Daniel and the Coming King attempts to unlock Daniel's ancient prophecy, which is in itself a key to the rest of Scripture. Daniel is the only book of the Bible on which Christ put His finger and said, "Understand it" (Matthew 24:15). All the chief themes of the New Testament are implicit in the book of Daniel, particularly those of the kingdom of God, Christ and Antichrist, the cross, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment, the time of the end, and the last great tribulation. Even justification by faith and the outpouring of Pentecostal are present here.
Daniel was written for people living in a time of apostasy and persecution. While at first sight the eras brought to view are those of the Babylonian captivity and the crisis under Antiochus Epiphanes, all subsequent times of similar persecutions are mirrored here.
It is amazing how many tiny details of this prophecy become the seed of New Testament ideas. For example, Daniel 9:24-27 is the source of all the elements of Matthew 24, Mark 13, as well as Luke 21, 2 Thessalonians 2, and Revelation 13. Using the idea of grain in its development, Daniel is the seed, the Gospels are the blade, and Second Thessalonians and the Book of Revelation constitute "the full corn in the ear."
The prophecies of Daniel are a perfect chain. Each successive link is larger and more detailed. So, Daniel 2 is elaborated by Daniel 7, and Daniel 7 by Daniel 8, and 8 by 9, 11, and 12. These covering the same ground, one will misinterpret one or all of them. In a sense we must start at the last first, since it is Daniel 11 and 12 which constitute the most complete spelling out of the prophetic panorama.
The keynote of all apocalyptic is fidelity to the law of God. However, don't become so preoccupied with technical points as to miss the main thrust of Daniel's message. God so loves His sinful people that He has provided a Messiah who, like Daniel, has been weighed down with the sins of His people. The Messiah, Jesus, the Son of God, has brought in everlasting righteousness, which is ours for the taking. This has been recognized by all the scholars of the genre. Daniel and his fellows were saved by grace, but it resulted in a life of loyal obedience, even unto death.
It is only when we realize that all our sins-past, present, future-were placed on our Substitute at Calvary-we see the full glory of the Christian gospel. God counts that I died with Christ, paying for all my sins when He became my Representative. I was ruined without asking for it by a representative-Adam-and I was redeemed without asking for it by a Representative-Christ, the new Adam. We just receive the gift with gratitude and rejoicing. Then the love of Christ constrains us.
"For we thus judge that if one died for all then all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14).
"For God made Him to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Here is the answer to our biggest problem. How shall a man be right with God'-not knowing the right thing to do but being motivated to do it. What glories are hidden in the book of Daniel!
