The arrangement of the Aramaic section of Daniel, chapters 2-7 (parts of Daniel were written in Hebrew and other parts in Aramaic), reveals the following structure, which helps reinforce a central message of that section, and of the book:

      A. Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of four kingdoms (Daniel chapter 2)
         B. God delivers Daniel’s companions from the fiery furnace (Daniel chapter 3)
            C. Judgment upon Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel chapter 4)
            C’. Judgment upon Belshazzar (Daniel chapter 5)
         B’. God delivers Daniel from the den of lions (Daniel chapter 6)
      A’. Daniel’s vision of four kingdoms (Daniel chapter 7)

This kind of literary arrangement serves to highlight the main point by placing it at the center of the structure, which in this case consists of C and C’ (Daniel chapters 4 and 5): God removes the kingdom from Nebuchadnezzar (temporarily) and from Belshazzar (permanently). Therefore, the emphasis of chapters 2-7 is on God’s sovereignty over the kings of the earth as He establishes and removes them.

One of the most effective ways of conveying a message and making a point clear is by repetition. For example, God gives Pharaoh two dreams about the immediate future of Egypt (Gen. 41:1-7). In the first dream, seven fat cows are devoured by seven thin cows. In the second dream, seven ears of healthy grain are devoured by seven thin and blighted ears. Both dreams make the same point: seven years of prosperity will be followed by seven years of scarcity.

In the book of Daniel, God also uses repetition. There are four prophetic cycles, which are repetitions of an overall basic structure. In the end, this structure shows us the ultimate sovereignty of God. Although each major prophetic outline conveys a distinct perspective, together they cover the same historical period, extending from the time of the prophet to the end, as the following diagram shows:

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<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Read Luke 24:25-27; John 5:39; and 2 Corinthians 1:19-20. In what ways is Christ the center of the Scriptures?

There is no question that Jesus is central to the Scriptures, and this includes Daniel as well. For example: Chapter 1 shows, although in a limited and imperfect way, that Daniel’s experience is analogous to that of Christ, who left heaven to live in this sinful world and confront the powers of darkness. Moreover, Daniel and his companions are endowed from above with Christ-like wisdom to face the challenges of the Babylonian culture.

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Chapter 2 describes the figure of the end-time (eschatological) stone to indicate that the kingdom of Christ will eventually replace all the kingdoms of the world. Chapter 3 reveals Christ walking with His faithful servants within a furnace of fire. Chapter 4 shows God removing Nebuchadnezzar from his kingdom from for a period of time so that the king could understand that “Heaven rules” (Dan. 4:26, NKJV). The expression “Heaven rules” reminds us that Christ, as “the Son of Man” (Dan. 7:13, NKJV), receives the dominion and the kingdom, as depicted in Daniel 7. Chapter 5 shows the demise of King Belshazzar and the fall of Babylon to the Persians during a night of revelry and debauchery. This foreshadows the defeat of Satan and the obliteration of end-time Babylon by Christ and His angels. Chapter 6 shows the plot against Daniel in ways that resemble the false accusations voiced against Jesus by the chief priests. Moreover, as King Darius unsuccessfully tries to spare Daniel, Pilate unsuccessfully tries to spare Jesus (Matt. 27:17-24). Chapter 7 depicts Christ as the Son of man receiving the kingdom and reigning over His people. Chapter 8 shows Christ as a priest of the heavenly sanctuary. Chapter 9 portrays Christ as the sacrificial victim whose death reconfirms the covenant between God and His people. And chapters 10-12 present Christ as Michael, the commander-in-chief, who fights the forces of evil and victoriously rescues God’s people, even from the power of death.

So let us bear in mind that Christ is central to Daniel. At every chapter of the book there is some experience or idea that points to Christ.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 24:25-27; 2 Peter 3:11-13; Jonah 3:3-10; Num. 14:34; Dan. 9:23; Dan. 10:11-12.

Memory Text: “So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ ” (Acts 8:30, NKJV).

Our church was born from within the pages of the book of Daniel, our study for this quarter. As we begin, we should keep the following points in mind as a template to help guide us through our study.

First, we should always remember that Christ is the center of Daniel, as He is of the entire Bible.

Second, Daniel is organized in a way that shows literary beauty and helps us to understand its major focus.

Third, we need to understand the difference between classical and apocalyptic prophecies. This will help us distinguish between the prophecies of Daniel and those of others such as Isaiah, Amos, and Jeremiah.

Fourth, as we study the time prophecies of Daniel, we should understand that the prophetic outlines of Daniel span long periods of time and are measured according to the year-day principle.

Fifth, we shall emphasize that the book of Daniel not only conveys prophetic information but is profoundly relevant to our personal life today.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 4.

Sunday–>

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Introduction:

As the nineteenth century disappeared into the twentieth, a sense of optimism pervaded the West. Through science and technology, humanity was advancing toward a golden age, a future of wonderful possibilities when war, pestilence, poverty, and hunger would finally be ended. That was the hope, anyway.

Of course, the twentieth century proved this hope not only wrong but foolish and naïve.

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This helps explain why, when we entered the twenty-first century, it was with no great sense of optimism about a better future.

From a worldly perspective, the world still seems in pretty dismal shape and, worse, holds little prospect of improvement. Humans seem just as inclined toward greed, oppression, violence, conquest, exploitation, and self-destruction now as our ancestors were in ages past. Meanwhile, many of our great technological advances, though sometimes serving humanity well, have aided us in our greed, oppression, violence, conquest, exploitation, and self-destruction.

None of this should be surprising, of course, not with texts like “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9, NKJV) or “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places” (Matt. 24:7, NKJV).

And yet, amid all this despair and calamity, we have the book of Daniel, our study for this quarter, a book that’s especially relevant for us who are living in the ayt qatz, “the time of the end” (Dan. 12:9). And that’s because in the sacred pages of Daniel we have powerful, rational, faith-affirming evidence not only for our belief in God but in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross, as well as the promise of His return and all that His return entails.

Think about it. All through Daniel (chapters 2, 7, 8, 11), we have been given, from various angles, the following sequence of empires: Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Rome, and God’s eternal kingdom after the Second Coming. From our perspective today, living when we do, we can see that all the worldly kingdoms have come and gone as predicted. Or, in the case of Rome, it came and remains, at least for now, just as Daniel wrote. It is depicted in the feet and toes of Daniel 2:33, Daniel 2:41, and is manifested in the still-divided nations of Europe as well as the Roman church itself. Thus, we have an affirmation of biblical prophecy as broad and as solid as the history of the world that someone living in the time of Babylon, or Greece, or even in the earlier days of Rome, could not have had.

Living where we are on the prophetic time scale, we also can see that Daniel was correct about all these kingdoms; thus, we have even more reasons to trust him regarding the only one yet to come: God’s eternal kingdom, after the Second Coming.

Yes, the book of Daniel remains a powerful, faith-affirming document, especially for Seventh-day Adventists, who find within its pages texts seminal to our church, especially Daniel 8:14: “And he said to me, ‘For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed’” (NKJV). This text is parallel to Daniel 7:22, Daniel 7:26-27, which shows that after the great heavenly judgment, given “in favor of the saints of the Most High”, God’s eternal kingdom will be established. In contrast to the fleeting, earthly empires, it will last forever.

And yet, alongside the “big-picture”, we see just how close Christ can be to us, individually. From King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel’s deliverance from the lions’ den, the book shows us God’s immanence, or His nearness to us; as Daniel told wicked King Belshazzar, He is the God “who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways” (Dan. 5:23, NKJV).

In short, the book of Daniel, our study for this quarter, remains what it was when penned thousands of years ago: a powerful revelation of the love and character of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Elias Brasil de Souza serves as director of the Biblical Research Institute at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists World Headquarters. He holds a PhD in Old Testament exegesis and theology from Andrews University.

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