Daniel Unlocked# 34. The Ecclesiastical Empire. (Part B)
The vision/dream of Daniel 2 happened in 602 B.C. (Daniel 2:1 – the second year of Nebuchadnezzar.) The vision of Daniel 7 happened in 550 B.C. (Daniel 7:1. The first year of Belshazzar.) There are over 50 years between the two! The stories of Chapters 3 and 4 preceded this vision. The fall of Babylon, as recorded by Daniel in Chapter 5, happened in 539 B.C. 11 years after the vision of Daniel 7. The vision of Daniel 8 is Dated by Daniel as 543 B.C. ((The third year of Belshazzar.)
For many years “scholars” considered the story of Belshazzar to be fictional, until archaeology revealed that Belshazzar was a co-regent with his father, Nabonidus, who was away from Babylon at the time due to health reasons. Belshazzar’s name was first found in Neo Babylonian texts deciphered in the 1860s. This text refers specifically to the fact that Nabonidus “entrusted the kingship” of Babylon to the crown prince when he left for Tema. After the fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persian alliance Nabonidus surrendered to the Persians and was exiled for life.
Interpreting apocalyptic prophecy like those in Daniel comes with rules if we want to come up with correct interpretations.
One of those rules is that the Bible must be allowed to interpret itself. By this I mean that if a symbol is used, the Bible will tell us what that symbol means somewhere else. If we speculate over what sounds good, or use current events to superimpose over the text, then we will surely go awry.
Daniel’s prophecies cover a broad outline of the history of God’s people from the time of the prophet to the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. This is the methodology provided to Daniel by an angel sent to interpret the vision of Daniel 7. The prophecy had to do with events that covered the historical period from the Babylon Empire to the time of the end (Dan. 7:38, 44). Thus we are dealing with histories time line as given to Daniel by God and interpreted with the help of angels along the way.
This approach was confirmed by Jesus, who indicated that the last part of the prophecy of Daniel 9 (The abomination of desolation) was going to be fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. 24:15). Paul also understood the coming of the antichrist as a future event (2 Thess. 2:7-9). In doing this (taking the historical approach) we are simply following the biblical system of interpretation.