Notes on Daniel -- Part 16 -- Most of Daniel is History
By Jay Rogers
Most of Daniel (except for a few verses in Daniel 12) refers to events that took place by the end of the first century. Nero was the fulfillment of the little horn of Daniel 7 and the sixth of the seven kings of Revelation 17.
Revelation 17:10-14. -- "And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful."
The five Roman Emperors were Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius who each fell before Nero. The sixth Emperor was Nero. John writes, "one is." Nero was alive when John wrote the prophecy. The seventh is Galba who reigned only seven months. "He must continue a short space."
Now compare this with Daniel 7:8. -- "I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things."
As I have written before, the "little horn" was Nero because Tiberius, Claudius and Caligula did not persecute the early Christians. On the contrary, Nero was the first Emperor to speak "great things" against Christ. Nero was born during the lifetime of Tiberius and these three Emperors were assassinated in order to make way for the sixth Emperor who was not in the direct line of succession.
The little horn could not be Julius Caesar. While it is true that Caesar established his rule over the Roman Empire by overcoming three kings. He did not persecute the church.
John writes: "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them."
The little horn could not be Augustus. Although Augustus reigned at the birth of Christ, and Herod tried to kill the infant Jesus, Augustus did not "make war with the lamb." In fact, it was Augustus who ordered the census that brought Christ to his prophesied birth place.
The little horn could not be Tiberius, Caligula, nor Claudius. The Gospel spread freely under Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius.
Eusebius records that Tiberius put a bill before the Roman Senate to make Christianity a legal religion, but was defeated due to political opposition.
There is no record of Caligula's dealings with the early church. Perhaps the church flourished because he was unconcerned.
The New Testament records that the Christian church flourished in Rome when Claudius was Emperor.
According to the Book of Acts, Nero heard the Gospel preached by Paul and he allowed the gospel to spread freely among members of his own household.
The ten kings are ten consecutive Emperors, but they also symbolize the unified Imperial might of Rome. "They have received no power as yet" means that the Empire of Rome received no power to make war with Christ until Nero came along. The ten horns are the ten Caesars who reigned up until the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Even though five of the first ten are dead, in "one hour" they will become a kingdom, a power and a unified mind to persecute the church.
"One hour" means simply that this persecution will occur at one time -- under one Emperor, Nero. The church was not persecuted under the five previous Emperors.
If Revelation is compared with Daniel, we see that the "sixth horn" of Revelation is the same as the "little horn" of Daniel. Nero was the sixth in succession the Emperor who "is" at the time of John's writing.
Daniel 2:44 -- "And in the days of these kings shall the 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 for ever."
The plain meaning of this prophecy is that Jesus Christ appeared in the first century and set up His kingdom.
Daniel 7:13,14 -- "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
When did this everlasting dominion come? According to Daniel 2, "In the days of these kings" the Roman Emperors of the first century.
The rest of the prophecy of Daniel is meant to point
to the exact time of the coming of the Messiah. Daniel
provides a map of the wars of world history surrounding
Judea detailing visions and prophecies which foretell
important events relative to the four great empires
of the world, the restoration of the Jews, further
Judean conflicts, the coming and death of the Messiah,
and the conversion of the Gentiles.
In Daniel 9:24-27, the angel Gabriel tells Daniel that
the vision is to be sealed up until the end of "seventy
weeks" when the vision will be accomplished.
From a futurist and historicist perspective, the scope of Daniel extends beyond the first century. If this is the case, then Gabriel's words to Daniel make no sense. From a preterist perspective, at the end of the seventy weeks, the Temple at Jerusalem is destroyed, sacrifices cease, and the vision is accomplished.
In Daniel 12:4, the angel again tells Daniel to seal up the vision.
Daniel 12:4 -- "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."
From the historicist perspective, if the scope of Daniel includes the papacy and the rise of Islam, etc., then this is in contradiction to the plain meaning of the text. The vision will be accomplished "in the days of these kings."
In Revelation 22, the angel's commandment to John is not to seal up the words of the prophecy "for the time is near." This also indicates that the prophecy of Daniel will soon be fulfilled. So in effect the opening of the seals in Revelation is also the opening of the vision of Daniel.
If you interpret "near" in Revelation 22 to mean five centuries and more into the future, then that is in contradiction to the meaning of near in the parallel passages in Daniel. The prophecy of Daniel does not depict 530 B.C. (the approximate date of the end of Daniel's visions) to be anywhere "near" the coming of the Messiah.
Further, all Christians believe that the closing of the canon occurred sometime in the late first century A.D. If the entire prophecy of Daniel is sealed up (or hidden) for an appointed time, then this time must have been the first century.
Yet the historicist view has specific events being fulfilled from 500 to 1500 years after the time of the writings of the Apostle John, the last of the New Testament scriptures.
John witnessed the opening of the scroll that was sealed. Shortly after he records his visions in the book of Revelation the canon is closed. By witnessing the opening of the scroll, he completes the canon that remains "open" or revealed for all time.
The strength of preterism is that we have an infallible interpreter in John to point us to the fulfillment of prophecy in his day. John gives the interpretation of Daniel in the book of Revelation.
The weakness of historicism and futurism is that we are left to wonder and guess at the meaning of the beasts' heads and horns in Daniel 7 and Revelation 7 & 13. Only the preterist view lets scripture interpret scripture.
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