Influence of Daniel on Revelation, Part IV
*******
Womanhood Introduced
*******
As one further explores the influence of Daniel on John, perhaps a few clues will emerge to help answer some of these momentous concerns.
Just as in Revelation 11, John combined the prophecies of Zechariah and Moses with Daniel’s dates for the Second Advent, in Revelation 12 the apostle did the same with those of Micah and Daniel — and then concludes the chapter with another reference to Daniel.
Daniel’s date for the Second Advent, as revealed in Daniel 12, is found in two verses in Revelation 12:
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days [1260 years].
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time [1260 years], from the face of the serpent.
Through these dates, the woman here is associated with the two witnesses, olive trees, and prophets in John’s previous chapter. So, a couple of questions arise about this woman: Does she represent the spiritual identity of one of the witnesses, one of the prophets, witnessing, through references to the book of Daniel, the impersonal Christ on the waters of Hiddekel? It is reasonable to expect from the wording in Revelation that she existed before, during, and after the 1260 years and flies with eagle wings. Furthermore, her true spiritual identity would not be limited by mortal measurements of time.
But can this woman with eagle wings be at least partially human? Can this metaphor embrace humanity? In Exodus 19:4, the “you” refers to God’s people: “I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.”
So, what if this woman with eagle wings is partially human, partially divine, some kind of divine coincidence of the human and the divine, a simulation of Daniel’s powerful Nebuchadnezzar as symbolized prophetically by a lion with eagle wings (Daniel 7:4)? If so, she would be a special woman because, in prophecy, anyone or thing with eagle wings has majesty!