Daniel 8 (May 31, 2020, AM)

We have been talking about four kingdoms for a few weeks now.

Do you remember what they are?

Babylon

Medo-Persia

Greece

Rome

Daniel 1-5 dealt with Babylon, so we have covered that one pretty thoroughly.

We spent last week talking a good bit about the fourth kingdom, Rome.

That leaves the second and third kingdoms that have not gotten a lot of attention.

We will focus in on them in chapter 8.

Belshazzar, who was the last king of Babylon, was still reigning when Daniel had the vision that we will study today.

So, for Daniel, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th kingdoms were all future.

This vision is similar to the previous one, but the explanation given to Daniel is remarkably specific.

From our vantage point it will be pretty easy to see exactly who and what is symbolized.

Let’s read the whole chapter, so we can get our bearings.

Daniel 8 ESV

1 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 ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. 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. 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. 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.” 15 When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. 16 And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” 17 So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.” 18 And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. 19 He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. 20 As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. 22 As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. 23 And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. 24 His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. 25 By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. 26 The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.” 27 And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.

When Daniel says that he did not understand the vision, I think he must mean that he did not completely understand it.

Such is the way of prophecy. We can get the main point, but we have to wait and see the small details.

Imagine a couple of scholars arguing about the first coming of the Messiah.

One guy - literally be born of a virgin and that Elijah himself would return to earth to be his forerunner.

Other guy - figuratively born of a virgin - really one who had not defiled herself with idolatry and not really Elijah, but a prophet who would come in the power and spirit of Elijah.

Both half right!

It is wise not to be too certain about the details.

From our perspective in history, I think we can be pretty specific about some of the details we see in this chapter.

Our Sovereign God Predicted the Rise of Medo-Persia

Daniel 8:3–4 ESV

3 I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. 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.

There is no doubt or speculation that this is Medo-Persia because the angel Gabriel told Daniel that it was.

Daniel 8:20 ESV

20 As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia.

The two great, but uneven horns give us more confidence in naming the second beast in the last chapter who was raised up on one side, Medo-Persia.

Remember, God does not just predict the future, He controls and determines it.

Our Sovereign God Predicted the Rise of Greece

Daniel 8:5–8 ESV

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 8:21–22 ESV

21 And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. 22 As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power.

In hindsight we can see that the the breaking of this horn, at the height of the goat’s strength, was the death of Alexander the Great.

This was followed by a fourfold division of his kingdom among his generals.

You have all heard of Alexander the Great.

He is one of the most influential people to have ever lived.

He is not much more than a footnote here though, because the focus falls on his successor who goes to war with God and His people.

Our Sovereign God Predicted the Rise of Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Daniel 8:9–14 ESV

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.”

Daniel 8:23–27 ESV

23 And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. 24 His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. 25 By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. 26 The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.” 27 And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.

This antichrist hated the Jews!

He was determined to exterminate them and their religion.

He is a really great picture of what the final and ultimate antichrist will be like.

His character, his actions, and even the power behind him are characteristic of the final antichrist.

Listen to this list of his accomplishments.

Exalting Jesus in Daniel And the Visions Keep on Coming! An Apocalyptic Ram, Goat, and Little Horn 8:1-27

He devastated Jerusalem in 168 BC, murdered tens of thousands, defiled the temple, offered a pig on its altar, erected a shrine to Jupiter, prohibited temple worship, forbade circumcision on pain of death, sold (according to 2 Macc 5:11-14) forty thousand Jews into slavery, destroyed all copies of Scripture that could be found, and slaughtered everyone found to be in possession of God’s Torah. He resorted to every conceivable torture to force Jews to renounce their religion.

His atrocities led to the Maccabean revolt in 164 BC.

Judas Maccabees - the hammer - would lead the Jews to victory and the restoration of their religion.

The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah around Christmas time is a remembrance of this deliverance by God.

v. 25 told us that Antiochus would be broken - but by no human hand.

The Jewish book of 2 Maccabees records his demise.

Exalting Jesus in Daniel And the Visions Keep on Coming! An Apocalyptic Ram, Goat, and Little Horn 8:1-27

But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him an incurable and unseen blow. As soon as he ceased speaking he was seized with a pain in his bowels for which there was no relief and with sharp internal tortures—and that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions. Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, and giving orders to hasten the journey. And so it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along, and the fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body. (2 Macc 9:5-7)

This is interesting, but what does it have to do with us?

We need to see that

God will use even the most corrupt leader and nation as a rod of discipline.

Would you like to think that God would never let someone as corrupt as Kim Jung Un or President Shi take us down?

I would like to think that, but I don’t.

God will punish America eventually unless we, as a nation, repent.

Who or what will be the instrument that God uses to inflict that punishment?

It looks right now like the most likely candidate is leftist, socialist politicians - but who knows?

God knows!

So, what do we do?

We do what Daniel did in v. 27

Daniel 8:27 ESV

27 And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.

We go about the king’s business.

Now Daniel may have been talking about Belshazzar, but we know from our study of Daniel thus far that he was always about the business of the King of Kings.

We need to be busy there too.

We do not have to guess as to what the King’s business is!

King Jesus gave us clear instruction.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

That is why we are going to build a campus down south - to try to reach new people.

We must each do everything we can to reach those around us.

We have the freedom to evangelize now, so let’s do it.

We have the freedom to assemble and preach and pray and sing, so let’s do it.

If you have resources you can invest in the kingdom then do it now.

I do not mean to be all doom and gloom.

God may bring revival to America, but if he does, He will do so through His church!