There Will Always Be People Like This

this is about 2 years later

Still under Babylonian rule

King Belshazzar

This time Daniel sees a vision

It doesn’t appear to be a dream while sleeping

He is taken in the vision to Susa, a major Persian city

The book of Ester takes place there and Nehemiah served there before returning to Jerusalem

At this point, though, this is not a Babylonian city and there is no reason for Daniel to be there

This vision is one of the more straight forward visions

Commentators almost unanimously agree on it’s interpretation

Though there are a few points people differ on

The Ram and the Goat

First there was a ram with two horns

It will charge westward, northward and southward

No other best will stand before it

it will conquer

Second Daniel saw a Goat

the goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth

The goat had a horn between it’s eyes

The goat trampled the ram

The goat was a great power

The horn broke and 4 horns came out of it

The Little Horn

From the one of the 4 horns came a little horn

The south, east and glorious land

The horn gained power

fought against the host of heaven and even threw some stars to the ground

It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host

Burnt offerings will stop

the sanctuary be overthrown

and the host will be given over to it

but the horn will prosper

this will last 2300 evenings and mornings and then the sanctuary shall be restored

The Interpretation

Daniel again recieved angelic assistance

“at the latter end of the indignation” and “appointed time of the end” (v19)

This is not the end of the world, but the end of the time of this prophecy

The angel Gabriel explains that the Ram are the Medes and Persians.

Remember, they are the second kingdom Daniel will be in captivity to

The goat and the first horn isthe king of Greece

We know this to be Alexander the great

He came to power in his 20’s and waged ware in the region

When he died his kingdom was split amongst his 4 generals

But this is all we are told about these two great kingdoms and Alexander the great

But they are not as great as Alexander was

Instead the focus moves to the little horn (23)

A bold face, who understands riddles, shall rise (23)

He is powerful, but it’s not his power (24)

He both acts in the power of Satan and the Power of God

Satan, because he is at war against God

but God because the sovereign King is the one who brought this horn to power

He will cause destruction, and destroy mighty men

Most importantly to Daniel, and us, he will destroy the “people who are the saints”

This time we know the word saints means Israel because the prophecy has already been fulfilled

He will be smart, but also proud

Without warning (25) implies he may have come as a surprise to people or brought peace before turning to war

He will not only wage war on the land, but he will stand against God himself

But God will defeat him

This vision is true

The little horn here is Antiochus IV Epiphanies

He was a leader of one of the four regions in Greece about 150 years after Alexander the Great’s death

He ruled the The Seleucid Empire

in 170 BC, he turned his sights to Jerusalem, referred to during the vision as the Glorious land

What he did:

He waged war on the Jewish people

He outlawed Hebrew religion and practices, such as circumcision

He stopped the daily, morning and evening, sacrifices

He burned the scriptures

He defiled the temple

Slaughtered a pig in sacrifice to Zeus on the alter

set up an image of Zeus in the holy place

He died in 164 BC

This period of time in Jewish history is recorded in the books of the Maccabees.

They are historic writings that tell the events of the period between the Old and New Testament

Specifically, they tell of the Maccabean revolt where the Jews revolted against Antiochus, regained the ability to worship and purified the temple

When we look at Daniels vision we see:

A king will come from Greece

He will wage war against God and God’s people

He will put an end to daily sacrifices

He will be overthrown

the temple will be restored

This patter is so perfect that some skeptics believe the entire book of Daniel had to be written somewhere in the Maccabean time period

But fulfilled prophecy is why we can trust in yet to be fulfilled prophecy

What Can We Learn?

No ruler, no matter how evil, can come to power without God’s giving him the power

There will always be evil rulers of which Antiochus IV Epiphanes is just an example

The physical battles we see are just a shadow of the spiritual battles taking place

God will not let sin go unpunished

God Wins