Daniel 7:28

So that in this we may not waste the indemonstrable matter which lies before us for the sake of being an inquisitive man, we, being compelled to speak what we are not able, speak by force. For when the times from the foundation of the world and from Adam are reckoned, they furnish this matter quite clearly to us who seek an answer. For the first advent of our Lord in the flesh, when he was born in Bethlehem, was December 25, Wednesday, while Augustus was in his forty-second year, but from Adam, five thousand and five hundred years. He suffered in the thirty-third year, March 25, Friday, the eighteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, while Rufus and Roubellion were Consuls. And so it is absolutely necessary for six-thousand years to be fulfilled, so that the Sabbath rest may come, the holy day, in which God rested from all his works which he began to do. The Sabbath is a model and an image of the coming kingdom of the saints, when the saints shall co-reign with Christ, when he arrives from heaven, as also John in his Apocalypse describes. For a day of the Lord is as a thousand years. And so since in six days God made all things, it is necessary for six thousand years to be fulfilled. For they are not yet fulfilled, as John says, "Five have fallen, but one is," such is the sixth millennium, "the other has not yet come," [Revelation 17:10] saying "the other" he describes the seventh millennium in which there shall be rest.

But one will always say, "How will you demonstrate to me whether the Savior was born in the five thousandth and five hundredth year?" Be easily instructed, O man. For in the desert long ago under Moses there were models and images of spiritual mysteries which concerned the tabernacle and they fulfilled this number, so that having come to the utmost of truth in Christ you are able to apprehend these things which are fulfilled. For he says to him, "And you shall make an ark of incorruptible wood and you will gild it with pure gold inside and outside and you shall make its height two cubits and a half and its breadth a cubit and a half and its height a cubit and a half." [Exodus 25:10-11] The measure of which added together makes five and a half cubits, so that the five thousand five hundred years may be demonstrated, in which time the Savior comes from the Virgin, and then he offered the Ark, his own body, into the world, gilded in pure gold, inside with the Word, outside with the Holy Spirit, so that the truth may be shown and the Ark may be manifested. And so from the generation of Christ it is necessary to count the remaining five hundred years to the consummation of the six thousand years, and in this way the end will be. But because in the fifth and a half time the Savior arrived in the world bearing the incorruptible ark, that is his own body, John says, "and it was the sixth hour," [John 19:14] so that half of the day may be demonstrated, a day of the Lord is like a thousand years. And so the half of these is five hundred years. For he does not admit him to be soon at hand. For the law was still burdensome, nor again had the sixth day been fulfilled. […]

1. In speaking of a "lioness from the sea," he meant the rising of the kingdom of Babylon, and that this was the "golden head of the image." And in speaking of its "eagle wings," be meant that king Nebuchadnezzar was exalted and that his glory was lifted up against God. Then he says "its wings were plucked off," i.e., that his glory was destroyed; for he was driven out of his kingdom. And the words, "A man's heart was given it, and it was made stand upon the feet of a man," mean that he came to himself again, and recognised that he was but a man, and gave the glory to God. Then after the lioness he sees a second beast, "like a bear," which signified the Persians. For after the Babylonians the Persians obtained the power. And in saying that "it had three ribs in its mouth," he pointed to the three nations, Persians, Medes, and Babylonians, which were expressed in the image by the silver after the gold. Then comes the third beast, "a leopard," which means the Greeks; for after the Persians, Alexander of Macedon had the power, when Darius was overthrown, which was also indicated by the brass in the image. And in saying that the beast "had four wings of a fowl, and four heads," he showed most clearly how the kingdom of Alexander was parted into four divisions. For in speaking of four heads, he meant the four kings that arose out of it. For Alexander, when dying, divided his kingdom into four parts. Then he says, "The fourth beast (was) dreadful and terrible: it had iron teeth, and claws of brass." Who, then, are meant by this but the Romans, whose kingdom, the kingdom that still stands, is expressed by the iron? "for," says he, "its legs are of iron." 2. After this, then, what remains, beloved, but the toes of the feet of the image, in which "part shall be of iron and part of clay mixed together? […]

Daniel adds, "Here the account ends," that is, the interpretation of the vision. "As for me, my thoughts greatly terrified me, and my face turned pale," because of the sad news of the afflictions, which the little horn will impose on my people and priests. …

But if so great a power is shown to have followed and to be still following the dispensation of His suffering, how great shall that be which shall follow His glorious advent! For He shall come on the clouds as the Son of man, so Daniel foretold, and His angels shall come with Him. These are the words: [quotes Daniel 7:9-28]

As the prophet says, "This is the end of the account. I, Daniel, my thoughts greatly troubling me, and my form was changed and I kept the matter in my heart." [Daniel 7:27-28] And so it is necessary for every man who reads the godly writings to imitate the prophet Daniel and not to be rash and heedless, seeking a time before the due time and desiring to see the fruit of the fig, but to hold with fear the mystery of God in his heart, so that he himself may not, having ensnared himself with his own lips, his own soul become liable. For the time shall come when the almond shall blossom and the caper-berry shall grow rough and the grasshopper shall multiply, the fig shall sprout and the fruit of apostasy shall prosper. Then the door of life shall be shut and the water pots from the spring shall be shattered and the wheel shall run afoul in the pit and the crowd shall be idle because they mourn and all shall arise at the sound of a sparrow and all the daughters of song shall be troubled and the mourners shall be gathered in the market and man shall depart to his eternal home. [Ecclesiastes 12:3-6]

But one will say, "And when will these things be? In what season or time is the deceiver about to be revealed? And what shall be the day of the appearing of the Lord?" The disciples also similarly sought to learn these things from the Lord, but he concealed the day from them, so that he may render them all as watchful for what is to come, always meditating and expecting each day the heavenly cloud, lest men, ever on account of the long time, neglecting what was prescribed by him, and growing sluggish while he tarries, fall from the life of heaven. For he says, "Be watchful for you do not know what day or what hour your Lord comes, either evening, or midnight, or morning." [Matthew 24:42] On account of this he says, "Blessed is that slave, whom when his Lord comes, he finds him awake. Truly I say to you that he will appoint him over all his possessions. But if the wicked slave says in his heart, 'My Lord tarries to come,' and he begins to beat his serving boys and serving girls, and to eat and to drink with drunkards, his Lord will come in a day which he does not expect and in an hour which he does not know and cut him in two and set his portion with the unbelievers. For there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." [Matthew 24:46-51] "On account of this I say to you: be watchful." [Matthew 24:44] And so our Lord himself in the Gospel, teaching these things, displays them to the disciples. Similarly, also after his resurrection, the disciples broached these same things, "Asking him saying, 'Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' But he said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has set in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be for me martyrs in both Jerusalem and in Galilee and all the land of Samaria and unto the ends of the earth.'" [Acts 1:6-8]

), my cogitations much troubled me. The manner in which these things were discovered to him quite overwhelmed him, and put his thoughts so much to the stretch that his spirits failed him, and the trance he was in tired him and made him faint.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

Hitherto is the end of the matter,....

Belshazzar's name here is, in the original, spelt differently from what it used to be; before it was Bel-she-azar--Bel is he that treasures up riches.

cogitations . . . troubled me--showing that the Holy Spirit intended much more to be understood by Daniel's words than Daniel himself understood. We are not to limit the significance of prophecies to what the prophets themselves understood (1Pe 1:11, 12).

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The end of the matter - So said the expounding angel; and he said so because the purpose of God had determined it. In considering these things, and looking at the evils that shall come upon the world before those auspicious times can take place, I may say with Daniel, My cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I keep the matter of my conjectures and consequent feelings in my own heart.

Hitherto is the end of the matter - That is, the end of what I saw and heard. This is the sum of what was disclosed to the prophet, but he still says that he meditated on it with profound interest, and that he had much solicitude in regard to these great events. The words rendered hitherto, mean, so far, or thus far. The phrase “end of the matter,” means “the close of the saying a thing;” that is, this was all the revelation which was made to him, and he was left to his own meditations respecting it. As for me Daniel - So far as I was concerned; or so far as this had any effect on me. It was not unnatural, at the close of this remarkable vision, to state the effect that it had on himself. My cogitations much troubled me - My thoughts in regard to it. It was a subject which he could not avoid reflecting on, and which could not but produce deep solicitude in regard to the events which were to occur. Who could look into the future without anxious and agitating thought? These events were such as to engage the profoundest attention; such as to fix the mind in solemn thought. Compare the notes at Rev 5:4. And my countenance changed in me - The effect of these revelations depicted themselves on my countenance. The prophet does not say in what way - whether by making him pale, or careworn, or anxious, but merely that it produced a change in his appearance. The Chaldee is “brightness” - זיו zı̂yv - and the meaning would seem to be, that his bright and cheerful countenance was changed; that is, that his bright looks were changed; either by becoming pale (Gesenius, Lengerke), or by becoming serious and thoughtful. But I kept the matter in my heart - I communicated to no one the cause of my deep and anxious thoughts. He hid the whole subject in his own mind, until he thought proper to make this record of what he had seen and heard. […]