Daniel - the big picture.  Ch 1-7

Introduction

The book of Daniel has some of the best-known stories and the least understood chapters of the Old Testament. How many of us have dipped into Ch7-12 and come away more bemused than when we started? So where do we start?

Daniel is a book of 2 halves, (Ch1-7 and 8-12) but with one theme. With it’s mix of styles of writing, language and genre it leave us with many questions, but at the same time it is bang up to date and speaks into our culture very clearly and incisively.

So lets consider the first half.

The Big themes.

It is always helpful to try and get some idea of the broad landscape and panorama of a book or major section of a book – so what are the big themes of the first 7 chapters of Daniel, before considering the detail?

The first and most striking thing that we notice and would clearly see if we were reading this in the original is that Daniel starts writing in Hebrew, but then the language changes at the beginning of Ch2, to be more specific, 2v4. Ch1-2:3 and Ch 8-12 is in Hebrew. But ch2-7 are written in Aramaic. This gives us a clue as to how they are to be read and understood. Ch 2-7 work as a separate section and probably ought to be seen as a unit. Their subject and themes, although fully in agreement with the rest of the book and fit in the bigger flow of Daniel are much more clearly defined and at the very least, to be read and understood by a wider audience.

Ch 1 seems to be setting the scene. It introduces us to some of the main characters, the history and geography and some of the big threads that we will see unravel in the rest of the book. Then in Ch 2-7 we see 3 main themes develop and the structure of the writing, as is common in lots of Biblical writing helps us to see the patterns and themes.

• In Ch 2 & 7 we see God as the God of Revelation. God reveals King Nebuchadezzar’s dream to Daniel in Ch2 and then in the great chapter 7 (the most quoted in the NT), Daniel has a vision of the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man (see The Distinctive Kingdom)
• In Ch 3 & 6 we see that God is the God of Salvation. The rescuing God saves Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego from the fiery furnace and Daniel from the Lions Den (See Distinctive Worship)
• Then in Ch 4 & 5 we see that God is the God of Sovereignty - through the humbling of Nebuchadnezzar and the judgement on Belshazzar.

God is the God of revelation, salvation and sovereignty. Even when you are in exile in a foreign land, under the reign of a godless King it is still true of the God of Israel that -

“His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.” 4v3, 34, 6v26, 7v14

Throughout these big themes we see other things going on.

Daniel exposes the conflict between the Kingdom of Heaven and the kingdoms of earthly kings. This seems to be a key objective of the writer if you read through the whole of the book, you can’t really miss is. We see the Babylonian Magicians and Sorcerers pitted against Daniel and his friends, and we see the struggle for authority between the kings of earth, whether they be Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar or Darius and the true King who is the “God of god’s and the Lord of kings” (Amazingly, words uttered by the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar!)

In Ch 4 we see it stated perhaps most clearly. Having been humbled, made to eat grass and live like an animal, King Nebuchadnezzar comes to his senses and proclaims –

“All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No-one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”” 4v35

Climb to any of the high peaks in Daniel and the “clash of Kingdoms” is not far from view. In short, the book asks the question – who reigns?

Who is in charge, not just in a distant transcendent way but in the normal, and not so normal affairs of men and women? In the nitty-gritty of life – who is really in control?

What does it mean that the God of all creation, and his Son Jesus Christ (as is made clear in Ch 7) is King your daily life, family, work friends etc, and what does it mean for your to live a distinctive, yet godly life where God has placed you?

What will my faith in the King and my citizenship in the Kingdom of God look like when my back is against the wall?

Daniel gives us the opportunity to think about and answer some of these questions.

The central figure

I was doing some preparation in a London hospital. The lady who ran the coffee shop walked past and saw my bible open at Daniel and asked what I was doing. As I told her, her eyes lit up and she told me a bit of her Christian background. She then said in excited tones that Daniel was a mighty man who persevered in prayer, and we should follow his example.

That is true, absolutely true. Because Daniel is the central human figure in the book and most of the stories and visions are based around him we treat is as though its aim is to teach us how to live by using the example of a good man. But the stories of Daniels trials, successes and revelations are primarily intended to teach us of the Lord who is ultimately and intimately in control in Daniels life, and of ours.

And that is why this book is so apt for speaking into the lives and experience of people living in the 21st Century. This little is written for and about believing people trying to be faithful to and follow God in a world of opposition, persecution and hatred. And it is just what we need to hear time and time again.

So, give Daniel a go and hear of the God who reigns in 605BC and today – the same yesterday, today and forever!