Daniel Unlocked #74. My Conundrum.
For fifty years I have run Daniel and Revelation seminars, preached sermons on the subject, and had articles published. However, whenever I presented the book of Daniel in seminar format, I would stop at Daniel 9 and then skip to the memorable and important texts in Daniel 12. Chapters 10 and 11 were too difficult and I did not understand them well. I understood the principle of repetition and enlargement and that chapter 11 fitted into the scheme of the book, following the same historical sequence as the previous three cycles of chapters 2, 7 and 8 – 9. The complication and my cloudy understanding caused me to shy away from presenting them. About 10 ers ago it did become clear to me, and the interpretation of chapter 11 is, as you shall see, is exciting.
126 prophecies, mostly fulfilled with one major one (the last) possibly starring us in the face as I write.
In Daniel 11, there are clear links to the first three prophecies with the mention of Persia (vs1-3), Greece (vs 3-14) and Rome (vs 15 – 28.) The introduction of the Christian era is introduced with the mention of the Prince of the Covenant in v22. This gives us a historical lock.
The last time I presented a Daniel seminar, I went to the other extreme and took my audience through a regretable and boring exegesis of Daniel 11. 126 historical prophecies in one hour! For this SMS format I have decided I will not do that. Tomorrow, I will give you the link to a verse-by-verse commentary of the entire chapter which you can work through at your leisure. I will comment on the high points in subsequent devotionals, bringing it to the grand conclusion. I will give you two days to assimilate the verse by verse exposition. I will share some quotes from Islamic publications that will clearly identify them as the King of the South.
The prophecy of Daniel 11 begins with the trials of God’s literal people as they set about reconstructing their temple. The prophecy morphs into the experience of God’s spiritual people; the current spiritual Israel; the Christian church. This chapter begins with local events of local Israel but closes with global events affecting the global church. This is the same principle we find in Matthew 24 and 25 (Jesus’ sermon on the end of the world). The disciples asked a ‘local’ question that they thought signalled the end of the world, but Jesus went on to answer both questions – the local event concerning the destruction Jerusalem and the temple (AD 70) became a microcosm of a worldwide movement that would herald the arrival of the Son of Man. Three of the gospel writers record Jesus’ end time sermon, which we have noted before references the book of Daniel 3 times. John did not record this sermon because inspiration new he would receive the expanded version while on the Island of Patmos; where he received the book of Revelation. This study will flow into Revelation Unlocked.
In His end-time sermon (Matt.24: 15-21) Jesus referred to Daniel’s prophecies found in chapters 8, 9, 11, and 12. This not only authenticates the book of Daniel but shows the significance of understanding it for the days in which we live. Daniel 11 has an assault of literal Rome upon literal Israel , but then moves to a description of the attack of spiritual Rome upon spiritual Israel. Daniel 11 gives us significant detail that enhances the previous 3 cycles. I hope you will find this as exciting as I do, because it indicates the nearness of the coming of the Lord.
I wish it would hurry up and be ended..it seems to be dragging on and on..like an awful slow motion movie..and knowing that we ll be persecuted and killed probably adds to the torture..the inevitable, unenviable end..for humans..for thise who choose the ubseen world over the visible…sure the promised reward is there ..like a carrot..but why does God torture and test us and put us through such excruciating trials..it seems like He wants us to fail..to weed out the weak ones..and discard them on the scrap heap…put FAIL FAIL FAIL on our report card..He’s ok..we’re not. I know He says we.ll come forth like gold..but is it worth the struggle? Maybe a bit down at present..sorry for negativity..I know n believe God is love
Rosie, I guess we need to rememeber that God’s time is not our time. The perpetrator of evil is the devil. There is more at stake than our own struggles, and yours have been large, but the security of the universe is at stake here. In the great controversy between Christ and Satan the universe is seeing the end result of his rebellion. To us 6,000 years seems like a long time, but in real terms that is only 100 life times. The curtain will be drawn on sin, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death. It is our hope beyond the struggles of today. Jesus resurrection proved that He has power over death. God loves you and the day is fast approaching when you will be with Peter again. Read again Revelation 21:1-5. Ross