Sunday School Intro to Daniel 2023-06-18

In the book of 2 Chronicles 36, it talks about the nation of Israel and the southern tribe of Judah in 600-610 B.C. It discusses four kings and why Israel went into captivity. The book of Daniel is also mentioned as it deals with the kingdom. The summary then goes on to explain the chronological order of events in the Bible, highlighting the battles, apostasy, and the rise and fall of kings. It mentions how Israel was taken into captivity by Assyria and how the southern tribe became polluted. The summary then goes into more detail about the kings mentioned in 2 Chronicles 36 and their actions. It concludes by mentioning the importance of studying prophecy and how it can strengthen one's faith in God. 2nd Chronicles 36 and at this time, this is the nation of Israel well this is the southern tribe of Judah and this is about 600 B.C., 610 B.C. and we are going to read about four kings real quick and what we are going to read here is why Israel went into captivity the judgment that happened to the nation of Israel and the northern tribes went into captivity in 721 B.C. so 115 years earlier but we are going to look at Daniel because Daniel deals with the kingdom and so we have been talking about the kingdom the king and the kingdom and so in order to understand it what we have to do is I want you to picture your Bible chronologically ok, you start in Genesis and that takes you up through Adam and then Abraham and then the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and then the 12 sons and then they go down into Egypt in the book of Exodus and then they come out of Egypt and then as they come out of Egypt they go into the land they wander for 40 years and then they go into the land that is where you have Leviticus, Exodus and Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and that tells of all their wanderings and all that kind of stuff and then you have Joshua, Judges and Ruth now we are studying Joshua on Wednesday night but right after they come out of captivity Joshua takes over and Joshua is the conquest of the land that is when the nation of Israel goes into their land that is supposed to be flowing with milk and honey and it is their promised land and in the book of Joshua it is all about the battles that they have to go through and that is the picture of our Christian life so our Christian life is battling and then after Joshua when they conquer the land the people forget what is going on and so they fall into apostasy and these are hundreds of years from the time of Joshua there is 400 years in the book of Judges and so they go into apostasy they go out a judge comes and straightens them up and then they go into apostasy again and what we mean by apostasy is falling away from doing the things that are right and so they have Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Ruth is in there in that same time period and then you have 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel and that is 1 Samuel is the picture of or not the picture but the history of the king that is when King Saul comes in when they finally get a king they didn't want to do the judges anymore they wanted to have a king like everybody else and so the Lord gave them a king he told them what kind of king they would have and so they had the king Saul of course was not a good king and so David came in and he was the king he was God's chosen he was God's anointed he was the one that how does the Bible say it he was the man after God's own heart and so David was there but David with Solomon Solomon is the picture of the millennial kingdom because Solomon had peace throughout his reign and that is why Solomon backslid because he didn't have any problems and usually if you don't have anything going on any kind of problems in your life instead of smooth sailing what you do is you fall backwards because you don't have any challenges and that is what happened to Solomon and with Solomon you have Rehoboam and then Jeroboam and what happened with them Solomon's son of course Solomon in the book of Proverbs he is always saying my son do these things, do that and so then you go from Solomon to Rehoboam and then to Jeroboam and of course from there all the kings backslide except when they split the northern tribes there were 12 tribes altogether the northern ones are what they called Israel and that is the 10 tribes and the southern are two tribes which is Judah and Benjamin and that is where Jerusalem was and so that is where David was king he was king in Judah and so those were the two tribes that separated in the south and so in 721 B.C. Israel, the northern tribes all the kings in the northern tribes were bad and that is a parallel a lot of times which you can find in American history there is a lot more bad things going on up north than there are down south north has went into apostasy long before the southerners or we southerners have and the southerners but the southerners are only a little bit behind I mean you know the north will do all that rainbow and gay queer and all that kind of stuff and they will do all kinds of stuff but the south is right behind it the south follows in everything that happens and it is a picture just like the Bible it is a history and that is what it is and so now when that was going on Israel was taken into captivity in Assyria and they brought over some Syrians and left them in the land and all kinds of stuff and then of course the southern tribe gets polluted and that is where we are picking it up now this is about 610 B.C. so Moses Moses led Israel out in 1500 B.C. 1500 B.C. David reigned about 1000 B.C. so from David from 1000 B.C. to where we are at 610 B.C. of course is 400 years and there is a bunch of kings but we are going to read just about these last kings who only served as kings for just a few years and we are going to read about them and then we will see why and what happened about going into captivity remember when we are talking about the king and the kingdom the king was the Lord Jesus Christ was always from the four foundations of the world he was to be the king when the earth was first created Satan was a light bringer remember we studied some of Satan and we saw the kind of things he did then man came along or God destroyed the earth cast out Satan cast out his angels that followed him God then put man on the earth in the garden man was corrupted by the devil and what you have to understand the reason why he was corrupted by the devil and a lot of people they will get this thing because sin on the earth as far as man is concerned was not here until Adam sinned but when the devil came the devil was already a sinful creature when he tempted Adam and Eve to sin he was already a sinful creature so man hadn't sinned at that time but Lucifer, Satan had sinned and so sin wasn't let loose until Adam fell by the transgression and they ate of the fruit and so then so you have all that time there and so from David to this time here is about 400 years and so it's always been about the king and the kingdom remember when God told Moses he said you know if you do these things we're going to bless you we're going to bless you we'll give you all these things well they didn't adhere to it and they sort of kept on going off so they gave him a king they gave him a great king David God gave him a king and then of course after David his son and we already covered that and now we're going to see the kingdom totally disappear this is what's going to happen the kingdom is totally going to disappear there's no longer a kingdom of God or a kingdom of heaven remember the kingdom of heaven is a physical kingdom the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom the kingdom of the spiritual kingdom left a long time ago with Adam and it also left remember he had dominion he was supposed to have dominion over the world and then of course more sin crept in so let's read now 2 Chronicles chapter 36 verse number 1 and so just remember again all that history is behind you and now they're getting ready to go into captivity and God is going to take away all the kingdom from this earth alright then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign and he reigned three months in Jerusalem and the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem and condemned the land and a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold and the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem and turned his name to Jehoiakim and Necho took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and his abominations which he did and that which was found in him behold they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah and Jehoiakim his son reigned in his stead Jehoiakim was eight years old when he began to reign and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and when the year was expired king Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord in the sight of the Lord his God and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord and he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar by God but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel so because of Israel's rebellion because of Judah's rebellion the kings there because of all their wickedness God sent him prophets and he mentions Jeremiah Jeremiah went in and he warned him and he said listen if you guys don't straighten up you're going to be taken into captivity and he said you're going to be taken into captivity and you're going to be there for three score and ten years you're going to be in there for seventy years and because they didn't keep the sabbaths for four hundred and ninety years there's going to be one year for every sabbath that they didn't do and so that was the seventy years is showing up there and so now let's continue reading in verse number yes go ahead I know some of the kings and I know some before us kings were eight years old and humble and then one was one and twenty when a king was very young did they have anybody to help guide them yeah usually the priest the high priest are the ones that helped him and like Josiah was young and he had I forget the name of the priest that was with him but he was very influential to Josiah and Josiah became a great king and he had a great revival because of the because of the priest so now verse number fourteen more over all the chief priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem and the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers rising up at times and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place but they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy therefore he brought upon them the kings of the Chaldees who slew their young men with the sword in the house of the sanctuary and had no compassion upon young man or maiden old man or him that stooped for age he gave them all into his hand and all the vessels of the house of God great and small all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king and of his princes all these he brought to Babylon and they burnt the house of God and break down the wall of Jerusalem and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof and them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath to fulfill three score in ten years now we won't have to read the rest ok so here's what happens if you remember with Israel when they got taken out of Egypt they built the tabernacle they had all these beautiful things they did that and then when David come in he wanted to build a temple but the Lord wouldn't let him so he stockpiled gold for his son Solomon and Solomon built the temple and remember all the stones they fitted by hand they carved them without no hammer was heard there it was a beautiful temple they overlaid everything with gold and they had silver and gold everything was gold in the temple it was beautiful and so what happened and it just went in decline everything goes in decline we do not get better society doesn't improve society goes downward society goes downward and that's what happened to the nation of Israel and so now with the nation of Israel they've been taken into captivity now let's take your bibles and go to Daniel chapter number one Daniel chapter number one hello everybody good morning Daniel in chapter number one Daniel chapter number one it's in the Old Testament Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Lamentations Daniel you have tabs and you're still awesome yeah I remember when I first got saved sitting in church and calling the name in the Old Testament I would just flip the book open and then I'd be peeking and got there but you shouldn't do that you should learn your index it's good to learn the index ok so the book of Daniel so here we are now this is the same story that we just read in 2nd Chronicles 2nd Chronicles 36 tells us what happened why and then this picks it up in the book of Daniel in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it and the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God which he carried into all the land of Shinar to the house of his God and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his God and the king spake to Asphenes the master of his eunuchs that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king's seed and of the princes children in whom was no blemish but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning and knowledge and understanding science and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans and the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat and of the wine which he drank so nourishing them three years that at the end thereof they might stand before the king now among these were of the children of Judah Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and they gave them names let's stop right there because here's what happened so the captivity came and we read in 2 Chronicles 36 they killed a bunch of people but they took some hostage and they shipped them out to Babylon they brought them to Babylon as slaves well Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael they were young men but they were goodly men it says and what it means they were good looking they were refined and so what when they took people into captivity if you were like the upper class if you were a rich person in part of the country that's being that was being under siege if you were of the upper class they would take you and bring you into their culture and then make you part of their culture and use your upbringing and then to elevate their society because they wanted and then the people who were lower class the blue collar people who only worked in the fields or worked as laborers they were the slaves and these other ones even though they were slaves they still had better jobs they still had better things going for them and Daniel is such a person Daniel and his three friends now the thing that I want to do an introduction here is to get you to understand this and the image of chapter number 2 you're going to look at that and I'm going to bring you some more charts as time goes on but this image in Daniel chapter 2 represents the times of the Gentiles this represents the time of the Gentiles and this is the image in Daniel chapter 2 I know you've heard about it the head of gold the chest and his arms were of silver the belly and the midsection of bronze and then the leg of iron and then his feet and his toes of brass and clay or iron and clay and so those that picture right there that picture is actually a picture of the kingdoms from the time that we're reading up until the time of the Antichrist this picture that you're looking at if you'll notice right at the top I'm just on the other side there if you notice at the top what I did is I just flipped and cut it's the times of the Gentiles in Luke chapter 21 the times of the Gentiles in Luke chapter number 21 in 606 B.C. when they were led away captive that's when this began Daniel is one of the most important books in your Bible Daniel is one of the most important books in your Bible Daniel is one of the books well not one of the books but Daniel is the most attacked book by liberal scholars ever since the 3rd century Daniel has always been attacked and do you know why Daniel has been attacked? because Daniel lists the kingdoms Daniel lists the kingdoms from 606 B.C. when he was a young child he lists all the kingdoms that are going to come and guess what they came exactly as he said they would so Daniel prophesied and what is prophecy according to Isaiah chapter 46 biblical prophecy is the Lord says something and then he brings it to pass it's not that he just knows it but he brings it to pass so God does these things and so Daniel was able to now of course we're not going into this right now now of course we're not going into this right now but this times of the Gentiles this is important this is important for you to understand when considering about rightly dividing the scripture because Daniel is one of the most or not like I said the most attacked book in your Bible and so it is one of the most important books in your Bible because one of the things that you learn for example right now all of us are Christians you're saved, you believe by faith you believe by faith has your faith ever wavered? have you ever been your faith has ever wavered and your question is God real? and those kind of things maybe you get into some kind of trouble or you have troubles is God real? is his Bible really true? and all that kind of stuff and so you wonder is heaven really a place? and is it real? and you know we do that I've done that in my life and questioned those kind of things one of the things one of the best things that you could do to help alleviate any doubts now simply you trust in the word of God you trust in the Lord and all those kind of things but one of the best things you could do is learn prophecy Bible prophecy that has already been fulfilled because that will show you that God was able to say and did since we're in Daniel there just go back a few pages let's look at Isaiah chapter 46 I mentioned that but we'll look at it Isaiah chapter 46 just go backwards a little bit from where you were in Daniel so Isaiah chapter 46 and it's important so if we could understand you know as I've grown in my Christian life and as I've studied more of the Bible the more prophecy that I learn the more prophecy that I learn the more prophecy that I learn the more prophecy that I learn the more faith I have in God and this prophecy especially in chapter number 2 well chapter number 7, chapter number 9 those prophecies all blend in but these prophecies really show who God is so we're in Isaiah chapter number 46 and let's go ahead and pick it up in verse number 9 Isaiah 46 verse number 9 remember the former things of old for I am God and there is none else I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure and so God is able to do what he said he's going to do and when you study the Bible and when you learn the Bible for example you know Isaiah chapter number 9 says for unto us a child is born a son is given and he's talking about Jesus a virgin shall conceive do you know when Isaiah was written? Isaiah was written 700 years before Christ 700 years before Christ 700 years how old is the United States of America? 240, 250 years old something like that almost 250 years old I mean that's barely that's just a little over a third of the time that this prophecy that Isaiah prophesied and it still hadn't happened for 700 years imagine if you were an Israelite imagine if you were an Israelite in the time of Daniel or in the time of Isaiah here or the time when the northern tribes were brought into captivity and so 700 years before Christ came the Bible says that Isaiah prophesied and said a virgin shall conceive we celebrate Christmas right? that's why we celebrate because the Virgin Mary Virgin Mary she had Jesus she was conceived by a child of the Holy Ghost and so brought forth Emmanuel which is God with us and it's all because of the prophecy that's in the Bible and so if you study prophecy and if you learn prophecy you'll learn your faith will increase now I'm excited because I'm going to be teaching the book of Daniel I've read through the book of Daniel this week about four times already it only takes a little over an hour if you read it straight through if you're an average reader I guess an hour and ten minutes or something but it only takes that long I've read it four times this week already and it's a great it's a great book I've never taught it before so I'm looking forward to doing that and even learning more as I teach it I went through Bible school where our Bible preacher taught the book and I had it on tape somebody else teaching the book but this will be my first time teaching through the book and the more I learn about the book of Daniel and the more you get to about the book of Daniel and let me say this now I already told you that I've I was taught the book of Daniel twice I was taught the book of Daniel twice I was taught by Dr. Ruckman which in the last century the 20th century he was the greatest Bible teacher of the 20th century started teaching the Bible in about 1953 and he didn't quit preaching about teaching the Bible until 2012 or 2014 so he taught the Bible for over 60 years and his books are all over the world and his commentaries and all the things that he has done so I've been taught the Bible but I want you to understand something if you don't if you, I don't want to say if you don't if you will put time into studying the Bible if you will put time into studying the Bible if you will pray about the Scriptures and some of the references that we get and if you look them up and meditate on them because it's one thing to have something taught to you right? but it's another thing to be able to know that thing for example, we could teach you how to drive right? say hey alright when you get in the car, your gas pedal is on the right your brake pedal is on the left and you only use your right foot for for the gas and the brake you don't use both of them you know, there's a gear shifter on there and you put it in D and D means you drive the steering wheel means you can go around you turn your turn signals on for right and left turn signals you have a mirror for back there you have a rear view mirror and then you have side view mirrors to watch out for your sides when you enter into traffic you want to be careful let's say if I went on like that for an hour and gave you a driving lesson and just handed you a key does that mean you know how to drive? because you studied driving for one hour? no you would have to get behind the wheel and you would have to learn how to drive so just hearing about the book of Daniel if you don't put any time into it, you're not going to learn it for yourself, it'll be great that you're studying here with us and that you're getting what you can but you have to put time into studying so you know it and understand it for example, let's just stay with the illustration of driving when it comes to driving you were taught to drive have you ever taught anybody else to drive? my wife has taught a couple of people I've taught I've tried to teach my children but you can only teach somebody after you know how to do it and after you've done it and so that's the same way it is with studying the bible now Daniel's a great book if I were you, I would read the book of Daniel this week, there's 12 chapters and I forget how many words 11,000 and I don't have it written here but I think there's only 11,000 something words in the whole book of Daniel 300 and something verses, I had it written down and I forgot to bring up this paper but it's not that big of a book and if you read it it'll mean more to you and if you just read it over and over and over again the more you read it, the more you study it the more you look at things and the more you understand ok, we're going to stop right there that's just a brief introduction to the book of Daniel and it places where we are that's all I really wanted to do was place where we are in a timeline and then going into there he's so important he actually wrote the book and I'll talk a little bit more about that next time we meet alright, any other questions?