Daniel Chapter 2 Vs. 37

Daniel Interprets the Dream

Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. Dan. 2:37

for the God... This confirms the statement of Daniel in Dan. 2:21, "He removeth kings, and setteth up kings." God is still sovereign and can do as He wills among men. There is no power but of God (Rom. 13:1-8). He gives power to all created beings, but He is not responsible for how they use that power. He gave power to Satan and has not taken it away. He will judge him for the misuse of that power (Mat. 25:41). God has predicted the rise and fall of certain kingdoms, and if any overstep His will in the exercise of their authority they will be judged by Him. At times God has to use unsaved men as rulers to carry out certain of His necessary purposes on earth. He raised up Pharaoh who would resist His will so that He could make His power known (Exo. 4-15; Rom. 9:17-24). The Assyrians were raised up to punish the ten tribes (2Ki. 17:1-41). Nebuchadnezzar was raised up to punish Judah for her sins and to fulfill prophecy (2Ki. 24:1-20; Jer. 25:1-38). Thus God has worked and is still working among nations to bring about His eternal purpose of testing man and bringing him back to the place he was before the fall, so His original program can be carried out in the new earth as if man had never fallen (Act. 3:21; Eph. 1:10; 3:10-11; 2Pe. 3:13; Rev. 21-22). Satan and his agents seek to thwart God’s purposes in the earth (1Ch. 21:1; Job. 1:6; 2:1; Psm. 109:6; Dan. 10:12-21). Satan will be completely defeated at the second coming of Christ and God’s kingdom will then be set up on the earth forever (Rev. 11:1-19; 12:1-17; 16:1-21; 19:1-21; 20:1-15).

The Times of the Gentiles

By the times of the Gentiles we mean the administration of the Gentiles, as the rod of chastening upon Israel, to further God’s purpose concerning them. It began with Israel’s first oppression by the Gentiles in Egypt, and will continue with the history of Israel through this dispensation of Grace. It will end at the return of the Messiah in glory when he will deliver Israel from the Gentiles and exalt them as the head of all nations in the Millennium and forever (Luke 21:24; Rom. 11:25; Rev. 19:11-20:10).

The Door of Mercy Open to Gentiles:

This dispensation of the Gentiles is mentioned only in Luke 21:24 and referred to in Rom. 11:25 as "the fulness of the Gentiles." The term in Romans is often taken to mean that a time will come when God will no longer save Gentiles, but will give salvation only to the Jews. Such a doctrine is not once mentioned in the Bible. During the future tribulation both Jews and Gentiles can and will be saved (Act. 2:16-21; Rom. 1:16; 10:11-13; Rev. 7:9-17).

The term "the fulness of the Gentiles" could not mean that God will some day cut off Gentiles from salvation and become a cruel tyrant, damning the souls of men in eternity regardless of what those men may desire to do about their own destiny. This term means the same as the times of the Gentiles and has nothing to do with the salvation of the Gentiles. It refers to political domination over the Jews by the Gentiles, off and on, from the Egyptian bondage to the second coming of Christ.

Regarding the whole length of the times of the Gentiles it has already been over 3,700 years and will continue until the second coming of Christ, who will deliver the Jews from the Gentiles under Antichrist and set up an earthly kingdom over them forever (Zec. 14:1-21; Luke 1:32-33; Rev. 11:15; 19:11-21; 20:1-10; Dan. 2:44; 7:13-14, 7:18, 7:27; Isa. 9:6-7).

It is generally taught that the times of the Gentiles are 2,520 years, based upon a human theory about the seven times of Lev. 26:1-46, where God predicted that when Israel sinned He would punish them seven times for their sins. It is believed that a prophetic year is 360 days long and that one can make a day mean a year when he so pleases. Thus, a year of 360 days is made a period of 360 years. Seven periods of 360 years makes 2,520 years. Many teach that these 2,520 years began with the fall of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar about 606 B.C. Others teach they began at certain other dates in the past. This is why we have many endings for the times of the Gentiles. The following are some of the dates given in modern books of prophetic students for the ending of the times of the Gentiles: 1914, 1917, 1918, 1925, 1927, 1932, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1942, 1945, 1948, 1954, 1958, etc. It stands to reason that all these dates cannot be right. Furthermore, it is clear that there is no definite date stated in the Bible for the ending of the times of the Gentiles, or someone would have found it by now. That the Bible does not teach such a false theory of 2,520 years as the whole length of the times of the Gentiles is clear from the following points:

1. The expression "seven times" is used 31 times in the O.T. The Hebrew word for times is pa‛am, meaning a stroke. It no place does it mean a set period of time as does the Aramaic word ‛iddan, used in Dan. 2:21; 4:16, 4:23, 4:25; 7:25; 12:7.

2. If the word time means a period of 360 days it cannot also mean 360 years. No one has been given authority to change a day to a year in any passage he pleases. If God, who knows the difference between the words day and year, said days in a certain scripture, He meant days, and if He said years He meant years. Just because He commanded Israel to wander in the wilderness 40 years according to the number of days the spies were in Canaan (Num. 14:33-34) and appointed years according to the same number of days in the case of Ezekiel (Eze. 4:5-6), we need not conclude that in every place in prophecy the word days means years and years means days. Even in these passages days meant days and years meant years, for the spies were in Canaan 40 actual days, not 40 years. If it is Biblical to make days and times mean years whenever we please to prove a human theory, then let us be consistent and do this with all passages where these words are found.

If "seven times" means 2,520 years in one passage, it surely means it in all passages unless otherwise stated. According to this we would then have Jacob bowing down to Esau 2,520 years (Gen. 33:3), the Jews sprinkling blood of their sacrifices 2,520 years during each day (Lev. 4:6, 4:17; 8:11), the cleansing of each leper for 2,520 years (Lev. 14:7, 14:16, 14:27, 14:51), Israel marching around Jericho for 2,520 years on the seventh day (Jos. 6:4, 6:15), Elijah’s servant looking for rain for 2,520 years (1Ki. 18:43), and the resurrected child sneezing for 2,520 years (2Ki. 4:35).

An objection may be that these are historical facts and we are not to give "seven times" a meaning of 2,520 years except in prophetic passages. But we answer that this is just as ridiculous, for we would have Naaman dipping himself in Jordan river 2,520 years, for the prophecy was that if he should do this "seven times" he would be clean (2Ki. 5:10-14). Nebuchadnezzar would have been a maniac for 2,520 years, for the prophecy was that he would be one for "seven times" (Dan. 4:16, 4:23, 4:25).

3. The expression "seven times" is used four times in Lev. 26:1-46, and if one "seven times" means 2,520 years, then the other three also mean the same. Then, four periods of "seven times" would mean 10,080 years during which Israel was to be punished. Furthermore, according to Lev. 26:14-17, if Israel broke His covenant, God predicted He would send eight different plagues upon them. These, He predicted before mentioning the first "seven times." This explains why He said, "If ye will not YET for all this (the former eight plagues) hearken unto Me, THEN (after the period taken up by the eight plagues) I will punish you seven times MORE for your sins" (Lev. 26:18).

It is clear from Lev. 26:27-39 that all four "seven times" of punishment was to be before Israel was scattered among the nations, and anyone knows that 10,080 years did not take place before this. Thus, it is clear that the 2,520-year theory of the whole length of the times of the Gentiles, based upon one of the four "seven times" of Lev. 26:1-46, is false and proves nothing as to its length.

The phrase "seven times" means severity of punishment instead of 2,520 years. When a parent says "I will whip you seven times harder than I did yesterday," we certainly do not believe he means to beat a child 2,520 years. Such is merely a figure of speech expressing severity of punishment, and that is all God intended to express in Lev. 26:1-46. He wanted Israel to know that if one punishment would not correct them and bring them to repentance, He would bring more severe punishments upon them and finally abandon them to captivity among the nations.

Because there have been about 2,500 to 2,600 years from Daniel’s day to ours is no proof that the times of the Gentiles are 2,520 years long. Neither does the fact that Daniel pictured Gentile oppression of Israel from his day to the second coming of Christ prove that he saw the full length of the times of the Gentiles, nor does it prove that these times started in his day. Daniel merely predicted the oppressions of the Gentiles from his day on, not the beginning of them back in Egypt or the whole length of them. He could not have foretold what was already history concerning Gentile oppression of Israel.

John, in Rev. 17:8-18, predicts events concerning the beast, the eighth and last kingdom that will oppress Israel, in the times of the Gentiles. He explains that the seven heads on the beast are seven kingdoms that precede the eighth and last kingdom which will fight against Christ at His second coming. He says that five of these have already passed away before his day; that one is in his day (the sixth, or old Roman Empire); that the seventh is yet to come between the sixth and the eighth (the Revised Roman Empire made up of ten kingdoms, as foretold by the ten toes on the image of Dan. 2:40-44, and the ten horns of Dan. 7:7-8, 7:23-24; Rev. 13:1-8; 17:8-17); and that the eighth will be the last kingdom on earth before Christ comes to earth. The five that have passed away before John’s day are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. They are the only empires oppressing Israel before John’s day that could be referred to. See Rev. 17:8-17; Psm. 80:13.

4. We know that the Gentiles in Egypt oppressed Israel for a much longer period than Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon did, for when Moses was born Israel was already being oppressed, as proved by the law to kill all male children. He was 80 years old when he led Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Israel was in Babylon only 70 years (Jer. 25:11). What would this oppression of Israel be called if not the times of the Gentiles? Then, after this kingdom oppressed Israel off and on for hundreds of years, the Assyrian Empire oppressed them and took the 10 tribes captive. What was this but the times of the Gentiles? It is but a human theory that the times of the Gentiles began with Nebuchadnezzar. The fact is, they had already been going on for about 1,200 years by the time of Nebuchadnezzar.

5. If the whole length of the times of the Gentiles was to be 2,520 years, then they have already ended, for 2,520 years of 360 days each (as a year is supposed to be by this theory) make 907,200 days. But from 606 B.C. (when Judah was taken to Babylon, at which time, according to most prophetic scholars, the times of the Gentiles began) to A.D. 1958 there have already been 2,564 years of 365 1/4 days or a total of 936,501 days. This makes a difference of 29,301 days between the two periods or approximately 80 years. According to this the times of the Gentiles ended around 1878 and that is long before any modern prophetic student has placed a date for their ending.

Thus it is clear that the times of the Gentiles began with the first oppression of Israel by the Gentiles and that they have continued as the Gentiles have oppressed the Jews off and on for over 3,711 years up to 1959 A.D. The Jews are still being oppressed by the Gentiles, and Jerusalem is still being trodden down by them and will be until the second coming of Christ, except for a short period when Israel will again have control of the city before Antichrist breaks his 7-year covenant with them in the future (Dan. 9:27; Rev. 11:1-2). The Scriptures show clearly that Christ will deliver the Jews from the Gentiles at His second advent (Zec. 14:1-21; Luke 21:24; Rom. 11:25; Dan. 2:44-45; 7:13-14, 7:18, 7:27; 8:20-25; Rev. 11:1-2, 11:15; 19:11-21). Because Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles during the last 42 months of this age, it is certain that the times of the Gentiles will continue until then (Rev. 11:1-2; Dan. 9:27; Dan. 11:45-12:7). How many more years there will be before Daniel’s 70th week begins and the Antichrist comes to make this 7-year covenant with the Jews is not stated in Scripture, and all speculation is valueless. The times of the Gentiles have already continued through 6 world empires the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman—and they will continue through 2 more in the near future—the Revised Roman made up of 10 kingdoms, and the Revived Grecian made up of the same 10 but headed by the Antichrist who will be defeated by Christ at His second coming (Dan. 7:23-24; Rev. 13:1-8; 17:8-17).