Thyatira and Sardis in the Book of Revelation. The Seven Seals.

 I made two mistakes in my title last post. I've fixed it now. I have illnesses and am pretty old, so forgive me when I make mistakes. 

Thyatira: Faithfulness     Fourth Seal: Religious Persecution    538 CE - 1516 CE

Spirituality:

I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.  But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality…But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them – I place no other burden on you.  Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.  He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations…  Rev. 2:19, 20, 24-26

Jezebel was a wicked queen who led the people of her nation to abandon God and worship idols and she killed those who refused to submit. (1 Kin. 16:31; 21:25;                2 Kin. 9:7, 22)  In prophetic language, a woman represents a city, which represents a group of people that have something in common (i.e. citizens of a city [“city”zens] have their place of residence in common). (See Appendix 2)  Here, Jezebel calls herself a prophetess, so Jezebel is a city, a group of people (“city”zens), who have a religion in common since they believe they speak for God. 

In the year 533 CE the Roman Emperor Justinian declared that the Bishop of Rome was to be the head of all Christian churches.  By the year 538 CE all opposition to this appointment, both religious and civil, was crushed.  The Bishop of Rome (city) was firmly established in his authority over religious and civil matters.  Those church members with the traits of Balaam and the Nicolaitans (“city”zens) had finally attained all the power and riches they had so desired (commonality).  They had set up a powerful church and were designing doctrines that would strengthen their control and would lead the masses astray.  But there were still believers who remained faithful to the teachings and the spirit of Jesus although they did not fight hard enough in the beginning against this false church with its false doctrines.  However, what was done was done and Jesus told them to hang on and as a reward they would rule with him.

 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal…I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him.  Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.  Rev. 6:7, 8

Hades is the Greek word for hell, and the experience of many of those who refused to follow Jezebel, the teachings of this false church, went through hell on earth, dying for their faithful adherence to the pure teachings of Jesus.  The Inquisitions and persecutions, the torturous and agonizing deaths of the faithful were unrivaled by anything in history.  Truly the ashen horse of Death followed by Hades fell upon those faithful people.

Sardis: Truth    Fifth Seal: Reformation    1517 CE - 1797 CE

Spirituality:

…I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.  Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.  So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent…But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.  He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.  Rev. 2:1-5

Jezebel had almost completely wiped out those who remained faithful to the pure teachings of Jesus, but the truth was not yet dead even though it looked like it.  A spark remained and it was about to be kindled into a full-blown fire.  Martin Luther, a Catholic monk, was a man in search of truth.  As he dug into the Bible he found that much of what he had believed in his previous religious life was untrue.  In 1517 CE he bravely wrote out the truths he had discovered and then posted them (his 95 theses, see Appendix 3) so everyone who could read would see the truth.  Some others, both in religious and political offices, saw the truth in what Martin Luther had discovered and together they started what became known as the Protestant Reformation (“protest”ing the false teachings of the Jezebel church).  Jesus promised those who fought against the false church that they would be clothed in white and have their names written in the book of life.

Experience:

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”  And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.  Rev. 6:9-11

The Jezebel church was not going to give up its power easily and the persecutions continued, but this time it was aimed at the visible and vocal Protestant movement.  Some European political powers stood up to the church for the first time, refusing to turn over their citizens to be killed, and Jezebel found herself losing power.

Pergamum and Smyrna in the Book of Revelation.

 Continued from previous post:

Moving on to the next two churches and two seals.

Smyrna:  Martyrdom      Second Seal:  Roman Persecution       c. 100 CE – 312 CE

Spirituality     

 I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich)…Do not fear what you are about to suffer.  Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days.  Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life…He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.  Rev. 2:9-11

  The church during this time may have been poor when it came to money and power to protect itself, but it was rich spiritually.  There was fear in the church due to the persecutions but Jesus says they will have eternal life.

Experience

          …He broke the second seal…And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another;  and a great sword was given to him.  Rev. 6:3, 4

 The red color of this horse denotes the spilling of the blood of the saints.  Beginning with Nero, the Roman Emperors often persecuted Christians for one reason or another.  But late in the first century CE, the emperor Domitian demanded everyone within his empire to worship him as divine, but Jews and Christians refused.  This began a full-scale persecution and makes it easy to identify the rider of the red horse as the office of Emperor.  

Pergamum:  Spiritual Corruption     Third Seal: Church/State      313 CE – 537 CE

Spirituality

          I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast my Name,  and did not deny My faith…But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam…So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.  Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth…To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.  Rev. 2:13-17

 In 313 CE, the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan which stopped the persecution of Christians and made all religions legal within the Roman Empire.

For the most part the church remained faithful to the teachings of Jesus.  However, some who had the traits of Balaam and the Nicolaitans had infiltrated the church.  Balaam was supposed to be a prophet for God way back when the Hebrews were leaving Egypt and entering the Promised Land, but he was really in business for himself and eventually led the Hebrews astray (Num. 31:16; 2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11).  The Nicolaitans were “Christians” who compromised their beliefs so they could justify taking advantage of sinful practices.  Jesus promised that those who did not get trapped by the teachings of these false believers would attain heavenly rewards.

Experience:

When He broke the third seal…I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.  And I heard a voice…saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.  Rev. 6:5, 6

During this time the church was growing rapidly as Christianity was replacing paganism.  But those who had infiltrated the church and who had the traits of Balaam and the Nicolaitans were intent on having the best of both worlds.  They believed in God and wanted eternal life, but they also wanted all the power and pleasures the world had to offer…even if it meant compromising their faith.  So here we see, in the history of God’s church, the beginning of the unifying of church and state, of religious and political (secular) powers.  The black color of the horse represents the spiritual darkness in which the church found itself, and the scales denote shared weight given to both the church (religion) and the state (politics).  Even though much of the Christian purity was being bartered away, the oil and the wine (see Appendix 2) was not damaged because there were still many faithful followers of Jesus who refused to go along with the corruption entering the church.

Religious Freedom is a Novel Idea. The Book of Revelation.

 Did you ever have a best friend?  Someone with whom you had a lot in common; someone you hung out with constantly; someone you would trust with your most important secrets and possessions?  John, the guy who wrote down what became the book of Revelation in the Bible was, and had, a best friend – Jesus.  When Jesus was on this earth John was his closest buddy and as Jesus was dying on the cross he trusted John enough to ask him to take care of his mother Mary as if she were his own mother. (John 19:26, 27)  And when it came time to reveal (the definition of Revelation) the end time prophecies, Jesus once again turned to John, someone he could trust.

In the first chapter of Revelation, we learn that John was in exile on a little island called Patmos because he refused to stop preaching the Gospel of Jesus to anyone who would listen.  By this time John was an old man and one Sabbath morning, while he was praying, a loud voice behind him made him turn around and there was Jesus, his old friend.  Jesus was clothed with the glory of heaven and was standing amid seven lamp stands while holding seven stars in his right hand.  Jesus explained to John that the seven lamp stands were the seven churches in Asia and that the seven stars were the angels of the seven churches.

            Who are the seven stars, or angels, of the seven churches?  Some say they are literal angels assigned to guide and watch over the churches, but because the messages sent to the churches contain reprimands, we have to conclude that the seven angels/stars cannot be perfect heavenly beings.  The stars must represent flawed humans, so the logical conclusion is that they represent church leaders such as priests, pastors, elders, etc.  And what are the seven churches?  Jesus himself lists them in Revelation 1:11:  Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. 

             As we have seen in previous studies, prophecies often have a dual application.  The characteristics of the literal seven churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) parallel the spiritual characteristics of the Christian church as a whole throughout its history.  So as we study what Jesus says about the seven churches, we will be applying it to the history of Jesus’ true followers for the past 2000 years.

 But that is only half the story.  Along with the spiritual characteristics of the church at different times, we will also learn what worldly experiences the church went through.  In Revelation Chapters four and five we are shown something that occurs in heaven.  God, on his throne, is holding a book with seven seals securely closing it.  The Lamb of God – Jesus – takes the book from God.  The Lamb has …seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.  (Rev. 5:6)   Jesus is the leader, the horn, of all seven churches, and the Holy Spirit (the eyes) watches over and guides the seven churches through their experiences. (See Appendix 2) 

We will now begin with the first of the Seven Churches.

Ephesus:  Apostolic Age           First Seal:  Purity        31 CE – c. 100 CE  

 Spirituality     

 I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.  But I have this against you; that you have left your first love.  Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first…To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.  Rev. 2:2-7

 The early church, from Jesus’ ascension into heaven until the death of those who knew Jesus personally, is often called the Apostolic Age.  Here they are commended for their work and tenacity that was motivated by love for Jesus.  But as time went on their motivation changed and was replaced by something else, perhaps a sense of duty.  Jesus’ promise to them is that they will be in paradise. 

 Experience     

 …the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and…I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.  Rev. 6:1, 2  (see Appendix 2 for an explanation of horses in prophecy and in visions)

 The white color of the horse denotes the purity of the early church, and the rider represents the apostles spreading the word and conquering paganism.

 

The Big and Little Horn. The Book of Daniel.

 

Continued from previous post:

Now we are going to look at the longest timeline in Bible prophecy; the timeline that all other timelines fall into.  Do you remember the ram and the goat, Medo-Persia and Greece, from Daniel Chapter 8? 

The goat’s horn was broken and was followed by four other horns, representing Alexander’s death and the division of his kingdom among his generals.  In the strife and confusion after Alexander’s death, the generals split the kingdom …toward the four winds of heaven. (Daniel 8:8) North, East, South and West.  Daniel 8:9-12 and 23-25 says that out of one of them, in the latter period of their rule, came a small horn that became mighty and powerful, destroying holy people, opposing God, and calling himself equal to God.  After our study in the last chapter we know without a doubt that the Roman Empire followed the Greek Empire, both in prophecy and in fact, and we know that a horn stands for a person or a position of power.  So what are these verses in Daniel Chapter 8 talking about?

Rome came from the West and first conquered Macedonia, the Western portion of Alexander’s divided empire in 168 BCE.  But Daniel 8:23 says the horn would arise In the latter period of their rule… so when did the fourth and final division of the Greek Empire fall to Rome?  In 30 BCE when Cleopatra, Pharaoh of Egypt and descendant of the Greek general Ptolemy, killed herself and Octavian (later the Roman Emperor Augustus) claimed Egypt as a province of Rome. 

So does this mean Octavian is the horn of Daniel Chapter 8?  Yes, and no.

The angel Gabriel told Daniel that this particular vision …pertains to the time of the end. (Daniel 8:17)  How can it pertain to the end of time when we know Egypt became a province of Rome over 2000 years ago?  That is because this vision has a dual application.  We saw in chapter one of this book that Jesus’ prophecy in Matt. 24:6-8 applied to both the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE and to the end of the world at the end time.  So, too, does the vision of the horn in Daniel Chapter 8 apply to two time periods: the emperors of Rome in ancient times and the power that grows from Rome in the end times.  One produces the other and, just like from parents to children, similar traits are passed down.

So if we look at the power that followed Greece in Daniel Chapter 8 as being a twofold prophecy, we can break it down like this.

Ancient Times:

Rome, Emperor, Destroyed Temple at Jerusalem.

Demanded Emperor to be worshiped.

End Times:

Offspring of Rome, blasphemous horn, trample the Holy Place.

Calls itself equal to God and removes Jesus' sacrifice.

Daniel 8:11 and 14 say that the horn …removed the regular sacrifice from Him (meaning God), and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down…For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.  In Gen. 1:5 we see that an evening and a morning is another way of saying ‘one day’, and we have proven that a day in prophecy is actually one year, so here we have a timeline of 2300 years.  This vision applies to events in both ancient times and the end times.  It also covers the old system of religion practiced by the Jews (the …small horn which grew…toward the Beautiful Land where the temple in Jerusalem was) and the new system set up by the sacrifice Jesus made for us and that he is offering in our place in the temple in heaven (the horn …grew up to the host of heaven…and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him…), so the 2300 years must cover Rome and its offspring, and time periods before and after Jesus was crucified.

Daniel 8:14 says that at the end of the 2300 years the …holy place will be properly restored and, as mentioned above, this now applies to what Jesus does for us in heaven.  Since this occurs in the spiritual and heavenly realms, we will not have any visible evidence to know when the restoration has taken place. So when might the regular sacrifice have been removed from God and when might the holy place be restored?  There are several theories.

 

Theory #1

We saw that the 70-week probation period given in Daniel Chapter 9 was the last chance for the Jewish nation to get with the program.  They failed and the spread of the gospel to all people began with the scattering of Christians.  After the vision containing the 2300 days, but before giving Daniel the 70-week prophetic warning for the Hebrews,

 the angel Gabriel told Daniel that he had come to give him …insight with understanding. (Dan. 9: 22)                                             

How does the 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9 give help in understanding anything else?  It could give us a starting point for the previous vision’s timeline…457 BCE.  So if the 2300 years also begins in 457 BCE, then its end would be 1843 CE. 

 

Theory #2

Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE and his four generals divided his empire.  Some use this date as the start of the 2300 years and that would put the end of it at 1977 CE.

 

Theory #3

Antiochus Epiphanes was a descendant of Seleucus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, who gained control of Mesopotamia and the Middle East after Alexander’s death (see Appendix 1).  In 168 BCE Antiochus occupied Jerusalem and desecrated the temple by, among other things, offering a pig on the altar.  His desecration of the temple was so heinous to the Jewish people that many of them (and many Christians) consider Antiochus and his blasphemous acts to be the first step in the fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel 8:9-14.  If 168 BCE were the start date for the 2300 days, then the end date would be 2132 CE, or well over a century from now.  

 So which theory is correct?  No one can be sure and no one can agree.  The important thing to remember is that God knows and we can trust him to show us what we need to know when we need to know it.  

 We have followed Old Testament prophecy to the end of the Jewish sacrificial system and the birth of Christianity, and we have proven that the symbolic “day” in prophetic language stands for a literal year.  Both this chapter and the previous one have given us an understanding of basic prophetic symbols and their meanings.  Now we are ready to move on to Revelation and start applying what we have already learned to what we will find there.

 

Jesus' Baptism and Death in Prophecy. The Book of Daniel.

 

Continued from previous post:

The angel Gabriel said that the Messiah would make a covenant with the many for one week (7 years).  If Jesus began his ministry in 27 CE, then the covenant week ends in 34 CE.  What is this covenant week?  This is the last 7 years of the 70-week, or 490-year, probationary period for the Jews.  The Messiah was here on earth in person, ready and willing to make a permanent covenant with the Jews if only they would accept him. 

But in 30 CE, in the middle of the last seven years, the Jewish religious and political leaders successfully schemed to have Jesus killed.  Jesus was cut off and had nothing, separated and rejected by the chosen people, the people blessed with God’s personal attention for centuries.

  What does it mean that Jesus’ death put an end to the sacrifice and grain offering?  Why did Jesus have to die?  All of our decisions and actions have consequences and when we sin it separates us from God - erecting a wall in our relationship with him.  God had set up a substitutional system that would restore our relationship with him and transfer the punishment (eternal consequences) we should receive for our bad choices onto something else.  Those people living before Jesus was on earth would go to the temple, symbolically transfer their sin onto an innocent animal (usually a lamb) and kill it as a sacrificial substitute.  God would accept the substitute, they would be absolved, and their relationship with him would be restored.

 Jesus came to this world to be the ultimate sacrifice.  He was offering himself as our permanent substitute; taking our punishment, absolving us of sin, and becoming a permanent bridge connecting heaven and earth – God and man.  Once he did that, the sacrificial system was put to an end because the ultimate sacrificial substitute had died for us (Heb. 10:11, 12).  When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to be baptized, he appropriately declared, …Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

In 34 CE, the time of God’s favoritism towards the Jewish nation ended because they stubbornly rejected Jesus and his sacrifice for them.  God had to start all over from scratch because, although he had a few followers, he had nothing in the form of a nation of followers anymore.  In that same year the Jews killed a Christian named Stephen and began persecuting all the Christians in the area, so many of them scattered and began preaching wherever they found refuge.  God was building a new “nation” of followers, gathering anyone who wanted to belong to him.

Once God removed his protection from the Jews, they were in big trouble.  In 70 CE the Roman general Titus and his army destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.  Jesus had told his disciples that the temple would be destroyed to such an extant that …not one stone here would be left upon another… (Matt. 24:2) and that is exactly what happened.  When Titus’ army set fire to the city, the gold in the temple melted along the walls and the soldiers tore the building apart stone by stone in order to scrape up the gold.  Thus, Titus destroy(ed) the city and the sanctuary.

We have just looked at an extremely important timeline, and we have proven that our interpretation of timelines is accurate from the start to the end, and all points in between. 

Artaxerxes' decree to rebuild Jerusalem was from 457 to 408 BCE. That is 7 weeks in prophecy which translates to 49 years.

Jerusalem rebuilt until Jesus baptized: 408 BCE to 27 CE. 62 weeks = 434 years, 

Jesus baptized until Stephen stoned: 27CE to 34 CE.  One week = 7 years 

A Day Isn’t Always 24 Hours. The Book of Daniel.

 

Many of you reading this are wondering when we are going to be getting into the book of Revelation.  That is where all the prophecy about the end of time is located, right?  Well, no.  In the first chapter we looked at prophecies from the books of Matthew and 1 Peter, for instance, to prove we are indeed in the end times.  In the second chapter we looked in the book of Daniel to prove that Bible prophecy is true and reliable and to learn the meaning of certain prophetic symbols.  We are going to look in Daniel once again before moving on to Revelation.  Not only do we want to understand what we find in Revelation, we want to know why each thing means what it does and how it fits in with the others. 

The book of Daniel gives us very useful timelines that we can follow like maps, where we can mark on them different events prophesied in the Bible.  These timelines are described as days, weeks, and months, but a day in prophetic language is actually a year.  (see Appendix 2). 

 

If one day equals one year (Ez. 4:4-6 and Num. 14:34), then…

 One week = 7 days = 7 years. One month = 30 days = 30 years. One year = 360 days = 360 years.

We are going to start with a timeline that will prove that our understanding of timelines is correct.

 "Seventy weeks have been declared for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.  So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.  Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.  And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.  And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering…"  Daniel 9:24-27

This passage was spoken by the angel Gabriel to Daniel so it comes straight from heaven.

We are going to start with a timeline that will prove that our understanding of timelines is correct.

 "Seventy weeks have been declared for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.  So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.  Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.  And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.  And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering…"  Daniel 9:24-27

Gabriel was saying that the Jews and the city of Jerusalem had 70 weeks, or 490 years (7 days per week multiplied by 70 weeks equals 490 years), of probation left to straighten out and start keeping their side of the bargain they had made with God way back when God brought them out of Egypt.  The start of the probation period would be when a decree was issued allowing the Jews to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. 

It was not long after the Medo-Persians conquered the Babylonians that many of the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed. 

 However, the city itself was still in shambles.  Seven years after Artaxerxes ascended the Persian throne, he sent a Jew named Ezra to Jerusalem with orders that, in part, called for Ezra to organize the city so it could rule itself independently while still being part of the Persian Empire.  Ezra was to appoint magistrates and judges and was to ensure the carrying out of the king’s laws. (Ezra 7:25, 26)  Although the decree from Artaxerxes did not specifically say that the city of Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, Ezra and the rest of the Jews knew the orders they held implied the rebuilding.  How else was a city to function without buildings for the government, the courts, etc?  So, Artaxerxes’ decree restored Jerusalem to the Jews and they began to rebuild the city in 457 BCE. We now have the starting point for our 490-year timeline.

Artaxerxes’ decree restored Jerusalem to the Jews and they began to rebuild the city in 457 BCE. We now have the starting point for our 490-year timeline.

The 62 weeks, or 434 years (7 x 62 = 434), of the 70-week prophecy follow the seven weeks so it obviously begins in 407 BCE and goes through to 27 CE.  Did anything special happen in the year 27 CE?  Yes.  Luke Chapter 3 and Verse 1 says that it was the 15^th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and Messiah the Prince, Jesus, began his ministry here on earth. 

Tiberius became co-emperor of Rome with Augustus in 13 CE, so his 15^th year would bring us to 27 CE.

DAY for a YEAR 

When a day is mentioned in prophecy, it stands for a year in actual time.  So if you see a prophecy of 1260 days, it actually means 1260 years.  One hour would be a literal two weeks, one week would be seven days or seven years, one month would be 30 days or 30 years, etc.  See:  Ez. 4: 4-6; Num. 14: 34

 

30 DAY MONTH / 360 DAY YEAR 

Everyone knows that a year contains 365 days and that not all the months in a year have 30 days, so how do we come to the decision to break down the months and years into 30 and 360 days?  Some scholars refer to ancient calendars as proof that the common year was 360 days, not becoming our familiar 365 day year until the Julian calendar was instituted.  Others talk about the simplicity of using a 360 day year and 30 day month still in use today when doing complex financial calculations.  I prefer the easiest explanation.  If you divide 365 days by 12 months you get 30.4 days per month.  Rounding that number down gives you 30 days.  Then, if you multiply 30 days by 12 months you get a 360 day year.  Also, in Revelation 11: 2 and 3 we are shown that 42 months is 1260 days, these numbers coinciding only if a 30 day month is used (42 x 30 = 1260).  The 365 day year we have now is only an average itself:  2006 only had 364 days, 2007 has 365 days, and 2008 will have 366 days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darius the Mede, Alexander the Great and Rome. Book of Daniel.

 

Belshazzar was the last king of the Babylonian Empire.  Daniel had the dream about the beasts, and the following vision, while serving in Belshazzar’s palace.  In this next vision, we see the same timeline given except this time Babylon is not mentioned.  In a matter of a few years Babylon was going to be conquered by Darius the Mede, one of the first rulers of the Medo-Persian Empire, so Babylon was already moving out of the picture.

Okay, on to the third vision. 

 …behold, a ram which had two horns…Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last.  I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.  While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.  He came up to the ram that had two horns…and rushed at him in his mighty wrath…and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns…So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him…Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly.  But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.   Daniel 8: 3-8

ANIMAL		KINGDOM		ATTRIBUTES
Ram		Persia		Two Horns = Media and Persia
				One Horn Longer = Persia stronger than Media
				Butting in Three Directions = three areas of conquest
							Medo-Persia
							Babylonian Empire
							New Territory
Goat		Greece		Not touching ground = speed
				Conspicuous Horn = Alexander the Great
				Four New Horns = empire divided among the generals

Here we read that Daniel saw a ram with two horns, one of which was longer than the other (Persia stronger than the Medes).  And this ram was butting in three directions which corresponds to the three ribs the bear had in its mouth in the previous dream (the three geographical areas of the ancient world to come under its control).  Then Daniel saw a male goat with a single horn coming from the west without touching the ground.  This is Alexander the Great (horn) who, in only three years, conquered the Persian Empire (so fast he was not touching the ground).  Then Daniel says he saw that as soon as the horn was mighty, it was broken and replaced by four other horns.  This would be the division of Alexander’s empire amongst his generals after his death.  A man standing next to Daniel in the vision explained the vision, actually naming Media, Persia and Greece, so we know without a doubt what the ram and goat part of the vision means.

 However, Greece is followed by a rather small horn rising up and becoming mighty and powerful, destroying holy people, opposing God and calling himself equal to God (Dan. 8:9-12, 23-25).  Obviously, we know this must be Rome because all the other timelines say so.  But it seems more like the mouthy, blasphemous horn we saw in Chapter 7’s dream than it does the Roman Empire.  Could it be a combination of the two?  Does this mean Rome unites with or supports this horn?  Again, we will address this in later chapters.

The dreams and visions we have just looked at in the Book of Daniel were written down in the sixth century BCE.  History has unfolded just as Daniel was shown, without one deviation from the prophecies.  If God knew ahead of time that a mishmash of city-states would unite under one leader and grow to be the Greek Empire, and if God knew that a backwater town in Italy would one day rule the world with a fist of iron, and if God knew that that backwater town in Italy would be the last World Empire ever to exist, then I have to believe that the final parts of those dreams and visions will come true also.  The Rock is coming, and Jesus will establish his everlasting kingdom on the earth.

 Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; Before they spring forth, I proclaim them to you.  Is. 42: 9

Addendum

 Prophecy uses symbolic language to refer to literal things and people.  Here is a list of what we covered in this chapter.  Also, see Appendix 2 for a more detailed explanation of these symbols and their meanings.

SYMBOL			MEANING
Precious Metals			Kingdoms, Nations, Empires
Wind			Activity, Commotion, Strife
Seas, Water			Groups, Masses of People
Animals, Beasts			Kingdoms, Nations, Empires
Horns			King, Political Power, Individual