Lesson 20D The Troubling Vision, Daniel 8:1- 15

Vision of the Ram Dan. 8:1-4

English Standard Version (Chapter 8) 8 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. 2 And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. 3 I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ra8 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. 4 I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.

Even though Belshazzar was a failure spiritually, he has figured prominently in Daniel’s pre-”writing on the wall events.” Chapter 7 that we just completed was attributed to the first year of Belshazzar’s reign and now this chapter starts out in the third year ( the last one of his reign just before the banquet that was his down fall). This vision has some of the same earmarks of the last chapter with the exception of the appearance of a ram with 2 horns.

Those two horns are the Medes and Persians. The “citadel” of verse two is the palace in Shushan or Susa not in Babylon but Persia. We might add here that Daniel could have been in Babylon but was seeing things happen from the perspective of Shushan. For the sake of the dream and the text, we can easily look at this as an actual Persian scene with Daniel there on official business. Perhaps he was in the country of the Medes to broker a peace treaty or buy and sell goods for the government? If that sounds a little “far fetched” just remember that someone could be asking the question at some point. See what the end of the chapter says in verse 27:

English Standard Version Chapter 8

27 And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and

It did not say what country Daniel was in for the dream. The exact scene is more specific about the location because it was by the the Ulai canal or river. Technically, it does not matter where he was at. The important thing is the dream.

Before Daniel can bat an eye, he sees a ram standing of the bank of the canal/river. The ram had two horns and both were located very high for a ram, but one was definitely higher than the other. It’s the kind of Ram you wouldn’t want to meet, unless it was in a Ram dealers showroom. Alas, I am wandering on that one. In this case, the higher horn came up last in order of importance. The higher horn was Persia. Suddenly the ram started charging every way except to the east. Nothing dared get in its way and nothing dared rescue anyone from it. The ram became a very great player in this scene and he did as he pleased, as far as pushing people around. Look out this is a bully!

A Goat Appears Daniel 8:5- 8

English Standard Version Chapter 8

5 As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. 6 He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. 7 I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. 8 Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.

Daniel may not have realized it at the moment, but he was getting a picture of the push against countries that the Medes and Persians would have, and they would be the force that would conquer Babylon on the night of Belshazzar’s party in just a short while. The Medes and Persians held on to their power for 2-300 years and as verses 5 and 6 show us their demise was by the one horned goat. That goat would eventually be known as Alexander the Great. As Daniel viewed the goat up close he could see this was a bitter man, and a man so angry he knocked off both the Medes and the Persians. It was not enough to win, Alexander then cast the ram down and stomped on him. There was nothing anyone could do to rescue the Medes and Persians from Alexander. But Alexander’s reign was short lived and history says his horn on the goat was broken. Alexander died a couple of years after gaining control. From His death, four of his generals, split up the kingdom into four parcels and each ruled a section. They are the four “conspicuous horns towards the four winds of heaven of verse 8.”

The Little Horn Daniel 8:9- 14

English Standard Version Chapter 8

9 Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. 10 It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. 11 It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. 12 And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. 13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” 14 And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”

This little horn is deadly. This man is known in history as “Antiochus Epiphanes.” He was a real person in history. Yes, he was a Roman ruler, who eventually set up his kingdom in Jerusalem to get people to worship him. He conquered nations to the south and east( Egypt and Persia), then he goes against the “pleasant/glorious” land of Palestine. He not only became the Jews political ruler, he wanted to become their god. He tried his best to destroy their faith. In verse ten, the throwing down of stars to the ground and trampled on them in a reference to his persecution of the 12 Jewish tribes. The stars hearken back to the time of Jacob and his family. That leads him to proclaim that he is the “Prince of the host” in verse 10 and king of Israel. It is then people are compelled to worship him. He takes away the regular burnt offering in the temple and overthrows the sanctuary and takes control. It says he threw truth to the the ground and sacrificed a pig on the altar, desecrating the temple. An act called the abomination/transgression of desolation.

Things can’t get much worse but it does for the Jewish people, The rendering of the temple to being totally unclean meant it was trampled underfoot as it says in verse 13. The Sanctuary of the temple would not be cleansed again for a little over six years- 2300 evenings and mornings. It was eventually cleansed but not before some very dark days in the history of God’s people. The temple was eventually cleansed on December 25, 165 B.C by the Jewish patriot, Judas Maccabeus. The total time between the desecration and the rededication was just as Daniel’s vision foretold, 2300 days.

This vision is not just for the time of Daniel but it gives us a picture of what is coming during the end time of the 7 years of tribulation. This foretelling of the Man of Sin is in direct contrast to the Son of Man. The Antichrist is absolutely the worst person possible for this planet but he does serve a purpose to show man’s depravity, that sin will be judged, and that all of mankind is indeed guilty unless they claims Jesus as Savior and Lord. Jesus alone is the only way to cleanse sin. That fact alone is a big stumbling block for a lot of people. They don’t feel that they are bad enough to need cleansing. Brethren we have our work cut out for us. Someone has to tell them and that is us.