSample

This young man, probably only in his late teens, ‘resolved in his heart not to defile himself’, Daniel 1:8.The result was that God not only vindicated him and his friends so they excelled above all the other ‘trainee interns’ but God gave Daniel a prophetic anointing so he 'could understand all visions and dreams of all kinds’, 1:17.

Paul writes to the Philippians; ‘I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things’, Philippians 3:14-15.

We shall learn a lot more from Daniel’s astonishing prophetic ministry as we continue to dive into this book. But before we do we need to see how the book of Daniel is structured because the structure itself tells us some very important truths.

Not only is Daniel 2-7 written in Aramaic, the international language of the region, but these chapters follow a clear chiastic structure:

Daniel 2 A dream; four kingdoms will be followed by God’s kingdom
Daniel 3 A test; Daniel’s friends refuse to commit idolatry
Daniel 4 An emperor is humbled and repents
Daniel 5 An emperor is humbled but does not repent
Daniel 6 A test; Daniel refuses to commit idolatry
Daniel 7 A dream; four kingdoms will be followed by God’s kingdom

The structure acts like an arrowhead with chapters 4&5 at the point. The leading verse at the “arrowhead” of the chiastic structure is repeated four times: 'the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes' (4:17, 25, 32, and 5:21). This statement answers the difficult question raised by the sacking of Jerusalem in 1:1-2: 'Has Yahweh been defeated? Is he a lesser God?' The way these chapters are structured makes the leading point that God is sovereign over human history, intervening in miraculous deliverance and humbling the most powerful.

But there’s more! The chiastic sequence reaches a crescendo in Daniel 7 where Daniel receives the leading prophetic message of the book; Yahweh will intervene and establish the kingdom of heaven on earth through the agency of the "Son of Man"; Daniel 7:9-28.

These verses were axiomatic in Jesus’ self-understanding and His proclamation of His identity; Mark 8:31.

The remaining chapters, Daniel 1, and 8-12, are in Hebrew and serve as a Hebrew commentary and application of this central section.

So, to return to where we started, we see the Lord reward Daniel and his friends because they resolved not to allow the unbelieving culture and behavior around them to shape them into its philosophy and lifestyle.

And through it all the Lord saw that there were four people he could trust and work with, and so the adventure began.

To get deep into Daniel we need to either listen to or read the stories.

Let's dig into Daniel 2 today.


Here’s a question to think over today:

Six times in chapter 2, Daniel states that God reveals mysteries. In Matthew 13:11, Jesus tells his disciples ‘the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given to you’, meaning that Jesus expects his disciples to understand and operate in the dynamics of the kingdom of God. How can you and I as disciples of Jesus learn the secrets of the kingdom of God?

Remember ‘the measure you use is measured to you’, if you come to Jesus with your coffee cup, he’ll fill up your coffee cup, if you come with your wheelie bin, he’ll fill up your wheelie bin!