Daniel 8
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I could be described for the first 20 plus years of my life as a “non-Reader”
There would always be movies that came out that were made out of popular books.
Everytime people would say well it wasn't as good as the book and i would just sit there and just thank God they made it into a movie or else i never would have known the story.
I was a visual learner and still am.
These visions are in the bible to help people like me.
These visions this type of literature “is God’s way of helping visual learners” as David Helm says.
But to learn what ?
What is so important God is going to these extremes to tell us
It is the central struggle of all of our life…where is god when bad things happen
Where is God when it looks like the brokenness of life is winning
It is imperative that God tells the whole story for us so that when the bad days come we don’t lose heart
but we cling to the one who wins when we are suffering for our faith, or in the face of funerals or the simple passing of time that is undefeated
This is real life in real ways to our brothers and sisters being hunted down and murdered in Mozambique, and Iran, and North Korea
ANd it is real life for us in a different way as we suffer the pain of the human experience
It is real for us when so many are tempted through progressive teaching to reject the real message
As we said last week President Franklin Roosevelt sums up the message of these chapters of Daniel- President Franklin Roosevelt said” Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
Jesus himself said it this way. “In this world you will have trouble but take heart I have overcome the world”
And Daniel 8 is for us to visually learn this truth so we are those who endure to the end
The Setting and the Sci Fi Movie (8:1-8, 18-22)
The Setting and the Sci Fi Movie (8:1-8, 18-22)
7 years after his first dream it happens again
And its rough
At the end of it Daniel says
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 8
I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for days
So take heart this is hard to understand and comprehend for all of us throughout time
Daniel 8:2 I saw the vision, and as I watched, I was in the fortress city of Susa, in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal.
Babylon is still the world power but on the horizon looms a new threat.
He is taken in his dream to modern day Iran 220 miles east of Babylon where he was sleeping. And he sees events that wont take place for another 200 some odd years.
Summary of 1-8 : Daniel describes a vision he had during the reign of King Belshazzar of Babylon. In the vision, Daniel sees a ram with two horns standing by a river. One horn is larger than the other. The ram charges westward, northward, and southward, defeating every animal that stands in its way, and no one can rescue from its power.
Then, a goat appears from the west with a single prominent horn between its eyes. It moves rapidly and strikes the ram, breaking its two horns. The goat becomes very powerful, but its horn is broken, and in its place, four smaller horns grow in different directions.
Then an Angel explains it thank the Lord in Daniel 8:18-22
While he was speaking to me, I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me, made me stand up, and said, “I am here to tell you what will happen at the conclusion of the time of wrath, because it refers to the appointed time of the end. The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes represents the first king. The four horns that took the place of the broken horn represent four kingdoms. They will rise from that nation, but without its power.
He sees in his dream a ram with 2 horns one horn larger than the other.
It symbolizes the medes and the persians.
It was a unified Empire but the Persians were the stronger the Larger of the 2 sides. It is an unstoppable animal as Daniel sees.
Persia dominated the world.
The Ram is even more fitting for the Medo Persian Empire as the generals of their armies would wear a rams head in battle even rams horns would adorn its soldiers as they conquered in battle.
Out of nowhere however a goat appeared in the vision. The Goat is moving so fast it is not even touching the ground.
Gabriel tells Daniel that the Goat is the Greek Empire...and the whole earth feels its power.
In a blitz it took over the world
It was one of the greatest upsets in world history that the great persians fell to this conspicuous horn.
If you have seen or heard of the movie 300 you get a glimpse at the start of the upset.
Persia wanted europe and greece stood in its way.
Phillip unified Greece into a growing power and he wanted his son Alexander to rule it all when he was old enough
Like any dad he wanted his son to do greater things then he did
So he hired the famous Aristotle to be his tutor
Alexander was ambitious and ready to take over at 20…so as a thank you for all his dad did he assasinated him and took over
By 25 he was the King of Asia. He is one of the top 3 if not the greatest military ruler in world history.
Why the Goat to symbolize him in Daniels Dream?
As he sailed to persia to conquer it they were flying on the banners of his ships a Goat.
Why does the horn break off in the dream all of a sudden?
Because Alexander would die at 33 from malaria
And the 4 remaining horns represent the 4 countries it would be divided into as 4 generals took over
Cool story but what does that have to do with us and our brothers in Iran or the first readers of this book
Why All The Fuss
Why All The Fuss
How is all of that essentially providing a message of perseverance and trust in God even amidst oppression and suffering and the temptation to live a compromised build a bear Jesus life?
One of the generals who took over was an antichrist character who would murder hundreds of thousands of believers in just 3 and a half years
From one of them a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land.
The beautiful land means the promised land…the land of Israel
He was placed in charge there
His name was Antiochus Epiphanes
He was no different then hitler in his evil
Verse 12 says he is going to look like he is getting away with genocide
The question we are faced with in this life is how long
We ask why
How long can a good and loving God just let bad things happen
How long God are things going to be this broken
The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail b. How Long?
The answer comes: For 2,300 evening-mornings, then the sanctuary will be put right (14). Don’t become so mesmerized with the 2,300 figure that you miss an important point. ‘How long?’ is the cry of desperation one hears from Yahweh’s servants in the Psalter. Only here in Daniel the cry comes from an angel. It is almost as if heaven’s legions enter sympathetically into the anguish and duress of God’s earthly people.
The number 2300 is like saying a long time…but it will end…this won’t last forever
And it was like the nightmare of the holocaust
Antiochus instituted a systematic program to stamp out belief and following our God
The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail d. A Brief Bio and More
167 BC he sent his chief tax collector, Apollonius, to Jerusalem, and pillage, massacre and ruin were his orders
Heres why God is going to all this spilled ink to tell us this
Morgan loves to scare me
Loves it
But what happens when i see her duck behind the doorway and she doesn’t know i saw
Her jumping out doesn’t inflict the trauma she sickeningly wants so bad
That is what God is trying to do
He wants us to see evil duck behind the doorway
He wants us to know so that when the diagnosis comes we know it doesn’t win
He wants us to know that when you have to go to a funeral you know it doesn’t get the last word
Our ultimate exile may seem like sin and our own funeral are too tenacious to beat
Antiochus looked to be bigger then our God
But it doesn’t get the last word
The son of man from last week is on the throne
I Repeat the words of pastor Justin Dillehay
This age won’t last forever, and the mission won’t be completed with Jesus sitting down. One day he’s going to get up, and when he does, the whole world will know it. His enemies will be made his footstool, his friends will be made his vice-regents, and his creation will be made a Paradise
Jesus is unapologetic in telling us before hand so we see evil hide behind the door so we endure whatever comes
“I have told you these things to keep you from stumbling. They will ban you from the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God. They will do these things because they haven’t known the Father or me. But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you will remember I told them to you.
He doesn’t tell us that it’s gonna be bad and leave us to say good luck
Paul says Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is real bad news but he doesn’t leave us there …
Things will be hard…but God
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive together with Christ
Christ stands behind all of the brutality we face and says i know i care i did something about it and one day soon i am coming back to make everything right
we see in Daniel 8 that behind Antiochus and the end times we will see that God is winning even in the midst of suffering.
We have the ultimate example in Christ.
Who though Satan thought he would defeat through murdering him, Christ actually flipped the table and conquered him and sin and death in his sacrificial death, resurrection, and enthroning ascension.
Where John Calvin said “Christ turned hIs Cross into a Triumphal Chariot”
What Satan saw as a victory God was using to defeat him.
In some parts of the Greek Orthodox church the day after the resurrection is called Joke Day.
In celebration of the greatest cosmic joke ever played when God in Christ used Satan's own efforts against him to defeat once and for all the power of sin and death through the death of Jesus.
We need to know our warrior savior is fighting and winning for us.
We need to know the reality we cannot see because as this vision will show and history will prove is that it will be hard for God's people.
It will be hard to give up what we have in this life for the eternal Kingdom of our enthroned KIng.
But the martyr Missionary Jim Elliot’s words echo through the history of God’s people what few grasp..”He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”
When we know the end is promised we can be wise in the face of the furnace or the lions den.
It’s No Different Today
It’s No Different Today
The point of daniel and the point of revelation that is based on it is not to hide things from us so we play a pin the tail on the end times donkey game
The antichrists characteristic leading is at work today
the new testament authors spoke of the end times beginning with Jesus
Peter said at the launch of the church age “It is now in the last days…”
History repeats itself in enemy oppression of gods people. Not in every detail but in attitude and action.
We can see what the end time opponent will behave like, the attitude he will have, the issues the church will face.
Jesus begins drawing this theme out from Daniel in his own ministry. Matthew 24 alone is saturated with allusions to the Book of Daniel and this end time opponent, most often referred to as the antichrist.
Now people have all but ruined the reading of the bibles teaching about this opponent and i do not have time to get into all of that but we see some themes in scripture starting in Matthew 24:15 and 24 Jesus says :
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, -- Matthew 24:15 (CSB)
24For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 Take note: I have told you in advance. -- Matthew 24:24-25 (CSB)
Let me change your thinking in this little detail.
The antichrist is already at work he was in the first churches. Because we see it is the one who teaches against the persona and work of Christ...anti christ
What Jesus says these anti Christ teachers will do is lead people astray.
False teaching. Do we see false teaching today? YES because this same spirit is at work today as it always has been.
The Aposlte John knew this when he wrote to warn and encourage the small house churches in 1 John
18 Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.
I could go on with the bible telling us to look at evil hide behind the door
So why all this fuss when God could have just told us its gonna be ok?
Because we are like Thomas…we need to see it
All this detail is needed because it’s important for God’s people to know and prepare for what they will have to face, not only near the end but also along the way
So that we aren’t afraid to have hope even in the face of the worst of this life
Knowing the end changes what we cling too
Knowing the end changes what we cling too
What life will you cling too?
The fleeting comfort of compromise to avoid the difficulty that comes with following Christ?
Or do you cling to your life hidden with Christ
No matter what comes
In the 1970s, Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge army transformed Cambodia into a nation-wide death camp.
These years saw one of the worst periods of mass killing in the 20th century and one-and-a-half million people died. The church, founded only fifty years earlier, suffered deeply as christians were seen as enemies of the state
In the village of Siem Riep, Cambodia, Haim, a Christian teacher, knew that the Khmer Rouge soldiers now heading across the field were coming this time for him ….
Haim was determined that when his turn come, he would die with dignity and without complaint.
Haim’s entire family was rounded up that afternoon.
The family spent a sleepless night comforting one another and praying for each other as they lay bound together in the dewy grass beneath a stand of friendly trees.
Next morning the teenage soldiers returned and led them to their place of execution, to the nearby “killing fields.” as they are called.
The family was ordered to dig a large grave for themselves.
Then, consenting to Haim’s request for a moment to prepare themselves for death, father, mother, and children, hands linked, knelt together around the gaping pit.
With loud cries to God, Haim began exhorting both Khmer Rouge and all those looking on from afar to repent and believe the gospel.
Then in panic, one of Haim’s youngest sons leapt to his feet, bolted into the surrounding bush and disappeared.
Haim jumped up and asked the Khmer Rouge soldiers not to pursue him, but allow him the dad to call the boy back.
The people looked on in awe as Haim began calling his son, pleading with him to return and die together with his family.
“What comparison, my son,” he called out, “stealing a few more days of life in the wilderness, a fugitive, wretched and alone, to joining your family here momentarily around this grave but soon around the throne of God, free forever in Paradise?”
After a few minutes the bushes parted, and the boy, weeping, walked slowly back to his place with the kneeling family. “Now we are ready to go,” Haim told the Khmer Rouge.
One author says - Few of those watching doubted that as each of these Christians’ bodies toppled silently into the grave which the victims had dug for themselves, their souls soared heavenward to a place prepared by their Lord.
