The Books of Daniel and Revelation Made Easy

By Warren Reid

The book of Revelation must be the most feared book of the Bible to read. Now you can read it with great delight for this book is written to help you, the reader to understand what your Father in heaven is revealing to you. God does not want His children to be ignorant of His plan for us. Neither does He want us to be ignorant of the things He has in store for us. He has said in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. Therefore, get knowledge and use that knowledge to defend yourself and help others.
I have to confess that I know nothing about the things of God. I have to rely entirely upon the Holy Spirit to lead me into all truths. The thing that moved me to write about the books of Daniel and Revelation is that I know that they are hard books to understand, but I also know that God wants His people to understand for He has loved us all with an everlasting love.

Warren Reid didn’t write this book because of his will. Rather, he wrote it because he was commissioned to do so by God.

The Books of Daniel and Revelation Made Easy examines the twelve chapters of Daniel and twenty-two chapters of Revelation. Divided into two parts, it tackles the books in detail.

The author answers questions such as:
• What passages of the Bible should you think about time and time again?
• Why did Daniel refuse to eat the king’s meat and the wine he provided for them?
• Why is it so important to pray to the living and true God just as Daniel did?
• How can we recognize when Satan is working through someone?

The Lord is coming, but we must be able to recognize the man of sin before Christ comes. We must be resolved in our hearts that we will not yield to him, that we would rather choose death than to bow down and worship his image or take his mark.
May the God of Heaven give us grace to stand for Him in the evil days—and may this book help light the path that leads to everlasting life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Feb 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665596534

Warren Reid

Warren Reid was born in Jamaica and moved to the United Kingdom in the early sixties. He has been a born-again Christian since he was just fourteen years old, and he served as a pastor for thirty-five years. Warren also has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Open University and a law degree with the South Bank University in London. Now a retired minister, he resides in Jamaica.

Book preview

PART 1

THE BOOK OF DANIEL

CHAPTER 1

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WE LEARN FROM DANIEL 1:1–2 that Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. He carried as captives Jehoiakim and some of the people into the land of Babylon. He also took some of the vessels that were in the House of the Lord in Jerusalem and carried them into the house of his god in Babylon.

After a certain time, the king called Ashpenaz, his captain, and instructed him to select certain of the children of Judah, including from among his own children and the children of his princes, who were well favoured and skilful in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. These children were to be taught the language of the Chaldeans. After three years, they would stand before him and be tested on their knowledge.

Of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were chosen. The name of Daniel was changed to Belteshazzar; Hananiah to Shadrach; Mishael to Meshach; and Azariah to Abednego. The king appointed them a daily provision of his substance to nourish them for three years so that at the end of that period he might question them.

But Daniel purposed in his heart not to eat the king’s meat, for that would defile him. He therefore requested of Ashpenaz, the prince of the eunuchs, that he might not defile himself. The prince at first could not grant him his request, for that would endanger his own life, and he pointed out to Daniel that the king might look upon him with less liking than the others.

However, Ashpenaz appointed Melzar to look after the affairs of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Abednego, and all the others who were chosen to appear before the king after three years. It so happened that God brought Daniel into favour with Melzar.

Daniel approached Melzar and said to him,

Prove thy servants I beseech thee ten days and let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink. Then let our countenance be looked upon before thee and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat and as thou seest, deal with thy servant. (Daniel 1:12-13)

Melzar consented with this arrangement and tested them at the end of ten days. When he examined them, the countenances of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than those of the children who ate the portion of the king’s meat. As a consequence, Melzar took away the king’s meat and wine and gave all the children pulse to eat and water to drink.

As for Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Abednego, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. He also gave to Daniel understanding in all visions and dreams. At the appointed time, the children of Judah, the king’s children, and the children of the princes were brought before the king. The king questioned them and found that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah excelled them all and were ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers in his realm.

Before leaving this first chapter of Daniel, there is a question I would like to address. Why did Daniel refuse to eat the king’s meat and the wine he provided for them? We are told in verse 12 that Daniel requested pulse and water to drink. Pulse in this context means vegetables. Therefore, their meat was pulse and water for three years. Does this provide an argument for those who choose to abstain from meat and become vegetarians? Perhaps it does, but we need to understand the real reason Daniel refused to eat the king’s meat and drink his wine.

It is God who created all things for us to enjoy. However, he gave instruction to Moses regarding which animals, fishes, and birds of the air can be eaten and which ought not to be eaten. Meat or wine does not defile anyone, but when it is offered up to the idolatrous god of Nebuchadnezzar, and you know that it was offered up to a false god and eat anyway, it defiles your conscience. Daniel knew this and for this reason refused to eat the king’s meat and drink his wine. He also knew that if he defiled himself, the Spirit of the Holy God would not work through him.

The believers of the early church were instructed by the Apostles to abstain from pollutions of idols, fornication, things strangled, and blood (Acts 15:20). The blood of a strangled animal is not drained out into the earth; therefore, it is wrong to eat the meat. The blood of any animal must be drained into the earth before the meat is to be eaten. It is forbidden by God to drink the blood of animals. The Bible says, It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings that ye eat neither fat nor blood (Leviticus 3:17).

CHAPTER 2

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THE SECOND CHAPTER IS KEY to understanding the book of Daniel. It is the signpost of the history of the world, past, present and future, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, then ruler of the entire world. Chapter 2 is to be studied carefully. It begins by telling us that in the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams in which his spirit troubled him, and he could not sleep.

He commanded the magicians, the astrologers, and the Chaldeans to present themselves to him in order to tell him his dreams and interpret them.

In Daniel 2:3-11, we read, And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Syriacks: O king live forever, tell thy servants the dream and we will show the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me; if ye will not make known unto me the dream with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made a dunghill. But if ye show me the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour. Therefore, show me the dream and the interpretation thereof. They answered and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream and we will show the interpretation of it. The king answered and said, I know of a certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore, tell me the dream and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof. The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter: therefore, there is no king, lord nor ruler that asked such thing at any magician or astrologer or chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the god whose dwelling is not with flesh.

Thus ends the conversation between the king and the wise men of Babylon. However, verse 12 states that the king was furious, so he commanded that all the wise men of Babylon to be killed. This led to a gathering of the wise men, including Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. When Daniel understood the reason for the decree, he spoke with wisdom and counsel to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard who was appointed to slay the wise men of Babylon, saying, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? (verse 15) When Daniel understood the reason for the decree, he went boldly to the king and asked that he give him time so Daniel could show the king the dream and the correct interpretation.

The king having granted Daniel his request, he went straight to his three friends and made the thing known unto them and asked them that they should desire mercies of the God of Heaven concerning the secret so that they perished not with the wise men of Babylon.

The secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then he blessed the God of Heaven for revealing the secret unto him. We also should now and forever bless the God of Heaven for the secret was not just revealed to Daniel on behalf of himself, his three friends and the wise men of Babylon, but also unto us who were not yet alive in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, the king; for the dream and the interpretation thereof are more important to us than they; for we are living in the days of the fulfilment of the very last aspect of that dream.

Let us, therefore bless God with the words of Daniel who said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are His and He changeth the times and seasons: He removeth kings and set up kings; He giveth wisdom to the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secrets things: He knoweth what is in the darkness and the light dwelleth with Him. I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers who has given me wisdom and might and has made known unto me the king’s matter. (verses 20-23)

Daniel then went in to see Arioch and said, Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king and I will show unto the king the interpretation. (verse 24) In haste Arioch brought Daniel before the king and said unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah that will make known unto the king the interpretation. (verse 25) The king answered and said unto Daniel, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen and the interpretation thereof? (verse 26) Daniel answered and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers show unto the king, but there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Daniel began to tell the king what happened in his bed chamber. He said to the king, As for thee O king thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed what should come to pass hereafter and He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.

This is the dream. Thou sawest O king and behold a great image. This great image whose brightness was excellent stood before thee and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold; his breasts and his arms of silver; his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron; his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2: 29-35)

Let us now hear the interpretation as Daniel said to the king. "Thou O king art a king of kings for the God of Heaven has given thee a kingdom, power and strength and glory and where so ever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heavens hath He given into thy hands and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee and another third kingdom of brass which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things and as iron that breaketh all these, shall he brake in pieces and bruise.

And whereas thou sawest the feet and the toes, part of potter’s clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, for as much thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with miry clay.

And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever. For as much as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it breaks in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter and the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure.". (verses 37-45)

The king Nebuchadnezzar felled upon his face and worshipped Daniel and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. (verse 46)

Imagine the king falling down and worshipping Daniel and commanding others to worship him because he told him his dream in such details and gave him the interpretation thereof. I believe that the king was relieved and delighted for he was carrying the burden of the dream and interpretation of which the wise men of Babylon could not tell him.

The end result is that God was glorified for the king Nebuchadnezzar had to confess saying, Of a truth, it is, that your God is God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets seeing that you could reveal this secret. (verse 47)

The king made Daniel a great man and gave him many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and Chief of the governors over the wise men of Babylon. And through the request of Daniel, the king set Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of Babylon.

Let us now spiritually, analyse chapter two of the book of Daniel. This chapter can be likened to a man who is going to build a house. The first thing he has to do is to provide a structure or plan for the house. Chapter two of Daniel is the plan or structure for the history of the entire world beginning with the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the end of all worldly governments on planet earth.

The structure consists of seven heads of governments, namely Nebuchadnezzar or the Babylonian Empire, the Medes and Persians or the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire. Note that the Roman Empire was divided into four kingdoms with the Roman Generals as heads of the four divisions of this said Empire. These are the seven heads of the Beast that carried them and you will learn more of the seven heads especially when you begin to read the book of Revelation.

After the seven heads came the divided nations of the world and