Well, before I talk about the gospel themes in Daniel, I want to talk about a problem we seem to have with Daniel. And the problem is that we tend to miss what Daniel is about and make heroes out of the characters in Daniel...like Daniel, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And the reality is there is only one glorious hero in Daniel. In fact, the heroic nature of this one is the dominant theme of Daniel, and it just really sadly misses the point when we focus more on the action of the human characters and not the One that is on center stage in Daniel.
I would title Daniel, "Lord of Glory." There are three themes in Daniel that I want to look at, but I want to say this. Daniel clearly presents to us this God who rules over the affairs of human history and the affairs of nations, and that is a central theme. This is a God who is in charge; He is in control. The Lord rules and that's a central theme of all of the biblical story.
But there are interesting details in Daniel. First is, you see the willingness of God's people to step into danger for the sake of the Lord. Now you have to ask yourself the question, "Where would they get this willingness?" Listen; if I am ever willing to risk my life for the sake of something other than myself, you know that grace has visited me because it's counterintuitive for a human being to do that. We are self-oriented, self-protecting human beings, and so the righteous, courageous acts of God's children in exile point to the grace that enables them to have those responses because that's not natural to a human being.
Along with that, you have prayers all over Daniel; Daniel is a book of prayer. Those prayers are prayers of worship and cries of help and cries for wisdom. And once again that demonstrates that these characters we make heroes of are not self-sufficient; they're getting their strength, they're getting their wisdom, they're getting their courage from their Lord even though they are in exile.
You see a second theme. You see, in Daniel, very powerfully presented the war between human glory and the glory of God. We are self-aggrandizing human beings. You would have to wonder why we have all the fine-grained details of the story of Nebuchadnezzar, for example. Well, because there's a whole lot of Nebuchadnezzar in all of us. And you see the battle between human glory and the glory of God very clearly presented.
And then that grand theme of the sovereignty of God over all things! God will continue to advance His story until that story is complete. Nations will rise and nations will fall; kingdoms will come; kings will live; kings will die--nothing will thwart God's story because God rules and He will advance His work until that work has completed its work. In that, there is hope! Daniel gives us a Lord of glory.
