June 1929
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amazed. Daniel’s silence appeared to Nebuchadnezzar as if it were due to his inability to meet the new situation. Daniel immediately, however, showed why he hesitated; namely, because the dream per tained to a judgment of God which was soon to fall upon Nebuchadnezzar. III. Daniel, the Seer. 7:28; 8:15-18. In the seventh chapter of Daniel God gave to Daniel a vision of the history of the world from his day until the Lord Jesus shall return in glory and shall es tablish His millennial reign upon earth. The revelation was made to him in sym bolic language. The four beasts set forth in Daniel 7 represent the following world empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Immediately following the complete destruction of the fourth em pire, which is symbolized by the beast which is exceedingly terrible, the saints shall possess the kingdom and shall reign for ever and ever. When he had received this revelation Daniel’s thoughts troubled him and his countenance was changed, but he kept the matter in his heart. He was likewise favored with a further revelation which especially pertained to the second and third empires that were symbolized by the second and third beasts of chapter 7. The symbolism is changed in chapter 8 to that of the ram and the he-goat, which symbolized Medo-Persia and Greece. Thus God favored this faith ful servant of His with these visions of the future. IV. Daniel Visited by Angels. 9 :20-23; 10:1-19. In the second year of Darius, king of the Medes, Daniel was studying the proph ecies of Jeremiah which foretold the seventy years of Babylonian captivity. This year was the second year before the expiration of the period of captivity. Be lieving that the Word of God is infallible and that every word shall be fulfilled, Daniel began to confess his sins and those of his people and began to pray for par don and restoration of his people not only to their own land but to favor and fellow ship with God. In responsp to his fervent praying the angel Gabriel was dispatched from the presence of God to go to Daniel and to make a further revelation to him. He ar rived while Daniel was still praying and confessing his and the people’s sins and was making his supplication to God in be half of the holy city. It seems as if Daniel had drawn the wrong conclusion from his reading in re gard to the establishment of the great millennial regin of Christ upon the earth. Instead of those glorious predictions be ing fulfilled immediately after the period of captivity, Gabriel says that there should be seventy times seven years before that glorious event shall occur. This revela tion is found in vs. 24-27 of chapter 9. These weeks are weeks of years, for he was thinking in terms of years (see v. 2). 483 years of the 490 had elapsed at the Crucifixion of the Messiah. The last seven years are yet in the future which will immediately precede the establishment of the millennium upon earth. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, Daniel was praying and the angel was dispatched to him. This angel, how ever, was detained by the prince of the kingdom of Persia for twenty-one days. Then Michael, the prince of the children of Israel, came to his rescue and the
angel resumed his journey to Daniel and answered his petition, making revelation of things that shall transpire in the end time. V. Daniel’s Messages Especially for “the End Time.” 12:9. Though Daniel’s prophecies largely focus upon the events of this present age, they are very comprehensive and include the history of Gentile world dominion.
They have proved an especial blessing to the people of God throughout the ages, but they are especially a guide-book to the people of God in these days in which we are living. The prophetic Word is a lamp shining in a dark place in these difficult trying days. Let each one of us pray for special spiritual illumination, that we may avoid fanaticism and extreme positions with reference to the prophetic Word.
9 Biola Question Box 9 • Rev. W. H. Pike •
1. Where was Jesus during the three days between the crucifixion and the res urrection? In Luke 23:43, we are told where He said He would be. “And He said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Now para dise is described by Christ in Luke 16: 19-31 as being the good part of hades, the part where Lazarus was in fellow ship with Abraham. Some think that this is_ the place where Jesus proclaimed His victory to those who wer§ disobedient during the days of Noah (1 Pet. 3:18-20). From Eph. 4:9 its location was in the heart of the earth. But since Jesus rose, taking captivity captive, this good part of hades is in the third h e a v e n , for Paul says in 2 Cor. 12:2-4 that he knew a man who was caught up to the third heaven and in the fourth verse he says into paradise. So the third heaven and paradise are probably the same place since the resurrection. 2. Is it true that all things are to be restored to fellowship with God, even the devil himself? No, if this were so, why would we have the doom of Satan in Rev. 20:3, where he is cast into the bottomless pit for a thou sand years and when he is let out starts another rebellion against God and is cast into the Lake of Fire where he is tor mented day and night unto ages rolling upon ages ? There seems to be no recon ciliation -here. In Acts 3:21, it says “whom [Christ] the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution o f all things," or the res toration of all things. Now this does not mean the devil and wicked men are re stored, but it goes on to say what is re stored,—namely, what the prophets had written about Israel. They are to be re stored to national life and their cere monial worship. We must take the " all things” mentioned in different passages in their context. If you try to build a sys tem of doctrine upon them separate from their context, you will be in confusion and error. 3. Inasmuch as Luke was neither an apostle nor an eyewitness of the things which he recorded, by what authority are his gospel and the book of Acts accepted as parts o f the divinely inspired writings? Luke tells us in the beginning of his gospel, 1 :l-4, that he had “traced the course of all things accurately from the
beginning.” Here is the scientific method of looking up the facts. Then he wrote these in order. Not wholly a historical order but a moral order, describing the Perfect Man. And he wrote to his friend Theophilus that he might know the cer tainty of these things. Again, both rec ords, the one of Jesus (Luke), the other of the early spread of the Gospel (the Acts), were needed to fill out the canon of Scripture. And again, the marks of inspiration are upon these writings in as great fulness as upon any of the other sacred writings. And what he taught in these books about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, sin, man and salvation are in ac cord with the teaching upon these sub jects found in other parts of the New Testament. 4. What is understood generally in or thodox churches by the term “divine in spiration”? I think one would have to read the creed or statement of doctrine of each sect to answer this. But the Scriptures tell us what they mean by divine inspira tion. 2 Pet. 1:21: “For no prophecy ever came by the will o f man, but men spake from God, being moved [swept on] by the Holy Spirit." The very words of the sacred writings were inspired, all of them inspired, and their order inspired. This is verbal and plenary inspiration. Now to prove this, if a little word like a prepo sition “in” or “of” were misplaced it would destroy the sense and change a whole doctrine. Take Phil. 1:1 and change the preposition “of” and “in” and it reads, “Paul and Timothy, servants in Jesus Christ, to all the saints of Christ." We cannot be servants of Christ till we are saints in Christ; and the great doctrines of our salvation in Christ and His Lord- ship over us as servants are marred by this change. Notice, also, that the unin spired translation of the Revised Version in this verse departed from the order of words and spoiled the doctrine of Christ. Servants of Jesus Christ and saints in Christ Jesus. The revisers said servants of Christ Jesus. This is not the order of the Greek text. Servants of Jesus Christ, the Person who came as man but who was the anointed of God. But when it speaks of the saints standing before God it is in Christ Jesus. We cannot tamper with the words of inspiration. If we do we shall bring confusion. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.”
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