Several years ago I became interested in the books of Daniel and Revelation and how they relate to last-day events. I began to wonder if there wasn’t more to the story than had already been revealed. Ellen G. White suggests that more truth will be revealed in the last days but how and when that would occur is unclear.
At about that time I ran across a book by Robert Smith, MD, titled The Sixth King, which posed a fascinating question: are we now living in the last days? His book forced me to reassess long held assumptions about certain prophetic interpretations such as the 1260-day prophecy of Daniel chapter 12. I will always be in debt to him for prompting me to re-evaluate biblical prophecy in general and last-day events in particular.
In studying the book of Daniel, it is apparent that Daniel's prophecies cover world history from Daniel’s time to Christ’s Second Coming in both symbols and real events. In Daniel chapters 11 and 12 we see a shift away from predominantly symbols to a combination of symbols and actual events. It appears that Daniel chapter 12 is focused on time of the end events beginning with the time of trouble in verse one. Where are the events described that precede this time of trouble? The answer is hidden in the last portion of Daniel chapter 11. In studying the book of Revelation, it became apparent that the emphasis of the first 14 chapters is primarily on what happens to God’s people and then the emphasis switches to what happens to the wicked from chapters 15-20. This does not mean that God’s people are not included in these later chapters, but the emphasis is more on the wicked, especially in chapters 15-18 and 20. My main focus of study became the first 14 chapters of the book of Revelation, because this is where I expected to find details of last-day events affecting God’s people. However, as will be seen later, Revelation chapter 17 became equally important.
One question that concerned me was why we do not seem to have more guidance in scriptures about the most critical time period in earth’s history. It is estimated that more than six billion people are living on earth today. Why isn't there more information in the scriptures to help guide all of those living at the end of time? Daniel gives an excellent outline of world history in prophecy but appears to shortchange last-day events. John, in the book of Revelation, appears to give a historical overview of the church but again seems to give limited time to last-day events. Why did Daniel overlook the time of the end? Why did John not give more guidance on last-day events? These are questions, which this book will attempt to answer. It is the author’s conviction that God has revealed far more than we have previously understood.
- Monty L. Gohl, M.D