For over 500 years, Daniel the prophet predicted the coming of Christ and made a series of prophecies that relate to the coming end of the world. In content, these predictions have much in common with the Revelation of John the Theologian, which is placed at the very end of the Holy Scriptures.
In 606 BC e Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, where the future great prophet resided. Daniel, at the age of 15, was captured by the Babylonians together with other Jews. Daniel, along with other capable young men, ended up in a special school to prepare for service at the court of the king of Babylon.
Together with Daniel, three of his close friends studied at the school: Azariah, Misail, and Ananias. The Babylonians were pagans, however, Daniel and his comrades did not change the faith of their ancestors and categorically refused to accept pagan food. They persuaded their teacher to give them simple vegetable food. The mentor agreed, but on the condition that in ten days he would check their well-being. At the end of the trial period, it turned out that all the young men were feeling fine and even much better than those students who ate meat from the king’s table.
At the end of his studies, Daniel, along with his friends, began to serve at the court of the king of Babylon, and received the rank of court dignitary.
Prophecies of Daniel
King Nebuchadnezzar had a strange dream in which he saw a huge and very scary idol made of four metals. A large stone, rolled down from the mountain, broke the idol and turned into a great mountain. Daniel the prophet told the king that the ugly idol is the four kingdoms ruled by pagans who will succeed one another, and the stone is the Messiah. The resulting mountain is the eternal kingdom of the Messiah (Church).
Daniel served at court throughout the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and his five successors. During the reign of King Belshazzar, a mysterious inscription appeared on the wall: "Mene flowed uparsin." Daniel the prophet was able to decipher its meaning and predicted to Belshazzar the end of the Babylonian kingdom. “You are worthless, and your kingdom will be divided by the Medes and the Persians” (Dan. 5, 25). And so it happened. The king of Medes Darius conquered the Babylonian kingdom, and Belshazzar was killed.
During the reign of Belshazzar, Daniel predicted the coming coming of the "Son of man." It turns out that for more than five hundred years, he predicted the coming of Jesus Christ to Earth.
Under the emperor Darius, Daniel took an important public office, but envious pagan nobles slandered him before Darius. The prophet Daniel was thrown to be eaten by angry lions, but the Lord left his prophet unharmed. Darius dismantled the case of the slanderers, and ordered them to be executed like this. The lions immediately torn to jealousy.
It is known that the prophet Daniel lived to a very old age. The book of his prophecies consists of 14 chapters.
In his conversations with the disciples, Jesus Christ twice referred to the prophecies of Daniel.
