Themes By Chapter

Book Summary:

Daniel was the prophet for the Israelites in Babylon. He was taken captive to Babylon when he was 16 and became prime minister because of his interpretations of Nebuchadnezzar dreams. One of the dreams he interpreted prophesied coming world empires. The beast had a head of gold , its breast and arms of silver , the belly and thighs of brass and it legs of iron with it’s feet and toes iron and clay. In the dream a rock broke the beast and then grew into a huge mountain. This rock was Jesus Christ who will bring a kingdom which can never be destroyed, an everlasting kingdom.

Jesus is seen when Daniel’s friends – Shadrack, Meshack and Abednigo were thrown into the fiery furnace for disobeying king Nebuchadnezzar by not falling down and worshiping him. However they did not burn up in the furnace. The king was perplexed at this miracle, because not only were the three Jewish boys not burning up but there was a fourth person in the fiery furnace with them, who the kings said “is like the Son of God.” (Daniel 3:25) In our are fiery trials Jesus is there with us, experiencing the same thing as we are – and in the fire we won’t be consumed because God won’t give us anything that we can’t bear and will give us the grace to see it through. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Daniel prophecy of the seventy weeks is perhaps one of the most astounding in scripture. He prophesied the exact day that the Christ would come form the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Artaxerxes issues this decree on March 14, 445BC. Exactly 69 weeks later, (69 times 7, which makes 483 years), the Messiah rode into Jerusalem on His donkey.