Survey of Biblical Passages

The term “mysteries,” “mysterious” or “mystery” appears in each of the passages below (RSV; emphasis mine) set out in their canonical order:⁸

Dan 2: (1) . . . Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. (2) Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned, to tell the king his dreams.. . . (10) The Chaldeans answered the king, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand. . . . (11) The thing that the king asks is difficult, and none can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” ... (16) And Daniel went in and besought the king to appoint him a time, that he might show to the king the interpretation. (17) Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, (18) and told them to seek mercy of the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. (19) Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.. . . (20) Daniel said: “Blessed be the name of God [see “I AM”] . . . to whom belong[s] wisdom.. . . (21) .. . He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; (22) he reveals deep and mysterious things. . . .” (26) The king said to Daniel . . . “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” (27) Daniel answered the king, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery which the king has asked, (28) but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. . . . (29) To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be hereafter, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. (30) But as for me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than the living has this mystery been revealed to me, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king. . . .” (47) The king said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

The first thing to be noted is that the king did not ask first for an interpretation of his dream, but rather that they “tell the king his dreams.” The “magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans” whose services the king sought pleaded with him to tell them his dream and then they would interpret (vs 4). In the process of refusing their request and threatening them with death if they failed, the king says (vs 9; emphasis mine), “You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” This “till the times change” seems to be a reflection of the “Fading Splendor” of prophecy.

Daniel, to show his vision was of a greater perspective than simply “the times,” proceeds not only to tell the king his vision but then to interpret it (vss 31-45). It involved an “image, mighty and of exceeding brightness,” of a creature whose head was of gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. A stone from heaven, i.e., “cut out by no human hand,” broke the feet bringing down the entire image in destruction, which was carried away by the wind (i.e., spirit). The stone then “became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” The term “stone” is a metaphor of much significance. While this is not the place to fully develop it, the reality of the descending Christ, seen by the initiates in the ancient Mysteries, could be described as a “stone” that became a “Mountain” (see “Rock/Christ”; cf. Acts 19,35, “the sacred stone that fell from the sky”) and “filled the whole Earth.” The dripping “Blood” of the crucified Christ filled the etheric substance of the Earth and is what makes the salvation of humanity possible. See “Blood” in Vol. 2, “What Is Man?”. Clearly Daniel’s interpretation suggests that he too was an initiate who saw the descending Christ. How then does this fit with the rest of the dream?

Daniel equates the head of gold to the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, and then equates three successive kingdoms to the silver, bronze and iron. The last would be divided into iron and clay, the clay giving rise to the chain of destruction of all the kingdoms, whereupon the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.

Theology, predisposed to view the prophecy through its historical lens, has generally agreed that the four kingdoms are the Babylonians, Medes, Persians and Greeks, the last being “divided” between the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Antioch in Syria. See 6 Interp 387- 388; 23 AB 149; and INTPN, “Daniel,” pp. 35-36. All of these sources recognize that the ages of the metals derive from Ancient Indian sources, 6 Interp 385, and this is not to be taken lightly. See I-46. While the historical facts borrowed (seemingly retroactively) to portray the vision are perhaps those that had occurred up to the time of the writing, their use, as is so often true in scripture for disguise, is metaphorical to present a far larger perspective of truth. What had come down through these ages had to be retraced. And if the four-plus kingdoms described by reference to these ancient ages are projected out, starting with the Greco-Roman Cultural Era inaugurated by Nebuchadnezzar, we thus have . . . .

This last will be divided, bringing the War of All Against All and the end of the post-Atlantean Epoch. This interpretation would mean Daniel was foreseeing the same vision given by Lazarus/John in the last four “letters” to the angels of the churches (Rev 2,18-3,22). His later visions in Dan 7 and 12 then portray other portions of what was given to Lazarus/John more vividly in his Apocalypse.