Participants 79
Discussion Questions
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How does the apocalyptic section of the Book of Daniel (chapters 7-12) illustrate the sovereignty of God?
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Those chapters show that, whatever kingdoms or governments rise up in history, they are all temporary, are being replaced by one another, and will all be eclipsed by the ultimate Kingdom of God. God raises whom He chooses to, and disposes of whom He chooses to, in His timing. God is at work in unseen ways in each of these human powers, even the evil ones, to bring about His ultimate purposes.
#Daniel
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The apocalyptic part of Daniel shows that God is in control and has a plan. Through Daniel many future events are predicted and they all come true. The Lord is always at work and has something bigger in the works. No kingdom or evil ruler is going throw off his plans.
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God knows the future and orchestrates the events to meet His purposes.
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Daniel was givens visions from god and was able to see future events.
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The apocalyptic section of the book of Daniel (Ch. 7-12) illustrates the sovereignty of God through His prophecy and its fulfillment during the intertestamental period. It is also a calling for us to repent and humbly wait for our savior Lord Jesus’ return.
God demonstrated His sovereignty by revealing to Daniel what was going to happen in the future. Daniel’s ministry was highlighted by interpreting dreams and visions – starting with Nebuchadnezzar then Belshazzar. As Daniel lived through the time of major political shifts from the Southern Kingdom of Israel, Babylon, and Persia, all those dreams and visions came true. (Daniel 2, 4, 5, 7 and 10) Through those revelations, God made Himself known to the kings and peoples of those empires as well. Some kings who worked with Daniel – especially Nebuchadnezzar and Darius – came to put their faith in the true, living God of Israel. For example, King Nebuchadnezzar accepted God’s revelations regarding the fall of Babylon then repented of his sins later in his life (Daniel 2 and 5).
After the intertestamental period, there became many God-fearing Romans and Greeks because all those prophecies came true in history. The three wise men who visited the baby Jesus, as many scholars believe, were actually from Babylon. They probably read the scriptures – including the book of Daniel – believed the God of Israel because those prophecies were accurate. It shows how God’s spirit worked amongst the gentiles.
The last chapter of the book reveals to us regarding the end times – which has not come yet. It is a God’s calling to us now to repent, walk humbly with Him, and wait for His return. Thus the apocalyptic section of the book of Daniel shows God’s sovereign not only toward those people in the past but also us today.
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What are one or two life-lessons you can learn from the Book of Daniel?
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The Book of Daniel is full of object lessons which can be applied for everyday life. One of such lessons is the principle of timing. This relates to the timely acknowledgment of Yahweh by the four young Hebrew men, Daniel and his three colleagues Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. Although raised in a Godless environment, they sought God while they were young before the evil day came and they found him. It would have been another story if their parent had procrastinated about bringing them in the way of Yahweh when they have much more grown up. It is a foolishness for a believer to think that the children will grow to discover themselves as they grow up without the conscious effort by the parent to show them the way they should go. A flower that is left to itself without prune will become a bush.
In addition to this, we see how Yahweh acted on behalf of his people after the seventy years of exile is fulfilled. God is always fulfill his promise, he never fails. The man Daniel understand by book the set time the Lord has determined against Judah through the book of Jeremiah 25, and he sought the face of God in prayer. It is a lesson in object that we cannot force God by any means to do things which time has not come. He has his own timeline which will help us to be at peace with him and ourselves. He told Habakkuk to write the vision and make it plain on the tablet because the vision yet for an appointed time. It is a time sensitive vision, its fulfillment is tied to a set time.
In conclusion, I learn the ideal of always standing for God if it will mean standing alone. Believers are not called to follow popular opinion if it does not represent the truth of the word of God. We see the audacity of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in refusing to bow to the image even at the pain of imminent death. Moreover, Daniel refusal to yield to the temptation of directing prayer to the mortal man the king instead of directing it to Yahweh, the King immortal. Many will miss their destiny because of everybody does it mentality. Success is no success if God is not in it.
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You have really shared some nice thoughts, thank you for that. I agree that those four noble young men represented their nation and their God quite well and gave the world something to talk about.
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I learned that it is important to be faithful to God and how God will honour it. Daniel and his friends abstained from eating non-kosher food which was forbidden in their faith, and they did not bow to idols nor cease to pray to God. Although this brought them trouble from their pagan world, God delivered them each time.
I also learned about the importance of excellence in character and in work, especially in the area of integrity. It was because of such excellence that Daniel was promoted (and incurred the jealousy of others). It was precisely because he had impeccable integrity, that his enemies found no excuse to trap him, except in his faith. Again, God honoured Daniel for this and vindicated him in front of his enemies.
#Daniel
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A lesson to learn from the book of Daniel is that God is always at work, even when we don’t know or see what He is doing. Daniel’s people had been exiled into a foreign land and God was still with them in this new place. Another lesson is we should always follow the Lord vs the culture. Daniel continued to do as he was called by God in this new land, while still being respectful of those in leadership.
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We can clearly see from the book of Daniel that God is sovereign over all nations and leaders. We can also see Daniel and his friends integrity and devotion to God. They are willing to follow God no matter what, even when the consequences may be horrible.
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Always stay loyal to the Lord. He watches over those who keep their hearts set on Him.