Is America Represented In Daniel 7:4?

Biblegems #244

Question: Does Daniel 7:4 indicate a prophetic role for America, as represented by the eagle, and as represented by the chapter / verse designation 7:4 (analogous to July 4: Independence Day)?

Daniel 7:4 reads:   “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it.”

The Eagle

The lion with the eagle’s wings in Daniel 7:4 represents Babylon, not America. Here’s why:

Daniel 7 re-introduces the prophecy of four great empires from Daniel chapter two. The rise and fall of these empires is represented by four “beasts,” beginning with Babylon, where Daniel lived as a Jewish exile. Babylon is followed by Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome (Dan. 7:16-17). The Roman empire in Daniel’s prophecy is revived in the form of a ten-nation confederacy ruled by the Antichrist in the Last Days, until the coming of the Son of Man (Dan. 7:19-22).

The lion in Daniel’s vision was the symbol of Babylon under king Nebuchadnezzar, and for centuries later. The Ishtar Gate entrance in Babylon was decorated on both sides with a long procession of yellow lions carved in high relief on blue-glazed brick. The eagle’s wings plucked from the lion’s side symbolized how powerful king Nebuchadnezzar had been humbled by his seven-year period of insanity for not acknowledging the sovereignty of God (Dan. 4).

Chapter seven, verse four

Finding a prophetic connection between a particular Bible chapter and verse number and a particular calendar event (or whatever) is simply bad biblical interpretation on so many levels. Here are just a few reasons why:

• Chapter and verse separation was not part of the inspiration process, but a study aid added long after the canon of Scripture as God’s inspired Word was completed. The Old Testament chapter and verse system was developed by a Jewish rabbi in 1448 A.D., and the New Testament equivalent was completed by Stephanus in 1555 A.D.

That means that for more than 1500 years the prophetic meaning of Daniel 7:4 would have held no meaning—because there was no Daniel 7:4 chapter and verse number!

It also means that interpreting chapter and verse numbers is not biblical interpretation at all…it is interpreting a Bible study system!

• Even if it were argued that God accounted for the chapter and verse study system in advance, who is to say that 7:4 must refer to America’s Independence Day? July 4 is also National Country Music Day and Sidewalk Egg Frying Day.

In fact, who’s to say 7 / 4 refers to a date at all? Perhaps it refers to the seventh planet (Uranus) and its fourth moon (Cressida), or perhaps it refers to England’s seventh King (Eadwig) and the fourth year of his reign (963 A.D.).

There is no biblical reason for interpreting 7:4 as July 4^th (American Independence Day).

Correctly interpreting the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15) recognizes that the Bible is the revelation of God’s will to mankind, not a mysterious puzzle to solve or code to break. We are not left to relying upon our own imaginations. The Bible means what it says and says what it means. Even when highly symbolic language is used, God supplies the meaning of those symbols in His Word, so that Scripture interprets Scripture.

Missing Bible Verses: 1 John 5:7-8

Biblegems #236

Question: Why do most modern translations not include these words from 1 John 5:7-8 found in the King James Bible: ”…testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth: the…”?

First things first: the inspiration of God’s Word is not what is in question here. Rather, this is a problem arising out of the transmission and translation of ancient copies of God’s inspired Word. The original documents of God’s Word as revealed to the apostles and prophets is without error:

         2Tim. 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

As you can imagine, any time a document gets copied by hand, mistakes can occur. Misspelled words, torn or damaged originals, bad light, tiredness or poor eyesight are just a few of the things that can contribute to errors in copying. But here is the really good news concerning any such errors: The errors from copying and translation are so few  and insignificant that our human mistakes stand out like shadows cast by the sun.

        

Here’s how all this relates to 1 John 5:7-8.

When scholars were commissioned by king James in the early 1600’s to provide the most accurate, authoritative translation of the Bible ever produced into the English language, the translators relied heavily upon earlier translation work done by a man named Erasmus. Erasmus compiled an entire translation of the Bible, printed in 1516 A.D. called the Textus Receptus. His work was based upon approximately nine ancient Greek manuscripts. Prior to Erasmus, the Latin Vulgate was the accepted, authoritative Bible translation.

In Erasmus’ original translation process he discovered that none of the ancient Greek manuscripts contained the phrase in question, even though that phrasing was included in the Latin Vulgate of his time. Erasmus was sharply criticized for not including the phrase in his translation. But he refused to add it in unless a Greek copy that contained it could be found. In 1520 such a copy was found, and Erasmus reluctantly included the phrase now found in the King James Bible. As it turns out, the Greek manuscript provided for him was a forgery composed by the Franciscan friar Roy, who took the words from the Latin Vulgate.

In the past two hundred years, literally thousands of ancient Bible manuscripts and portions of manuscripts have been discovered. Many of these manuscripts are hundreds of years older and closer to the originals by far than those available to either the King James Bible translation committee, or to Erasmus a century earlier. And of all those manuscripts, not one contains the phrase in question.

This should not be a cause for discouragement, but rather of great encouragement. New archeological discoveries routinely unearth evidence in the form of manuscripts and historical artifacts that confirm the accuracy and authority of God’s Word as originally given. Does mankind’s participation in passing on the Scriptures to future generations contaminate the inerrancy and inspiration of God’s Word?

         Rom. 3:4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

The Bible: Word Of God Or Man?

Biblegems #149

Question: How can the entire Bible be demonstrated to be the Word of God, especially when so many people were involved in composing it over many centuries?

The Bible can be demonstrated to be the divinely inspired Word of God on several levels, and the evidence is far too voluminous to catalogue here in 500 words or less. So I can only give a brief summary that I hope will whet your appetite for more.

The Bible Is Unique. It is the only book ever written over a span of 1600 years, composed by over 40 people from practically every walk of life who lived in dramatically different environments on three different continents, writing in three different languages. It tells one story: the story of God’s redemption of mankind, while at the same time addressing hundreds of controversial subjects from one harmonious point of view from Genesis to Revelation.

The Bible is the only book containing a large volume of prophecies by several individuals over several centuries which accurately foretell—hundreds of years beforehand— events related to Israel and specific cities and nations of the world. Add to that the numerous prophecies that accurately foretold the manner of Jesus’ birth, birthplace, his ministry of miracles, his teaching style of parables, his betrayal by a friend for 30 pieces of silver, his manner of death and burial. A statistical study of just 48 of these prophecies concluded: “We find that the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10¹⁵⁷.” [i] 

The Bible’s Own Claims.

The prophecies fulfilled in Jesus are far beyond the realm of accident or coincidence. When you add to this the huge number of other prophecies fulfilled throughout history, the statistical probability of them coming to pass by chance becomes ludicrous. No wonder the human authors of the Bible understood that they were acting as God’s spokesmen, passing on His revelation of Himself and His plan for the universe through human language in written form.  As the apostle Peter put it:

         2Pet. 1:21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The Old Testament prophet Hosea knew that he was communicating a message from God to his Jewish culture through his native Hebrew language:

         Hos. 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel  …

The human authors of the Bible understood that they were not being used as dictation devices by God, but that there was a willing partnership as God transferred His thoughts to humanity through the personalities, styles, languages and cultures of individuals He chose for that purpose. These individuals were “inspired” by God to communicate His Word. “Inspired” is an English translation of a Greek word that means “God-breathed.” It beautifully describes the non-mechanical way God spoke through human beings to convey His Word:

         2Tim. 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…

        

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[i]  Peter Stoner, quoted by Josh McDowell. Evidence That Demands A Verdict. 1972, pg. 175

NT Near-Quotes From The OT

Bible-gems #6

Have you ever wondered why so many New Testament “quotes” from the Old Testament are different from the Old Testament itself—sometimes vastly different?

A good example is John 12:39-40:

For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

The apostle John cites Isaiah 6:9-10, especially verse 10, as he reflects back on the first Palm Sunday when many in the crowds that day still did not believe Jesus was the Messiah, despite the miracles they had witnessed with their own eyes (Jn. 12:37).

However, the passage in Isaiah 6:10 reads a little differently in the Old Testament:

“ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Why is there this difference? For that matter, this same reference in Isaiah is referred to two other times in the New Testament, once by Jesus (Matthew 13:15) and once by the apostle Paul. Each time the passage is not quoted exactly as it is found in the Old Testament. Again, why not?

John, Jesus and Paul are seeing the prophecy in Isaiah as being fulfilled before their very eyes. In each case, they apply the truth of Isaiah’s prophetic message while changing the wording (not the meaning) enough to fit their particular circumstances. The truth was, the Jewish people had become spiritually blind and deaf, and would remain so even to the coming of the Messiah, the “Holy Seed,” in the midst of a desolate existence (v. 13). Jesus and the apostles were not intending to quote Isaiah word for word, but to paraphrase the passage as an application to their specific circumstances.

We often do the same: “He will never leave you or forsake you,” we say to someone in need of encouragement, applying the truth—but changing the wording—of Hebrews 13:5: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you”

When the New Testament authors use this “applicational” approach to Scripture, they do so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, God Himself guarantees the Truth is being conveyed accurately, even if the words are altered for the occasion. The New Testament application of Old Testament Truth becomes Scripture itself. God, the author of His Word, has the privilege of rewording to get His point across.

The Isaiah passage highlights just one type of New Testament uses of Old Testament passages. Below are a few more ways the New Testament writers handle the Old Testament under the inspiration of God’s Spirit.

Often, in fact usually, the NT writers quote from the Greek translation of the OT (the LXX), because Greek was the common language of the day. If the apostles needed to clarify the wording of the Greek version they frequently amended the common translation by inserting a more literal wording from the original Hebrew where needed, sometimes translating the Hebrew themselves. A modern preacher uses this same technique, clarifying a portion of Scripture in an English translation by inserting the original Greek and its more literal (or more colloquially useful) translation for his listeners.

Sometimes an OT idea or teaching is being drawn out in the NT by condensing an OT verse or taking a familiar OT phrase and allowing the abbreviated reference to trigger the listeners recall of the larger passage. This use of Scripture was a common teaching device called the remez. Again, we use similar teaching aids when we use Scriptural phrases like “the blood of the Lamb” or “every knee shall bow,” expecting that our hearers will fill in the blanks in their own minds.

The New Testament treats the Old Testament as “living and active,” not wooden and stagnant. It never changes the Truth, but always seeks to apply it in a fresh and meaningful way.