DanielSample

Every Bible book is like a magnificent, rare jewel.

And just as every jewel must be held and turned in the light until it refracts a magnificent display of beauty, so each book in the Bible must be heard and read and considered and studied until its message is clearly heard and understood for what it is.

So, what is the leading purpose and message of Daniel?

There are two clear answers:

First; ‘that the Most High is sovereign over all the kingdoms on earth and he gives them to anyone he wishes’; Daniel 4:17, 25, 32, & 5:21.

Second: The leading message of the book of Daniel is so important that two whole chapters are given over to stating it;

First, in chapter 2 God tells a pagan king in a dream that ‘the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed … it will bring (the kingdoms of the earth) to an end but it itself will endure for ever’, Daniel 2:44.

And this substantially developed in a dream that God gave Daniel; ‘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. 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.’ Daniel 7:13-14.

Daniel teaches that this one ‘like a son of man’ is worshipped in heaven by all peoples. And since idolatry is strictly forbidden throughout the Bible, this can only mean that this ‘son of man’ must also be God himself.

So the leading message of the book of Daniel and the reason it is included in scripture is that God himself will come in the person of one ‘like a son of man’ and establish his own kingdom on earth and that this kingdom will fill the earth.

Which is exactly what Jesus, ‘the Son of Man’ has done and is doing and will do.