Xenos Christian Fellowship

Christian Ministry Unit 1

Predictive Prophecy

Week 2 – Double Reference & Daniel's Visions

Introduction

Double Reference in Biblical Prophecy

Definition: "Two events, widely separated as to the time of their fulfillment, may be brought together into the scope of one prophecy."¹

Type

The prophet describes an event, person or institution…

Without realizing he was also describing a later event or person…

Definition: The Old Testament prophet describes an event, person, or institution ("type") and later Scripture reveals the prophetic significance of this event, person, or institution ("anti-type").

Examples:

(Hebrews 11:17) By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED." 19 He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type.

Type: Isaac	Anti-Type: Jesus
Abraham nearly sacrificed his only son Isaac, but received him back alive (Genesis 22).	God sacrificed his only son Jesus and received him back alive from the dead.

(Romans 5:14 ) “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”

Type:	Anti-Type:

(Num. 21:8,9) The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." (9) So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

(Jn. 3:14,15) Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, (15) that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Type:	Anti-Type:

How do we know if something in scripture was intended as a type?

Gap

The prophet looks into the future and sees two coming events…

But doesn’t realize that the two events are widely separated in time…

Definition: The prophet predicts two dissimilar events, widely separated by time, as though they were one event.

Example:

Luke 4:17-21 and Isaiah 61:1-9

Could the prophets write about something they didn’t fully understand?

1 Peter 1:10-12

How do we know if a passage contains a gap?

Type-Gap

The prophet looks into the future and describes two similar, but separate events…

But isn’t clear as to the timing of the two events…

Definition: The prophet predicts two similar events or people widely separated in time.

Example:

Isaiah 13:1-14

Unforeseen Partial

The prophet looks into the future and describes the coming millennial kingdom…

But doesn’t realize he is also describing aspects of the church age…

Definition: The prophet predicts aspects of God’s kingdom at the end of the age. In the final kind of double reference, the prophet's focus is exclusively on the later event. Subsequent scripture reveals that there is also an earlier event which, although unforeseen, is a real, but incomplete fulfillment of the prophecy. Usually, the unforeseen event concerns the Church Age which was not revealed to the Old Testament prophets.

• The shaded field of vision and solid line around the second mountain show that the prophet is writing about the second event.

• The dashed line between the mountains indicates that there is an unforeseen gap in time between the two events.

• The dashed line around the first mountain indicates that prophecy was partially fulfilled in a way unforeseen by the author.

Examples:

Jeremiah 31:31-34.

Jeremiah predicts that God will bless Israel at the end of history:

(Jer. 31:31-34) "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. (32) It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD. (33) "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (34) No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

Jeremiah seems to be focused exclusively on future blessings for the nation of Israel. He is describing the spiritual blessings that the Israelites will enjoy when God inaugurates his New Covenant with them at the end of the age.

But the author of Hebrews declares that these same blessings have been given to all who believe in Jesus during the Church Age:

(Heb. 10: 15-18) The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: (16) "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." (17) Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." (18) And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

So this passage is partially fulfilled in an unforeseen way in the church. But as we argued last week, this partial fulfillment does not negate a future, literal fulfillment for the people of Israel.

Joel 2:28-32 and Acts 2:16-21

Joel 2:28-32 describes the pouring out of God's Spirit upon all people who believe in him prior to Messiah's reign. Peter says that this prophecy also speaks to the outpouring of the Spirit in his own day. From this we infer that Joel 2:28-32 was fulfilled in a partial and unforeseen way on the day of Pentecost, when those who believed in Jesus (in his first coming) received the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 49:6 and Acts 13:47

In Isaiah 49:6, God says that his Servant will restore Israel to him and be a light to the nations so that his salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Isaiah evidently understood this to refer to the rule of Messiah in the millennial kingdom. But in Acts 13:47, Paul quotes this same passage as a description of the church's mission work to the Gentiles. This phase of Messiah's redemptive work with the Gentiles (through the Body of Christ) was unforeseen by Isaiah.

Summary:

Daniel

Author:

Setting:

Purpose:

The book of Daniel was written to remind exiled Jews that

___________________________________________.

Date:

Reasons why we support the early date:

• There are Qumran (Cave 4) fragments of Daniel dating as early as 120-145 BC.

• Jewish authors quote from Daniel and treat it as history from the 6th century BC.

(1 Maccabees 2:59-61) "Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael had faith, and they were saved from the flames. Daniel was a man of integrity, and he was rescued from the lion's jaws. So bear in mind how in the history of the generations no one who trusts in Heaven ever lacks strength."

• Josephus (approximately 70 A.D.; Antiquities, Book XI, chapter 8, section 5) says that portions of Daniel were shown to Alexander the Great when he came to Jerusalem around 330 BC.

(Josephus) "... and he (Alexander) came into the city; and when he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest's direction, and magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests. And when the book of Daniel was showed to him, wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended . . . The next day he called them to him, and had them ask what favors they pleased of him . . . (and) he granted all they desired."²

• Ezekiel (written around 575 BC) mentions Daniel (see Ezekiel 14:14-20; 28:3).

• Several predictions in Daniel came true after the second century BC, so the prophetic element cannot be dismissed.

Relevance for our study:

“Among the great prophetic books of scripture, none provides a more comprehensive and chronological prophetic view of the broad movement of history than the book of Daniel.”³

Daniel's Prophetic Visions

Daniel 2: Statue

Overview:

Head of Gold:

Breast & Arms of Silver:

Belly & Thighs of Bronze:

Legs of Iron & Feet of Iron & Clay:

Part I (vs. 40):

Part II (vs. 41-43):

Reasons for seeing a Prophetic Gap between vs. 40,41:

Stone That Becomes a Mountain:

Daniel 7: Four Beasts

Lion with Eagle's Wings:

Bear:

Leopard with Four Wings & Four Heads:

Terrible Beast:

Part I (vs. 7a,23):

Part II (vs. 7b,8,24-26):

Reasons for seeing a Prophetic Gap between vs. 7a & 7b:

Son of Man's Eternal Kingdom (vs. 9-14,18,27)

Who is the “little horn” (vs. 8,11,20,21,24-26)?

Daniel 8: Male Goat & Ram

Ram with Two Horns:

Male Goat:

Who is the "small horn" (vs. 9-14, 23-25)?

Similarities between him and the "little horn" of chapter 7:

Differences from the "little horn" of chapter 7:

Resolution:

Comparing Daniel 2, 7, 8 to our timeline from last week:

Daniel 9: The Prince Who Is To Come

Vs 24: Summary of the entire 70 "weeks" and what will happen afterwards (the millennial kingdom).

Vs 25: Summary of the first 69 "weeks"—7 "weeks" for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and 62 "weeks" intervening between the completion and Messiah.

Vs 26: The gap of time between the 69th and 70th "weeks."

Who is “the prince who is to come” (v. 26,27)?

Vs 27: The 70th "week." This is the tribulation. 

Summary:

Daniel 11,12: Warring Kingdoms

11:1,2 refer to four more kings of Persia—Cambyses, Pseudo-Smerdis, Darius I Hystapses, and Xerxes I.

11:3,4 refer to Alexander the Great and his four generals.

11:5-20 describes the fate of two of the Greek kingdoms with reference to Israel.

The "king of the South" (vs. 5,8) refers to the Ptolemaic empire, while the "king of the North" (vs. 6,11,13,15) refers to the Seleucid empire. It deals with the battles between them during the 150 years following Alexander's death. This is covered in great detail (which is why the liberals late-date it) because it was of great concern for the Jews who went through it.

Example: Vs. 17 refers to when the Seleucid king Antiochus the Great gave his daughter (Cleopatra) to marry the seven year old Ptolemy V in 192 BC. This was a diplomatic marriage which failed because Cleopatra consistently sided with her husband against her father.

11:21-35 describes the rise and activities of Antiochus IV.

Reasons why there is a Type-Gap between 11:35 and 11:36

• Dan. 11:35 implies a gap (". . . until the end time . . .") as did Dan. 9:26

• Dan. 11:1-35 is clearly fulfilled, while Dan. 11:36-12:1 is clearly unfulfilled. Dan. 12:1,2 ("at that time") is the Great Tribulation described in Matt. 24:15ff. and Zech. 12-14.

• The two people are described differently. The "king" in Dan. 11:36 is a different name from the "despicable person" of Dan. 11:21. Dan. 11:36,37 do not fit Antiochus IV because he did not reject all gods and assume deity. The king in Dan. 11:40 attacks the "king of the North"—while Antiochus IV is the "king of the North" (11:15,21).

• Jesus says that the abomination of desolation is unfulfilled (Matt. 24:15).

11:36-12:1 describes the activity of the Anti-Christ during the last days.

• He claims deity (11:36,37).

• He is a warlike ruler (11:38).

• He has total economic control (11:39).

• He goes to war with the "king of the North" and the "king of the South" (11:40).

• He invades the Mideast after passing through countries, ignoring Edom, Moab, and Ammon (11:40,41).

• He carries the campaign into Egypt (11:42).

• Rumors from the northeast cause him to reverse direction and go to Israel (11:44,45).

• He is destroyed at Armageddon (11:45; 12:1).

12:1-4 describes the end of the tribulation, the resurrection of the tribulational martyrs (see also Rev. 20:4), and the millennial kingdom.

The 1260 days in 12:7 evidently covers from the Anti-Christ's abomination of desolation (see Matt. 24:15) to the second coming (3.5 years—see Dan. 9:27). 12:11 includes 30 more days, possibly for the judgment of Israel (see Ezek. 20:34-38). 12:12 includes 45 more days, possibly for the judgment of the nations (see Matt. 25:31-46). Those who are still alive after these judgments are "blessed" because they go into and inhabit (as mortals) the millennial kingdom.

Memory Verses

Daniel 2,7,8,9,11-12** - Daniel's prophetic visions concerning the future of Israel

Daniel 9:27* - The 70^th "week" of God's dealings with Israel—the tribulation.

Assignment

• Complete the Revelation Assignment.

Appendix: Summary of Daniel’s Visions