• LESSON 8 (February 25) • Daniel 7: The God Who Judges  BACKGROUND:    This vision dates to the first year of Belshazzar’s reign (550-549 B.C.), meaning it took place sometime between Daniel 4-5. Belshazzar was coregent with his father, Nabonidus, and Babylon was just a decade away from falling to the Medes and Persians.    It was in 550 B.C. that Cyrus usurped the throne from Astyages the Mede and forged a new empire; though few realized it at the time, the political landscape of the known world was headed for violent change. This vision gave Daniel notice of what was still to come.    Consistent with the concept of God’s “wind” or “Spirit” elsewhere in Scripture (Gen 

; John 3:8), the “four winds of heaven” (Dan 7:2) are pictured as an agent of God to exert his will on nations and peoples (Jer 49:36; Zech 2:6; Rev 7:1).  QUESTIONS WORTH THINKING ABOUT:   1. God is described as “the Ancient of Days” in Dan 7:9-10 (see also Psa 90:2; 93:2). What ought we to make of that designation?   2. “Son of Man” was Jesus’ most common self-description, occurring more than 80 times in the Gospels. What was he communicating by its use?   3. In Old Testament poetry, God is often said to ride the clouds like a chariot (Psa 68:4; 104:3; Isa 19:1; Jer 4:13), and Jesus spoke of doing the same (Matt 24:30; Mark 13:26), particularly on the eve of his crucifixion (Matt 26:64; Mark 14:62). Put all that together, and what ought Christians to make of Daniel 7:13-14?   4. Based on our study so far, what is being revealed to Daniel in 7:15-28?   CLOSING THOUGHT: So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:6-11)

150304 The God Who Bestows and Breaks Power

• LESSON 1 (January 7) • The God Who Works Behind the Scenes DANIEL: “God is my Judge” BACKGROUND: • The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah (605 B.C. – 2 Kings 23:36-24:7) • God had promised exile if his covenant with Israel was not respected (Lev 26:27-39; Deut 4:25-27; 28:58-68). • When God’s prophets warned that Babylon was going to bring disaster, the people refused to listen (Jer 7:1-4; 20:7; 26:1-24). • Daniel and his three friends were uprooted and transported 500 miles away. • “The first year of King Cyrus” (Dan 1:21) was 539 B.C. QUESTIONS WORTH THINKING ABOUT: 1. “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into [Nebuchadnezzar’s] hand…” (Dan 1:2) What is that statement communicating? 2. What did the names of the four Hebrews originally mean? What did their new Babylonian names mean? (Dan 1:6-7) 3. How do we know God was working behind the scenes in Daniel 1? What impact should that truth have on our everyday lives? 4. How was the resolve of these young men a living answer to the call of Proverbs 3:5-6? CLOSING THOUGHT: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens l