The Book of Daniel Summary
Daniel Chapter 2
Nebuchadnezzar’s troubling dream of a great image, the rise and fall of world empires, ending with the Antichrist and the return of Jesus
In Daniel chapter 2, God gave the vision of man’s world governments to Nebuchadnezzar, the great King of Babylon, ruling at that time. (The Egyptian and Assyrian empires preceded Babylon.)
The world empires of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream:
- Babylon –head of fine gold
- Medo-Persia –breast and arms of silver
- Greece –belly and thighs of brass
- Rome –legs of iron
- Antichrist –feet part iron and part clay
The feet of the image in the vision, the last of the “empires” was described as the ten toes of the image, partly clay and partly iron. These followed Rome and are now seen as a combination of democracies and dictatorships in the world today.
From the symbolism of the feet, we know that this final Antichrist empire will be a very strange type of government. It will be a mixture of all these iron-and-clay nations, these dictatorships, and so-called democracies, ruling the world in some type of United Nations.
The Antichrist will rule for a brief time and will be destroyed by Jesus!
(Dan.2:34-35)
Daniel Chapter 7
Daniel’s visions of beastly world empires, an expansion of Daniel 2 with more details and with emphasis on the final empire of the Antichrist
The vision deals with 4 great beasts which rise out of the sea, the fourth beast having 10 horns. These 4 great beasts, plus the 10 horns, are identically parallel to the 5 great empires envisioned in the image of Daniel chapter 2.
The sea is representative of the masses or the people of the world. “The waters which thou sawest… are peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues.” (Rev.17:15)
“I saw… a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly: and it had great IRON teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, (the whole earth v. 23) and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.” (Dan.7:7)
The ten horns are the final 10 kingdoms which evolve out of, or from the breakup of the Roman Empire, and are just the same as the 10 toes of the image in Daniel 2.
“The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth… and the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise… and another shall rise after them… and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High.” (Dan.7:23-25a)
We are told here that another, an eleventh horn, rises amongst the 10 and overthrows 3 of them, thereby evidently gaining power over all of them.
This will be the Antichrist! He will use communist/socialist governments to gain control.
Daniel Chapter 8
Prophecy of Alexander the Great, and the rise of the Antichrist
Before either the Medo-Persian or Grecian empires ever ruled, the prophet Daniel, in the year 539 BC, predicted that war would be fought between these two world empires and prophesied its outcome. It was precisely fulfilled just as he predicted over 200 years later, in 333 BC!
After this prediction, the prophet suddenly jumps far into the future and Endtime events.
“And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.” (Dan.8:23) –This would be the Antichrist!
VISION: “Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and it prospered.” (Dan.8:11, 12)
INTERPRETATION: “Through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes: but he shall be broken without hand.” (Dan.8:25)
The daily sacrifice is the religious worship of all faiths, which he will replace with an abomination, or “transgression of desolation” of his own image (verse 13) The Antichrist will make a covenant to permit a daily sacrifice of religious worship, which shows that he gets into power with the co-operation of the religious world. But when he finally does come to power, it all goes to his head, and he becomes completely possessed of the Devil and wants all religions wiped out and only complete worship of himself!
Daniel Chapter 9
Exact timeline prophecies about Jesus and the reign of the Antichrist
The ninth chapter of Daniel is one of the most astoundingly definite, literal time prophecies given in the entire Bible, giving the exact times for both the first and second comings of Jesus Christ!
70 Weeks
VISION: “SEVENTY WEEKS are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” (Dan.9:24)
INTERPRETATION: this word that’s translated “weeks” here in the King James Bible is the Hebrew word “shabua”, which means “seven”. Therefore, a slightly better translation of this would be “seventy seven’s”, instead of “seventy weeks”.
As we proceed to read and understand the prophecy and its fulfillment, it becomes evident that these seventy sevens are seventy sevens of years, with each “week” representing a period of seven years, for a total of 490 years.
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks (or 69 sevens): the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself.” (Dan.9:25, 26a)
The prophecy predicted that from the time of that proclamation unto messiah the prince shall be 69 sevens of years, or 69 times seven years, which is exactly 483 years. From 453 B.C., this would bring us to exactly 30 A.D., the very year of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ!
VISION: “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (7 years): and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate”. (Dan.9:27)
INTERPRETATION: Now we have that week that was left over, that seventieth week–which will be the last seven years of history!
This “he” (Antichrist) that confirms the covenant is the “prince that shall come”, of verse 26. His people, the Romans, destroyed Jerusalem. They were “the people of the prince that shall come”, who is the Antichrist, whose empire, according to other prophecies in Daniel 2 and 7, will be a revival of and continuation of the old Roman Empire–in spirit and so forth!
Daniel Chapters 10-12
The rise and reign of the Antichrist, and his time-limited rule until the End
The first socialistic government in world history was established in Russia in only 1917, yet a description of this government’s workings and other related subjects are contained in the Book of Daniel, chapters 10-12, in a prophecy written over 2,500 years ago!
A SHROUD OF MYSTERY STILL SURROUNDS SOME OF THIS PROPHECY, particularly 11:5-20, which deals with events leading up to the appearance of the great leader who heads up the final government of world communism. The parts of the prophecy which are open to us start in chapter 11, verse 21, and continue through the end of chapter 12. They center around this great leader, or Antichrist as he is commonly called, and describe his politics, economics, religion (or lack of it), even giving the geographical location he comes from.
In the middle of the 7-year covenant, or treaty, the Antichrist will be fighting several wars. He will enter Jerusalem, stop the daily sacrifice, and place the “abomination of desolation” in the temple. He will demand to be worshiped as a god and will seek to destroy all who oppose him. Christians and all who resist will be persecuted in this time of great Tribulation.
His reign of terror will be limited to 3 ½ years. Dan.12:7
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” –Dan.2:44
—Adapted from the writings of David Berg