INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL – UBF devotionals 2014
INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL – UBF devotionals 2014
God’s people did not keep his laws, and as he promised in Deuteronomy, he removed them from the land and sent them into exile (Dt 4). Babylon was God’s instrument of judgment. Daniel was a young teenager when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, and he was taken into captivity with the first group of captives (2Ch 36:5-8). The Babylonian Empire was the super-power of Daniel’s day, and Daniel lived in Babylon from the first year of Nebuchadnezzar through the reigns of five succeeding kings. He witnessed the fall of Babylon at the hands of Cyrus of Persia. His life spanned the entire 70-year period of Jewish Captivity.
Daniel received the finest education of his day and served in the courts of kings, but he was a man of prayer, and he put obedience to God as the top priority in his personal and public life. He was one who sought the Lord with all his heart (Dt 4:29).
Daniel was a layman, but he was a prophet through whom God spoke, and the shepherd of his people. He lived in the darkest period of Israel’s history, but he planted in men’s hearts the bright hope of the coming Messiah, and the hope of a righteous kingdom that would endure forever. The book of Daniel proclaims the sovereignty of God. Though God’s people are in bondage to a godless nation, God is the ruler of heaven and earth, and he is the one who has ultimate control of the destinies of men and nations. Chapters 1-6 are primarily stories and dreams of Daniel and his three friends, while chapters 7-12 are mainly apocalyptic visions given to Daniel. The whole book emphasizes the sovereignty and power of God over individuals and nations.
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