Daniel 1:1-4 (CSB)
1 In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.
2 The Lord handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him, along with some of the vessels from the house of God. Nebuchadnezzar carried them to the land of Babylon, to the house of his god, and put the vessels in the treasury of his god.
3 The king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family and from the nobility—
4 young men without any physical defect, good-looking, suitable for instruction in all wisdom, knowledgeable, perceptive, and capable of serving in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the Chaldean language and literature.
We want to take a couple of lessons to dive into the book of Daniel. Let’s first have a short introduction, and then we will look at the heart of last days’ prophecy: Daniel 9:24-27.
Introduction
Daniel was a young teenager (maybe as old as 17) when King Nebuchadnezzar carried away Daniel and others to Babylon.
Daniel was taken away from everything he knew.
He came from a royal line.
They began to indoctrinate him and others for three years.
At the beginning, we want to see the faithfulness of Daniel.
Obviously, praise and worship, and the power of God’s word, are instrumental.
Verse 3: Daniel was made a eunuch.
Maybe not physically, but he was certainly deprived of family life.
There was to be no allegiance to anything other than the king.
Isaiah 39: Hezekiah and the envoys.
They were held captive for 70 years until the time was fulfilled for not keeping the Sabbath of the land.
(See 2 Chronicles 36:21)
Daniel is so exact in world history and prophecy that many believe the book was written at a later date, and Daniel was not the author.
Some say Daniel was not even a historical figure.
But Jesus affirmed Daniel’s authenticity in Matthew 24:15:
Matthew 24:15 (NKJV) “Therefore, when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand).
Daniel and his friends were given pagan names.
Talk about a word curse!
Every day, all the time, they were told they were Babylonians!
“You’ll never be able to live for God here!”
It’s interesting that Daniel had three friends.
God will send you someone.
He’ll send you a Peter, James, and John.
But the devil will send someone too (a shiny distraction).
Name Changes
Daniel 1:7-8 (NKJV):
7 To them, the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego.
8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
•Daniel – “God is my Judge”
•Belteshazzar – “Prince of Bel”
•Shadrach – “Illumined by the sun god”
•Meshach – “Who is like the moon god”
•Abed-Nego – “Servant of Nego, the shining one”
God’s Prophetic Clock
Daniel 9:1-3 (NKJV):
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—
2 In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Where did Daniel read about the 70 years?
Jeremiah 29:10-11 (NKJV):
10 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Or
Jeremiah 25:11 (NKJV):
11 “And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
Daniel didn’t just accept that God would do it; he understood the Divine Partnership!
He fasted and prayed.
Daniel 9:21 (NKJV):
Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.
70 Weeks
Daniel 9:24 (NKJV):
“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city: to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.”
These six things have been somewhat fulfilled by Jesus but are obviously incomplete.
If we take these things literally, they are incomplete.
Daniel 9:25 (NKJV):
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.”
The first part is the trigger from the command to restore and build Jerusalem.
The Trigger
The Bible presents four possible decrees that might fulfill this description:
•Cyrus made a decree giving Ezra and the Babylonian captives the right to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple in 538 B.C. (Ezra 1:1-4, 5:13-17).
•Darius made a decree giving Ezra the right to rebuild the temple in 517 B.C. (Ezra 6:6-12).
•Artaxerxes made a decree giving Ezra permission, safe passage, and supplies to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple in 458 B.C. (Ezra 7:11-26).
•Artaxerxes made a decree giving Nehemiah permission, safe passage, and supplies to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the walls in 445 B.C. (Nehemiah 2:1-8).
Only the last of these four decrees was a command to restore and build Jerusalem. The first three focused on the temple, not on the street or the wall.
The first three decrees were dealing with the temple, and that’s what Ezra is all about.
Only the decree of Nehemiah fits (March 14, 445 B.C.).
Adding 7 weeks and 62 weeks equals 69 weeks.
Why the division of 7 weeks?
No one knows, although we know from Nehemiah that the wall only took 52 days. Maybe it took 49 years to rebuild the city or close the Old Testament canon of Scripture, but regardless, it is 483 years (173,880 days).
Robert Anderson’s computation in “The Coming Prince” is more and more accepted.
Triumphal Entry – April 6, 32 A.D.
A remarkable prophecy predicted 483 years to the day.
The only time Jesus publicly presented himself as the Messiah was on that day—the day of the Triumphal Entry. He deliberately fulfilled:
Zechariah 9:9 (NKJV):
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Psalm 118:26 (NKJV):
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.”
Luke 19:37-44 (NKJV):
37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,
38 saying: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,
42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,
44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
The Blindness Jesus Pronounced on Them
Romans 11:25 (NKJV):
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”