Today's Fun Fact: Daniel, in the Bible, understood every type of vision and dream.
I have spent the last year studying the books of Daniel and Revelation in preparation for Revealed Fire. The result of this time has marked me. I have learned much about God's love for His people and desire to prepare us for His purpose.
This week, I would like to share the five visions of Daniel and the prophetic history that followed.
This is for all of my history buffs!
Daniel was a royal, born and bred. As a teenager, he and his people were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. The book of Daniel shares with us his life story, the faith he had in his God, and five dreams the Lord shared with him. Don't you love how God shares with us what a life lived serving Him looks like?
Here's a picture of Daniel's faith:
"An angel of the Lord came to Daniel and said, 'Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the last day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.'” Daniel 10:12
May I be like Daniel.
Revealed Fire is the final installment of the Revealed Book Series. Maddie Ruth Bennett is a teenage girl navigating the Tribulation. She doesn't know that the traumatic events going on around her were part of a prophetic Word given to Daniel. My goal for Revealed Fire is for Maddie and her Fam to live out the same courage and wisdom Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, lived out.
In prelude, I am working on a prophetic history that will include an in-depth study of Daniel and Revelation. What you read today will be the beginning of this study.
The five dreams of Daniel are spectacular and terrifying. They are prophetic and tell the story of what we know to be history with a prophecy yet to come. Each dream builds on the last.
Chapter 2: 603bc—The first dream is given to King Nebuchadnezzar and interpreted by Daniel. The dream shows a statue made of Gold (The Head - Babylon), Silver (The arms and chest - Medo-Persia), Bronze (Torso and Thighs - Greece), and a divided kingdom of Iron and Clay (Feet and Toes representing the Seleucid Syria and Ptolemaic Egypt which became the Roman Empire). This statue represented four earthly kingdoms. The Kingdom of God, led by Jesus, our King of Kings, stands out as the stone that smashes the image into little pieces.
Chapter 7: 555bc - The second dream given to Daniel expounds on the first as it shows the character of the kingdoms and the little horn that will arise out of the four kingdoms.
Chapter 8: 553bc - The third dream goes even further. A ram with two horns (representing the kings of Media and Persia- (The silver chest and arms from the statue in the 1st dream) is attacked by a shaggy goat with one horn (representing the Greek King Alexander the Great)- The Bronze torso and thighs of the 1st dream). The ram was powerless against the goat. At the height of the goat's power, the large horn broke into four prominent horns representing the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt (Ptolemies/Pharaohs), the Seleucid Empire in the East (Persia), the Kingdom of Pergamon in Asia Minor, and Macedon (Greece). A little horn will arise from the four horns- Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who thought himself a god.
I can't leave out my mathematicians! Here are some fun calculations for you.
Chapter 9: 539bc - Daniel has a vision of seventy weeks- called seventy sevens. Hebrews often referred to seven years as a seven. These seventy weeks were divided into seven sevens, sixty-two sevens, and one seven. So 70x7 = 490 years. The first seven sevens (forty-nine years) began when Artaxerxes issued the decree to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem in Nehemiah 2:1. Sixty-two sevens ended when the anointed one was put to death (Daniel 9:26.) I believe that the final seven will take place at the beginning of the tribulation when the ruler makes a covenant with Israel that is set to last for seven years but is broken at the 3.5-year point when he stands on the holy place and declares himself to be god. (Does this sound familiar?)
Chapters 10-12: Daniel receives details on the previous four dreams in the fifth dream as he dreams of the kings of the north (Seleucids-Persia), the kings of the south (Ptolemies-Greece), and the empires that follow.
If you want to see the history backing up the prophecy, you can find it here.
So, why do you think God shared these prophecies with Daniel?
Here are some of my thoughts:
God's chosen people asked for a king. God wanted to be their King, but they wanted what everyone else had. He gave them what they asked for and showed them the rise and fall of earthly kingdoms in direct contrast to God's eternal Kingdom.
To share the consequence of sin with the people (Isaiah 53:8.)
To prepare the chosen people for the coming of their Messiah, Jesus Christ (Daniel 9:24-27.)
To give us hope that God and His Kingdom prevail.
Both Daniel and Revelation are "apocalyptic" books of the Bible. Apokalypsis is a Greek word that means "revelation" or "lifting of the veil."
While Revealed Fire will not be a study of Daniel and Revelation, my hope is that it will reveal the hope that these prophetic books served to provide God's people.
Please join me in praying that I will be obedient in this task while honoring the Lord and His Word.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this prophetic history! What stands out to you? What would you like to hear more about? Hit reply and let me know!
A Prayer for you:
Father God, we thank You for the revealing of hope in Your Word. Like Daniel, help us to grow in understanding and wisdom. Teach us to search out the things of God and to find the revelations that You have left for us. May we set our minds to gain understanding and to humble ourselves before our God. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen.
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