From Pastor Ron: On the Prophecies in the Biblical book of Daniel
I will now present a series of articles on the prophecies from the Bible that show the validity and authority of God’s Word, the Bible. The purpose of these articles will be to help us strengthen our faith in God and in His warnings and pleadings to us as seen in the Bible. The articles will also demonstrate God’s format in dealing with sin, its final destruction, the complete removal of satan and his host of evil angels, and of those that reject his offer of pardon and restoration, and the final restoration and healing of earth and its godly inhabitants.
Please let it be known that I am not disparaging or condemning any nation, religion, or religious organization; I am simply relating the biblical prophecies as they have been understood by many, and how nations and religious organizations have been impacted. Before we proceed I would like to remind us of how God uses His prophets to warn humanity of His impending judgements on earth due to man’s rejection of God’s offer of pardon, forgiveness, and the restoration of a life and character without sin and wickedness. In Amos 3:7, and Numbers12:6 we read that God will always reveal to His prophets His plans for dealing with planet earth. By revealing His intentions to His prophets they will in turn reveal them to the inhabitants of earth so they can order their lives after God’s guidance. Failure to take heed to these warnings will incur the penalty of death when God comes to restore the earth to its original beauty and sinlessness by removing all sin, sinners and satan from the universe.
There will come a time when “the great controversy between Christ and satan will end; sin and sinners will be no more. One pulse of harmony and gladness will beat throughout the vast creation. From Him who created all, will flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, will declare that God is love.” The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan, E. G. White, p. 678. Ed. 1888. In Hosea 12:13 we are told that God’s people Israel were brought out of Egypt by a prophet, and that God preserved them by a prophet. Isn’t it reassuring that God watches our back? God loves us so much that He continually sends His prophets to keep us safe; how can we reject such a loving saviour?
Now let’s first look at the book of Daniel for the prophecies there that reveal God’s plans for humanity. First I must state a very important bit of information. Properly understood, the Bible shows us that God does not “make” prophecies happen; God however, reveals to us how mankind will chart his own life and his society, and how God will bring man’s activities to a close. In other words, God’s foreknowledge does not make things happen; but God uses His foreknowledge to reveal to us what man is planning; and at the same time God reveals to us His plans for those that love Him. The book of Daniel was written by the prophet Daniel in the 6th Century. Jesus testified to this fact, Mat. 24:15; also, Jewish history testifies to this. There are many other good evidences that demonstrate that Daniel was indeed the author of the book of Daniel.
Let’s look at Daniel 2. In Daniel 2 we find a pageant of world history beginning from the Babylonian empire down to the second coming of Jesus Christ to this world. Remember the Babylonian empire was the superpower of the day that conquered Israel due to their rejection of God’s marvelous laws and guidance given to them, and to their practice of wickedness. In Daniel 2 we read that king Nebuchadnezzar had been worried about the future of his kingdom. That night he dreamed of a huge statue whose head was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the two legs were of iron, and the feet were of iron mixed with clay. Next he saw a rock cut out (of the mountains evidently) without hands; this rock smashed the image on its feet and immediately the entire stature was destroyed completely. The rock, however, became a huge mountain and filled the entire earth.
This dream worried the king so much that he decided to have all his wise men killed because they could not tell him what he dreamed seeing he himself could not remember its contents, but demanded that they tell him both his dream and its explanation! When Daniel heard of the decree to kill all the wise men, he pleaded successfully with the king’s general to give him time to talk to his three Hebrew colleagues and to pray about the matter. Then one night God gave Daniel the same dream and its explanation! Here’s the explanation God gave Daniel for the king-and of course for us today as well: The golden head of the image represented Babylon, Dan. 2:38. History attests to the fact that Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, was the greatest superpower in the world at that time. This pagan, Aramaic city’s name “Babel” means according to the Hebrew dictionary and to William Gesenius’ lexicon, ‘the gate of the god.’ And is associated also with ‘confusion’ when God confounded Nimrod’s city Babel by creating different languages so as to prevent the people under Nimrod from amassing in Babel and building the tower of Babel instead of migrating across the earth as God had told them to. Read this in Genesis 10:8-10 and 11:1-9.
After the head of gold there came a weaker empire represented by the breast and arms of silver. This was Media-Persia the empire that conquered Babylon, see verse 39; history shows this to be an historical fact. The Persian empire was next conquered by the Grecian empire, famous for its bronze art, ware, and weaponry. Again history shows that the Grecian empire was supplanted by an Iron monarchy, famously known as the Roman empire. The Roman empire itself eventually divided into the ten kingdoms of Europe, some as strong as Iron others as weak as clay! Daniel 2: 41, 42. Daniel ends this account by saying that in the days of divided Europe the God of heaven will set up His kingdom, represented as a stone, which shall never be destroyed, but this kingdom shall supplant all other kingdoms of the earth. In the next article we will summarize this dream. May God bless you all.
Pastor Ron Henderson is a Seventh-day Adventist pastor and if you have any questions you may reach him at: ron.hende@gmail.com