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hey have invaded us! They have conquered us, stolen from our temple,
and captured thousands of our people! Those must have
been just a few of the thoughts of some of the Israelites
who watched Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army march
through the streets of Jerusalem after they had defeated
Pharaoh Neco and his Egyptian army. Nebuchadnezzar and
his army had come to conquer and control the land of
Judah. Now he came to humiliate their King Jehoiakim
by making him a slave and stealing from the holy temple.
Before Nebuchadnezzar left Judah, he made Jehoiakim
a puppet governor to control the land Nebuchadnezzar
now claimed as his own. The once proud nation under
King David and King Solomon was now in the control of
the Babylonian Empire.
The
book of Daniel starts at this historical event and sweeps
us into the future.
We will watch God use a young man to point kings, sorcerers,
magicians, and astrologers to Himself. We are quickly
introduced to the metallic statue which illustrates
the rise and fall of great world empires.
As dreams and visions continue to unfold throughout
Daniel, we start to understand God's future predictions
for us. We will see explicit prophecies about nations
and a prophecy that predicts the time of Jesus' death.
This is a book in which God has clearly spoken. He has
spoken! |
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