a friend of mine recently told me of a man he knew who started a study in Daniel and quit after chapter six. I understand why he went no further. Chapters seven through twelve are deep waters and require a great deal of patience and meditation to understand. I don’t claim to have either in abundance but what I have is an intense desire to understand and communicate that understanding, hoping that it will result in blessing to others. Here are some of the problems attached to Prophecy.
1. Limited information. God in His wisdom has limited His information to us on future events. Because of our tendency toward pride and premature conclusions God has made it necessary for us to trust Him for the outcome.
2.Misunderstanding of the purpose. In chapter two and seven, men have tried to make these messages a lesson in History; in doing so they have missed the purpose of these prophecies. History is not the purpose nor is it the method by which the prophecy is to be understood.
3. Adopting the majority opinion. There are hundreds of men writing books on prophecy and they all sound alike in their interpretations. The majority opinion is not the gauge for measuring truth. Most people write their books based upon what others have said or what they have been taught in their schools.
4.Unwillingness to allow truth to change old ideas. We will be dealing with a lot of pre- conceived ideas in the study of Daniel. It is necessary to face them and be willing to lay them aside and allow truth to be our teacher.
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