The Major Prophets: Daniel Part 3 "Daniel and the Persian Empire"

Daniel Chapters 6, 9

In this session, (15:16) we pick up Daniel's exciting narrative in chapter 6, with one of the most well known Biblical accounts--Daniel and the Lion's Den. The Babylonian Empire has now fallen to the Persians in a stunning takeover. In the capital city of Babylon, the Persian Emperor, Cyrus, has put King Darius, a Mede, in charge of the newly conquered territory of Babylon, moving on to other portions of the realm. While he was there, he met with Daniel, read the amazing scriptures from the book of Isaiah, and made a decree to allow the captives of Israel to return home to build their temple in Jerusalem. How excited the people of Israel were! They were going home after 70 years of servitude to the Babylonians!

Daniel, who is now around 81 years old, did not take long to find the favor of King Darius. Within a short time, he was advanced to the position of one of three supervisors over the various governors of the provinces in the region. Let's study Chapter 6 to see what happens next!!

As Daniel grows older, God continues to bless him with more insight and visions. Don't miss the amazing prophecy of Daniel Chapter Nine, which predicts the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem as Messiah to the exact day!!

My beautiful friend, Shelly Matthews does a wonderful job as "older" queen Esther, continuing to tell the account of the prophet Daniel from her point of view. For Chapter 6 Lesson Plans, Click Here! For Chapter 9, Click Here!. Also, don't miss the supplemental videos and charts found below. The charts come from khouse.org.

Don't miss this entire 25 minute video with new insights for today's world.

Chapter Six Questions: (0- 8:06)

1. What one thing stood out to you the most about this lesson?

2. How would you describe the relationship between King Darius and Daniel?

3. Often times, people are jealous of the successes of others, even within the church. Have you ever experienced that? Tell what happened. How would you counsel Daniel in this situation? How would you counsel his coworkers who were jealous, especially if they were all members of the same church?

4. Why do you think Daniel did not choose to pray in private after this decree?

5. Why was King Darius "stuck" in this situation? Do you think he really wanted to throw Daniel into the lion's den?

6. How did Daniel know that God would save him from the Lions?

7. How did God receive glory in this situation?

8. What might it mean to be known as a person that "serves God continually?"

Questions Chapter 9 (8:06-15:16)

1. What was your greatest take-away from this lesson?

2. Why do you think the Jewish leadership did not know the time of Jesus' appearing?

3. There are two 70 year periods predicted by the prophet Jeremiah. When were they? Why is this important to know?

4. What was Nehemiah's main purpose for returning to Jerusalem?

5. Daniel prayed a prayer of confession for his entire nation. Why was that necessary?

6. Why did the Angel Gabriel appear? What was it he really wanted Daniel to know?

7. What is "The Church Age?" Where did that expression come from? Are we in the church age now? How do we know?

8. What new things can we learn about antichrist from Daniel Chapter 9?

Don't miss this 12 minute clip by Chuck Missler to enhance Chapter 9!

Here is the text of the video lesson!

Daniel Part 3: Daniel and the Persian Empire ( Chapters 6, 9)

My Jewish name is actually Hadassah, which means “myrtle.” But I believe you may have heard of me under my Persian name, Esther, which actually means “Star”. By God’s amazing grace I was allowed to rise to the position of Queen of the Persian Empire, when I married my husband, King Xerxes. You see, I am a descendant of the Jewish exiles that were taken from the land of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon. My parents died early in my life, and I was raised by my cousin Mordecai. Mordecai’s great great grandfather, Kish, who was a Benjamite, was taken in the second deportation of exiles, along with the prophet Ezekiel, his wife Eliana, and many others, and were settled in the country of Babylon along the Chebar River.

After that time, many things happened to my family and my people, Israel! Seventy years passed, from the first deportation of the Jewish exiles to Babylon, which included Daniel and his three friends, until the Persian emperor, Cyrus, invaded Babylon in 538 BC and took the city by night without a fight. Daniel was still there in the palace, now 83 years old, waiting for his moment. Jeremiah had predicted it would be 70 years of captivity and the time was nearly up. This is where we pick up our narrative of the exciting life of Daniel, one most beloved of God. I am so excited to tell you all what happened!

Daniel greeted the new conqueror, and presented King Cyrus with a scroll of Isaiah 45, written 150 years earlier. This scroll named Cyrus as the king who would allow the people of Yahweh to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple! Cyrus, the king of the newly united Medo-Persian Empire, was very moved by the words of God! In that same year, King Cyrus, stirred by the spirit of Yahweh, sent out a proclamation. The Jews were going home! Just as Jeremiah had written. And they were to rebuild the temple!Under the direction of Joshua, the high priest, and Zerubbabel, the Jewish governor, approximately 50,000 of God’s people chose to return to their homeland with the full blessing of the emperor, along with the original gold and silver articles from the temple. I can imagine what a sight that was! (Ezra 1-4)

You may ask, why didn't Daniel return with the exiles to Jerusalem? It is not recorded in history, so no one really knows for sure. Was it because of his age? Or God’s desire to continue to utilize him in a power position in the Persian government? After all, he had 66 years of experience serving the king of Babylon! Whatever the reason, Daniel was not among the returning exiles. Miraculously, he was chosen to serve as a leading official in the Persian Empire as a man of high status and influence. At this point in time, a man named Darius, a Mede, was set up as “king of Babylon” by the Persian emperor Cyrus. Cyrus had purposely married the daughter of the Median King to unite the two peoples. Placing a Mede in charge of this portion of his realm was a politically correct thing to do! (By the way, who are the Medes in 2021? Yes, they still exist. In your day they are called the Kurds. And the Persians are the modern-day Iranians.)

Because the Persian empire was very expansive at this time, the former Babylonian empire was divided into provinces and ruled by 120 princes. Daniel was named as one of three governors, who were the overseers of these princes. In fact, he was named the most preferred one! What a miracle! Daniel, who had slipped into obscurity under the reign of Belshazzar of Babylon, was now in a high ranking position in the Medo-Persian Empire. The reason? “He had an excellent spirit in him!”

As often happens when an extremely competent servant of Yahweh works under the Lord’s anointing, the other governors and princes around him became jealous and envious of Daniel. This happened in my day, and it happens in yours, too. Are there not, even now, people in your culture who are jealous of what you have or can do? They can see the love of Christ operating in you, yet they don’t know how to deal with it. They wish to take you out, and lift themselves up. These envious men who despised Daniel were both of Chaldean and Persian descent, and they resented the influence and power this “exile of Judah” held over them. Secretly, they concocted a plot to bring down Daniel.

They knew they had to remove the source of Daniel’s strength--prayer. Isn’t this often where the enemy tries to take us out? These men went to the king with a lie, one that would feed his ego, and undermine Daniel at the same time. The princes proposed, --”ALL of us are in agreement about this wonderful idea! We desire to make a royal statute, and make a decree, that whoever shall pray to any God or man for 30 days, except you, Oh King, shall be cast into the den of lions.” Foolishly taken in by their scheming, Darius signed the decree. In the Persian Empire, decrees were not allowed to be altered or canceled. They were law, and even the king himself could not change it.

I believe if I would have been Daniel, I might have been tempted to pray in private at this point, instead of in front of an open window facing east toward Jerusalem, as was his custom according to the Torah (2 Chronicles 6:36-39). Daniel always prayed to Yahweh this way, three times a day, and the princes knew it! Daniel was immovable. He continued to pray as he had done before. What a challenge! He must have known this plot was created to destroy him, yet he prayed on and walked right into the battle. At the first opportunity, Daniel was spied praying by the princes, and of course they immediately tattled to the king. Darius, who loved Daniel, was determined to deliver him, but nothing could be done! He blamed himself for being tricked, but it was too late.

As the king prepared to cast Daniel into the lion’s den, he encouraged him. “ Thy God, whom thou serves continually, he will deliver you!” How we would all love our faith to shine as brightly as Daniel’s did to the people around us! Oh, that they would see us serving God continually, through our lives, and every day! King Darius, himself, proclaimed faith in Daniel’s God! He believed God was going to deliver Daniel. After the king sealed the tomb, he went home and fasted, not being able to sleep all night. In the early morning, as the king rushed to the tomb, he called to Daniel, “Oh Daniel, servant of the living God, is your God able to deliver you from the lions?”

Amazingly, Daniel answered him from the lion’s den. “O, King, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before him. I have done no wrong before you!”

The king could hardly contain his joy, as Daniel was taken out of the den. Then, he commanded that Daniel’s accusers and their families were to be thrown into the den, instead. This time, they were immediately destroyed by the lions! Darius, amazed at the miracle, sent out a decree to the entire realm, extolling the living God, and testifying that Yahweh had saved Daniel from the lions! After this, Daniel prospered under the reign of Darius the Mede, and King Cyrus, the Persian Emperor.

Many Christians believe that chapter nine of Daniel’s book, written in the first year of King Darius, is one of the most exciting chapters of the entire Bible. As I mentioned earlier, in the first year of the Persian takeover of Babylon, the Jewish people were released from slavery, and allowed to return home to Jerusalem to rebuild Yahweh’s temple. It had been 70 years.“The Servitude of the Nation, “ (Jeremiah 29:10) as it was called,was the time from the very first deportation of exiles from Jerusalem to the return of the captives to rebuild the temple. It was 70 years to the day, just as Jeremiah had said. What an exciting time!

However, as Daniel searched the scrolls of Jeremiah, he realized that there seemed to be two seventy year periods of time predicted by Jeremiah. Daniel was seeking to understand. The second period, called the Desolations of Jerusalem, ( Jeremiah 25:11-12) would be from the time of the actual destruction of the city, to the rebuilding of the city itself (2 Chronicles 36:21).

Daniel went to his knees and cried out to the Lord for his people. He fasted , wore sackcloth and covered his head with ashes. He confessed the many sins of the people of Israel, and asked God to turn his fury away from Jerusalem. He acknowledged that his people had sinned and done wickedly and rebelled. We had refused to listen to the prophets. They had disobeyed God, and did not walk in his laws. They had brought upon themselves the curses written in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. Finally, they had not been sorry, and had not prayed a prayer of confession. As Daniel prayed, he interceded for the sin of the entire nation. “Oh Lord, hear! Oh Lord forgive! Oh Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name!” (9:19)

As he was praying, the angel-man, Gabriel, appeared again, telling Daniel that he had been sent to bring him a new vision, and also the ability to understand it! When he spoke to Daniel, he addressed him as “greatly beloved!” You will want to read it in Daniel chapter 9! Throughout scripture, the angel Gabriel, is sent to bring news of Messiah, Yeshua. What news of Jesus did he bring?

Here is what Gabriel told Daniel. There were 70 weeks of years, or 490 years, that were a set number of years in which much would happen to the nation of Israel and Jerusalem. What were these things? “...To finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy! (9:24) Upon close examination, we know these things were all to be accomplished by Messiah ! This 490 years prophecy would be in two parts, really two events.

The first event would be after 483 years. Know and understand! From the day of the decree to restore and build Jerusalem (the day Daniel was praying for!) until Jesus would be presented as Messiah of the Jews, there would be 483 years. Exactly! To the day! In retrospect, this actually happened! King Artaxerxes of Persia, my stepson, gave a decree on March 14 of 445 BC, authorizing Nehemiah to join the exiles that had previously returned to rebuild the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem, with the sole purpose of rebuilding the city itself! The walls and the homes! Indeed, the streets and the walls were built again, just as Gabriel had told Daniel. If we begin with the date of the King’s decree, and count the exact number of days found in 483 Jewish years, the date is April 6, AD 32! The tenth of Nisan! This is the exact day Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people were waving palm branches, exclaiming, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” The exact date of the presentation of Jesus as Messiah and King was foretold, right there in the scriptures! No wonder Jesus held the Jewish leadership accountable for not recognizing him!

The second event, the final one “week” of years, or seven years, does not immediately follow the first 493 years. There is a “gap” between the first 483 years and the final seven years. These 7 years are known as the tribulation. The exact amount of time of the gap is not given to Daniel. During the time of the gap, Messiah would be “cut off”, making way for the birth of His church. This is the church age, born at Pentecost. During the gap, or the church age, the people of the “prince of Satan” will destroy Jerusalem and the sanctuary once more. Wars against Israel will continue until, finally, Satan’s “prince” will confirm a covenant with Israel for 7 years. However, in the middle of the seven years, the prince, otherwise known as the antichrist, will end the sacrifice and offering to Yahweh, breaking the covenant. During the final 3 ½ years of the seven, this “prince” will commit abominations. However, there is hope! At the end, this “antichrist” will experience the consummation or end of all things, as determined by God. (9:27)

Daniel’s prayer unleashed much of God’s favor over Israel. Back in Jerusalem, the newly returned exiles were working at the task of settling back into their homes and land, and collectively building the altar of Yahweh amidst the desolate ruins of Jerusalem. They had lost so much! But they did not despise the day of small beginnings! With Yahweh’s help, they overcame opposition and renewed the daily sacrifice, eventually completing the temple under the direction of Joshua and Zerubabbel, and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. It would not be long until Nehemiah would come and direct the rebuilding of the city walls, the gates, and the homes.

Meanwhile, back in Persia, Daniel, a man beloved of God, received some of the most detailed and exciting prophecies outlined in the bible. In our final session, I will share with you more of his visions of the end times!