Having concluded my studies of the prophesies at the end of Daniel, I’m left feeling humbled and in awe of Scripture and He who inspired it. Someday I believe I will return to Daniel and these chapters in particular and really dig into the imagery and implications of Daniel’s visions. People make a lot of the words and how they apply to future events but it seems that there are deeper implications for our reality here and now that can be applied to the primary message for Christ‘s Church. But that will have to wait until a future date.
As I alluded when I “pressed” Daniels Chapters 11 and 12, I believe that the message to the Church is threefold:
Chapter 9 states that Jesus is the Messiah or Christ, the anointed One of God.
Chapter 10 tells us that there is only one Way and that is with Christ Jesus.
Chapters 11 and tell informs the reader that Faith until the end is imperative.
I know that there are many who think that the messages are more complicated than that. They have written books about the sundry details and based schools of thought on these prophesies. Others have utilized these chapters of Daniel as proof texts in attempts to prove their theologies valid. I also realize that I haven’t demonstrated my academic prowess by walking the readers of this blog through complex and convoluted textual criticism analysis of the various characters mentioned, the theories about who they were, who they might be, or who they could be in the future. I haven’t carefully considered the theory that these chapters may have been written after the fact, post Maccabees.
Jesus is the Messiah; the Christ
What I did do is exactly what I encourage people to do and that is to prayerfully read the Bible and let the Holy Spirit guide me. The result is that what started as a series to disprove dispensationalism – utilizing the skills and techniques that I just stated that I did not use- became a time of reflection and prayer and simply asking the Holy Spirit what is really to be learned from all this. I listened to a radio preacher and read some articles and examined some charts and learned some really cool history in the process. But I was still left with that gnawing in my gut, “And?” I asked.
“Jesus is Messiah; the Christ.”
“That’s too simple,” I thought. Then I remembered a Bible story about a man who went to see a prophet to learn how to be healed of his leprosy and the prophet told him to go bathe in the river Jordan. as the story goes, he said ( in essence), “That’s it?” His servant told him that if the prophet asked him to do a great work, he’d not question that so why not just do what this man of God says. Well, to make a long story short, he did and he was cured. Besides, Jesus being the Messiah is kind of a big deal.
Jesus is the only Way to eternal life. Believe in Him and be saved.
I thought 10 was going to be more difficult, until I realized that the message was contained in only about one sentence in that whole Chapter. “There is only True way and that’s to be God’s people.” As we learn in the new Testament, Jesus is the Way. That’s what He says. This time I was calm and collected and prepared for a simple answer. “Excellent,” I said to my self. “It’s good to have another Biblical answer.
Believers will suffer through the hard times ahead. Jesus says to keep your faith until the end and live.
The rest gave me fits. Chapters 11 and 12 meshed together but it was like Daniel had trouble making sense of the vision so there seemed to be some past and future events melding together without a textual break. And the dates at the end are confusing as well. The impression I was left with was one of a whole lot of bad stuff and suffering and confusion til the end of time. But Jesus entered the scene in Matthew 24 and explains the end times even referencing Daniel Chapter 11! “Have Faith until the end.” So once again, there was the simple, Bible based answer to the riddle.
I find this completely fascinating and am satisfied with the outcome of this study. Jesus is the Christ. He is the only Way to eternal life and no matter how troublesome our future (or our present) may be, we must hold on to our faith as if our everlasting lives depend on it. Because they do.
God Bless,
Christopher
Related articles
- Daniel Chapters 11 And 12: Have Faith (christophercrandolph.wordpress.com)
- A Quick Look At Dispensationalism: Is it true to Scripture? (christophercrandolph.wordpress.com)
- Daniel Chapters Nine and Ten: A Simple Summary (christophercrandolph.wordpress.com)
