| DANIEL |
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| he must have been in his 80s. Throughout these years he labored with great effectiveness for Babylon. He was respectful and diligent, even though working for pagan kings. Yet he never compromised his faith. He would not bend, even when threatened with death. The Bible offers no better model of how to live with and serve people who do not share or respect your beliefs. The Shape of the Future Near the end of Daniel's life God gave him a series of visions, described in chapters 7-12. In graphic images God showed Daniel the pattern of future history. Daniel's people would duplicate his own experience, but on a world stage. The Jews, Daniel's visions showed, would be caught in a politcal storm, battered about by a series of world empires. Daniel foresaw nations raging in battle against each other. He foresaw God's people thrown in between these nations, suffering through no fault of their own. They would be helpless until God himself rescued them from their troubles. Daniel foresaw, in the end, all people falling down to worship "one like a son of man." This was the title Jesus applied to himself when he came, nearly six centuries after Daniel, to bring the good news of salvation for all people. Spreading the Word Daniel's people had thought of God in terms of their own small community, their own capital city and the temple there. Not only were the Jews God's chosen people, but (they tended to think) they held exclusive rights to him. But God had never intended his blessings to stop with the Jews. he had the world in mind. At the time he called Abraham, he had promised that through Abraham's offspring he would bless the whole earth (Genesis 12:3). |