Part IV
Having looked at some of the symbols used in prophecy, it may occur to us to wonder why it is that some prophecies are in plain, literal speech, while others are clothed in symbols. The answer is not very obvious, but we do note that, where the object of the prophecy is to give a certain amount of detail over a long period of time, the prophecy is presented as a vision of symbolic characters. On the other hand, if the prophecy is simply a statement of one or two facts of the future, without attempting to indicate a time period, simple statements suffice.
Literal Prophecies
The promises to Abraham, Jacob and David are examples of such simple, literal prophecies. After the ten tribes had been carried off into captivity, and Judah was wavering between worship of Yahweh and recognition of false gods, outspoken prophetic warnings were in order. When the nation was threatened with extinction by surrounding nations, again straightforward prophecies of hope were needed, and such messages were broadcast to the people by the prophets in unmistakable language. Examples of these are in the writing of Ezekiel—against Tyre (chap. 26), Egypt (chap. 29), Ammon (chap. 25)—in which all that is required is an assurance that these nations will ultimately fail. So also Isaiah’s prophecies are usually plain statements. Even when he describes the glories of the Kingdom, he usually uses plain words ; he is making no attempt to indicate whether these will be fulfilled in 50, I00 or 5,000 years time.
Visions In Figure
Where however, God is giving one individual prophet a picture of future events involving a long sequence’ stretching out a long way ahead, we find that the details are not usually in plain speech, but presented as a symbolic drama. We think that these prophecies were intended to be not merely for the information of the prophetindeep God may not have intended the prophet to understand at all—but they were to be laid aside until interpreted by faithful sons of God, ages later.
Hidden Interpretation
Daniel was given an interpretation of one of his visions in so far as his day was concerned, but as to the ultimate features he was told to “shut up the vision”1 ; and, in a further vision he was given some information and then told2 to shut up the words and seal the book ; because in the time of the end the “wise shall understand”. Let us remember, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honour of kings is to search out a matter”3.
The revelation which John received in Patmos was not so much for his own information, but rather for the encouragement of believers for the next nineteen hundred years. As a matter of fact, we feel we can safely say that God did not give the symbolic or “hidden” type of vision haphazardly, but the most noteworthy ones—those of Daniel and the Revelation—form one sequence, which has the purposes of carrying faithful believers from the time when Jerusalem had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, about 600 years before the days of Jesus, to the time when it was again destroyed by Titus, in the period 6870 A.D., and then further forward to the ultimate restoration and the establishment of the New Jerusalem in the Kingdom. Let us therefore look briefly at Daniel’s prophecies and see how they lead up to the Revelation.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Image
The statue which Nebuchadnezzar saw4 was a representation of the kingdoms of men, from Nebuchadnezzar himself forward to the day when the kingdoms of men would be replaced by the kingdom of God. Here the symbols were explained : the head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar himself ; he was to be followed by three other kingdoms, the last of which would disintegrate and be overwhelmed by the Kingdom of God. Thus, although God’s Kingdom of Israel at that time was subject to Nebuchadnezzar, the vision made it clear that Babylon’s glory was only temporary and that ultimately Israel would triumph again. This vision is essentially the “backbone” of all subsequent prophecies, all of which must be considered to be amplifying the prophecy which God, through Daniel, expressed to the king of Babylon.
Daniel’s Beasts
Later, in his seventh chapter, the same vision is repeated to Daniel, but with a different form of presentation. The head of gold was replaced by the winged lion of Babylon. Many statues of such winged lions have been found in the ruins of that empire ; these lions, and the similar, though not identical, symbol of Assyria, are referred to by Jeremiah : “Israel is a scattered sheep, the lions have driven him away”—first Assyria, then Babylon5.
The next kingdom—the Medo-Persianis represented by a bear. It is not clear why a bear was selected as the symbol. This was followed by another, like a leopard, which had four heads. We do not know why the leopard was selected to represent it, but we do know that the four heads represent four kingdoms into which the Greek Empire was later divided. Heads, to represent forms of government, are used also in the Revelation.
The fourth kingdom—Rome—is represented6 as a terrible creature with iron teeth and ten horns, among which there later sprang up an eleventh horn, a little one, which superseded three of the original ten.
A horn is a symbol of power, and is so used rather than of simply a form of government. We believe that the ten horns correspond to the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, and that the “little horn” represents the papacy.
Daniel in his vision saw that this last stage of the animal—like the ten-toed stage of the statue—was overwhelmed by God, when He in turn established His own Kingdom rIl r rn rtrg.
Once more we notice that there is not the slightest hint of how far in the future that would be—one hundred or several hundreds of years—merely the confirmation that the fifth great kingdom would be God’s, that man would not always succeed in flouting God.
As with Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, so with this vision : God gave to Daniel an interpretation. We are not left to speculate. He was told7 that these four great beasts represented four kings (or kingdoms), but that ultimately the saints would take possession of all. He was also told the fourth kingdom would devour the whole earth, tread it down and break it in pieces.
In passing we may comment that this illustrates the fact that the “whole earth” does not necessarily mean the whole of the globe we call “The Earth”. Rome certainly did not rule over America, Australia, China or India. Daniel was further told specifically that the ten horns were ten kings, and that another one would arise and speak great things against the Most High.
1,260 Years
Then, for the first time, we find an indication of time is given. Danel was tolds that this king would wear out the saints “until time, times, and the dividing of time”—that is, one plus two, plus half a time. Three and a half times 360 is 1260 days, which we believe mean years. While Daniel was not told exactly when this 1,260 years would start, nor how soon after its end the kingdom would be established, it was obvious that an unexpectedly long time would elapse. No wonder his thoughts troubled him.
A similar period is mentioned in the Revelation 9—forty two months when the “holy city” was to be down trodden, and 1,260 days when the two witnesses would be persecuted. There are various phases in the history of Rome’s relations with the true believers and in the history of the Papacy to which the period of 1,260 years can be applied. However, as we are at present simply explaining first principles of prophetic method, we will leave the reader to study the writings of the various brethren who have given us more advanced studies of the subject.
The Kingdom Of God
It is an interesting fact that the Book of Daniel, at verse 4 of chapter 2 changes its language from Hebrew to Aramaic (sometimes called Syriac, also Chaldean—Aram being the old name of the Country). From that point on the prophecies deal with the Kingdom of Man, as represented by Babylon and its successors. But with chapter 8 we have a change. Once more the language is Hebrew, and we find a corresponding change in the purport of the prophecies. Babylon had by then been superseded by the Medo-Persian empire.
Hence the vision which Daniel now sees° uses the man-made kingdoms merely to fill the gap between Daniel’s day and more important events in Israel’s history—for which Hebrew was a more appropriate language. He saw a ram with two horns—corresponding to the two arms of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue—the Medes and the Persians. This ram in turn was overwhelmed by a goat, which had one notable or conspicuous horn—representing Alexander, the Greek. When Alexander died (about 320 B.C.) his kingdom became divided into four, represented, as we have already seen, by the four heads of the leopard, and, in the present case, by four new horns superseding the “notable” horn. This was explained to Daniel”. The Roman empire is in this vision introduced as a “king of fierce countenance”, who ultimately would stand up against the “Prince of Princes”. In this vision it was made clear that a long period would elapse before the “sanctuary” would be cleansed. It is defined as 2,300 days in verse 14, and an “evening morning” in verse 26. There is some difference of opinion whether this should really be 2,300 or 2,400 days — but, whichever be correct, Daniel would realize that the Kingdom would not be established until well over 2,000 years later. Yet, less than 600 years afterwards the Disciples asked Jesus, “Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ?”
They had not grasped the significance of the 1260 and 2300 days—and, although they had realized that Rome was the fourth great kingdom foretold by Daniel, yet it did not occur to them that, just as the two arms of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue signified the twofold nature of the Medo-Persian Empire, so the two legs indicated that before the Kingdom was established Rome must split in two. They did not realize that the ten toes in the one vision and the ten horns in the other clearly indicated that these two legs must first disintegrate into a number of minor states. Even after Jesus had ascended to heaven, the Apostle Paul had to contend with short-sighted brethren, whose wishful thinking made them “telescope” prophecy, so that, less than 30 years after the Crucifixion, some of them were confidently expecting the return of Christ any day now”.
The prophecy of the Revelation was given to John to correct this tendency, so that later brethren, including possibly ourselves, would not make the same mistake. If the Lord will, we will develop this theme later.
Daniel The Prophet – (Part 3)