Participants 70
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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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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The sovereignty of God in the apocalypitc section oof the Book of Daniel, he did not get angry with Daniel, but cared for Daniel.
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What are one or two life-lessons you can learn from the Book of Daniel?
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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.
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The truth that shines through for me is that God, Almighty Father will protect us if we honor Him in ALL that we do, say and declare – we must not show weakness in “sticking to our guns” when not caving in to carnal, worldly pressure that leads us astray. The proof is Joseph, and of course Daniel and his three friends.