The Book of Daniel
Unsealed
The book of Daniel
that was sealed up for the final
generation has been unsealed. God
has made sure throughout history
that the understanding of
prophecy is revealed “on or
about” the time of
fulfillment. The mere fact that
the understanding of end-time
prophetic events has been
disclosed, strongly suggests it
is to be understood ONLY by those
living at the “end of
time.” Daniel produces the
key to knowing the prophetic
chronological order of events.
The information
unsealed in Daniel is the architecture
of apocalyptic prophecy. This
may sound strange at first, but
the prophecies in Daniel conform
to a structure or pattern that
controls the meaning of the
visions given in Daniel. The
exciting point about this
structure also exists in
Revelation! In other words, when
you understand the architecture
of Daniel, you also understand
the architecture of Revelation.
The architecture of apocalyptic
prophecy produces four rules
(methods of interpretation) that
govern the interpretation of this
type of prophecy. These four
rules are like combinations to a
safe. When the four rules are
applied to the interpretation of
the prophecies of Daniel, as well
as Revelation, a marvelous result
occurs. The prophecies can be
understood just as they read!
Daniel’s
prophecies (and the elements
within them) behave in a
predictable way every time. This
consistency allows us to
understand certain things about
the operation and meaning of
apocalyptic prophecy that would
be otherwise unknown. For
example, we can say that all of
Daniel’s prophecies have a
beginning point in time, and
events in each prophecy occur in
the order in which they are
given. (Rule #1) An example of
this is the first apocalyptic
prophecy in Daniel 2 concerning
the vision of the statue. God
interprets the dream to show
progressing empires of the world.
The head of gold was Babylon, the
chest and arms were Medio-Persia,
the thighs of brass were Greece,
the legs of iron was Rome, the
ten toes will be the ten end-time
kingdoms (nations) and ends with
Jesus crashing the statue with a
rock, dissolving all earthly
kingdoms and setting up the final
kingdom of heaven.
This concept may
sound simple, but it has profound
ramifications. Look at the down
side of this rule: If the events
within each prophecy are not
fulfilled in the order given,
then who or what has the
authority to tell us the order of
events that have not happened? In
other words, if the Bible cannot
be understood on the basis of
what it says, and then who has
the truth on this matter? This is
the ultimate question: Does the
Bible speak for itself or must it
have an interpreter? This
confirms the Bible speaks for
itself and the Bible is the final
interpreter.
A fulfillment of
apocalyptic prophecy occurs when
ALL of the specifications within
that prophecy are met, including
the order of events outlined
within the prophecy. (Rule #2)
Apocalyptic
language can be literal, symbolic
or analogous. To reach the
intended meaning, the student
must consider (a) the context,
(b) the use of parallel language
in the Bible, and (c) relevant
statements in the Bible that
define the symbol if an element
is thought to be symbolic. The
Bible should be taken “Just
as it reads” first.
(Literal).
(Rule #3)
God reckons
apocalyptic time in two ways: (a)
a day for a year, and (b) as
literal time. The presence or
absence of the Jubilee calendar
determines how God measures time.
(Rule #4)
Any interpretation
of prophecy that does not conform
to a stated set of valid rules is
classified as a “private
interpretation.” The word
“private” does not mean
obscure. Millions of people can
believe and endorse a private
interpretation. A private
interpretation is an
interpretation that has no
external means of validation. In
other words, a private
interpretation is any
interpretation that cannot be
tested and validated with a set
of stated rules. This brings us
back to the need for
understanding the apocalyptic
architecture in Daniel. There is
one architecture in Daniel and
Revelation and there is only one
truth and one accurate
interpretation of the prophecies.
What the foregoing
means, is that a hundred
different people can be sent into
a room with the rules and the
Bible and ALL will emerge with
the same interpretation. The
unsealing of the book of Daniel,
revealing the rules of
interpretation, is the key to
knowing the time has come for
complete understanding of the
prophecies. This is consistent
with God’s pattern of
revealing the correct
interpretation, on or about the
time of understanding. This was
true for the 70 years of Babylon
captivity, the 70 weeks of
Daniel, 2300 evenings and
mornings, and is also true for
the end-time prophetic time
periods.
Reason number 2
leaves us with Conclusion
number 2:
Because the book
of Daniel was sealed up until the
end, the chronology of the
prophecies was not known. With
the revealing of the
architecture, we now know the
perfect order of events, as well
as where we are going now living
in God’s time-line.
