Daniel
Epilogue

This has been a long and involved study. Daniel is finished, and Revelation awaits. I believe that everything I have written is accurate. However, as in all human endeavors, the possibility of error exists. Every person is limited by the information available, and their understanding of the context in which prophecy is written. I repeat the testimony of John Huss, a martyr of the Reformation. "Whenever I discern a sounder opinion in any matter whatsoever, I gladly and humbly abandon the earlier one. For I know that those things I have learned are but the least in comparison with what I do not know.

I disagree with many interpreters. I pray that these disagreements are merely the result of honest men seeing thing differently. It is reassuring to discover that my identification of the Papacy as the agent of Satan is a conclusion shared with Martin Luther, John Wycliffe, John Huss, and other reformers. As I have noted before, two schools of thought deserve approbation.

First, the historical-critical school should reconsider their faith. The very foundation of their approach is to deny the inspired nature of the Word.

Second, the futurist school serves to deny that the Papacy is the agent of Satan on earth, the very Antichrist. Their false identification of Antiochus IV Epiphanes as the little horn in chapters 7 and 8, and as a major player in chapter 11; along with their insertion of "parentheses" into prophecy where none are written allow the work of the Devil to proceed undiscovered. We should briefly recap the most important errors made by the futurists. The key to them lies in their (mis)understanding of Daniel 9:24-27. All of the rest of their fantastic theories stem from this mistake.

The source of the problem is their failure to critically examine the original Hebrew. They use modern translations, virtually all of which misunderstand the intent of 9:25. As we have discovered, Daniel’s overriding concern is with the restoration of Jerusalem. This has nothing to do with structures, and everything to do with the people. The people are to be brought back to their land, re-established in a proper relationship with their God, and restored to an autonomous state with self-administration of God’s laws. This is the thrust of the decree called out in 9:25 and issued by Artaxerxes I in 457BC.

By failing to read the original, the distorted modern translations stand unchallenged. Their misplaced emphasis on the rebuilding of the structures of Jerusalem leads the futurists to bypass the proper decree, since it contains no explicit instruction to rebuild the city. For that matter, neither do any of the preceding decrees. This leaves them with one option: the "decree" of 444BC by Artaxerxes I. In it, Nehemiah went to Jerusalem to repair damaged walls and gates which had been built by Ezra. Unfortunately for the futurists, it’s not a decree. Artaxerxes merely consented to Nehemiah’s return, and gave him letters of safe passage and provision. Nehemiah returned alone. There is no reference to restoration for the people of Jerusalem. Even though there is no decree in Nehemiah 2, the futurists have no options left.

Having no place to turn, and a 444BC starting date, the futurists add 483 years, coming up with AD40 for the end of the 69 weeks. Since no responsible theologian puts that year within the life of Jesus, the Messiah, they have to find another way to make the numbers work, so they turn to 7:25 and its six repetitions in Daniel and Revelation. From this, they determine that all prophetic years are 360 days long. We saw in our First Principles discussion how the 360 day year never occurred, and how it would create impossible problems for any Jews trying to understand the prophecy. Now we have 173,880 days, or 476.06 calendar years (476 years, 21 days to be exact). This now gets us to AD33, which is in the range of AD26-36 acceptable for the baptism of Jesus, or AD29-39 for His crucifixion.

Ignoring all the scriptural evidence that the end of the 69 weeks was Jesus’ "manifestation"; that is, His baptism, the futurists end the sixty ninth week with the crucifixion, mangling the intent of 9:26. They now determine (incorrectly, as we have shown) that the crucifixion occurred in AD33. This creates a new problem. What do you do with that pesky seventieth week? It’s impossible for it to have anything to do with the Messiah after the crucifixion. The only alternative is to send it far into the future. The fact that the 70 weeks are a unitary whole, cut off as a probationary time, will have to be conveniently disregarded. The facts will simply have to be molded to fit.

Now things really get strange. 9:26 calls out the death of Messiah, the "he" of 9:27 who strengthens the existing covenant. But that doesn’t fit the futurists’ schema. So they reach into Rev 11:7-11. They take the story of God’s two witnesses who will testify 3 ½ days, then be killed and resurrected; and mix that with 9:26-27. They also twist the Hebrew of 9:27 to make the covenant a new covenant, not a strengthened existing covenant. The result is an Antichrist who makes a new peace treaty with the Jews, abrogates it at 3 ½ years, is assassinated, and miraculously resurrected. Just to flesh out the story, there has to be a new temple with "sacrifice and grain offering" in Jerusalem so that Antichrist can destroy it. There is also a reconstituted Roman empire out of which the Antichrist figure comes.

Rather than being exegesis (determining what is in the scripture), this approach is eisegesis (reading things into the scripture). There is no light in this method. This particular example rests on two false pillars. First, it ignores the plain language of the Hebrew and the confirmation of the rest of the Bible. Second, it uses prophecy as a means to predict the future, not to reveal the gospel. Jesus instructed us to use prophetic fulfillment as a confirmation of our faith.

Consequences of these errors are many. The futurists become able to excuse a massive gap between the early Roman Empire and their mythical reconstituted Roman Empire. This gives a pass to that greatest of oppressors of God’s people, the Papacy. This cannot be excused. We must use the light of scripture as our guide. The only limit recognized by the futurists is their own imagination, since the scripture is not their guide.

We all must study the scriptures continually to discover the truth contained in them and to build our faith. In this respect, this study will never be finished. Indeed, this manuscript has been revised many times. We must never allow the simple discovery of the outline to be the end of our search. Now that we know that the Papacy is the agent of evil, we must examine the fraudulent goods to understand his attack on the truth.

Some will argue that the Papacy cannot be the Antichrist since it speaks "in the name of the Lord". What better way to deceive can we imagine? A con artist succeeds by passing himself off as the genuine article. If he looked like a counterfeit, no one would pay him any attention. The Papacy has done its best to look like authentic Christian faith. In this way it has deceived untold millions. Yet, it is a tribute to the power of the message, that, even in the hands of a fraud, the truth of Jesus shines through. Many Catholics will be in the kingdom. My argument is not against Catholics. It is against the institution and its leaders who perpetrate the continuing fraud.

I pray that this exposition is of help. I know that I have gained a great deal of insight by doing the study. If someone else gains, then I will know that God's purpose in this study was greater than my own enlightenment.