They are designed to reassure God’s people that, in spite of their present persecution and suffering, God is in control and will ultimately be victorious. The second half of the book ( Daniel 7–12) contains apocalyptic visions. They show how God’s people should live in a world that is not their home (compare Jer. 1–6) contains stories from the lives of Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The book of Daniel is made up of two halves, each of which has its own literary style. In the meantime, believers must be patient and faithful in a hostile world, looking to the Lord alone for deliverance ( 11:33–35). At that time he will finally intervene to cleanse and deliver his people (ch. God rules over all of these conflicts and events, he limits the damage they do, and he has a precise timetable for the end of his people’s persecutions.Prayer is a significant weapon in that conflict ( 9:23). These earthly events are reflections of a great conflict between angelic forces of good and evil (ch.Eventually, though, the anointed ruler would come to deliver God’s people from their sins ( 9:24–27). In the future, Israel would continue to sin against the Lord, and Jerusalem would be handed over to her enemies, who would damage her temple and do other offensive things (chs. The Babylonian exile was not the end of Israel’s history of rebellion and judgment.God is sovereign over the course of history, even over those who rebel against him and seek to destroy his people (ch.This kingdom will be ruled by “one like a son of man” who comes “with the clouds,” a figure who combines human and divine traits ( 7:13). The Lord will judge the kingdoms of this world and bring them to an end, replacing them with his own kingdom that will never end. This world will be a place of persecution for God’s people, getting worse and worse rather than better and better (chs.Even the hearts of the greatest kings are under his control (chs.
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