The 2nd half of Daniel is full of visions of things that are coming. Many of them are fulfilled by the time we read it today, such as Babylon falls to the Persians and the Medes. They fall to the Greeks. They fall to the Romans, and as we know in the time of the Romans the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ arrives. Daniel's vision goes beyond Jesus' time because Jesus says in Matthew 24:15-16, "Therefore when you see the Abomination of Desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains." In chapter 9, Daniel has a vision of Jerusalem being restored, until the Messiah the Prince comes. Then it is destroyed again, and we know that Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed again in AD 70. At the end of the book, the angel told Daniel, "But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age." The purpose of the Book of Daniel is to encourage us to be faithful because the God of Heaven is the God of past, present, and future. He is over all kingdoms, and He rewards those who earnestly seek Him, like Daniel did.
