150429 Connecting the Books of Daniel and Revelation

REVELATION  •  Victory in Jesus  •  LESSON 3 (April 29)   Connecting the Books of Daniel and Revelation     BACKGROUND:     In a variety of significant ways, Daniel and Revelation are Old and New Testament counterparts.  o  The book of Daniel is proof that God can reveal history in profound ways before it occurs: he did so in two dreams of King Nebuchadnezzar that Daniel interpreted and four visions given to Daniel personally.  o  The crowning message throughout all six visions is that God rules the kingdoms of men and is sovereign over the world. Though Babylon was a powerful world empire, Nebuchadnezzar was told that it would not stand forever. Neither would the successive kingdoms of men endure: the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman Empires. The only enduring kingdom would be God’s, a kingdom that would be established in the days of the Roman Empire.    Daniel not only foretold the establishment of God’s kingdom, but also prophesied how Satan would use the Roman Empire in an effort to oppose God’s kingdom. Revelation affirms the fact that God’s kingdom “shall stand forever” (Dan 2:44) as “the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever”(Dan 7:18, 22, 27).  MAJOR THREADS CONNECTING THE BOOKS OF DANIEL