DANIEL
The story of Daniel is well known at least up to the end of chapter 6 and you might well ask where can we see Advent in this part of the prophetic canon.
Let me offer a few lines of thought that will help to answer that question.
The background.
The Jerusalem has been taken by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and the majority of the people taken into exile in Babylon, including the last of the royal line from which the Saviour was promised. The future looks bleak and would be hopeless apart from the Promise of Genesis 3.15 and God’s unbreakable Covenants.
In this bleak situation along with the Promise and the Covenants we see hope kept alive in Babylon
1. Daniel and his three close friends were from the tribe of Judah – the family line from which, as we have seen the promised Saviour was to come although they themselves were not directly part of the line.
2. Exile in Babylon did not wipe out the family line which was so central in Advent history
3. Daniel and his friends along with others were obedient to the word of the LORD through Jeremiah in chapter 29 and took courage and comfort from the promise of 29.12-14
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
and we see it fulfilled in Daniel 6 as the command to pray only to King Darius was ignored at potentially great cost.
4. Towards the end of his life Daniel found comfort and hope in further words from Jeremiah (Daniel 9.1-2) and although we don’t know if Daniel returned with the other exiles to the land of Judah we do know that the return took place and the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt and the Temple likewise.
5. The second half of Daniel is testimony to the fact that God is sovereign over all and that includes his promise which we have been following through these Advent blogs.
The final words to Daniel from the LORD are:
Go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of days. Daniel 12.13
The promise is still on course.