Daniel 10:1-3; Deut. 18:18-22, Daniel’s Vision was True

Once upon a time I had an Encyclopedia Britannica.  The actual books. In Vol. 20, p484, it spoke of a French physician and astrologer, whose obscure and enigmatic predictions have been interpreted by some as foretelling future events.  “Although his predictions were often wrong, Nostradamus’ reputation as the greatest Renaissance seer appears unshakeable.”

I read another book, by Erika Cheetham, titled The Further Prophecies of Nostradamus: 1985 and Beyond.  She called Nostradamus “the King among the Prophets” (p25).  He wasn’t perfect but was good enough to be taken seriously (p27).  Not all who study him come to the same conclusions (p27).  The source of his prophecies was some “faculty for precognition” (p212).  Other students of Nostradamus indeed concluded his success depended on reading back into his words the record of events after they occurred.  Often his predictions were contradictory, and obscure as to what event he was talking about.  In the end you had to say, his predictions were so obscure they were of no use.  Indeed, the worst kind of prophet is one who is often right but sometimes wrong; he is worthless.

In the Bible, two truths ruled the prophets: God was the source of their message; the message had to be perfect.  His predictions had to be true, completely, precisely (Deut. 13:1-5; 18:18-22).  As the prophet Micaiah said, As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that will I speak (1 Ki. 22:14).  After telling Ahab he would die in battle, he added, If you indeed return safely, the Lord has not spoken by me (22:28).

Daniel 10:1 says, the message was true, but the appointed time was long.  Sometimes, when a prophecy is not soon fulfilled, people begin to doubt its truthfulness.  Peter warned us that scoffers in the last days would doubt that Jesus would return, since all things continue as they have for ages and ages (2 Peter 3:1-9).  That is a destructive and deadly heresy.  Jesus will return!  Daniel is telling us that the prophesy of Ch. 11-12 will require a long time for complete fulfillment.  What is amazing is that most of Ch. 11 predicts events that have already occurred, during the historical period between Malachi and Matthew.  The precision of those predictions gives added encouragement to trust God for what is still future.

Many claim Daniel’s “prophecy” was actually a “record” of events, written many years after Daniel.  This is a denial of what the passage says.  Their argument is that the prophecy is so precise that it must have been written later.  In other words, they doubt that the omnipresent, omniscient God can know the future with such detail.  People who doubt God in this way will soon begin to have doubts about a greater miracle, the resurrection of Christ.  We assume God’s greatness.  As the Bible says, we believe Daniel had this vision in the 3rd year of Cyrus, king of Persia.

The message was true! Amen!!