“As Christ’s kingdom continues to grow and cover the earth, believers today can read Daniel and find in its pages assurance that corrupt power and impiety will not last forever. Such a reign is reserved for God alone.”

The book of Daniel is a lot of things, but one is a sustained critique of corrupt government and false religion.

Nebuchadnezzar, representing both, swings into view immediately. The Babylonian king has defeated Judah and taken not only its leading citizens into captivity, but also the sacred vessels from the Jerusalem temple. These he deposits in the temple of his god.

The young Daniel is one of the Hebrews taken captive, as are his friends: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (or by their Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego). As the story progresses, the Hebrews are seen as largely compliant with their captors except in areas of faith. They will not abandon an iota of their practice.

An inevitable showdown occupies the very first chapter (unless you count Susanna as the first, but more on that another time). The youths are not rebels; nonetheless, they humbly refuse to eat the king’s food, which fails to meet the Mosaic standards. “Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself,” as the text says (v. 8 and compare 2 Maccabees 6.18). Daniel and his friends prevail and come to win favor with Nebuchadnezzar.

The world’s crumbling kingdoms

Daniel possesses the unique ability of interpreting dreams and visions. The second half of the book is given to several of Daniel’s own, but in chapter 2 Daniel deciphers one of Nebuchadnezzar’s puzzlers. The king sees a man’s image made up, head-to-toe, of ever-coarser materials: gold, silver, bronze, iron, clay. The figure is dashed to pieces by a stone uncut by human hands, which in turn grows to become a giant mountain that covers the earth.

Daniel bravely informs the king that the image is succession of kingdoms all doomed to crumble—including his. In place of these kingdoms, says Daniel, God will establish his kingdom “which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever” (v. 44).

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and Daniel’s interpretation kicks off a theme that runs through the book—the passing kingdoms of the earth and the lasting kingdom that God will establish.

Read More