Daniel: Introduction.

Daniel: introduction.

Daniel 1: 1 -- 2.

All the words in the world find themselves inadequate to describe this book of all books. In Psalms 138: 2 David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote, “I will worship toward Thy holy Temple, and praise Thy name for Thy loving kindness and for Thy truth; for Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name.” If there is anything greater than God’s name, it is His precious Word to man. If his Word is not truth, His name is meaningless.

If the liberals could remove one book from the Bible, then Daniel would no doubt be the book. One liberal said that Daniel was written after the events happened and put in the foam of prophecy to make it interesting reading. But he is wrong and to be pitied.

Now the Old Testament comes to us in three divisions. 1 -- the Pentateuch or the law is the first five books of the Old Testament. 2 -- the prophets, which consist of what is called the former and later. The former profits consist of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. The latter profits consisted of three major profits, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and twelve minor profits, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. 3 -- there is the poetic books, Job, Psalms, and Proverbs. Also there is the historical books that consist of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Daniel.

So if we call Daniel a history book we would be correct and if we call it a prophecy book we would also be correct. Because part of the book is prophecy things yet to happen.

Much more could be said in the introduction of this book but we will get into the first 2 vs.. And as we open chapter 1 we see in the first two vs. THE DEPORTATION OF JUDAH.

Judah taken into captivity by Babylon was God’s judgment. It was told them by the prophets that if they disobeyed God’s rules and laws they would lose their land and homes to the king of Babylon. Isaiah wrote, “then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of host; behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shall beget, shall they take away: and they shall be eunuchs in the Palace, the king of Babylon.”

Now there were repeated acts of disobedience on the part of the Jews. Let me just give you one of them. Very early in the nation’s history God set forth a proposition for His people. That proposition concerned the use of the soil for farming. It was known as the law of the land. The law stated that the land was to be tilled and planted for six years and that every seventh year the soil would remain idle. There would be no farming on the seventh year. God’s command was accompanied by the assurance that enough food would be produced in six years to provide for the people during the Sabbath year.

In Leviticus 26 God said you shall keep my Sabbath’s. You see the Sabbath was made for man but never given to man. The Sabbath belongs to God.

Now they just kept on farming the land ignoring the law of God. Maybe they felt God had forgotten or that He did not mean what He had said or even that He might overlook their transgressions. But again in Leviticus 26 God said, “if you walk contrary unto me I will bring the land into desolation. So, Judah taken captive in Babylon was the judgment of God. They were in captivity for 70 years.

Have you ever noticed the human heart is capable of a number of excuses and explanations when we are confronted with wrongdoing? But sin pays wages. Payday will surely come someday. Judah’s sin against the law of the land continued for some 490 years in all. Now how long were they taken captive into Babylon? Seventy years. Now figure them out. It looks like the land enjoyed the Sabbath anyway. God did not forget.

Now I don’t know how you respond to what has been said. I think it is very important for me personally. I cannot persist in disobedience to God’s law and escape God’s judgment. The first lesson we learn in the book of Daniel is that God hates sin and judges sin.

Another lesson we will learn from this wonderful book and that is that God is in the rise and fall of all nations. Now He has blessed America but if America follows the same tracks they are headed God will bring her down to her knees. He can use a Saddam Hussein, a Hitler, a Binladden to pass out his judgment. He called Nebuchadnezzar His servant. It wasn’t the intention of Nebuchadnezzar to be obedient or even think of God. Babylon was a wicked city. Nebuchadnezzar was a wicked king. God will allow the wicked to bring down the disobedient people of God.