Anyone who follows the writings, publications, and broadcasts of Tomorrow’s World or attends with the Living Church of God and studies its teachings is likely to be at least somewhat familiar with the book of Daniel. We refer to it extensively in our literature and other media when we address the subject of prophecy. But it is also beneficial to examine the book of Daniel from the perspective of Daniel himself—an individual who was called by our heavenly Father and commissioned to undertake a particular role.
Daniel was a faithful servant of the Eternal, and Jesus Christ called him a true prophet of God. His contemporary Ezekiel described him as a righteous man of wisdom (Ezekiel 14:14; 28:3), and he was twice called a man whom God loved (Daniel 10:11, 19). We appreciate the way the Eternal used Daniel to record prophecies relating to the end of the age—and, beyond that, the glorious rule of the Kingdom of God. Daniel’s faithfulness to God is evident from the beginning to the end of the book that bears his name.
Daniel lived in the best of times and the worst of times—times that coincided with the height of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and with Judah’s demise and captivity. He lived in the time of the head of gold that appears in Daniel 2—Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonian Empire. Heads don’t exist just for themselves. They control the whole body, and the mindset we face in our world today is, in fact, controlled by the mindset that Daniel had to contend with and resist at the end of the seventh century BC and on into the sixth century BC.
We live in the time of the ten toes of that Daniel 2 vision. Like Daniel, we live in a society in which the understanding of the true God has been lost. So, what lessons can we learn from Daniel as we live in this world that is so very much a modernday Babylon?
Hope for Our Children
We don’t know anything about Daniel’s upbringing except what is most important: As a young man, he was taught to fear the Eternal. Someone—likely his parents, though perhaps another mentor—instilled in Daniel a deep respect for God and His law. The same is true for Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Daniel’s three compatriots. Their names indicate that whoever named these young men had God in mind: Hananiah most likely means “whom the Eternal gave,” we understand Mishael to mean “who is like God”—quite a challenge to give a child—and Azariah means “whom the Eternal helps.” Some think Daniel means “God is my judge,” while others think it could be “he who delivers judgment in the name of God.” Either way, it is a very appropriate name for the main personage of the book.
These men were born during the days of Josiah, the last righteous king of Judah, whose relationship with the Eternal did not penetrate very far into society. Yes, the parents of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were likely faithful, but they were very much a minority in that society—you might say they were like the 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal in the time of Ahab. We read of how quickly Judean society changed with the death of Josiah—his son and grandson were the most unrighteous kings of Judah.
Less than four years after the death of Josiah, the Neo-Babylonian Empire took parts of Jerusalem into captivity, and Daniel and his friends were included in that captivity. Judah existed as a nation for a number of years after that, but it was a time of apostasy, just as it is in this world today, where governments do not see God as a force to be reckoned with.
At the beginning of the book, we learn the reason for Daniel being in Babylon. “Then the king instructed… to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, 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 1:3–4).
What was Nebuchadnezzar hoping to do? Daniel and his compatriots were brought to Babylon to be enculturated in its ways. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to make good Babylonians out of them—if they became good Babylonians, they could be sent back to Jerusalem to run it in Babylon’s favor. Hence, their names were changed: Daniel to Belteshazzar, Hananiah to Shadrach, Mishael to Meshach, and Azariah to Abed-Nego. These new names represented a relationship with the Babylonian gods Bel, Aku, and Nego. Nebuchadnezzar was hoping to encourage their development into loyal administrators, ones who would be of great service in maintaining a vassal state in Judah.
But we immediately see Daniel resisting this enculturation. He “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. Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs” (Daniel 1:8–9). When you obey God, He can make your enemies dwell at peace with you (Proverbs 16:7), and just like Joseph in Egypt, Daniel was favored by those over him. So, “the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, ‘I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king’” (v. 10).
Daniel set out a test whereby the chief eunuch could see whether Daniel’s way would work. Had Daniel failed, he could have been executed along with the chief eunuch. He was involved in a life-and-death struggle from the beginning, just as we are spiritually—and even sometimes physically—as we live in this world. From Daniel 1 through Daniel 6, Daniel’s life is threatened time after time—because this world is hostile to the way of God—yet God is able to intervene and provide at every turn.
Again, the book tells us nothing of Daniel’s parentage, but Daniel’s statements tell us that someone instilled in him a very deep respect for his Creator. Faithfulness to that understanding was a hallmark of Daniel’s life—the laws, ways, and purposes of God were deeply etched into his makeup, even as he faced death. Daniel’s example offers encouragement to each and every one of us: It is still possible to serve God rightly in very sinful surroundings. We don’t have to submit to the ways of this world—if parents do their part, they can teach their children to have a respect for God, a fear of God, and an obedience to God, even at the end of the age.
Not of the World
We find in Daniel 2 that, because the wise men of Babylon could not solve Nebuchadnezzar’s problem, “the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree went out… and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered… and said to Arioch the king’s captain, ‘Why is the decree from the king so urgent?’ Then Arioch made the decision known to Daniel” (vv. 12–15).
So, what did Daniel do? He “went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation” (Daniel 2:16). God gave Daniel boldness in the face of the king. He was presented with a life-and-death situation, but he knew that God wanted him to live—and he was going to rely upon his God to provide the solution, not his own cunning.
When Daniel appeared before King Nebuchadnezzar to explain the dream that the king had experienced, he told the king, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these” (Daniel 2:27–28)—and with that he went on and outlined the vision that the king had seen.
Daniel was not only telling the king who could reveal the vision—he was also telling him who could not. This was a clear message to Nebuchadnezzar: Your system is a failure. Here we see Daniel continuing to resist the enculturation that the king sought. We find a connection between Daniel’s rejection of the Babylonian system and these words that the Apostle John later wrote: “All that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:16–17).
Daniel is a remarkable example of living and succeeding in a hostile world—a world that resembles our own in many ways. Throughout the beginning of the book of Daniel, Daniel faces situations that endanger his life, but his life is characterized by continual faithfulness to God and the courage that comes from trusting in Him. How else can someone tell a world-ruling emperor, You are going to be like an animal for the next seven years (Daniel 4:19–27)? Even throughout the changes in government—from one Babylonian king to the next and from one kingdom to another kingdom—God was giving Daniel wisdom in how to handle tense and dangerous situations, and He protected Daniel’s life all the while.
Our Source of Power
Having explained the Daniel 2 vision to Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel was given great position in the kingdom—but just a few chapters later our main character has disappeared into obscurity. In Daniel 5, during the reign of King Belshazzar, only Belshazzar’s mother remembers Daniel. He’s largely forgotten, yet he’s not out trying to memorialize his history in Babylon. He doesn’t need to—that’s for God to take care of.
In Daniel 5, we find Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, holding a great feast, using the vessels from the house of the Eternal. But we find an incredible comment from the queen—she did not attend the banquet, but because of the words of the king and his lords, she came to the banquet hall and spoke the following:
O king, live forever! Don’t let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge and understanding, interpreting dreams and solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation (vv. 10–12).
Here was an opportunity for Daniel to get his position back—but that was not Daniel’s motivation. He was not concerned about preeminence amongst men, about how people looked at him. He was firstly concerned about his relationship with God, and his relationships with other people came from his relationship with God in a very powerful way. Daniel’s desire was to make known the power of God and His ultimate control over the affairs of mankind. So, Daniel told the king,
Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor…. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses. But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified (Daniel 5:17–23).
We are to live with the realization that God holds our breath in the palm of His hand, and we ought to glorify Him for each new day of life. Daniel glorified God in a remarkable way—rather than placing glory upon himself, he directed all the attention toward God, who makes things known that could not otherwise be known. Daniel wanted Belshazzar to understand that he had been ignoring God at his peril—so much so that the Babylonian Empire would soon cease to exist. That night, the Medo-Persians stormed Babylon, and a new regime was installed.
Daniel was faithful—loyal to his God throughout his life. That was the focus of his very being. The power, wealth, and majesty of Babylon didn’t lead him astray. You can go to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin and see the reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate with all its golden lions and blue-glazed bricks—Daniel’s heart was not turned by that. He was given prominence in Babylon that seemed to disappear from time to time, and the Bible doesn’t tell us why—but we don’t find Daniel behaving like some Machiavellian prince trying to angle his way back into power. The allure of Babylon never turned Daniel away from his God.
One of the great lessons that Daniel knew is found in Deuteronomy 17:14–20: The power of a king resides in how deeply he understands God’s word. As Christians, our source of power is our relationship with that word—in how deeply we make it part of our lives. Daniel’s loyalty to God was very much rooted in God’s word. That’s why the glory, beauty, power, and wealth of Babylon never corrupted him—because his power and energy came from the word of God. Daniel was a great example of what David wrote: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments” (Psalm 111:10). Devotion to God’s word was the real source of Daniel’s power.
An Excellent Spirit
As we move into Daniel 6, we find a new king of a new kingdom—the second kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision in Daniel 2. The new king, Darius, wanted to reorganize the kingdom to suit the Medo-Persian way of doing things. So, he divided the kingdom into 120 satraps, and he put three governors over the satraps, “of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm” (Daniel 6:2–3).
Why was there an excellent spirit in Daniel? Because he was seeking to serve God, while the other governors would have been serving themselves. The result, of course, is that Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den—a very well-known account, but just one in a litany of attempts on Daniel’s life. Daniel refused to be absorbed into the culture around him, proving not only that power and wealth were not alluring to him in any way, but also that he was willing to give up his very life if doing so meant living in harmony with his God.
Truly, that is a feature of Daniel’s life throughout the whole book—he sticks to what he has been taught. Daniel’s life was built upon a foundation from which he was able to make judgments and understand the will of God, and God’s Holy Spirit within him enabled him to remain faithful to his calling throughout his entire life. What is Daniel told right at the end of the book that bears his name? “But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:13). This gives us a clear understanding of how God saw him—the Eternal essentially told Daniel in no uncertain terms, You will have a place in the Kingdom of God.
Many attempts were made on Daniel’s physical life—and there have also been many posthumous attempts on his life. For example, in the third century AD, the philosopher Porphyry sought in his attacks against Christians to dispel the idea that Daniel was a real individual. To Porphyry, the book was a fake—and most theologians today agree with Porphyry. The challenge for you and me is to agree with God.
Life at the End of the Age
If we agree with God, we believe that Daniel was a real person. He set an example for us to learn how we should live our lives. How did Daniel retain his focus on God’s Kingdom and His way? He was deeply involved in studying God’s word. Daniel 9:1–2 shows that Daniel studied the writings of Jeremiah the prophet. He understood that these were part of Scripture—these were to be studied and understood.
We therefore read, “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—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” (Daniel 9:1–2). Obviously, “the books” here refers to the books of God’s word as they existed at the time—Daniel had access to copies of the word of God, and he therefore understood that God “would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”
But it wasn’t just the study of God’s word that made Daniel remarkable. He was quick to turn to God in prayer—to seek understanding, to seek direction. He was told by an angel, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard” (Daniel 10:12). Sometimes we get on our knees and ask God for intervention—in our lives or in the lives of other people who are suffering—and the answer doesn’t come immediately, but our words are heard if we are humble and seeking God. Not only did Daniel study God’s word; he humbled himself before God. He prayed; he fasted. He was not seeking to glorify himself, but to glorify God.
The Apostle Paul tells us that we are surrounded by examples of people who have lived the life our Father wants us to live. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Daniel did that.
The life of Daniel provides many lessons for us, one of which connects to something Paul said to Timothy—another young man who had been brought up with a great respect for God’s word. Paul summed up what Timothy’s mother Eunice and grandmother Lois had done for their son and grandson: “from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures” (2 Timothy 3:15).
What a wonderful privilege we can give to children who are reared in God’s Church. They, like Timothy and like Daniel before him, can be taught the Holy Scriptures from their childhoods. And why is that important? Because they “are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). Daniel was a faithful man. He was wise as well—because he heeded Scripture. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
The book of Daniel is given to us not just for prophecies, but as an example of how we can live our lives at this time, in a world not too dissimilar to Daniel’s world. When the Neo-Babylonian Empire comes to its full, then Israel goes into captivity. Such were the days in which Daniel lived, and such are the days in which we live. Through the book he wrote, we are given lessons in how to live our lives during the most climactic times that man has ever experienced. How we do so begins with a deep respect and fear for our God and the way of life that He has set out for us. Daniel is a wonderful example of living that life.