0:01 Welcome to Words of Life. We're studying through the Bible book by book, not verse by verse, to get the essential message of each book and how 0:21 it applies to us today. Today, we've reached the book of Daniel. In Daniel, we see two important phrases. You see that in the first chapter. 0:44 First is the phrase in verse two, "The Lord gave." And the second is in verse eight, "He did made up his mind not to defile himself." First phrase indicates God's 1:04 sovereignty. God gave Jehoiakim into the hands of the king of Babylon. The Lord gave Nebuchadnezzar authority. The Lord gave Daniel visions. 1:27 The sovereignty of God. The second is the determination of God's man to keep himself pure. The key word in this book is vision. 1:49 32 times that word comes in this book. The The six chapters are historic and the next six chapters are prophetic. And in the first chapter we see something about Daniel the man. He was along with others taken by as a 2:13 captive from Jerusalem. I believe he must have met Jeremiah there in Jerusalem and heard Jeremiah often and spent time with him. A young whole-hearted person like Daniel would have sought out fellowship with 2:32 Jeremiah definitely. Jeremiah would have given him a lot of advice as to how he should conduct himself in in Babylon. And perhaps to all four of these men. 2:54 And so that must have been the foundation on which Daniel built. Anyway, he was a whole-hearted man. And then the king selected certain people from the exiles to help him in his office work. Four of the selected were Daniel and his 3:18 three friends. Well, one of the things these young people had to do was to eat food that was forbidden in Leviticus chapter 11. Like pork. 3:39 Or like the wine which Proverbs said we should not drink when it is fermented. Strong alcohol. Strong alcohol. In Babylon, everybody drank it. 4:02 Ate all these forbidden meats. It was a very small thing. It's not a big moral issue like killing somebody or committing adultery or anything. But Daniel was a person who was determined to obey God's word even in the small things. 4:23 Verse 8, he will not defile himself. So he asked for permission. I don't want to eat all this. And when these other three, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, saw Daniel taking 4:40 a stand like this, they also took a stand. See, there are three types of people among God's people. First of all, the outright compromisers who will just fit into the local society. They will adjust to every situation and 5:06 disobey God's word. They are seeking their own gain and not the testimony of God. And then, there's a second group who does not want to compromise like 5:24 that, but who don't have the courage to take a stand on their own. If they find another man taking a stand, they'll take a stand. But if there's nobody like that, they will just compromise and stay along with 5:42 the compromisers. Then there's a third category. Very Very few people like Who say even if I'm all alone I'm not going to compromise. I'm going to obey God's word even if I'm all alone. I'll tell you it's not easy to be like 6:04 that. Imagine if you take a stand for the Lord that makes you all alone in your city. All the other believers are compromising and doing a lot of wrong things and go along. There are very few people like Daniel. 6:27 But those are the ones whom God can use. But when a Daniel stands up some others will be drawn to him. All over India God is looking for Daniels. I think there are hundreds of Shadrachs, Meshachs, and Abednegos in India. 6:48 Who would be willing to take a stand if they can find a Daniel. The great need is for a Daniel to bring out these Shadrachs, Meshachs, and Abednegos. So that's what we see here. 7:05 If Daniel had not taken a stand these other three would have been just like all the other compromisers. And that's been true throughout in the history of the church. God raises up a man 7:22 who will not compromise. No matter what the pressure, he says I will not yield. That is not the way Jesus would do it and I will not do it. Now you see today in the Christian world a lot of people are doing things in the 7:41 way which they think is all right, it's not sinful. The question is not is it sinful or not. That's good, but that's not the highest level. A higher level is would Jesus do it this way? Do the apostles do it this way? 8:05 To ask is it sinful or not is a lower level at which to live. So Daniel asked the higher question. What does God's word say? Not is that such a serious sin or not. So today you also may face such a 8:25 choice. You can decide either to be a Daniel or these other three friends or a compromiser. That choice is yours. The test here is again a test of food. 8:48 Eve was tested with food. Jesus was tested with food. And here Daniel is tested with food. Food seems to be a very important area in which we are tested. The Israelites were tested with food in the wilderness. God gave them manna every day to test 9:09 them. They failed the test complaining and grumbling they wanted meat etc. But here Daniel passed the test. Before God. And he told the commander that if you just give us some vegetables and water 9:29 that's enough for us. He didn't want to disobey God. At the end of 10 days you'll see we are stronger than all these other fellows who are eating meat and drinking wine. And surely enough at the end of 10 days 9:48 they were stronger than the others. And then we read another lovely verse in verse 17. Chapter 1. God gave these young people knowledge and intelligence in every branch of 10:06 literature wisdom at that time. So that they could master all the literature and science of their time. That's a lovely verse for our young 10:23 people who are in school or college. That if you honor God God can give you intelligence to make up for all uh to help you to understand all that is taught in your 10:41 school or college. Just like he gave these people. But you got to claim it. And already help me to have this intelligence which you gave these friends of Daniel. And 11:03 in this matter of this testing because they denied themselves in a small thing like food. They were able to be prepared for greater tests like the fire and the lions later on. See God had a very high opinion of 11:24 Daniel. I want to show you an amazing verse in Ezekiel 14. Daniel was just a young man in his 20s. I don't think he was even 20 uh 30 years 11:41 old. But he was a young man in his early 20s. He was so God-fearing. Ezequiel was a much older and more senior prophet. And Ezequiel writes the prophecy of God 12:02 in chapter 14. And he says there in verse 12, "This is the word of the Lord that came to me, that if a nation sins against me, I will not spare them from judgment. 12:25 I will punish them. Even if these three men, verse 14, Daniel, Noah, Daniel, and Job are there, they'll save themselves only by their own righteousness." Noah and Job had died more than a 12:44 thousand years before this was written. It's all right to talk about godly men who died. To include in that group a young 20-year-old man who's still living here. Maybe he's 25 years old. 13:08 That's amazing. That God could refer to a living young 25-year-old man along with Noah and Job and said, "These are the three right most righteous men I can think of." What a tremendous testimony that is. 13:29 That could speak about Daniel like that. And tell Ezekiel to mention his name. What if Daniel heard about it? Would it puff him up? God knew it would not. Otherwise, he wouldn't have mentioned his name. 13:48 God doesn't tempt us. God won't tempt us beyond our ability. God knew that Daniel will not be puffed up even when he hears that. What an example for us to follow. That even if almighty God praises us, we 14:07 still don't get affected by it. Now, we go to chapter 2. In chapter 2, we read about Nebuchadnezzar having a dream. And he wanted to know what the meaning of that dream was. And the wise men of his time said, "Tell 14:29 us the dream and then we'll tell you the meaning." They were all crooked fellows like a lot of preachers today. They had no touch with God. You know, once you know the dream, you can say anything you like as the meaning 14:48 and say that's the interpretation. But the king was a very shrewd person. He knew that if I just tell the dream, they'll cook up something and say that's the interpretation. The way to find out whether they are really in touch with God is let them 15:07 tell me the dream also. Because after all, God knows the dream. Then why can't he tell them the dream also if he gives them the interpretation? Absolutely right. 15:27 Nebuchadnezzar was right in his assessment. And so these fellows could not of course do that because they were not in touch with God. So the king got so angry. He said, "These fellows are all crooks. Wipe them out." So that would have included Daniel and 15:46 his friends also to be killed. So Daniel went and asked the king, "Please give me a little time. I'll give the interpretation and the dream." And he took that little time. And he went back to his friends and 16:05 prayed and fasted. And the mystery was revealed, it says in verse 19, to Daniel in the night vision. And then Daniel came back to the king. And first of all, he praised the Lord and 16:24 said, "Let the name of the Lord be blessed forever." And then he tells the king that God has given me this mystery. Verse 30, "This mystery has been revealed to me not for any wisdom that lies in me, but to make known this to 16:43 the for the sake of others." So God reveals himself to those who are humble and those who have faith. And that's what we see here. Daniel had faith. 17:02 And he had humility to give all the glory to God. And then he reveals the dream to the king. Saying, "O king, you saw a great statue. And that statue was, 17:19 you know, made of different material. Gold, and silver, bronze, and iron and clay. And he explains the meaning of that. That these are different kingdoms. 17:38 Each metal was inferior to the one before. And how one day a mountain a stone came from a mountain and struck the statue and destroyed it and filled the whole earth. Daniel said the meaning is after you die 18:02 another kingdom will come. After that is destroyed another kingdom will come. And then a fourth one will come. And then finally God will come and destroy the whole thing. And establish his kingdom on the earth. 18:22 And Daniel was so impressed because that was the dream that he saw. And he was convinced that this must be right because this man told me the dream. And we read the king began to fall on 18:41 his face before Daniel. See all heathen people worship miracle man. But Daniel wouldn't accept any of that worship. And he used his influence there now to 19:01 get Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego also appointed verse 49 in good positions. See that's a mark of a godly man. He doesn't think only of the high position he got. He thinks of his brothers who need help 19:23 and immediately does something to help them. Then in chapter 3, we read about Nebuchadnezzar making the statue. Now, in the original dream, only the head was of gold, the rest was all of some other material. But here, 19:47 Nebuchadnezzar made the whole thing of gold. Thereby trying to say, "My kingdom will never end." From head to foot is going to be me only. He wanted everybody to bow down and worship this idol. Daniel wasn't around there. 20:10 Maybe he was traveling somewhere. But these three friends were there. So, you know, God sometimes allows us to be alone with our leader away. Why? So that we can become strong on our own 20:29 without the support of a leader. Because he sees what a tendency we have to lean upon our leader all the time. So, God may allow circumstances in our life where the leader is not there. And that's what happened here. 20:51 And they passed the test. As a result, they got greater boldness. So, we see here Nebuchadnezzar said, "All those who don't bow down will be punished by thrown to a lake of fire. And look at the answer of these people 21:12 to Nebuchadnezzar. In verse 17 of chapter 3. Our God is able to deliver us from this place blazing fire. And he will deliver us. And with your hand. But even if he doesn't deliver us. 21:34 You can be sure of one thing, we're not going to bow down to the statue. Some of the compromisers would have said, "Don't lose your life." They would say, "Just bow down a little bit." And afterwards go and ask God to forgive 21:49 you. Simple. No, they said, "We're not going to do it." God's word says you must never bow down to an image. So, we're not going to do that. So, they took a very strong stand. And of course Nebuchadnezzar became very 22:08 furious. When he saw that they would not bow down. So, he commanded certain people to tie them up and throw them in the fire. Made the fire seven times hotter. And the people who went to throw the 22:26 people in, they got killed. And when they were thrown in. The son of God came and walked with them inside the fire. And nothing happened. And all the people saw. 22:45 Four people walking inside the fire. And Nebuchadnezzar is the one who says, "Hey, there's a fourth one there who looks like a son of God." It is probably some angel that came to be with them. And 23:06 finally, when they come out, there's not even a smell of fire on them. Then Nebuchadnezzar says, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He's the true God. 23:25 And if anybody, anywhere, says anything against offensive against this God, "He will be torn, verse 29, limb from limb, and his houses will be reduced to a heap." And the king gave a higher position to 23:43 these three. So, what do we learn from this passage? That if you honor God, He'll honor you. I mean, whether we escape the fire or not is not the main thing. In the new covenant, God has allowed 24:03 many of His children to be burned in the fire. So, it's not certain that He'll always allow us to escape the fire. But, He'll give us grace to be overcomers. And He'll give us grace to stand true to 24:25 Him. So, this is a challenge that comes to all of us today. Whatever may happen, Lord, I'm going to stand for you. I'm not going to compromise even in a small thing. Even the small commandments, I'm going 24:45 to obey. Cuz I want to be a flaming witness for you. And seek fellowship with others. The strength of these four came that they fellowship together. It's difficult to stand alone. 25:03 So, Daniel also found great help in fellowship with these three brothers. But, seek fellowship with whole-hearted people. God bless you. Welcome once again to Words of Life. We're studying through the Bible and we 25:25 have reached the book of Daniel. And in Daniel chapter 4, we read of Nebuchadnezzar. And uh Daniel had already interpreted one dream for him in chapter 2. And here is another dream that then that 25:47 Nebuchadnezzar has. And this is a dream of judgment on Nebuchadnezzar. Where uh he sees himself as a big tree. And Daniel interprets it 26:04 in uh verse 20 onwards. He said, "This is you, oh king." Verse 22. And you're like this big tree that has reached up to the sky and your dominion to the ends of the earth. And then you saw in your dream an angel coming 26:24 and saying, "Cut it down." And that shows that God is going to cut you down for your pride. And you're going to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. So, oh king, this is a warning from God. 26:46 Verse 27, please break away from your sins now. Do righteousness. Show mercy to the poor. Show that these things will not happen to you. Now, if the king really believed it, 27:05 what would he have done? Who wants to end up eating grass like the cattle? And to be like a madman out on the in the streets. Obviously, he didn't believe it. Most people, even Christians, don't 27:26 believe the warnings of God. Leave alone the warnings given by God's servants, even the warnings given by Jesus, they don't believe. So, we are not surprised that Nebuchadnezzar didn't believe what 27:44 Daniel said. Let me give you a simple test. How many of you believe that anger can lead you finally to hell? I don't think most Christians believe that. They say, "What to do? I get angry. It's 28:03 a weakness." You read You read Matthew 5:22, and you see just is the first of three steps to hell. Anger. More anger. Still more anger. 28:21 Hell. This is in Matthew 5:22. Jesus himself said it. Do you know that 90% of believers don't believe that? Do you think just because they don't believe it, it's not going to be fulfilled? Heaven and earth will pass away. Jesus' 28:40 word will not pass away. Let me give you another test. Matthew 5:29. You know that lusting with your eyes can lead you to hell? Jesus said it's so bad you must better pull out your eye. You think most believers believe that? 29:01 Not at all. Look at the number of believers who are sitting and watching internet pornography. Even if almighty God came and said something they wouldn't believe it. So, Daniel didn't Nebuchadnezzar didn't believe Daniel. 29:21 He said, "Yeah, yeah, it's okay. Nothing will happen." But it happened. You read in verse 28 onwards. Nebuchadnezzar was one day walking on the roof of his palace. Looked at all her all that he had built. And see what he says about Babylon. 29:40 I built this by my power. For my majesty. This is how all Babylon is. Built according to man's plan. By man's power. For man's glory. Anything. Even if it's a Christian work. 30:00 Built according to man's plan. By man's power. For man's glory. It's Babylon. And while the king was just saying these words. The voice from heaven said, "What you heard is now going to be 30:18 fulfilled. You are going to live with the beasts." And immediately verse 33 it was fulfilled. He became mad. He started eating grass. He would live out in the fields. 30:38 His hair grew like eagles feathers. His like birds' claws. And at the end of seven seasons, finally, he came back. 30:55 God gave him back his senses. And then he says, verse 35, "Now I know that before God, all the inhabitants of the earth are nothing. He does what he wants in heaven and on 31:12 earth below. And nobody can stop him or say to him, 'What are you doing?'" That is the most absolute confession of sovereignty made by anyone in the whole Bible. And that was made by a heathen king. 31:34 And when he made that confession, he says, "My reason returned to me." And let me say to you, when you make that confession, your reason will return to you. You may think there's nothing wrong with my reason. I'm okay. If you haven't understood the 31:52 sovereignty of God, you're not okay. It's only the one who's understood the sovereignty of God who knows that God is sovereign. He's the one whose reason is okay. Then Nebuchadnezzar died. 32:14 In chapter 5, we read of Belshazzar, his grandson. And he was having a great feast with all the vessels brought from the temple in Jerusalem. While they were eating, suddenly they 32:33 saw the fingers of a man's hand writing something on a wall. And they called Daniel to interpret those words. And Daniel said those words mean First of all, God has numbered your 32:52 kingdom and finished it, verse 26. And secondly, you have been weighed in the scales and found wanting. And thirdly, your Babylonian kingdom is now divided among the Medes and the Persians. You know, the king wanted to give gifts 33:16 and all to this man. But Daniel said you can keep your gifts and rewards. I don't want any of that. So just like Elisha refused Naaman's gifts. A man of God doesn't get doesn't bother about gifts from ungodly 33:34 people. And again, Daniel came forth and spoke the truth and they honored him. Belshazzar did not repent. And that same night, verse 30, 33:54 Belshazzar was slain and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom. Then in chapter 6, we read of 34:10 Daniel now is an old man. 70 years are almost over. So he's been in Babylon. Babylon is overthrown now and the Medo-Persians have become the world rulers. And Daniel is about 87 years old now. 34:33 Daniel is around 87 years old now. And there were a lot of people jealous of him. Because verse three, he had an extraordinary spirit and the king had great confidence in him. And verses six to nine show how all the 34:56 other his co-workers were all jealous of him. So they schemed to get rid of him. I mean the raja said to break break it up here. Even today we may find government laws that are against God's word. But what do we do then? 35:20 We obey God's laws. You have to obey God rather than men. This same Daniel when he was young 17-year-old chap that decided to stand for God. 70 years later he is the same wholehearted man 35:40 standing for God. That's great to see a man who started living for God when he was 17 and still zealous for God when he is 87. And he remained a humble God-fearing 35:58 man. Some people by the time they get 87 and God has used them so much they are so full of pride. I would like to argue with you and go with you. Daniel was not like that. He was a humble man. And he continued to pray like he always 36:20 did. These people had got the king to say that to pass a rule that if anybody prays to any other god, he'll be thrown into the lake into a lion's den. And 36:40 Daniel, of course, was not bothered by the by the new law. He said, "You can pass whatever law you like. I obey God." So, in verse 10 it says, "When Daniel knew these folks had got this document signed." He did what he always did. 37:02 He opened his windows to Jerusalem. Now, the devil could have said, "Listen, just close the windows at least today and pray quietly so nobody sees you." And he would have said, "Well, I'm not 37:20 ashamed of praying to God." I always open the windows to Jerusalem. I'm going to do it today. Somebody say, "They'll see you." Let them see me. Let them see that I honor God. And they saw him. 37:39 And they immediately went and reported to the king. Said, "Oh, king, you passed a law which cannot be changed." We saw Daniel praying to some other god. And 37:57 so the king had to bring Daniel in and cast him into the lion's den. And the king was so disturbed. When he realized he had to put this good friend of his inside the lion's den. That he didn't sleep the whole night. 38:20 Early in the morning he ran to the lions' den. He said, "Oh Daniel, servant of the living God, Daniel 6:20, has your God been able to deliver you?" Daniel said, "Oh king, live forever. God has sent his angel and shut the lions' 38:39 mouths." And the king was very happy. Took Daniel out of the den and put inside all the in the den all the others who had accused him. See, God honors those who honor Him. 39:00 He can protect us from all types of situations. And then he also made a confession that the living God endures forever. His kingdom cannot be destroyed, verse 26. See how Daniel became a testimony to two 39:19 great world powers? Babylon and to Medo-Persia. Because he was faithful to his God. And in chapter 7 and 8 we see Daniel's 39:40 vision of future world kingdoms. The first vision that Nebuchadnezzar saw these kingdoms as uh gold, different gold and silver, etc., different metals. This is a vision of the same kingdoms. 40:08 But how God sees them. Nebuchadnezzar's dream was how man saw them. God saw all of them as beasts, wild beasts. Man saw them as precious metals. 40:36 metals that have got value. Whereas God saw the same kingdoms as wild beasts. He saw the first one as a lion. The second one, verse five, chapter 40:53 seven, verse five, was like a bear. And the third was like a leopard, verse six. And the fourth was a terrible, dreadful beast. And this refers also to the time of the 41:14 Antichrist. The four kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar's vision and here are the same. First Babylon, then Medo-Persia, then Greece, 41:33 and then Rome. And they were in Jesus' time, it was the last of those kingdoms, Rome. But that kingdom finally it says will be like 10 kingdoms, like the 10 toes of the of the idol. 41:51 of the vision of Nebuchadnezzar. And here this beast, well, chapter seven, verse seven, also has 10 horns. And finally God sets up his throne 42:09 there. And that's what we see here. That the Son we see here. That the Son of Man came along with the Father in verse 13, the clouds of heaven. Here is a man going to rule the world 42:29 compared to four beasts. That's the contrast. The reason I don't vote for political parties is because it's one beast versus another beast. Shall I choose the lion or the tiger? 42:54 I'm looking for a man. There's It's a lion or a tiger. And that's unfortunately the state of all the political leaders. We see that with God. He He looks at these things in a completely different way. Our vision is on Jesus. 43:20 He's the one who's going to set up His kingdom on this earth. We read here in chapter 7 verse 10 about a hundred million angels worshipping God and awaiting orders from Him. Then in chapter 8 verse 1, he's 87 years 43:40 old and he's He gained a vision of the Grecian kingdom finally the Roman kingdom. In fact, it's mentioned in verse 21 the Greek shaggy goat represents the kingdom 43:59 of Greece. That hadn't yet come up in Daniel's time. But he could see that it In chapter 9 we read of Daniel praying and fasting after reading God's word. He saw in God's word that God's people 44:20 should go back after 70 years. And he says, "When I saw this in the book of Jeremiah I decided that verse two that that means it's time for God's people to go back." So he prayed 44:43 and fasted and sought God. He was 87 years old. He'd been there the entire length of the 70 year captivity. He doesn't say, "Lord, these people are all wretched sinners who disobeyed you." No, he says, "We failed you." 45:05 "Shame and open shame belongs to us." "To you belong compassion and forgiveness." "But verse 9, we have rebelled against you." Daniel had never rebelled against God. 45:26 But he identifies himself with God's people. It's the spirit of Christ who identified himself with sinners even though he had never sinned. And here is God gives him a further prophecy. Verse 24. 45:47 "70 weeks means 490 days." "And that means 490 years." "Symbolically He says, "490 years have been determined for the holy city." "And out of those 490 years 46:07 after 483 years verse 26, the Messiah will be killed. And then the people will be scattered. And there'll be one more period of 7 years left out. And that will be at the end of time. 46:29 when the antichrist rules the world. And he will make a covenant verse 27 with people for the 7 years. And he will break it in the middle of the 7-year period. And let loose a tremendous persecution 46:48 in the world among Christians against Christians the last 3 and 1/2 period. Now, Daniel was very bold to confess all this. In those days he was mourning for 3 47:05 weeks it says in chapter 10 verse 2. And during those 3 weeks he wasn't he was having a partial fast. That means he didn't eat tasty food. You don't have to have a total fast if 47:23 you can't do it. A partial fast is also good. And while he was like this he saw a vision. And a hand touched him. And told him, "From the first day, verse 12, you began 47:43 to pray, God has come to answer you." And he shows him somethings about the future. And how he was resisted by evil spirits in verse 13. That was before the day of Pentecost. 48:06 Now that Satan has been defeated, that cannot happen anymore. Then in chapter 11, he gives him a description of what is going to come in the future. Then in chapter 12, he says, "There be a great increase of knowledge 48:23 in the last days, Daniel." Verse 4. And many will travel. There'll be a lot of traveling in the last days. But you go your way. Verse 13. 48:39 Where you'll enter into your rest. And many will be purged and purified in the last days. Verse 10. Wicked people will continue to be wicked. But those who have insight will understand. So you go your way. 49:00 And in the end of the age, you'll rise again to get your reward. So that is the word for us also. As we approach the end of time. Knowledge has increased. People are traveling everywhere. 49:18 Very soon the Antichrist will arise. Christians will be persecuted all over the world. But we have the encouragement that is only for a short time. Christ will come. And we will stand before him and get our reward. 49:36 So let us be faithful. God bless you.
