April 26, 2008

The Colossal Statue and The Four Beasts in Daniel

Update: I have learned that the chart does not work in the IE browser. If you have Firefox it works in that. I will just have to convert this to an image so it works in all browsers when I find time. Thanks.

Daniel 2: The Colossal Statue

Theme            Liberal Critics              Amillennial                 Premillennial
                        (e.g. Driver)                (e.g. Young)              (e.g. Gaebelein)

Gold Head           Babylon                    Babylon                       Babylon

Silver Torso          Media                       Medo-Persia               Medo-Persia

Bronze Thighs      Persia                       Greece                        Greece

Iron Legs,             Greece                      Rome              Rome/Revived Rome
Iron Clay Feet                                     

Daniel 7: The Four Beasts

Theme             Liberal Critics               Amillennial                  Premillennial

Lion                    Babylon                       Babylon                       Babylon

Bear                    Media                         Medo-Persia                Medo-Persia

Leopard              Persia                          Greece                         Greece

Beast w/              Greece                        Rome               Rome/Revived Rome
Iron Teeth                                                 
& 10 Horns                                                
Little Horn         Antiochus IV                Antichrist                    Antichrist
                            Epiphanes

Question: Why don't liberal critics recognize Rome in these two dreams in Daniel? Answer: They reject a sixth century dating of Daniel (Babylonian period) because their anti-supernatural bias forces them to see the visions as interpretations of the past and not revelations of the future. In short, they reject predictive prophecy (i.e., the visions could not predict the coming of the kingdoms of Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome).  So they date Daniel to the second century during the days of Antiochus Epiphanes (165/164 BC) and thus they view the fourth kingdom as Greece. There are other reasons why liberal critics will reject a sixth century dating but understand that their deep-seated bias against predictive prophecy is what really drives their argumentation.

(Source for the Chart: Lecture notes from Dr. J.J. Niehaus, Old Testament Prophetical Books)