How Biblical Prophecy Works: Learning from Daniel

What principles of interpreting prophecy can we learn from the book of Daniel, and what specific historical events were foretold?

The Overarching Theme of Daniel—DON’T FEAR, GOD IS IN CONTROL OF THE NATIONS

Because most of the prophecies within Daniel have already been fulfilled, it’s an ideal book to turn to in order to learn how God communicates His predictions and to see their corresponding fulfillments. We should also recognize that it’s critical to have a solid grasp of all of the Old Testament before ever attempting to understand something as complicated and highly symbolic as Revelation. Therefore, specifically in Daniel, how are we to understand how God communicates His prophecies: how were they fulfilled, when were they fulfilled, what symbols were used, and was everything always completely fulfilled within the specific time frame? In other words, were prophetic time periods like a light bulb that was fully turned on the very first day, and then completely and entirely shut off on the last day?

Why Daniel Is Foundational for Understanding Revelation

Because the book of Daniel shares so many of the exact same symbols and time references as Revelation, we should seek to understand the “Daniel Hermeneutic of Prophecy” in order to properly understand Revelation. In other words, the way that we should attempt to understand Revelation is by applying the principles of interpretation that we learn from Daniel, and Revelation very well could’ve been called Daniel part two since they both contain so many similar components.

In Daniel, we find symbols given, which we now recognize to be foretelling many centuries worth of world history, even including events that weren’t directly about God’s Old Covenant nation (such as events fulfilled by Alexander the Great and the Seleucid Empire in Daniel 8 and 11).

Prophecy Given Long Before Fulfillment—In preparing to understand Revelation, we should note the prophecies in Daniel were predictions of events that were future from the standpoint of the author, took place over several centuries and wouldn’t have been understood by the generation that received the message, yet it’s also generally understood that the majority of those prophecies are NOT future to our current generation.

All of that is unlike what’s taught by Preterists (that nearly all of Revelation supposedly had to be immediately fulfilled and supposedly needed to be comprehended by the generation that received it) or Futurists (nearly all of Revelation as well as much of Daniel has to be fulfilled at the end of this age).

“The Time of the End” in Daniel—In Daniel, we learn that even events referred to as “the time of the end” (such as Daniel 8:17) weren’t really about the end of the world, but rather, as countless theologians have pointed out, were instead the end of something else, such as the end of that particular prophecy or the end of the Old Covenant nation.

The interpretations given with the visions indicate that the prophecies predicted very specific mundane events, sometimes described in great detail, and not merely symbolic principles applied in a generic way to the course of the future (unlike what’s taught by Idealists who assume Revelation isn’t about anything specific).

Sequential Prophecy and the Church Age —The prophesied events within Daniel were presented in a sequential manner, beginning at a fixed point in history and leading up to some significant event, such as the 1st Advent of Christ.

As we’ve previously seen, our ancestors recognized that the book of Revelation is the exact same, beginning with events “which must shortly take place” (Revelation 1:1) immediately after 96 AD, then describing the overall history of the Church in advance, which will likewise conclude with Christ’s (final) Advent, followed by His Judgment Day and establishment of the New Heaven and Earth.

Why Fulfilled Prophecy Is So Valuable—Prophecy is particularly profitable to those who can look back on its fulfillment, which should inspire awe within us at God’s amazingly accurate foreknowledge and should comfort us in seeing how His hand has been guiding the nations to fulfill His will.

Yet note again that the prophecies in Daniel didn’t primarily foretell events that would be fulfilled during Daniel’s lifetime, or the lifetime of his audience, or his “generation.” Biblical prophecy as a whole was very seldomly fulfilled in the lifetime of those who received it (unlike Preterist’s interpretation of Revelation).

How Prophetic Timeframes Actually Work

In looking further into fulfillment, we should note that timeframes of prophecies weren’t like a light bulb that was entirely in full force on day one and then completely and entirely switched off on the last day of the prophesied time period.

In prophecies such as Daniel 9 which began with Israel having been punished and sent off into Babylonian captivity for 70 years (originally foretold in Jeremiah 25 and 29), it turns out there never was any exact and precise “70 year period” where they were all gone one day and then all fully reinstated in their homeland by the last day of that 70 year period.

Instead, there were several phases where Israelites were taken captive as well as several phases where they left their captivity over a time period much longer than 70 years, even though God’s intended plan was for 70 years of banishment.

Fulfillment Beyond the Stated Period—Back then, Daniel was able to accurately realize that it had almost been 70 years and that specific prophecy would soon reach its conclusion. We can now look back and say there were at least 70 years when they were banished, but those precise dates can be debatable.

Theologians still to this day have had great difficulty in pinpointing an exclusive 70 years, which have led some into postulating possibly three overlapping but distinct 70-year prophecies.

Ultimately, significant things nonetheless still happened “after” Jeremiah’s 70 years, which is also the case with Daniel’s 490 year prophecy.

Why This Matters for Revelation

Therefore, when we get to Daniel 9’s 490 year prophecy, we see that not everything was entirely fulfilled within that period either, because although Jerusalem and its obsolete Temple had been predicted to be made desolate, that ultimately occurred within that generation, that is, within 40 years “after” the 490 year time period had ended.

Therefore, we learn there can still be relevant events that can take place after God’s timeframe had ended, and His predictions weren’t like a lightbulb that was in full force on day one and then fully off on the last day.

Those facts are helpful when studying timeframes within Revelation, and realizing the possibility that it might be debatable which specific date was the precise beginning and which date was the ultimate end, however, those timeframes did exist and were significant for what occurred during that time.

The 1,260 Days / Years Prophecy

We see that not all of Daniel’s timeframes were neatly tied to an exact day, but the fulfillment nonetheless occurred over long periods of time. This is particularly important when studying Daniel and Revelation’s use of the 1,260 days or years of persecution.

Our ancestors recognized that the 1,260 years were a literal period of time that would unfold gradually, just as past prophecies had, and this concept will become pivotal as we move into Revelation. God had certain specific timeframes that He communicated to us and the precise stated purpose truly was fulfilled in that time, yet not all was completely and entirely fulfilled within that time, nor did everything start in full force at the beginning of that prophetic time period. Nonetheless, something very dramatic still happened within those years, and it would be helpful and healthy for our generation to appreciate Church history.

Transition to the Next Study

With these principles firmly established, we are now prepared to examine how Daniel applies them concretely—beginning with the succession of empires revealed in Daniel 2.

That examination forms the focus of Study 2.