COMMENTARY

Old Testament: Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18
God is sovereign over the kingdoms of the world. As Revelation is the last book of the Bible, Daniel can qualify as the last book of the Old Testament because most biblical scholars say it is the last book to be written in the Old Testament, circa 165 B.C. It is, like Revelation, apocalyptic literature consisting of dreams and visions of the fall of world powers and the success of God's Kingdom. It was written at a time of persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes who robbed the temple, put a statue of Jupiter in the holy of holies, commanded the sacrifice of swine, forbade circumcision, and destroyed all copies of the Scriptures that could be found. The tyrant was defeated by Judas Maccabaeus in 165 B.C., and the temple was then cleansed and re-…