Daniel in the Book of Revelation
The identity of the guiding, signifying angel of Revelation 1:1 is a powerful clue to the interpretation of
the Book as the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy of the end of the Jewish people and city.
Throughout
the Book of Revelation we see an angel of the Lord guiding, teaching and exercising
authority among the angels. This guiding angel can be none other than Daniel the prophet. A study of the relevant passages
from Daniel and Revelation along with an in depth look at some significant
words, will show this to be true.
In
the first verse of the Book of Revelation, we are introduced to this angel who is to signify
the revelation to John:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and
he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
In 21:17 we again see this angel and the angel is a man: “… according to the measure of a man, that
is, of the angel.” In chapter 22 we
learn more about his identity:
8 And I John saw these
things, and heard [them]. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship
before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. 9 Then saith he unto
me, See [thou do it] not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the
prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God, (Revelation 22:8-9).
This angel is a “fellowservant” and “of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of
this book.” Who else qualifies among the prophets of the Bible for this role?
Let us look at some of the characteristics of this angel. This angel is
sometimes called “strong” or “mighty,” as in Revelation 5:2; 10:1; and 18:1,
21. Other references show his power and authority among the other angels: 7:2;
8:3-5, 13; 14:6-7, 15; 17:1, 7; 19:5-10; 20:1-3; 21:9, 10, 17; 22:1, 6, 8-10,
16. There are also references to a voice, perhaps the angel, in 4:1; 9:13;
10:8; 14:2, 13; 16:1; 19:5, 17; 21:3, 4.
So could Daniel qualify as this angel? Let us study the word angel as it is used in the Book
of Daniel in Hebrew, (Aramaic).[1]
Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon gives the
following definition, (abbreviated): mal’âk, 1. (a) messenger … (b)
a prophet, as in Isaiah 42:19; 44:26; 2
Chronicles 36:15-16; Haggai 1:13; the herald
of the advent, Malachi 3:1; (c) priest, Malachi 2:7 … (d) Job 33:23, a messenger
from God acting as an interpreter and declaring what is right…; 2. angel, as messenger of God … in
theophanies, Genesis 19:1, 15; …
praising Him, Psalm 103:20 …; charged
with care of the pious, Psalm 91:11 …; excellent, wise, powerful …; destroying
by the judgment of Yahweh, 2 Samuel 24:16-17=1
Chronicles 21:12-30; 2 Kings 19:35=Isaiah 37:36;=2
Chronicles 32:21.[2]
Thus it
is clear that the word translated "angel" could be used appropriately of Daniel, for he was an excellent, wise and powerful prophet,
messenger, and interpreter. Daniel was a figure towering over most all of the
personalities of history or literature. This Daniel was a man whose faith stood
the test in the face of a conquering king when he refused to eat defiled food
and when he refused to worship an idol. His faith was so strong that he could
ask God to reveal secrets of wisdom, even so far as telling the king what he
had dreamed with the interpretation, even though the interpretation was not
favorable to the king. This Daniel read the handwriting on the wall. He prayed
three times a day, facing Jerusalem. He worshipped and blessed the name of God in the
most severe tests. He was granted the privilege to see the majestic sweep of
more than 490 years of world history
including the end of the nation of Israel.
This
Daniel served with
honor, dignity and great success under at least four kings, even in spite of
the overthrow and change of governments from one nation to another. His wisdom
and moral merit were proverbial, (Ezek. 14:14). Even as a youth he was found
ten times better than all the other wise men of the kingdom, (Dan. 1:20; 5:11, 12, 14; 9:2; 10:1). Truly, Daniel was a
very strong, courageous and talented leader while living on earth, qualifying
him for the title "angel."
However,
the supreme irony of the Book of Daniel is that in his
final vision, this wisest and best of men did not understand. Although an angel
had been dispatched several times to cause Daniel to understand the previous
visions, (8:16-17; 9:22; 10:12, 14; 11:33), this time, he was not to understand
until after his death:
And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my
Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are
closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made
white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked
shall understand; but the wise shall understand. …. But go thou thy way till
the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days, (Dan. 12:8-10, 13).
These
things were to be hidden, even from Daniel, until “the time
of the end.” The wicked would never understand, but at that appointed time,
the wise would understand, and this surely included Daniel. The phrases “end of these things,” “time of the end,” “the end,” “the end of the
days,” all represent the time of the predicted destruction of the nation,
the city and the sanctuary 490 years plus a “time, times and dividing of times,” (Dan.
9:24-27). For Daniel, “the
end of the age” for Israel would have seemed like the end of the whole
world, for he could not conceive of the world going on without the nation of
Israel.
What is
this promise to Daniel “…thou shalt… stand in thy lot at the end of
the days”? Let us study the word lot. The definition from
Brown-Driver-Briggs, (abbreviated), gives:
gôwral -1. A lot
for dividing land, as Joshua did at Shiloh,
(Josh. 18:4); 2. lot for assigning to service, duty or
punishment … as priests to their courses, singers, musicians and porters to
their duties by lot (1 Chron.); 3.
a thing assigned, apportioned or allotted; also, (Dan. 12:13), of allotted portion, share in the Messianic consummation;
more generally, one’s portion, lot, fortune;
4. portion, recompense, retribution, implying divine agency (ibid.,
p. 174).
Senses
two, three and four seem to apply to our passage. Just as the priests, Levites, singers, etc., had an assigned duty at an appointed
time for service, so Daniel was assigned a
time and place for service in the inauguration of the Messianic kingdom of which
he had been given the vision in 2:44-45; 7:13-14, 18, 27; 9:24-27, and chapter
12. He was granted that high honor, as his allotted portion, and a reward, or
recompense, for his faithful service.
Indeed,
Daniel was not the only
one that would have the high privilege of participating in that promised
kingdom:
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;
and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever, (Dan. 12:2-3).
If the Book
of Revelation is about the
consummation and confirmation of the Messianic fulfillment of
Daniel’s visions, then we should expect Daniel to be there,
doing his duty, receiving his recompense, and participating in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. This is exactly what we do see in the role of the guiding
angel in the Book of
Revelation.
Why
could not Daniel understand the
vision in his lifetime? It concerned the destruction of the city and sanctuary,
(Dan. 9:26-7), the defeat of the “chosen
people” (11:15), the desolation of the “glorious
land,” (11:16), the successful exploits of the evil prince against the holy
covenant, (11:28, 30). Even the holy place was to be desecrated and the daily
sacrifice caused to cease, (11:31). Indeed, there was to be a time of trouble
like never was since Israel was a nation, and indeed shall never be again upon
this nation, (for this is the end of the nation, 12:1).
Daniel could not
understand because the end of the fleshly nation was such a great mystery at this
time that it was unthinkable even to Daniel. Even the wisest of men could not
reason as to how the Most High God, the covenant-keeping God who had made an everlasting promise to
Abraham and his Seed, and Who had made an everlasting promise to David, and Who had said of Jerusalem: “I have chosen
Jerusalem, that my name might be there.” (2 Chron. 6:6). Even after
she had been sorely punished for her sins, Zechariah could say: “The Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall
yet choose Jerusalem,” (Zech. 1:17; 2:12); and, “I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem,”
(8:3).
Daniel’s faith had been vindicated many times. He confidently
believed that the Babylonian captivity would
be for seventy years, for it was recorded in the Scriptures. He knew with all
the assurance of faith that the nation would be restored after the captivity. Knowing
the promises of God, His sworn covenants, His power and faithfulness, there was
no way the nation, city, and Temple could be forever
abolished. In the farthest reaches of the faith of one of the greatest men of
faith, it was impossible because “God cannot lie.” This was the mystery that
had been hidden for ages:
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from
generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, (Col. 1:26-27).[3]
Daniel did not yet know
that Christ is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end.” He did not yet see that the fleshly kingdom could be
translated into a heavenly kingdom in Christ; that in the crucifixion, the old
nation died, but in the resurrection the nation lived again with the eternal life
which God had ordained from the beginning.
Throughout
the ages of time from the first covenant of God, Mankind reasoned that God
would fulfill His covenant through the flesh. It was never so. Before the foundations of the world,
Christ, the Lamb, the Seed of the Woman, the Seed of Promise in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the coming King of the line of David, the eternal High Priest, this Christ was slain for
sin. The mystery of Christ, hidden throughout those generations was the Holy
Seed, the Faithful Remnant, the Root and the Offspring of David. It was not the
fleshly DNA, but the Holy Word in the nation that was their hope of glory. “Christ in you,” [you plural], that is, in the nation, not just
individuals. These things Daniel was privileged to
see in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
The
very name of the Book of Revelation, Apocalupsis, in the Greek is the same word
used by the Septuagint to translate revelation
and revealer [of secrets] in Daniel 2:19, 22, 28-30,
47 and 10:1. In Daniel it translates forms of the Hebrew word galah, “to uncover, remove, display, reveal, …PIEL (1)… (b) to uncover any one’s eyes… to open
them, to shew to him things hidden from mortals….(2) … to reveal some hidden thing … a secret, … to make known God’s power and glory … to
uncover a veil, which veiled over anything (BDB 162-3 and 1086).[4]
It is
that great mystery, hidden even from Daniel for a time, which
the New Testament reveals and of which the Book of Revelation is the epitome.
The Book of Revelation shows the Great Revealer of Secrets at work again. And
Daniel was in on it:
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his
secret unto his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)
[1] Rudolf Kittel, ed., Biblia Hebraica, Seventh Edition. Seventh edition edited and emended by
A. Alt, O. Eissfeldt and P. Kahle. Contributors: W. Baumgartner, G. Beer, J. Begrich, J. A.
Bewer, F. Buhl, J. Hempel, F. Horst, M. Noth, O. Procksch, G. Quell, Th. H. Robinson,
W. Rudolph, H. H. Schaeder, (Stuttgart, Germany, Württembergische Bibelanstalt,
1937). Hereafter referred to as BH. The word as we have it in the received text
of the BH is in the Aramaic dialect.
[2] Francis Brown, ed., with S. R. Driver and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament With an Appendix
Containing the Biblical Aramaic, based on the Lexicon of William Gesenius, translated by Edward
Robinson, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1951), 521. Hereafter referred to as BDB.
[3] See also Matthew 13:10, 11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10; Romans 11:25-26; 16:25; 1 Corinthians. 2:7; 4:1;
Ephesians 1:9; 3:3-11; 6:19; Colossians 2:2-3; 4:3; 1 Timothy. 3:9, 16.
[4] The Hebrew form is galah,
but the form used in Daniel 2 is the Aramaic form gela.’
This lesson is from my book Revelation In Context, pages 13-16. Revelation In Context is available locally at Living Word Bookstore, Shawnee, Oklahoma, or online at www.Amazon.com or www.xulonpress.com . Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.
