GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
DANIEL 7:25
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25 He will say things against the Most High
and he will harass the saints of the Most High.
He will try to change the set times and the laws.
The saints will be handed over to him
for a time, times and half a time.
The angel continues to speak about the Antichrist. “He will say things against the Most High.” Those who despise authority are not even afraid to slander celestial beings (James 2:10), and therefore it comes as no surprise that the Antichrist would slander and openly speak against God himself. The form of this slander will certainly be something we can anticipate. First, there is slander against “God’s name, and his dwelling place, and those who live in heaven” (Revelation 13:6). If this were done against a human being, it would be called an ad hominem attack (that is, attacking the individual rather than their position an issue). This irrelevant way of speaking is a temptation for many. When this is done against God, it is not ad hominem. It is blasphemy.
The second way that the Antichrist will speak against God is about God’s work of salvation. To say that we are saved by any means apart from Christ is to reject Christ completely. For we confess: “We obtain justification through a free promise, so it follows that we cannot justify ourselves. Otherwise, why would a promise be necessary?” (Apology of the Augsburg Confession). Therefore the Antichrist constantly tries to mislead people into believing that they can be saved through some means apart from Christ. This is nothing less than an attack on God himself, on his holy Name, and on his holy Word.
This is also what it means to “harass the saints.” By flinging good and simple-minded people into confusion about the condition of their souls, the Antichrist succeeds in damaging and destroying some souls. And this is always his goal.
He will “change set times and laws.” It would be easy to think that this is only about things to do with Old Testament worship, But Antichrist will do anything he can to upset the people of God and the true worship of God. The spirit of oppression could easily see attempts made to force changes into a secular government, for example, to make changes intended at least behind the scenes to interfere with Christian worship. Leupold reminds us that during the French Revolution, the new French government attempted to introduce a ten-day week for its calendar (this was in October, 1793). It was a direct attempt to de-Christianize the nation by destroying the possibility of regular Sunday worship. This was suspended because it disrupted worship and because it was a confusing system. This was an example of the spirit of Antichrist in the world. Consider how most countries have laws that make it legal to violate each of the Ten Commandments. The only general exceptions are that murder, theft, and lying under oath (bearing false witness) are illegal for the general public, but there are often loopholes even for these crimes that allow high officials to get away with them if they are immoral and cruel enough to try. Although Antichrist sets himself within the church, this doesn’t stop him from trying to snatch secular power for himself, trying to be “more like a soldier than a man o’ the church” (such an enemy has no reason to constrain himself).
He will oppress God’s people for “a time, times, and half a time.” This phrase occurs in all three of the Bible’s original languages. Here it is in Aramaic. It also appears in Hebrew in Daniel 12:7, and in Greek in Revelation 12:14. How are we to interpret this number or string of numbers? The wisest course is to avoid speculation, since it is more clearly explained elsewhere. And where the Holy Spirit has given us the exegesis (interpretation), it is best to let his words stand and guide us. In Revelation, “a time, times, and half a time” is the equivalent of 42 months (Revelation 11:2; 13:5), which is three and a half years (that is, “a year, two years, and half a year”). Then in Revelation this is compared with 1,260 days, which is also approximately three and a half years. This time is described by Professor Martin Franzmann as “those 42 months during which God gives limited license to persecuting powers, in order to try and sift his saints as he had done in the dark days of Antiochus Epiphanes.” The number (Franzmann writes) “is derived from the length of his reign, 3½ years of terror in Jerusalem, 167-164 BC.”
But there is another compelling suggestion about this number. This is that the progression of Antichrist’s activity is depicted. It arrives (a time), then it increases (times, “as if his oppression will never end”), but then suddenly is cut off by God after only half a time. The advantage of this suggestion is that although Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek each have a way of expressing a number as a dual (as if “times” could be limited to two times only, therefore “time and times” would be 1+2). In neither instance is the dual number used, but only the plural. (An example of a dual number in the Bible is when Esau complains “he has deceived me these two times” using פַעֲמַיִם, “two times,” in the dual. The same word occurs as a standard plural in Genesis 33:3, “he bowed down seven times” where the numeral “seven” modifies “time” (פְּעָמִים).
So, since this is a spiritual number, we can say these things:
1, The number, whether a time, times, and half a time, or three and a half years, or 42 months, or 1,260 days, might recall the time of the worst persecution of God’s people right in the holy city of Jerusalem.
2, Often it is pointed out that this number is half of seven, and therefore a division or shortening of holiness. This is not stated directly in Scripture.
3, Since the number is always given as a part of a vision, it seems best to take it as a symbolic or representative number. The danger of attempting to force a literal interpretation of such a number is that it promotes a false sense of certainty, and if incorrect, can too easily lead to false doctrine based on an error. It is best to be cautious about the interpretation of dreams and visions.
4, My conclusion is to take this number (3½ years, in various ways of saying it) as representing a limited but definite time in which God will permit his people to be persecuted by the Antichrist. The terrible reign of Antiochus between the Testaments and within the borders of Israel could prefigure this persecution, whether it is intended by the number or not.
This passage proclaims the law to us, first of all against the Antichrist, condemning him and all lesser antichrists for blaspheming God, his name, and his holy word, and for tearing Christians away from God’s forgiveness by lies and deceit. The condemnation of Antichrist will surely be worse than for any other human being on Judgment Day. Secondly, this verse proclaims the law to Christians as a warning of the Antichrist’s work so that we can be forewarned and ready to resist his tempting words.
Why wouldn’t we call such a warning the gospel? This is because the gospel preaches the forgiveness of sins and God’s grace to his people, and this is a warning. Therefore, just as the Fifth Commandment is a warning not to commit murder, so also this verse is a warning not to submit to the teaching, temptations, and other seductions of the Antichrist. For to submit to him would be the same as breaking any of the Commandments, and would in fact break the First, Second, and Third Commandments by the very act of submission. It is such a terrible danger for us that God has given this warning to Daniel (and also to Paul and John in the New Testament) so that we will be aware of the danger, and be on our guard.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Daniel 7:25 Time, times, and half a time.