THE

GOSPEL

ACCORDING TO

DANIEL

A Christ-Centered Approach

Bryan Chapell

BakerBooks

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 2014 by Bryan Chapell

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-0-8010-1611-0 (pbk.)

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011

Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

To the faithful people of Grace Presbyterian Church whose love of Scripture, the grace of the gospel, and my family provides constant encouragement and great joy in serving the One who comes in glory on the clouds of heaven to receive an everlasting kingdom for all peoples, nations, and languages.

Contents

Introduction

1. The Undefiled

Daniel 1

2. When the Bottom Falls Out

Daniel 2

3. Faith in the Furnace

Daniel 3

4. Me with You

Daniel 4

5. Loving Enough to Warn

Daniel 5

6. The Song of a Broom

Daniel 6

7. The Big Picture

Daniel 7

8. When the Big Rocks Fall

Daniel 8

9. Entering Their Pain

Daniel 9

10. The Three-Touch Gospel

Daniel 10

11. An Uncivil War: North and South

Daniel 11

12. The End(s)

Daniel 12

Introduction

If I were writing a regular introduction to the book of Daniel, I would inform readers that Daniel records the events and visions of his life more than five hundred years before the birth of Christ. I would add that Daniel and his people are in captive exile in Babylon at the time of his writing. Israel’s wayward idolatries have led to this discipline from God that is also preparation for the nation’s greater fruitfulness in the future. Finally, I would give some detail of the successive rulers under whom Daniel served and the successive kingdoms Daniel prophesied during his long years of captivity. These are important facts, and they can be researched at greater depth in any good study Bible or commentary.1 But rehearsing these facts is not my purpose in writing this book.

My passion and privilege for the past three decades have been to help others see the presence of the gospel throughout Scripture. My contention has been that Christ’s grace does not wait until the ...