Part 1:
Introduction
Introduction
The prophetic biblical events found in The Book of Daniel and in The Revelation of John have been of great interest to many students of scripture. Concerning these two books, most every Christian denomination has, in one way or another, placed their own varying interpretations upon the prophecies found within them and their ensuing time lines.
As with many students of the Holy Writ, I have searched and re-searched scripture for the meaning of prophecies, especially those relating to the last day end time events. And like many others who have done the same, I have come up with many and varying interpretations, some of which have been rather sound in their explanation, yet leaving room for uncertainty. So how do answers to such queries arrive?
The Lord often requires us to put on our thinking caps and use the intelligence with which He has blessed us, and earn our bread by the “sweat of thy face,” so to speak, before He produces the fruit we seek. And, of course, along with this effort on our part, He expects us to continue in prayer and supplication for His grace in providing that fruit. So after a lot of study and research, and very much prayer, the “real” answers starting to appear; and I discovered they were there all the time.
We must keep in mind that as we delve into various dates, time lines, and events, there is often much disagreement. During olden times people did not have calendars like we have today, causing a lot of discrepancy in dating records, if such records were kept at all; and if not, then guess-work is often introduced to help establish various time frames. Where records were kept, there are often erroneous assumptions as to their meaning. Not only that, but different nations used dissimilar ways to figure the years of the reign of kings and events; along with that there is much debate concerning the new moons and additional months to even out the 365 and 1/4 day year, etc. Such facts, or lack of facts, obviously leaves room for doubt and argument as to the exactness of dates and events. And adding to this historical disorder, dispute is frequently based upon a historian’s perspective, biases, prejudices, or personal agenda. All of this potential chaos is still no excuse for us not to do the best we can at arriving at accurate historical data; which is this author’s intention.
How can we be sure of certain dates? Well, one thing we need to do is to be as objective as possible, and set all personal agendas aside; another thing is to be sure the years considered are within a reasonable historical time frame; and we also need to carefully match up historical events with biblical prophecy. Nevertheless, when it comes to predicting future events, “the proof is in the pudding” so to speak—the proof is in the fulfilling of the prophecy. In such cases, hindsight is usually more accurate then foresight.
It could have been very easy for God to give us exact dates for certain events, but He didn’t. Has the reader ever stopped to wonder why? Perhaps it’s because He wants us to figure things out for ourselves with the reasoning mind He has endowed us with. Besides, if we knew everything in His scheme of things, we wouldn’t need faith to trust in Him and His wisdom; we would use our natural, worldly instincts to procrastinate the day of our repentance. So He has warned us and has given us signs to look for as we search prophecy for answers. He wants us to be vigilant and watch for His coming, that we might be prepared at all times for His glorious coming.
All of this must be kept in mind as we pursue our discussion of such subjects as: the beasts of Daniel; his 70 weeks; the 1260, 1290 and 1335 days; time, times and a half time; and more. Since we will be discussing beasts in this study, let’s define what a beast is. Daniel 7:23 gives us the answer: “... The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth...” Therefore, a beast is defined as a “kingdom,” or an empire. BEAST = KINGDOM.
Although I have included the results of my own finding in the following presentation, a lot of the credit goes to one Elis Skolfield and his book, The False Prophet, along with the works of many others whom I’ve researched. However, during my probing into the subject I have also found conflict in dates, and other historical data, along with interpretation that I felt did not quite work.
I, therefore, strongly suggest that the reader not totally rely upon the work of others for answers to vital question in life, especially those questions which have answers that might impact their eternal salvation (not even this author’s work). Seek and rely upon the Holy Spirit first, not man, in all things.
Within this work I offer a few possible interpretations for the fulfillment of many biblical prophecies, such as events and time lines. In scriptural prophecy there are many types and shadows— one event being a similar type and foreshadowing a future event. Because of this there may be evidence of a prophecy being fulfilled in various ways. Another book of mine, The Whore and Beast of End Time Prophecy, is a case in point; there I present a different approach in identifying prophetic fulfillment relating to a few prophecies that are addressed within this study. However, the reader must keep in mind that even though there may seem to be differences in interpreting a particular prophecy, all things will come together in God’s on way. It’s just a matter of how all of the pieces of His great puzzle fit together.
Now if the reader finds similar thoughts and phrasing in this work as may be found in the works of others, please give those other authors the credit for such thoughts. My purpose is not to plagiarize but to present information—true facts if at all possible. I don’t need the credit, but I do want to share what I have discovered for myself and what I believe is important. So I claim no originality in what is contributed in this study, save a little editing and the arranging, organizing and formatting for the presentation.
Although this work does not necessarily represent the views of any particular religious persuasion, the facts expressed may be found to be far different than commonly considered; so the average student of Bible prophecy may find the following information to be a real mental and spiritual paradigm shift. Also, in this study, the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible will be the scriptural choice of reference.
As with many students of the Holy Writ, I have searched and re-searched scripture for the meaning of prophecies, especially those relating to the last day end time events. And like many others who have done the same, I have come up with many and varying interpretations, some of which have been rather sound in their explanation, yet leaving room for uncertainty. So how do answers to such queries arrive?
The Lord often requires us to put on our thinking caps and use the intelligence with which He has blessed us, and earn our bread by the “sweat of thy face,” so to speak, before He produces the fruit we seek. And, of course, along with this effort on our part, He expects us to continue in prayer and supplication for His grace in providing that fruit. So after a lot of study and research, and very much prayer, the “real” answers starting to appear; and I discovered they were there all the time.
We must keep in mind that as we delve into various dates, time lines, and events, there is often much disagreement. During olden times people did not have calendars like we have today, causing a lot of discrepancy in dating records, if such records were kept at all; and if not, then guess-work is often introduced to help establish various time frames. Where records were kept, there are often erroneous assumptions as to their meaning. Not only that, but different nations used dissimilar ways to figure the years of the reign of kings and events; along with that there is much debate concerning the new moons and additional months to even out the 365 and 1/4 day year, etc. Such facts, or lack of facts, obviously leaves room for doubt and argument as to the exactness of dates and events. And adding to this historical disorder, dispute is frequently based upon a historian’s perspective, biases, prejudices, or personal agenda. All of this potential chaos is still no excuse for us not to do the best we can at arriving at accurate historical data; which is this author’s intention.
How can we be sure of certain dates? Well, one thing we need to do is to be as objective as possible, and set all personal agendas aside; another thing is to be sure the years considered are within a reasonable historical time frame; and we also need to carefully match up historical events with biblical prophecy. Nevertheless, when it comes to predicting future events, “the proof is in the pudding” so to speak—the proof is in the fulfilling of the prophecy. In such cases, hindsight is usually more accurate then foresight.
It could have been very easy for God to give us exact dates for certain events, but He didn’t. Has the reader ever stopped to wonder why? Perhaps it’s because He wants us to figure things out for ourselves with the reasoning mind He has endowed us with. Besides, if we knew everything in His scheme of things, we wouldn’t need faith to trust in Him and His wisdom; we would use our natural, worldly instincts to procrastinate the day of our repentance. So He has warned us and has given us signs to look for as we search prophecy for answers. He wants us to be vigilant and watch for His coming, that we might be prepared at all times for His glorious coming.
All of this must be kept in mind as we pursue our discussion of such subjects as: the beasts of Daniel; his 70 weeks; the 1260, 1290 and 1335 days; time, times and a half time; and more. Since we will be discussing beasts in this study, let’s define what a beast is. Daniel 7:23 gives us the answer: “... The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth...” Therefore, a beast is defined as a “kingdom,” or an empire. BEAST = KINGDOM.
Although I have included the results of my own finding in the following presentation, a lot of the credit goes to one Elis Skolfield and his book, The False Prophet, along with the works of many others whom I’ve researched. However, during my probing into the subject I have also found conflict in dates, and other historical data, along with interpretation that I felt did not quite work.
I, therefore, strongly suggest that the reader not totally rely upon the work of others for answers to vital question in life, especially those questions which have answers that might impact their eternal salvation (not even this author’s work). Seek and rely upon the Holy Spirit first, not man, in all things.
Within this work I offer a few possible interpretations for the fulfillment of many biblical prophecies, such as events and time lines. In scriptural prophecy there are many types and shadows— one event being a similar type and foreshadowing a future event. Because of this there may be evidence of a prophecy being fulfilled in various ways. Another book of mine, The Whore and Beast of End Time Prophecy, is a case in point; there I present a different approach in identifying prophetic fulfillment relating to a few prophecies that are addressed within this study. However, the reader must keep in mind that even though there may seem to be differences in interpreting a particular prophecy, all things will come together in God’s on way. It’s just a matter of how all of the pieces of His great puzzle fit together.
Now if the reader finds similar thoughts and phrasing in this work as may be found in the works of others, please give those other authors the credit for such thoughts. My purpose is not to plagiarize but to present information—true facts if at all possible. I don’t need the credit, but I do want to share what I have discovered for myself and what I believe is important. So I claim no originality in what is contributed in this study, save a little editing and the arranging, organizing and formatting for the presentation.
Although this work does not necessarily represent the views of any particular religious persuasion, the facts expressed may be found to be far different than commonly considered; so the average student of Bible prophecy may find the following information to be a real mental and spiritual paradigm shift. Also, in this study, the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible will be the scriptural choice of reference.
