T

he author of the books in this The second track contains all the various
review is Edwin de Kock, who interpretations that diverged from the
was born in South Africa in historical explanation.
1930, but has been a United In chapter two, the author outlines seven
States citizen since 2000. He principles of prophetic interpretation that
graduated with honors from the theolog- provide, for him, the means to understand
ical course at Helderberg College in 1950. prophecy correctly. These principles are:
He also holds an MA in Afrikaans and 1) the internal expositors, or texts that
Dutch literature, and a Licentiate of Trinity provide an explanation (e.g., Dan 8:20–21);
College, London, England. He was an 2) comparing Scripture with Scripture; 3)
educator for more than thirty-five years, in consistency in applying the same or similar
South Africa, South Korea, and the United meanings to the same symbols; 4) prophet-
States. He finished his career by teaching ic augmentation, meaning that later visions
college writing at the University of Texas. on the same topic add further details
Books on Prophecy, His fascination with prophecy and history to the prophetic scenario; 5) historical
began more than eighty years ago when he correctness and honesty, in that prophecies
Edwin de Kock, became a Seventh-day Adventist, after his should be correctly measured against his-
mother accepted the Sabbath as a result of torical events; 6) avoiding the interpreta-
Edinburg, TX, reading the Ten Commandments. In addi- tion of prophecy with current events; and
tion to his books on prophecy, his work in- 7) respecting previous prophetic inter-
2013 cludes articles and poetry in English, Afri- preters. To a large extent, we stand on the
kaans, and Esperanto, three of the thirteen shoulders of those who have gone before
languages with which he is acquainted. At us. de Kock recognizes that there are other
the age of eighty-eight, he finished in Espe- principles of prophetic interpretation,1 but
ranto an epic of more than four hundred these are the principles he considers of
pages, titled La Konflikto de la Epokoj (The primary importance.
Conflict of the Ages). Over the years, De The second chapter in the book is titled
Kock has also lectured and appeared on “History as Christian Forgery,” which
television and radio in several countries. deals with distortions in historical docu-
Both he and Ria, his wife of sixty-four ments—even Christian documents. The
years, are retired at their home a few miles next chapter asks, “But is the Bible True?”
outside Edinburg, Texas. Their two sons as a historical document, and the answer
with their spouses and three grandchildren is a resounding “Yes.” The last chapter ad-
also live in the United States. dresses the issue of “History and Prophecy
as Christian Mythology.” Throughout his-
The Use and Abuse of Prophecy, (Edwin tory, rulers and churchmen have applied
de Kock, Edinburg, TX: 2007; 127 pages). prophecies to their own time or person.
For example, Bishop Eusebius believed
US $12.70 In the first chapter of this book, de Kock that Constantine fulfilled Revelation 12 by
summarizes L. E. Froom’s The Prophetic casting down the dragon, which for him
Faith of Our Fathers, a four-volume series was paganism. More recently, Herbert W.
on the history of prophetic interpretation Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of
from the church fathers until the twentieth God taught that the English and Ameri-
century. He traces two tracks of prophetic can people are descendants of the ten lost
interpretation during the two thousand tribes of Israel. Prophecy and history are
years of church history. The first one is the indeed closely intertwined, but incorrect
mainline historical interpretation that can interpretations of Scripture have produced
already be found in the writings of Ire- a variety of Christian mythologies.
naeus, Tertullian, and Hippolytus (second The book The Use and Abuse of Prophecy is
and third century). It dominated prophetic a valuable introduction to the interpreta-
interpretation until the nineteenth century. tion of prophecy. It highlights the impor-

Reflections 67, July 2019 1 adventistbiblicalresearch.org

 tance of proper principles of interpretation southern Gaul) at no time came under his
and the pitfalls the student of prophecy [Alexander’s] control” (p. 82). This large
should avoid. The history of prophetic region, which the Romans called Magna
interpretation in chapter one provides a Graecia (p. 85), is for the author the fourth
concise summary of the various meth- horn in Daniel 8:8, out of which, following
ods of prophetic interpretation in church Rome’s conquest of all these lands, came
history and helps the reader understand the little horn, the papacy. de Kock spends
why today we have preterist, futurist, and many pages buttressing his contention that
historicist interpretations of Daniel and the Roman Empire was really a Greco-Ro-
Revelation. Every student of prophecy will man Empire. Thus, for him, the little
benefit from the study of this small volume horn came out of one of the four horns of
on prophetic interpretation. Daniel 8:8–9. This is not a new interpreta-
tion; a similar position was held Taylor G.
7 Heads and 10 Horns in Daniel and Bunch in his commentary on Daniel. He
Revelation (Edwin de Kock, Edinburg, wrote, “Rome did come out of the Mace-
TX: 2011; 207 pages) donian or western division of Alexander’s
empire,”4 by which he meant the “Greek
In this volume the author surveys various part of Italy.”5
Adventist and non-Adventist interpre- By including the western Greeks in Italy in
tations of the seven heads and ten horns Daniel’s prophecies, de Kock believes he
and comes to the conclusion that all has solved some of the problems in Daniel
of them fall short of getting it right. In 8. For example, when Alexander died in
US $17.00 agreement with traditional historicism, 323 BC, rival generals fought for control
he identifies the woman in Revelation over his empire. In 311 BC there were five
12:1 as God’s people in the Old and New of them, ten years later there were four,
Testaments, and the woman in Revelation and in 281 BC only three were left: the An-
17 with apostate Christianity, including tigonids who ruled Macedonia and Greece,
Catholicism and the degenerate forms of the Seleucids in Syria, and the Ptolemies in
Protestantism (p. 41). The scarlet beast he Egypt. To complete the four, says de Kock,
identifies with Satan. we need the Greeks in Sicily and southern
The author introduces an interesting Italy (p. 149).
interpretation when he deals with the The second problem concerns the origin
seven heads of the scarlet beast (Rev 17:3). of the little horn. He rejects the current
Generally, Adventists have interpreted Adventist position that the little horn came
the seven heads as the major persecuting out of one of the four winds,6 which he
powers of Israel in history—namely Egypt, says, “flies in the face of both the prophetic
Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, context and the historical facts” (p. 150).
the Roman Empire, and the papacy.2 de However, this is not just an Adventist posi-
Kock begins his list with Babylon and tion; the Protestant scholar A. Bloomfield
Medo-Persia, but then he goes to Daniel wrote, “The little horn, we are told, is to
7:6 and introduces the four heads of the come out of one of the four winds of heav-
third beast (and the four horns in Dan en (v. 8).”7 de Kock’s offhand dismissal of
8:8) as the next four powers in Revelation the Adventist position may be due in part
17. Thus, head number three is Macedo- to the fact that he is not a Hebraist.8
nia and Greece, followed by the Seleucids A third problem, according to de Kock,
of Syria and the Ptolemies of Egypt. The is the phrase “in the latter time of their
sixth head is the Greco-Roman Empire of kingdom” (Dan 8:23). De Kock insists
Magna Graecia, Sicily, etc., and the seventh that this must refer to the four kingdoms.
head is the papacy. Revelation 17:10 is When Rome expanded its territory during
explained as follows: The five fallen king- the Punic wars (264–146 BC), only three
doms are Babylon, Medo-Persia, Mace- of the traditional four kingdoms were still
donia and Greece, the Seleucids in Syria, in existence. Hence the Greco-Roman Em-
and the Ptolemies in Egypt. “The one that pire of Magna Graecia is needed to make
is” is the Greco-Roman Empire of Magna up four kingdoms.9
Graecia, Sicily, etc., and the one that “has According to this reviewer, the book 7
not yet come” is the papacy (p. 81).3 Heads and 10 Horns in Daniel and Reve-
The historical basis of de Kock’s interpreta- lation is the best scholarly defense of the
tion is the fact that “a large and influential position that the little horn came out of
portion of Hellas, the region that lay in one of the four horns in Daniel 8. Apart
the West (particularly Sicily, Italy, and from the position whether this view is cor-

Reflections 67, July 2019 2 adventistbiblicalresearch.org

 rect or not, the book is valuable because it ecies are conditional (Jer 18:7–10), Israel’s
is full of historical events and facts that are failure to live up to God’s plan for them
of interest to every student of the books of meant that this kingdom never became a
Daniel and Revelation. reality. Nevertheless, the essentials of this
prophecy will be fulfilled in the heavenly
The Truth About 666, second rev. ed., 3 kingdom. The apocalyptic prophecies in
vols. (Edwin de Kock, Edinburg, TX: 2013; Daniel, however, are not conditional, and
880 pages). they depict a very different history. Thus
“God gave two sets of predictions, fore-
The three volumes of de Kock’s magnum telling entirely different histories for the
opus contain the most extensive treatment world: two tracks so to speak” (p. 110).
of the traditional historicist interpretation Which of the two would actually take place
of the enigmatic number 666 in Revelation depended on God’s people.
13:18. At the present time, two views con- The next four chapters (10–13) provide a
cerning it prevail in the Adventist Church. brief summary of Messianic prophecies
The traditional view, which de Kock and their fulfillment. One of the most
defends, holds that it is one of the many important Messianic prophecies was the
titles of the pope in Rome; the second seventy-week prophecy, which predicted
view teaches that it is a human number Christ’s ministry and His death in AD 31.
that “stands for the satanic triumvirate in In this connection the author points out
contrast to the triple seven of the Godhead that the futurist/dispensational interpre-
in Revelation 1:4–6.”10 tation “is simplistic, unscriptural, and has
Whatever view one holds on the issue, given rise to many errors” (p. 140).
these three volumes are a veritable gold- Chapters 14–19 address the issue of the
mine of historical information on this antichrist—the little horn, or the papacy.
issue. Every Adventist interested in the He traces the origin and development of
US $29.75 meaning of 666 will benefit from read- the papacy and its effect on Christianity, of
ing this trilogy. My review of the three which the change from Sabbath to Sunday
volumes was published in the Adventist was one of the most significant. Chap-
Review, May 15, 2014. ter 18, “Words Against the Most High,”
chronicles the blasphemous statements of
Christ and Antichrist in Prophecy and the popes, who claimed to rule in the place
History (Edwin de Kock, Edinburg, TX: of God, “and to speak ill of them was to
2013; 419 pages) slander God himself ” (p. 206). The next
chapter, “Tampering With God’s Law,” is
This book is a defense of the historicist an exposition of Daniel 7:25, which not
method of prophetic interpretation. The only refers to the change from Sabbath
author deals specifically with the book to Sunday, but also to a number of other
of Daniel, focusing on the prophecies changes in the Ten Commandments. de
concerning Christ and the antichrist. After Kock says, “The papacy has altered more
a brief introduction and some pointers than half of the Decalogue” (p. 231).
on how to study prophecy, he spends four The next section of three chapters (20–22)
chapters interpreting and explaining the explains the ten horns and the little horn
historical background to the prophecy of and its activity in Daniel 7:7–8. The ten
the image in Daniel 2, and two chapters on horns are seen as the Germanic tribes
the vision of the four beasts out of the sea “who took over the Western Roman Em-
US $16.95 in Daniel 7. As he had done in the book 7 pire and later became European nations
Heads and 10 Horns in Daniel and Revela- that still exist” (p. 250). The following, the
tion, he emphasizes again that the fourth author says, are representative: “Ostro-
power in Daniel 2 and 7 is a Greco-Roman goths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Aleman-
power (p. 99). ni, Saxons, Heruli, Lombards, Burgundi-
In chapter 9, titled “The History That Nev- ans, and Suebi” (p. 255).11 The little horn
er Was,” the author looks at prophecies that is the antichrist, which from the third
predict a Messianic kingdom in Old Testa- century on has been identified by some
ment times, in which “nation shall not lift as the Roman Church or the papacy. de
up sword against nation; neither shall they Kock provides pages of historical evidence
learn war any more” (Mic 4:3). A wonder- for this fact. He also refutes the preterist
ful temple would be built (Ezek 40–48) and futurist interpretations that identify
and the Messiah would rule as king (Mic the little horn either with the Syrian king
5:2–4, Isa 9:6–7). Because general proph- Antiochus Epiphanes, or with a single

Reflections 67, July 2019 3 adventistbiblicalresearch.org

 future individual who would rebuild tine’s view held sway. Augustine (354–430)
the temple in Jerusalem and abolish the taught that the fourth kingdom was Greece
Christian religion (p. 272–277). For de and the stone in Daniel 2 was the Catholic
Kock, the three uprooted horns are the Church. The revival of historicism, the
Heruli, the Ostrogoths, and the Vandals.12 author believes, began with the Waldenses,
He believes the Germanic Christians were Albigenses, and men like Joachim of Fiore
not Arians,13 but that they kept the Sabbath (c. 1135–1202), Dante Alighieri (1263–
and refused to accept Rome’s insistence on 1321), and the Dominican priest Girolamo
Sunday-keeping (p. 290).14 Savonarola (1452–1498).
In chapter 23, “The Sevenfold Prophecy
and the Year-Day Principle,” de Kock The Reformers all saw the papacy as the
defends the year-day principle, and in the Antichrist. The Counter-Reformation,
next chapter he addresses the question therefore, deflected this criticism by intro-
“Why Christians Persecute Christians?” ducing Luis Alcazar’s (1554–1613) pret-
He provides a long list of atrocities com- erism and Francisco Ribera’s (1537–1591)
mitted by Christians against Christians futurism (p. 44). Both men were Spanish
throughout church history and concludes Jesuits, whose teachings were eventually
that the reason for Christians persecuting taken over by Protestants. Futurism in
Christians is “that they have forgotten particular has become the hallmark of
what their religion is supposed to be based Protestant eschatology, as the books by Hal
on: love, not only for the Lord in heaven, Lindsay and the Left Behind series by Tim
but also for every human being on earth.” LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins show.
(p. 346). An appendix on “Literature and
the Bible” concludes the book. This booklet is a good survey and ex-
planation of the three major methods of
A More Sure Word of Prophecy (Edwin interpreting the prophecies in Daniel and
de Kock, Edinburg, TX: 201; 68 pages). Revelation: historicism, preterism, and fu-
turism. It and all the other books reviewed
This booklet is based on four lectures pre- are well researched and documented. The
sented in Havana, Cuba, in 2014, to which only thing missing are indices (scholars
the author added some additional material. like indices!).
The book focuses on historicism, which,
as the author says, “validates itself by Of all the books reviewed, Christ and An-
comparing Bible predictions with events as tichrist in Prophecy and History is probably
they unfold through the centuries, and is the most useful for pastors and church
therefore fully credible. This is not true of members. It contains a great amount of
any other method, like Idealism, Preter- historical background information con-
ism, or Futurism” (back cover). In contrast cerning the prophecies of Daniel and Rev-
to historicism, all of them deny that the elation that can be used in Bible studies,
US $8.50 papacy is the antichrist. sermons, and public lectures.

de Kock begins with a survey of ancient While one may not agree with all the
historicist interpreters—for example, Jew- positions presented, all the books are
ish rabbis who identified the fourth beast valuable additions to the library of anyone
in Daniel 7 with Rome, and the Church Fa- interested in the apocalyptic prophecies
thers Irenaeus (c. 130–203), Tertullian (c. of Scripture. They can be purchased from
160–240), and Hippolytus (c. 170–235), all Amazon, or directly from the author
of whom interpreted the four kingdoms in [email protected].
Daniel as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece,
and Rome. He believes that historicism
flourished during three periods of church Gerhard Pfandl, Ph.D.
history: in Apostolic and post-Apostolic Associate Director (ret.)
times, from pre-reformation times until Biblical Research Institute
the early nineteenth century, and among
the Millerites and present-day Seventh-day
Adventists (p. 21).

The second half of the book pays particu-

lar attention to the revival of historicism
after the Middle Ages, in which Augus-

Reflections 67, July 2019 4 adventistbiblicalresearch.org

 1 See for example, George W. Reid, ed., Under- for the Adventist position that the little horn
standing Scripture (Silver Spring, MD: Biblical comes from one of the four winds. See his book
Research Institute, 2005). “Truth and Terror: A Text-Oriented Analysis of
2 F. D. Nichol, ed., “Revelation,” Seventh Day Daniel 8:9–14” (PhD diss., Andrews University,
Adventist Bible Commentary, 7 vols. (Wash- 2006), 119–126.
ington, DC: Review and Herald, 1978), 7:855. 9 Except that by that time most of these city-
See also Ranko Stefanovic, Revelation of Jesus states had disappeared or were taken over by
Christ, rev. ed. (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews the Romans.
University Press, 2009), 521. 10 Stefanovic, 437.
3 The problem with this view is that Magna 11 The fact is, the Roman Empire succumbed
Graecia was a number of independent city- to many more than ten Germanic tribes, it is
states in southern Italy, but never a Graeco-Ro- better therefore to take the number ten as a
man empire. They originated in the eighth round figure (e.g., Gen 31:7; Num 14:22; 1 Sam
century BC, long before the four horn replaced 1:8; etc.) indicating the multiplicity of states in
the kingdom of Greece. By the time the contrast to the one empire of Rome.
Antigonids, the Seleucids, and the Ptolemies 12 More recently, Adventist scholars have
were established in their kingdoms in the third identified them with the Visigoths, Vandals,
century BC, Magna Graecia was nearing its and Ostrogoths. See Heinz Schaidinger, Histor-
end. When in 282 BC the Romans appeared in ical Confirmation of Prophetic Periods (Silver
the Tarentine Gulf the end was near. Spring, MD: Biblical Research Institute, 2010),
4 Taylor Bunch, The Book of Daniel (reprint, 30; William H. Shea, Daniel 1–7, The Abundant
Payson, AZ: Leaves-of-Autumn, 1986), Life Bible Amplifier (Boise, ID: Pacific Press,
11 1996), 168.
5 Ibid., 113. 13 The fact is, most of the Goths were Arians
6 William H. Shea, Selected Studies on Prophet- or semi-Arians, some however were not; see
ic Interpretation, rev. ed., DARCOM Series, vol. Herwig Wolfram, History of the Goths (Los An-
1 (Silver Spring, MD: Biblical Research Insti- geles, CA: University of California Press, 1988),
tute, 1992), 50; Jacques B. Doukhan, Secrets of 75–85; Peter Heather, The Goths (Oxford:
Daniel (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, Blackwell Publishing, 1996), 245.
2000), 125. 14 This is based on a statement by Sidonius
7 Arthur E. Bloomfield, The End of the Days: Apollinaries, a bishop in France (c. 430–489).
A Study of Daniels Visions (Minneapolis, MN:
Bethany Fellowship, Inc., 1961), 165.
8 The Adventist Old Testament scholar Martin
Pröbstle has put together some solid arguments

“Be strong and take heart, all

you who hope in the Lord”
(Psalm 31:24 NIV)

Reflections 67, July 2019 5 adventistbiblicalresearch.org