WHAT TIME IS IT?
Lesson 7
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Review
Our last study
surveyed the sweeping prophecy of
Daniel 2. King
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
concerning the kingdoms of man has
almost been fulfilled and historical
confirmation brings the fulfillment
of the vision down to our day.
But what time is it?
Will there be 100 more
years before Jesus returns? Are
we really living in the last
days? If we are, how is it
proven?
There is only one
prophecy in the Bible that tells us
where we are in time. Other
prophecies like Daniel 2 and Daniel 7
tell us where we are sequentially but
only one leads us to a specific date
so that we may know our chronological
position. It’s found in
Daniel 8-12.
Introduction to the
prophecy
- This prophecy
is directly connected with
the work of Jesus in the
heavenly sanctuary.
- This prophecy
has five very important dates
connected with it. /all
five dates have been
historically confirmed.
- Unlike the
seven chapters of Daniel,
this prophecy is written in
Hebrew.
- This prophecy
came to Daniel in segments
over a period of about three
or four years. The last
five chapters of Daniel
(8-12) contain this prophecy.
- Even though a
portion of this prophecy
applies to Daniel’s day,
the focus is the
“appointed time of the
end.”
The vision
Sometime during the
third year of King Belshazzar’s
reign (last king of Babylon), Daniel
received the first segment of this
serious vision. A summery of
Daniel’s vision follows:
- I was standing
beside the Ulai Canal…
Before me was a ram with two
long horns standing beside
the canal. One of the
horns was longer than the
other but grew up
later. I watched the
ram as he charged toward the
west, north and the
south. No animal could
stand against him… He
did as he pleased and became
great. {V14}
- As I was
thinking about this, suddenly
a goat with a prominent horn
between his eyes came from
the west, crossing the whole
earth without touching the
ground. He came toward
the two-horned ram…and
charged at him with great
rage. I saw him attack
the ram furiously…and
shatter his two horns.
The ram was powerless to
stand against him; the goat
knocked him to the ground and
trampled on him. {5-7}
- The goat
became very great, but at the
height of his power his large
horn was broken off, and in
its place four prominent
horns grew up toward the four
winds of heaven…”
{V8}
- Later, out of
the four winds, another horn
arises. It starts
small, but grows in power to
the south and east and toward
the Beautiful Land. It
grew until it reached the
host of the heavens, and it
threw some of the starry host
down to the earth and
trampled on them. {V9-10)
- This horn sets
itself up to be as great as
the Prince of the host; it
takes away the daily
sacrifice from him, and the
place of his sanctuary was
brought low. {V11}
- Because of
rebellion, the saints and the
daily sacrifice were given
over to it. It
prospered in everything it
did, and truth was thrown to
the ground. {V12}
- At the end of
this vision, Daniel heard two
angels talking as he watched
this vision. One angel
asked five questions {V13},
they are:
a. How long will
it take for the vision to be
fulfilled?
b . How will the daily be taken
away?
c. How long will
the rebellion that causes
desolation last?
d. How long will
the sanctuary be surrendered?
e. How long will
the people of earth be trampled
upon?
The vision has two
parts
During the vision, the
angel Gabriel was sent to Daniel with
the instruction, “tell this man
the meaning of the
vision.” As will be seen,
the content of the vision is so
comprehensive, that Gabriel actually
requires three visits to give Daniel
a full explanation! The first
visit of Gabriel begins in Daniel
8:15.
Before explaining the
vision to Daniel, Gabriel twice
emphasizes that this vision concerns
“the appointed time of the
end” (verses 17 and 19).
The visit of Gabriel with Daniel took
place 25 centuries ago. Several
times in the vision the phrase
“the appointed time of the
end” is used. The phrase
leads us to believe that God must
have an appointed time to end the
troubles on earth. Are we
living in the last century?
Have we reached “the appointed
time of the end?’ How can
we tell if we have or
haven’t? Just as a
navigator looks at the stars to know
his latitude and longitude, there has
to be some sign or event that shows
our chronological position in time so
that we can know when the appointed
time of the end arrives.
Without a marker, we can only guess
at the time.
Many people challenge
the idea that we are living at the
end of the world’s
history. They ask, “what
evidence do you have to show that the
end is now and not 500 years from
now?” The world has seen
WW1, WW2 and there will be a WW3
(according to Revelation). So
how can we know that we are living at
the end of the world? Bible
prophecy holds the answer.
Jesus has declared the end from the
beginning. Gabriel told Daniel,
“…none of the wicked will
understand, but those who are wise
will understand.” Daniel 12:10
Even though the vision
of Daniel 8-12 serves a variety of
purposes and answers a number of
questions, it basically has two
parts. The first establishes a
historical footing or marker so
students of prophecy can determine
their chronological position from
historical sources. The second
and more complex portion of the
vision explains certain events that
occur during the appointed time of
the end. It is also important
to know that other prophecies in the
Bible add information to compliment
the vision of Daniel.
The explanation begins
In his first visit
with Daniel, the angel Gabriel said:
1.
The two-horned ram that you saw
represents the kings of Media and
Persia. {V20
2.
The goat is the kingdom of Greece,
and the large horn is the first king.
{V21}
3.
The four horns that replaced the one
that was broken off represents four
kingdoms that will emerge from this
nation but will not have the same
power. {V22}
4.
Later, (during the appointed time of
the end) when lawlessness has gained
control of the world, a stern-faced
king, a master of intrigue, will
arise. He will become very
strong, but not by his own
power. He will cause astounding
devastation and will succeed at
whatever he does. He will
destroy the mighty men and the holy
people. {V23, 24}
5.
He will cause deceit to prosper, He
will consider himself superior and
when the world feels secure, he will
destroy many and take his stand
against the Prince of princes. Yet
he will be destroyed, but not by
human power. {V25}
Commentary
Some commentators
separate the last five chapters of
Daniel into a number of unrelated
visions because it is obvious that
the visions and explanations come to
Daniel over a period of time.
However, we will see that each time
Gabriel talks with Daniel, he refers
to one of their earlier visits and/or
a portion of the vision seen
earlier. This clearly
demonstrates a unity between the
segments. Further, if we tie
the five chapters together, the
pieces will harmoniously relate to
each other. If the vision is
broken into disconnected parts,
conclusions will have no historical
footing to work from. In such a
case, the appointed time of the end
cannot be determined. We will
see that Jesus carefully tied the
historical events of Daniel’s
day and the appointed time of the end
together with a specified number of
years!
While the first
portion of the vision held immediate
meaning for Daniel, it more
importantly provides very valuable
historical data for us. This
historical data provides a historical
marker from which we can mark the
passing of time. The second
portion of the vision applies to
events that take place during the
appointed time of the end.
Immediate meaning
Jesus not only knows
and predicts the future; He is also
concerned with the present. In
Daniel’s day, Jesus was deeply
grieved with Israel’s rebellion
and consequently sent them into
captivity. Through Jeremiah,
Jesus foretold the Babylonian
captivity would last 70 years.
“For twenty-three years…the
word of the Lord has come to me and I
have spoken to you again and again,
but you have not listened…
Therefore the Lord Almighty says
this: ‘Because you have not
listened to my words, I will summon
all the peoples of the north and my
servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon… And I will bring them
against this land and its inhabitants
and against all the surrounding
nations. This whole country
will become a desolate wasteland, and
these nations will serve the king of
Babylon seventy
years.’” Jeremiah
25:3,8,9,11
Remember, Daniel was
one of the Hebrew captives taken into
Babylon. He had interpreted the
dream concerning the kingdoms of man
for Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel knew
that another world empire was to
follow Babylon. In the vision
of Daniel 8, Jesus not only reveals
the rise of subsequent empires to
Daniel, He even calls them by name!
(Jesus even named the
Persian general that would overtake
the Babylonian empire a hundred years
before he was born! See Isaiah
45.) These nations are
symbolized as a ram with two horns
and a goat with a great horn.
These two beasts and their horns
represent the kings of the
Medo-Persian and Grecian empires
respectively.
Daniel also knew that
the 70 years of captivity predicted
by Jeremiah were about to expire
too! He was anxious for his
people to be set free to return to
Jerusalem. He wondered if the
fall of Babylon would bring freedom
to his people. The hope of
returning to the homeland and the
destiny of his people burned deeply
within his heart. Daniel wanted
to know the outcome of these things
so badly that he fasted and prayed
for understanding for three
weeks! At the end of the fast,
Gabriel was sent to Daniel. He
had good news and he had bad news.
Babylon’s last
night
Gabriel told Daniel
that the fall of Babylon was
imminent. He explained that the
ram with two horns represented the
kings of Media and Persia that would
overthrow Babylon. Daniel was
also shown that the Medo-Persian
Empire would eventually fall. Thus
Jesus opened Daniel’s mind to a
much larger view of His purposes than
he understood before.
Gabriel explained to
Daniel that God’s purpose for
Israel was much more inclusive that
just returning to Jerusalem. So
in the first visit, Gabriel told
Daniel about the imminent of
Babylon. Daniel needed to be
prepared – for as it turned out,
he would be put on center stage
before the Babylonian ruler of the
world.
On Babylon’s last
night, Daniel was awakened by a
summons. He was told to
immediately appear before Belshazzar,
king of Babylon! The king and a
thousand of his nobles were having a
drunken party when a hand suddenly
and mysteriously appeared and wrote
something on the wall of the
palace. The ominous message was
not decipherable to the king, or his
wise men. Eventually, Daniel
was called to read the strange
message. The old prophet told
the king. “O king, the
Most High God gave your father
greatness and glory and
splendor…But when his heart
became arrogant and hardened with
pride, he was disposed from his
throne…until he acknowledged
that the Most High is sovereign over
the kingdoms of men… But you his
son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled
yourself, though you knew all
this. Instead, you have set
yourself up against the Lord of
heaven… You praised the gods of
silver and gold, of bronze, iron,
wood and stone, which cannot see or
hear or understand. But you did
not honor the God who holds in his
hand your life and all your
ways… The meaning is: God
has numbered the days of your reign
and brought it to an end. You
have been weighed on the scales and
found wanting. Your kingdom is
divided and given to the Medes and
Persians.” Selections from
Daniel 5. The Bible also says
that very night Belshazzar was slain
and Darius the Mede took over the
city of Babylon.
Historical notes
According to history,
Babylon fell in the autumn of 538
B.C, as the Medes and Persians came
to power. However, both
Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel’s
visions say the Medes and Persians
were not to rule the world
forever. They too would pass
away. About two centuries
later, the defeat of the Persians by
Alexander the Great at Arbela in 331
B.C. established Greece as a world
empire. Thus history confirms
the sequence and chronological
portion of the vision concerning the
ram and the goat.
The vision given to
Daniel also predicted that the goat
(Greece) would become very great, but
at the height of his power his large
horn was broken off and in its place
four prominent horns grew up.
At the zenith of world power,
Greece’s first king, Alexander
the Great, died an untimely death at
age 32. His kingdom was passed
down to his heirs, but was eventually
divided among his four leading
generals: Cassander, Lysimachus,
Selueucius and Ptolemy. History
again confirms the sequence and
chronology of the vision.
An accurate
understanding of Bible prophecy
always harmonizes with historical
evidence to unveil the foreknowledge
of Jesus! Political powers do
not come and go by the whim of
men. The apostle Paul said,
“…For there is no authority
except that which God has
established. The authorities
that exist have been established by
God.” Romans 13:1
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