What I find surprising is that Daniel had the reputation of being able to interpret dreams and visions (Daniel 1:17; cp. 5:10-12), yet Daniel didn’t depend upon his gift that the Lord had given him. He was given the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2, and all of Daniel’s dreams and visions are based upon that one dream near the very beginning of the book. Yet, Daniel didn’t rely on the things he knew. He still wanted the Lord to reveal to him what he, himself, had seen in a vision or in a dream. When folks are revealing something, we wish to know, and in that process, if they repeat something we already understand, don’t we interrupt them to say, “Yes, I know that, but what about this…” or something like that. In fact, we readily do so, and how much does it affect the flow of the revelation, and if the thought process is interrupted, was anything inadvertently left out, forgotten, or perhaps, the revelator, thinking we already know, leaves it out, because he doesn’t want to be rebuked again?
Admittedly, there are some things, important things, about Daniel’s dreams or visions that don’t appear in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, but the skeleton is there in chapter 7 and repeated somewhat in chapter 8 of the Book of Daniel. However, Daniel simply desires to know the meaning of what he witnessed in his dream or vision (Daniel 8:15; cp. 8:1-2). Immediately, there appeared before Daniel, a figure that had the appearance of a man. He called out from between the banks of the Ulai River in Persia, and told Gabriel to explain the meaning of the vision to Daniel, and he came near, and Daniel fell down before him in fear. Gabriel, then told Daniel that the vision was for the time of the end (Daniel 8:16-17),
Let’s consider this for a moment. How would Daniel understand the phrase time of the end? The phrase “the end of time” never appears in the Bible. The phrase “the time of the end” appears five times in the Bible, all in Daniel![1] This being so, and if Daniel never asked about the meaning of the phrase: the time of the end, then Daniel must have had some understanding of its meaning. If this is logical and true, where might we find an explanation for the phrase the time of the end?
Just before he died, Jacob gathered his sons together before him (Genesis 49:1) and told them he would reveal what would occur to them in the last (H319) days (H3117). Later, just before he died, Moses gathered the elders of the children of Israel together (Deuteronomy 31:28) in order to tell them what would happen to them, after they corrupted themselves and rebelled against the Lord in the last (H319) days (H3117; see Deuteronomy 31:29). What followed is called the Song of Moses. It begins in Deuteronomy 31:30 and incorporates nearly all of chapter 32 (Deuteronomy 32:1-47). What Moses claimed was, they would become a crooked generation Deuteronomy 32:5; cp. Matthew 3:7; 16:4; 17:17), and end up like Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 32:32; cp. Matthew 11:23-24). If Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, then the destruction of the land of the Jews would be eminent during the last days (Genesis 49:1; Deuteronomy 31:29).
In the Book of Acts Peter is quoted as saying, “It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” He mentioned this as an explanation to the pilgrims at Jerusalem for what they saw, after the Holy Spirit had fallen upon the disciples of Jesus (Acts 2:14-17). In other words, Peter claimed the first century AD were the last days of the children of Israel. Furthermore, Paul explains to his readers that the time of the last days was initiated by Jesus’ coming in the flesh (Hebrews 1:2), and ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70. Thus, Paul explains the Old Covenant would be brought to an abrupt end (cp. Hebrews 8:7-13), by declaring it was ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:13).
It is in this context that Daniel would understand the phrase, the time of the end (cp. Genesis 49:1; Deuteronomy 31:29). The phrase appears only in Daniel (five occurrences) as mentioned above. It is noteworthy to understand that Daniel never asked any heavenly being who spoke of the time of the end to explain what the phrase meant. Neither did any heavenly being think it necessary to explain what the phrase meant, if Daniel had a false understanding of the phrase. Why reveal to Daniel what would occur in time of the end, if Daniel didn’t know what the phrase meant? What is the value of any revelation, if nothing is understood about when to expect the prophecy to be fulfilled? Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the time of the end concerned the last days (Genesis 49:1; Deuteronomy 31:29), and these days are revealed in the New Covenant text to be the days between Jesus’ public ministry and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70!
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[1] The phrase the time of the end appears in Daniel 8:17; 11:35, 40; and 12:4, 9.
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