AUTHORS INTRODUCTION

This book represents a diversion from what is currently transpiring in the area of prophetic interpretation. Rather than presenting a multitude of comments, I have sought to allow symbols, events, and verses to be interpreted and explained by corresponding Bible texts. These will be recognized by quoted phrases from Daniel and Revelation in boldface type, followed by the Bible verses that define or highlight the events, symbols, and verses. Only when the Bible is allowed to be its own interpreter and is allowed to define its own terms can we find harmony in past, present, and future applications of Bible prophecy. In the first six chapters of Daniel, which can be readily understood, one or two key lessons are drawn from each chapter, again allowing the Bible to highlight the thought. The prophetic portions of Daniel and Revelation contain more commentary due to the complexity of the subject, but I have sought as much as possible to allow the Bible to be the basis of the commentary.

The reader is urged to “study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). This effort will undoubtedly not appeal to everyone, but the Bereans of all nations and cultures are commended who search the Word of truth to see if these things are so and who desire to be taught of the Holy Spirit as Scripture is compared with Scripture. This book will indeed be a springboard to the studious, opening up a fruitful field of study to the whole Bible—beginning but not ending with the prophetic writings.

This book is based on the King James Version of the Bible. The use of quotes from other versions should not be taken as my endorsement of their overall translation quality, but rather are used as commentary or to provide a more readily understood insight on a particular verse or phrase.

At times you will find definitions of words taken from the texts under study. These definitions come from either Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance or Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language. Definitions help us understand the meaning of words and thus the meaning of the text.

As you read and study, may “the Spirit of truth…guide you into all truth…and show you things to come” (John 16:13).

In closing, I offer special thanks to our Father in heaven, the giver of all good gifts and the sustainer of my soul, and to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—the “Alpha and Omega,” and the “Daystar” of Bible prophecy. (See Revelation 1:11; 2 Peter 1:19.)

— David Wilson