Daniel’s faithfulness

Daniel’s faithfulness

He is one of the great prophets, although he is not once spoken of in the Old Testament as a prophet.

Daniel = “God is my judge” or “judge of God”

About Daniel

1. Daniel is a man of stalwart character & priceless convictions.
2. He gained a reputation for his ability to interpret prophetic dreams.
3. He was trained as an upper-level administrator and advisor.

When you are a scribe, you are an administrator to the King of kings. You have the privilege of serving in the King’s palace & to sit in the gate of the King. Your ministry is firstly to the Lord.

Daniel 1 (NKJV)

³ Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, ⁴ young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.

Daniel 2 (NKJV)

Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹ Also Daniel petitioned the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

Daniel stayed in the gate of the king.

 The miraculous in the book of Daniel

1. Superior health after 10 days on a diet of vegetables
2. Preserved in the midst of a fiery execution chamber
3. A hand wrote a message of doom on the wall
4. The mouths of lions were sealed

But the greatest miracle was Daniel’s revelations concerning the future

John 16:13 (NIV)

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

One of the greatest men in Jewish history

1. Teenager 605 BC
2. Still active in 539 BC
3. Lived & ministered in Babylon for over 60 years – during the reign of king Nebuchadnessar, Belshazzar and Cyrus

Daniel 5: 11-13 (NIV)

There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. ¹² He did this because Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”

¹³ So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah?

• The Holy Spirit through Daniel to outline the course of world history
• Because of his position, Daniel remained in the court of the king
• Daniel would be about 82 at this time
• The prophet was filled with the Holy Spirit as well as a human spirit saturated with the principles of Divine Scripture
• Of his early career nothing is known, except for “an Israelite of noble descent.”
• He gained a reputation first as an interpreter of other men’s visions, then of his own in which he predicted the future triumph of the Messianic kingdom

Daniel 7:1 (NLT)

Earlier, during the first year of King Belshazzar’s reign in Babylon Daniel had a dream and saw visions as he lay in his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is what he saw.

Reference

Utley, Bob. Old Testament Survey: Genesis-Malachi. The Logos Bible app.

About the author: Nadine Oosthuizen

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