hotcoffee
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Daniel 12:5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. 6 One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?”
7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time.b When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.”
7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time.b When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.”
b.Daniel 12:7 Or a year, two years and half a year
Now we have a real meeting. Two more beings have arrived.
Remember, in the Old Testament, it takes two witnesses to convict someone. Daniel lives in the Old Testament.
Daniel describes one of the angels as "the man clothed in linen". The commentaries are all over the place on this description. Some say he's just an angel, some say it's the Pre-Incarnate Jesus, and others say it's Jesus, Himself. It seems to me, Daniel has taken the time to describe this being. So this being is significant.
It also strikes me that the being is moving "above the waters of the river". We all know that Jesus walked on water, but we also know that Peter, through faith, walked on water as well. So we know that whoever this being is, he is at least faithful [on God's side, in other words]. Daniel didn't know Jesus walked on water, though. So Daniel wouldn't have called Him the Messiah at this point.
If we go back to Daniel 11 and look at the prophecy fulfillment, and we continue in historical time.... this is about the time period that Jesus would have been walking on water, and Peter might very well be the second being that showed up..... but that's just my injection into all this, and I'm only a reader. Doesn't it make sense though that Daniel would see this in the vision and then it would be written into the New Testament as yet another fulfillment of prophecy? Wouldn't it make sense that Jesus [and Peter] walked on water to show that Daniel's Vision was a God Given sign that Jesus is the Messiah?
Then we come to Verse 7 and the "when the power of the holy people has been broken" phrase. I think we all know who the "holy people" are. In the Old Testament the "holy people" have always been God's Chosen people.... The Jews.
Daniel was captured and castrated, and has lived the majority of his life in Babylon because the Jews would not obey God. In Chapter 11, following the historical prophecy, we see that the Temple had been desecrated when the Romans brought in idols. We also see that the high priests are appointed by the government and usually the one who has the biggest bribe is the one appointed. We also see that the Jews are allowing this to happen. The Jews are just not standing up for God.
Now look at the ministry of Jesus. How many times did Jesus tell the Pharisees and the Sadducees to get right with God? Didn't we watch Jesus get angry in the Temple when He took on the money changers? How many times did Jesus confront and confound the leaders of the Temple? And let's not forget that Jesus was put to death by the high priest, Caiaphas, who was appointed by Rome.
When I look at the “It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.” statement I see something totally different than a great tribulation time period. Jesus was preaching for about 3 years. He then was visible to the Disciples and followers for a short time after that. Doesn't that add up to three and a half years? Doesn't that bring completion?
Like I said, I'm not a preacher. I haven't been to seminary school. I'm just a reader. I really don't know what I'm talking about and most of the time I rely on the commentaries to study these verses in the Bible.... but there's no continuity to the commentary for this chapter. I totally feel like I'm on my own here. I pray for words to post here and these are the words that came through as I understand them.
