I remember being introduced to the book of Daniel shortly after I became a Christian when I read Hal Lindsey's book, The Late Great Planet Earth. The startling prophecy of Daniel Chapter nine gave me a thrill.

If God has the ability to create us then certainly he also has the ability to get a message to us. The question is, how does he authenticate that message? Prophecy, basically writing history ahead of time. To help understand such a phenomenon, I've heard the example given of a parade. On the street you can only see the float right in front of you. Like we only see what is happening right now. But the person high above the parade on a building's rooftop can see the whole thing from beginning to end. He can see what you have not yet seen. God is the only one who can do this when we consider time as the parade.

The book of Daniel Includes the most amazing prophecy in the entire Bible in my opinion. In fact, Jesus points to it as key to all prophecy. He says:

Matthew 24:15 (NKJV)

Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand) ...

Here Jesus is answering his disciples who had come to him in private asking when the things Jesus was talking about (the tribulation period) would happen. He is referring to the book of Daniel. So not only does he use Daniel's prophecy as a key to all of eschatology, he holds us accountable to understand it!

I am excited about the this series. We'll learn some fascinating things about prophecy but this book will also challenge us to live godly lives in an ungodly world. Daniel is the perfect model for us today on how to be holy yet still influence our world.

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