Influence of Daniel on Revelation, Part I
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It might be worthwhile to examine how Daniel’s dates influenced the apostle John when he was writing Revelation. Five of Daniel’s seven prophecies pertaining to the Second Advent particularly correlate to Revelation. Two are obvious; one other is mentioned by some biblical scholars and are discussed in Chapter XIX.
John repeats the Old Testament prophet’s second calculation, “a time and times and the dividing of time” (Daniel 7: 25), for determining the end of the temporal power of the fourth beast, Rome, the one with iron teeth.
It is John’s focus on Daniel 12 in his Revelation 11 that has led biblical scholars to recognize that the prophecy points to the Second Advent instead of just to the end of the fourth beast with iron teeth as portrayed in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13.
“Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.” Remember that the river was Hiddekel (the Word of God). Standing on the waters of the river was the personification of absolute Purity, or the impersonal Christ, answering the witnesses as to when the Second Advent would occur, that is, in 1260 years. John wrote in Revelation:
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. (Revelation 11:3)
To get a full meaning of what John did and how it tied in with Daniel, one must go back to Zechariah. There, the “two olive trees” are also identified as “two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves” (verse 12) and as “the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth” (verse 14). Thus, the two anointed ones are the two witnesses in Daniel, two anointed by God.
Then in verse 4, John extraordinarily equated these two witnesses from Daniel 12 with “the two olive trees,” “the two candlesticks” in Zechariah 4:1-3, 11-14.
4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. (Revelation 11:4)
1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,
2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. (Zechariah 4:1–3)
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11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. (Zechariah 4:11–14)
Thus, John’s correlation of Daniel’s two witnesses (Daniel 12:5, 6) with Zechariah’s “two olive branches” (Zechariah 4:12) calls forth much more to explore and examine.