The powers converging on the planet Earth should cause every true Christian to be in a posture of watching and praying, yea, in a posture of readiness for the coming of our Glorious Saviour. This Blessed Hope should ever be purifying our souls as part of the preparation for that event in which He will call us unto Himself.
The burden for the next few articles in Straightway will be drawn from the Old Testament prophet Daniel concerning what the Lord permitted him to see down through the ages of time. One must carefully observe that, although the Bible has been completed for some 2000 years, the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation have only been unveiled by the Holy Spirit in fuller understanding in the past 150 years. Daniel was told by the angel Gabriel to seal up his book until the time of the end (12:4, 9). The “unsealing” of both these books fully came in the early 1800s. They have become keys to one another, interlocking and yet unlocking the vestibules of prophecy.
It is evident that some of Daniel’s prophecies were understood in previous centuries of Church history. When many during his contemporary were denying the Book of Daniel, Sir Isaac Newton, the great scientist, stated that “to reject Daniel is to reject the Christian religion.” To ignore the great prophecies of this book produces a void of critical points in the prophetic Word concerning “things to come” in eschatology. Our Lord referred to Daniel in His prophetic Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:15). The last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation is the only prophetic book of the New Testament that would forever be a sealed book if not for the Book of Daniel. How unique through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration that both Daniel and Revelation were written by a “beloved”—Daniel, a man greatly beloved (10:11), and John the beloved disciple. They must be studied together as they become clues to the entire prophetic Word.
We know more of the personal history of Daniel and his character than of any other prophet. Though his name is not personally mentioned among faith’s heroes in Hebrews 11, his deeds are there: “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions” (Hebrews 11:33). It is from this man’s writings that we draw the burden of these articles. His writing stands in an epoch between the history of the past and the prophecy of the future. Throughout the more than seventy years spanned in the Book of Daniel itself, some of its earlier prophecies are completed before the book closes; this enables us to test in a measure the correctness or incorrectness of any attempt at interpretation.
Daniel in the Times of the Gentiles
This first article is to observe the prophet in the times of the Gentiles. This is a crucial book transitioning between two global workings of God in history. Daniel’s writing follows II Kings and II Chronicles in history. In these books we read of the closing centuries of the kingdom history of the Israelites; both books close with parallel accounts of the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah. One hundred years earlier the Northern Kingdom of ten tribes had been carried into captivity by Assyria. When the Southern Kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah, was carried into captivity by Babylon, it consisted basically of those living in the city of Jerusalem. The carrying away of a few thousand Jews into captivity may not appear on the surface to be an event of any great significance when compared to more conspicuous political events of that period. Nevertheless, it marked the end of one great historical season and the beginning of another.
In order to grasp the significance of the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah, we must review its history briefly. God’s deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt in the 15th century B.C. marked the beginning of a new era. It was the birth of a new nation that was to powerfully affect all future world history. Leading them into Canaan forty years later, God gave them a program of conquest that involved the entire world. First, they were to totally destroy the nations inhabiting Canaan. Second, because the iniquity of those nations was now full, instead of employing a flood as God did in the days of Noah or fire from heaven as in the days of Lot, God used the Israelites to exterminate these nations. Third, they were used by God as a governing power to maintain political discipline over the world, upholding righteousness and punishing wickedness. This purpose of God was long before suggested in Deuteronomy 32:8:
When the most high divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
This passage refers as far back as to the time of the scattering of the people from Babel. In the passage of Deuteronomy 20:10–20, especially note verses 15, 16:
Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth.
There was no limit set to this con-quest: Israel was to establish a uni-versal theocracy in which she should be the visible governing power.
However, Israel never carried out perfectly even the first of the program; the nations of Canaan were not entirely destroyed. They were permitted to live under tribute, often among the Israelites and at times intermarrying with Israelites. Over the next few centuries Israel’s obedience to God vacillated as viewed through the time of the Judges and Kings. This period of history culminated with the concluding accounts of Kings and Chronicles. Then God deliberately set Israel aside as a world power and turned the scepter of world rule over to the Gentiles.
The Transition of World Power to the Gentiles
God’s instruction to Israel to relinquish the scepter of world rule unto the Gentiles is recorded in Jeremiah 27:12, 13:
I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon.
Zedekiah was the last king of Judah, leading the remaining remnant of the Israelites after the captivity of the ten northern tribes. As the last representative of David whose descendants had held the throne for about five hundred years, Zedekiah was the last to hold this important position, as well as to witness this position transferred to now a secular power.
We know that this setting aside of Israel is not to be forever. Ezekiel 21:25–27 declares,
And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Thus saith the Lord GOD, remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it him.
The wicked king here is Zedekiah; the one whose right it is to rule is Jesus Christ. The Scriptures reveal that David’s throne (II Samuel 7:16) “shall be established for ever.” We must remember that Jesus was and is a Jew! Gabriel stated to Mary, “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:32, 33). We also read in Hosea 3:4 and 5,
For the children of Israel shall abide many days, without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
It must be noted that there is a difference between “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24), and “the fulness of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:25). The “times of the Gentiles” is a political prophecy dealing with the world government controlled by the Gentiles or nations of the earth. In contrast, the “fullness of the Gentiles” mentioned by Paul in Romans 11 is in reference to the coming of the Gentiles into the Body of Christ or the Church. James declared this divine plan in Acts 15:13–17:
And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
The truth concerning the church basically has been a Gentile truth through Church history. Christ will take this true church out of the earth in a rapture; this will bring the end of the “fullness of the Gentiles” and God will graft Israel back into the Olive tree. The “times of the Gentiles” will not be fulfilled until the coming of Christ back to the earth (not to the clouds) as seen in Revelation 19.
Paul made it clear in Romans 11 that the setting aside of Israel by God was temporary. After Israel has been sufficiently punished for their past disobediences, God will restore the kingdom to Israel. The constant expectation of devout Jews was even seen at the ascension in Acts 1:6, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” The response of the Lord was that the time of its restoration was in the Father’s authority and was not for them to know. The Book of Daniel was “sealed” at this time and the Book of Revelation had not been written. The time was not yet revealed; however, the fact of Israel’s recovery is certain.
The Babylonian Captivity sealed the forfeiture of Israel in global domination and commenced the time of the Gentiles. The prophecy of Christ in Luke 21:24 states, “And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” When the events recorded in the Book of Daniel began, the kingdom was just slipping away from Israel to the Gentile king Nebuchadnezzar. Here we see the transition of the kingdom of Israel to that of the Gentiles. Nevertheless, the prophecies of Daniel reached far out into the future, even beyond the first coming of Jesus Christ and to His open, second coming in power and glory to take possession of the kingdom. This event signals when world dominion will revert to the Jews. Therefore, the importance of Daniel is that it bridges the gap from the time when the kingdom passed from Israel until the time the kingdom shall be restored to them.
The Image
It was during Daniel’s ministry that the transition to the times of the Gentiles was made. In Daniel 2 the history of the times of the Gentiles is given. The image seen in that chapter is the “form” of a man. The “times of the Gentiles” is technically the time of man and his rejection of God. The history portrayed in the dream by Nebuchadnezzar is when God permits Man to have his day. Historically, this runs from the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon through the reign of Antichrist. Thus again, the “man” image is the Day of Man or the “times of the Gentiles.”
Egypt and Assyria had previously existed as empires, but not in the transition of the Jew to the Gentile. Four great kingdoms or world powers are prophesied to appear beginning with Nebuchadnezzar down to the end when the dominion is to be taken away from the Gentiles and the rule of the Most High is to be established on the earth. This view is the history of Man, or man’s day. Each empire mentioned in the vision wanted world domination over all nations and languages. As each one came in succession they increased their global powers. The image begins with gold and continues with silver, then brass, then iron, and finally iron and clay mixed. The legs, the longest part of this image, represent Rome, which existed longer than any of the previous empires. The iron will enter into the last form of Gentile world power represented in the feet, including the ten toes.
It is through this prophecy that God reveals the progress of man. One clearly sees that the Day of Man or the “times of the Gentiles” does not begin with good-for-nothing stuff, earth mixed with particles of iron; it begins with fine gold. In contrast to man’s opinion that his empires are ever ascending from mud to gold, God’s revelation makes it clear that it is actually the reverse! Man’s Day, the times of the Gentiles, will end in total deterioration.
What is the final form of the times of the Gentiles? It is the briefest of all, the smallest of all—the feet! The ten toes are mentioned in Daniel 2:44, “in the days of these kings” (which will be designated later as ten horns). Revelation 17:12 states, “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.” This final form of history we have not reached! Nevertheless, our present time period in history is at the bottom of the legs, merging into the feet. The iron in the feet is mixed with earth (clay), a material not belonging to the metals of the great image. There are no true empires anymore. We are headed into the lowest existence of man, from whence he came, earth or dirt. Socialism and Anarchism are looming up on all sides of global powers today. We find ourselves in the struggle of this last kingdom to come—that one which will culminate the Gentile times. Kings, presidents, and governments are aggressively trying to get control of that last kingdom, trying to become the final global one!
Conclusion
Dear reader, we are in the culminating season of the Times of the Gentiles—Man’s Day—the deification of man. We have read of it in the past and it will come again: as in the day that Nebuchadnezzar set up in the plain of Dura that golden image (of himself), so it will be repeated at the coming of the False Prophet (in Revelation 13), when he will command worship to the image of the Beast. Global society has come to the prophetic time of the image of man, the worship of man. Such a society has now changed its view of God. A Neo-Theism and Neo-Christianity have arisen in the earth and are controlling the thoughts and the writings of man. Psalm 2:2 declares, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed.” Although this quotation in Acts 4:26 concludes at that word “his Christ [anointed]” referring to Jesus, we have come to the latter part of the prophecy: “Saying . . . Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”
The Gospel has gone to the ends of the earth; the ethics and morals of Judeo-Christianity have now permeated the planet in knowledge. We are witnessing the rise of a world of leaders who are tired of the principles set by Christianity—by God—even through the Roman Church. The ACLU is now knocking, yea, pounding on every moral door in America, for they know the time and the mood in America are ripe for the breaking of the bands and the cords of the Evangelicals, the Roman Catholic Church, the conservatives, etc. Yes, it is the day of such a cry of hatred, and it is getting louder.
Since the Roman Empire (the legs), history has undergone a long transition. The Gentile civilization over these many centuries has been the formidable custodians of public Christianity. Nevertheless, this empire will thoroughly become anti-Christian as it nears the end of its historical tenure. Rebellion will become the order against God and His Christ. We are already witnessing a deep-seated hatred taking place in history. Global society is coming to the consummation of the universal season of the man image.
The End Time will produce another crucifixion of Christ, but this time with words of rejection and to exterminate the believers of that Christ. We will witness the governments coming together through their laws, as was said in Matthew’s Gospel, “They took counsel to put him to death.” Man wants to be free from God to commit all manner of abominations; to be his own god, to be rid of all restraints that have been placed upon him by providence and the institutional church of the centuries. There will not be an open coming of Christ until a terrible struggle has convulsed the nations. God’s remnant is going to be caught in the throes of it for we are part of the “anointed” in Psalm 2. The next verse in this Psalm declares, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision [deep trouble].” The Psalm continues, “Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure [the Tribulation Period]. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion [the Millennium].” According to Daniel 2, the times of the Gentiles will be resolved when the Stone will be cut out of the Mountain and will strike the ten toes, not the head, but the ten toes of iron and clay. It will be at the greatest moment of the apostasy of man. This Stone, which is Christ and His Kingdom, will bring the collapse of the man image, and pulverize it like the chaff on the summer threshing floor. Then we are told that the wind came and carried it all away. Nothing was left of it! It may have been this portion of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar that brought him great terror.
Both Jew and Gentile smote Christ in the ordeal surrounding the historical event of the Cross. In contrast, in the future it will be the Great Stone, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will smite the image of man. This stone will then become a mountain to fill the whole earth. The Kingdom will be restored to Israel through the Christ. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord.
Dear reader, we find ourselves living in the ankle period of this prophetic history. However, we must not allow our hearts to be troubled, for Jesus promised His disciples in John 14:3, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” This is a clear reference and promise of God’s saints at the appointed time being received by Christ and taken to heaven in that secret rapture. May God enable us to continue in Him as history’s “times of the Gentiles” comes to its culmination.