My recent deep dive into the Bible has been in the Book of Daniel, a book I have previously studied on a number of occasions. It is well known for containing memorable stories a child could comprehend and profound prophecies that scholars and saints argue over. Each time I do so something fresh and new has come out of it.

For the record, by way of providing background and as a reference, the following is the list of my previous blog posts concerning Daniel or his book (newest first) – click on the following links to find out more of my thoughts on this amazing book and person:

1. Daniel’s Four Visions – Vision 4: (Daniel 10-12) Kings of the North and Kings of the South
2. Daniel’s Four Visions – Vision 3: (Daniel 9) Daniel’s Seventy Weeks
3. Daniel’s Four Visions – Vision 2: (Daniel 8) Daniel’s Vision of the Ram and the Goat
4. Daniel’s Four Visions – Vision 1: (Daniel 7) Daniel’s Dream of Four Beasts
5. Daniel’s Four Visions – An Introduction
6. The ancient empires of Babylon, Persia and Greece and the Book of Daniel
7. Prophets of the Bible – Daniel
8. Daniel the prophet – a man for our times
9. The Life and Times of Daniel the Prophet

It happened that yesterday I led a Bible study at my church on the whole Book of Daniel as part of a series titled “Christ in the Old Testament”, here focusing on where Christ is to be found in this Book, and it was a culmination of my latest Bible deep dive. I give a link below to the slideshow that accompanied that study (sorry no sound to go with it). The reason for selecting Daniel is that just like a number of the Hebrew prophets, he had something important to say by way of prophecy concerning the coming Messiah and our own times. Concerning which, the words of this prophet are pertinent to the days we live in, not least Daniel 9:27 when it comes to the latest Israel peace agreement, which I hope to discuss in my next blog.

There are all sorts of reasons why studying the Book of Daniel is something worth doing, including being able to better understand Revelation and other New Testament books, despite the challenge, particularly in the second half, to understand what was being said. I have preceded this paragraph with a text that ought to encourage all true believers, even if like Daniel we are unable to figure out how all the prophecies are going to be fulfilled, and succeed it with a loved childhood Sunday School chorus, daring us to join Daniel’s band.