Daniel is one of the more well known prophets of the Old Testament. While a young man, Daniel was taken with the best people of the land to Babylon when king Nebuchadnezzar conquered the land of Israel. Though he was young, he was dedicated to God and determined that even in a strange land with unfamiliar people, he would follow God’s word. The book of Daniel tells us about his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego who made the same dedication to God.
God blessed Daniel with the ability to discern the meaning of special dreams given to people by God. In the Old Testament times, God sometimes revealed a message to a person of importance by way of a dream. He does not do this now since He speaks to us through Jesus as recorded in the Bible (Hebrews 1:1).

The book of Daniel records dreams that he and Nebuchadnezzar had that told about the coming of the great kingdom of God, which we now know as the church. The dreams told about events in the world governments that would take place before God would establish His kingdom that would never be destroyed. These messages provided comfort to Daniel because he knew that God would lead the Israelites out of captivity and back to their homeland. However, there were some visions that frightened Daniel because they told of nations that would be mean to Israel.

The story of Daniel and his three friends demon-strates the strength that young people can have in bad times. It would have been easy for Daniel and his friends to decide to disobey God since God allowed them to be prisoners in Babylon. However, they put their trust in God and God took care of them. Through God’s care they were able to gain positions of authority in the Babylonian gover-nment and, in so doing, bring glory to God’s name. When you are dedicated, you glorify God.

Lessons from Daniel

  • God will punish his people for wickedness
  • God takes care of His children
  • God is in charge of the kingdoms of the world; He will make things work for the good of His people
  • Young people can glorify God by standing for the truth in difficult times