The imagery of chapter 5 continues the links with the book of Daniel. In Daniel 7 the heavenly court is setup, one like the Son of Man is presented to Him who sits on the throne, and the books are opened to judge the beasts that rise out of the sea (Daniel 7:9-14). This heavenly court sequence is the subject of Revelation 4 and 5, the Son of Man being presented to the One who sits on the throne. The Lamb that was slain is found worthy to open the book.
Two epithets not ascribed to Jesus in the previous chapters are given here: “Lion of the tribe of Judah” and “root of David”. Both are Messianic titles proclaimed in the Old Testament and both contrast with the image given of a lamb that was slain with seven horns and seven eyes. The imagery expresses the role of Jesus in His two advents: God came in human form to redeem the lost (the Lamb that was slain – Genesis 22:8; John 1:29) and He is coming again to establish His kingdom and rule as the Messiah (Lion of the tribe of Judah and root of David – Genesis 49:9; Isaiah 11:10).
There is an interesting parallel between the accounts in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Jesus appears to Daniel and John in the same form: like the son of man, belt of gold, flaming eyes, feet like polished bronze, and voice like the sound of a multitude (Daniel 10: 5-10; Revelation 1:12-17). As Jesus introduces the vision of Daniel 11 He asks if Daniel knew why He had come (Daniel 10:20). Jesus tells Daniel He has come to reveal what is recorded in the “book of truth” (Daniel 10:21) concerning Jesus’ return, the end-times (Daniel 12:9). Daniel 11 begins with a conflict between Persia and Javan from which a great warrior king rises to power (Daniel 11:2-3). With the breaking of the first seal a great warrior king comes riding forth (Revelation 6:1-2).
The idea that the warrior king of Daniel 11 is a Greek king led to the speculation that Alexander the Great was that king and that identification has become entrenched in Christian eschatology. This speculation also gave rise to the theory that the book was written “vaticinium ex eventu” during the second century BCE, long after the fall of the Babylonian Empire. The intent of “vaticinium ex eventu” is to attribute the telling of historical events to a historical figure as if the teller was a prophet. The validation that the historical events had happened then validates that future events of that prophecy are sure to happen. This speculation adheres to the “historicists” perspective of eschatology that prophecy may be fulfilled in phases. Eschatological prophecy is always fulfilled in the end-times and not in phases through history (Daniel 12:9).
Daniel did not identify the warrior king of chapter 11 as Greek. The word “Greece” was first used by the Septuagint translators some 300 years after the book was written to help the Greek speaking Jews identify the location that applied the vision, the land Javan. At the time Daniel wrote this vision, the land of Javan was in Anatolia. The Septuagint translators identified Anatolia as part of the Greek empire and therefore changed the Hebrew word Javan to Greece. Javan is the same location that the book of Revelation is addressed, the location of the seven churches. All seven churches were located in Anatolia which is modern day Turkey.
This view of the vision of Daniel 10-12 as “vaticinium ex eventu” is also problematic on a number of levels but none more serious than the implication that Jesus did not know the vision of Daniel 11 was fulfilled by Alexander the Great and Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Jesus prophesied that one of the signs of His return would be the “abomination of desolation” spoken of in Daniel (Daniel 10:31, Matthew 24:15). If Jesus is the Son of God and Divine then the warrior king of Daniel 11 is not fulfilled by Alexander the Great and the historical events of Antiochus IV Epiphanes did not fulfill the prophecy of the abomination of the temple, no matter how similar.
Daniel was told that the vision of chapters 11 and 12 was sealed until the end-times (Daniel 12:9). The book, the scroll with 7 seals, is about to be opened.