Daniel Reveals The Future Pdf

[Mariela Laflam]

Withall that's transpiring in the world, people can't help but wonder what the future holds. Will there ever be peace on earth? How long will the world live under the threat of terrorism? Is a one-world ruler on the horizon?

God has already provided answers to these questions in the book of Daniel, which sets forth His blueprints for the future. In fact, when you understand the prophecies Daniel reveals, every other prophecy in the Bible will fit somewhere in the plan.

"If you want to understand the future, if you want to know what will happen in the "end of days," you need to begin with the prophecies of the Book of Daniel. Join me on this glorious adventure into the future." -Kay Arthur

These revolutionary, no-homework, 6-week studies are an easy introduction to inductive study. They have proven great for small groups and have a unique format that includes Scripture alongside the text. Zoom in on the issues you care about and learn to think about them as God does. These focused, self-contained studies guide you into God's Word one topic at a time, 6 weeks at a time, with no homework. Learn to think biblically and discover what God has to say about your real-life questions. These softcover workbooks include Scripture alongside instructions, questions and informative insights to aid your inductive study experience.

Our study is an extraordinary passage of Scripture about both the past and the future. I have to admit that it is amazing what we find in Scripture sometimes. When we first become a believer in Christ, we may think the Bible is about salvation, forgiveness of sin, and going to heaven. But when we start to read and study it, we find there are many things in the Bible that we never expected to find.

As we study, look to discover the unexpected. Have you ever asked yourself why God gave you the Bible and what He wants you to know? There are numerous answers to that question. It is not just that we are sinners, and Christ died for our sins so that we can be forgiven and go to heaven. There is more to it than that. Let me give you just some of the reasons.

So what is one of the reasons that Scripture is given to us? That we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, and that He is the Son of God. We have discovered in previous studies that means He is deity, He is God.

Daniel surprised us, because Daniel told us that there is another reason that God gave us the Scripture. Turn to Daniel 2:28. Daniel, chapter 2, is a dream about a statue that was given to King Nebuchadnezzar. The statue is about the future. In verse 28 we are told this:

. . . and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. At the beginning of your supplications, the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Daniel 9:22b-23a (NASB)

Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet. Daniel 7:19 (NASB)

f you ever wondered what the purpose for Daniel 7 is or why we should be interested in Daniel 7, it is simply for our information. The reason God gave us Daniel, chapter 7, is so we could know the future of the world. There is another reason for it: so you can be comforted and have hope about your future. Daniel reveals that God loves us, wants to comfort us, and give us hope. Daniel wanted to know about his future, and in the process, we get to know about our future. Turn with me now to Daniel 7:1 where we will begin. In verse 1 we read:

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it. Daniel 7:1 (NASB)

Daniel was on his bed and in his dream he saw visions of activity taking place. He then wrote the dream down, providing a summary of it. He does not give us all the details. Some of us really love details. Some of us do not. In Daniel 12:8-9, Daniel tells us why he only gave a summary.

Did you notice the times the number four occurs in this passage? The number four is a symbol of the earth that you find throughout the Scriptures. Consider for an example, Psalm 107:3. There you find the number four refers to the east, the west, the north, and the south. If you look at Acts 11:5, you will find the same. There are four different relationships on the earth: the east, the west, the north and the south. In Revelation 7:1, there are two different references to four. Both of them are in connection with angels. This comes after the first six seals. Verse 1 says,

And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea. Revelation 7:2 (NASB)

The waters represent people. Revelation interprets itself and helps us to understand the book of Daniel. If you study both the books of Daniel and Revelation, you can understand what is taking place in the book of Revelation. What is the point? Waters refers to people, nations, and tongues. Seas are then water and people. Then we are told in verse 3,

That is what Daniel saw and is talking about. The question is: what are these four great beasts? Look ahead at verse 15. We are going to jump ahead into the interpretation section, which we will explore more in depth in our study. But I just want to read verses 15 and 16 so that you know who the four great beasts are. It says,

. . . him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. Daniel 7:16a-17 (NASB)

What are the four great beasts? They are four kings. We have already seen that if you talk about a king, he has a specific empire. So when you talk about King Nebuchadnezzar, you understand that he was ruling the Babylonian Empire. Technically, it was the Neo-Babylonian Empire. So when you talk about four great beasts, you are talking about four empires. Daniel is told in verse 3 that there are four great empires coming up out of the sea and each one represents the people in a given empire. They are different from one another.

The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. Daniel 7:4 (NASB)

There are numerous details in this verse. The first detail is that this beast is like a lion. Let me tell you why this beast is the Babylonian Empire. The first clue is that it is like a lion. If you were able to look at the Babylonian ruins, you would see that lions lined the walls in the city of Babylon. There were at least 120 lions that we know about, on the walls of Babylon, in the palace, and along the processional way which was roughly a half a mile long. It began at the Ishtar Gate. What is amazing about the gate is that there were many lions on the gate. The lion was symbolic of the Babylonian Empire! So when Daniel was told that the first is like a lion, that was the first clue that this beast represented the empire of Babylon, and the king was Nebuchadnezzar. At this point he had died. In Jeremiah 50:17, God ties lions and the empire of Babylon together. So there is an historical connection between this empire and lions. It included the Assyrian Empire. Lions were also a common symbol for the Assyrian Empire as well. The description also mentions it having the wings of an eagle. In the palace of Babylon, there were numerous representations of winged lions. At this point, it is clear he was talking about the Babylonian Empire. Daniel would have known about the lions, and he would have known about the winged lions, because he was still living in the city of Babylon. Belshazzar was the crown prince there in Babylon, and Nabonidus was still the rightful king of the empire. The message was that Babylon still existed. It had not yet been destroyed. The the winged lions were there, and Daniel made the connection between the symbol of the lions and the city. He knew that this referred to the Babylonian Empire.

The Babylonian Empire initially began small in size and which exploded into a major empire. Very quickly in 622 B.C., the Assyrian Empire was defeated by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in Nipore [phonetic] which was southeast of Babylon. Then the Egyptian Empire made an alliance with the Assyrian Empire, and they tried to defeat the Neo-Babylonian Empire. King Nebuchadnezzar came against that alliance in 605 B.C. at two different battles. One was at Carchemish, and then subsequently one was in Hamath. He defeated both the Assyrian Empire and the Egyptian Empire. This enabled King Nebuchadnezzar to extend his empire from Babylon up to the southern part of Turkey, and then down towards Egypt. Its size was magnificent! When this verse describes a winged lion, the wing illustrates that Nebuchadnezzar conquered the territory quickly. That is the confirming testimony of history. During a following seven-year period, the Neo-Babylonian army did not expand the empire as it had previously done. It connects with what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 7:5 which introduces the next empire.

That is really terrific, because this prophecy was given before the fall of the Babylonian Empire to the Medo-Persian Empire. Verse 5 is giving a prophecy that was yet to be fulfilled, and we see in Daniel that it was fulfilled.

After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. Daniel 7:7 (NASB)

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