I absolutely agree that not everything in those books has been fulfilled yet. I sincerely hope this isn't the 1,000 year reign... that would be pretty depressing :D
But are you sure that "Michael has not stood up for God's people yet"? I know we've been discussing whether Michael is or is not Jesus on another thread.
If Michael isn't Jesus, then in Daniel he is the prince of Daniel's people, i.e. the Jews:
"And during that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people." (Dan 12:1)
(But even if Michael is Jesus, it doesn't say "God's people" but "your people"... which is still a reference to Daniel's people (the Jews), not to Christians or God's people in general.)
In which case, the time frame is given by the next part of the verse:
"And there will certainly occur a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time. And during that time your people will escape, every one who is found written down in the book."
I would say that when Jesus was talking about the "great tribulation", he was basically quoting from this part of Daniel.
"... then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains... Keep praying that your flight may not occur in wintertime, nor on the sabbath day; for then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again." (Mathew 24:16-21)
So if Jesus' words have a 1st century application, then so the words from which Jesus quoted, in Daniel.
This leads me to conclude that, during the Jewish War, Michael WAS standing on behalf of Daniel's people (the Jews) who were "written down in the book" - namely the Jews who believed Christ and left Jerusalem before God's wrath came upon that city.
However, you might say... What about Revelation 12? Well, I'd suggest it's talking about the same event as in Daniel 12 - and this is why I believe Revelation, like most of the other books of the New Testament, was actually written prior to 70AD... and started to be fulfilled then... because Revelation 12 is a summary of 1st century history from a heavenly perspective, from the appearance of the "son" to Michael casting out Satan... all of which, I'd suggest to you, happened prior to or during the final "week", 66-73AD.
You might object to this, but remember it was Jesus who quoted from Daniel... so it was Jesus himself who believed those prophecies had a 1st century application.
But it is the Watchtower Society who tell us it also has an application today (despite Jesus explicitly saying things to the contrary)... and personally, I'd say that their track record of interpreting prophecy is dubious at best.
Still, I agree with your overall sentiment that there is more in Daniel and Revelation to be fulfilled. :cheer::cheer::cheer:
I am not sure I can find any of their prophecies true.
O.K. - lets check out the historical “bigger picture†- and see if such a panoramic view can narrow down the choices of meaning in Daniel’s beast visions.
The “bigger picture†per Genesis
A recap of Genesis is that under satanic influence mankind diverged from God’s direct command regarding the tree thing and were removed from Eden. YHWH gave forth the first recorded prophecy:
15 And I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.†Genesis 3:15
The historical “bigger picture†of the Bible plays against the “enmity†between the two seeds, and practically everything written in the Scriptures points in some way to the eventual fulfillment of that prophecy. Along the way through history certain milestones were accomplished toward fulfillment, such as the bringing forth of the Abrahamic Promise and the eventual nation of Israel, which was going to produce the woman’s “seed†of promise, that one day would bring all things back into accordance with the Divine Plan by doing in the serpent’s "seed" - as well as the serpent.
Daniel contains a key milestone as follows:
44 “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite. Daniel 2:44
So my question to you is, is this statement prophetic beyond the scope of just a few earthly empires? I feel certain you’ll say it is, for the obvious reason that the kingdoms of the earth are still here. Since the scope is evidently talking about all earthly goverments, doesn’t it follow that more of the book of Daniel is likely also talking about all earthly governments? Nebuchadnezzar was given a key piece of future history, a piece that he would be able to understand given he himself was a world ruler. God was telling Nebuchadnezzar the future end of all world rulership by manmade governments, so it follows that we should expect that God had much more in mind than the relative hat-trick of predicting a few world empires.
Something to consider is the manner in which the “rulership†theme is repeated three times in the book of Daniel. Odd? Nebuchadnezzar got the immense image dream in the second year of his kingship, eighteen some years before he would go on to destroy Jerusalem. Daniel didn’t get the first of his beast visions until much later - some forty plus years later - during Belshazzar’s first year as co-regent of Babylon. And then Daniel got virtually the same vision two years later, in Belshazzar’s third year. All that to predict just a few "world" empires - that didn't rule over even 1/1000th of the land area of the planet?
Why? I believe Daniel was given these visions – and they were recorded in Scripture – because these beasts were about much more than a chain of man made empires (four empires - out of the how many that existed in ancient times?) – and are linked to the central theme carried forth in Daniel 2:44 – which is an extension of Genesis 3:15. And the fact that these empires related to the Jews - is just not important in the historical “bigger picture†global scope of Genesis 3:15.
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