One of Chuck Swindoll’s favourite Bible stories is Daniel in the lions’ den, although he thinks it should be called the lions in Daniel’s den.

The world needs a return to integrity, not sinless perfection but absolute honesty and an absence of duplicity. Impossible? Let's let Daniel's life answer that for us.

Few character qualities are more important than integrity. Courage is perhaps the only one to precede it, since it stiffens our spines and sets our feet.

When we turn the page from chapter 6 to chapter 7 in the book of Daniel, we leave the relatively easy narrative and biographical sections of the book to enter the more difficult and mysterious sections of prophecy. Daniel 7 offers an overview of God’s grand design for humanity.  In this collage of prophecy, we’ll see the sovereignty of God once again—sovereignty we can trust in.

Two years elapsed between Daniel’s first vision in chapter 7 and his second vision in chapter 8. Like the first, this vision involved animals. Unlike the first, this vision provides great detail about one of the most famous men in history, about one of the least known men in history, and about one who will appear in the future and will be the most nefarious man in history. To Daniel, it was all future. To us, most of it is history—a history worth studying to prepare us for the future.

The last four verses in Daniel 9 are not difficult to read but pose a challenge to understand. Daniel had Gabriel to help him. We’ll rely on the Holy Spirit and the rest of God’s Word, not only to help us understand this prophecy of the 70 weeks but also to help us apply some principles to our lives.