February 22–28

This weekly feature is dedicated to Adventists who are looking for biblical insights into the topics discussed in the Sabbath School lesson quarterly. We post articles which address each lesson as presented in the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, including biblical commentary on them. We hope you find this material helpful and that you will come to know Jesus and His revelation of Himself in His word in profound biblical ways.

 

Lesson 9: “From Contamination to Purification”

To begin this week’s lesson, I want to re-state some of what I said in last week’s lesson comments.

As we continue with the rest of Daniel, keep in mind that there are different possible interpretations. The only thing about which we should be certain is that we must correctly handle the Word of God. We must not accept or condone any mis-handling of clear Scripture.

While there are differences in opinion on how to interpret prophecy, I will follow the lead of Biblical scholars who most closely follow the Bible without changes, additions, or subtractions and who can back up their opinions with the clear support of other texts.

While remembering that there are different possibilities when it comes to interpreting prophecy, there is also a correct way to do it. Starting with one’s pre-conceived ideas and cherry-picking words and phrases to support that idea is not the right way. 

Even if I agreed with the interpretation given in this lesson, the lesson’s point would still be a major problem due to the convoluted, arbitrary, and backwards reasoning. The author picks out certain words that were used in more than one place and uses them to “prove” that they are talking about the same thing in every different situation.

So, rather than try to pick our way through this convoluted lesson, why don’t we just lay out a different interpretation that does not misuse the text? Let’s see how these understandings fit history and reflect what we are told in other places in Scripture about things still future to us.

One other factor to remember—this chapter is dealing with issues related to Israel. Israel is central to Old Testament Scripture as God’s chosen people, so any directions given, unless specifically stated otherwise, are oriented towards Jerusalem.

So, in Daniel 8: after giving the time and place, Daniel says he had a vision.

There was a ram with two unequally-sized horns. This figure fits with the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. The Medes came up first, just like the one horn, but the Persians, which came up later, were stronger—the bigger horn. Next Daniel saw another animal: A male goat from the west, moving so fast he didn’t touch the earth.

This animal fits history and it fits most historians’ description of Alexander the Great. He came from Greece, west of Israel, and the fast movement referred to his method of rapidly attacking and overwhelming enemies as he conquered nations. He broke the horns (the power) of the Medes and the Persians and took over.

But as soon as he conquered virtually all of the known world, the horn broke—Alexander the Great died—and four horns came up in his place. 

It is a known historical fact that four of his generals divided up the kingdom among themselves.

Out of “one of them”—the four horns—(contrary to the lesson’s mistaken application of this phrase) arose another horn which exalted himself “to be equal with the Commander of the host”.

Most Bible scholars agree that verses 10-12 are very difficult to interpret, and there are many varying ideas of what they mean. As the simplest explanation is often the right one, let’s see how it fits.

In this case, this passage could very well be one of the prophecies that have dual fulfillment—one near and one far.

The near could very well be referring to Antiochus Epiphanes and his desecration of the temple in Jerusalem. Based on his actions, he was either indwelt by the devil himself, or at least he was following his leading. It is the devil that fits the description in verses 10-12. 

The far fulfillment of this passage fits the antichrist. In fact, this quote explains this possibility quite well:

“Bible prophecies often have a pre-fillment in symbolic type before their actual fulfillment in history. A good example is Antiochus Epiphanes who was a symbolic type of the Antichrist. Another example would be the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, which was a symbolic type of the destruction Jerusalem will experience during the Great Tribulation.” David Reagan

The problem, however, is the so-called “2,300 day” prophecy.

First of all, according to Biblical scholars who can read this in the original language, using the English word “day” is an inaccurate translation. The Hebrew word for a day, a 24-hour period, is yom, and that isn’t the word found here. The word used (so I am told by those who read Hebrew) is one that is more accurately translated “evenings and mornings” which refer to the daily set of sacrifices which were offered each evening and each morning. That would make the 2,300 “evenings and mornings” a total of 1,150 24-hour days.

However it fits, or doesn’t fit, with the timeline given, the Temple in Jerusalem was desecrated and was then restored, cleansed, and re-dedicated. If you haven’t read the story of the miraculous preservation of the oil for the temple lamps, you should look it up. It is the entire basis for the Jewish celebration of Hannukah which Jesus celebrated, called the Feast of Dedication in John 10:22.

I have read numerous explanations of how that 2,300 day timeline could fit, and I ended up agreeing with most of them that said they don’t know just how it fits.

However, to use this prophecy to say that there is a physical sanctuary in heaven, and to say that the sanctuary is defiled by sin is to completely change what the Bible says about sin and the blood of Jesus which purifies us from sin. There isn’t room here for a complete examination of the subject, but I would highly recommend you read an in-depth article on this subject. It can be found here.

Now back to the lesson: starting with verse 15, Gabriel gives Daniel the interpretation of the vision and identifies the various entities in it. This explanation is followed by Daniel’s description of how all of this information affected him.

The above outline is the simplest explanation of the timeline that fits the text. These understandings  don’t add nor take away from it. In fact, as most of this vision is now history, it can be verified with a little research.

As far as the explanation given by the lesson goes, it is a confusing collection of assumptions that are used to support a pre-conceived idea that was started by people who were barely educated and totally unable to read or understand the Hebrew or Aramaic texts. 

Remember, understanding prophecy is not a requirement for salvation. The real problem, however, is that there are a few things in the lesson that blatantly contradict the Bible and downgrade the divinity of Jesus.

The lesson goes out of its way to say that the little horns of Daniel 7 and 8 are the same. It even uses a list of “proofs” based on the fact that some of the same words are used.  But that explanation is twisting the text to say what it doesn’t actually say. For instance, look at the difference between the two:

The little horn in verse 7 came out of the fourth kingdom, while the one in verse 8 came out of the third kingdom. This fact makes these horns completely different.

A much more serious distortion comes from the lesson where it says this:

“Also, Daniel 8:11 talks about a “Prince,” who is elsewhere mentioned in Daniel as “Messiah the Prince” (Dan. 9:25), “Michael your prince” (Dan. 10:21), and “Michael” the “great prince” (Dan. 12:1)”

This is a serious heresy as it says that Jesus is Michael the archangel. That identification may fit with early Adventism’s Arian beginnings that taught that Jesus was elevated by God to be equal with Himself, a teaching that actually denies the deity of Jesus.

Either He was always God, or He isn’t God now, and that assumption is a very serious charge to bring against Him. Consider the fact that your very salvation depends on Jesus being the perfect, sinless Lamb of God. As a man, He died in our place to take our punishment for sin; as God, only He was perfect and blameless and therefore able to take our place on the cross to pay that price.

Furthermore, as He was always God, He cannot be an angel, even an “archangel”. Look at Strong’s Concordance as it defines the word:

Strong’s #743

• Archangel “a chief angel”
• Archangel is a combination of: 
• #757 — to be first in political rank or position and 
• #32 — a pastor, messenger, angel

These words are simply the definitions and translations of the original language, not a doctrinal statement; the two words combined mean an angel or messenger who is one of, and the chief over, the angels or messengers.

Look also at Daniel 10:13, which we will discuss further in a few weeks:

“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.”

Jesus is not “one of” anything! In fact, the first chapter of Hebrews goes to great lengths to say that Jesus is above the angels in rank and position. It stresses His superiority over them. They may be called “princes”, but He is not just another prince, slightly superior to all the others. In Isaiah 9:6 He is called: 

• Wonderful Counselor
• Mighty God
• Eternal Father 
• Prince of Peace

He is God and always was!

In light of all these strange machinations, distortions, and outright blasphemous statements, I marvel at this question near the end of the week’s lesson:

“What should this study tell us about how important the knowledge of biblical truth really is in contrast to human traditions?”

Adventism’s inaccurate interpretations of Scripture have become “human traditions”. They incriminate themselves with their own questions. †