DANIEL’S LAST MESSAGE
OPENING REMARKS
Many have discovered and written about the following matters. I even delved into Daniel a couple of times and logged those digs. I have often felt a bit of the amazement and even the frustration that Daniel experienced. What does this mean? I have screamed. Maybe you too. More importantly, what does this mean for me and my people in these last days? The answers have arrived, measured, but real. The book grows in its wonder.
And as I pondered these things once more in the winter of 2002, a fire was lit again. I was forced to go deeper, to see beyond. I am more and more convinced that the days that Daniel saw are upon us, and that the words that were once ‘closed’ and ‘sealed’ (12:9) are unlocked daily.
I use as a nucleus of thought the last three chapters of Daniel’s work. Although three divisions (chapters 10, 11, 12), the unit is one. There is an extensive introduction and preparation (chapter 10) followed by surprisingly accurate predictions of world history. Nothing less than an angel of God gives the bulk of this narrative and closes it with personal words for Daniel. And a Man who looks very much like the Son of God who appeared to John the Revelator makes an amazing appearance.
As I endeavor to expound the meanings of the predictions, it will be necessary to bring up other portions of Daniel from time to time, since the book is clearly a unit. And the same Spirit that spoke this end-time message to Daniel spoke similar realities to Paul and John. His words, and those of Christ himself, will also be drawn into the narration of this mystery.
I. DANIEL: OVERVIEW
A. The Man
Daniel was one of the many Israelites taken into captivity in the first wave of prisoners to Babylon, 605 BC, as a result of God’s utter frustration with his disobedient people. He became a court official to King Nebuchadnezzar through the process described at the beginning of the book of Daniel, and continued to serve subsequent rulers until the early years of Cyrus of Persia. He is not called a prophet in the book, but Jesus called him one and that should settle it. The one he prophesies is at that time a prophet. Joseph, David, and even Job wear the mantle throughout their lives. Daniel is certainly in this group.
B. The Book
What is your theme? Perhaps the best summary is found in chapter 4, said through the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar in verse 17 “…..the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whom He will, and establishes it over it. the lowest of men.” This sentiment is repeated in 25, 26, 32, and 34. Daniel repeats it, or actually sets the tone himself, in 2:28, “But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets…” The God who rules in this book governs Daniel, his friends, the various monarchs that come and go, and yes, the one yet to come. May we remember this precious truth as times worsen. God rules and governs.
The book can be simply divided into two parts. Chapters 1-6, history and 7-12 prophecy. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. There is prophecy all the way. Let’s look at the book in chronological order and assign dates to each chapter:
Chapter one occurs in 606 BC. C., 20 years before the final fall of Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel is 16 years old, just one of many captives. He and pious friends of his are raised to prominence by Providence.
Chapter two records the real breakthrough in Daniel’s career as a man of God. The year is 603 BC, Daniel is 19, maybe. Here is the prophecy of the famous statue, where Daniel sees the next consecutive kingdoms that will follow Babylon and lead to the end of history. We are living today near the end of that “statue,” in the Roman era.
Chapter three tells the exciting story of Nebuchadnezzar against Daniel’s three friends, and the furnace fire. It is now the year 586 BC. C., and while the fire that burns in Jerusalem destroys those who refuse to come to Babylon, the fire that burns in the “fiery furnace” of Babylon; destroy only the Babylonians. Daniel is now 36 years old.
Chapter four is the last on Nebuchadnezzar. He talks about another dream of his, about himself. Daniel interprets and it happens. For the third time, Nebuchadnezzar kneels before the living God.
Chapter seven is next in order, and occurs in the early days of Belshazzar’s co-regency with his father Nabonidus. This is the vision of the four animals, corresponding to the prophecy of the statue of chapter two, but in an image to give it more flexibility in interpretation. Once again we see that we are living in the last days in general, with the last of those last days near us, or so it seems. Daniel is an older man now, in his late 70s or early 80s.
Chapter eight is 2 years after chapter 7. Daniel is 80 years old. The vision of the ram and the male goat graphically portrays the history of the Medo-Persian Empire followed by the devastation of Alexander the Great’s whirlwind. Or at least that’s what catches your eye at first. But the story ends, again, in our day and beyond, with an even more graphic image of the Man of Sin.
Chapter five then describes the end of Belshazzar’s reign and the beginning of Persia’s rule with a “Darius the Mede.” It’s 538 B.C. C., and Daniel is 84 years old. Here is the writing on the wall.
Chapter six continues the story of Darius and his encounter, and Daniel’s, with some fasting lions.
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Chapter nine is still in 538 BC. C. and is a record of a certain prayer session that Daniel has, followed by an answer from heaven, the famous “70 weeks” prophecy that speaks of the exact date of the coming of the Messiah for the first time, also gives a description of the last 7 years of the history of the earth as we know it.
Last in the book, and last in time, 531 BC. C., the last message received by a Daniel of now
91 years, still under the Persian kings, Cyrus the Great by name here, chapters 10,
11, and 12.
Note again from the beginning that these last three chapters are one story. Note that the story is presented in much the same way as the prophecies of Ezekiel and John, with visions of heavenly realities leaving only skeptics in doubt as to the origin of this message. Just as Ezekiel and John see heavenly beings, so does Daniel. Ezequiel and Juan react with amazement and great emotion and so does Daniel. Ezekiel and John seem to have no idea what is being said at times and neither does Daniel.
And we don’t have a clue either. Until we read it again, and then again. And once again Slowly, slowly, the glory of God dawns upon us and we realize that we are being blessed as promised to John in Revelation 1:3, “Blessed is he who reads…” Because what was given to John is the same message that was given to Daniel, all the prophets, and the apostle Paul: God is in charge of the affairs of men, and Jesus will come one day to set things right.
C. A defense
My original motivation was a desire to rediscover prophecies and their meanings. So, I jumped straight to chapter 11. Then came 12, and then back to 10. Then it seemed important to me to add the following observations, which I knew had to precede the “meat” of the work. For if there is any doubt in the mind of the reader that the words given to the church are truly a prophecy from God, I fear the power of the words is lost. Never has God given so many facts so clearly in one place, about anything. It is no coincidence that the 12 chapters of Daniel have seen the blows of criticism more than any other passage of Scripture. Let’s examine the criticisms together first, answer them, then enjoy the wonderful word Daniel received.
I hasten to affirm that it is the Holy Spirit who gives faith. We believe in Daniel because we believe in Daniel. The same Spirit that lived in Him lives in us. And Daniel, the man and the book, need not be defended in any way that has not been allowed in the Word itself. Faith comes by hearing that Word. So let the following be just a reminder of what the Word already says, and rejoice that God has
The evidence for Daniel takes many forms. For example, Daniel 4:30 gives true details of Nebuchadnezzar’s building activities that only a person of that time would have known. There are details of dress, customs and religion that only Daniel could have known, living at that time. Nebuchadnezzar’s reference to himself in 4:17 as the “lowest” of men matches perfectly with later inscriptions attributed to his family, a group of shepherds. For the year 450 a. C., Belshazzar was unknown in history and was not rediscovered until today. But Daniel knew him.
Then there are the other prophecies, which this book will not be able to cover. The 70-week prophecy of chapter 9 states that from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem in 444 BC to the cutting (crucifixion) of Messiah there will be 483 years. Using only 360-day years, as the Bible does, we arrive at AD 33, the year of Jesus’ death! He also prophesies that a power even greater than Medo-Persia and Greece will trample the world underfoot. All but the seriously prejudiced agree that it refers to Rome. The critics’ date 165 B.C. C. for this book just doesn’t fit. Rome was a force to be reckoned with, but who could have predicted, in the natural, that she would crush all other powers?
I rejoice in what the critics have done for us! Those who deny the prophetic nature of Daniel 11 on the basis of its all-too-perfect history have let us know in advance that what appears to be history and what we know to be prophecy is indeed perfect! Impeccable. As only the Spirit of God could know. It makes tracking events so much easier, when we know the things being described will be found in one history book or another! Thanks, critics!
They have yielded on another point, those who believe that the story falters in the middle of the life of Antiochus Epiphanes (end of chapter 11): Because indeed, from verses 36 onwards, it is above all trying to establish a connection between the words of Daniel and any man known to historians. Thanks again, because it was the Spirit’s desire to tell us that this man has not yet lived, and you critics saw it!
It was early in church history, in the 300’s, that the book of Daniel was attacked by a man named Porphyry. He said that the book was a forgery and that it was written in 165 BC. C. instead of in 500 a. C. The truth is that Daniel was a real man and his book was written by…