Everything which the book [of Daniel] contains of comfort and promise is pure hope, for the whole book was composed at a time of extremest need.... The greatness of the book consists in the fact that its author drew all promises out of his own faith. And in this hope he was not deceived, for the following year, through the cleansing of the temple and the death of the tyrant, brought a relative fulfilment of his promises, just as in earlier days the return from exile was a relative fulfilment of the promises of Deutero-Isaiah. This relative salvation the author has seen alongside of an absolute Messianic one, and in this vision of the future lies the particular and lasting value of the book.... His vision of the age to come is deep and full of meaning. He ... gave comfort through the rebirth of pure prophetic thought.
After the fourth world-kingdom had run its full demonic course the longed-for judgment was to come, and with it the end of the history of revelation and that of man; thereupon was to come the divine kingdom from heaven, without limit in time or space, in the glory of which even the pious dead should participate, while the worldly recreants would receive their due.
—From The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia
