Daniel
Introduction.
Before
I begin, please let me explain that I am just a normal, average Christian, with
a Bible, a history book or two, some other reference books, and a desire to
understand what God is saying. I do not claim to have found the final, perfect
explanation for Daniel's prophecies, and I hope that you the Reader will pursue
this matter much further than I have done. I would also like to mention a huge
debt of gratitude to a number of friends and Bible scholars who have helped me
with comments and notes over the years, especially Mrs. Browne, whose
dedication to the Bible is outstanding and whose help and advice has been
invaluable through the years.
The
following quick glance at the whole book of Daniel is not supposed to be a
detailed reference to all the prophecies. Some of the prophecies in chapter
nine I have covered in more detail in a separate essay, while other parts of
the whole book are not prophetic, and have therefore been left out, except for
a short summary.
Two things ought to be mentioned
before we go any further. First of all, the prophecies of Daniel do not stand
alone. They are linked to other prophecies which God has given before and also
after Daniel. In earlier parts of the Bible God predicted such things as a
Flood, some 120 years before it occurred, and also the coming of the Seed of
the Virgin, some 4000 years before He was born. Again, near the end of Genesis
God predicted the futures of the sons of Jacob, and also the 400 years which
Abraham's seed would spend in
All through history God has predicted, sometimes thousands
of years before the event, the coming main events, and usually only those
events which related to the people of
The
second thing to note is that Daniel and Revelation go together. Daniel picks up
the story from his day and carries us through to the coming of
Chapter 1.
This
chapter covers the capture of Daniel and three others, whose names are changed
as they are forced to serve in the
Chapter 2.
This chapter
is about the king's dream. In the dream the king saw an image, or statue, which
was made of different materials. Below is a simple breakdown of this image and
what it means: Head of Gold
1st
kingdom Chest of Silver
Medo/Persia
2nd
kingdom Thighs of Brass
3rd
kingdom Legs of Iron
4th
kingdom Feet of Iron & Clay European States
5th
kingdom Mighty Rock
6th
kingdom
Note
that there is no seventh kingdom mentioned. As far as the Bible is concerned,
the last world power on Earth before the return of Christ is the might British
Commonwealth and the
There
are many details built into this prophetic overview, which could be dealt with at
length (for example, the legs of iron, a metal common to the Romans, also
represent the fact that Rome divided into two distinct parts - Western Rome and
Eastern), but these will be left out for the sake of brevity.
Chapter 3.
This is
about the image of gold which the king set up to be worshipped. Three men,
Daniel's companions, refused to bow to it and were subsequently thrown into a
furnace, where they were protected by God. They were later promoted by the king.
Chapter 4.
This
chapter is about king Nebuchadnezzar, who boasted about his greatness. God
pronounced a term of punishment on the king and so the king spent some time
outside the palace, living like an animal. When God restored him, the king
proclaimed that God was the true God.
Chapter 5.
This
chapter is about king Belshazzar
and the judgement pronounced on him by God. On the very night that the king was
drinking to his success, God sent an invading army, that of Darius the Median,
to capture and kill him.
Chapter 6.
This
chapter is about Daniel, who being innocent was accused of treachery and thrown
into a den of lions. God preserved him through the night and Daniel emerged
unharmed. He was promoted and his enemies were put to death.
Chapter 7.
This
chapter is about the four beasts, which Daniel was shown as a prophetic picture
of a coming succession of empires. These four beasts line up alongside the
vision of the stature, which the king saw in a dream - see chapter 2. The
beasts and statue start and finish at the same times but to the beasts vision
is added a little more detail about the rise of the Roman Catholic Papacy. In
both the statue and beasts vision the final end of their destruction and the
setting up of the
1st
beast: lion with wings
Nebuchadnezzar
to Belshazzar
2nd
beast: bear with ribs
Darius
the Mede and Cyrus the Persian
Cambyses
Darius
the Persian
Artaxerxes
Darius Condimanus 3rd beast: 4headed leopard Alexander the Great
4th beast:
terrible, iron teeth Augustus Octavian
After
the 4th beast, comes the split between West and East of Rome. Western Rome was
ruled by Honorus and
These
ten States
(or toes of the statue) are listed as the Lombards,
Franks, Burgundians, Ostrogoths,
Visigoths, Vandals, Heruli, Sueves,
Huns and Saxons. (Elliot's Horae, volume 3, page 136)
With
the decree of the emperor Phocas, in 606, the bishop
of Rome was decreed as head of the whole Church, and the prediction in Daniel
was fulfilled, that one horn had eyes and a mouth (7:20) and this power would
wage war against the saints. There is no doubt that some of the fiercest
persecution against true Christians has come from the Church of Rome.
We will
now go through this chapter in more detail.
God
declares the end from the beginning. Because He can see the whole sweep of what
we call history, He knows everything which is yet to happen. This does not mean
that He CONTROLS the events - which is an error made by fatalists, or predestinationists. To foresee something is not the same as
to cause it to happen. God knows what the future holds because He is not
restricted by Time, as we are. He inhabits eternity. This ability to know all
things as if they are always in the present tense is found in His Name: I AM.
(Is.46:9,10)
7:3
Four great
beasts came out of the sea. These four beasts match the four parts of the
statue which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. Each beast rose out of the
"sea" in sequence, not all at once, which shows that each empire
would take over from the one before it, in succession. The beasts are powerful
Gentile kingdoms (that is, non-Israelite)
7:4 The first beast was like a lion, with eagle's wings. The
wings were removed and it was made to stand up on its feet like a man and it
was given a man's heart.
The
first beast represents
7:5
The
second beast was like a bear, with three ribs (tusks, large teeth) in its mouth.
This
beast represents the Medo-Persian empire.
(It matches the statue's chest and arms) It is interesting that God predicted
that this second empire would have not two but THREE large teeth in its mouth.
History shows that while the Medes and Persians were the main powers, the
little
7:6
The
third beast was like a leopard with four wings and four heads.
This
third kingdom (which matches the hips and loins of the statue) was
The
four heads represent the Greek empire after Alexander died, when it was divided
between four of his generals. These four "heads" were
7:7
The
fourth beast is called "dreadful and terrible". It has iron teeth and
destroys everywhere it goes. It also has ten horns.
This
beast, which represents the rise of the
is called a kingdom of iron, and its rule, as seen in
history, was indeed dreadful and terrible.
The ten
horns have already been identified. They are listed in several records of
history, and although there is some dispute as to their exact identity, the
main view of Scripture is that
7:8
Out
from among the ten horns comes one horn, which tosses out three horns by the
roots. This ascending horn has eye like a human and a mouth speaking great
things.
The Rev.E.P.Cachemaille writes: "If the ten horns be the
kingdoms of Medieval and modern
The
"little horn" grew to such power that it was able to remove three
other horns. History shows that the kingdoms of the Heruli,
the Ostrogoths and the Lombards
were taken over by the Papal Power, which in time took over the temporal power
as well as the spiritual power, which continued to extend across Europe and
into
The
mouth and eyes of the horn represent the fact that this power was motivated by
a man, namely the Pope - whichever Pope was at that time sitting on the throne.
Note: no single Pope is spoken of here, but a succession of Popes. From the
will of this man came the directives, the bulls, the orders, the laws, the new
beliefs and so on. The Popes had power to order armies about, to set up or take
down political leaders. They could pretend to speak for god, and also behave
like temporal kings, More about the Papacy is found in 2Thess.2 and 1John 2:18
and forward. Also, in Revelation 13 and 17 more light is thrown on the papal
rule, where it is described as a "harlot" and a "beast".
The
usurping horn is said to speak "great things" and has a look more
"stout than his fellows". These curious expressions refer to the man
who considered himself a direct descendant of the apostle Peter, to the man who
had the arrogance and audacity to pass rules which contradicted the Bible. In
the canon laws he is referred to as "our Lord God the pope" and it is
said that he is "neither god nor man, but both".
Pope
Boniface VIII (1295-1303) in the Unam Sanctum, states
"All the faithful of Christ by necessity of salvation are subject to the
Roman Pontiff, who judges all men, but is judged by no one . . . This authority
is not human, but rather divine . . . therefore we declare, assert, define, and
pronounce, that to be subject to the Roman Pontiff is to every human creature altogether
necessary for Salvation . . ."
If you
or I were to make such claims we would be spoken to quite sternly by other
Christians, or perhaps laughed at, but history records that pope after pope
came out with such extravagant claims, and many thousands actually accepted
them. No wonder the time before the Reformation has been called the
"Dark" Ages, as the light of God's Truth was kept down by the lies
and blasphemies of men who claimed to be God's representatives.
7:21-27
The boastful horn "made war with the saints", and also "thought
to change times and laws".
History
shows that the power of the Roman Church was directed, among other targets,
against the small, but true Church. Protestants were attacked and killed
repeatedly, or their lives were made miserable, simply because they would not
acknowledge the pope, or obey his false doctrines.
Some of
the changed times and laws, instituted by the Papacy, include: 1. Setting up
and deposing temporal kings. This is God's and the State's prerogative, not the
Church's. (God never gave the Church the power to alter political or temporal
rulers) 2. Claiming to be head of the Church. The Bible says Jesus is Head, not
some man. (Eph.1:22, 5:23-32, Col.1:18 and 1Pet.5:1-4) 3. Claiming to be infallible.
Only God knows all things. 4. Ordaining that men in the clergy should remain
celibate. This totally contradicted God's Word about marriage. (Gen.1:26-28,
2:18-25, 1Tim.3:1-16, Tit.1:5-8, 1Tim.4:1-3) 5. Introducing the false doctrine
of purgatory, and the invocation of dead saints and angels. 6. Introducing the
doctrine of Transubstantiation - which said that the tokens of the bread and
wine became the actual body and blood of Jesus when eaten. 7. The Papacy also
altered God's Word in regard to the second Commandment, by making a false
distinction between heathen idols and Christian images. In Catholic teaching it
was permitted to kneel before a Christian image, to pray to it, to kiss it, etc.
7:21 The horn "made war with the saints".
Obviously,
when the Catholic Church is asked whether it ever "made war against the
saints" it will either deny it, or slip out of the question, but history
records a long-continued persecution of the people of God. Those whom God
called "saint"
For
example, here is a quote from the Catholic New Testament version (the Rhemish), in its comment on the words "drunken with
the blood of saints", in Rev.17:6: "Protestants foolishly expound
this of
Persecutions
were carried out from the 11th and 12th
centuries, and continued on unabated. Whole
Christian communities were wiped out. The persecutions of the
Waldenses and Albigenses,
the Lollards, the Bohemians, the Huguenots and so on.
The Inquisition, set up by Torquemada (
Chapter
7 ends the vision with the coming of "the Ancient of Days" - in
verses 13, 14 and 26, 27. Just as in the vision of the statue, the final scene
is the setting up of the
Chapter 8.
This
chapter is about the fall of Medo-Persia, the rise of
Alexander the Great and his Greek empire, the rise of the Mohammedans (Islam)
and the treading down of Jerusalem - including exactly how long this was to
last.
We will
now look at these things in more detail:
8:1-2
Daniel introduces us to the time and place in which he was given the prophetic
vision.
8:3
Daniel sees a ram with two horns.
This depicts
the Medo-Persian empire. In
fact, this was its emblem in those countries. It was usual for the kings of
Daniel
saw two horns on the ram, with the second horn coming up last, which signified
the rise of the Persians, who were not as ancient as the Medes. However the
second horn, the Persians, became the more powerful in the union.
8:4 The ram pushed against and overcame the nations to the west,
north and south.
8:5 An he goat appears, running so fast it flies above the
ground.
Bronze figures
of goats have been found which have been interpreted as symbols of Macedon, and
it is no surprise that God depicts Alexander the Great as a running goat,
because the speed at which Alexander conquered the Medes and Persians was
astonishing.
The
Persians tried many times to subdue
The
Persian monarch, Darius 111, with great confidence, engaged Alexander
's small force with an army approximately 20 times larger, but
Alexander's men were military masters and, in three great battles, the Persians
were utterly defeated. (Grannicus 334, Issus 333 and
Not
content with this victory, Alexander went on, tearing down all and any further
opposition, and thus "stamped on" the Persian ram.
8:8 The goat suddenly dies.
One
story I have read about Alexander is that he died from surfeiting during a
victory feast, but whatever the cause of his death it was sudden and
unexpected. It is a common observation that here was a man, young, virile, in
the prime of his life, at the head of a vast empire, conquering and
undefeatable, who suddenly died, taking nothing of his earthly glory with him.
As Jesus said, "What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world,
and loses his own soul?"
After
Alexander's death, four 'notable ones" are seen to arise. Alexander died
in 323 BC, aged 33 yrs. After him his step-brother Philip
(323-317). During this period the empire was divided into a number of
provinces under various rulers. Philip was succeeded by Alexander IV, a
posthumous son of Alexander the Great, who ruled with the help of Roxana his
mother, but he was murdered in 311 BC. After that four kingdoms were formed
(under five men) in 306 BC: Egypt under Ptolomy Lagus, Syria under Antigonus,
Upper Asia under Seleucus, Thrace under Lysimachus and Macedonia under Cassander.
At this
point some might think that God's Word was in error, but soon after these five
kingdoms were formed the battle of Ipsus (301) was
fought, and four kingdoms remained. Antigonus fell and
his rule taken away.
8:9-12 Another horn rises, which comes from one of the four horns
already discussed above. This new powerful ruler does terrible things in 'the
pleasant land".
As we
have seen, the ruler of the Alexander's Asiatic territory was a man called Seleucus, with his family. One of his family,
a man called Antiochus the Great, or Antiochus Epiphanes, won a victory at Paneas
(200BC) and became the eight ruler of the Seleucid dynasty. As a result of his
efforts he was able to wrest the Holy Land from
Antiochus'
name means "God made manifest". He lived from 175-164 BC. He had
spent 15 years as a hostage in
8:12
This verse
points out that transgression was the cause for Antiochus' triumph over the
Jews.
The
Jews, despite their best efforts, were not without many grave sins, so God
allowed the invasion by Antiochus as a punishment for Jewish transgression. For
example, the Jews were adopting some of the heathen customs and beliefs. One of
these false beliefs was drawn from the heathen Zoroastrian religion, which
taught that there is life after death (apart from the resurrection), with
rewards and punishments. The Greeks generally believed this too, naming their
afterlife world 'Hades". The Bible, however, clearly teaches that when we
die we go to "Sheol" which means "the
grave" or "pit", a place of utter unconsciousness, and there we
stay until God raises us again. Satan started the after-life lie when he
suggested that "you shall not surely die", and Man has been repeating
it ever since.
8:13 A question is asked: how long would it be between a casting
down of the daily sacrifice and the cleansing of the sanctuary.
There
are many shades of interpretation regarding this question and its answer, so
let the Reader decide what seems best. The following is one possible
explanation.
At the
time of this vision being given to Daniel the daily sacrifice and the sanctuary
were not even in existence. Daniel was a captive Jew, and the Jews had not yet
started to return to
There
was however a daily sacrifice during Roman times, and
after
Something
should here be said about the Maccabees. They were a
courageous band, who took on huge opponents, and won the final battles for
independence. The revolt began in 167, and by 143, after many defeats as well
as victories, Simon Maccabaeus
gained full independence for the Jews. He conquered the remaining Seleucid
strongholds in
But the question as to how long is given as "2300
days". A prophetic day is an actual year, so we have to find two
points in history which span 2300 years. Where should we start this time span. For me, a likely point would be Alexander the Great's first battle, in 334BC. The main reason why this
date seems most appropriate is because the 2300 years terminal is 1967 when the
Moslem control was finally ended over the
One way
to illustrate this 'signal' concept is to think of a gun firing a bullet at a
target. There are three points we could focus on, the firing of the gun, the
passage of the bullet, and the striking of the target. The last point is the
end of the act, the passage of the bullet is a time line, but the firing is a
definite point in time. It doesn't matter how long the bullet travels, the
firing is the most important point to measure the act from - in a similar way, the invasion by Alexander was like the firing of the gun. It
was the point from which all the other events followed.
1967 is
also significant because up till then the Mohammedan power still had control of
the Old City of Jerusalem and the
Having
described the vision in chapter eight, Daniel is then told what the vision
means, through the rest of the chapter, with a few additional details. There is
no doubt that the vision is predictive, that is, for the distant future (8:26),
so there is no justification for saying that Daniel wrote it all after the
event. If he did that, the whole point of prophecy as a revelation of God's
glory would be nonsense.
Daniel
was so overwhelmed by the whole experience he fainted and remained sick for
several days. This shows how wonderful and awesome his time with God must have
been, and how careful we must be when dealing with the things of God. - not like some people today, who treat God's Word like some
trivial gimmick, to be bandied about and treated flippantly.
Chapter 9.
This
chapter is about the 490 year period (seventy prophetic weeks), which runs from
the first decree by king Artaxerxes in 458 BC to
rebuild Jerusalem, to the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah 'came' at his
baptism. The last seven years of this time period are divided into two halves.
The first half covers the ministry of the Messiah to His crucifixion, and the
other half runs to the moment when God declared that the gospel should go to
the Gentiles. Thus the 490 years are finished.
Futurists
totally misread this chapter, and say that the "he" in verse 27
refers to some future anti-Christ. Such reasoning is unscholarly, and totally
wrong. The "he" in Daniel refers to the Messiah, who accomplished the
six things listed (verse 24) to the finest detail. It was the "he"
the Messiah who was "cut off" (crucified, died) and who gave his life
for the people, and "not for himself", because he was innocent of
sin. After the Messiah died, and rose, and returned to heaven, the Lord brought
in the punishment on the city, at the hands of General Titus, son of the emperor
Vespasian, and in 70 AD the city was destroyed.
You may
like to see my more detailed notes on this chapter in a separate essay.
Chapter 10.
This
chapter is part of a single passage which goes right through 11 and 12. The
last two chapters, 11 and 12 cover some more of 8 and 9, adding and expanding
here and there. Chapter 10 begins with Daniel fasting and praying for
understanding, and in answer to his desire an angel comes to show him more. One
very interesting thing to notice is the reason for the angel's delay - he was
held up for three weeks fighting the "prince of the
Chapter 11.
This
chapter is about "what shall befall thy people in the latter days" -
10:14. In other words, the remaining prophecies in Daniel are about the Jewish
people.
At
first glance it appears that chapter 11 is rather a tangle. There are kings
moving here and there, captives, gods, sons and so on.
A king from the south and a king from the north have several parts to play and
other characters come at random moments, making the whole chapter seem quite
unwieldy. Quite obviously it would have been impossible to decode the chapter
before the events, but with hindsight, and a history book, the players and
events pan out reasonably well. The following is a brief summary of the
chapter. Readers are welcome to follow the history more comprehensibly for
further details.
11:2-45
(The whole chapter)
These
verses cover the fall of Medo-Persia, the rise of
11:2 There will come four kings in
These
four kings were Cambyses, Smerdis
(also known as Pseudo-Smerdis, Darius Hystaspis and the fourth king was Xerxes. At this point
someone will say "But wait, there were more than 4 kings" which is
correct. These four kings are selected because they represent four distinct
dynasties.
The
fourth king, Xerxes, (the Ahasuerus in the book of
Esther) stood out from the others in that he led a great army into
11:3 A "mighty
king shall stand up". This refers to Alexander the Great. After three
great battles against the Persians, (334-331) he took absolute power over them
- as the Bible puts it "he shall rule with great dominion, and do
according to his will". 11:4
This
great king's dominion is broken and his kingdom broken into four. When
Alexander reached the peak of his success he died, in 323 BC. By 306 his
dominions were divided into four parts: Cassander
reigned in
This
sets the stage for the rest of the chapter. Most the action
from here on takes place between the kings of the north and the kings of the
south, the Seleucids in
11:5
"The king of the south" was Ptolomy Soter. "One of his princes" was Seleucus Nicator.
11:6
"The king's daughter" was queen Berenice of
Egypt. "She shall be given up" refers to the fact that the queen was
murdered.
11:7-9
These verses describe the intrigues, the plots, the revenge and
counter-revenge, the battles, the defeats and victories . . . which went on
between the northern and southern powers. It was a very common sight for the
Jewish remnant to see armies marching by, either going
north or south, and then marching back either defeated or victorious.
11:10-19
These
verses cover the life and times of Antiochus the Great, king of
Verses
10-19 cover the reign of Antiochus, 225-187 BC. He fought wars in the east, in
Asia Minor and against
Antiochus
advanced to the border of
11:13
The
king of the north returns. This was yet another incursion by Antiochus,
marching down from the north, with a huge army, bent on revenge. This happened
14 years after his defeat at Raphia. Ptolomy Philopater was now dead,
but his son Ptolomy Epiphanes
was ruling -
a boy king.
11:14 This verse tells us that many will stand up against the king
of the south. History records that as Antiochus approached, others joined him,
or pledged their allegiance to him. They were guessing that Antiochus would
win, and so wanted to get 'on side' with him after the battle. Among these
voluntary allies were Philip of Macedon, and even some Egyptians, who did not
like the boy king's aides. And also some "robbers of thy
people" which refers to the Jews. These turncoat Jews wanted to
help Antiochus (possibly) because they thought they could gain power themselves
if they backed the winner.
In 201
BC the Romans sent ambassadors as guardians for the boy king, because they did
not want
11:15-19
These verses cover more wars between the kings of the
south and the kings of the north. The boy king Ptolomy
Epiphanes sent his ablest general S copas to meet Antiochus and try to recover some lost
territory, which he did, but not for long. As verse 15 says "and the arms
of the south shall not withstand . . . neither shall there be any strength to
withstand". Antiochus carried all before him. Scopas
surrendered to him at
11:16
Note that the bible describes the occupation as "consuming" not
"destroying". It was not Antiochus' policy to destroy
11:17 This verse is about a political marriage. In history what happened
was that Antiochus drew up a treaty between himself and Ptolomy
Epiphanes, the ten year old boy king, in which his
daughter Cleopatra was betrothed to the boy in the hope that she would
influence him, but Cleopatra turned against her own father and sided with her
husband the king. As the Bible says: "She shall not
stand on his (Antiochus') side, neither be for him (Antiochus)".
11:18 In this verse is described the attack by Antiochus of the
Mediterranean coast and the coming of a prince to defeat him. History records
that Antiochus "turned his face to the "isles" (= coastlands) of
the Mediterranean, in an effort to take to himself some of Greece's territory,
but the Romans were annoyed by this and set out to defend the coastlands,
mainly because it was to their best interests to keep them accessible. The
"prince" mentioned was a Roman commander called Scipio Asiaticus.
11:19
Antiochus
was defeated by the Romans at Thermopylae in 191 BC and was forced to retire to
The
Bible says: "He (Antiochus the Great) shall turn his face toward the fort
of his own land: (or intend to return home), but he shall stumble and fall, and
not be found". These strange words were fulfilled exactly. History records
that Antiochus tried and failed to the raise the funds demanded by the Romans,
so he attempted to plunder the
11:20 A raiser of taxes is featured, who dies soon after he
appears on the scene. This "raiser of taxes" was Seleucus
Philopater, who succeeded his father Antiochus. The
Romans continued to demand an annual tribute, so Seleucus
sent his chancellor Heliodorus to
11:21-30
More about the continuing wars between the north and
the south. Another mention of
11:21
A
"vile person" is mentioned, who manages to get himself onto the
throne by "flatteries". History records that Antiochus Epiphanes, king of
But
Antiochus Epiphanes was clever. He used
"flatteries" as the Bible puts it, to get what he wanted. He
flattered Eumenes king of Pergamos,
and his brother Attalus, and by fair promises engaged
their support. He flattered the Syrians by a show of clemency, and pretended to
hold the crown out to Demetrius his nephew. He also flattered the Romans with
his assurance
of loyalty, and so he achieved his desire and took the
throne.
Note:
if you were living at the time of these events, perhaps a godly believer, and had
understanding of these prophecies, you could have followed the events verse by
verse as they transpired. You might even have been able to predict, from the
Word, what was about to happen next. In this way God has always made available
to those who seek the Truth, some revelation to help them understand the times
and seasons. If you understood that the head of the statue was the gold
kingdom, then you would know that another was to follow, and then you would
expect a third to come when the second fell. When the Romans began to rise you
would know that they were the iron kingdom, and the fourth, and therefore the
coming of God's Kingdom was only one kingdom away. But only those who seek with
all their heart are given these things - those who are lazy or disinterested
totally miss the treasures which God has in store.
11:22 More wars described.
In
history what happened was that Ptolomy Philometor, after he assumed power, determined to recapture
the regions of
11:28 This verse rounds off the whole sorry mess. Antiochus
"did exploits and returned to his own land". The manner of his
departing was very interesting because it was the Romans again who had a hand
in it.
What
happened was that Antiochus again marched against
It is
interesting how the Bible predicts this moment, with the words "for yet
the end shall be at the time appointed' (v.27) and "At the time appointed
he shall return . . .therefore he shall return . . .he
shall even return" verses 29 and 30. God has numbered the days and times
of every man, and even the day of Antiochus' humiliation is on God's exact
timetable.
The
Roman ships, or triremes, are mention in verse 30. "The
ships of Chittim". In history we know
whose ships these were, and we know that they came against Antiochus, but the
main point is that
11:31-33
There
were 15 more monarchs from Antiochus Epiphanes, none
of whom reigned for long. The southern kingdom,
After 6
more kings of
In 63
BC Pompey took
11:31
"arms shall stand" refers to the Roman military. "they shall pollute the sanctuary . . . and take away the
daily sacrifice . . ." refers to the Roman desecration of the
11:32 This refers to the way the Romans corrupted many of the Jews
by flattery, or enticing words, or philosophy. The Romans introduced many Greek
ideas (Hellenist), and many heathen beliefs as well, which many Jews accepted.
Again, this was not a once-only event. Over the years these ideas kept coming
along, and were still being introduced in the days of Jesus, and after that.
Some of the ideas became heresies in the Church, some
developed into cult, or appeared as part of the Roman church's teachings.
But the
verse also tells us that some Jews would resist the error and be strong for the
Truth. Again, the Romans used allurements and threatenings
to cause Christians to apostasies to idolatry, but many remained faithful to
Jesus. These faithful Jews, and then later the faithful Christians, went
everywhere teaching the word of truth, as they were persecuted from country to
country. They "instructed many" just as the Bible says.
11:34,35 These verses describe the way people become nominal
believers when it is to their advantage. One good example of this is seen
during the reign of Constantine, the emperor who granted religious toleration
to Christianity. Many false converts joined the Church in those days because it
was possible for people to please the emperor, and thus work something to their
advantage, perhaps even achieve promotion, if one said one was a Christian.
11:36-39
These verses seem to depict the rise and power of the
Roman emperors, and also the Papacy which grew out of their power.
Into
the picture comes a "king" but this "king" is described as having
great spiritual authority. First of all he is arrogant, because he "shall
do according to his will". He is also proud because he "shall exalt
himself". He takes to himself spiritual power because he "magnifies
himself above every god" and he is opposed to the True God because he
"speaks marvelous things against the God of gods". We have here a
king who wields spiritual authority and lifts himself up.
This
was true of the Roman emperors, who declared themselves High Priest over all of
In some
ways this "king" could be any of the emperors, who claimed power over
all spiritual and temporal authority, but it also applies to the elected bishop
of
11:37
"Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women .
. ." Here the practice of celibacy is mentioned. Not only does this
"king" think he is God, but he also refuses the God-given blessing of
marriage.
11:38
This
curious statement is difficult to untangle. The expression "god of
forces" in Hebrew is "eloah maoz" One translation I came across explained that the
plural "eloah mahuzzim"
refers to the worship of saints and angels. It seems that what this verse
refers to is the institution of shrines and images, and the worship of relics,
saints, angels and so on - all the usual trappings of the Romans in their
heathen religious morass, but also true of the Roman church which followed.
11:39 This verse seems to be referring to the way every land where
the Roman church (the Byzantine church at first) set foot, it installed patron
saints for every parish, and a wide variety of other saints, and thus
"divided the land for gain".
11:40-44
We pause here and move to another part of the world,
south of
11:40 The words "At the time of the end" are important.
They signal to us that we have moved on to a new stage in the story. "At
the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him, and the king of
the north shall come against him . . ." The "him" in this verse
refers to the Byzantine empire of
In
history, in 614 AD,
The
Arabs (Saracens) became the "king of the south" when they conquered
There
was one good thing at least in the rise of the Mohammedans. They obeyed their
prophet Mahomet and destroyed idolatry. They waged a 'Holy War' against the
nominally Christian empire and in this way God used them to judge the corrupted
people who pretended to be Christians.
In 629
AD the war against Christendom began with the conquest of
11:41
"He shall also enter into the glorious land" refers to the Turkish
invasion of
11:44
"But tidings out of the east and out of the north" refers to the northeast.
The Hebrew language did not have our English equivalent. The tidings
from the northeast represents the rising Russian threat. Just as the
The Turkish
response was to "go forth with great fury to destroy", and I suppose
they expected to win because they had already beaten so many others, but God
had decided to curb the expansion of this Arab empire, and the Russians were
successful. There were 12 Russo-Turkish wars. (According to 'History of the
Turks' by M. Philips Price) As a consequence, the Turks were gradually pushed
south and the northern areas were now occupied by Russians. In the 1768 war,
the Turkish armies were destroyed. In 1770 the Russian
admiral anhihilated the Turkish fleet in the
In 1826
the Turkish government surrendered to the Russians all the fortresses it
retained in Asia, and in the same year the Greeks rebelled against Turkish rule
and keep fighting until in 1827
11:45 Now we come to what we might call more recent events. We
have seen how the Turkish or
But the
Bible also says "and he shall come to his end, and none shall help
him". Having planted his palace in
Chapter 12.
This
chapter does not sit by itself, but follows directly on from the end of chapter
11. "And at that time" refers to the moment when the Turkish empire falls, and the Turks are driven from the
12:1 The chapter begins with the announcement that
"Michael" is standing up for the Jews. But even as we hear this
wonderful news, we are told that the Jews are going to go through a "time
of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same
time", but the good news is that the Jews will be delivered from this time
of trouble.
This
indicates that one time period of God's has finished, but a new one is
beginning. We might call this new one 'the time of the end'. Jesus spoke of it
when he described the end of the age, and the greening of the withered fig tree
- which means the reviving of the Jewish State - Luke 21:24-33. It had leaves, but
no fruit, which may mean that it is growing well but has no future in terms of
great growth, or perhaps significant Christian 'fruit'. This short time at the
end of the age Jesus described as "this generation", which is an
indefinite time, but not a thousand years, or even several hundred.
As soon
as the city was available, persecution of Jews increased around the world.
Nations seemed stirred to persecute their Jewish populations, and in some cases
genocide was planned. Jews were expulsed and began to travel to
When
President Nasser of
his own language and used it to stir up more hatred
against Jews.
Anti-Jew
blood-riots increased in
In my
opinion, the huge anti-Jew movement was directed by Satan. He knew that once
the Jews were established in their homeland again, the final scenes of this age
were about to close, which meant that the return of Christ was near, and
Judgement Day was close. Satan used the Turks and others to keep the
But the
persecution of Jews only hastened their return. By the 1900's some 50,00 were back in
But the
Arabs were fighting "Michael, that great prince", and nothing they
did could stop the re-establishment of the Jews in their homeland. In 1967 the
Six Day War broke out - huge armies were defeated, from
12:2
"Many
of them that sleep in the dust" refers NOT to the
resurrection, but to the rising up of a people long thought to be dead.
The
resurrection of
12:3
It seems
that the light of Christianity is being referred to here. Perhaps
also in verse 2. It is certainly true that many Jews have become
Christians. There are several organizations dedicated to winning Jews to
Christ, and the number of Christian Jews is growing. Jesus also predicted that
there would be a Christian witness in the Jewish population when He returned -
Matt.23:39. So the prediction here in Dan.12:2 is
correct when it says "many of them that sleep in the dust shall awake,
some to everlasting life (Christian Jews), and some to shame and contempt
(non-Christian ews)".
12:4
This
verse has often been used to support the interpretation of the modern world and
the increase in science and travel, but in the context it cannot mean that at
all.
We have
reached the "time of the end" in these recent years, and there is an
increase in the number of people who claim Jesus as Saviour.
The Christian Church, despite all the opposition, continues to grow. What this
verse could say is "Many shall go to and fro searching for the knowledge
of God" (See Amos 8:12)
12:5-7
Daniel sees an angel and asks how long the troubles for the Jews are going to
last. The angel tells him they will end when "he shall have ACCOMPLISHED
to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things will be
finished". This means that the trials of the Jews will largely be over
when the scattering and persecution of Jews is 'wound up', which occurred when
the city of
The
time span for the Jews is given as three and a half times. From the Bible we
know that one time = 360 days, (or 360 years). Three and a half times = 1260
years. Working backwards from 1917 we arrive in the 7th century, when the
Mohammedan power began to rise, which led to the occupation of
12:11 and 12.
Here we
are given the terminals of two more time periods. The first is marked from
"the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away" to the 1290
day/years. The difference between 1260 and 1290 is 30 years, so if we count 30
years from 1917 we come to 1947, the year in which the U.N. voted to partition
12:12 The second terminal time period is given as 1335 years. Now
we add another 45 years to 1260 and we come to the year 1993. We are told
"Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the 1335 days" but nothing
more is added. Note: it does not say "When you reach 1335 days the Lord
will return!"
Between
1917 and 1993-94 75 years went by. During those years the world saw the revival
of a Jewish State, a World War, and the amazing spectacle of a tiny Jewish army
beating enormous odds, and then in 1967 the Jews took back the
If you,
Reader, are aware of these things, you are blessed, because you have the
witness of God's Word, that it is dependable, reliable and accurate. Not one
word of God's predictions has failed.
12:13
Daniel is told that, though he is destined to die, he will not
miss out on the joyful reunion at the return of Jesus. "You shall stand in
your lot at the end of the days". This is the pivot on which all things
turn. Without a resurrection all of history becomes a futile waste of time, but
if there is a resurrection, then everything we do now, today, will contribute
to our future life when Jesus comes.