The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Daniel: The Remarkable Prophet

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Let’s briefly consider who the man Daniel was.

In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, conquered the city of Jerusalem, the capital of the nation of Judah. He removed the Judean king, Jehoiakim, and replaced him with his 18 year old son, Jehoichin.

Eight years later, when Jehoichin also rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah again, conquered Jerusalem a second time, and replaced Jehoichin with his uncle, Zedekiah. Ten years later when Zedekiah revived the rebellion, Nebuchadnezzar invaded a third time and decided he was fed up with Jewish rebellion. And so, in 587 BC the Babylonians totally destroyed the city of Jerusalem, including Solomon’s Temple, and ended the Davidic line of kings.

Each of the three times Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah and conquered Jerusalem, he took captives back to Babylon. After the first invasion in 605 BC he took only a handful of Jewish captives. These consisted of the sons of the elite Jewish ruling class, and one of these was Daniel (Daniel 1:3-4, 6-7).

Daniel Rejects King's Food

Daniel was only about 15 years old at this time, but he distinguished himself immediately as a person of spiritual maturity by refusing to pollute himself with the non-kosher food supplied to him by the king. In similar manner, many years later at age 82, Daniel imperiled his life by refusing to obey an order of King Darius of the Medo-Persian Empire that no one could pray for 30 days to any god except to the king himself. Daniel’s refusal to abide by this command prompted the king to throw him into a lion’s den, but his life was spared by a miracle of God.

Daniel, throughout his life, was a man of faith and prayer and impeccable virtue. He is referred to by one of his contemporaries, the prophet Ezekiel, as one of the three most righteous men who ever lived, together with Job and Noah (Ezekiel 14:14). In a visitation made to him by the Angel Gabriel, recorded in Daniel 9:23, he was told, “You are highly esteemed” by God.

When we study the Book of Daniel, we are dealing with one of the most remarkable men revealed in Scripture.

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Dr. David Reagan

Dr. David Reagan is the Founder and Evangelist Emeritus of Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher and he led over 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan was the host of the radio then television program Christ in Prophecy for nearly 40 years.

3 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • Job was the other one. He was very pious person. Enoc he was so pious that God took him to heaven. ( Let me tell you, he was for a long time ). The other person that had the grace of God upon him was Eliah same as Enoc tha he was taken to heaven.

    -Noe Martinez

    • A lot of people make your mistake: Rom 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. God called Job what He wanted him to be, perfect. God had to work on Job to get him to see his faults. Job was not perfect then, it took 42 chapters to get Job to see his sin and repent. Then he became what God said about him. God did the same thing to Moses and Gideon. God did the same calling them wht He wanted them to be then they became it.

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