‘We are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Many of the prophecies are about to be fulfilled in quick succession. Every element of power is about to be set to work. History will be repeated; old controversies will arouse to new life, and peril will beset God's people on every side. Intensity is taking hold of the human family. It is permeating everything upon the earth,’ TM 116

‘Study Revelation in connection with Daniel, for history will be repeated . . . We, with all our religious advantages, ought to know far more today than we do know,’ TM 116

‘As we near the close of this world’s history, the prophecies recorded by Daniel demand our special attention, as they relate to the very time in which we are living. With them should be linked the teachings of the last book of the New Testament Scriptures. Satan has led many to believe that the prophetic portions of the writings of Daniel and of John the revelator cannot be understood. But the promise is plain that special blessing will accompany the study of these prophecies. “The wise shall understand” (12:10), was spoken of the visions of Daniel that were to be unsealed in the latter days; and of the revelation that Christ gave to His servant John for the guidance of God’s people all through the centuries, the promise is, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.” Revelation 1:3.  PK 547.

‘The books of Daniel and Revelation are of great consequence to us, and should be studied with great earnestness,’ RH June 21, 1898.

‘If our people were half awake, if they realized the nearness of the events portrayed in the Revelation, a reformation would be wrought in our churches,’ TM 118.

‘When we as a people understand what this book (Revelation) means to us, there will be seen among us a great revival,’ TM 13.

‘When the books of Daniel and Revelation are better understood, believers will have an entirely different religious experience,’ FLB 345

‘Time is short. The end of all things is at hand. . . Daniel and Revelation are the books applicable to us, and should be carefully studied, with much prayer,’ 18MR 275.

‘In the revelation made to John on the Isle of Patmos . . . is light, great light, revealed to us by Jesus Christ,’ TM 433.

 

DANIEL CHAPTER 1

The Lifestyle of Babylon v. the Lifestyle of Jerusalem

NOTE:

• The Great Controversy theme – who will rule this world, Jerusalem or Babylon?  Two kings, two gods, two cities, two temples, two peoples. In every chapter of Daniel, the kingdom of God is victorious. Compare Rev 17 and 18.
• What is literal and local prior to the cross becomes spiritual and worldwide after the cross.  Literal Babylon on the literal Euphrates invades the ‘glorious land’ (Israel) and attacks the sanctuary and God’s people. Spiritual Babylon on the spiritual Euphrates invades the ‘glorious land’, (God’s church), and attacks God’s sanctuary (the ‘daily’), and His people.
• Nations come into prophecy when they come into contact with God’s people in a significant way.
• Concept of ‘repeat and enlarge’. Chapter 1, an attack upon Jerusalem and its temple, is repeated throughout Daniel.
• The theme of Daniel – Captivity and deliverance. Sanctuary destroyed; sanctuary restored and cleansed. Kingdom destroyed; kingdom restored.
• For meditation: What does this chapter, and all subsequent chapters, tell us about the character of Jesus? How is Jesus revealed to us?

1. Who was Daniel?

• A prince of the royal line, from noble birth.
• Born during the reforms of good King Josiah.
• Received a good education and possessed nobility of character.
• No fault is recorded against him. In this he is a type of the 144,000. See Rev 14:5.
• Taken in the first of three sieges by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Later sieges occurred in the times of Kings Jehoiachin and Zedekiah and were more severe.
• A contemporary of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Habakkuk.
• A man of prayer.
• Revered in his lifetime as being a righteous man, Eze 14:20; 28:3
• 530 BC in Sushan aged 94 years.
• Outlived the Babylonian empire.

2. Who was Nebuchadnezzar?

• The King of Babylon during almost half of its existence as an empire.
• Son of an Assyrian general.
• A genius as a general, a builder and as a ruler.
• Called ‘His servant’ by God, (Jer 27:6).
• Built Babylon, the ‘glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldean’s pride,’ ‘the golden city’, the ‘lady of the kingdoms,’ (Is. 13:19; 14:4, 47:5).  (See also Is. 45:2; Jer 51:13, 58).

3. Why did God give Jerusalem, His capital city on this earth, into the hands of the king of Babylon?  (1:1-2).

Read 2 Chron 36:15-18; Jer 25:8-12. For centuries God had worked through His prophets to reform His people. Every measure had been tried until there was no remedy. Only when there is no remedy will God allow His people to taken by the enemy.

4. What was Daniel’s first great test? (1:4, 8,12-14).
5. Who else was tested on the matter of appetite?  (Adam and Eve, Israel, Jesus)
6. Why is the control of appetite so important?

‘Daniel’s parents had trained him in his childhood to habits of strict temperance. They had taught him. . . that his eating and drinking had a direct influence upon his physical, mental, and moral nature,’ CD 154-155.

‘That single instance of departure from principle would have weakened their sense of right and their abhorrence of wrong. Indulgence of appetite would have involved the sacrifice of physical vigor, clearness of intellect, and spiritual power. One wrong step would probably have led to others, until their connection with Heaven being severed, they would have been swept away by temptation,’ SL 28-29.

7. What is ‘pulse’?  (v. 12).

The word comes from the Hebrew word ‘zeriom,’ meaning ‘things sown’, as used in Gen 1:29. The Cambridge Bible states that ‘zeriom’ refers to ‘vegetable food in general.’ In other words, a vegetarian diet. Satan does his best to take men away from the original diet God chose for man when He created him.

See 1 Cor 3:16-17; 10:31 and Rom 12:1.

8. What other means did the King use to try to influence the four young Hebrew men to sever their allegiance to the God of heaven?  (v. 6-7)

In the Bible a name stands for character. A person’s name and its meaning have an unconscious influence on his life. Only God has the right to change a name because only God can change the character.  For example, Jacob to Israel. (Gen 32:27-28).

Daniel – God is my judge.

Hananiah – Yahweh is gracious.

Mishael – He who belongs to God.

Azariah – The help of Yahweh.

Daniel and his three friends never used their Babylonian names, and God never called them by these names. Though studying in the university of Babylon, they did not allow themselves to be brainwashed. They served the Hebrew God without wavering.

9. How did God bless the faithfulness of Daniel? (v. 15, 17, 20).
10.  Did Daniel and his three companions depend upon their native ability, or did they apply themselves diligently to their studies?

‘The close application of those Hebrew students under the training of God was richly rewarded. While they made diligent effort to secure knowledge, the Lord gave them heavenly wisdom. . .. The Lord God of heaven will not supply the deficiencies that result from mental and spiritual indolence. . .When we aim at a low standard, we shall reach only a low standard.

We commend to every student the Book of books as the grandest study for the human intelligence, as the education essential for this life, and for eternal life. . . Students will come forth from the study of the words of life with minds expanded, elevated, ennobled, and with their slumbering powers aroused to engage in the study of the sciences with a keener appreciation. They may become as learned as Daniel, with a purpose to develop and employ every power to glorify God,’ FE 373-379.

11.  How do we know these Hebrew youth would have risen early in the morning to pursue their studies?

“He who would excel in the school of the scribe must rise like the dawn” – from a Babylonian copy book.

“Those that honour Me, I will honour,” 1 Sam 2:30.

• “At the court of Babylon were gathered representatives from all lands, men of the highest talent, men the most richly endowed with natural gifts, and possessed of the broadest culture that the world could bestow; yet among them all, the Hebrew youth were without a peer. In physical strength and beauty, in mental vigor and literary attainment, they stood unrivaled. The erect form, the firm, elastic step, the fair countenance, the undimmed senses, the untainted breath—all were so many certificates of good habits, insignia of the nobility with which nature honors those who are obedient to her laws,”  PK 485
• “The kingly power of reason, sanctified by divine grace, is to bear sway in the life. Intellectual power, physical stamina, and the length of life depend upon immutable laws. Through obedience to these laws, man may stand conqueror of himself, conqueror of his own inclinations, conqueror of principalities and powers, of ‘the rulers of the darkness of this world’. . . The life of Daniel and his fellows is a demonstration of what God will do for those who yield themselves to Him and with the whole heart seek to accomplish His purpose,” PK 490