Daniel 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. 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. 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. 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 8:9: Out of
one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south,
toward the east, and toward the glorious land. 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. 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. 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. 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?” And
he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be
restored to its rightful state.”
Daniel 8:15: 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. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the
Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” 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.”
Daniel 8:18: 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. 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.
As for the ram that you saw with the two
horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great
horn between his eyes is the first king. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.”
In Daniel 8:1, the proclamation is made that this vision
is like the one that Daniel had before. What is the one Daniel had before? It
was in chapter 7. They have similar attributes and the one interprets the
other. They add to one another.
So Daniel sees a ram with 2 horns. One of the horns is
longer than the other. What does this creature symbolize? It symbolizes
Medo-Persia. Just like the bear was raised on one side, this ram has one horn
longer than the other. Thus far in the book of Daniel horns mean kings. We
interpret Daniel by the context of what the rest of the book of Daniel says.
This represents one kingdom with 2 kings (Medo-Persia).
We find another creature in verse 5. A he-goat with 1 horn
comes flying over the earth and takes down the ram. Now, if you know about
goats and rams, you would know that a ram could take down a goat without much
effort. The fact that the he-goat took down the ram without much effort is
saying something. God Himself has ordained this. It goes back to the last two
chapters we’ve looked at. The lesser takes down the greater.
The he-goat is a representation of Greece, and the horn is
Alexander the Great. We see in the fact that the he-goat is flying that this
happens speedily. It goes back to Daniel 7:6 that the leopard had wings. We
find in chapter 8:8 that the horn breaks off and 4 more horns grow. These are
another reference to Alexander’s kingdom being split into 4 and the strongest
of Greece ruled them.
It quickly gets interesting. Out of one of these 4 horns,
another horn grows. It starts small but grows in power. Where else have we read
this? Daniel 7:8 says, “I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among
them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were
plucked up by the roots.” This horn that starts small was already referenced
to. We shouldn’t look to history to tell us who this little horn is from
Greece. We already know. This is the antichrist.
But I thought that the antichrist came from the fourth
beast…
2 things: remember that the 4 beasts and the 4 elements of
the statue are all connected in that they all have Satan as their ruler.
Whether the vision shows Greece or Rome or Babylon, when we’re talking about
the antichrist we’re talking about the antichrist. We’ll see in Revelation 13
(you can go look now if you want) that these 4 beasts in Daniel 7 get high
jacked and a hybrid of all of them is used to describe the antichrist. Second,
if Daniel’s vision is showing that the antichrist comes from one of the 4 horns
of Greece, it is probably putting in another piece of the puzzle.
I think that this is a reference to where we might find
the antichrist arise. You can’t pinpoint exactly when or where exactly, but
every detail is given to help us not be deceived.
So the antichrist (this horn in verse 9) starts small. He
doesn’t have a large following. This is mentioned again later in Daniel. So I
won’t emphasize it here more than I already have. He grows in power toward
the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. What does this say? It probably means that the
antichrist will come from the north and the western area. I don’t know that for
sure. But I assume that it is true. We’ll read later in Daniel that the
antichrist is acknowledged as the king of the north. We also read in all of the
Old Testament prophets that they expected an attack from the north.
Germany can’t have been this. We’ll see why more fully in
chapter 11. Throughout all the prophets, Israel goes through their final torment
and comes back to the Land with everlasting joy upon their heads knowing the
Lord their God – they are His people; He is their God. That hasn’t happened. So
there are two main thoughts on it: it is future, or the prophecies will work
themselves out if we just give it time. I repeat what I said earlier: a partial
fulfillment is not a fulfillment. If Israel has yet to know the Lord their God,
and as Paul wrote that “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:25), then we need
to look for a future date at which the antichrist will come and persecute
Israel and they will be once again uprooted from their Land and sifted
throughout the nations.
We see that this horn grows up to the host of the heavens.
This is probably symbolic of his blasphemies and boastfulness. We see that he
even throws down the stars of heaven. I’m going to touch on this later, but for
now I just want to say: keep an open mind. This might be Satan casting down the
angels, but I don’t think so. I think it is something else. If they were angels
that have followed Satan and become demons, then why would he trample on them?
We see in verse 11 that this antichrist sets himself up as
the Prince of the Host. 2 Thessalonians 2:4 claims that the antichrist will
exalt himself higher than any god and take a seat in the Temple of the Lord.
Well there is a problem. The Temple doesn’t exist anymore. So either this
happened already or the Temple will be rebuilt. If it happened already, then
there are some serious Scriptural problems that need to be sorted out. When was
the resurrection from the dead? When were the New Heavens and New Earth
created? If this is all spiritualized, then what can we actually translate as
literal?
The verse ends in Daniel 8 by saying that this antichrist
takes away the daily sacrifice. Apparently, in order for this to be fulfilled
at a later time, the Temple needs to be rebuilt, and the sacrifice needs to be
started again. If you have faith to believe that, then you can start
prophesying. It will happen. I can’t answer particulars like how Israel will be
allowed to go back onto the Temple Mount (they aren’t even allowed to pray
there currently) or how PETA will react to them starting daily sacrifices. I
don’t know all the details. I only know that there is clearly a message of a rebuilding
coming and the sacrifice to be put back in place.
So lets talk about this a little bit. Why do they need to
start offering sacrifices again? Why does Israel need to be cast out of the
Land again (especially so soon after the Holocaust)? I believe that God is
making a point. You can read in Ezekiel 22:19-22 where it sounds like God
speaks of an end time gathering only so they can be expelled once more. Could
this be that time?
God is making a point to the nations. There is a lot that
goes into it. He has made a promise and a covenant. Israel must hold onto that Land forever and ever. Why? It has
been promised them. But according to the covenant, they can’t keep possession
of the Land unless they as a corporate unit are all holy. That is why they must
all be saved (Romans 11:25). That is why they must go through the fire of
judgment to come out with their dross burned off. They will be clean. They will
know their God.
The nations will see Israel go through it. They will see
God do wonders in their midst. Israel will be the priestly nation to the
nations. Where does that put us? Where does that put the Church? If you ask
such questions then you need to relearn your theology. We are a part of Israel.
Romans 11 and Ephesians 2-3 clearly state that we have been grafted into
Israel’s root. We are no longer afar off. We are no longer Gentile people. We
have been made into a new kind of people. Israel’s redemption isn’t something
we miss out on. We experience it with them. The two will become one – neither
Jew nor Gentile, but something else altogether.
That is why God needs to do this. That is why there is
destruction and devastation coming to Israel. God has intentions of bringing a
glory to the earth that we would not have seen otherwise. We all must be
devastated and pass from that death to life.
We see in verse 12 that it is because of rebellion that
both the daily sacrifice and also the saints are given over the antichrist.
Here is the reason: Israel has sinned. Since they came out of the wilderness
they have been a disobedient people to God. God will make Himself holy in their
midst. I’ll get to our place and our purpose later. It will become increasingly
obvious as we continue.
Israel’s sin must be purged. They must fail in their human
efforts. Everything that they have built thus far and will continue to build
must shatter before their eyes. I am expecting another holocaust. I am also
expecting that I will probably die in one of the concentration camps
identifying with Israel and displaying to them the character of their Messiah.
I do not intend on dying peacefully in my bed. Whether I will be captured and
killed is up to God. Only He knows whether I will be preserved or taken.
The antichrist will prosper in everything he does. There
is a purpose. In 2 Thessalonians 2, we come across a strange verse. Verse 7
says that something hinders and holds back the antichrist from being revealed.
Until that something is taken away, the end will not come. Many scholars
believe that this something is the Holy Spirit. The Church needs to be
raptured. I disagree strongly. We won’t be raptured. It is God’s character that
He will be in the darkness and chaos with His people until there is peace and
safety.
So what is it that hinders this antichrist? I believe it is
God. I believe that God is holding Him back so that the wickedness of this
world can continue to climb. God is making a spectacle. He is putting
everything in place. There will come a time when Satan is given the opportunity
to have his kingdom on earth. He will be given the opportunity to have his own
chance at a kingdom that he will rule and reign. Even Satanists believe that
Satan will have a 1000-year ruling and reigning with Satan (their god). God
will grant it. While Satan is ruling, he can’t be accusing. We will be
completely free from his accusations and temptations. This is a time where evil
rules the world, but God is still God.
This is why Satan will prosper in everything. This is why
the antichrist will overcome the saints. This is why truth will be thrown to
the ground. Even when Satan has everything given to him and every opportunity
to destroy Israel and thus destroy God’s promise to them, he will fail.
Here we come to the place where it is told how long this
will take place. How long will the abomination of desolation trample the Temple
underfoot? The answer: 2300 days. That is a little more than 6 years. Remember
that the Tribulation is supposed to last 7 years…
We find in verse 23 the statement, “when the transgressors
have reached their limit.” This is what I was talking about. God restrains
Himself to allow for man to become more and more wicked. He allows the
corruption to build to the breaking point. Remember that it was told to Abraham
that his descendants would have possession of the land of Canaan. But God tells
Abraham that they must go to a foreign land for 400 years. Why can’t they have
possession now? “The sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure,”
Genesis 15:16.
This is what Jesus calls the time of the Gentiles in Luke
21:24. I believe that this is the fullness of the Gentiles that Paul speaks of
in Romans 11:25. When this takes place, the end has come. God stops holding
back and allows the man of sin to come (2 Thessalonians 2:4), which is the
antichrist. The antichrist will become very strong (Daniel 8:24), but not by
his own power. We read in Revelation 13:2 that Satan gives the antichrist his
power.
You can read and just listen to what it says about the
antichrist in verses 24 and 25. He will prosper in whatever he does. He will
destroy the mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper. He
will consider himself superior to anything and everyone else. He will destroy
many and take his stand against the Prince of princes.
This is a full view of Satan in the flesh. He isn’t Satan
incarnate (I’ve heard of such thoughts). He is a full representation of Satan
and everything that he is about. The kingdom of darkness is about deceit,
manipulation, fear tactics, brutality, force, hostility, greed, lust for power,
etc. The name of the game is “me first.” If you don’t defend yourself, then who
will? It is all about promoting and preserving self.
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