Proverbs 1

Study Guide 67: Daniel 7-12 DANIEL’ S PROPHECIES Overview Much of Scripture is predictive. This means that we cannot ignore a study of prophecy. In addition, the accuracy of biblical predictions sets God aside from all that men have ever called “ god.” As Isaiah says, what pagan deity can: Declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Isaiah 41:23Yet God can say through His prophet both that “ the former things have taken place” and that “ new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you” (Isaiah 42:9). The Book of Daniel contains some of the most spectacular prophecies, because many of them have been fulfilled — but hundreds of years after Daniel recorded them! Other prophecies of Daniel are yet to be fulfilled! And Jesus Himself told His followers to watch for an event “ spoken of through the Prophet Daniel” (Matthew 24:15). Some of the prophetic themes you meet in this book concern world empires from Babylon to the time of Christ, the coming of Messiah, and the days of the Antichrist.

Commentary It is clear from Isaiah’ s words to the people of his day that one function of prophecy is to encourage God’ s people to trust Him. Predictions which always are fulfilled are clear indications that there is something beyond nature. And fulfilled prophecies also indicate that the supernatural either knows the future — or controls events in this world. But prophecy in Scripture is more than evidence of the existence of God. Prophecy says something about God’ s involvement in the lives of His people. Deuteronomy 18:9-22. This passage contains one of the most significant instructions given by Moses just before Israel passed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. God’ s people had just been delivered from Egyptian slavery; they were about to enter a settled land with a culture marked by a profusion of gods and goddesses. These were mainly nature gods, associated with the cycle of the seasons and the fertility of the land and people. Some of the practices associated with this faith, called by God “ detestable practices,” are seen in the divine prohibition against practice of the occult. Do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, or engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. Deuteronomy 18:9-12There was then, and still is, a deep human attraction to the occult. Each of us at times senses the frustrations of the limits of our nature; each of us wants some insight, some guidance, some kind of supernatural assurance that our choices are good ones, or that at least everything will come out all right. Tarot cards and Ouija boards may be different means than were used by the ancients, but the purpose is the same. Astrology has hardly changed at all. Through these means people reach out to grasp at something beyond the natural, at something supernatural to bring them aid. In this Deuteronomy passage God strictly forbids an appeal to the occult by His people. Yes, there is a supernatural world, and through the occult it may be contacted. But the contact is with evil, not with good! What is more, the believer is not cut off from contact with the supernatural. In fact, contact is invited — with God. God seeks a personal relationship with man. This is not a relationship initiated by us through questionable intermediaries, but a direct relationship initiated by God. The break through into the supernatural is made by Him from His side of the barrier, not by us from our side. So Deuteronomy promises just the kind of guidance and help we would long for. Moses went on: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. . . . I [the Lord] will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. Deuteronomy 18:15, Deuteronomy 18:18The prophetic movement in Israel was not primarily to authenticate the supernatural. Rather it developed in fulfillment of God’ s promise to speak to His people whenever they needed fresh guidance. God committed Himself to speak to the Old Testament believers through the prophets. The prophets’ ministry. Tracing through the Old Testament, we can see several characteristics of the prophets’ ministry. First, it was primarily religious. The prophets did not normally speak about when to plant crops or when to harvest. They occasionally guided military activities. But their main focus was on the ongoing relationship of the people with their Lord. Again and again we hear the prophets rebuke sin, and promise restoration if the people will return to God. Second, we note that the prophet’ s words always spring from the context of their own times, and are addressed to their contemporaries. Third, as we will see, Old Testament prophecy is definitely predictive. It is teleological: it looks forward to an end, a culmination. What is said to a contemporary generation is said in view of a destiny which the prophet sees as fast approaching. Old Testament prophecy was not an everyday kind of thing. In those days as in ours, the believer was to walk by faith in obedience to the written Word. Yet whenever history seemed to take a turn away from God, or when special help and guidance was necessary, God’ s promised messenger did appear. The messenger. The Bible speaks of false and true prophets, and tells us how to distinguish them. A true prophet was (1) from your countrymen (Deuteronomy 18:18), a Hebrew; (2) spoke in Yahweh’ s name rather than in the name of a pagan god or goddess; and (3) his commission was validated by fulfilled prediction. You may say to yourselves, “ How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. Deuteronomy 18:21Here is a decisive test. What the prophet predicts must always come true! If his predictions do not come to pass, then his words can be discounted, and he need not be heeded. This helps us account for an interesting phenomenon. Even those prophets who deal with the most far-flung future, focusing nearly all their attention on the end of time, also utter short-term prophecies. It is these prophecies, whose accuracy can be authenticated by the prophets’ contemporaries, which establish him as God’ s spokesman. No wonder the Book of Daniel records not only the miraculous interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’ s first dream, but also the prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar’ s madness. Within a year, what Daniel foretold did come to pass; within seven more the king was restored to his throne, and then he recognized God as Lord. With Daniel’ s credentials established by prophecies that could be tested within the prophet’ s own time, Daniel’ s portraits of the far future would be studied with wonder — and with belief. It is even more striking for us, looking back over the centuries, to see the accuracy with which Daniel outlined centuries of world history between his own day and the coming of Jesus. Surely God can boldly proclaim: See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you. Isaiah 42:9 Daniel — History Ahead: Daniel 7-8 These two chapters contain prophecies which came to Daniel as visions, and were interpreted by him. Each has to do with the same events; the doubling of the prophecy being a sign of its certainty. It is clear that the focus is on governments; on four world empires. The first is that of Nebuchadnezzar; the second is Cyrus’ Media-Persian Empire; and the third is the Greek (Hellenistic) Empire won by Alexander the Great and, on his death, divided among four of his generals. The fourth empire is not identified, but in the sequence of history it is clear that this must be Rome. It is also clear that the visions of Daniel 7:1-28 and Daniel 8:1-27 correspond with the vision of the great statue recorded in Daniel 2:1-49. Each of these three prophetic teachings focuses on the Gentile world powers that were to rule as history moved toward its culmination. In each teaching, the fourth empire is to be replaced by a kingdom set up by the Lord of heaven. In Daniel 2:1-49, we have the picture of a stone cut without tools from a mountain, which dashes the previous governments into pieces and grows to fill the whole earth. In Daniel 7:1-28, we have the picture of the Ancient of Days seated in judgment, destroying the final enemy. Then, “ with the clouds of heaven,” a “ Son of man” comes to receive dominion and glory and the kingdom. He rules forever. In Daniel 8:1-27, we again see the final enemy destroyed by the Prince of princes . . . but only after the very sanctuary of God has suffered revolting sacrilege (Daniel 8:13). This later prophecy is not explained to Daniel, for his angelic interpreter reports that “ the vision concerns the time of the end” (Daniel 8:17). It is in fact these prophecies, with their accurate portrayal of the history of the fifth through second centuries b.c., that have led many to question Daniel’ s authorship of the book. How could such details as the death of Alexander and the division of his kingdom be told before the fact? To anyone unwilling to admit the supernatural, there must be some alternate explanation. Especially in view of the detailed accuracy of the prophecy, commented on here in this extended quote from Leon Wood’ s Commentary on Daniel (Zondervan, p. 211f). Daniel 8:8 Thus “ the he-goat became very great; but when he was strong the great horn was broken, and in place of it came up four winds of heaven.” Became very great. This is the same phrase as used regarding the ram in Daniel 8:4, except for the addition of “ very.” It could be translated “ did very great things,” but the thought would still be that the goat became very great, so as to be able to do them. The addition of the adverb, “ very,” is apparently meant to indicate that the he-goat became greater than the ram. Great horn was broken. Daniel does not state what happened in the vision to cause the great horn to be broken, but this detail is not needed to see the intended symbolism. Alexander dies when he had just subjected all Medo-Persia to himself. On returning to Babylon from the east, he was taken with a severe fever, and in June 323 b.c., died at the age of 32. He had left his country over 11 years before, and apparently never returned. He was taken in death, a young military genius, cut off at the height of achievement and power. Four prominent horns. Where the great horn had been, Daniel now saw four take its place. The word for “ prominent” is the same as that used in verse 5, but it is used here without the preceding construct word “ horn.” Its use appears to be adverbial, giving the literal translation, “ there came up prominently four in its place.” This development is symbolic of the dividing of Alexander’ s vast holdings between four of his generals: Cassander receiving Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus, Thrace and much of Asia Minor; Seleucus, Syria and vast regions to the east; and Ptolemy, Egypt. For a while a fifth, Antigonus, held territory in Asia Minor, but in 301 b.c. he was over thrown. It should be noted that the imagery employed in the vision does not imply, correctly, that Alexander himself divided the empire. He did not: the four-fold division came rather as a result of extensive fighting among the generals during 22 years. The four winds. Reference is to the four directions. Cassander to the west, Lysimachus to the north, Seleucus to the east, and Ptolemy to the south.

Fulfilled Prophecies in Daniel 2, 7-8 Babylon (605-538 B.C.)Medo-Persia (538-331 B.C.)Greece (331-146 B.C.)Rome (146 B.C.-A.D.476) Daniel 2:31-45Dream image (603 B.C.) Head of gold (Daniel 2:32, Daniel 2:37-38) Breast, arms of silver (Daniel 2:32,Daniel 2:39) Belly, thighs of brass (Daniel 2:32, Daniel 2:39) Legs of iron Feet of iron and clay (Daniel 2:33, Daniel 2:40-41) Daniel 7:1-28First vision: Four beasts (553 B.C.) Lion (Daniel 7:4) Bear (Daniel 7:5) Leopard (Daniel 7:6) Strong Beast (Daniel 7:7, Daniel 7:11, Daniel 7:19, Daniel 7:23) Daniel 8:1-27Second vision: Ram and goat (551 B.C.)Ram (Daniel 8:3-4, Daniel 8:20)Goat with one horn (Daniel 8:5-8, Daniel 8:21) Four horns (Daniel 8:8, Daniel 8:22) Little horn (Daniel 8:9-14) The Coming Prince: Daniel 9:24-27Just how accurate is Bible prophecy? How sure can we be we’ ve correctly understood a particular passage? The Book of Daniel gives unique evidence for Bible prophecy’ s amazing accuracy in one specific prediction that does (unlike most other predictions) specify the time factor. In fact, the timing is so clear that this prophecy gives us a great insight into God’ s overall plan as well as an explanation of why the promised destiny, the Messiah’ s kingdom, has not yet arrived! In the years before the turn of the century Sir Robert Anderson, a lay theologian and Bible teacher in Great Britain, could not agree with Germany’ s “ higher critics,” who attacked the accuracy and dating of many Old Testament documents. Anderson determined to study the subject, working from the language of Scripture itself and from archeological discoveries. Thus, for instance, he used the 360-day sacred Jewish calendar rather than the Julian calendar in computing time. Working carefully, Anderson was able to pinpoint the exact date from which, according to Daniel 9:1-27, a specific period of time was to be counted. Seventy “ sevens” are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy. Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven “ sevens,” and sixty-two “ sevens.” It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two “ sevens,” the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one “ seven,” but in the middle of that “ seven” he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And one who causes desolation will place abominations on a wing of the temple until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. Daniel 9:24-27Sir Robert took each statement of Scripture and sorted out the dates involved. The salient aspects of this interpretation are included on the chart with these the critical elements. Weeks. The word is shabua, and literally means “ sevens.” The Jews used this term for weeks and also for a “ sabbath of years” or seven years (see Genesis 29:27; 2 Chronicles 36:21). Using the Hebrew religious year, Anderson determined that a period of 490 years was divided into two separate time periods: 69 weeks (or 173,880 days) and 1 week (or 2,520 days). When did the countdown begin? And when did this first period of 69 weeks end? Dating. Three decrees made the Jews’ return to Palestine possible. The first, issued by Cyrus in 538 b.c., had to do with the rebuilding of the house of God (2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1). The second, issued by Darius in 521 b.c., also related to the temple (Ezra 6:3-8). The only decree that was concerned with rebuilding Jerusalem itself was issued in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, 445 b.c. (Nehemiah 2:1). What is more, we know the month! Anderson proceeds to assign a day: The Persian edict which restored the autonomy of Judah was issued in the Jewish month of Nisan. It may in fact have been dated the 1st of Nisan, but no other day being named, the prophetic period must be reckoned, according to a practice common with the Jews, from the Jewish New Year’ s Day. The seventy weeks are therefore to be computed from the 1st of Nisan, 445 b.c. (The Coming Prince, Kregel). Computing carefully, Sir Robert concluded that the 69 weeks of years would have ended on April 6 of a.d. 32 — “ that fateful day on which the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9; when, for the first and only occasion in all His earthly sojourn, He was acknowledged as ‘ Messiah the Prince, the King, the Son of David’” (p. 122). History’ s end? We all know the events that followed on the heels of the Triumphal Entry. The proclaimed Messiah, Jesus, was in a few short days scorned by the very crowds who had cheered Him; He was “ cut off” by execution. Out of the Crucifixion came the Resurrection, and with the Resurrection came a new and previously undisclosed turn to history. God’ s plan was proving to be more complex than had been imagined. The promised Deliverer now chose to put off the seventieth week, the culmination of history, so yet unborn generations would have the opportunity to benefit from His work on the cross. Forgiveness for the sinner, not only establishment of a righteous kingdom, was shown in a fresh and startling way to be God’ s concern. And what of the seventieth week? What of the events detailed so carefully in Daniel 10:1-21 and Daniel 11:1-45, and referred to in Daniel 8:1-27 as history’ s climax? If we take Bible prophecy seriously — and these amazing fulfillments tell us we must — then we must also take seriously the Old Testament’ s portrait of the time of the end. That time, the last seven years of history, is still ahead. We wait for it. And it rushes toward us. We cannot avoid a destiny in which the entire universe will take part. We must come to grips with destiny, and with its implications for us.

The Seventy Weeks Purpose: Destiny to finish transgression to make an end of sin to make atonement for iniquity to bring in everlasting righteousness to seal up vision and prophecy (i.e., to fulfill it) to anoint the most holy place CHRONOLOGY 69 SEVENS OF YEARS70TH WEEK (360 DAYS EACH = 173,880 DAYS) 445 B.C.A.D. 32A.D. ? Decree to rebuild Jerusalem Neh. 1-2; Daniel 9:25)Messiah cut off (Daniel 9:26)Period of prophetic culmination Support for the Time Gap

1. It is characteristic of Old Testament prophecy in general (e.g., Isaiah 61:1-11; Luke 4:1-44).
2. The language of Daniel 9:26 — “ After the sixty-two ‘ sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off.”
3. History: “ The people of the ruler who will come” (not the enemy prince himself) “ will destroy the city and the sanctuary” (Daniel 9:26). This happened in A.D. 70 when a Roman army under Titus destroyed Jerusalem.
4. The New Testament (Matthew 24:1-51) expects that the events of the seventieth week are yet future. The Seventieth Week: Daniel 11-12 Much of Daniel’ s revelation of the future focuses on the seventieth week: the time of the end, when history is about to experience the divinely planned culmination. Yet again, sufficient details are given concerning past history to support the complete accuracy of Daniel’ s prediction and to give us confidence that the unfulfilled portion will be fulfilled with the same careful attention to detail. Daniel 11:2-4. This describes again Alexander’ s rise and the future division of his conquest between the four generals. Daniel 11:5-20. Here Daniel predicted struggles between the Ptolemys (Egypt: the South) and the Selucids (the North), up until the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (ca. 175-164 b.c.). A study of the history of the intervening period shows just how literally and in what careful detail each aspect of this prophecy was fulfilled. Daniel 11:21-35. In this section the outrages of Antiochus, who launched a crusade against the Jewish faith, are predicted. As is common in Bible prophecy, the description of this disaster shifts from the prototype Antiochus to a description of the final enemy of God’ s people, the Antichrist. Daniel 11:36-45. In this passage a new personality, who is like Antiochus in his drive to persecute God’ s people, is introduced. With supernatural aid this individual wins great military victories and exalts himself above every god. These prophecies fit the portrait given elsewhere of the Antichrist, a satanic counterfeit of the promised Ruler of righteousness. In spite of his great victories, “ he will come to his end” (Daniel 11:45). Daniel 12:1-4. Daniel’ s interpreter now went on to speak of that period when the enemy will be unveiled, calling it a “ time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then” (Daniel 12:1). In spite of the Great Tribulation by which those days are marked, deliverance comes to God’ s people. The period culminates in a bodily resurrection to “ everlasting life” (Daniel 12:2). This is the first scriptural usage of this term — a common one in the New Testament. It is not, however, the first reference to a bodily resurrection (cf. Job 14:11-14; Job 19:25-27; Psalms 16:10; Psalms 49:15; Isaiah 25:8; Isaiah 26:19; Hosea 13:14). The resurrection of the ungodly is also spoken of here as a restoration “ to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Daniel 12:5-13. The final section of the Book of Daniel seems to give a general chronology of this time of the end. Of particular note is the time period of 1,290 days specified in verse 11, just 30 days beyond half of the last seven-year period of foretold history. Why the extra 30 days? The reason is uncertain, though some have suggested that they refer to the time of judgment for the nations mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46 as following the Great Tribulation period. Whatever the reason, if we take the pattern of fulfilled prophecy as our guide, we can expect these to be literal days; and that when history overtakes prophecy, every detail will be seen and understood.

Teaching Guide Prepare What does the fact that God knows and controls the future mean to you? What do you want this wonderful truth to mean to your group as you study Daniel this week?

Explore

1. Put a three-column chart on the chalk board, labeling the first column “ 1 year,” the second “ 5 years,” and the third “ 100 years.” Then ask several members of your group to “ prophesy” local, national, or international events to happen this year, within 5 years, and in the next 100 years. Record their “ prophecies” and then discuss: “ How great is the likelihood of any or all of these actually happening?”
2. Point out that biblical prophecy is completely accurate. Illustrate this with minilectures on both Daniel’ s prophecies about world empires, and his prophecy concerning the date of the appearance of the Messiah. Duplicate the charts in this chapter to hand out or to show on the overhead to illustrate your lectures.

Expand Some of Daniel’ s prophecy seems to focus on the “ seventieth week” — the last seven years with which Daniel’ s prophecy of the Messiah deals. That seven years is still future. But what is to happen during it? Like other biblical prophecy all the details are not clear. But your group members can discover much by looking in teams at these passages — and trying to answer the following questions.

Daniel 2:33-45Dan_9:27 Daniel 7:7-28Dan_11:36-45 Daniel 8:23-25Dan_12:1-13What time frame is in view, and how is it divided? Who are the chief characters in the final drama, and what are their parts? What events will take place in the final “ week of years,” and what can we tell of their sequence? What will follow the “ last week” ? Again, remember that details, like order and sequence or timing of prophesied events, are often unclear. So we should not be dogmatic in our interpretation of prophecy. What we can do is to discover major events, and then wait until history unveils the details.

Apply Share: “ How does it make you feel to realize that current events are under God’ s control, and moving toward a future which He has planned?”