Prophecy and History

Introducing myself

I’m excited to be here with you! My name is Ross Knight, This is not my first time to Colorado, but it is my first time to southwest Colorado. My experience is primarily up at Copper Mountain. My family had several ski and snowboard trips growing up! I hope some of you church members have convinced Pastor Mike to go sometime. In Seminary where, he and I became friends, He told me he’d never do it, and then God brought him to Colorado, so I find that a little bit funny. :) I am coming to you from some mountains myself, quite a bit smaller, the appalachian mountains from a little college town of Boone, NC. I’ve been married for a little bit more than a year. My wife Meggan and our dog Riley are currently back home, where she works as an elementary school teacher.

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It’s hard to be away from her, but I believe whole heartedly in what Pastor Mike and I are presenting. I believe in the word of God, which is written in the Bible. I also believe in prophecies found in the Bible. Those that have already been fulfilled and those which have yet to be. Today’s message is Prophecy and History. I’ve had to wrestle with belief in prophecy. It kind of seems spooky, without a core belief in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the center of everything. Jesus is sewn into the entire Bible. Prophecies concerning Jesus are also found throughout the Bible, starting with Genesis as we learned last night with Pastor Michael’s presentation of God’s covenant with mankind. People often get skeptical when they hear the word prophecy, but covenant they are generally okay with. I want to explain that prophecy is tied to God’s covenant. His covenant is incomplete with out fulfilling prophecy. Covenant is promise. Prophecy sounds like a prediction. My friends, man makes predictions, God makes solemn oaths and promises which are true. Prophecies are studied to better understand and see God’s covenant loving relationship with His people. Prophecy is also a way of better understanding who Jesus is, because it is through the gift of prophecy do we also see much of what Christ has revealed to us about himself.

We would not know much of anything about God, if He had not revealed himself to us. But God, in His mercy chose to make himself known. He reveals himself in several ways, to some extent through nature, how we enjoy His creation as a general revelation, but more specifically through the Bible, Jesus Christ, the son of God living as a human, the appearance of angels, through true prophets, and personal experiences. God’s adversary tries to imitate and distort these forms of divine revelation. He does this through, attempting to discredit the Bible, attempting to destroy people’s faith, by raising up false prophets. False prophets can be very damaging, especially to new Christians and also to secular people. For new Christians, trying to discern truth from alternative and artificial can be difficult because of a lack of spiritual foundation, and for the secular people hearing false prophets setting dates for the world’s demise or maybe saying they are the Christ reincarnate, they either draw some eccentric followers, yet still claim the name Christian. To many secular people, they may lump all Christians into one bubble of eccentric misguided followers. These are all tactics God’s adversary uses prevent listening ears to hearing the truths the Bible has for us.

If we are going to find any confidence in Bible Prophecy, we are going to have to answer a few questions about what is real Bible prophecy and then look at some examples of prophecy which has already been fulfilled.

To have confidence in prophecy, we have to know a little bit about what genuine prophets actually are? What responsibility did/do prophets have? How did God communicate to prophets? How can I tell if a prophet is genuine or not?

Lets start with the first one.

What is a genuine prophet?

In the Old Testament book Ezekial chapter 33 verse 7, the prophet Ezekial writes down what God had him say, calling Him a “watchman” for the House of Israel, His role as watchman/prophet was to be a vessel of God communicating to God’s people special warning and instruction. Prophets were to faithfully communicate the message of God without adding their own ideas or deleting what they did not like (; ). God then acknowledged the message of the prophets as His own message. That in itself is a daunting task, as often the prophets of the Bible had to communicate to ill-tempored Kings who had the power to kill them, messages that they would not like to hear, such as famine, or coming destruction, due to their own wickedness. It was often very dangerous to be a faithful obedient prophet.

We see examples of God using prophets from the very beginning. Communicating a prophecy/promise of a coming savior to Adam and Eve and giving the prophetic gift to as early as to Enoch only 7 generations down from Adam. ()

God communicated with prophets in a variety of ways. He let them hear either His own voice or the voice of a messenger of his audibly especially in His first contact with them, as we find in 1 Samuel, where God reached out to Samuel as a small child. (,) These encounters are known as auditions. He would reveal himself in dreams and visions (; ) These experiences could lead to the prophets experiencing astonishing phenomena. (seeing another reality (,) seeing physically angelic beings (; ) loss of strength or gaining great strength, or even losing breath ()

What were the responsibilities of the prophets? What did they do?

As was mentioned. Prophets were communicators of the will of God and His judgments, or events that would transpire. Prophets saw and recognized:

Events of the past (Ez. 16—the origins of God’s people; the birth of the Messiah)

Events of the present (--- the Assyrian threat and Hezekiah’s illness; ---the condition of the church)

Events of the Future ( and 11--- the coming of the messiah; Rev. ---Jesus coming again, this time in the clouds)

Sometimes the prophets themselves didn’t even understand the prophecy they were delivering, but still communicated it faithfully. This was the case for Daniel, as he communicated prophecies in and 12:4) The main task of prophets spiritual instruction, teaching, and bringing about reformation, being advisors, and among other tasks communicated a future that had been revealed to them by God. In case the people of God did not obey the voice of God through the prophets, they faced God’s judgment, however they also communicated the great mercy of God as well. Whether they communicated orally, in writing, or in action, their duty was to communicate information as was given by God. Expressions such as “thus says the Lord” or “and I saw” show they were convinced they were talking in the name of God.

As I had mentioned God’s adversary, the devil, seeks to discredit, distort, and even impersonate the prophetic word, with his own false prophets. How can we distinguish the between genuine and counterfeit?

Well in the art world, experts who are trying to protect genuine works of art, by knowing how to spot fakes art against counterfeiters, don’t study the forgers work, they study the genuine works so they can know it well.

Throughout history there have not only been genuine prophets, but false prophets as well. So God provided criteria for us to be able to distinguish between true and false prophets . In case one of the following points is not met, the respective prophet is a false prophet. Here are distinguishing marks of genuine prophets:

Full agreement with scripture (; )

Recognition of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and savior of Humanity. ()

Personal conduct, living an exemplary Christian life as a witness, performing effective ministry. ()

No materialistic attitude. ()

Proclaiming of God’s message, not pandering for what people only want to hear. ()

If someone claiming to be a prophet of God does not pass this honorable test, you can be sure they are an imposter. The Bible is the ultimate test. The scriptures surpasses the ministry of true prophets in so far that it is the yardstick by which prophecy is being evaluated. However, both the message of scripture as well as the message of a genuine prophet come from the same source, the Holy Spirit, and call for obedience. ()

Essentially, all scripture came about through the gift of prophecy. I am extremely grateful to have access to a book that reveals to us truths from our creator.

I’ve mentioned prophecies in the Bible coming true. Some Bible skeptics might reasonably wonder, does the Biblical record and history line up? Lets go to the book of Daniel and look at a story many of you may have heard before, some maybe your hearing it for the first time. If you want to follow in your bibles or smart phones. What I am going to share is found in Daniel chapter 2.

Chapter 2 begins with the mighty conquering king Nebuchadnezzar, of Babylon being shaken by dreams. What is even more troubling, is he cannot seem to remember the dreams. The verse says Nebuchadnezzar’s spirit was troubled. In other words he is anxious. He’s possibly now experiencing insomnia because he can’t get it out of his head, these dreams had meant something. Now if you are like me when you have an intense dream, its common not be able to remember the dream anymore, but when we wake we just go about our day. Nebuchadnezzar could think of nothing else but to discover what the dreams meant. Being a worshipper of many gods and having a fleet of leading wisemen at his disposal. He thought surely someone could tell him what the dream was and its meaning. So he calls on the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, (babylonian astrologers). However, his wisemen did not have the power to perform his order. They would have been excellent at giving a fancy made up interpretation, or maybe a demonic interpretation, but they could do nothing without hearing the dream first. They asked the king to tell them the dream so they could interpret it. The king could see they were stalling. This is a man who was used to getting whatever he wanted, and when he wanted it. He was not known for his patience. He threatened, unless a wiseman came forward and told him his dream as well as its interpretation, he would swiftly have all the wisemen put to death.

Enter Daniel. If you don’t know Daniel’s story up until this point, I’ll give you a very brief introduction. Daniel and his 3 friends were hebrews taken captive when Babylon had besieged Jerualem. The king had ordered for some of the best and the brightest of Israel be brought back to Babylon. Daniel and his friends were some of these. They were to be taught to be a chaldean, and to be fed with the same food and drink of the palace. Out of faithfulness, Daniel and his friends refused the kings portions, electing for vegetables and water, instead of meat and wine. They were given this as a provisional test for 10 days. Daniel and his friends outperformed all the rest by a large measure.

Now, not a but a little while later, 1 maybe 2 years later, we find Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams and wisemen killing decree. Daniel is even sought to be arrested. He inquires as to the haste of the king to kill all the wisemen to the captain of the guard, and the events are explained to him. Daniel responds by requesting for a meeting with the king a day later. He was giving himself and his friends time to pray for God to give them the dream as well as the interpretation. Daniel’s faith had already been rewarded remaining faithful in his first test of diet, God used him again to be the interpretor to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, beginning his newfound prophetic gift. God revealed to him the answers he sought.

Lets read together Daniel’s revelation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interpretation, starting in verse 31 of .

English Standard Version Chapter 2

31 “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32 The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold. 39 Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. 41 And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

The king responded by falling to his face, thanking Daniel and praising his God. He promotes daniel to his chief wiseman.

The interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar depicts of the elements of the image Nebuchadnezzar dreamed depicted great kingdoms, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon and the Kingdoms to follow.

Well a natural question would be, did the prophecy come true? The short answer is Yes it did, but I think you’d rather hear the evidence that supports this rather than just the easy answer. I want you to know Bible prophecies can be trusted.

One thing that is interesting about Daniel revealing the interpretation to Nebuchadnezzar is that he begins with starting from the top, the head of gold. Knowing his kingdom would not last, Daniel boldly reveals a prophecy there would be another kingdom which although inferior to his would one day supercede his kingdom. He’s also making it known, head of gold does not just simply represent himself, but the kingdom in which he was responsible for building.

Historically and Biblically, the next kingdom to rise would be the one of Medo-Persia. The books of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah tell us that Media-Persia followed Babylon as the dominant world power. History backs this as well. The emporer Cyrus was both of Persian and Mede decent (Stefonovic 114). As silver is inferior to gold, how would Media-Persia be inferior to Babylon? After all, the Persians conquered Babylon, and Media-persia historically came to include more territory than the Babylonian Empire (Shea pg. 101). Media-Persia, although militantly very strong, was a more primitive culture. They had no written language and did not contribute near what Babylon did to science or have the remembered heritage of that of Babylon. Following Media-Persia was greece by the great conquests of Alexander the Great. Greeks, as most of us know had a huge impact on society moving forward with the introducing of Hellenism (Greek culture and thought) ino the near eastern society. But what could have been teh greatest kingdom ever known only lasted a short time, with Alexander dying and failing to name a successor, and his generals fighting with each other, splintered into smaller kingdoms. Next came Rome, which picked up the pieces of splintered Greece. They are represented as the Legs of Iron. Like Iron, Rome was strong, and was a lasting kingdom. We also know it did not last forever. But just as Daniel had revealed God’s message to Nebuchadnezzar, the first 4 metals of the image represented dominating kingdoms. Gold Head, Babylon, Silver Breast Plate, Media-Persia, Bronze waist Greece, and Legs of Iron representing Rome.

During the time Nebuchadnezzar spent in absence as ruler of Babylon which was during King Belshazzar’s interim rule. Daniel had a vision of his own. It is recorded in . Lets turn there now.

2 Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. 4 The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. 5 And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ 6 After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

The vision continues from there but lets pause and discuss its interpretation. Here in , the book goes from being a narrative to now and interactive revelation, where the author shares Daniel’s visions as well as revealed interpretations. In chapter 7, daniel dreams of 4 symbolic beasts which is explained in verses 15-28 to represent four kings, or kingdoms similar to the image Nebuchadnezzar.

The Lion which had wings like Eagles, represents Babylon. Like it was distinguished as the greatest kingdom by the head of Gold, it was distinguished by the most noble creatures of land and sky, the lion and eagle. Then came the bear, raised up one side, with three ribs in its mouth, representing the the unequal power of the Medes and Persians, with the ribs being the bears victims possibly representing the three great kingdoms of Egypt, Lydia, and Babylon in which Media-Persia defeated.

The 4th beast was described as the most dreadful and terrible, so different it can’t fully be described. Teeth tho of the same material of the legs of Nebuchadnezzar’s image iron, a strong crushing metal. We have identified as Rome.

We remember after the legs of Iron in Nebuchadnezzar’s image came the feet and toes which were a mixture of iron and clay. Out of rome came a split into smaller kingdoms. Some Bible scholars have tried to be creative identifying the specifically 10 barbaric tribes that Rome broke into, probably because it sounds better, but the truth is Rome’s break up wasn’t immediately scattered into 10 organized tribes. There was more chaos than this. The number 10 is used twice as mentioning the toes of clay and iron and the horns of Daniels vision in chapter 7. My view is similar that of those of other scholars viewing 10 as a symbolic number representing the plurality of break-up of the great kingdom of Rome. But as we read in chapter 2 of the kingdoms do maintai the hardness of iron but breakable as clay. In chapter 7, in Daniel’s vision grown out the fourth indescribable beast are ten horns, which one is described as the little Horn. As the youngest horn, it starts out small but grows greater than the other horns before whom three of the other horns are plucked out. The rise of the little horn power after the break up of Roman Empire involves the fall of three post roman powers. The horn also demonstrated human quality, speaking boastful, pompous words. Boastful speech against the most high God. The little horn is not only proud; it has a strong religious agenda which is blasphemous.

Luckily this kingdom was not the last kingdom. In described is a stone came and struck the image and then took of the entire earth. This was interpreted as God’s kingdom which would come and be everlasting. In , there is a unique title for God that appears only here. The ancient of days.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

“As I looked,

thrones were placed,

and the Ancient of Days took his seat;

his clothing was white as snow,

and the hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was fiery flames;

its wheels were burning fire.

10  A stream of fire issued

and came out from before him;

a thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;

the court sat in judgment,

and the books were opened.

You hear this and you just know something is about to happen big!

English Standard Version Chapter 7

11 “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

13 “I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven

there came one like a son of man,

and he came to the Ancient of Days

and was presented before him.

14  And to him was given dominion

and glory and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, and languages

should serve him;

his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away,

and his kingdom one

that shall not be destroyed.

These events are explained without naming kingdoms, that would take place in history, but is explained to an alarmed Daniel. He does learn ultimately that God’s kingdom wins, and his dominion will be forever. (vs 27)

Lets go back to the Little Horn, which is described as being pompous, and blasphemous. How did we describe false prophets earlier. They distort truth, discredit God’s people, and impersonate God and and his power. False prophets have an agenda of confusion. One way is to blend accepted truth with alternative.

There are in , eight identifying marks of the Little Horn. They are as follows:

1. It Rose out of the 4th beast. (vs 8,24)

2. It appeared after 10 other horns. (vs 24)

3. It was little when it was first seen, but grew to be greater than the others. (v8,20)

4. It put down 3 kings (kingdoms) (v8,24)

5. It had eyes like human and mouth that spoke great things, and it spoke out against the most high (v8)

6. It was to wear down the saints of the Most High (v 25)

7. It was to intend to change the set times regulated by the law. (v25)

8. It was allotted special powers for a time, two times, and a half time (vs 25)

Pastor Michael and I are going to better flesh out some of those later descriptions as we continue to meet together, but there is only one entity that really fits all eight of these identifying marks. And that is that of the historic Roman church, which rose to “religio-political” prominence as the Roman Empire declined. Please notice, this interpretation is not an attack on Catholics, or one person in history or in the present. There is so much good and positive history to which we can give credit to this religious system, such as developing a network of outreach, hospitals, and education. Yet this same church began to teach its traditions even greater than the word of God and began to teach its bishop was “another God on Earth.” (Stefonovic 281). The church was a great persecutor to Christians in protest, eventually known as protestants. In regard to the attempts to to change the times and the law, the church departed from the Bible as its sole rule faith, and made changes to the law of God through its own authority. This can most clearly seen its historical, not biblical, but historical change of sabbath worship/rest from Saturday to Sunday. What I am sharing is not hidden either, its found in their own record.

I don’t have the time tonight to fully flesh prophetic time and all the prophetic timelines, Pastor Michael will be able to do more of that in the next message. One principle in discussing prophetic days is the day for a year principle. In prophetic language a day represents a year. A time, represents 360 days/years (according to the Jewish calendar). Ezekial 4:6 references this prophetic time loosely saying “I have laid on you a day for each year.” We can also see evidence of the day for a year explanation in predicting when Christ would come. Christ himself uses this language, talking about how long he would minister. Using this method, things fall into place.

Historicist interpreters have usually understood the "time, times and half a time" (i.e 1+2+0.5=3.5), "1,260 days" and "42 months" mentioned in Daniel and Revelation to be references to represent a period of 1260 years (based on the 360 day Jewish year multiplied by 3.5).

Historicist interpreters have usually understood the "time, times and half a time" (i.e 1+2+0.5=3.5), "1,260 days" and "42 months" mentioned in Daniel and Revelation to be references to represent a period of 1260 years (based on the 360 day Jewish year multiplied by 3.5).

Historicists usually believe the "1,260 days" spanned the Middle Ages and concluded within the early modern or modern era. Using this principle, we start at 538 A.D.

Historicists usually believe the "1,260 days" spanned the Middle Ages and concluded within the early modern or modern era.

If we now go back to we can see that it is the power of the

Little Horn which will control the "saints" for this period of time. We

have already suggested that the Little Horn represents "Papal Rome" so does

our figure of 1260 years fit in with the records of history?

Papal Rome defeated the last of its major enemies (the Ostrogoths) in the

year 538 A.D. when Emperor Justinian's decree came into effect and the rise of papal power.

Throughout the Dark Ages the Catholic church was the most powerful political force in

the Dark Ages the Catholic church was the most powerful political force in

the whole world, and it used its power for political and financial gain as

well as for religious purposes. Many millions were persecuted and put to

death - "oppressing the saints of the Most High" as Daniel puts it.

However the power of the Papal Church came to an end when the armed forces

of Napoleon, under general Berthier marched into Rome and took the Pope

captive. This happened in the year 1798 A.D. surprisingly (or perhaps not

so surprisingly) exactly 1260 years after the Papacy came to power in 538

A.D.

Conclusion:

What should we conclude by studying out these prophecies? What is the overall purpose in understanding Bible prophecy? Is it simply that we can now effectively predict the future? Personally I think to find those answers, we have to go deeper. By studying these chapters in Daniel, we learn that while human beings are often ignorant and fearful of what the future holds, God knows, reveals, and holds the future. In fact I would suggest to you, the central message of , and is that God knows the future.

“The sovereign Lord,” to borrow from the prophet Amos, “does nothing without revealing His plan to his servants, the prophets.” ()(Stefonovic 116) Daniel, while appearing before Nebuchadnezzar, makes no case for taking the credit for revealing the dream and its interpretation to the King, for himself, but three time adamantly gives all credit, praise, and glory to His God, the Lord of Lords. He boldly spoke to a king, who came from a culture of giving kings, the title god-kings. He asserts, He serves the God, who is Lord of all Kings, the highest of the high, all-powerful. One could say with Daniel that there is a God in Heaven who knows all human beings and cares about their lives and destinies. “He numbers even the hair of our heads. Our times are in His hand, and He controls revolutions great and small which effect even the least of his children.