Ever been the only one in the room who wouldn’t go along? Daniel knew that feeling, and he lived it in a palace full of foreign kings.
Daniel was taken to Babylon as a young man and served under several rulers. His book tells of faithfulness in exile and gives visions of kingdoms rising and falling, ending with God’s kingdom that stands forever.
Daniel 2:44 (ESV): “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.”
Author
Daniel
Chapters
12
Key Verse
Daniel 2:44
Theme
God rules over kingdoms
Breakdown of the Book of Daniel:
Daniel 1Faithful in Babylon
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are taken to Babylon in the third year of Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:1). The three friends are renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the four of them refuse the king’s food. God gives them wisdom and favor (Daniel 1:17).
Daniel 2The Statue and the Stone
Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a great statue, and God shows Daniel the meaning. Coffman reads the four parts as Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. A stone cut without hands breaks the statue and becomes a kingdom that will never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44).
Daniel 3The Fiery Furnace
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will not bow to the golden statue. They are thrown into the furnace, and the king sees a fourth figure walking with them unharmed (Daniel 3:25).
Daniel 4–5Two Proud Kings
Nebuchadnezzar is humbled until he knows that God rules (Daniel 4:34–37). Belshazzar uses the temple vessels at a feast, a hand writes on the wall, and Babylon falls that night (Daniel 5:30–31).
Daniel 6The Lions’ Den
Under Darius, Daniel keeps praying three times a day even after the decree forbids it (Daniel 6:10). God shuts the mouths of the lions, and Darius decrees that everyone should fear the God of Daniel (Daniel 6:22, 26).
Daniel 7–8Beasts, a Son of Man, and a Ram and Goat
Four beasts rise, then the Ancient of Days takes His seat and one like a son of man receives an everlasting kingdom (Daniel 7:13–14). In chapter 8 a ram and a goat picture Persia and Greece.
Daniel 9Prayer and the Seventy Weeks
Daniel reads Jeremiah and prays for his people. Gabriel brings the prophecy of seventy weeks, which speaks of an anointed one being cut off and the city and sanctuary being destroyed (Daniel 9:26).
Daniel 10–12The Final Vision
Daniel is shown conflict among kingdoms and trouble for God’s people. The vision ends with many who sleep in the dust waking, some to everlasting life and some to shame and contempt (Daniel 12:2).
Key Topics in Daniel:
God Rules Over Kingdoms
Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome rise and fall, yet God is the one who sets up and removes kings (Daniel 2:21; 4:17).
Faithful in a Foreign Land
Daniel and his friends serve in a pagan court without giving up obedience to God (Daniel 1:8; 3:16–18; 6:10).
God Delivers
He saved three men in a furnace and one man in a lions’ den, and He is still able to rescue (Daniel 3:17; 6:22).
A Kingdom That Will Not Be Destroyed
The stone of chapter 2 and the dominion given to the son of man in chapter 7 point to a kingdom that never ends (Daniel 2:44; 7:14).
Judgment and Resurrection
The books are opened in judgment (Daniel 7:9–10), and chapter 12 points to a resurrection of the just and the unjust (Daniel 12:2).
What Commentators Say:
James Burton Coffman, Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible (Abilene Christian University Press, 1971), available at StudyLight.org. The notes below summarize his comments and are not direct quotations.
Read what Coffman says (5 notes)
On who wrote it (Daniel 8): Coffman holds that Daniel wrote the book in the sixth century B.C. He argues that the Greek Septuagint, translated about 250 B.C., already contained the whole book, which rules out a later date.
On the four kingdoms (Daniel 2): He identifies the kingdoms as Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Since Daniel 2:44 says God’s kingdom is set up in the days of those kings, he places it in the days of the Roman kings, which fits the coming of Christ.
On the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7): He reads the throne scene as a picture of the final judgment, with the Ancient of Days as Almighty God, and compares it to Revelation 20.
On the seventy weeks (Daniel 9): He reads the anointed one who is cut off as Christ, and the destruction of the city as Jerusalem falling to the Romans under Titus in A.D. 70. He rejects both the Antiochus reading and the idea of a gap before the last week.
On the resurrection (Daniel 12): He reads “many” as meaning all, as in Romans 5:19, so the verse points to the general resurrection. He rejects the view that it only describes the end of Antiochus.
Conclusion:
Daniel shows that God is in charge when kings, empires, and furnaces seem to be. His people can stay faithful because His kingdom doesn’t fall.
Here’s a small step for this week. Read Daniel 6, and notice what Daniel does when the pressure rises (Daniel 6:10).