Daniel the Prophet

Born into royalty and nobility in the city of Jerusalem, Daniel was a handsome Jewish youth with quick understanding and aptitude. Captured as a young man by the armed forces of King Nebuchadnezzar's Neo-Babylonian Empire when they invaded Jerusalem in 606 BC, Daniel was renamed Belteshazzar by the Babylonians. Because of his mental abilities, Daniel was assigned to three years of training in the royal Babylonian palace by Nebuchadnezzar. After he was trained, Daniel entered the king's service as a scholar and proved to be ten times superior to his Chaldean counterparts who were magicians and enchanters.

In 604 BC, Daniel was called upon by the king to interpret a dream, with the details and interpretation recorded in Daniel, Chapter 2. Nebuchadnezzar's dream centered around a large, dazzling statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of mixed iron and clay. In the dream, a rock not formed by human hands, struck the statue on its feet and caused the whole statue to crumble into pieces like wheat chaff on the threshing floor. After the chaff was blown away by the wind, the rock became a huge mountain covering the entire earth.

Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the statue represented four consecutive kingdoms which would rule the nations of the earth, the first of which was the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The final empire was to be as strong as iron, with control over the nations of the prior three kingdoms. Ultimately comprised of ten nations (toes), the feet or foundation of the fourth kingdom would be partly strong and partly brittle, and would be divided, as signified by the mixture of iron and clay. In time, each of the four kingdoms would be destroyed and God would establish an everlasting kingdom ruled by his Rock, with dominion over all nations.

Following his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel was placed into a high management position within the Babylonian kingdom, and ultimately served as the third in command under Nabonidas, the final king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Not only was Daniel revered by the Babylonians for his interpretation of dreams, but the Christian community throughout history has studied and placed great significance upon Daniel, Chapters 7 through 12, in which Daniel's dreams and visions are revealed as eschatological prophecy. When asked by his disciples regarding the signs of the Second Coming and the end of the age, Christ, during his Olivet Discourse, revealed the signs preceding the coming of the Son of Man, and, directed the disciples to read the Book of Daniel regarding the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel. In Chapter 8, the story of Daniel's vision regarding the initial placement of an abomination in the Holy of Holies, in 168 BC, by Antiochus IV Epiphanes is contained, and, in Chapter 12, the end of the age time frame is revealed and is benchmarked to the construction of the final abomination which causes Mt. Zion to remain desolate of its sanctuary until the consummation of the Christ and the Church at the Second Coming.

The author(s) of this Website encourage your careful study and prayerful contemplation of Chapters 7 through 12 of the Book of Daniel.