What we discussed last Tuesday and Wednesday

Evil triumphs, God sets the limit

And we provide a faithful response. Human power may rise, conquer, deceive, and even attack what is holy, but it remains temporary and bounded by God. Daniel 8 calls us to discern power clearly, interpret prophecy carefully, and remain faithful in our ordinary responsibilities.

Questions to consider: 

• How does corrupt power operate—and how should God's people respond when it appears to prosper? 
• Is ambition OK?

Daniel 8 is more historically precise than the previous versions:

1. The historical sequence is the ram (Persia), goat (Greece, Alexander), four horns (fragmented Greek empire), and little horn (Antiochus IV Epiphanes).
2. Antiochus IV Epiphanes is the primary historical referent of the little horn.
3. Antiochus progressed from expansion to persecution to desecration to deception.
4. When we ask the question “How long?” we can remember that negative times come to an end.
5. Layered prophecy means it doesn't stop with the near-term historical fulfillment. There can also be a future fulfillment.
6. Notice Daniel felt overwhelmed by the vision, he recovered, and returned to duty for the king. Likewise, we work for the King in what we do.

Prevailing 

In Daniel's vision of the 4th beast, "that [little] horn was waging war with the saints and prevailing against them...And he will speak against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One" (Daniel 7:21,25 NASB).

We may think of "prevailing" as persecution that leads to physical suffering. However, there is a softer form of "prevailing":

Types of boasting

In Daniel 7:20, the little horn spoke great things. The Aramaic is pûm mam rabrabin.

• Pum: Mouth
• Memallal: Speaking
• Rabrabin: Great, immense

The phrase is translated into "boasting." We discussed different kinds of boasting.

Legitimate. Verifiable and factual information that differentiates oneself. Examples:

• Responses to job interview questions.
• Describing how members of one's team contributed to team success.
• In the ancient world, it was a warrior's resume:
  • Beowulf explaining why he's qualified to take on Grendel: Down to the ocean floor A grisly foe dragged me, gripped me fast In his grim grasp, yet he was given to me To stab that monster with the point of my sword My war-blade; the storm of battle took away That mighty sea-beast, through my own hand.
  • Iliad 9.328-331. Achilles: “Twelve cities of men have I laid waste with my ships, and eleven … by land throughout the fertile land of Troy.” Achilles is reminding Odysseus and Agamemnon’s representatives that his status rests on a measurable record: 23 captured cities.

Illegitimate. False or inflated information to differentiate oneself. Examples:

• Stolen valor.
• Humble brag.
• Taking credit for someone else's work.
• Vainglory: Excessive desire to be seen, praised, admired, or recognized by other people).
• Hubris: Overstepping one's proper limits; acting as though one's power, status, or success exempts one from the order that constrains ordinary human beings. This can be the transition to sacreligious boasting.

• Sacreligious. Appropriating divine prerogatives. This is what interpreters believe the little horn was doing. Other examples:

• Men allowing worship.
  • Antiochus coins = Theos Epiphanes.
  • Herod . Acts 12:21-23. 21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. In this case, illegitimate boast by not saying anything.
• Men not allowing worship.
  • Paul and Barnabas. Acts 14:8-15. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk….11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” …But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
• Angels not allowing worship.
  • Revelation 19:10. "Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, 'You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.' For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
  • Revelation 22:8-9. "I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, 'You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.'"

Consecrated. Leading with one's weakness to give glory to God. Examples:

• Jeremiah boasting. Jeremiah 9:24. but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
• Paul's boasting. Boasting Only in the Lord and the Cross Paul establishes that human accomplishments are meaningless for salvation, meaning the only true boast a Christian has is in what God has done.
  • 1 Corinthians 1:31: "Therefore, as it is written: 'Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.'"
  • Galatians 6:14: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
  • Romans 3:27: "Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law of faith."
• Boasting in weakness and suffering. When forced to defend his apostolic authority against false teachers (the "super-apostles"), Paul uses holy irony. Instead of listing credentials, power, or wealth, he boasts about things that society viewed as humiliating, because they highlight God's strength.
  • 2 Corinthians 11:30: "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness."
  • 2 Corinthians 12:9: "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."
  • 2 Corinthians 11:16–17: "I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool."
  • Romans 5:3: "Not only so, but we also glory [boast] in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.

September 15 and 16: Ways to interpret prophecy

• There are different ways to interpret Daniel's vision and other prophecies about the End Times.
• Preterist. From Latin praeter, "past, beyond."
• Biblical prophecies concerning the "end times" already happened.
• Belief Jesus was coming shortly.
• Also related to God and Israel without Christ (things fulfilled for Jews).
• Historicist.
• Prophecies are a continuous timeline unfolding across all of human history up to the present day.
• We're already in the middle of unfolding prophecy.
• Includes growth of church.
• Futurist.
• Prophecies include a pause in the unfolding of prophecy that will resume at some later date.
• We are waiting for prophecy fulfillment to start back up.
• Inaugurated eschatology.
• Already. Christ has inaugurated the kingdom through his incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and the gift of the Spirit. We're already part of the kingdom.
• Not yet. The kingdom has not reached its final consummation; Christ's return, resurrection, judgment, and the full restoration of creation remain future.
• Allows perspectives of other interpretations.
• Idealist.
• Lessons can be learned from patterns found in the prophecies.
• Theological portrayals of recurring realities, e.g., principles and characteristics of figures in prophetic statements.

September 8 and 9: Concern and confidence

Chapter 7 is the hinge of prophecy in the book of Daniel.

• Daniel 2 shows kingdoms as humans perceive them: gold → silver → bronze → iron.
• Daniel 7 shows those same kinds of kingdoms from heaven's perspective: lion → bear → leopard → terrifying beast.

God takes us behind the apparent grandeur of political history to see:

• spiritual conflict,
• arrogance,
• persecution,
• desecration,
• deception,
• limits imposed by God,
• and eventual judgment.

God shows us what happens to human power when it ceases to recognize God's sovereignty and its ultimate destiny.

September 1 and 2: The arc of history

Daniel 7:9-14 describes the arc of history, and the book of Revelation reinforces it.

The scenes

The Ancient of Days sits over all and is eternal. We view our work in the world from His perspective, not the world's perspective.

Earthly kingdoms/institutions become beastly by substituting their sovereignty for God's sovereignty(Daniel 4 - Nebuchadnezzar's declarations and subsequent punishment)

The Son of Man comes and is given dominion, restoring God's purpose for people and world in Genesis (Jesus is the Son of Man, God's intended design for humanity, allowing restoration of dominion - the work of creating flourishing).

August 25 and 26

Chapters 1–6 show what it’s like to live in Babylon and in the other empires. Chapter 7 shows what Babylon and the empires in general really are.

Ways to read prophecy

1. Eschatological reading.
   1. The visions and the range of interpretations.
   2. How theologians arrived at their interpretations.
2. Understanding the destiny of faithful obedience.
3. As a lens for interpreting our world.
4. Derive operating philosophies/principles for engaging/impacting our world. See if we can step back from what will happen and deal with here and now.

We completed Chapters 1-6 of Daniel during the Spring 2026 semester. Through those discussions, we learned several things:

1. Faithfulness begins before the crisis
Daniel’s defining decisions were made early, before the furnace, the lions’ den, or the royal decrees. In Daniel 1, he resolved not to compromise his convictions even while learning Babylon’s language, literature, and administrative culture.
University application: Spiritual resilience is usually built in ordinary routines—prayer, Scripture, worship, fellowship, ethical habits—before a major professional or personal test arrives.
Question: What habits are shaping us now for the pressures we may face later?

2. Engage the culture without being absorbed by it
Daniel and his friends became highly competent within Babylon’s educational and governmental system. They learned its language and literature and served its institutions well, yet maintained a clear identity and allegiance to God.
University application: Christians need not withdraw from intellectual or institutional life. We can participate fully in scholarship, research, teaching, administration, and professional service while retaining convictions that are not defined by the institution.
Question: Where is the line between thoughtful engagement and quiet assimilation?

3. Excellence and faithfulness belong together
Daniel and his friends repeatedly distinguished themselves through wisdom, competence, reliability, and character. Daniel 6 emphasizes that his opponents could find no negligence or corruption in his work.
University application: Christian witness in academic life includes doing excellent work—conducting rigorous research, teaching well, treating colleagues fairly, mentoring students, meeting commitments, and exercising responsible stewardship.
Question: Would our colleagues describe our work as both competent and trustworthy?

4. Positions, institutions, and reputations are temporary; God is sovereign
Kings rise and fall throughout Daniel 1–6. Nebuchadnezzar appears overwhelmingly powerful, yet repeatedly discovers that his authority is limited. Belshazzar learns the same lesson even more dramatically.
Daniel’s message is not merely that God helps faithful individuals. It is that God rules above rulers, systems, and historical circumstances.
University application: Academic careers can feel dominated by tenure decisions, funding, rankings, leadership changes, politics, publication records, or professional reputation. Daniel reminds us that these realities matter, but they are not ultimate.
Question: What professional concern are we tempted to treat as though it were ultimate?

5. Faithfulness may require visible courage
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to worship the image even though obedience would have been safer. Daniel continues praying even after doing so becomes illegal.
Their courage is striking because they do not presume that faithfulness guarantees immediate rescue.
Their posture is essentially:

• God can deliver us.
• God may deliver us.
• But even if He does not, we will remain faithful.
  

University application: Christian conviction sometimes requires the courage to be professionally different—while remaining gracious, thoughtful, respectful, and intellectually serious.
Question: Where might faithfulness require courage rather than simply competence?

A simple summary
Daniel 1–6 presents a model of faithful presence:

• Be rooted.
• Engage deeply.
• Work excellently.
• Trust God’s sovereignty.
• Stand faithfully when necessary.

For people working in a university, perhaps the central question of Daniel 1–6 is: How do we serve faithfully and excellently within an institution whose deepest assumptions may not always be our own?