Patterns of Power, Applied

Patterns of Power

Daniel 2: Worldly perspective

Daniel 7: God’s perspective

Daniel 8: Applied to Jerusalem

Daniel 8:1 NIV

1 In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me.

A Ram, a Goat, and Horns (v.2-12)

A ram with 2 horns

Attacking in every direction

A goat with 1 horn

Attacks and kills the ram

Grows replacement horns

Horns have bad attitudes

Daniel 8:15–26 NIV

15 While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man. 16 And I heard a man’s voice from the Ulai calling, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.” 17 As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.” 18 While he was speaking to me, I was in a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me and raised me to my feet. 19 He said: “I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. 20 The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. 21 The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king. 22 The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power. 23 “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. 24 He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people. 25 He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. 26 “The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.”

General Patterns, Explicitly Applied

Judah will endure the time of wrath

Babylon will give way to Persia, which will give way to Greece

Out of Greece will come an especially profane ruler

He will end Jewish sacrifice and desecrate the temple

Fulfilled centuries after Daniel

Alexander the Great, ruler of Greece, was killed and his kingdom divided

Antiochus rose to power over Judah

Killed countless jews

Set up an alter to Zeus in the temple and sacrificed pigs

Why does this fulfillment matter?

The pattern exists and continues

Judah is an example of this reality

We’re told why this happened

Daniel 8:12 Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.

Daniel 8:23 “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise.”

The Cause is Corporate

The people of God rebelled against their mandate and invited the patterns of power to consume them

God’s people endorsed rebellion

Biblical Israel is now the body of Christ

Cycles of power persist in the world

When the Church adopts these cycles of power, it does harm

When the Church resists power and sides with the mission of God, it flourishes

“On Earth as it is in Heaven”

What cycles do you adopt?

Seeking power and harming?

Listening and obeying?

Seeing mission and acting?