The Gospel according to Daniel: A Christ-Centered Approach

by Bryan Chapell

Often we read the book of Daniel in one of two ways--either as a book about a heroic man whose righteousness should inspire us to keep the faith no matter what our circumstances, or as a roadmap to the end times that can, through careful study, perhaps tell us the day and hour (or nearly so) of Christ's return. Both, says Bryan Chapell, are sadly missing the bigger picture, that God is the hero of this story and he is in the midst of his unrelenting plan to rescue his people from their sin and its consequences. We mustn't simply make the man Daniel the object of our worship nor the subject of our debates. We may differ about prophetic details, Chapell says, but we should never miss the point that the book of Daniel is, like all of Old Testament Scripture, pointing us toward the grace of God, ultimately revealed in Christ.

Pastors, teachers, and individual Christians studying the book of Daniel will find this volume a welcome addition to their library.

Genres: Theology, Biblical Studies, Christian, Old Testament, Nonfiction

222 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2014

About the author

Bryan Chapell is the president of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America. He began teaching at Covenant in 1984 after ten years in pastoral ministry. Chapell has a BSJ from Northwestern University, an MDiv from Covenant Theological Seminary, and a PhD in speech communication from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Before becoming president in 1994, he served for six years as vice president for academics and dean of faculty. He is a speaker in churches and conferences around the country, preaching and lecturing on topics including grace, marriage, and journalism. Chapell's online broadcast ministry, Living Christ 360, contains additional resources in his areas of expertise.

Reviews

[Heath Henwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Gospel According to Daniel
by Bryan Chapell
Publisher: Baker Books
Bryan Chapell has attempted to answer the unasked question, of How does Jesus appear in the Old Testament, specifally the Book of Daniel.
My theological training modeled a method of escapology that examined Scripture in how it was read and applied to the cultural group of today; how it applies to the New Testament Church; and how it applies to me personally. Chapell takes the approach of applying it to Jesus only, thus through the eyes of the New Testament.
The book is not an easy read, even for a theological title. Parts are long, and difficult to get through. While some parts are long in the arguement, they are not convincing or supportive of his viewpoint.
The book does bring out the salvation message in the Book of Daniel, and clearly has some good points relating to Jesus.
Ultimately, the book appears unclear of its purpose or audience. Is it a commentary or a guidebook to Jesus; is it a salvation message off a theological text? While itf falls short of each of these, it is something that could have been fixed with a vision of the books purpose, intended audience and a good edit.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is basically a book of sermons on Daniel that Chapell preached while I was a seminary student. I hate reading sermons. So it's an immense credit to Chapell's communication skills that I enjoyed reading this book so much. It reads like 12 extended devotionals (I wish all devotional material was this meaty!).

The second half of Daniel is, of course, highly controversial in its interpretation. However, Chapell does a marvelous job of keeping the main thing the main thing. He will offer his interpretation of figures, events, and visions, but not at the expense of preaching the gospel. Same with the first half of the book, actually. He is not afraid to present Daniel as an exemplar of faith (which he is, although it can be horribly moralized by many teachers and Sunday School curriculum writers) while still keeping the spotlight on the God who led Daniel and his friends through all of those harrowing events.

I highly recommend this book and hope Bryan writes one like it. I found it superior to P&R's "The Gospel According to . . ." series, of which I've read two (. . . Joseph; . . . Ecclesiastes).

[Jerry Hillyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title: The Gospel According to Daniel

Author: Bryan Chapell

Publisher:Baker Books

Year: 2014

Pages: 224

Bryan Chapell: Gospel Coalition

Disclaimer: I am required by the FCC to inform you that I received a free (e-copy) of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. There you go.

The Gospel According to Daniel is Bryan Chapell's attempt to help us understand the Old Testament book of Daniel from a Christian point of view. So we might wonder what does the book of Daniel have to say to Christians living in the 2000's? How does this book instruct us and inform us for 'better' Christian living?

A better question, probably, is how is Jesus visible in the book of Daniel? What types of Jesus do we see? Does Jesus make any appearances in the book itself? Do we see any passages that are quoted or later alluded to in the New Testament? How did New Testament authors interpret the passages? How did Jesus interpret Daniel? (Ironically, Chapell says Jesus only references Daniel once (Matthew 24:15-16) and he seems to totally forget Jesus' most significant allusion to Daniel in Matthew 26:64!; see page 194.) By the time the end of the book rolls around, and it doesn't take long for that to happen, I'm just not convinced that I got enough of that. It seems to me that every chapter is interpreted in light of eternal consequences, or 'salvation', instead of in light of, say, Jeremiah 29 (Chapell does make reference to Jeremiah on a few occasions but only once to Jeremiah 29 on page 114. I think the book would have been much better if it had served to show us how the book of Daniel--who as a person was clearly reading Jeremiah's prophecy (9:1-2)--functioned as a commentary or as 'parables' on Jeremiah 29. Which is not to say that Jeremiah is mere parable as opposed to 'real' history.)

I'm not arguing that there is anything necessarily wrong with looking forward--indeed, much of the latter part of Daniel's book does look forward (n some way)--but we do not look forward or interpret Scripture at the expense of the present--all Scripture, wrote Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 serves to help us live right here, right now. That is, future hope might provide us with a nice escape every now and again, but we are not living in the future, we are living in the now. Daniel's words were, it seems to me, written to help people live in the now, not the not yet. I am certain that Daniel talks about salvation in some sense of the word, but salvation, even in the New Testament, is not merely about the future. Frankly, I don't think it is fair to reduce Daniel's book to a mere How to Get Saved Tract--and at times, that is exactly how The Gospel According to Daniel reads.

One aspect of the book that I did happen to find especially compelling was Chapell's emphasis on grace. For example:

The power of grace to stimulate love for God is the ultimate reasons we preach redemptive interpretations of Scripture. (10)

This is a fine example of the thing I like about the book and the thing I hate about the book and it is especially frustrating--and many authors/preachers from the so-called Reformed camp write in just such a way as if the only thing the Scripture is teaching us is the black and white of something (very narrowly) called salvation. On the other hand Chapell is at his best when he writes things like, "Despair dies when we know our failures are not greater than the grace of God" (10). This is brilliant precisely because it addresses right here, right now. We do not despair the future when we despair; instead we despair the present. Knowing how God's grace affects me right here, right now, right where I am sitting or standing or weeping or contemplating suicide is what eliminates despair--not the mere hope of a better life in some otherworldly dimension or time. When I am suffering, frankly, I do not want to hear how God is 'preparing me for a greater work in the future' (p 19) because frankly that has no meaning--since the future doesn't exist. All that matters is right how so, preacher, tell me how God's grace is working for me right now. (For example: "The question we face--the matter of faith we are being challenged to consider--is whether the eternal rewards are real enough to weigh against earthly risk. That is what the life of Daniel is really meant to confirm: that God is able and willing to provide what is best for his people for eternity" (23). This seems to me escapist and not quite here and now based. Rather, if Daniel's background is Jeremiah, and I think it is, it seems that God is concerned about how we, his people, live against the backdrop of a pagan society and bring his Kingdom to bear on said culture and society.)

Now on to a couple of complaints and a couple of praises about the book.

First, I disliked the length of the chapters and the overall flow of the book. Frankly the chapters were just too long and cumbersome. I think Chapell or his editors should have insisted on breaking up some of the chapters into at least two parts. Since the book did not purport to be a deeply exegetical book, it was difficult to maintain Chapell's thoughts--especially as he moved into the latter half of the book (Daniel 7-12). Those chapters are thick and meaty and terrifically complex. Chapell's readers would have been better served if his comments and/or applications had been condensed into shorter chapters thus making his ideas easier to consume and easier to commit to memory.

Second, I know it's a preacher thing, but I have to say that the anecdotes in the book just bother me. I never fail to be amazed at authors who have a story from their life or ministry or whatever that fits so easily with the point they are trying to make--and Chapell has a boatload of them. Sometimes he doesn't tell them so well. As someone who works with children every day who have physical and cognitive limitations, I found his story on page 208-209 about his brother to be not a little heartless. I'm sure he didn't mean it to be heartless, but some editing of the story--without his predictable commentary--would have been helpful and made his point better.

Third, there are times in the book when I think Chapell's application simply has nothing to do with the text he is exposing his readers to. A perfect example of this is found in chapter 5 and Chapell's handling of the story of the 'writing on the wall.' Without spelling out my complaint, and thus spoiling the reading, suffice it to say that in my opinion this chapter really missed the mark. Briefly, "Mene, Tekel, Peres is not ultimately the handwriting against Belshazzar; it is the handwriting of God for us" (105). I do not agree with this, and I do not believe Chapell spelled out his position well enough to convince me.

Now, a couple of the better points of the book.

First, I appreciated that Chapell doesn't make any attempt to pin down dates and times: "We should not get hung up on the puzzles of timing that we miss the clear proclamation of grace in Daniel's vision" (166). I think this is right. Too many authors on Daniel (or on any apocalyptic book) get hung up on the small stuff and miss the big picture. Thankfully, and to his credit, Chapell--although I sensed he leans in a dispensationalist direction--didn't make this the focal point of this book. I appreciated that he deferred judgment in these areas and kept to the big picture (even if I happen to think he misses the main objective of Daniel's book.)

Second, for all of my complaints about certain aspects of the exegetical process (application) and theological overtones (Reformed) I did find that Chapell consistently kept our attention on God: "This can be our great confidence, too, when we express faith that tragedy does not mean God has vanished, danger does not indicate that he has failed, and difficulty does not imply that he is weak. God is in control" (56). And statements like this are scattered throughout the book and this is a good and powerful reminder that regardless of who is in charge, God's purposes and plans, for the present and future, will not ultimately fail. This is a powerful sermon and one that permeated the book.

Gospel is Good News. The Good News is what God has done in Jesus and is doing right now, right here in this world to bring about his plans, his purposes, and his Kingdom. Ultimately it is Jesus who is God's representative who will make these things happen. I think Chapell was trying to get this message out in the book, but I think he fell a little short. I wish he had been more explicit on how God's Kingdom and the 'your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven' prayer are happening and how Daniel's Gospel demonstrates this, but ultimately I was left wanting.

3/5 Stars

[Bobby Bonser · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book out as our church goes through Daniel expositionally.

Chapell writes like someone would preach. He uses illustrations, focuses on Christ and the gospel, and doesn't get caught up with nuanced eschatological debates. The result is that the reader comes away with a greater/bigger picture of God's sovereignty, providence, comfort and love for His people. It was a tremendous comfort to me and I really appreciated how he didn't focus too heavily on getting dogmatic about theological "positions." Christ was the focus and Christ shined through his writing.

As with any book, you have to weigh everything with scripture (chew the meat and spit out the bones). I have two bones to spit out with this book: 1. This bone is the small one: although Chapell was gracious and I appreciated his "big picture", I did find myself yearning for more exposition and explanation of the hard passages. He really didn't even try to explain them to any satisfactory depth, so one would have to look elsewhere to get a firm grasp of what the visions actually represent. 2. This is a rather large bone, and almost got stuck in my throat: Chapell uses Daniel 9 where Daniel supplicates and confesses "corporate" sin to promote Critical Race Theory. He says we should apologize for sins of out ancestors if we have benefitted in some way from their sin. I am wholly unconvinced this is what Daniel 9 is about. Daniel is in the unique role of Prophet and it was common for the prophet to speak to God on behalf of the people and visa versa. We cannot look at this as a normative example.

Otherwise, this book has a lot of solid meat to chew on!

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: In recent years much of my time has been spent helping different generations of church leaders understand each other.

What does a Christ-centered approach to Daniel look like? Well. I'm not the best judge even though I read the book. I can tell you what it does not look like. It is not a commentary or at the very least not a traditional commentary. It won't really focus on the context and cultures in which Daniel lived. It won't go into various views of what any of the visions mean. It won't go into anything remotely-remotely related to "end times" prophecy. It won't focus necessarily on how Daniel has been read and interpreted throughout the centuries. It will focus almost exclusively in making Daniel "relevant" with applications for how to better live for Christ in a compromising culture.

I have always found Daniel a confusing book. I've never really tried to find ways to apply it, to make comparisons between Babylon's culture and our own, to look for ways to correlate our times with his. I remember liking the earlier chapters. It had me thinking about the pressures that Daniel and his three companions [among other captives] faced daily. They had lost literally almost everything--but were clinging to their faith in God.

I read the book over too many months to keep a big picture. I wish I'd been able to read it within a week or two instead of six weeks.

[Evan Steele · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard one to review. . .

Bryan Chapell seems too often to be reading his ideas into the text, particularly in the first half of the book. Its not that what he is saying is not true, but it doesn't seem to be coming from the source material.

Toward the end of the book, as Daniel becomes more prophetic, Chapell's insights feel more natural. Perhaps, as the meaning of Daniel moves toward the more opaque, I am less set in my ideas and more able to be lead.

It's not a bad book, but I would not recommend it unless someone was really looking for some different points of view on Daniel.

[Taylor Rollo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for the book of Daniel. It is not a commentary so much as a series of sermon-like chapters (probably based on sermons), so it would make a great additional resource for a pastor preaching through Daniel or a good Bible study resource for a small group. I do not always agree with Chapell's conclusions, but he shows how we can see Christ in this book and is gospel-centered, like the title implies.

[Caleb Blevins · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book on Daniel from a solid Reformed perspective. Chapell does not get caught up in the eschatological arguments but rather points to what the book is really all about: God caring for His people even in their troubles.

[Jennifer Neuschwander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good! I loved this author's approach to studying the book of Daniel: not as a mere retelling of stories of a Bible hero or an endless debate on eschatological issues, but as a reminder that God reveals Himself and His plan for our redemption throughout Scripture.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book to be read slowly as it gives so much to think about and much to pray and praise about.

It doesn't set to answer all the questions of interpretation but to show what Daniel teaches about God and His grace to His people.

It's book I'll be encouraging others to read.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chappell's approach is readable and deals briefly with the challenging portions, but has more story-telling that the other commentaries I read. As such, there were some unique wins but also some not-so-relevants if you are engaging for sermon prep. Still, a win.

[Carla White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was very good and had some interesting insights. I enjoyed the personal stories that illustrated the author's points.

[Mookie J · Rating 3 out of 5]

does a good job taking thru Scripture and showing Gospel... kinda lags at the end, but overall good. 3.5 stars

[Zacarias Rivera, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bryan Chapell's exposition on the book of Daniel is superb. He deftly interprets the text and provides lessons that we can apply to our lives.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional exposition pointing us to Christ and what we do know that is revealed in Daniel rather than focusing on endless controversies. Excellent source of illustrations.

[Ryan Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Chapell’s book on Christ-centered preaching, but he seems to get away from some of his principles in this commentary. The sermons often didn’t explain large portions of the text.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introduction to this commentary makes it clear that the author is not trying to give an exegetically detailed commentary on the book of Daniel; rather the purpose of the book is to show how the book of Daniel points us to the Gospel and then to apply Gospel truths that is found in Daniel to our lives. To this end, I think the author accomplished his stated purpose.
My first knowledge of the author Byran Chapell was from his book on preaching that was the textbook for an introductory course to preaching when I began seminary; that particular work helped me a lot in laying the foundation to become an expository preacher. It was with great expectation that I picked up this book wanting to learn and see how Bryan Chapell would preach through the book of Daniel.
I appreciated the many stories that the author shared throughout the book; they were wonderful examples of how preachers should “illustrate to apply” to the listeners’ lives. I appreciated seeing how Chapell avoided making Daniel the object of our hero worship but instead points us towards God, Jesus and the Gospel. One highlight reading this commentary is the discussion on Daniel chapter three about what true faith means. Here Chapell also points out to the reader that just because one has faith does not mean that everything will go all well in life without trials and tribulation. This directly contradicts the “health and wealth” gospel and similar beliefs popular in some Christian circles. At the same time, for those who are in biblical churches the discussion would nevertheless be quite encouraging since it put our suffering in perspective.
There were times I wished that the author could have gone more in-depth with the exposition of the passage especially with the latter part of the book of Daniel. I must add that this is a gentle criticism because one must applaud the author for his honesty in admitting what he does not know or don’t want to be dogmatic with.
Both exegetes and lay readers will benefit from this commentary; this book serves as a great devotional read while for expository preachers this commentary will balance out some of the more technical commentaries to help the preacher thinking about how to deliver and apply the text.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by Baker Books and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

[Matt Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up thinking that it would be an academic commentary on the parallels between the book of Daniel and the Gospels each chapter is that but only briefly there is also a lot of personal application.

[Brad Renshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great walk through the book of Daniel.