Adventists view prophecy through the lens of the great controversy between Christ and Satan—a worldwide spiritual struggle that will climax when God’s people, (Rev. 12:17, Rev. 14:12) face the final crisis, which centers around worshiping God as opposed to the beast and his image.
A key element in understanding these last-day prophecies is Daniel 2, which contains not only the historical outline of the prophecies but the interpretive key to unlocking their meanings.
Daniel 2 depicts four world empires—Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Rome—followed by God establishing His eternal kingdom (Dan. 2:44, NKJV). The parallel prophecies in Daniel 7 and 8 contain this same basic outline, that of these worldly empires arising and vanishing until God’s kingdom is, forever, established.
These four worldly empires move in unbroken succession through history until God establishes His eternal one after Jesus’ second coming.
We, of course, are still here, in the time of Rome, the fourth and final earthly kingdom before Christ returns. With this historical perspective as the foundation for understanding prophecy, our study for next quarter (A Broader Foundation: Searching Scripture for a Deeper Understanding of Our Message by Shawn Boonstra) will examine how to interpret Bible prophecy, specifically looking at some of the allusions, stories, images, and metaphors that unlock prophetic truth and final events.
It is our hope that when these images, symbols, and metaphors are studied prayerfully that they will help make end-time prophecies, specifically in Revelation, come alive.