We have come to the close of our brief studies in Daniel. Now we must take a survey and retrospect of the whole of the ground which we have traversed.

      First of all let us recall the peculiar position held for God by the young Jewish captive who grew old in this service, and what was the occasion and the situation, and the times that called for Daniel's prophecy.

      Of first importance is the key-fact that Jehovah had delivered up his faithless people Israel into captivity and exile, and His city and His sanctuary to destruction. This was not done until after long forbearance and patient, faithful warning and pleading. Israel persisted in disobedience until there was no remedy. First the Assyrian laid waste the Northern Kingdom, and carried a large part of its population away into exile. About 150 years later the Kingdom of Judah and its capital Jerusalem, were given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. This would not have been in God's original program for His people. His expressed purpose was to make His people Israel head of the nations, to set them above all peoples of the earth, and to make Jerusalem the great capital, and its temple the center of the world's worship. [132] (Deut. 26:19; 28:1, 13; 1 Kings 8:41-43; Isa. 56:7.) But it was not as though the word of God had come to nought, or as if God had failed. God never fails and is never thwarted, nor ever gives up His plans or purposes (Rom. 11:29). The disobedient nation was then started on a course of age-long discipline, during which they were to be under the rule and sovereignty of the Gentile world-powers. Thus began "the times of the Gentiles" which continue unto this day (Luke 21:24). Ever since Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, Israel has been under Gentile domination. They have never again possessed their land, nor have they ever again been a sovereign and autonomous nation in it. (But see footnote on page 3.)

      But when God gave them up into captivity He did not leave Himself without witness. He was still jealous for His name. In the first company of captives whom Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon¹ was a young man--a lad perhaps 16 years of age--son of the royal family, or of a family of nobles, of Judah who was destined to be God's instrument, God's vessel unto honor, and faithful servant in the world-court of Babylon. Through him God made Himself known, upheld the honor of His name, and taught lessons that should stand for all time.

      Two outstanding prophecies in Daniel constitute the main track that runs through the book. They are:

      I. The vision of the Great Image in [133] Nebuchadnezzar's Dream. (Dan. 2.)

      II. The Vision of the Four Beasts. (Dan. 7.)

      These two which are one (like Pharaoh's double dream--Gen. 41:25) span the whole period of Gentile world-sovereignty from its beginning to its end. All else in the book of Daniel is introductory, supplementary, illustrative, and additional. The prophecy of four great Gentile world-powers in Dan. 2 and 7 is the backbone, as it were of the book.

      The vision of the Image was given to Nebuchadnezzar--yet not directly to him, but through God's man, one of God's nation, Israel.

      It is not the purpose of this retrospect to rehearse again the details of Daniel's education for the Babylonian court, and his, and his companions' determined loyalty toward God; nor the circumstances under which God revealed Nebuchadnezzar's forgotten dream to Daniel. All this is related in Daniel 1 and 2, and has been discussed in the former lessons. Our purpose here is to bring out the great central truths.

      We see then Daniel standing before the astonished king, as the spokesman of the Most High God and revealing to him that deepest of all inscrutable secrets that could be conceived--a forgotten dream. There could be no doubt in the king's mind that it was the same God that sent the dream that was now speaking to him through lips of the young Jewish captive. But why did not this Most High God communicate with him, King Nebuchadnezzar [134] himself, directly? It was because the heathen king must learn that this people Israel, though in rejection, was ordained to be God's point of contact with mankind, His priestly nation, the appointed channel of God's communications. It is through Israel that God's word and light and truth must go out. (Comp. John 4:22.) True, God had given them into Nebuchadnezzar's hand for the time; but they were God's people still. (Rom. 11:29.)

      That the prophecy of the Four Beasts in Dan. 7 runs parallel with that of Nebuchadnezzar's Image [135] is not open to dispute (though, of course, some few have tried to dispute it at one time and another). The theme of the two prophecies is the same, their scope and progress are the same, the terminus and outcome of both are the same. Not that the prophecy of the Four Beasts is a mere repetition of that of the Image--it is far fuller in detail, more realistic in presentation, and carries much additional revelation. The four great world-powers are represented in the seventh chapter according to their true character--as beasts; and (as was the "head of gold" in the Image) the first is the noblest; and the progressive deterioration in the four parts of the Image (gold, silver, brass, iron, clay) is seen in the four successive Beasts also; the last of which shows (like the toes of the Image) a ten-fold division, and, like the Image in its last part, meets its doom by an act of judgment direct from on High.

      It is notable that the Image, though consisting of four successive parts, is viewed as a whole, and in the end is represented as being destroyed as a whole (Dan. 2:35). This feature does not appear in the Four Beasts until, in the vision of John of things future (Rev. 1:19; 4:1ff) the fourth Beast appears again in its final development, in the end-time, and it embodies in itself then the characteristic features of all the four. (Rev. 13:1, 2.)

      The destruction of the Image, as also the judgment visited upon the last Beast, is, in each case, followed by the reign of Heaven, the Kingdom of God. In Dan. 2 we read--"In the time of those kings"--not the kings of the four successive world-powers, [136] which could not have been meant, for they were not contemporaneous, but in the days of the ten kings of the last world-power "shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, neither shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people"--as the Babylonian kingdom was left to the Medes and Persians; and the latter passed over to Greece; but this kingdom which God will set up, "shall destroy and break in pieces all those other kingdoms," and "it shall stand for ever." (Dan. 2:44.) So likewise in Dan. 7--"These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, that shall rise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. . . . The Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom . . . and the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom [the kingdom of the Most High] is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." (Dan. 7:17, 18, 22, 27.)

      The same fact appears in John's Revelation. The ten-horned beast of Rev. 13, like the fourth of Dan. 7, is a world-power (see Rev. 13:2, 7) and is one of Daniel's four (there were not to be five)--and manifestly the fourth one; and it is seen there in its future and final manifestation. This beast (like the fourth of Daniel's vision) meets its doom at the hands of the returning Christ from heaven, when [137] He comes with "the armies of heaven." (Rev. 19:11-21). And immediately after the execution of the Divine judgment upon the Beast, Christ and His saints take over the government--precisely as in Dan. 7:26, 27. (Rev. 20:4-6.) These correspondences are not accidental, nor are they fabricated by man's ingenuity and imagination, but they lie plain and open in the Word itself, as the faithful reader can see and verify.

      The eighth chapter of Daniel takes up in detail certain matters concerning the "silver" and the "brass" kingdoms of Daniel 2, and the "bear" and the "leopard" kingdoms of Daniel 7, which correspond to the silver and brass. Only here they are not the "bear" and the "leopard" but a ram and a he-goat; and these stand for the Persian and Grecian world-powers, respectively. His purpose is to trace certain developments in the third, the Grecian, world-power in the "latter days."

      The intercessory prayer of Daniel (one of the great prayers of the Bible) in Dan. 9, issues in the time-prophecy of the Seventy Weeks which leads to Israel's final and glorious restoration. (Dan. 9:24.) And his three weeks' siege of prayer at the river Hiddekel, is answered by a wondrous heavenly messenger (Dan. 10) whose message of revelation deals with the developments of the last days, and reaches to the close of the book.

      We find Daniel praying first in chapter 2, when Nebuchadnezzar's decree had gone out that the "wise [138] men" of Babylon should be slain--under which decree Daniel himself was included.

      We learn in chapter 6 of Daniel's daily prayers--three times a day, praying and giving thanks--and refusing to vary from this, even at the threat of the lions' den.

      In chapter 9, Daniel's wonderful prayer of intercession for his people.

      In chapter ten he prays with fasting for three weeks, till the answer came.

      With the coming of the Savior a new and closer approach to God has been opened. But how few are the Christians whose prayer-life holds any comparison to the earnest, fervent praying of this Old Testament saint!

      The book of Daniel contains but two definite references to Christ. The language of one of these the Lord quoted and applied to Himself when He witnessed His good confession before Caiaphas. Daniel says, "I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." (Dan. 7:13, 14.)

      The challenge of Caiaphas and the answer of [139] our Lord runs as follows:

      "And the high priest said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Matt. 26:63, 64.) As given by Mark, "I am: and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14:62.) In this reference to Daniel 7:13, 14 the Lord also testified to His exaltation at God's right hand, and to His return "with the clouds" in like manner as He had gone to heaven.

      The other prophecy of Christ is in Dan. 9:26 where it is stated that "after the threescore and two weeks (the 69th week) shall the anointed one (the Messiah) be cut off, and shall have nothing."

      But the reference to the Anti-Christ² is very full and detailed. We see him first as the "little horn," the "king of fierce countenance," in Dan. 8. (The question of the identity of the two "little horns" is discussed in the lesson on Daniel 8.) In Dan. 9 he is "the prince that shall come," who makes "a [140] covenant with many for one week." In Dan. 11, from v. 36 on he is the willful king. Make a list of all the things said about him, and compare the description with the dictators of our day. The resemblance is amazing.

      One point stands out clearly in Daniel's prophecy--that regardless of all that transpires on the earth Jehovah bears supreme rule. Though for a time He has given over the sovereignty of the earth into the hands of the Gentiles, He has by no means abdicated His throne and authority. He is "the God of heaven," the "Most High God" who has established His throne in the heavens, and whose kingdom rules over all. (Ps. 103:19.) The Gentile world-kingdoms derive their power and authority from Him (Rom. 13:1) and their rulers hold their thrones only by His will and sufferance. Moreover these rulers are strictly responsible to Him for their conduct, their attitude toward Him, and especially as to their treatment of His people Israel. This was first deeply impressed on the mind of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4) and later even more emphatically upon Belshazzar (Dan. 5). The former was taught that "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the lowest of men." When he had learned this lesson Nebuchadnezzar "praised and extolled and honored the king of heaven"--"for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of the earth [141] are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?" (Dan. 4:17, 34, 35, 37.)

      Belshazzar's lesson was a more severe one. To him came "the handwriting on the wall," because he knew all this, yet lifted himself up against the Lord of heaven; and, as Daniel said to him, "the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." (Dan. 5:22f.) So on that selfsame night, he was deprived of both his kingdom and his life, and the world-sovereignty passed into the hands of the Medes and Persians. Thus the others, also, when their cup was full, were set aside by the God of heaven. And the extreme doom is reserved for the last of the Gentile world-powers.

      Finally, let us list the things that shall come when "the times of the Gentiles" come to their end--i. e., after the destruction of the last Gentile world-power. (Luke 21:24.) See especially Dan. 7:21, 22, 25-27; Dan. 9:24. [142]

[LOD2 132-142]