THE VISION OF
THE FOUR WILD BEASTS
AND
THE REVELATION OF
THE SEVENTY SEVENS
By
G. H. PEMBER
-------
INTRODUCTION*
* Preface I.G.
WE live
in an age of abounding scepticism and of waning faith, an age in which ceaseless
infusions of Superstition, Paganism, and Humanitarianism, are altogether
changing the colour of Christianity. For, on the one hand, the Church, the
Priesthood, and the Sacraments, are substituted for the Lord Jesus; on the
other, the good things of this world are set forth as the supreme objects of
desire; and reform, and the alleviation of poverty, misery, and pain, in the
present life, are declared to include the whole duty of man.
Meanwhile, armed millions are standing
ready for war, a hurricane of Socialistic blasts is causing society to tremble,
revolution is in the air, and grave changes seem to be imminent - changes of
the end of which those who are almost frenzied in their eagerness to bring them
about seem to have little or no conception, and, apparently, little or no care.*
* [Written in
1895.]
The flood of “modern thought”
is spreading in every direction, and, in its wild career, is carrying off old
landmarks, sweeping away settled opinions which have made
for the peace of the world, and submerging all the lessons of past history. Hence men of ability, or of conceit, are prone to form each
his own individual judgment upon every subject; while those of weaker mind
usually attach themselves to some leader, and follow him unhesitatingly. In such circumstances, it is not likely that truth would often be
met in our streets: nay, what but the direst uncertainty and confusion could be
expected, when the world is giving itself up to theories that do not even claim
to be founded upon experience, but spring from the dreams of men of various
dispositions and aims, or are based upon superstitious religions, and
philosophies, which the human race has already tried and found wanting?
Now, it is specially for such a time
as this, when all things are in a state of flux and doubtfulness, that God has
given us a written Word of Truth, in order that we may learn His unchangeable
views, not merely of salvation, but also of political, social, moral, and
ecclesiastical, matters. Seeing, then, that so many still choose to call
themselves Christians, we should expect this Divine Book to be consulted upon
all occasions, and its decisions to be eagerly followed; but alas! the fact is far otherwise.
Many professors in the visible Church make no practical use of
the Bible [prophecies] whatever; and, as if to quiet uneasy
qualms of conscience, are now assailing it with what they are pleased to call “a Higher Criticism.” By this
means they are gradually ridding themselves of its bands, and obliterating its
teachings - to all those who believe in man rather than God- in misty
exhalations of human wisdom and conceit.
Nay, some even of the Catholic party, finding it inconvenient
to submit any longer to the two, and often diverse, authorities which
circumstances have forced upon them, the Bible and the Church, are beginning to
disparage the former, that they may exalt the latter as the only guide and
ruler of the world.
But, worst of all, many of those who recognize the
Bible as the truth of God are, nevertheless,
rushing into lines of action that are
opposed to its revelations, and are
even preaching as Christian doctrine things which are not to be found in it.
In fine, they admit the truth of salvation by Christ Jesus, and a few precepts of virtue or favourite
dogmas, but either ignore or
distort the whole remainder of the Scriptures.
It is, however, impossible to do the will of God unless we
know it. And the knowledge of it cannot be acquired by a mere
picking out of texts, which leads to many errors; but only by a steady and
prayerful perusal of the sacred books, and by careful attention to the general
meaning of a whole book, or, at least, of a whole connected passage, before we
attempt to deduce doctrines from its parts.
Of course, the pulpit ought to be our great help in such
studies; but, unfortunately, it is not so, except in comparatively rare
instances. And before it can be, preachers must
cease to give out texts as a preliminary to a string of their own thoughts, which often have but little affinity to Divine revelation. They must rather seek to
make their hearers wiser by the exposition of a paragraph or a chapter; by an exposition, interesting because it comes from one who thoroughly understands his
subject in all its bearings,
and powerful because it is spoken under the immediate influence of that Holy
Spirit, Whom the Father is ever
willing to give to them that ask [and obey (Acts
5: 32;cf. 1 John 3: 24, R.V.)] Him.
Were such a course adopted, the people
of God would be helpfully instructed in serving the apprenticeship for which
they are left upon the earth, and in acquiring the knowledge which has been
apportioned for us here, and which we must make our own
and learn to apply,
so far as present circumstances permit,
if - [for this ‘if’ is conditional! - for those who will become “… joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him (Rom. 8: 17b, R.V.
cf.
2 Tim. 2:
12; 1 Pet.
4: 1, 13, 14, R.V.); IF ] we would fulfil the destiny that
should be ours in the coming age.
For, let it be remembered, that, although [initial and eternal] salvation, if it be once vouchsafed, is sure, although the Lord’s sheep
can never perish, neither can any one pluck them out of His hand; yet we may miss the ‘reward’. A man may rob us of it through his
philosophy and vain deceit, after
the traditions of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ. We may be
cheated of our ‘prize’, if one persuade us to a voluntary humility and
worshipping of angels, or to
anything else that puffs up the fleshly mind, so that we no longer hold fast the Head, Which is Jesus Christ our Lord.
He Himself has warned us to hold fast that which we have, that
no one take our ‘crown’ (Rev.
3:
11).
For, while the life [eternal] is a free and inalienable gift, when once bestowed, the crown - [and life after ‘the First Resurrection’ and
‘the age to come’ (Heb.
6: 5,
R.V.)] - is conditional, and may be lost. We have no promise that we
shall reign with Christ if we merely believe on Him; but only if we suffer, or
endure, with Him.*
[* See 2 Tim.
2: 12,
A.V. & R.V.]
What, then, was it that brought upon the Lord Jesus the
contradiction and hatred of sinners, and continual suffering upon earth? It was
the fact that His views and teachings - which He never failed to put into
practice - being those of God, were found to be distasteful to fallen men, and
unutterably opposed to all their desires and aspirations.
But modern Christians are by no means
liable to the scorn and hatred with which their Master was assailed; and that,
not through any change in the disposition of the world, but because so many of
them content themselves with the good news that Christ died for sinners,
adding, perhaps, a few moral precepts which are common to the Bible and the
best human philosophies, and go no further. They do not strive to make
themselves acquainted with the real meaning of all that God has revealed, nor pray to be imbued
with its spirit; but are satisfied
with a little Scripture copiously adulterated with human opinions.
Or, in other words, they are willing
to accept the world’s comments upon the small portion of the Bible which forms
their creed; and, consequently, their Christ
becomes gradually transformed into something very like the predicted Antichrist. For they unconsciously
lose sight of Him as the One Who experienced nothing but opposition and hatred
from the world, and is now calling us
away from it - the One Who has never once told us to attempt its improvement, but,
on the contrary, has bidden us use
every effort to save some out of it; Who, indeed, gave
Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil
world-age, according to the will of our
God and Father. They forget that all His teachings point to
the boundless eternity stretching far beyond the horizon of this brief life, and that even His precepts for our conduct
here are ever pressed home by the thought of the judgment [seat of Christ, and the consequences
of our post conversion activities as related to the] hereafter.
And so, they begin to see Him more and more
as a mere Socialistic leader, anxious only to reform the abuses and alleviate
the suffering of the present world, and to distribute its good things to the
many. But this is just what the Antichrist will
profess to be: indeed, it is probable that, at first, he will seem to act his
part exceedingly well; for he will do so in concert with the Prince of this
world, who is the present disposer of its good things. And
some Christians may, perhaps, need to be reminded, that he will not be called
the Antichrist, but will, in all probability, be regarded as the true Christ.
We have dwelt upon one only of the
insidious arts by which Satan endeavours to lead men unawares from the Christ
to the Antichrist, from Him Whose Kingdom is not of this world to him whose
kingdom is only in it; from Him Who would give men life, even length of days
for ever and ever, and fulness of joy at the right hand of God, to him who
proffers the opiate-cup, that will bring them present ease and unreal
pleasures, until, at last, their senses are restored by a violent
shock, and they perceive that they
have been precipitated to the depths of Hades. There are, however, also many other
Satanic devices, the influence of
which can be effaced from the minds of the deceived only by a complete
submission to the Word of God, and a
careful study of those [accountability and conditional] portions of it which have
hitherto been neglected or distorted.
Now, among these despised or
misunderstood Scriptures, by far the
most conspicuous are the [yet to be fulfilled] prophecies. And the [post conversion] conduct of most Christians in regard to them virtually amounts to an
impeachment of the Divine wisdom. For to God it has seemed right to give us many prophecies: but they are accustomed [to refrain from speaking to other
Christians about them, and] to toss them aside as
inexplicable and useless; while they regard those who strive
to expound them as vain speculators. Nevertheless, these [prophetic] revelations are known by [all
Holy Spirit-taught] believers, who have prayerfully studied them, to be of eminently practical value.
And they are appointed by the Great
Creator as the sources from which we may draw instruction respecting the true
nature of the [present God-forsaken, and evil] world, His [future] designs in regard to it, the peculiar temptations and
perils with which it besets His [redeemed and regenerate] people, and the attitude which He would
have them assume toward it. The
minds of all Christians should be guided by them: they are the oracles of the Living God.
A conviction that such is the case has
induced the author of the present volume to devote a considerable part of his
life to the study of the Divine predictions, and he now offers to the reader
some of the results of his labours, trusting that they may have been directed
and blessed by the Supreme Lord upon Whom he has depended for guidance.
* * *
[PART ONE]
* I.G. 259
[Page 106]
CHAPTER XI
THE VISION OF THE FOUR WILD BEASTS
IT was
in the first year of Belshazzar,s vice-royalty, in a
time of public excitement, when the armies of Cyrus were advancing, and had,
perhaps, already defeated the Babylonians and forced their king Nabonadius to
take refuge in Borsippa - it was in such a crisis
that Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed.
He thought that he was standing upon the shore of the
The prophet gazed with awe upon the troubled scene, and, as he
looked, a huge monster gradually lifted itself out of the waves, a creature in
shape like to a Lion, but with Eagle’s Wings. Suddenly its great pinions were
torn away, and it was raised up so as to stand upon
its hind legs in the posture of a man, beast though it still was, and a man’s
heart was given to it.
Then a second form, like to a ponderous Bear,
came forth from the waters: it raised its right side, and was holding three
ribs between its teeth. And the prophet heard a voice
crying to it: “rise, devour much flesh.”
Anon, a third Beast appeared, resembling a spotted Leopard;
and upon its back were Four Wings, not like those of an eagle, but of a more
ordinary bird. It had also Four Heads, and dominion was given
unto it.
Lastly, there arose a fourth monster, diverse from all the
others, having iron teeth and claws of brass, with which it devoured, brake in
pieces, and stamped the residue underfoot. Upon its Head were Ten Horns; and, while it was passing before the prophet, another
Little Horn sprouted, and, as it gradually increased, uprooted three of the
Ten. And in this Horn were eyes like the eyes of a
man, and a mouth speaking great things.
[Page 107]
Then turning his
face toward heaven, Daniel saw that thrones for judgment were being set in the
empyreal height, the same, probably, as those described in the fourth chapter
of the Apocalypse - that is to say, the Throne of God and those of the Twenty-four
Elders. And presently, in indescribable majesty, One That was
ancient of days appeared, surrounded by innumerable angels: the Books were
opened, and Daniel saw in vision the Great Assize which shall hereafter be held
over the as yet unconscious world. By its sentence the
career of the Fourth beast was suddenly arrested: because of the blasphemous
words of the Little Horn, the Beast was slain, and his body given to the
burning fire. His fate thus differed from that of the other Beasts; for though successively deprived of their dominion, their
lives had, nevertheless, been spared.
Then, in place of the Beasts, Daniel saw One like to a son of
man brought before the One That was ancient of days; and to Him was given all
power, so that His dominion should be everlasting, and His Empire never be
destroyed.
THE TEMPEST IN THE
Daniel seemed, in his dream, to be
standing on the shore of the “Great Sea” - an expression which in the Old
Testament always signifies the Mediterranean.* This
is a most important particular; for
it is, doubtless, meant to indicate the locality of the
World-powers: each of them must
border upon the Mediterranean, or it
could have no connection with the vision. And for this there is an obvious reason: beside the waters of that sea lies
* Its other occurrences are: Num. 34: 6, 7; Josh. 1: 4; 9: 1; 15: 11, 12, 47; 23: 4; Ezek. 47: 10, 15, 19, 20; 48: 28. These places show that from the time of Moses to Ezekiel the term
meant the
In the raging waves we may, perhaps, trace
a symbol of the confusion of nations, the tumults and wars of peoples, out of
which empires are wont to rise.
But had not the waters been provoked,
they would never have lashed themselves into fury. They were impelled by
external forces, the blasts which were breaking upon
them. And these blasts seem to have represented the
evil Powers of the Air, the angels and demons which by their ceaseless assaults
keep men in a perpetual state of unrest, excite their passions, and drive them
on to every kind of wickedness.
The fact that there were four winds, corresponding to the four
quarters of heaven, pointed to the universality of the influence, and showed
that the people of all regions would be [Page 108] affected by it, and moved hither and
thither in violent commotion.
EMPEROR AND EMPIRE
So far, then, for the scenery of the vision but before we
proceed with the interpretation of the Beasts, it will be well to inquire into
a peculiarity in connection with the two responses of the angel. His first
answer, in the seventeenth and eighteenth verses, is a brief outline of the whole
prophecy: his second, beginning with the twenty-third verse, enters into details respecting the
Fourth Beast and the judgment. And the peculiarity
referred to above is, that, in the first answer, the Beasts are
described as Emperors, while the second regards them
as Empires. For, although it mentions only the Fourth, yet by the
words, “The Fourth Beast shall be
a Fourth Empire upon earth,” it manifestly implies that the other three also were such
before it.
Now, commentators on this passage usually regard “Emperors” as synonymous with “Empires,” and take no further trouble in the
matter. This, however, is a very loose mode of interpretation: in Scripture,
words are not changed without a reason, and we have
already remarked upon the careful distinction between “Emperor”
and “Empire,” or Kingdom and King, in the interpretation
of Nebuchadnezzar’s first dream.
The clue to the difficulty appears to
lie in the fact that, while the vision of the Image is concerned with earthly
Empires as opposed to the Empire of Christ, that of the Beasts brings out also
the difference between the greatest Emperors of the World-powers and the One
like to a son of man, Who finally appears in person upon the scene to receive
the dominion.
Hence, in the angel’s first answer, we must understand him to refer to the most
remarkable and characteristic Emperors of the Four Empires - that is, probably,
to Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, and the Antichrist. And these monarchs are
represented as Wild Beasts, in order to set a contrast between their nature,
fallen and bestial, and that of the Lord Jesus, the only Man Who has preserved
both His own integrity and God’s ideal of the human race.
Thus, at the very outset, we are made
to see the reason for the failure of the Four Emperors. Having fallen from man’s
estate, they cannot maintain their position as if they were true men. Sin must, sooner or later, bring all human
sovereignty that is affected by it to the ground. But the Lord, seeing that throughout the whole of His sinless life He preserved all
the characteristics of man according to God’s ideal, is found to be the only Son of man worthy to receive that dominion
over the [Page 100] earth which is man’s peculiar right, and [after “the heavens shall pass away …
and the earth and the works that are therein shall be
burned up” (2 Pet. 3: 10, R.V.)] -
an Empire that shall stand for ever.
THE BEAST AND THE EMPIRE
For we must not forget that it is as the Last Adam, and not as
the Son of God, that the Lord Jesus takes up the government of this world: all judgment is committed unto Him
because He is a Son of man.*
* John 5: 27. Both our versions
have a definite article before Son of man but there is none in the Greek text.
We may thus understand why the angel, in his first answer,
speaks of the Beasts as Emperors. But in his reply to
Daniel’s second inquiry, he has to deal with the Kings who are represented by
the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast, and with the Antichrist as the Little Horn
rising up among them. Therefore, the Beast is now regarded as a “Fourth Empire
upon the earth,” its body representing the masses of the people, the body
politic, its ten Horns the Ten Kings, and its Little Horn
the last Emperor. In later prophecies, the Beast is further
revealed as having Seven Heads, which are interpreted as Emperors, while
the Ten Horns are still contemporaneous kings [Rev.
17: 10-13].
The sum, then, of what we have said is, that the Beasts may
stand either for the Empires or for their most characteristic Emperors. And this double use of the symbol is by no means peculiar to
our prophecy, but occurs in other passages also, and may be shown to rest upon
a sound logical basis. The best instance of it is, perhaps, that which is found in the seventeenth
chapter of the Apocalypse. For the Beast there depicted is a more detailed revelation of the
Fourth Beast of Daniel, and, so long as it represents an Empire, the Eighth
Emperor is one of its Seven Heads revived. But the Beast himself is also said
to be the Eighth Emperor, doubtless because that monarch, although properly set
forth as one of the Heads, will be so perfect a representative of the Fourth
Beast that he may be regarded as its embodiment.
A sufficient proof of the correctness of this view may be
deduced from the vision which we are now considering.
For, in the eleventh verse, we read, that,
because of the great words which the Horn spake, the
Beast was slain, and his Body destroyed and given to the burning flame. That
is, the Emperor will be so exact an exponent of the spirit of the people that
the whole body politic will be held responsible, and
be punished, for the blasphemous utterances of their leader. To
return, then, to the first answer of the angel to Daniel - we find nothing more
than a simple statement, that the Four Beasts were mighty Emperors, whom God
had ordained to appear in the course of [Page 109] the world’s history;
but that the career of the Fourth would be cut short by the arrival of the time
when the Saints of the High Places were to receive the sovereignty, and
establish an Empire that should endure for ever, even for ever and ever.
Those whose succession to sovereignty causes the ruin of the
Fourth Emperor are described as “the Saints of the High.” or “Heavenly Places” - that is, probably, the glorified
Church. But the Authorised Version is in
grievous error when it represents them as taking the sovereignty. For the Chaldean word does not mean to take of
oneself, but to receive from another.
At the end of the fifth chapter, it is used of Darius, and the
same mistake is found in the Authorised Version, which reads: “And Darius the Median took the kingdom.” But
Darius did not take it: he received it from his nephew and son-in-law
Cyrus, who had previously captured
THE SAINTS REIGN
Thus, then, the Saints of the High Places will
receive the sovereignty from Another Who will have had
previous possession of it: nor is there any difficulty as
to the identity of That Other. He is
the One like to a son of man, to Whom, as Daniel
saw in the vision, the dominion was
given - given, too, because He had overcome to receive it.
And, in
sharing it with [overcomers, as judged by Him from within] His Church,
He will fulfil the promise. “He that overcometh, and he that keepeth My words unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod bf iron, as the vessels of a potter are broken to shivers: as I also received of My Father” (Rev. 2: 26, 27).
The presence of these Saints with their Lord in the Heavenly
Places, from which Satan will have been driven down,
will soon bring about the destruction of the Fourth Emperor. Then the whole
sovereignty under Heaven will be given to a people closely connected with them
- that is, to the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Dan. 7: 27).
Daniel was instructed, that the Ten
Horns were Ten Kings which should arise out of the Fourth Empire, and that
another Monarch should afterwards appear among them, diverse from the rest, who
should put down three of the Ten, and gain ascendancy over them all.
That this Emperor - for it is manifest that he must become a
king of kings - would be distinguished by intelligence and great intellectual
power, is indicated by the eyes of the Horn which
represents him. He is the last monarch of the Gentiles, who will,
with stupendous magnificence, bring up the rear of that long procession
which was headed by Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean, two thousand five hundred
years ago.
Of the three other particulars given in the angel’s brief but
pregnant description, the first two are amplified in
later prophecies: these, therefore, may be dismissed for the present with a
cursory notice; but the third will call for attention, since it is not found in
other predictions of the Antichrist.
That he will speak words against the Most High - “marvellous things
against the God of gods,” as it is elsewhere phrased - is a frequent testimony of the
prophets. All the hard thoughts of God which men have
concealed in their hearts or only partially spoken, all the mutterings which
hatred has forced from the lips of impious rebels, all the false charges and
brilliant sarcasms of fiendish intellects, will be by him set forth and exceeded
in loud defiant utterances against Heaven. And he will
not only deny both the Father and the Son, but will also oppose and exalt
himself against all that is called God, and even against every object of
worship, whatever it may be.
And since he will thus openly declare his
hatred of God, it follows that he will quickly extend that hatred to all that
testify of Him, and, with the whole world at his back, wear out the saints of
the Most High.
TIMES AND LAW CHANGED
Lastly, “he will think to change times and law; and they shall be given into his hand, until a time, times, and half a time.” Even if it should, at first sight, seem difficult to explain
this prediction in precise terms, one point, at least, would
be readily understood. In taking upon himself to change times, the great
Emperor will usurp the prerogatives of the Most High, just as he will defame
His character and persecute His saints. For Daniel has
already implied, that to change the times and the seasons belongs to God alone
(Dan. 2: 21), even as He in the beginning ordained them.
As for the Chaldean word rendered “law,” it is used for law either Divine or
human. Of the
latter meaning, we may find examples in the decree to destroy the wise men of
By the Rabbis the two expressions, “times and law,” are supposed to refer to the Hebrew
Sabbaths and festivals, and to the law which regulated
them. In this explanation there may be partial truth;
for Judaism will certainly be restored, and a newly erected
But it is probable that the changes will
extend far beyond the circle of Hebrew festivals. For since
this prophecy is given to us, not in Hebrew, but in the world-language of its
day, we must not confine its application to the Jewish people, but understand
it to refer to the whole prophetic earth. Times and law may thus be regarded as
the fundamental conditions of human life and action in the world, which are
ordained by God Himself. These would include the divisions of time as derived
from the relations between the earth and the sun and moon, or as appointed by
direct command; also the primal laws given, neither to Hebrews nor Christians,
but to every inhabitant of earth without exception. Such are the
laws of the Sabbath with its resulting week (Gen.
2: 3), of
the subjection of woman (Gen. 2: 18-23; 3: 16; 1 Tim. 2: 11-14), of marriage (Gen. 2: 24; Matt. 19: 4-9; Rom. 7: 2, 3), of
propitiation by blood (Gen. 4: 3-5), of the use of flesh for food (Gen. 9: 3), of capital punishment for murder (Gen. 9: 6), and of unrestrained procreation in the case of
the married.*
* Gen. 9: 1. The crime which is a special
violation of this law seems now to be common in
GOD’S PRIMARY LAWS
These are the laws which God has
ordained as the basis of all human society on earth, and, wherever they are
rejected, there is rebellion against the Creator. Hence
the assaults to which they are now continually subjected warn us, that the
shadow of the coming Antichrist is already projected over the world.
Perhaps, we may see a miniature rehearsal of the near future
in the proceedings of the French revolutionaries, who in 1793 abolished
Christianity, and adopted in its stead the prostitute-mirrored goddess of
reason. For, with the institution of the new religion, they deemed it congruous
to change weights and measures, together with the divisions of time, and to
apply the [Page 113] decimal system to everything. As regards time, they
made the year to begin with September 22nd ,
and wished to divide it into ten months. Here, however, they were unable, even
for their little day, to set aside the arrangements of the Creator: for, since
it was absolutely necessary to make the months correspond
to the revolutions of the moon, they were compelled to accept twelve months.
But each of these was made to consist of thirty days, and divided into three
decades which were to take the place of the four weeks; while the tenth day of
each decade was set apart for rest.*
* Possibly, the fact that the Fourth
Empire is finally to be divided into Ten Kingdoms may
be an indication of the universal adoption of a decimal system at that time.
It will be well also to remember, in connection with this subject,
that a prohibition of marriage and a command to abstain from certain foods - probably
the flesh of animals - are mentioned, in another prophecy, as prominent
features amid the general lawlessness of the last days [1 Tim. 4: 1-5].
From these hints, compared with opinions and theories which
are already spreading throughout the civilized world, we may, perhaps, get some
idea of the changes in times and law which the Antichrist will attempt, and for
a short while carry out. He will aim at an entire reconstruction of human
society, upon principles which have long been working beneath the surface in a
mystery of lawlessness, but which he will openly develop and establish on the
face of the earth, in spite of their direct antagonism to the times and law of
the Creator. Therefore, it is that Paul terms him the Lawless One.
TIME,
TIMES, HALF A TIME
For a while there will be no interference
on the part of God. Satan’s prince will have full power to do according to his
will for a period designated as “a time, times, and half a time.”
In this curious formula, it is probable that the plural stands
for the dual, the latter being rarely found in Chaldee;
so that we might read, “a time, two times, and half a time.” And enigmatical as the expression
may at first sight appear, its meaning is to us an opened secret; for, as we
shall presently see, Scripture itself reveals it.
The Chaldean word for “time” may be used
indefinitely, as it is in Nebuchadnezzar’s reply to the pleading wise men of
[Page 114]
Now, we have already seen that the “seven times” which occur
in the vision of the Tree are rendered simply as “seven years” in the Septuagint Version, and also by Josephus. The presumption, therefore,
is that a “time,” when used definitely, stands for a year. And,
so far, at least, as the present passage is concerned, this presumption is
strengthened to absolute certainty by a reference to the thirteenth chapter of the Apocalypse.
There we shall find another description of the monarch represented by Daniel’s
Little Horn, whom John sees as the Beast. And it is
plainly declared, that he will be permitted to continue his blasphemies against
God for forty-two months - that is, for three years and a half. Hence a “time, two times, and half a time,” or three times and a half, are equivalent
to three years and a half; and consequently a “time” is equal to one year.
But why, it may be asked, is so strange
an expression as “a time, two times, and half a time,” used, instead of the more simple and natural phrase three
times and a half? Apparently, not without sufficient reason: for, according to
the Jewish mode of calculation, three years coming together would involve the
addition of an intercalary month; so that the period would be twelve hundred
and sixty days. But by naming one of the years
separately this result is avoided (see Hughton’s Lateinos, p. 29).
THE BEAST SLAIN
Such, then, is the predicted period of terror. And, during its whole course, the afflicted people of God will
be able to comfort themselves with the thought, that, limitless. as the power of their oppressor may seem, his days are
numbered by the Most High, and his destruction at the appointed time is sure.
For then the Judgment will sit, and its awful sentence
be carried out, in accordance with what Daniel saw in the vision: “I beheld at that time, because
of the voice of the great words which the Horn spake; I beheld even until the Beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and
given to the burning flame.”*
* Dan. 7: 11. The judgment of this chapter seems to be the
same as that which is described in Rev. 4. and 5.
Since the Beast which represents the body politic is slain because of the
blasphemous words of the Horn it is evident that all the ungodly inhabitants of
earth will be in perfect sympathy with their Leader. There is here no
illustration of the famous line of Horace:
“Quidquid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi.”*
* That
is, “The kings transgress the people feel the scourge.” Hor.,”Ep.”
I. 2: 14.
[Page 115]
Unlike the kings of former times, this
monarch will be a faithful exponent of the will of the people: therefore, they
will with justice share his punishment. Their community of feeling, as we have
remarked above, is strikingly set forth in the seventeenth chapter of the Apocalypse, where the Eighth Emperor, who corresponds to the
Little Horn, is said to be the Beast himself.
THE MOST HIGH REIGNS
The angel does not describe the catastrophe of the Beast,
because Daniel has seen it in the vision. He merely says,
that the dominion of the Horn, by which the power of the Fourth Empire is to be
exalted to its greatest height, will be taken away, and consumed, and destroyed
for ever;*
that the Kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of
the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints
of the Most High - that is, to Israel; and that the Kingdom of the
Most High shall be an everlasting [Gk.
‘aionios’] Kingdom, to which all earthly dominion shall
be subject and obedient.
* Such
appears to be the meaning of the [Hebrew] expression, literally, “to the end.” So, in Dan.
6: 26, it
is said of God, that His Kingdom is “that which shall
not be destroyed,
and His dominion shall be even unto the end” - that
is, “for ever.”
We have thus been conducted through
the wars, and tumults, and oppressions, and revolutions, of the Times of the
Gentiles into the peaceful and glorious Millennial Age. And,
by this prophecy, Daniel and his people were instructed in regard to the
character of the Four World-empires that were successively to endure each for
its appointed season, before Jerusalem could cease to be trodden down of the
Gentiles; and were also comforted with the assurance, that the Fourth Empire
would be destroyed by the interference of God Himself, and that One like to a son of man would then restore the Kingdom to
Israel.*
[* See
also CHAPTER
XXI - ‘THE KINGDOM AND EVERLASTING LIFE’ & CHAPTER XXII
- ‘THE CONFLICT
AND THE CROWN’(pp. 213-228)]
* *
*
[PART TWO]
[Page 130]
CHAPTER XIII*
* I.G. 322
THE REVELATION OF THE
SEVENTY SEVENS
THE
spirit of grace and of supplications had been poured
upon the prophet, and it was not long before an answer was vouchsafed to his prayers.
About the time of the evening sacrifice, while he was yet speaking in prayer,
he was conscious of a gentle touch; and, looking up, he saw the man [i.e., God’s angelic
messenger] Gabriel, who had
interpreted his previous vision, again standing before him. This heavenly
messenger had been commissioned to assure him that his
petition had been heard, and should ultimately be granted; but that the time to give everlasting - [i.e. ‘Olam’ = age lasting: not everlasting in this
context!] - peace to Jerusalem
had not yet come.*
Daniel must patiently wait and endure, even as the Lord did, when the cup which
He so much dreaded might not pass away from Him; or as Paul, when it was
signified to him, that the thorn in the flesh, from which he had thrice
besought the Lord for deliverance, must still be a messenger of Satan to buffet
him.
[* NOTE:
The word “Olam,” “Ever,”
does not, of itself, and by fixed
necessity, always denote the
annihilation of time, but as
frequently, in Hebrew usage, denotes simply unbroken continuance up to a
special epoch in history, or to a
certain natural termination. It has a relative as well as an absolute sense,
a finite as well as an infinite length.
It means “Here” as well as “Beyond,” and
applies to a kingdom that comes to “an End,” as well as one that has “no End.” For this
reason, a great World-Period, or Age, is called an “Olam,”
and World-Periods, or Ages, are called “Olammim,”
and in order to express infinite time, the reduplication is used, “Ages of Ages,” “Olammim Olammim.” It is therefore a false conclusion
to say that the term “Le Olam,”
“Forever,” is applied to the Messianic kingdom,
therefore the Hebrews contradicted themselves, when they assigned to it limits
at the same time. Messiah’s
kingdom is Temporal and also Eternal, and in both senses, Olamic.
The bondman’s free covenant to serve his master lasted “forever,” but that only meant “till the
time of Jubilee.” The Levitical economy was established to be “forever,” but that only meant till
“the time of reformation.” The Christian Church
is “forever,” in its present form, but that only
means “till He comes.”
True to this view, the Jewish Teachers ever held to a
But, just as an angel descended to
strengthen the Lord in His agony, just as Paul was
told that God’s grace should prove sufficient for him; so Gabriel was sent to Daniel to give him skill and understanding,
and to furnish him, for his comfort, with a clue to the [future plans and] purposes of God.
Thus the prayer of the prophet opened a
channel of blessing, and called forth a gracious answer, in which he found a
master-key for the elucidation, not only of previous, but even of subsequent
revelations. Its enlightening effect upon him may be seen
in the first verse of the tenth chapter. For there, when about to relate the
most detailed and elaborate of all the Divine communications received by him,
he no longer speaks of bewilderment and perplexity, but joyfully announces, that “he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.”
Now, that which was so helpful to Daniel must also be of
importance to us: that which furnished him with skill and understanding to
comprehend his own visions must also prove [Page 131] a clue for us, if we rightly
interpret it. Let us, therefore, give to its four verses that attention which
they demand, and begin by endeavouring to elicit the sense of the Hebrew
original. The following is a literal translation, to which we have subjoined a
few critical and explanatory notes.
THE HOLY OF HOLIES
Dan. 9: 24 : “Seventy Sevens have been severed off upon thy people and upon
thy Holy City, to shut up the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to cover
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up
vision and prophet, and to anoint a Holy of Holies.”*
* The expression, “Holy of Holies,”
is applied to things dedicated to God. It is used of the altar of burnt-offering, Exod. 29:
37, 40: 10;
of the altar of incense, Exod.
30: 10;
of all the utensils and vessels of the Sanctuary, Exod. 30: 29; of the
holy incense, Exod.
30: 36;
of the shewbread, Lev. 24: 9; of the meat-offering,
Lev. 2: 3, 10; 6: 17; 10: 12; of the
flesh of the sin-offering, Lev. 6: 25, 29; 10: 17; of the flesh of the trespass-offering, Lev. 7: 6; 14: 13; of
anything that was devoted to the Lord, Lev. 27: 28; of the
whole Millennial Temple, Ezek. 45: 3; and of
the whole hill-top on which the Temple and other buildings will stand, Ezek. 43: 12. But the
expression “Holy of Holies” is not used
absolutely of any of these things, in such a manner that its significance could
be understood without further explanation. Nor would any of them, save,
perhaps, the two at the end of the list, suit our context; since the last of
the six results would, probably, have reference to the crowning
act of
Then, again, it seems impossible to
refer the expression, as many have done, to the Lord Jesus: not because the
definite article is absent - for He is presently described as “an Anointed One,
a Prince”;
nor because the term is confined to inanimate things; for, in one passage, at
least - 1 Chron. 23:
13 - it is used of the High Priest. But because the anointing of the Lord
took place before His work commenced - Isa. 61: 1; Luke 4: 16-21; whereas this sentence has
respect to its completion, so far,
at least, as
There is, however, one other application of the phrase, “Holy of Holies,” which would suit every requirement of
our passage. It is used of the inmost chamber of the
It is true that [another form] is invariably
found when the Presence-chamber is meant, whereas in our passage there
is no definite article. But the reason of this
difference may be easily detected. The angel could not point to a definite Holy
of Holies, as if the
Ver. 25:
Know,
therefore,
and understand:
From the going
forth of a commandment to restore and to build
[Page 132]
MESSIAH CUT OFF
Ver. 26:
“And after the
Sixty and Two Sevens an Anointed One* shall be cut off, and there shall be
nothing for Him. And the City and the Sanctuary shall the people destroy of a
Prince that shall come: and his end shall be in the flood;** and, until the end, *** there
shall be war, a decree**** of desolations.”
* Here we should naturally expect to find a
definite article, if the Anointed One is to be identified with the Anointed One
and Prince of the former verse; but there is none. Nevertheless, the reference
must be to the Lord Jesus. For the Anointed One is not only cut off and deprived
of His rights and prerogatives as Messiah, but the destruction of the City and
Sanctuary is, also, closely connected with His death, and that, indeed, as a
first consequence of it.
** The suffix must refer to the hostile
Prince, the prediction of whose end immediately follows that of his coming. “Preconceived views as to the historical interpretation of
the prophecy lie at the foundation of all other references,” is Keil’s just comment.
The article points to some definite and well-known
overflowing, or flood. The Hebrew word is sometimes used of an invading army spreading
itself over a land, as in Isa. 8: 8; Dan. 11: 10, 22, 26, 40.
If this meaning should be adopted, the sense of the clause would be, that the
Prince will perish in the course of his own invasion
of
*** There is no article: it cannot, therefore, refer to the end of
the Prince, but must be the end generally - that is, the end of the period which we are considering, that of the Seventy Sevens.
**** Isa. 10: 23, 27: 22; Dan. 9: 27; 11: 36 - that
which is determined, an irrevocable decree.
Ver. 27:
“And he shall
confirm* a covenant with the many** for
One Seven: and during half*** of the Seven he shall cause sacrifice and
offering**** to cease, and upon a wing of abominations he shall come desolating,
even until the
consumption and that [Page 133] that is determined, which shall be poured upon the desolated.”
* The Prince that shall come is the only possible nominative.
For he is the last person that has been named; while the final clause in ver. 26 also has reference to his proceedings, seeing
that he will be the last invader of Palestine and besieger of Jerusalem.
Hengstenberg would set aside grammatical accuracy, and urges
that the Messiah must be the subject, because He is the predominant figure in
the whole prophecy. This, however, is a mistake. Not the Christ, but the Antichrist is the person upon whom this prophecy is
concentrated, as, indeed, are all the utterances of Daniel. For, as we have already
remarked, it is with the culmination of
the World-power and its destruction that our prophet
is mainly concerned. See pp. 118, 119, 121).
To confirm or make strong a covenant may,
perhaps, mean to confirm it by strong asseverations of the faithfulness
with which it will be carried out. The phrase gives the idea that the other
party to the covenant is in a subordinate or inferior position. Probably, the
Jews will be groaning beneath oppression, or be menaced
by some danger, when the Prince bestows his protection upon them.
** That is, with the majority of those Jews who will then be
living in their own land.
*** That is, as the context shows, the latter half. [The term]
frequently means “half” as, for instance, in the
well-known expression “half the Tribe of Manasseh.”
**** The slain-offering and the meat-offering
- that is, the bloody and the unbloody sacrifice.
Such, then, was the message delivered by Gabriel, which we
will now examine minutely, accepting the words in their literal sense and in
their natural order. And, for the convenience of the reader, we will prefix
each verse to our remarks upon it.
Ver. 24:
“Seventy Sevens
have been severed off upon thy people and upon thy
THE SEVENTY SEVENS
“Seventy Sevens.” We prefer to translate literally,
since the “weeks” of our versions is liable to be misunderstood. For the Hebrew word does
not mean “weeks” in our sense of the term, but simply “sevens” and whether they be “sevens” of hours, days, months, or years, the
context must decide. In the present passage, sevens of years are undoubtedly
intended, because, as we learn from the second verse of the chapter, the mind
of the prophet was then meditating upon the Seventy Years of captivity foretold
by Jeremiah. And, in response to his thoughts, the
angel seems to say The Seventy Years of the
Captivity will not suffice for the discipline of thy people: they must, therefore, be succeeded by seven times seventy other
years.
We should remember that the Sabbatical years and the great
festival of the jubilee, by which time was divided into what we may call “land-weeks,” made the
idea of a seven of years almost as familiar to the Hebrews as a seven of days.
Moreover, this prophecy is concerned, not only with the people, but also with
the City which represents the Land. Hence
the introduction of the land-week of seven years is specially appropriate.
“Have been severed off.” That is, from the Times of the
Gentiles, from the age during which the Four World-empires Should
hold sway, and with which Daniel was now sufficiently acquainted.
“Upon thy people and upon thy Holy City.” These words must
be carefully marked; for their neglect has been the
cause of many errors. The supplications of Daniel, which occupy the greater
part of our chapter (Dan. 9: 4-19), were offered
exclusively for the Sanctuary, for the City, and for the prophet’s people.
Naturally, therefore, the revelation which followed would refer to the subjects
of the prayer. And so, Gabriel begins by announcing
that the Seventy-Sevens are separated off [Page 134] upon Daniel’s people and
THE JEWISH PEOPLE THE
SUBJECT
Now, if we would understand the utterances of God, we must be
diligent to keep within the lines which He Himself has
laid down for their interpretation. And in the case
before us those lines are, that the prediction is concerned exclusively with
Daniel’s people - that is, with the Jews. At once, then, we must set aside as
inadmissible such expositions as would refer the covenant* to the
institution of the Lord’s Supper, and regard “the many” with whom it was to be confirmed as Christian
converts. All who adopt such ideas, in
neglect or defiance of the express directions of Scripture, are bringing
themselves and their hearers into darkness, and are hopelessly confusing the
Word of God.
* That is, the covenant of ver. 27.
But there is also a second deduction of
great moment to be drawn from the same words. The Seventy Sevens are separated off, not only upon the people, but also upon the City - that
is, upon the people in connection
with the City. Therefore, during the whole course of the Sevens the
Jews must be dwelling in their own country.
We may, then, sum up the meaning of the words
which we have thus far considered as follows. Seventy
Sevens - that is to say, Four Hundred and Ninety Years - would be taken by God out of the protracted Times of the Gentiles for
special dealings with the Jews in their own Land, apart from the discipline to which they would also be subjected in the
Dispersion, when, according to the prophecy of Moses, they
would be dwelling in the lands of their enemies.
And the pleadings of God with them during
these Four Hundred and Ninety Years should be made to yield six results, which
are given as follows:
I. To shut up the
transgression.
II. To seal up sins.
III. To cover
iniquity.
IV. To bring in
everlasting righteousness.
V. To seal up vision and prophet.
VI. To anoint a
Holy of Holies.
Now, we may divide these six
consequences into two classes: for the first three are
concerned with the removal of sin, and the last three with the bringing in of
righteousness. And the latter will be found to correspond,
each to each, to the former.
[Page 135]
TRANSGRESSION,
SIN, INIQUITY
“To shut up the
transgression.” That is, to arrest and restrain it, so
that it can no longer work and spread. The article, probably, indicates the
whole course of
“To seal up sins.” The sins are the
symptoms or proofs of the revolt, and the figure of sealing is
connected with that of shutting up in prison, or restraining. So Darius seals
the stone, which is put at the mouth of the lions’ den, with his own signet and
with that of his lords (Dan. 6: 17). And in the
Book of Job, God is said to seal up the stars, so that they do not shine (Job 9: 7); and is also described as sealing up
the hand of every man, when, by the frost and rain of winter, He prevents the
continuance of daily labour in the fields (Job 37: 7). The sealing up of sins,
consequently, signifies their restraint under safe custody.
There is a good illustration of both figures, and, probably, a
clue to the interpretation of the passage, in the twentieth chapter of the Revelation, where an angel, after binding Satan and casting him
into the Abyss, shuts him up and sets a seal upon him, that he may deceive the
nations no more.
“To cover iniquity.” That is,
according to the well-known Scriptural figure, to make reconciliation or
atonement for it, to expiate it by sacrifice. While the previous clauses refer
to the members of the Jewish nation which will perish
during the refining process, these words speak of another way of removing sin,
and point to the Holy Seed that will be saved.
Of course, the reference to expiation is
not to be understood directly of what Christ did upon the Cross, but of the application of it to the [remnant of the] Jewish people, which
will not take place until the close of the age. For Jews as a people there is no expiation in this dispensation: if an individual would have the benefit of
the Saviour’s death in the present time, he must resign his nationality, and become a member of Christ, in
Whom there is neither Jew nor Greek. But, when the Body of Christ has been
completed, then the Jewish nation shall look on Him Whom they pierced, and mourn for Him;
“and in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the House
of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem” - that is, to Jews as Jews - “for sin and for uncleanness” (Zech.
13:
1).
We now come to the second group of results.
“To bring in
everlasting righteousness.” When the transgression is shut up and sins are sealed, then everlasting righteousness
shall be brought in. This will be done by the introduction of the new covenant,
in accordance with which God will no longer write upon tables of stone, but put
His law in the inward parts of His people, and write it in their hearts.*
* Jer. 31:
33-40. It
is strange that this covenant should be so generally
identified with the Christian covenant of grace. Its very first words
should have prevented such a mistake; for they are: “This is the covenant which I will make with the House of
“To seal up vision and prophet,” When sins are sealed up, vision and prophecy shall also be laid aside,
as being no longer needed. For it was only after sin had come into the world
that prophecy was introduced as a great instrument of God in the war against it
; and so, when sin is put away, prophecies also shall fail.
A HOLY OF HOLIES ANOINTED
“To anoint a Holy of Holies.” Lastly, in the
place of the Tabernacle and former
But the Holy of Holies of this prophecy, the innermost shrine of the grand
The fact that the great Sacrifice has
already been offered once for all, and that sin - as regards
Such, then, will be the results of God’s dealings with the
Jews, at the close of the Four Hundred and Ninety Years. Their
transgression will be restrained and their sins sealed up, so as no longer to
affect them - for the stumbling-blocks will [Page 137] then
have been consumed with the wicked (Zeph. 1: 3)
their iniquity will be expiated, and the new covenant of their God will confer
everlasting righteousness upon them: all the promises will then be fulfilled:
the law of God will be written on the heart of every Israelite, so that there
will be no further need of the exhortations rebukes, warnings, and threatenings,
of the prophets: and Mount Zion will be crowned with a Temple, of which the
building of Solomon was but a very faint type, and to which - as we are
elsewhere told - the Cherubim and the Glory will return (Ezek.
43: 1-7), to be a cloud and smoke by day, and the
shining of a flaming fire by night (Isa. 4: 3).
So will the words of Haggai be fulfilled: “The latter glory of this house shall be greater
than the former, saith the Lord of Hosts:
and in this
place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Hag.
2.).
We have now before us an outline of the whole prophecy. And,
after considering the statement of results which are to follow God’s
disciplinary dealings, we cannot but conclude that the
close of the Seventy Sevens must coincide with the end of the present order of
things and the beginning of the Coming or Millennial Age.
In the remaining verses, the angel gives some particulars
respecting the course of the Sevens, and, in doing this, answers two questions which would naturally have presented themselves to
the mind of Daniel. These questions are: What will be the commencing date of the Four Hundred and Ninety Years? And, when they have commenced, will their course be unbroken
to the end of the period, or will it be interrupted?
THE DECREE TO REBUILD
Ver. 25:
“Know, therefore, and understand: From the going forth
of a commandment to restore and to build
In regard to the beginning of the period, the
prophet is informed that it will be marked by the issuing of a decree to
restore and build
Seeing, then, that the terms of the predicted decree are so
precisely given, it seems strange, indeed, that there should have been any
difficulty in fixing its historical reference. Nevertheless, of four decrees which are mentioned in the Scriptures, the majority
of commentators have selected those which did not fulfil the conditions of the
prophecy, with a [Page 138] perversity which admits of but one
explanation. For it must be due to the pernicious practice of deciding what a
prophecy means before it has been studied, and of
ignoring or wresting any details which will not yield themselves to the
fore-determined conclusion.
THE CYRUS DECREE
For some will have it that the
allusion is to the decree of Cyrus. And yet, on turning to the first chapter of Ezra,
we find no mention of the City with its street and wall, but only a charge “to
build the House of the Lord which is in
Against this, however, it is customary to quote the well-known
words of Isaiah: “That saith of Cyrus,
He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure; even in saying of
The decree of Darius Hystaspes, again, was a mere confirmation
[Page 139] of that of Cyrus, which had been countermanded by the
Pseudo-Smerdis (Ezra 6: 1-12), and
deals exclusively with the
Nor does the letter given to Ezra by Artaxerxes Longimanus, in
the seventh year of his reign (Ezra 7: 11-26), contain any clause respecting the building of
city or wall. It is a commission, to inquire into the
religious condition of the community in Judah and Jerusalem; to convey and
deliver gifts and freewill offerings for the Temple; to see to the carrying
out, at the king’s expense if necessary, of the Temple-services in exact accord
with the statutes of the God of Israel; to arrange for the exemption of the priests,
Levites, singers, porters, Nethinim, and servants of
the House of God, from all tribute, custom, or toll; and to organize generally,
so far as the Jews were concerned, the province beyond the river.
Thus none of the decrees which we have
mentioned fulfils the conditions of the prophecy. And
if it be suggested, that the rebuilding of the city was implied in the
instructions which they contained, we answer, that the words of the angel plainly described a decree of which the prominent, if not the only purpose, should
be the restoration of the city and the wall. For it must be remembered, that when God condescends to give signs, they are ever such as cannot be mistaken.
EZRA DID NOT BUILD THE
CITY
Moreover, as a matter of fact Ezra did
not restore either city or wall: for, thirteen years after his arrival at
Jerusalem, messengers came from thence to Shushan, and, in response to Nehemiah’s
inquiries after his brethren in Judah and concerning Jerusalem, replied: “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the
province are in great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down,
and the gates
thereof are burned with fire” (Neh. 1: 3). Over this intelligence Nehemiah mourned, and, like Daniel,
made humble confession before God for the sins of his people.
Shortly afterwards, in the month Nisan, he went into the royal
presence to perform his duty as cup-bearer; and the
king, observing the marks of sorrow upon his countenance, questioned him as to
the cause of his grief. “Let the king live for ever,” was his reply: “why should
not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my father’s sepulchres,
lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?” Artaxerxes sympathised with his
distress, and inquired what request he wished to make. Then, after praying to
the God of Heaven, Nehemiah said: “If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto [Page 140] Judah, unto the city of my fathers’
sepulchres, that I may build it” (Neh. 2: 1-5).
THE DECREE OF ARTAXERXES
The king graciously consented, and wrote letters to the
governors west of the
* This citadel seems to have been rebuilt by the kings of the
Asmonean race and the high priests, and was then known as Bapis (Joseph.,
“Antiq. Jud.,” XV. xi. 4). In subsequent times
it was greatly strengthened by Herod, who named it Antonia.
** Of course, the timber would not be used
for the building of the wall itself, but for the gates in it.
From this date until the
appearance of an Anointed One Who should also be a Prince - that is, a Royal Priest - Seven Sevens and
Sixty and Two Sevens were to elapse: in
other words Forty-nine and Four Hundred and Thirty-four, or Your Hundred and Eighty-three Years in
all, should intervene between the
edict and the coming of Messiah as a Prince.
We must carefully notice, that nothing is mentioned as
occurring between the Seven Sevens and the Sixty and Two Sevens; apparently,
therefore, the prophet was to understand that the latter would commence
immediately upon the termination of the former; so that there would be no
interval between the two series. The Forty-nine Years are,
perhaps, distinguished merely as being the period to be occupied by the
restoration of the City and the wall. And although the
wall is said to have been finished in fifty-two days (Neh. 6: 15), yet this must have been merely a temporary
work for present exigencies. Moreover, the City also was to be rebuilt; and,
after the completion of the wall, Nehemiah remarks: “Now the City
was wide and large, but the people were few therein,
and the houses were not builded”
(Neh. 7: 4).
Of the pressure of the times, which necessitated the hasty
completion of the walls, we may read some account in the Book of Nehemiah.
Samaritans, Ammonites, Moabites, Arabians, and Philistines, combined to hinder
the work, and Nehemiah was compelled to keep one half of his people fully armed
and on [Page 141] guard, while the other half toiled at the wall, with
the sword in one hand and the trowel in the other.
MESSIAH THE PRINCE
The Anointed One, Who should also be a Prince, can
be none other than the Lord Jesus, of
Whom it was said: “Thou art a Priest
for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Ps. 110: 4). And again: “Even He shall build the
At what period, then, of our Lord’s life can
He be said to have presented Himself as Priest and King? Not at His
birth: for He was then known only as the carpenter’s
son. Not during the greater part of His ministry: for, although He was anointed
with the [Holy] Spirit at its commencement, and
quickly revealed Himself as the great Priest, by teaching the people, by
cleansing lepers, and by forgiving sins, He, nevertheless, [then] would not put Himself forward as King.
On the contrary, He forbade His disciples to disclose His real nature; and when
the crowd, excited to enthusiasm by His wondrous words and works, would have
set the crown upon His head, He refused it, and sent them away.
But as he approached Jerusalem, four days before His death,
His manner changed, and He suffered the whole multitude that was with Him to
break forth into the cry: “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the
Lord” (Luke 19: 38). And when the Pharisees urged Him to
rebuke His disciples, He replied: “I tell you, that, if these should hold
their peace, the stones would immediately cry
out.” In other words, He chose at that time to have Himself openly
proclaimed King ; and Matthew informs us that He did
so to fulfil the prophecy of Zechariah: “Tell ye the daughter of Zion,
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and upon a colt the
foal of an ass” (Zech. 9: 9; Matt. 21: 5). This prophecy
reveals the significance of the event,
and shows us that the day indicated - [at His First Advent] - was that of the
appearing of Messiah as the Prince.
Thus, then, the commencing-point of the Four Hundred and Ninety
Years was the promulgation of the edict in the month Nisan of the twentieth
year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus; and the Four Hundred and Eighty-third
Year ended on the tenth day of the month Nisan, when Christ entered Jerusalem as the King of the daughter of Zion.
Both starting-point and goal are so clearly indicated
in Scripture that, as believers, we have no need to trouble ourselves with the [Page 142] uncertainties of human computation, but may at once assume that the
interval was exactly Four Hundred and Eighty-three Years.
HUMAN CHRONOLOGY
UNCERTAIN
If, however, this part of the prophecy could
be verified chronologically,* its influence would be greatly extended: it would then
become a powerful testimony to unbelievers, as well as a guiding light to the
people of God. But the attempt so to verify it, difficult only because of the
confusion in the chronology of human records, we must leave to those who
delight in such studies, and are better disposed toward them than ourselves.
For our own researches have almost convinced us, that, in much of ancient
chronology, we must be content with approximate results, and cannot hope for
absolute accuracy.
* Not feeling absolute confidence in any of the calculations
that have been hitherto suggested, we do not insert them in the text; but the reader will find it worth
while to consult Dr.
Anderson’s interesting book, The Coming Prince. We trust, however, that we have
thoroughly explained and established the conditions upon which every attempted
solution of the difficulty must be based.
Yet, whether we are now able to demonstrate the period or not,
there is little doubt that it might have been
calculated with exactitude while it was of practical importance, and the appearing of Messiah the Prince was still in the future. For, in all probability, the Jews of our Lord’s time retained among
their archives a copy of the famous edict which
restored their national existence;
or, at least, its date must have been well known to them. Thus, with very little trouble, they
might have discovered the precise day on which their Messiah was to
present Himself as King; while the prophecy of Zechariah would have instructed them as to the
manner of His entry into their city.
Ver. 26:
“And after the
Sixty and Two Sevens an Anointed One shall be cut off, and there shall be
nothing for Him. And the City and the Sanctuary shall the people destroy of a
Prince that shall come: and his end shall be in the flood: and, until the end, there shall be war, a decree of desolations.”
The twenty-fifth verse, then, brings us to the end of the Four Hundred and Eighty-third Year,
leaving but Seven
more of the Four Hundred and Ninety to be fulfilled. Hence we may reasonably expect to find in
the next verse information on one of two points, according to circumstances - either
something respecting the final Seven of Years, if it was to follow immediately; or, if there was to be
any break between the Four Hundred and Eighty-third and Four Hundred and
Eighty-fourth Year, a notice of
the intervening time or events. The latter is what we do find, together with a hint as to the length
[Page 143] of the interruption. And the first mentioned
intervening event is the cutting off of the Messiah.
MESSIAH CUT OFF
Accordingly, on the last day of the Sixty-ninth Seven, the
Lord Jesus moved towards
And so, after enduring the horrors of
that night whose beginning saw Him basely betrayed by one of His own
disciples, and during the dark watches of which He gave His back
to the smiter, and His cheek to them that plucked off
the hair, and hid not His face from shame and spitting; after that mockery of
trial in which the judges bribed false witnesses, but did not even then succeed
in obtaining coherent testimony against Him; after He had been further dragged,
twice before Pilate, and once before Herod, and none could find aught against
Him - then, at length, - [the Father’s MESSIAH (i.e., His chosen world Ruler,
(Psa. 2: 8), as] the Anointed One was cut off.
And there was nothing for Him; none of those glories
which were to surround the person of the Messiah. Instead of appearing as the King of kings
and Lord of lords, He was found in the form of a servant. And so far was He from possessing a [promised] Kingdom above all, and an everlasting dominion, that, during His life, He often
had not where to lay His head, and
was soon cut off altogether from the land of the living.
For His painful mission in those days was to bear our griefs,
and carry our sorrows; to be wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for
our iniquities; to receive the chastisement which
should bring peace to us, that by His stripes we might be healed. He came to
make His soul an offering for sin, to pour out His soul unto death, to be numbered with the transgressors, to bear the sins of
many.
And so, He was cut off, and there was
nothing for Him.
Now, His crucifixion took place four days after His appearance as the Prince - that is, four days after the
close of the Four Hundred and Eighty-third Year. Nevertheless, the prophecy does not represent this great
event as occurring in the Seven Years which yet
remained to be fulfilled. Here, then, is [Page 144] the beginning of an interval,
which separates the Four Hundred and Eighty-three Years from the final Seven.
THE INTERVAL
On the tenth day of the month Nisan, God gave up the sinful nation which had rejected His Son. His covenant was suspended, so that they were no longer His people: the
Third Epoch of Israelitish history had set in, and the course of the
Four Hundred and Ninety Years was interrupted.
Then the prophecy speaks of another intervening event, namely
the vengeance that should fall upon the murderers of the Messiah. Both their
City and its Sanctuary,
The destruction of the City and the Sanctuary was to be
brought about by the people of a Prince who should subsequently appear, and
whose end should be in the overflowing or final outpouring of God’s wrath, as
predicted in the twenty-fourth chapter of Isaiah,
the twenty-fourth of Matthew, and other Scriptures. Thus the prophecy brings us to the close of the age before it mentions the
Seventieth Seven. And the next clause makes this still more evident
by adding, that, until the end, there would be war, a decree of desolations.
Terribly have these last words been verified even in the past;
and so frequent have been the captures of Jerusalem by Roman, Persian, Saracen,
Crusader, and Turk, that the city of our Lord’s time has become deeply buried
beneath successive layers of ruin and debris, and is now found from fifty to
eighty feet below the level of the soil.
We have, therefore, mention of three events, the first of
which, the cutting off of the Messiah, took place four days after the close of
the Sixty-ninth Seven. It would, therefore, have happened within the
Seventieth, had the final period followed immediately. But
the second, the destruction of
Now, in the text, all these events are
co-ordinated; since, therefore, we are merely instructed to understand them as
coming after the Sixty-ninth, but not in the Seventieth Seven; [Page 145] and since, again, two of them could not possibly have been included in the
final Seven, even if it had followed immediately upon the Sixty-ninth, it seems
fair to infer that neither is the other so included. And it would
thus appear, that, so far as the chronology of the prophecy is concerned, the
mention of the three events is inserted to lead our minds on from the close of
the Sixty-ninth Seven to the time of the end, when the Seventieth also shall be
fulfilled. The sense and connection with the next verse would, therefore, be: “And until the
end there shall be war, that which is decreed
for desolations; and, at the time of the end, he
shall confirm a covenant for One Seven,” and so on.
Thus we have a clear intimation that the
final Seven of Years was to be postponed, until the end of the days; that the
flow of the Four Hundred and Ninety Years was stayed at the time of our Lord’s
entry into
And three very manifest tokens of this
fact were shown by the Lord Himself just at the critical period.
The first was His mournful announcement on the brow of Olivet,
that the time of
This was the
abandonment of the City.
The second was the remarkable change in His appellation for
the
This was the giving up
of the Sanctuary.
And the third is found in the significant
and prophetic cursing of the fig-tree.
This was the rejection
of the [apostate] people.
[Page 146]
But to retrace our steps for a moment, the
City and Sanctuary were to be destroyed by the people of a Prince that should
afterwards come; and, since it is added that this Prince will meet his doom in
the last desolating flood of the wrath of God, it is manifest that he cannot
have appeared in past time. Now the Romans destroyed the City and the Sanctuary;
so far, therefore, we gather that the Prince will be a ruler of the Fourth
Empire; but the time of his end shows us further, that he will be the last
ruler - that is, the Antichrist, who, here as in the New Testament, is opposed
to the Christ.
THE OVERFLOWING FLOOD
The flood - sheteph
- in which he will perish, is the
same as that which is indicated by Isaiah (Isa. 10:
22), when he speaks of the decreed consumption that is to bring
in righteousness* like a flood - shoteph - in
order to destroy the ungodly out of
Israel, and so to reduce the nation to the remnant which alone can be saved. But, after it has carried off the
profane of
* Or, justice.
In the twenty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, again, we find an
account of the fearful effects of the “overflowing scourge” or “scourge coming in like a flood” - sholeph, which will be sent as a judgment upon
the Jews, because of their covenant with Death and agreement with
Hades. The allusion is, doubtless, to the seven years’ covenant made
by the majority of them with the Antichrist, who, as other prophecies inform
us, will be a spirit released from Hades (Isa. 28:
14-22. Comp. Rev.
17: 8).
Lastly, in the thirtieth chapter
of Isaiah, there is a terrific picture of
the Lord arising to execute judgment, in which His breath is
likened to a stream in flood - shoteph. Then the Assyrian is beaten down, and cast
into Tophet, which has been ordained for him of old, and the pile of which is
lighted by the breath of the Lord (Isa.
30: 27-33).
These wonderful revelations, which are worthy of far more
attention than they usually receive from prophetic students, leave us in little
doubt as to the meaning of the “flood” in which the coming Prince will meet his doom. And it is remarkable, that, while the figure of the flood
occurs in all of them, we [Page 147] also find in the first two, as well as
in the prophecy of the Seventy Sevens, two other Hebrew expressions, that is to say, the “decree” and the “consumption,” which seem to
be specially applied to the same awful crisis.
But before we pass on to the next verse,
which brings us into the final Seven of Years, we should notice that nothing is
said respecting the duration of the interval between the Sixty-ninth and the
Seventieth Seven. This omission is in accord with all other Scriptures; for the
only prophetic times of which the exact duration is given are those that are
connected with the Children of Abraham, while they are being
recognized by God as His people. There is no revelation of the length of
Gentile times or of the Church-period: indeed, if there were, we might be enabled to find out by calculation the day of our
Lord’s return, which no man may know. How much precious time might
have been saved for better uses, and how great confusion would have been
avoided, had this truth been duly observed!
ANTICHRIST’S COVENANT
Ver. 27
“And he shall
confirm a covenant with the many for One Seven: and during half of the Seven he shall cause
sacrifice and offering to cease, and upon a wing of abominations he shall come
desolating, even until the consumption and that that is determined,
which shall he
poured upon the desolated.”
Many have striven to maintain that the Anointed Prince, and
not the Prince that shall come, is the nominative to “shall confirm” and have referred this verse to the
First Advent. But such a construction would violate
grammar, logic, and the facts of history, and would throw the whole prophecy
into confusion. The order of the words would not permit it; since the Prince
who is to perish in the flood is the last mentioned. Besides which, it is
evident that the covenant is subsequent to the cutting off of the Messiah and
the destruction of the City and the Sanctuary, in the twenty-sixth verse ;
therefore, it could not have been confirmed at the First Advent.
Moreover, if the Messiah could be the
subject, and the time that of the First Advent, we should then be plunged into
the greatest perplexity; for the Lord did none of the things that are mentioned
in the twenty-seventh verse. To fulfil that part of the prophecy, He must have made a
covenant with the majority of the Jewish people for seven years, neither more
nor less. But there is no hint of such a covenant in
the Gospels. And, indeed, one of the prophets has
intimated to us that the Lord, just before His death, suspended all His
relations with the Jews, and through them with the whole of the Twelve [Page 147] Tribes. This exactly corresponds to the suspension of His dealings with
the Jews at the close of the Four Hundred and Eighty-third Year, and to the
facts of history. Still further, the very next verse of Zechariah carries us over the interval, and brings us face to
face with the Prince that shall come, the Antichrist, who will make the seven
years’ covenant on pretence of being the Shepherd of Israel. Lastly, Christ did
not cause sacrifice and offering to cease, when He suffered without the gate:
the Temple-services were carried on for nearly forty
years longer.
ANTICHRIST A RESURRECTED
MAN
It is clear, then, that the coming Prince is the subject of
this verse, and, that, when he appears upon the scene, he will find large
numbers of the Jews settled again in their own Land. They will, probably, be in
distress through oppression, or terrified by some impending danger; and he will
undertake to protect them in
Now the fact that he has been raised
from the dead, and is really a demon from the Abyss, will be known to the
world, and will cause all men to wonder after him and worship him (Rev. 13: 3, 4). Hence, in accepting his
protectorate, the Jews will transgress the strong injunctions contained in the
Law for the avoidance of all intercourse with the dead, or with demons, or with
those who are used as mediums by demons. And so, they will become an abomination to the Lord (Deut. 18:
12), and He will send upon them the scourge described by Isaiah,
that shall pass over them like a flood (Isa. 28: 17, 18).
But the covenant will be accepted only by
a majority of those Jews who will at the time have returned to their own
country, and not by all of them: God will again leave Himself a remnant which
shall not bow the knee to Baal. And Zechariah seems to
refer both to the majority and to the remnant in the words: “And it shall
come to pass, that, in all the Land, saith the
Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die;
but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring
the third part [Page 149] through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them
as gold is tried: they shall call upon My name,
and I will hear
them: I will say, It is My people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God”
(Zech. 13:
8, 9).
A
It is probable that the Jews will have commenced to rebuild
their
Then, in reference to the sacrifices
which are again being offered, the Lord adds: “He that killeth the ox is as
the slayer of a man: he that sacrificeth the
sheep as one that breaketh the neck of a dog: he
that offereth an oblation, it is swine’s blood: he that causeth incense to rise up as a memorial is as one
that blesseth an idol” (Isa. 66:
3).
Nevertheless, the Jews, while they profess to sacrifice to
Jehovah, will continue to delight in their abominations during the first Half
of the Seven Years, and then a startling change will come. At the beginning of
the second Half, the Antichrist will issue a decree - which will continue in
force during the whole of the remaining Three Years and a Half* - that the
sacrifices must cease, and the worship of Jehovah be transferred to himself;
and will exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped.
* Some interpreters would insert the great interval between the
two halves of the last Seven of Years. But such a
course is altogether unwarrantable. We are simply told that the Antichrist will
make a covenant for seven years, and that, during half of the time, that is,
during the last three and a half years, he will forbid
the continuance of sacrifice and offering. There is not
the slightest hint of an interval in the lapse of the seven
years, and it is difficult to conceive how such an idea could have occurred to
any one. Apparently, however, it sprang from the exigencies of the foregone
conclusion, that the Prince who is to make the covenant is the Christ.
THE WING OF ABOMINATIONS
The words which follow, “And upon the wing of abominations he
shall come desolating,” seem less difficult when we [Page 150] remember that “abomination” was a common term among the Hebrews
for a false god. So, in a single passage, we read of “Milcom
the abomination of the Ammonites,” “Chemosh the
abomination of
Now God speaks of Himself as bearing
But in the eighteenth
Psalm, and elsewhere, God Himself is described as being borne upon the
winged Cherubim, and upon the wings of the wind (Ps. 18: 11; Ezek. 1: 4-28; Ps. 104: 3). And so, Kraniclifeld goes a little farther than Kliefoth, and
explains as follows: “The powerful Heathen enemy of God
is here conceived of as carried upon these wings of the idol-abominations, just
as the God of the theocracy is borne upon the wings of the clouds, and upon the
Cherubim who are His servants.” Possibly, however, we may go yet farther
than Kraniclifeld.
In the second temptation, according to the order in the Gospel
of Matthew, it would at first sight seem
that any abrupt eminence would have suited the Devil’s purpose equally as well
as the Temple-roof. But we may, possibly, discern a
deeply-laid plan in the selection of the locality. Satan was well aware that
the Lord had been born King of the Jews, and was also acquainted with the
traditions and expectations of that people in regard to their Messiah.
Perchance, then, when he had set the Lord upon the pediment of the Temple, and
they were looking down upon the crowds which filled its courts, the temptation
may have been intended to take some such form as this.
“Thou art to be King of Israel: why
shouldest Thou toil on a weary and painful way to the desired end? See I have brought
Thee where Thou mayest reach it at once. Descend, now, with attending angels,
from this lofty height to the courts below; and the admiring crowd will welcome
with [Page 151] enthusiasm
the sign from heaven for which they
are looking, and will hail Thee as
the long-promised Messiah. And the word of Thy Father justifies such an act, nay,
invites Thee to it; for it is written ‘He shall
give His angels charge concerning Thee: And on their hands they shall bear Thee up, Lest haply Thou dash Thy
foot against a stone.’
Surely for Thee above all others,
and for this crisis pre-eminently, was such a promise written.”
Had it been possible for our Lord to
yield to this temptation, the demons of Satan would, probably, have conveyed
Him down, while their master exulted in the thought that the Christ had been
seduced to play the part of the Antichrist; that the Messiah, forsaking the
ways marked out for Him by His Father, had consented to assume the sovereignty
of His chosen people under the guidance of the Adversary. But there had never been hope of so
impossible a triumph, though the fact that Satan dared to struggle for it seems
to show how completely the Lord had emptied Himself of His glory, how
absolutely He had taken our nature upon Him.
ANTICHRIST’S DEMON
CHARIOT
The Devil will, however, offer the
same temptations to the Antichrist, with a very different result. That Lawless One will not hesitate to break
through all the limitations imposed by God upon men, in order that he may gratify his own desires: he will be willing to adopt any deceptive means for obtaining power
over Israel: and will worship Satan,
and compel all men to do so, for the bribe of the kingdoms of this
world and the glory of them.
And so, it seems likely that our passage points to some daring
imitation of the Chariot of the Cherubim, arranged by demons, and similar,
perhaps, to that on which Satan might have conveyed the Lord from the pediment
of the Temple, could he have bent Him to his will.
Possibly, the appearance of the Antichrist thus borne aloft, and,
apparently, descending from on high, will finally determine the world to
worship him as God. Many, indeed, may regard it as the much
discussed coming of the Lord; for already the world is so changing its
conceptions of Him, and so freely attributing to Him the doctrines, philosophy,
and political opinions of the age, that it will have no difficulty in
discovering its own ideal of Him in the Antichrist.
On the other hand, the apostate Jews [and deceived Christians] will, probably, believe that their
eyes at last behold the long-expected sign from [Page 152] heaven, and the return of the Glory
to the [coming, and soon to be rebuilt] Temple. For thither, doubtless, the false Christ will be borne: there his image will be permanently fixed, and an
edict will go forth commanding the whole world to worship him.
THE END OF THE
INDIGNATION
And so, the terrible persecutions,
instigated by Satan, will be carried on; while the Supreme God will be
signifying His displeasure, and announcing that the hour of His judgment is
come, by the quickly succeeding plagues of the Trumpets and Vials.
Nevertheless, through all the horrors and appalling scenes
that will take place upon earth [before our Lord’s return], Satan will still be able to maintain
his own impiously defiant King in power, until the destruction and misery which
God has decreed shall have been poured out upon desolated Israel; for the
decree is inexorable.
But only until then: and, in the midst
of their sufferings, this revelation will teach the people of God, that His
name is being continually blasphemed only because He chooses to permit it, in
order that He may be justified when, at last, He sends forth His Son, glorious
in His apparel and marching in the greatness of His strength, to tread down the
peoples in His anger, and to trample them in His fury.
Thus the prophecy closes with the end of
the indignation against
To Daniel the prophecy gave skill and understanding, and
enabled him to comprehend the Israelitish Epochs, as they had
been previously revealed in the utterances of Moses. Surely that which
enlightened him must also prove of the greatest importance to us, upon whom the
ends of the ages are come. For the outline of all prophecy is
disclosed in the scheme of the Seventy-Sevens; and, indeed, it seems likely, that this is the revelation by means of which
God will divide the members of the professing Church, at the time when “none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall
understand.”
*
* * *
* * *