Daniel 2 brings us a description, not only of Nebuchadnezzar’s spectacular dream, but of Daniel’s God-inspired interpretation of it.
“In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed such dreams that his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him.”
Daniel 2:1 NRSV
Daniel 1 describes Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Jerusalem, the capture of Daniel and his three friends and their brave determination to stand up for what they believe to be right before God.
“To these four young men God gave knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and wisdom; Daniel also had insight into all visions and dreams.”
Daniel 1:17
In Chapter 21, we enter a New Heaven and a New Earth which is too wonderful and too glorious to even describe (In our present limited state).
In Chapter 22, all is complete, all is fulfilled, Christ is reigning. However, there is a serious warning in verse 18: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. If anyone takes away from this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of Life, and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”
Revelation 21:1 NRSV
In Chapter 20, we see Christ and his resurrected followers reigning over a restored world, which is like the Garden of Eden, for 1,000 years – with the added advantage that the Devil has been put in prison.
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,”
Revelation 20:1-2 NRSV
In Chapter 18, we witness the fall of ‘Babylon’ and the destruction of the world economies, which brings great distress to the world’s merchants. We also have God’s warning to his people to come out of religious organisations that are false before it is too late!
“Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
Revelation 18:4-5 NRSV
“Come out of her, my people,
so that you do not take part in her sins,
and so that you do not share
in her plagues;
for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.”
In Chapter 17, the ‘woman’ who temporarily rules the Beast is destroyed by the Beast and his allies.
1‘Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great whore who is seated on many waters, 2with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk.”’
Revelation 17:1-2 NRSV
In Revelation 16, the bowls of God’s wrath are poured out one by one. The Battle of Armageddon takes place and the bowls of God’s wrath are finished.
‘Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”’
Revelation 16:1 NRSV
In this chapter, we see the preparation for the pouring out of God’s final judgements. We witness the outpouring of praise to God of the 144,000 of the redeemed.
“1Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and amazing: seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended.
Revelation 15:1-2
2And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.”
Concentrating on the last part of chapter 14, there is the gathering of the Redeemed and of those who refused to be redeemed.
“14Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand! 15Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”
Revelation 14:14-15
The 144,000 saints of God appear again, this time in glory; there is the preaching of the Gospel to the world, and the final harvest of the Redeemed and of those who refused to be redeemed.
“Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion! And with him were one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.”
Revelation 14:1 NRSV