Why
study prophecy?
The
average Christian must think that prophecy is something well beyond his
capability. There are so many books, and so many videos, which proclaim so many
different visions of the prophetic future that it becomes quite confusing.
However, we are indeed required to study prophecy. Why?
First,
because our Lord Jesus Christ commanded it. His words often include prophecy,
and his words are our first consideration. If he said it, we should pay
attention to it.
Next,
we must remember that all Scripture is profitable and instructive. All
Scripture is inspired. Therefore Scriptures concerning prophecy may be studied.
Here are some reasons for this:
- First,
we are always required to give be ready defense of the faith. The rest of
the world is quite well aware of the Bible includes a great deal of
prophecy. We therefore must be able to explain what that prophecy means
and doesn't mean. If we don't know, who would?
- Next,
we are commanded to watch. We are to know the signs of the end times and
look out for them. God intends us to live in hope, and he knows that hope
of is greatly strengthened in times of trouble when we can see the signs
of the end coming. When it's dark, we look for the dawn.
- Finally,
we are to be ready for the judgment. Over and again our Lord explicitly
and implicitly warns us that the judgment is coming at a time which we do
not know. He strongly cautions us to be ready. Prophecy is an aid to that
readiness.
Methodology
There
are certain principles which are common to all systems of interpreting
prophecy. Among these are the following:
- Prophecy
centers around the people of God. There is no sense trying to fit the
Aztec empire into prophecy. Therefore, our view of prophecy must be
centered on Jerusalem and the history of the church. Sadly, we don't know
the history of the church. For example, in Western thought prophecy almost
always ignores the Eastern Orthodox Church. From the Reformation onward,
prophetic interpretation usually focuses upon an anti-Catholic point of
view.
- Symbols
have meaning-in context. For example, if we believe the prophecy we are
reading applies to the current day then we would expect that an Eagle
would represent the United States. However, if the prophecy applied to the
time before Christ the Eagle would represent some other nation. Certain
symbols have meaning in any time frame. As we shall see, a beast usually
represents a conquering nation or kingdom.
- Prophecy
always has the possibility of being either a long or short view. Sometimes
the prophecy may include both. A long view includes the time of the return
of Christ, or the period immediately preceding it. A short view would be
one which is fairly close to the time of the prophecy, and would not
include the return of Christ. So if something happens in the short view we
might have to ask if it will also happen in the long view.
- No
prophecy stands alone. If you read a prophetic passage remember that there
are other passages which apply to the same events. If you cannot reconcile
them, it is likely your view of the meaning of the passage is incorrect.
- Finally,
we hope that as the time of our Lord's return approaches, that we will
indeed see things more clearly. (This is one of the major arguments for
the futurist point of view of Revelation.)
Pitfalls
Please
remember that intelligent, learned men disagree greatly on the meaning of many
of these passages. At the very least, then, we must maintain our disagreements
in a civil manner. We may avail ourselves of HL Mencken's report: "you
could be right."
Bearing
in mind that we may be wrong, we must not therefore ignore the warnings
given-especially as they are very plain. Just because your prophetic scheme is
incorrect does not mean you can ignore the warnings of the Gospels.
The Vision
We
may now examine the Scriptures:
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon
Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he
lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following
summary of it. Daniel said, "I was looking in my vision by night, and
behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. "And four
great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. "The
first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its
wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on
two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. "And behold,
another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one
side, and three ribs were in its mouth
between its teeth; and thus they said to it, 'Arise, devour much meat!'
"After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which
had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and
dominion was given to it. "After this I kept looking in the night visions,
and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and
it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the
remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were
before it, and it had ten horns. "While I was contemplating the horns,
behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first
horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed
eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. "I kept looking Until thrones were
set up, And the Ancient of Days took His
seat; His vesture was like white snow
And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was
ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a
burning fire. "A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him;
Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were
standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened. "Then I
kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was
speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed
and given to the burning fire. "As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion
was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed
period of time. "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the
clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the
Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. "And to Him was given
dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His
dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom
is one Which will not be destroyed.
(Daniel 7:1-14 NASB)
About
the Vision
Liberal
scholars to the contrary notwithstanding, this prophecy was given in
approximately 555 BC. You will please note that what Daniel has delivered is a
summary of what he saw. Therefore we do not have all the details.
One
thing may be observed. This vision is very much parallel to the statue given
earlier, and will be explained further in Daniel later on. This is very much
God’s style; if you will recall, when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dreams he
told him that God had repeated the dream to him because he wanted to make him
understand that it was sure.
Symbolism
Certain
of the symbols are easy to understand:
- The
wind in this passage can be taken to represent either the Holy Spirit, or
the judgment of God. The two interpretations are not contradictory and it
is convenient to take the interpretation as meaning both.
- The
sea represents the general population of the world. This is seen in
Revelation 17:15. The implication is that these beasts arise from the
general population, that is to say they are not noticed before they arise.
As we shall see, these beasts were not noticeable before they became great
empires.
- The
interpretation of the beasts is given specifically later in Daniel. To
spoil the surprise the first beast is Babylon. The lion represents its
ferocity; the wings represent the speed with which the empire arose. Once
Nebuchadnezzar died, however, the empire spread no more -- as represented
by the plucking of the wings.
- The
bear represents the Medo-Persian Empire. The three ribs in its mouth are
generally interpreted as Lydia, Babylon and Egypt.
- The
leopard represents Greece. The four heads represent the four generals who
took over the empire of Alexander the Great dividing amongst themselves.
The wings again represent the speed with which the empire was developed;
this of course represents the speed with which Alexander the Great
conquered the known world.
- The
last beast is Rome. As we shall see in the second section there is more
to learn about this beast.
Rome
The
various theories of prophecy disagree on what the word Rome means. Most of the
ancient writers naturally assumed that the Rome in question was the original
Roman empire. Later writers, especially those of the Reformation, viewed Rome
as being the Roman Catholic Church, or perhaps the papacy. Futurists, like Hal
Lindsey, view this as a Roman empire to come. For example, Talbot, writing in
the 1930s, saw this as Benito Mussolini and the revived Roman Empire.
Framework
One
of the primary difficulties in interpreting prophecy is the question of
framework. Futurists see this Rome as coming in the future because that is what
fits with their particular scheme of prophecy. Other interpreters see it in the
progression of their times; ancient writers see the Roman empire, and the
writers of the Reformation see the Catholic church. Much depends upon the
overall framework that you assume to be underlying prophecy.
Daniel
gets an explanation
"As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed
within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. "I approached one
of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all
this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:
'These great beasts, which are four in number,
are four kings who will arise from the
earth. 'But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess
the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.' "Then I desired to know the
exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others,
exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the
remainder with its feet, and the meaning
of the ten horns that were on its head
and the other horn which came up, and
before which three of them fell, namely,
that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts
and which was larger in appearance than its associates. "I kept looking,
and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the
Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the
Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the
kingdom. "Thus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the
earth, which will be different from all the other
kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 'As
for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will
arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will
subdue three kings. 'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the
saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and
in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a
time. 'But the court will sit for judgment,
and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 'Then
the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all
the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints
of the Highest One; His kingdom will be
an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.'
"At this point the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were
greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to
myself."
(Daniel 7:15-28 NASB)
The
little horn
Daniel
now gets an explanation which does not actually explain anything. You can see
the overall scheme of things; in the time of the fourth beast the kingdom of
God is given to Christ. Does this refer to his first advent, or his second
advent? Depending on your answer to that question, you might conclude the
following people to be the little horn of Daniel:
- Ancient
writers generally assumed that the little horn was one of the rulers of
the Roman empire. Diocletian is a common candidate.
- Later
writers concluded that this was the papacy, or perhaps an individual pope.
The papacy is the usual target of the Reformation writers, where is the
Futurists see an individual pope as being more likely.
- Some
writers see Antiochus Epiphanes . This interpretation usually holds that
the third beast is actually the Greek empire, and that the fourth beast is
the Roman empire to come. This is also a futurist interpretation,
regarding Rome to come.
Those
who see the little horn as yet to come identify him with the Antichrist.
Interpretations vary at this point.
Time,
times and half the time
Virtually
all commentators agree that the phrase, "time", means 360 days. This
is the length of the Babylonian year. Futurists generally interpret this
literally; meaning that days are individual days. This. Then represents
approximately 3 1/2 years which is identified with the great tribulation in
Revelation.
All
other views hold that the day is the same as a year; therefore this is a period
of 1260 years. So the question becomes, "how do we fit these 1260 years
into our scheme of interpretation?"
the interpretation is influenced by the parallel passage in the book of
Revelation which describes the woman in the wilderness. There are two major
schemes of interpretation with regard to the papacy:
- Some
hold that the 1260 years start with the assumption of sovereignty by Pope
Phocus in 606 A.D. This time would end in 1866 A.D., which coincides with
the pope abandoning his sovereignty at the Council known as Vatican One.
- Others
hold that the period begins when King Pepin of France granted sovereignty
to Pope Steffen II in either 752 A.D. or 755 A.D. This would bring us to
the year 2012 A.D. or 2015 A.D. as this lesson is being written in A.D.
2010, I leave the rest of the interpretation to the reader.
No
shortage of interpretation
We
have no shortage of interpretation. This time could be the great tribulation;
it could be any time of official oppression-but at the end we have the same
result: the judgment of God. Prophecy is not given so that you will know how to
invest in the stock market. Is given so that you will note the end of all
things, and therefore be able to make the right moral decisions. You get one
chance at this; I suggest you use it wisely.