Daniel’s Dream Explained

Eschatology: the study of end things

Biblical apocalyptic is a revelation of the ending of this present age, which is an age characterized by conflict, and its replacement by the final age of peace. It shows us ahead of time the end of the kingdoms of this world and their replacement by the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. This revelation is unfolded in complex and mysterious imagery, and has the purpose of comforting and exhorting the faithful.

The Prophecy Makes Daniel Anxious (v15-16, 28)

For a lot of people, studying prophecy causes anxiety

The same for Daniel

So Daniel makes the decision to seek out help understanding

While we do not know the nature of the person he asks, but it’s most likely an angel

The Saints of the Most High Shall Receive the Kingdom (17-18)

Immediately the person Daniel is talking to shows us the main point of the vision

he explains that there will be 4 kingdoms but that the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom

He could have said anything, and he chooses to explain the entire vision in two sentences

First, there will be 4 evil kings

But…it shows the contrast

There will be bad, but…

The saints will receive the kingdom

Who are the saints?

The most basic reading of the text would imply that the saints are all the believers throughout history

That’s not the only perspective

There are two main theories of who the “saints” are here

one theory holds that the saints are Jewish believers

This theory relies heavily on a distinction between the church and Israel

One of the the key proponents of this theory stated that the saints must be Jewish believers because the church does not appear in the Old Testament.

This view holds to a distinction between the Old and New Testament

The other view holds more to a continuity between Testaments

Matthew 5:10 “10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Daniel Wanted to Know About the Fourth Beast and the Horns (19-25)

Again Daniel is a lot like us today

There is an almost unending curiosity over the 4th kingdom, the 10 horns and the little horn.

It is important though, that we do not read further into the text than what is really there.

The beast:

Most people believe the 4th beast to be Rome, but we really do not know.

What we do know is that it was the most terrifying, dominating and destructive of the kingdoms (19)

It will make war and devior the earth (23)

The 10 horns

The horns are 10 kings (v24)

Some believe them to be 10 specific Roman kings

Some have claimed they are the 10 nations of the EU after England joined in 1973

Some believe them to be 10 concurrent kingdoms in Europe that will rise to power in the footprint of the ancient Roman nation

But we do not know any of that

The Little Horn

Often believed to be the anti-christ

The term anti-christ only appears in Scripture 4 times

Only by John in his letters

Paul discusses a man of lawlessness

Most likely these references are all to the same person

There are many assumptions as to who this person may be

Nero

Hitler

Stalin

Obama

Trump

I even heard someone recently say Elon Musk

Specific popes

The popes as a whole

Many reformers took this stance

But we do not know any of this.

In fact there are two possible solutions

Someone in the future, yet to come

A Roman emperor around the 60-70 AD range.

Nero or Titus are the two biggest options

Nero lead a great persecution against the church

Titus lead a seige on Jerusalem, the likes of which had never before been seen, and probably hasn’t since.

What we do know about the little horn though is that

He will make war against the saints (21)

He will prevail over them (21)

He will blaspheme God

God will give the saints into his hand for a time, times and a half time

Many people think this is 3 1/2 years

They may be right, the text doesn’t tell us

He will lose (26)

It Ends In God’s Judgement (26-27)

In three places we see that God wins

verse 18

verse 22

verse 26-27

In verse 18 we see that the saints will receive the kingdom

In verse 22 we see that the little horn will prevail over the saints, that is, until the Ancient of Days comes to Judge him

This is when the saints will receive the kingdom

This kingdom is often referred to as the millennial kingdom in reference to Revelation 20 where John witnesses a thousand year reign

There are generally three views on when the kingdom comes

The Post-millennial View

The kingdom will begin sometime after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, but before Christ returns

The A-millennial View

The Kingdom began sometime after the resurrection and the church will live through

The Pre-millennial View

The kingdom will begin sometime in the future, immediately following Christs return

While there are different views on when the kingdom will be established, it’s important to understand that this area of debate is a nonessential.

What we must believe is that Christ is coming back

In fact I think Paul summarized the essentials of the Gospel so clearly in 1 Cor 15 when he said, “Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again”.

Yes, there are important doctrines beyond this, but when the return of Christ will happen, is not one that we should fight of or separate over

In fact, looking at the passage, we should be able to recognize that who the little horn is, and when the millennial Kingdom will begin is not important.

If it were, we would be told.

What we are told, from beginning to end here are two things

God Will Hand the Saints Over to be Persecuted

This is the message of Acts, Philippians, Peter’s, and Revelation

God Will Then Give the Saints the Kingdom

This is the message of the entire book of Daniel