Don’t you wish that Daniel’s interpretation was more
specific? Don’t you wish it told the
exact kings and kingdoms that would come prior to the establishment of God’s “kingdom
that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.
It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it
shall stand forever”? We want to know
these things, huge numbers of books have been written on the topic of the end
times and attempts are constantly being made to predict when it will occur,
pointing to the signs of the times as fulfillment of the prophetic words, but
such beliefs have been a part of the church from its beginnings. If God thought it were necessary for us to
know, He would have made that clear. Did
Nebuchadnezzar believe Daniel’s interpretation of the dream because he could
also tell accurately what the dream had been or did he have a witness of the
Holy Spirit that the interpretation was true?
We can’t know, but we do know that Daniel remembered his friends when he
received honor and sought to bless them as well.
As unspecific as Daniel was about the kingdoms that would
follow Nebuchadnezzar, Luke couldn’t have been more specific about the timing
of John’s ministry, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and
Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas…” The order, from a worldly perspective, is
from greatest to least important. Luke tells
us that John was in the wilderness and the word of God came to him and then he
began to preach repentance and baptism for forgiveness. It is interesting that when John begins to
preach thus, the people respond to it not with protestation but with the same
question asked on the day of Pentecost, “What then shall we do?” That day, Peter told them to repent and be
baptized, the same message John gave but this baptism was more specific than
John’s, it was in the name of Jesus. John
also knew that repentance and baptism were only the beginning, life change was necessary
afterwards. The instruction, love and
treat others as you would wish to be treated.
John believed it was the last hour and warned his people
that they needed to be alert for antichrists.
Clearly he is speaking about those who taught that Jesus had not come “in
the flesh” as he mentioned earlier in the epistle. These must have been gnostics who claim
special knowledge and John reassures the readers that they know Jesus, this
special knowledge is not from God. John
can say this because he was with Jesus, he knows first-hand from experience not
some special revelation in contradiction to the experience. It wasn’t and isn’t important for us to know
the end time, it was and is important that we abide in Him. Knowing Him is more important knowledge than
anything. All we are to be doing is the
work He has given us to do.
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