Chapter 23 Daniel 7
The book of Daniel is comprised of narratives. Daniel’s experience in Babylon is told. Prophecies emerge from these narratives in the form of dreams and visions. The interpretation of these prophecies is given sometimes, making them quite simple to understand. The dream of king Nebuchadnezzar in Dan 2 is related and interpreted, and it is stated that in the image in his dream, Babylon is the head of gold. Three other kingdoms were to follow, and today in retrospect it is quite easy to see which empires followed Babylon: Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Daniel 8 has the vision of the ram and the goat. Here too it is explicitly stated in the interpretation who these two animals are: Medo-Persia and Greece, respectively. Daniel 8 is a recapitulation of Daniel 2.
Daniel 7 is also a prophetic dream about kingdoms – four. However, in this prophecy the nations are not identified. Our pioneers understood Dan 7 to be a recapitulation of Dan 2, and thus Dan 8 of Dan 2 and 7. There are two problems with this interpretation though:
1) Dan 7:11, 12 indicate that when the last of these four beasts is destroyed, the other three exist on, but without their power – they are weakened:
11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
The four kingdoms of Dan 2 are consecutive so the prior three – Babylon, Medo-Persia and Rome – can’t go on after Rome has been destroyed.
2) When the fourth kingdom – Rome – is destroyed, the saints inherit the kingdom:
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
The papacy was destroyed in 1798 when Napoleon’s General Berthier took the pope captive. According to this passage, the kingdom is destroyed forever, and the saints will rule forever. If this is so, then the Papacy cannot have a comeback as it is now, and all the prophecies that indicate the New World Order when the Pope takes charge again are wrong.
Furthermore, with our alternative interpretation of the 3.5-year prophecy (chapter 6), this interpretation falls apart, unless we ignore the more than 200 years in which the papacy has been without power.
This prophecy is not the recapitulation of the prophecies of Dan 2 and 8 but possibly has a contemporary application. In the next several chapters we will explore an alternative interpretation for the beasts of Daniel 7, beasts that are not consecutive, but coexist. We will also look at the meaning of wind.
The book of Daniel is comprised of narratives. Daniel’s experience in Babylon is told. Prophecies emerge from these narratives in the form of dreams and visions. The interpretation of these prophecies is given sometimes, making them quite simple to understand. The dream of king Nebuchadnezzar in Dan 2 is related and interpreted, and it is stated that in the image in his dream, Babylon is the head of gold. Three other kingdoms were to follow, and today in retrospect it is quite easy to see which empires followed Babylon: Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Daniel 8 has the vision of the ram and the goat. Here too it is explicitly stated in the interpretation who these two animals are: Medo-Persia and Greece, respectively. Daniel 8 is a recapitulation of Daniel 2.
Daniel 7 is also a prophetic dream about kingdoms – four. However, in this prophecy the nations are not identified. Our pioneers understood Dan 7 to be a recapitulation of Dan 2, and thus Dan 8 of Dan 2 and 7. There are two problems with this interpretation though:
1) Dan 7:11, 12 indicate that when the last of these four beasts is destroyed, the other three exist on, but without their power – they are weakened:
11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
The four kingdoms of Dan 2 are consecutive so the prior three – Babylon, Medo-Persia and Rome – can’t go on after Rome has been destroyed.
2) When the fourth kingdom – Rome – is destroyed, the saints inherit the kingdom:
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
The papacy was destroyed in 1798 when Napoleon’s General Berthier took the pope captive. According to this passage, the kingdom is destroyed forever, and the saints will rule forever. If this is so, then the Papacy cannot have a comeback as it is now, and all the prophecies that indicate the New World Order when the Pope takes charge again are wrong.
Furthermore, with our alternative interpretation of the 3.5-year prophecy (chapter 6), this interpretation falls apart, unless we ignore the more than 200 years in which the papacy has been without power.
This prophecy is not the recapitulation of the prophecies of Dan 2 and 8 but possibly has a contemporary application. In the next several chapters we will explore an alternative interpretation for the beasts of Daniel 7, beasts that are not consecutive, but coexist. We will also look at the meaning of wind.
Chapter 23 Daniel 7
The book of Daniel is comprised of narratives. Daniel’s experience in Babylon is told. Prophecies emerge from these narratives in the form of dreams and visions. The interpretation of these prophecies is given sometimes, making them quite simple to understand. The dream of king Nebuchadnezzar in Dan 2 is related and interpreted, and it is stated that in the image in his dream, Babylon is the head of gold. Three other kingdoms were to follow, and today in retrospect it is quite easy to see which empires followed Babylon: Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Daniel 8 has the vision of the ram and the goat. Here too it is explicitly stated in the interpretation who these two animals are: Medo-Persia and Greece, respectively. Daniel 8 is a recapitulation of Daniel 2.
Daniel 7 is also a prophetic dream about kingdoms – four. However, in this prophecy the nations are not identified. Our pioneers understood Dan 7 to be a recapitulation of Dan 2, and thus Dan 8 of Dan 2 and 7. There are two problems with this interpretation though:
1) Dan 7:11, 12 indicate that when the last of these four beasts is destroyed, the other three exist on, but without their power – they are weakened:
11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
The four kingdoms of Dan 2 are consecutive so the prior three – Babylon, Medo-Persia and Rome – can’t go on after Rome has been destroyed.
2) When the fourth kingdom – Rome – is destroyed, the saints inherit the kingdom:
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
The papacy was destroyed in 1798 when Napoleon’s General Berthier took the pope captive. According to this passage, the kingdom is destroyed forever, and the saints will rule forever. If this is so, then the Papacy cannot have a comeback as it is now, and all the prophecies that indicate the New World Order when the Pope takes charge again are wrong.
Furthermore, with our alternative interpretation of the 3.5-year prophecy (chapter 6), this interpretation falls apart, unless we ignore the more than 200 years in which the papacy has been without power.
This prophecy is not the recapitulation of the prophecies of Dan 2 and 8 but possibly has a contemporary application. In the next several chapters we will explore an alternative interpretation for the beasts of Daniel 7, beasts that are not consecutive, but coexist. We will also look at the meaning of wind.
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