Don’t let this post overwhelm you.  Promise?  Some recap…lots of names.  Just chew on what you need to.

Timeline of where we are:

Look at the blue line.  Daniel was taken into the Babylonian Captivity by Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BC.

When Babylon invaded Judah, Nebuchadnezzar and his army took some noble captives to Babylon, including Daniel, plus some of the vessels from the Temple. This was the first of Judah’s three deportations (eviction notices) which the Babylonians took groups of Judahites to Babylon (All this is orchestrated by the Lord himself).

• The king of Judah at that time was Jehoiakim.
• Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin succeeded him in 598 B.C.
• Jehoiachin reigned only three months and 10 days.
• Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah again.
• At the turn of the year, in 597 B.C., he took Jehoiachin to Babylon, along with most of Judah’s remaining leaders, including Ezekiel, and the rest of the national treasures.

The third and final deportation took place approximately 11 years later, in 586 B.C. Jehoiakim’s younger brother Mattaniah,  Nebuchadnezzar changed his name to Zedekiah, was then Judah’s “puppet king”. He rebelled against Babylon’s leadership by secretly making a treaty with Egypt.

After an 18-month siege, Jerusalem fell. Nebuchadnezzar returned to Jerusalem, burned the temple, broke down the city walls, and took the remaining people to Babylon. He took Zedekiah as a prisoner to Babylon, then executed his sons, and put out his eyes before killing him too.  Mercy!

The theme of this book is: ‘God is Sovereign’.  But what does that mean?  I struggle with “Christianese” words that we let roll off our tongue without really knowing what we are saying.  We have read about Pharaohs, Judges, Kings, and Rulers.   I looked up Sovereign in the Dictionary: it is not a ‘characteristic or an adjective…it is a noun.

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• noun

Even though both Israel and Judah fell to enemy nations, the book of Daniel makes it crystal clear that the Lord remains absolutely sovereign over humans, nature, and the world itself. This book will give us Peace in the present day regardless of the political and religious circumstances we see or hear today.

Daniel is an apocalyptic book and an eschatological book.  

• Eschatology refers to End Times or things to come,
• Apocalyptic refers to final judgment.

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The book is divided into two parts:

• history (ch. 1—6),
• prophecy (ch. 7—12).

Chronologically, this book will recall the present, to the near future, and to the far future.  Lots of cool visuals will be posted, so you will get this!   It’s WILD!  Some scholars have said that this book is so accurate that it had to be written after events as a history lesson.  Really??  Well, God blew that theory out of the water when the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and the book of Daniel was included in it! Ha! Take that!

Before today, if I said Daniel-many would say “Sure, the lion’s den guy”.

That is chapter 6.  What about the other 11 chapters??

Feel free to read ahead. ❤️