DANIEL 2
PICTURE 01
Eventually, Nebbucanazzer died and his son Belshazzar was appointed king.
PICTURE 02
Belshazzar decided to throw a party.
PICTURE 03
As they drank from the temple cups and mocked God, a hand appeared and wrote on the wall.
PICTURE 04
Belshazzar was terrified, so he sent for Daniel to interpret the writing, Daniel said;
PICTURE 05
“You have mocked God, ‘Your kingdom has been given to the Medes and the Persians.”
PICTURE 06
Then Belshazzar gave Daniel the third highest position in his kingdom.
PICTURE 07
The Persian army had redirected the river Babylon, by digging trenches and making a dam.
PICTURE 08
Now they were creeping into the city through the sewer system.
PICTURE 09
That night in 539 B.C. Belshazzar was killed and Babylon was captured by the Persians.
PICTURE 10
Darius was made king. Darius appointed three presidents, of whom Daniel was one.
PICTURE 11
King Darius considered making Daniel the head of the whole kingdom, second only to himself.
PICTURE 12
The other leaders became very jealous of Daniel, so they made a plan to trap him.
PICTURE 13
They suggested a new law, to pray only to the King. If anyone prayed to any other god, they should be cast into a den of lions.
PICTURE 14
The king had no idea what was going on, so he signed a law that could not be altered.
PICTURE 15
When the conspirators found Daniel praying, they went to the king saying;
PICTURE 16
“Daniel the Hebrew, is praying to his God three times a day.”
PICTURE 17
Darius couldn’t alter the law, so he sent for Daniel.
PICTURE 18
When they reached the lions den, the king said, “Daniel, your God will deliver you.”
PICTURE 19
The lions were kept back with fire and Daniel was made to enter.
PICTURE 20
These lions were only lightly fed, so they were away hungry.
PICTURE 21
A great stone was rolled over the mouth of the lion’s den, then sealed.
PICTURE 22
Suddenly, an angel appeared to protect Daniel.
PICTURE 23
King Darius was both angry and upset, as he considered this situation was his fault.
PICTURE 24
That night Darius couldn’t sleep.
PICTURE 25
Very early in the morning, the king made his way to the lion’s den.
PICTURE 26
“Daniel is your God able to deliver you from the lions?” Daniel shouted back “O king live forever.”
PICTURE 27
The king gave orders to release Daniel.
PICTURE 28
Darius was overwhelmed and he executed Daniel’s accusers.
PICTURE 29
Then Darius wrote a declaration to the entire world, proclaiming Daniel’s God to be the living God.
PICTURE 30
Daniel received from God, dreams, interpretations of dreams and visions of the future.
PICTURE 31
The first year when Belshazzar, the Babylonian was king, Daniel had a dream.
PICTURE 32
Daniel saw the four winds of heaven blow upon the great sea.
PICTURE 33
Then he saw four beasts.
The first beast was like a lion, with eagle’s wings.
The second beast was like a bear and it had three ribs between its teeth.
The third beast was like a leopard, with four wings.
The fourth beast was very powerful, it had iron teeth and ten horns.
PICTURE 34
An angel explained the dream to Daniel saying, “The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will arise from the earth.
PICTURE 35
Historically, it is believed that the first beast was Babylon which destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and was in power at the time of the vision.
PICTURE 36
The second beast was Persia when Persia conquered Babylon in 539.B.C. and Darius became king.
PICTURE 37
The third beast is believed to be Greece in 334 years before Christ, when Alexander the Great, began to conquer the Persian Empire.
PICTURE 38
The fourth beast is believed to be the Roman Empire, after the Romans conquered the Greeks.
PICTURE 39
Rome eventually took control of Jerusalem under General Pompey 63 years before Christ.
PICTURE 40
In the third year when Cyrus was king, a message was revealed to Daniel.
PICTURE 41
He was by the river, when he saw a vision of a man dressed in gold linen.
PICTURE 42
No strength remained in me, as I listened I fell into a deep sleep.
PICTURE 43
Daniel was told what would happen to his people, the Israelites in the last days.
PICTURE 44
There would be a time of great tribulation like never before.
PICTURE 45
At the time of the end the great prince who protects Daniel’s people, would stand up.
PICTURE 46
“At that time O’Daniel, everyone who is found written in the book of life, will be delivered!”
PICTURE 47
Daniel seal the book until the time of the end, when only the wise will understand. The captivity in Babylon lasted for seventy years.
PICTURE 48
In the story we have just told, the Persians conquered the Babylonians.
PICTURE 49
It was at this time that God spoke to Cyrus the king of Persia, to set the children of Israel free.
PICTURE 50
The historical records show that a remnant of 43,360 left the captivity, plus a further 7,337 servants but many Israelites remained, unwilling to leave their property.
PICTURE 51
520 years before Christ, at the urging of Haggi and Zechariah, Zerrubabel started to rebuild the temple.
PICTURE 52
The temple was completed five years later, on March 12th 515 B.C.
PICTURE 53
A short time later Ezra became the Temple priest.
PICTURE 54
Nehemiah the Kings head waiter left Babylon to start to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem,
PICTURE 55
In the year 479 B.C. the Jewess Esther, became Queen of Persia.
PICTURE 56
During this time Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament was written. The four hundred year period from Malachi to John the Baptist is known as the silent years.
PICTURE 57
The Temple was in a continual state of dis-repair
PICTURE 58
And the Persian Empire was eventually conquered by the Greeks.
PICTURE 59
Led by Alexander the Great 334 years before Christ.
PICTURE 60
Eventually the Romans conquered the Greeks and sixty-three years before the Messiah.
PICTURE 61
The Roman general Pompey the Great, took control of Jerusalem.
PICTURE 62
And so it was that the whole land of Israel, became part of the Roman Empire, just as Daniel had prophesied.
PICTURE 63
Under Herod 19 years before Christ, the rebuilding of the third temple began.
PICTURE 64
The next prophet of Israel was John the Baptiser, his message was, “Prepare the way for the Lord.”
