| Subject: Dan. Chap 8 vss 1-14 post 42 |
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Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 15:25:56 06/06/10 Sun
CHAPTER 8
Daniel 8:1-14 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. 2 And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. 3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. 4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. 5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. 7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. 8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. 9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. 10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. 11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. 12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. 13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? 14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
The vision according to Daniel takes place in the third year of Belshazzar's reign. This will be in the last year of his reign over Babylon according to the Jewish Talmudic writings. The vision takes him out of Babylon and to Shushan in Media/Persia. This will be present day Iran and interestingly we find today Iran (Persia) in another ascension to power.
As with the other visions this vision has a dual application. It will apply to the years just before Jesus Christ's' first coming and the offer of the Kingdom to Israel after His resurrection. Since Israel rejected the Messiah and the Kingdom this vision will have a future application when the time of the end starts with the anti-Christ and culminates with the advent of Jesus Christ.
Those familiar with my studies know that I believe the 1st coming of Jesus Christ was to Israel and Israel only (concerning His earthly ministry) in order to fulfill the promises to the fathers. Romans 15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: (See also Acts 13:26-34, Acts 26:6-7) Israel rejected the Messiah and therefore the promise are shut up to the end time and are about to be offered again to Israel. It is with this in mind we see the future fulfillment of the Ram and the He Goat.
The Rams horns are. identified as Media/Persia in vs. 20 of this chapter we are studying and the "rough goat" with the first horn (vs.21) is identified as the king of Grecia. In the era before the 1st coming of Jesus Christ this king would have been Alexander the Great. For this reason almost all so called authorities and theologians relegate the fulfillment of this passage to the battles between Greece and Persia. The only problem with this is that much of the vision and, as we will see in the next post, the interpretation by the angel will only fit an end time situation.
In verses 4 through 7 we are shown the conquest out of the east of the ram and then the subsequent battle with the he-goat that comes out of the west and attacks the ram. Notice in verse 5 this he goat "touched not the ground". To me this is a curious event. Only in modern times are wars fought and even won from the air without ground troops. In verse 7 we see the defeat of Persia. Going back to verse 5 we were introduced to "a notable horn" which in verse 8 is "broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven." There was definitely a fulfilling of this to the letter with the death of Alexander the Great and the division of his kingdom to his 4 generals. Cassander receives Macedonia and Greece. Lysimacus takes command of Thrace (Bulgaria and a large part of Turkey), Bithynia (in Northwest Asia Minor just south of Black Sea) and most of Asia Minor. Seleucus takes .Syria and the lands eastward including Babylonia. Ptolemy receives Egypt, part of Arabia and likely some of the area of Palestine. Thus this part of the prophecy is literally fulfilled some 300 years before the birth of Christ. It is what comes in the vision in verses 9 through 14 that takes us past this literal fulfillment so long ago.
In verse 9 we are told that out of one of these 4 divisions of the Greek empire comes "a little horn". The horn may appear little but it's conquest is anything but little. In verse 10 we must look past an ancient fulfillment and realize the possibility of a future event. Notice in verse 10: "And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." We are looking at a vision of a heavenly battle and a spiritual battle that cannot explained away in war before and up to the birth of Christ. This little horn is able to defeat some of the heavenly host! We are looking at powers that only Satan possesses along with his demonic army of fallen angels. This may or may not be a vision of what takes place with Michael and his angels against the dragon and his angels when they fight in heaven but I believe it could very well be. Revelation 12:7-9 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Verse 9 and 10 of Daniel 8 identify to us the area from which this little horn comes from. We are not told precisely but we can be relatively sure at this point that it must be East of Greece and south of Russia. If I were to be forced to guess I would have to guess that it will be in the area of Syria, Turkey, Iraq or Iran. This would narrow it to the kingdoms of Seleucus or Lysimacus. The importance of this is that it most likely identifies the area from which the anti-Christ will come from. Admittedly it is a large area but what is of most interest to me is that almost all the entire area is Islamic in religion.
"Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, " (vs. 11). This prince of the host would possibly be Michael as seen in Revelation 12. Michael is called "your prince" in Daniel 10:21. Another possibility of the prince is Jesus Christ. This possibility is reinforced with the last part of verse 11; "and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down." If it is Jesus then the "his" prior to sanctuary refers to God's Temple. On the other hand we see a prophecy that makes it possible it is a reference to the anti-Christ himself. 2 Thessalonians 2:2-4 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. We see by this then the anti-Christ himself will claim the temple as his own sanctuary. This would fit also with the necessity of the cleansing that follows in verse 14.
In the vision we see the daily sacrifice will be taken away and the temple is cast down. The time element for the cleansing is 2,300 days which is approximately 6 1/3 years. The possibility exist however that the 2,300 days is in prophetic time which could stand as a day for a year. If this is the case then counting backward from the time most frequently believed to be the time of the Great Tribulation you would be brought back to the time of the defeat by the he-goat of the ram or about 300 B.C.
If, as I understand it, the vision has it's final fulfillment in the tribulation period then the temple must be rebuilt and the sacrifice will start again. The destruction of the temple after the death of Jesus was in 70 A.D. It was never cleansed nor rebuilt from 70 A.D. until the present. Therefore there must be a future building.
As we conclude this chapter in the next study we shall see more evidence for an end time fulfillment as opposed to a past fulfillment.
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