SRR #70 | Gabriel and the End of the Indignation (The Danielic Imperative Part 8)
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- I do a podcast. I'm not interested in your podcast. The anathema of God was for those who denied justification by faith alone.
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- When that is at stake, we need to be on the battlefield exposing the air and combating the air.
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- We are unabashedly, unashamedly Clarkian. And so the next few statements that I'm going to make,
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- I'm probably going to step on all of the Vantillian toes at the same time. And this is what we do at Simple Riff around the radio, you know.
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- We are polemical and polarizing Jesus style. I would first say that to characterize what we do as bashing is itself bashing.
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- It's not hate. It's history. It's not bashing. It's the Bible. Jesus said, woe to you when men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way, as opposed to blessed are you when you have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
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- It is on. We're taking the gloves off. It's time to battle. All right, ladies and gentlemen, my name is
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- Tim Shaughnessy and you are listening to Semper Reframanda Radio. So I have with me
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- Timothy Kaufman and I'm just going to hand it over to him in a little bit. But before I do that,
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- I want to just say thank you to Tim for putting together this series on eschatology.
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- Things have been so busy for me. I really haven't been able to do much with the podcast, but Tim has really stepped up to the plate and is putting together these hour long episodes, especially around Christmas time, around the holidays.
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- So, Tim, I have no idea how you do it, but, you know, I'm going to hand it over to you.
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- But before I do that, let me just also remind everybody about the book sale that the
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- Trinity Foundation is having. It's getting close. The cutoff date for this sale, which is 50 % off a lot of the books, ends
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- December 31st. And I just want to encourage people to check it out.
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- You can go to trinityfoundation .org and check out the books that they have.
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- Some of them are reduced to 50 % off. So it's a great deal.
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- There's a lot of good stuff there. The Trinity Foundation is one of my favorite ministries.
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- And as a matter of fact, you can also check out the article that Tim and I published on John Piper. We submitted that to Tom Joditis, and we combined both of the articles that we published on the
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- Bible Thumping Wingnut Network. And Tim actually cleaned it up a little bit more.
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- So check that out. And with that, I'm just going to hand it over to Tim, who's going to lead us in our discussion.
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- So bust out your Bibles. Be sure to check out what we're saying. Be a good Berean. And if you have any questions, you can email us at semper .refermanda
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- .radio at gmail .com. And we will try to get to those as soon as possible.
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- But with that, I want to just hand it over to you, Tim. Okay, thanks,
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- Tim. It's good to be back. It's been an interesting series on Danielic eschatology, we hope.
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- We hope it's been interesting, at least for the sake of our listeners. But yeah, last week we discussed
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- Daniel chapter 8 and focused on the fact that, like chapter 11, Daniel's vision in chapter 8 is plainly set in the
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- Greek period. Both chapters, chapter 11 and chapter 8, start by describing the end of the
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- Medo -Persian Empire, the rise of Alexander the Great, and the four -way division of his empire.
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- Both chapters then continue to describe a certain king that comes from one of those four kingdoms and persecutes
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- God's people. That king, among other things, violates the sanctuary, tramples the sanctuary, and the people of God underfoot, ends the daily sacrifices, and erects the abomination of desolation.
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- In both chapters, these events, based on a plain reading of the chapter, took place under the
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- Greek Empire, after the death of Alexander the Great, after the four -way division of his empire, but prior to the rise of the
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- Roman Empire. In a plain reading of Daniel 8 and Daniel 11, the end of sacrifices, the abomination of desolation, and the sanctuary occurred under the period of Greek rule in Daniel's visions.
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- We emphasize that because the vast majority of modern eschatology assumes that the abomination of desolation must occur either after Jesus' ascension into heaven, or is still a yet future event.
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- We understand why the abomination of desolation is believed to be a future event, or at least future to Christ, and in some views, still future even to us now.
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- And it is largely due to the fact that Jesus actually prophesies it to be future in Matthew 24, 15, and Mark 13, 14.
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- Although we'll note in passing that Jesus at no point says that Daniel's prophecy of the abomination of desolation has not yet been fulfilled.
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- Instead, he simply refers to, quote, the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, unquote.
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- What we will show is that Jesus knew very well that the prophecy of the abomination of desolation had already been fulfilled under the
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- Greek empire by a Greek antagonist, and was fulfilled so clearly in the corporate memory of his people that he could simply refer to it and they would know what he was talking about.
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- What Jesus was telling us in Matthew and Mark was that the abomination of desolation that fulfilled
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- Daniel's prophecy under the Greek empire would be back again on holy ground as a harbinger of doom, and when it returned, those who understood what he was talking about must understand the significance of the reappearance of the abomination and should flee to the mountains.
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- The people who were listening to him should have known what he was talking about because he actually says, let the reader take note, and when he says so, he's pointing to the written scriptures of Daniel that we can use to understand what he meant by his statements in Matthew 24 and Mark 13.
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- We'll get to that in a future episode, and we'll spend considerable time in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, but for now, let us continue with Daniel and the abomination of desolation.
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- Where we left off last week was that first we showed that both
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- Daniel 8 and Daniel 11, at least on a straightforward reading, appear to show the abomination of desolation as a
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- Greek event, but we also touched on the angelic conversation that took place in Daniel 8.
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- At Daniel 8 .13, a conversation takes place between Daniel's angelic narrators, and one angel speaks to another, asking how long these events, which were to occur under the
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- Greek empire, would take place. So this is now reading from Daniel 8 .13
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- and 14, and then Daniel 8 .26, where the angel interprets this conversation for Daniel.
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- Daniel 8 .13 and 14. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake,
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- How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?
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- And he said unto me, Unto two thousand three hundred days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.
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- We noted last week that that actual in the Hebrew that says, Unto two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings, and we'll return to that conversation in just a minute.
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- But in Daniel 8 .26, when the angel is giving, the angel Gabriel is giving the last instructions to Daniel, he said,
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- And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true, wherefore shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days.
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- As we noted at the end of last week's episode, we understand that occasionally, though not always, in prophecy, days are prophetically interpreted to be years of days as in Numbers 14 .34
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- that says, After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
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- We also see this in Ezekiel 4 verses 5 to 6, which says, For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity according to the number of the days.
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- Three hundred and ninety days, so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days.
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- I have appointed thee each day for a year. So, we're going to be heading to Daniel 9 next, so we may as well mention this, but in Daniel 9,
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- Daniel asks a question about the 70 year exile in Babylon, and Gabriel answers him in terms of 70 weeks of years.
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- So, on occasion, a prophetic day is taken to be a year, and that is why some eschatologists understand the 2 ,300 days of Daniel 8 .14
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- to refer to 2 ,300 years. We have several reasons why we do not believe that 2 ,300 days are to be understood as years, but instead should be considered actual days.
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- First, as we mentioned last week, one of the reasons is that the angel did not actually say days, but rather said evenings and mornings.
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- What we find in the scriptures are textual cues indicating whether we should be taking the days to be literal or prophetic, and we'll have much more to say about this in a later episode, because there are so many periods of days in prophecy.
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- 2 ,300 days, 1 ,335 days, 1 ,290 days, 1 ,260 days, and we'll return to all of those, and some others, but for now, since the angel did not say days, but rather said evenings and mornings, we take the evenings and mornings in light of the literal days of creation, in which each day is referred to as an evening and a morning.
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- Second, the angel seems to hint that these are literal days when he explains to Daniel that the vision of the evenings and the mornings is true.
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- Everything the angel says is true because it's a message from God, and therefore there is no real need to repeat that fact here.
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- So why would the angel say, oh, by the way, the vision of the evening and the morning was true? Well, based on several reasons, as we shall see, the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings are true in the sense that they are literal and represent a period of about six years and four months.
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- And when we get to the 1 ,290 days and the 1 ,335 days, we're going to find that those are literal days as well.
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- Now, what we want to turn to now, and this will take up the rest of our podcast, is a quick study of the unique attributes of the various visions
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- Daniel receives so that we can categorize them and use those categories to help us understand
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- Daniel. And I want to pause for just a minute and say I heartily recommend, whether people believe the interpretation that we're giving or not,
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- I would heartily command to all of our listeners to study the different visions. Notice the different types of visions.
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- Notice the time periods that are covered. Notice the differences between the visions.
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- Notice the conversations that result from the visions. Who's asking questions? Who's explaining the vision and who's interpreting it?
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- And who is present when the different visions are discussed? But let's just briefly provide a survey of all the visions that Daniel refers to in the book of Daniel.
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- So, I'm going to start with Daniel chapter 2, and this is
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- Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and it records the future history of all the succeeding empires.
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- And Nebuchadnezzar has questions about his dream, and the Lord reveals it to Daniel so he can interpret that dream for the king.
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- In Daniel chapter 4, this is the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had.
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- It's the humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar, which prophesies when he's going to be humiliated, his mind will be taken away from him and he'll live like a beast of a field.
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- The entire dream is narrated to Daniel by Nebuchadnezzar, and then the understanding of the dream is revealed to Daniel.
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- Then, in Daniel chapter 5, Belshazzar, who's the last king of the
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- Babylonian Empire, gives an account of the handwriting on the wall and asks
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- Daniel to come and explain what the words on the wall mean. In Daniel 7, it's the vision of four beasts and the little horn that will rise after the fourth empire to become the fifth empire.
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- The entire vision is related to Daniel in a dream, and Daniel asks questions about the vision to the angel standing with him, and then the angel gives answers about the vision that Daniel has seen.
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- Daniel chapter 8, this is a vision of two beasts, a ram and a he -goat, depicting
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- Alexander's conquest of Persia and the rise of Antiochus IV out of one of the four
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- Greek successor kingdoms after Alexander's death. The entire sequence is revealed in a vision, and the angels and Daniel ask questions about the vision to Gabriel, who is standing with him, and Gabriel answers questions about the vision.
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- Daniel chapter 9, Daniel prays for answers to a question, and the entire vision that is given is narrated to Daniel by Gabriel as the answer to his questions.
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- Then Daniel 10, verse 1 to 12, verse 4, Daniel sees a vision and is left breathless and dumbstruck, and an angel comes to tell
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- Daniel what the vision means, and the explanation is narrated to Daniel by the angel without further questions.
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- I call this the cardinal vision, since it deals with the cardinal directions of the compass, north, south, east, and west, and depicts the
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- Greek king's conquest of Persia and the eventual division of the king's empire toward the four winds of heaven, which would be north, south, east, and west, and goes on to describe some wars that they are involved in.
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- The final vision of the book occurs in Daniel chapter 12, verses 5 to 13.
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- Here the angelic conversation takes place between two angels about what shall be the end of these wonders.
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- The entire interaction is narrated by Daniel himself as different angels ask questions about various topics, and then
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- Daniel asks for a clarification. So, that's the summary of the visions of the book of Daniel.
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- And what is very important to notice, one, they don't all happen the same way. There are different people present each time.
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- There are different people revealing it to Daniel at different times. And we're going to get into some of the details on that in a little bit, but the first two initial observations we'll cover here, and then a third observation that's going to take us into a very detailed discussion of Daniel chapter 9.
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- And what I want to point out first is that the listeners will notice that I consider the last nine verses of Daniel 12 to be a separate vision.
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- It is not a continuation of the previous vision from Daniel 10 .1 to 12 .4.
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- The last vision of Daniel, that is from 12 .5 to 13, is occasionally taken to be a continuation of the previous vision, but it is in fact separate.
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- The context shows that clearly, and that's our first point. We'll come back to that in a moment and cover it in more detail.
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- The second point is that when it comes to end times, Daniel has two kinds of visions.
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- One kind is about end times that conclude with the end of the indignation, and another kind about end times that conclude with the saints ruling together with Christ in an earthly kingdom.
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- Being able to distinguish between those two kinds of end times in Daniel and understanding which of Daniel's narrators tells him about which kinds of end times helps us understand why in the final vision there are two sets of narrators, one on either side of the river, and thus helps us understand which angels ask the question in the last vision.
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- The third point, and this is one of the most important points in the whole series, I think, that is when an angel speaks of the end times to Daniel relating to the end of the indignation, he has the sins of the
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- Jews in mind. But when an angel speaks to Daniel of end times relating to ruling together with Christ, he has the righteousness of God's people in mind and their perseverance under persecution.
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- We will show this by looking at the two different kinds of end times visions Daniel experiences.
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- And when that is understood, we will then turn to Daniel 9 and we'll find that the main focus of the entire chapter is the sins of the
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- Jews and the end of the indignation. Our point is that Daniel 9 deals with one kind of end times and not with the other kind.
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- And we'll come back to that in more detail as well. So, let's think through Daniel's visions walking through those three points.
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- First, Daniel 12 verses 5 to 13 is a new vision, not a simple continuation of the previous one.
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- Let's read Daniel 12 verses 5 to 7, keeping in mind that we just finished a vision about Michael standing up for the children of thy people, the time of trouble, the resurrection, and Daniel being instructed to shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end.
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- So, here are the verses that immediately follow that. Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
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- And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
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- And the word for wonders is Strong's 6382 Pele. And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth forever, that it shall be for time, times, and in half.
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- And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
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- Okay, so that's what Daniel saw and heard. An angel asks a question about these wonders, and the answer comes in terms of when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people.
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- Our first clue that neither the question nor the answer were about the immediately preceding vision in Daniel 12, 1 -4, is that Daniel 12, 1 says that at that time thy people shall be delivered, but Daniel 12, 7 says when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people.
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- The deliverance of the people of God and the scattering of the power of the holy people cannot both be the conclusion of the same events, which they would have to be if the question of Daniel 12, 6 was about the preceding vision.
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- The point is that if you study the context of what happened just before the question got asked, and then what the question ends up being about, you'll find that the question in Daniel 12, 6 is not about the preceding vision, it's about one much earlier in the book.
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- Our second clue that the question of Daniel 12, 6, that is, how long shall it be to the end of these wonders, using pele for wonders, which is
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- Strong's concordance word number 6382, as well as the answer that comes in the following verse, that is, when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, is that the answer is about something that was not mentioned in those chapters, but rather was mentioned in Daniel 8.
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- In Daniel 8, 24, the antagonist is said to destroy wonderfully, and there the word is pa -la,
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- Strong's word number 6381, and shall destroy the mighty and holy people.
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- That's Daniel 8, 24 says that the antagonist will destroy wonderfully and shall destroy the mighty and holy people.
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- The question that got asked in Daniel 12, 6 is what shall be the end of these wonders, and the end of the wonders is when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people.
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- So it's very clear that the question in Daniel 12, 6 was actually about the events of Daniel 8, 24, and they use the same root word to describe wonders in both verses, and both verses make reference to the destruction of the mighty and the holy people.
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- So what is obvious from the context is that the angel posing the question was asking about the antagonist of the
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- Seleucid reign as depicted in Daniel 8, verses 23 to 25. We're talking about Antiochus IV of the
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- Seleucid line. The wonders refers to the wonderful destruction depicted in Daniel 8, 24, and here wonderful has its old meaning of it was amazing to behold, it was incredible, it was unbelievable, it was amazing to see, and so when it says wonderful destruction,
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- I'm sorry, to destroy wonderfully, it means to destroy in an amazing fashion. So the wonders refers to wonderful destruction as depicted in Daniel 8, 24, and Jesus answers him, and by the way, because of the way that the man standing between the banks of the river lifting his hands to heaven and swearing by him who lives forever and ever, because he shares the attributes of Christ as described in Revelation, we're taking that to be
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- Jesus who's standing between the rivers. So when I say Jesus answers him that he shall be able to destroy wonderfully until he has accomplished the purpose for which he was established as king, and that is to destroy the mighty and the holy people.
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- The answer in Daniel 12, 7 from Jesus points us not to the vision of Daniel 10, 11, or 12, but rather back to Daniel chapter 8 where Antiochus IV was being discussed.
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- The time period given to him to destroy wonderfully is time, times, and a half, during which he is allowed to, quote, scatter the power of the holy people.
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- That's clearly a reference to Daniel 8, 24, and that shows us that the question itself was about Daniel 8, 24, because the answer is about Daniel 8, 24.
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- Now, after hearing the question and the answer, Daniel interrupts and says essentially, wait, what?
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- Because he's trying to understand what is being discussed, and he asks for clarification.
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- When Jesus responds to Daniel's interruption, he shows that the time, times, and a half is 1 ,290 days.
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- Here is Daniel interjecting in the conversation, and Jesus' response to him in Daniel 12, verses 8 to 12.
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- Okay, so that's Daniel chapter 12, verses 8 to 12.
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- And we notice two things from the response to Daniel's question. First, Jesus now links the answer to something
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- Daniel had just seen in chapter 11, namely Daniel 11, 33 to 35.
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- And we know this because Daniel chapter 11 mentions God's people being purified and made white.
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- Daniel chapter 8 did not. And what's interesting here is that the angel has asked a question about Daniel chapter 8, and Jesus gives the answer in terms of what happened in Daniel chapter 8.
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- Then Daniel, who of course is responsible for recording both visions, knows about Daniel chapter 8 and knows about Daniel chapter 11.
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- And when he asks the clarification saying, wait, what will be the end of these things?
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- He gets an answer in terms of both chapters. Okay, so we notice that Jesus links the answer to something
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- Daniel had just seen in chapter 11, and that's Daniel 11, 33 to 35, and it says, And they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days.
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- And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for the time appointed.
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- The idea of those who understand being tried and purified and made white is something that is mentioned in Daniel 11, but there's no mention of it in Daniel chapter 8.
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- By this answer, Jesus has now connected the angel's inquiry about Daniel 8, 24 to Daniel's understanding of Daniel 11, 35, where Daniel had in fact seen that some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white.
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- Then Jesus gives additional information to Daniel, tying the conversation again back to Daniel chapter 8, verses 13 to 14, where Daniel overheard an angelic conversation that the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation should last 2 ,300 evenings and mornings.
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- We notice again that the reference to how long the oppression is allowed to go on is something mentioned in Daniel chapter 8, but is not mentioned in Daniel chapter 11.
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- For reasons we discussed, the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings are literal days, and for reasons that we'll cover in one of the next episodes, the 1 ,290 days and the 1 ,335 days are literal days too, and we'll explain the textual cue there to help us understand why.
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- But for now, all we want to show is that what has happened in this last vision is that Jesus has linked
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- Daniel 8, 24 to 25, to Daniel 11, verses 21 to 39, showing that this last vision in Daniel chapter 12, from 5 to 13, is only about the
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- Greek antagonist in the Greek period. It is not about the little horn of Daniel chapter 7, and it's not about the king of the north in Daniel chapter 11.
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- It is only about Antiochus IV and his desolation of the sanctuary. So, to quickly summarize, the angel asks a question about Daniel chapter 8.
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- Jesus answers the question about Daniel chapter 8. Daniel asks for clarification, and Jesus gives clarification in terms of Daniel chapter 8 and chapter 11, showing
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- Daniel that the period being discussed in both visions is the same because they're both talking about the antagonist
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- Antiochus IV of the Seleucid line from one of the four kingdoms that rose up after Alexander during the
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- Greek period. The reason we know that this is a separate vision is because the question that gets asked is not about what
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- Daniel had just seen, but about something he'd seen in Daniel chapter 8. Then he asks for clarification, and Jesus gives him information from Daniel chapter 8 and Daniel chapter 11, showing that both visions were talking about Antiochus IV, the antagonist of the
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- Greek line. Then he returns and concludes his comments to Daniel talking about the number of days it would take for all these things to happen.
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- That returns us back to Daniel chapter 8 again, which is the only one between Daniel 8 and Daniel 11 that talked about how long the oppression under Antiochus would occur.
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- Our second point is that when it comes to end times, Daniel has two kinds of visions.
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- That is, end times that conclude with the end of the indignation, and another kind of end times that conclude with the saints ruling with Christ in an earthly kingdom.
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- We note that the visions of Daniel 8, 9, and chapter 12, verses 5 to 13, end abruptly with the indignation and the abomination of desolation.
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- No further information or prophecy is given beyond that point in time.
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- The visions of Daniel 2, 7, and chapter 10, verses 1 to 12, verses 4, by way of contrast, conclude with the saints in glory reigning with Christ in an earthly kingdom.
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- As examples of each, I will cite from Gabriel chapter 8, and another citation from the angel in chapter 10.
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- This is from chapter 8, when he's explaining to Daniel why he has come. And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be.
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- So, clearly, when Gabriel was going to talk to Daniel, he said, I'm here to explain to you what shall be in the last end of the indignation.
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- But when the angel talks to Daniel in chapter 10, he says, Now I have come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for yet the vision is for many days.
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- Being able to distinguish between those two kinds of end times, and to understand which of Daniel's narrators tells him about which kind of end times, helps us understand why, in the final vision of the chapter, there are two sets of narrators, one on either side of the river, and thus, helps us understand which angel has asked the question in the last vision.
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- Clearly, the angel who asked, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? was asking about the visions that he had been narrating, and thus,
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- Jesus answered him in terms of the visions that he had been narrating. He asked a question about Daniel chapter 8, he gets an answer in terms of Daniel chapter 8.
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- We suggest that the fact that the angels are set on opposite sides of the river, as a setting for the conversation, provides a visual cue to us that there were two sets of angels, and each set was responsible for narrating different kinds of end times.
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- The question that is asked by the angel in 12 .6 was clearly about only one of the end times, and it had to do with the end times relating to the end of the indignation.
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- Daniel, on the other hand, was responsible for recording both kinds of visions, and when he asked for clarification regarding the angel's question, he received from Jesus a clarification drawing from both
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- Daniel 11 and from Daniel 8, effectively linking the period of Antiochus IV in both of those visions.
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- By understanding the two kinds of visions, and paying careful attention to what questions get asked, and how
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- Jesus answers, we can see that the angel of Daniel 12 .6 was asking a very specific question, and received a very specific answer.
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- That prevents us from assuming that the angel had simply asked a question about, for example, how long it would take for the king of the north to defeat the king of the south in Daniel 11 .40
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- -45, or how long it would take for Michael to stand up for God's people, or for God's people to be delivered and resurrected in Daniel 12 .1
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- -4. In fact, the question was not even about the preceding vision at all, but rather about Daniel 8, and the little horn's ability to scatter the power of God's people.
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- We're highlighting this, and now returning to the survey we gave earlier, because what you find in all the other visions, the explanation and the questions and answers are always about the vision that had just been seen.
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- This is the one time in Daniel where a question comes up that has absolutely nothing to do with the vision that had just been seen.
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- It shows us that the question and answer session that we are introduced to in Daniel 12 .5
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- is not a continuation of the previous vision, but in fact is a new vision. Our third point is that upon a close reading of the two kinds of visions, we find that visions focusing on the end of the indignation and the abomination of desolation focus mainly on the sins of the
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- Jews and God's punishment for their sins. For example, I'll read from several verses from the kinds of visions
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- Daniel gets that are about the end of the indignation. Daniel 8 .12
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- For an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practiced and prospered.
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- Daniel 8 .23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up.
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- Daniel 9 .5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.
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- Daniel 9 .11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice.
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- Therefore the curse is poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
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- Daniel 9 .13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us.
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- Daniel 9 .14 Therefore hath the Lord washed upon the evil, and brought it upon us. Daniel 9 .24
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- Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity.
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- Daniel 12 .10 The wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand.
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- Each of these verses is taken from a section of Daniel's prophecies that deal with the end of the indignation, and they all focus on the sins of God's people and his punishment upon the transgressors in dealing with the sins of the nation.
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- These end times visions all have to do with the end of the indignation, and a comparison between Daniel 8 and 9 and the final vision of Daniel 12 shows that all of these have to do with the abomination of desolation that occurs under the
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- Greek Empire. By way of contrast, the end times visions that have to do with the triumphs of the saints together with Christ focus mainly on the moral righteousness of God's people and their ability to overcome persecution.
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- For example, Daniel 2 .44 And in the days of these kings shall the
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- God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
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- Daniel 2 .35 And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
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- Daniel 7 .18 But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.
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- Daniel 7 .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
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- Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
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- Daniel 12 .2 -3 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.
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- And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
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- Now to our point, each of these focuses on the righteousness of God's people even under persecution, but their ultimate endurance to take the kingdom and rule and reign with Christ is what's in view.
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- Our point, of course, is that there are two kinds of end times visions in Daniel. One that deals with the end of the indignation that focuses on the sins of God's people, and one that deals with what shall befall thy people in the latter days and focuses on the triumph of God's people.
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- And it is important to distinguish between these two kinds of end times in Daniel. Some events related to the end of indignation occur in the visions about the latter days because they're all future to Daniel, but information about what happens to the
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- Jews beyond Antiochus IV never occurs in the visions about the end of the indignation.
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- So, there are two kinds of end times in Daniel, and it's important to distinguish between them.
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- We started walking down this path in Daniel chapter 11 and Daniel chapter 8 because of the tendency to conflate the two kinds of end times visions in Daniel.
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- And by conflating the end times visions, we end up conflating all the end times antagonists, and yet scriptures plainly differentiate them.
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- For example, even though the little horn of Daniel 7 and the little horn of Daniel 8 are allotted time, times, and a half to accomplish their work, the little horn of Daniel 8 has 1 ,290 days as his time, times, and a half, as we see from Daniel 12 verses 6 and 11, while the little horn of Daniel 7 has times, times, and the dividing of times equaling 1 ,260 days as we see in Revelation 12 and 13.
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- They have similar attributes, but one is allowed to do it for 1 ,290 days and one's allowed to do it for 1 ,260.
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- We propose that these are two different time frames because 1 ,290 does not equal 1 ,260.
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- Likewise, the little horn of Daniel 7 comes up among ten horns and is clearly Roman, while the little horn of Daniel 8 comes out of one of four horns and is obviously
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- Greek. By these and other evidences, we can show that there are obviously two different time frames in view, depicting two different antagonists.
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- But our point is to show that they are different and that we can distinguish between them in our reading of Scripture. And what is more, we can see the fulfillment of the two different prophecies in two different time periods in the historical record.
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- Even more to our point, it is important to distinguish between them in order to understand the
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- Danielic timeline. And if we conflate them into a single antagonist, we end up waiting for and looking for an antagonist who does not appear in the
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- Scriptures. And we will therefore miss the little horn of Daniel 7, the Beast of Revelation 13.
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- This is why we are focusing so much of our attention on antagonists from Daniel 11 and Daniel 8, who were not the
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- Antichrist of Scripture. Antiochus IV, who is depicted as the little horn of Daniel 8 and the king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences, as well as the vile person who shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries in Daniel 11, verses 21 to 39.
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- And General Pompey, who is depicted as the king of the north in Daniel 11, 40 to 45, in his campaigns against the pirates of Pamphylia to the south, to Gionis of Syria to the east, and Mithridates of Pontus to the north.
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- We must identify these antagonists and chronicle their prophesied activities so we know who we are not looking for as the little horn of Daniel 7 and the sea beast of Revelation 13.
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- Once they are ruled out as candidates for fulfilling the prophecies of Daniel 7 and the sea beast of Revelation 13, there remains only one real antagonist who we can therefore rule in, and that antagonist is
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- Roman Catholicism, as we covered in earlier episodes. Now, we're going to return to our conversation about Roman Catholicism as the little horn of Daniel 7 and the sea beast of Revelation 13, but for now we'll simply observe that there are two kinds of end times visions in Daniel, and for the record we'll point out that Gabriel appears to be associated with only the end times that deal with the end of the indignation, as demonstrated by Daniel 8 and Daniel 9, both of which identify
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- Gabriel as the narrator for Daniel. An unnamed angel is responsible for narrating
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- Daniel 7 and Daniel 10, 1 to 12, 4, which apparently deal with times well past the end of the indignation.
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- This adds some context to the question that is raised in Daniel 12, 6. It appears that two sets of angels have appeared for the vision, one on one side of the river and one on the other side of the river.
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- When the question is asked by the angel in Daniel 12, 6, he says, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
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- And he is clearly one of the angels who reveals the end times dealing with the end of the indignation, for it is clear from his question and from Jesus' answer that he was asking about the kind of end times that deal with the end of the indignation.
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- Even when Daniel asks a clarifying question, Jesus answers him in terms of events from the same period depicted in chapter 11, and then returns to a discussion on the number of days involved, and then a tie against the fourth's persecution in Daniel 8.
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- We will confuse ourselves if we read Daniel 12, 6, as if the angel's question and Jesus' answer places everything from Daniel 11, 21 or Daniel 11, 40 or Daniel 12, 1 within the bounds of the 1 ,290 days.
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- Clearly, Jesus was not placing all of that within the bounds of the 1 ,290 days.
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- Now, on that note, we will soon return to the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings and the 1 ,290 days and the 1 ,335 days, and we'll show the fulfillment of all of these in history.
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- But to do that, we need to turn our attention to Daniel 9 and the 70 -week prophecy that is contained there.
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- Let us start by observing that the trampling of the sanctuary, the oppression of the saints, and the abomination of desolation, that is, the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings and the 1 ,290 days, all fall within the bounds of the 70th week of Daniel.
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- And all but 45 days of the 1 ,335 days fall within that period. And we're going to explain all these time periods.
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- But to do that, we need to show that the 70th week of Daniel actually occurred in history and the prophecy was fulfilled before the death of Antiochus IV in the period of the
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- Greek rule of Daniel's visions, after the death of Alexander the Great, but before the rise of the
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- Roman Empire to rule the known world. So let's dive into Daniel chapter 9.
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- And the first thing I want to do is highlight the fact that it is so often taken to refer to a
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- Messianic prophecy, and I'm going to just deal with that up front. At least I'm going to highlight it.
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- Because Daniel has asked a question and Gabriel has come to answer his question.
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- And Gabriel's answer in Daniel 9 .24, he talks about finishing the transgression, making an end of sins, making reconciliation for iniquity and bringing in everlasting righteousness.
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- Daniel 9 .25 talks about Messiah the prince. Daniel 9 .26 talks about the
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- Messiah being cut off but not for himself. Daniel 9 .27 talks about confirming the covenant, causing sacrifice and oblation to end.
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- When you listen to that outside of the context of the vision, it sounds an awful lot like a
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- Messianic prophecy. And that's the temptation that we face when we arrive at Daniel chapter 9.
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- We read through the chapter and we learn about Messiah the prince, the end of sacrifices, reconciliation for iniquity, making an end of sins, finishing the transgression, bringing in everlasting righteousness.
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- And our temptation is to say, wow, that's clearly about Jesus, and so let's look at it and try if we can figure out how the prophecy is fulfilled in Christ.
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- I just want to offer a caution that we not run to assume that this is simply a prophecy about Jesus and look at it in its context.
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- And the context is laid out for us in Daniel chapter 9 when Daniel is explaining what he's talking about.
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- So let's read the first five verses of Daniel 9. And we're going to end here today, but I just want to introduce this chapter and show that Daniel is focused on the sins of God's people.
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- And that's why we wanted to spend so much time leading up to this, showing that there are two kinds of end times in Daniel.
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- One has to do with God dealing with the sins of his people, and one has to do with the triumph and righteousness of God's people and their ultimate destiny of rising and ruling and reigning with Christ.
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- As we can see from the fact that chapter 9 deals with the abomination of desolation, and also deals with the sins of God's people, if we have two categories of visions that deal with end times, this chapter clearly falls in the category of the end times visions that deal with the end of the indignation.
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- And as we work our way through the chapter, that's what we're going to find. And as we'll see,
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- Daniel starts the whole chapter out by confessing the sins of God's people and the necessity of God dealing with the sins of his people.
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- This is Daniel chapter 9 verses 1 to 5. "...that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
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- And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
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- And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful
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- God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments, we have sinned, and we have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments."
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- So here we have a prophecy in Daniel, the whole chapter 9 in Daniel's prophecies, and it is dealing with the sins of God's people,
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- God's judgment on them, it deals with the overspreading of abominations and setting up the abomination of desolation in the temple, or finishing the transgression, bringing about reconciliation for iniquity.
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- And the chapter is clearly about God dealing with the sins of his people, and it has to do with the abomination of desolation.
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- And it ends with the abomination of desolation, just like chapter 8, and just like the last vision of Daniel chapter 12.
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- Our point is that this chapter has all the markings of a prophecy that was to be fulfilled under the period of Greek rule.
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- And in fact, what we will show is that the prophecy was a
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- Mosaic prophecy, not a Messianic prophecy, and it was a prophecy about restoring the
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- Mosaic order after the Jews had sinned against God by abandoning the
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- Mosaic order, and what they had to do under the Mosaic law to be reconciled to God by repenting of their disobedience.
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- And that's where we're going to pick up next week. We're going to probably spend three or four weeks on Daniel chapter 9 alone because it is a very detailed chapter, but we wanted to just go ahead and say it.
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- We know that traditionally the chapter has been understood as a
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- Messianic prophecy, and what we plan to do is show that it is in fact a
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- Mosaic prophecy, and its fulfillment was entirely Mosaic, and its fulfillment is recorded for us in the historical record, and we will draw that out and show how every verse of Daniel's prophecies or Gabriel's prophecies in Daniel chapter 9 have been fulfilled, and they were fulfilled in a
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- Mosaic construct. So we will come back to that next week. Again, we appreciate people listening.
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- I understand that this, as I mentioned last week, is a firehose. I hope it's an interesting firehose, and I hope that our listeners find it edifying and encouraging, and we'll pick up with this next week.