The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

VII. Christ’s Relationship to the Book of Daniel

The significance of the testimony of Christ to the book of Daniel should not be lost upon us. We have no right to ignore His views on the subject. To Christ, Daniel was a real person—a prophet inspired of God, whose predictions were to be closely heeded. PFF1 144.6

Jesus’ first entry into the field of prophetic interpretation was the initial declaration of His ministry, soon after His baptism— “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Mark 1:15. What other time could He mean except the completion of Daniel’s prophetic sixty-ninth week, which was to extend “unto the Messiah the Prince”? Daniel 9:25. There is definite evidence that about that time many Jews were looking for “Messiah the’ Prince” to come. ⁵ Here was prophecy fulfilling before their eyes. PFF1 144.7

We may see in this Christ’s corroboration of the year-day reckoning of the seventy weeks, a principle already partially glimpsed in the original Septuagint translation of Daniel, ⁶ and now established by Jesus’ coming to fulfill the prophecy of “Messiah the Prince,” and to usher in a new era of broader and clearer prophetic understanding, beyond that of Old Testament times. PFF1 145.1

But Christ based some of His prophetic statements even more directly on Daniel. There are three allusions to that book in His vital Olivet discourse. PFF1 145.2

First, He mentions the “abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,” and adds significantly, “whoso readeth, let him understand.” Matthew 24:15. He thus bids them study this prophecy intelligently, and find in its fulfillment the signal for their escape from the fall of Jerusalem. The passage is, from the context, doubtless Daniel 9:27; where the Septuagint—which was used by Christ and the apostles—reads: “Upon the temple an abomination of the desolations,” and similar phrases reappear in Daniel 11 and 12. ⁷ PFF1 145.3

This “abomination of desolation” which was to stand in the holy place is interpreted in Luke as the armies encompassing Jerusalem (Luke 21:20)—evidently the Roman forces which were to take the city. Thus Christ here applies Daniel’s prophecy specifically to the Roman Empire, which had long before taken over world supremacy from the Macedonian, and which was already recognized among the Jews as prophesied by Daniel. ⁸ PFF1 145.4

Never should we forget, as we study prophetic interpretation through the centuries, the Master’s divine admonition to read and understand the witness of Daniel. Obviously He could not have regarded the entire book as sealed until the day of increased knowledge and running to and fro in the prophecies in the “time of the end” (Daniel 12:4), for He clearly intended that His Judean followers should escape the destruction of Jerusalem by understanding the fulfillment of the portion which pertained to their day. If Christ’s prophetic principle of progressive understanding at the time of fulfillment be applied, only that part of the book of Daniel dealing with the latter-day events would be sealed until the time of the end. On this basis we should expect to find progressive prophetic interpretation recognizing contemporary fulfillments. In Christ’s day, as we shall see, the succession of the four kingdoms in Daniel 2 and 7, for example, was perceived in general outline; and it has been the common property of both Jews and Christians through the centuries. And “the time is fulfilled” was the unmistakable introductory note of Jesus’ ministry. PFF1 146.1

Christ’s second reference to Daniel, in His great prophetic discourse, obviously employs the language of Daniel 12:1 to describe the future woes: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world.” Matthew 24:21. (See also Mark 13:19.) And the third reference is found in His description of the second advent: “They shall see the Sort of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matthew 24:30. (See also Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27.) PFF1 146.2

This should be compared with His reply, in almost the same wording, to the high priest at His trial: “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Matthew 26:64. (See also Mark 14:62). The phrasing is clearly borrowed from Daniel’s description of the judgment: PFF1 146.3

“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came t6 the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13, 14. PFF1 147.1

The allusion to Daniel is unmistakable. Here is obviously the origin of Christ’s self-chosen title “the Son of man.” The definite article, prefixed to the name in the New Testament, plainly implies that He is Himself the mysterious Being whom Daniel described. He claims the right to be invested with all that divine power and authority which Daniel saw bestowed on “one like a son of man” (margin). ⁹ Both the high priest and the Sanhedrin understood perfectly the Saviour’s claim, for in their eyes that Person of Daniel 7 was a divine Being. ¹⁰ Hence, the high priest declared that Jesus, in making that pretentious claim, had spoken blasphemy, and the Sanhedrin asked with one insistent voice, “Art Thou then the Son of God?” Luke 22:70. PFF1 147.2

In addition to this, Christ’s emphasis on a twofold resurrection (John 5:28, 29) parallels Daniel 12:2, and His description of the future, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43), paraphrases Daniel 12:3. Thus did Christ, while here on earth, set His seal irrevocably upon the book of Daniel, the book which later critics would fain reduce to the level of pious Jewish fiction, a “prophecy” composed after the events had taken place, and fraudulently ascribed to a “Daniel” that never existed historically! PFF1 147.3

But Christ’s testimony to the book of Daniel is not confined to the pages of the Gospels. The last book of Sacred Scripture, which furnishes, as will be seen, a complement to the book of Daniel, is entitled “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass,” transmitted “by His angel unto His servant John.” Revelation 1:1. It is therefore Jesus who sends the messages to the seven churches, and speaks from the midst of the candlesticks: “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.” Revelation 1:19. It is Jesus who alone is able to open the sealed book (Revelation 5:5, 6; 6:1, 3), who reaps the harvest of the earth (Revelation 14:14-16), who leads forth the armies of heaven on their mission of final destruction (Revelation 19:11-15), who at the end declares He will make all things new (Revelation 21:5), who pronounces blessing upon all who do His Father’s commandments (Revelation 22:13, 14), and who certifies all these wondrous prophecies to the churches (verse 16). Truly, there fore, Jesus is the fountainhead of prophecy, PFF1 147.4