Unable to make the 8:30AM service? Join us for our 10:30AM Sunday service or watch whenever by visiting VPC RESOURCES, Sermon webpage!
The book of Daniel was written by a member of the Jewish resistance, Hasidim, who was persecuted by Antiochus Epiphanes between 168 and 164 B.C. it is cast as a prophecy from the 6th century exilic period, looking forward, but it is actually a backward reflection on previous events from the standpoint of Jews determined to remain faithful under extreme mistreatment in the 2nd century.
It is fascinating that the great prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel saw the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar as an instrument of God's judgement on his wayward people, a tool in the hand of Yahweh. Daniel sees the same King as a despotic threat to Jewish identity and an illegitimate claimant to ultimate authority.
