Listen While You Work
Play this study as you work, drive, or rest. A simple way to keep the Word with you throughout your day, not only as a full sit-down study.
🎧 Listen to this study
Please note: this study is narrated with AI-generated audio, which may occasionally misread a Scripture reference (for example, "Acts 1 point 9" rather than "Acts 1 verse 9"). For the exact wording, please refer to your Bible.
End Times Series • Part 2
Daniel wrote five centuries before Christ and described the rise and fall of four world empires in precise sequence. He also saw the Son of Man receive an everlasting kingdom. Jesus quoted him directly. John built Revelation on him. It starts here.
Daniel 2:44 (NKJV)
"And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."
Foundation
You cannot understand Revelation without Daniel. John was saturated in Daniel's language. Jesus quoted it. The framework of four kingdoms, the abomination of desolation, the Son of Man, and the eternal kingdom all originate here.
In Matthew 24:15, Jesus said: "When you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place -- whoever reads, let him understand." He assumed His listeners knew Daniel. So should we.
Everything Daniel predicted about Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome came true in exact sequence -- before it happened. That track record makes his still-future prophecies worth taking seriously.
The four beasts of Daniel 7 reappear in Revelation 13. The time periods of Daniel 7:25 (a time, times, and half a time) appear in Revelation 12:14. Daniel is the grammar. Revelation is the sentence.
Daniel 2
The king of Babylon dreamed of a great statue. He forgot the dream and demanded his wise men tell him both the dream and its meaning -- or die. No one could. God revealed it to Daniel.
Daniel 2:31-35 (NKJV)
"You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces... and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."
Daniel 2:44-45 interprets it: the stone is a kingdom God sets up that will never be destroyed. It is not built by human hands -- it is divine in origin. It strikes the statue at its feet and fills the whole earth. This is the eternal kingdom of God. The same one Daniel saw again in chapter 7, and the same one the Son of Man receives.
Daniel 2:38 -- "You are this head of gold."
Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. The greatest empire of the ancient world. Daniel was writing from inside it. It fell to the Medes and Persians in 539 BC, exactly as predicted.
Daniel 2:39 -- "But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours."
Two arms, one kingdom with two powers -- the Medes and the Persians united. Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 BC. This empire fell to Greece in 331 BC.
Daniel 2:39 -- "Then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth."
Alexander the Great conquered the known world in his twenties. Daniel 8 describes him as a goat with one horn who moves so fast his feet don't touch the ground. At the peak of his power, Alexander died at 32. His kingdom split into four.
Daniel 2:40 -- "And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything."
Rome crushed everything before it -- hence iron. The feet of iron mixed with clay show a final form of this empire that is partly strong and partly fragile, nations that do not hold together (Daniel 2:43). Jesus was born under Rome. The early church spread under Rome. And Rome is where the stone strikes.
Daniel 7
Daniel 2 showed the kingdoms from man's perspective -- impressive, valuable metals. Daniel 7 shows the same four kingdoms from God's perspective -- wild beasts rising from a churning sea. Same sequence. Completely different view.
Daniel 7:4
The wings were plucked -- speed removed. It was made to stand as a man, given a man's heart. This matches the period when Nebuchadnezzar's pride was judged and he ate grass like an ox for seven "times" (Daniel 4), commonly understood as seven years, then was restored.
Daniel 7:5
One side raised up higher -- Persia eventually dominated the Medes. Three ribs in its mouth, often understood as three major conquests such as Babylon, Egypt, and Lydia. It was told to "devour much flesh" -- the Persian armies were massive.
Daniel 7:6
Four wings: Alexander's speed of conquest was unmatched. He conquered the known world in 13 years. Four heads: after Alexander died, his generals (the Diadochi) split the empire into four parts. Dominion was given to it -- but only for a season.
Daniel 7:7-8, 19-20
No animal name given. It was too terrifying for comparison. Iron teeth, bronze claws, ten horns. It devoured and broke in pieces and trampled down what was left. Out of the ten horns rises a little horn with eyes and a mouth speaking great things -- a figure that makes war against the saints (Daniel 7:21).
Daniel 7:8, 20-21, 24-25 describes a ruler who arises from the fourth kingdom, uproots three kings, speaks words against the Most High, persecutes the saints, and intends to change times and law. He is given authority for "a time and times and half a time" -- three and a half years. This figure reappears in Daniel 9, 2 Thessalonians 2, and Revelation 13. The same language, the same period, the same spirit.
Daniel 7:26-27 (NKJV) -- "But the court shall be seated, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it forever. Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him."
Daniel 7:13-14
"I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed."
Daniel 7:13-14 (NKJV)
In Scripture, God rides on clouds (Psalm 104:3). No mere human being arrives on clouds. Jesus claimed this passage in Matthew 26:64 and the high priest tore his robes.
A divine coronation scene. The Son of Man approaches God Himself and receives authority. This is not a human king receiving power from another human king.
Universal worship belongs to God alone (Deuteronomy 6:13). Daniel sees it given to the Son of Man. Revelation 11:15 confirms: "He shall reign forever and ever."
Every human empire in Daniel falls. This one does not. It is the stone that becomes a mountain filling the whole earth (Daniel 2:35). The four beasts' kingdoms end. This one never does.
See the full study on this title: Son of Man: The Title Jesus Chose for Himself →
Daniel 9:24-27
This is one of the most precise prophecies in all of Scripture. The angel Gabriel gave Daniel a specific timetable for when the Messiah would come -- and it points directly to Jesus.
Daniel 9:24-27 (NKJV)
"Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself... Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate."
The Hebrew word for "week" here is shavua -- a unit of seven. Based on context (490 years of history are in view, not 490 literal weeks), each "week" equals seven years. Seventy weeks = 490 years. This is confirmed by how the prophecy unfolds historically.
From the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until its completion -- 49 years. The decree of Artaxerxes in 445 BC (Nehemiah 2) started the clock. Jerusalem was rebuilt, just as Gabriel said, "in troublesome times." The books of Ezra and Nehemiah document the fulfillment.
After 69 weeks total (7 + 62) from the decree: the Messiah appears. From Artaxerxes' decree in 445 BC, counting 483 years (69 x 7), brings you to approximately AD 32-33 -- the ministry and triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem.
"Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself." The Crucifixion. He dies, not for His own sin, but for ours. This language matches Isaiah 53:8 ("cut off from the land of the living") and is one of the clearest predictive prophecies of the cross in all of Scripture. Written 500 years before it happened.
The 70th week is the most debated section. It describes a figure who confirms a covenant for one week and breaks it in the middle -- causing the abomination of desolation. This is the period Jesus refers to in Matthew 24:15. Whether this week follows immediately or is separated from the 69th is one of the central questions in end times theology, held differently by sincere students of Scripture.
The first four are accomplished at the cross. The last two await the final consummation.
Matthew 24:15 · Daniel 9:27 · Daniel 11:31
Jesus told His listeners to understand this -- by name, from Daniel. It has a historical fulfillment and a future one. Both matter.
Daniel 11:31 describes a king who defiles the temple sanctuary, abolishes the daily sacrifice, and sets up the "abomination of desolation." This was fulfilled when the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes marched into Jerusalem, sacrificed a pig on the altar in the temple, and set up an altar to Zeus in the temple.
This so precisely matched Daniel's prophecy that the 3rd-century critic Porphyry argued Daniel must have been written after it happened, dating its composition to the 2nd century BC. But this does not hold: the oldest copies of Daniel among the Dead Sea Scrolls date to within about a generation of Antiochus, far too soon for a legend to grow up and be received as ancient Scripture. The prophecy was real. And it happened exactly as written.
"Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place -- whoever reads, let him understand -- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." Matthew 24:15-16
Jesus spoke this after the historical fulfillment under Antiochus had already occurred. He was pointing forward -- to something yet to come. Something that would again desecrate what is holy, and signal the beginning of the great tribulation (Matthew 24:21).
Paul echoes this in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 -- a "man of sin" who "sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." Same event. Different details added.
The Track Record
Before trusting Daniel's still-future prophecies, consider what he got right when it was already written -- but the events had not yet occurred.
Predicted in Daniel 2 and 5. Fell to Medo-Persia in 539 BC exactly as described -- while Daniel was still alive.
Daniel 8:3-4 describes a ram with two horns, one higher than the other. Medo-Persia dominated the ancient world exactly as depicted.
Daniel 8:5-7 describes a goat from the west moving so fast its feet don't touch the ground, with a prominent horn. Alexander conquered Persia in three major battles (334-331 BC).
Daniel 8:8 -- the great horn was broken at the height of his power, and four notable horns came up. Alexander died suddenly at 32. His generals split his empire into four kingdoms.
Daniel 9:26 -- after the 69th week, Messiah would be "cut off, but not for Himself." The crucifixion of Jesus, where He died for others, not for any sin of His own.
Daniel 9:26 -- "and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary." Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70, exactly as predicted.
A prophet who gets this many details right -- centuries in advance -- is not guessing. The same God who told Daniel about Cyrus, Alexander, and the crucifixion is the same God who told him about what is still coming. The track record is the reason the still-future prophecies matter.
Memory Verse
"And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed... it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."
Daniel 2:44 (NKJV)
Go Deeper
Compare the four kingdoms in Daniel 2 (metals) with the four beasts in Daniel 7. What do the metals communicate about these kingdoms that the beasts do not? What do the beasts communicate that the metals do not?
Daniel 9:24 lists six goals for the 70 weeks. Which of these have already been fulfilled at the cross? Which appear to await the consummation? What does this tell us about how prophecy can have both a present and a future dimension?
Jesus said in Matthew 24:15, "whoever reads, let him understand." What do you think He expected His listeners to already know about Daniel? How does knowing Daniel change how you read the Olivet Discourse?
End Times Series
Daniel laid the foundation. The apostles built on it. Revelation completes it.
Want to know what the Bible teaches about salvation?