Wednesday Bible Study Fellowship, May 28, 2008
Truth Was Thrown To the Ground
Daniel 8
Introduction: Daniel 8 is an incredible chapter for every person who believes wholeheartedly in the sovereignty of God. The prophecies included in this chapter prove to the discerning Christian that God does not stand outside of history. Rather, God is the God of history and while we worry over temporal issues, God’s plan of the ages moves forward. Chapter 8 has a first occurrence in the Bible. This chapter contains the first time an angel is mentioned by name in Scripture.
I. The Date: (1)
A. The third year of Belshazzar’s reign. This would be 551 B.C.
B. It would also be 12 years before Belshazzar’s feast of chapter 5
C. It would be 2 years after the vision of chapter 7
II. The Language:
A. Daniel 1:1-2:3 was written in Hebrew.
B. Daniel 2:4-7:28 was written in Aramaic.
C. Daniel chapter 8-12 were written in Hebrew.
D. Daniel 2:4-7:28 concerns the flow of Gentile world history and the 4 empires as depicted in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, it was written in Aramaic which was the dominant Gentile language of that day.
E. Daniel chapters 8-12 deal with world history specifically as they affect the Israelites. Thus, it is written in Hebrew.
III. Susa (2)
A. The KJV uses the name Shushan. It is about 150 miles north of the present head of the Persian Gulf.
B. This will be the home of Esther, the capital of Persia and the city from which Nehemiah will depart to go to Jerusalem.
C. In 1901 the code of Hammurabi was found in Susa.
D. Daniel, while living in Babylon, is transported via a vision to Susa. What is amazing is that “…Daniel finds himself projected in vision to a town little known at that time and unsuspected for future grandeur…” (Walvoord, 191)
E. Fulfilled Prophecy: Who but God knew that Babylon the Great would not be the future capital of another world empire? Who but God knew that the capital would be Susa?
IV. The Ram with Two Horns (3-4)
A. A ram with two horns stood before Daniel.
B. The horns of the ram were not even. One was larger than the other.
C. The interpretation (vs. 20) says that one horn represents the Medes and the other the Persians!
D. The bigger horn would represent Persia which had more dominance in the two-nation coalition (Boole, 97)
E. Fulfilled Prophecy: Who but God knew that the next world empire would be the combined kingdoms of the Medes and Persians?
F. Remember Babylon will fall October 12, 539 B.C. Today’s date is 551 B.C. That’s 12 years away. Can you predict what the world will be like 12 years from now?
V. The Goat (5-7)
A. Suddenly a goat appears from the west. The goat has a horn between his eyes. He moves so rapidly that his feet don’t even touch the ground.
B. The goat charges the ram and the two horns are shattered. The ram was powerless. The ram could not be rescued.
C. The interpretation (vs. 21): the goat is the king of Greece; the horn represents the first king.
D. Fulfilled Prophecy: Who but God knew that the Medio-Persian Empire would be defeated by the Greeks? Who but God knew that the Greeks would have a great king we know as Alexander the Great? Who but God would know how quickly he would conquer the Persian Empire- three years? Alexander first defeated the Persians in 334 B.C. at the Granicus River is Asia Minor. Persia finally was broken at Gaugamela, near Nineveh in 331 B.C.
VI. The Broken Horn (9)
A. At the height of his power the large horn is broken. Since this represents the king- this would refer to Alexander the Great.
B. In the place of the big horn, four horns grew.
C. The interpretation (vs. 22): the four horns represent four kingdoms that will grow up in place of, but not as strong as, the one kingdom under Alexander the Great.
D. Fulfilled Prophecy: Who but God knew that Alexander the Great would die at the zenith of power? He died, drunk at Babylon, only 32 years old! Who but God knew that his kingdom would be divided into four parts:
1. Cassandra over Macedonia and Greece
2. Lysimacus over Thrace, Bithynia and most of Asia Minor
3. Seleucus over Syria and Babylonia
4. Ptolemy over Egypt and Palestine and Arabia Petraea
VII. The Little Horn (10-12)
A. Out of the four horns grew another horn. It starts small but grew in power.
B. What do we know about this little horn?
1. He will grow in power toward the Beautiful Land (Israel).
2. He will trample some of the starry hosts of heaven.
3. He will set himself up as great as the Prince of the host.
4. He will take the daily sacrifice from Him.
5. He will bring low the place of the sanctuary.
6. He will throw truth to the ground!
C. How do we understand this?
1. One of the four horns of Alexander the Great’s empire was Syria. Out of Syria one will come that will expand in three directions:
a. The South= Egypt
b. The East= Medio/Persia
c. The Pleasant Land= Palestine
2. One person does emerge- Antiochus Epiphanes. He is the 8th king of the Syrian dynasty (175-164 B.C.)
3. He did indeed “trample” the starry hosts of heaven if we consider the descendants of Abraham “the stars” (Gen. 15:5, 22:17)
4. He did set himself as great as the Prince of the host (God). The coins at the time of Antiochus Epiphanes had his image and the inscription: THEOS EPIPHANES (God made manifest) (Boice, 99)
5. He will take the daily sacrifice from Him “…Antiochus stopped the morning and evening sacrifices, taking away from God what were daily tokens of Israel’s worship” (Walvoord, 187)
6. He will bring low the sanctuary. Antiochus tore down the altar and built a new one! He desecrated the temple. He erected an idol of Zeus in the temple area and offered swine upon the altar. This became known to Jews as “the abomination of desolation.”
7. He will throw truth to the ground. The truth of God’s Word, the sacrifices according to the law of Moses have all been thrown down!
D. Why would God allow such as this to happen? “Because of rebellion…” (vs. 12) Remember: in the last 13 years the unchurched in America has risen 92%! Need I say more? This is a time of indignation (KJV) / wrath (NIV) (vs. 19)
VIII. How Long? (13-22)
A. Two angels are asking how long this will continue. The answer is 2,300 evenings and mornings.
B. A man’s voice calls out, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision” (16)
1. This is the first time in Scripture an angel is named.
2. Who is the mystery voice? We don’t know! Possibly Jesus!
C. Daniel becomes terrified and falls prostrate to the ground (Rev. 1:17)
D. If 2,300 days refer to the 7 years of the tribulation- we are short. 2,300 days = 6 years and 111 days. The best idea is to look at 2,300 days literally. If the last of the 2,300 days would be the death of Antiochus, that would be the year 164 B.C. Move forward 2,300 days and you have the year 171 B.C. What happened in that year? Onias III, the high priest, was murdered and a false line of priests assumed power.
IX. The Antichrist (23-27)
A. It is believed by many that verses 23-25 also foreshadow the coming antichrist.
B. Both verses 17 and 19 refer to “the time of the end.”
C. Verse 19 refers to “the time of wrath” or “indignation.”
D. Antiochus wasn’t at the end of the Grecian Empire. That empire had over 100 years left.
E. “The simple solution is that those four kingdoms are to have ‘a latter time;’ i.e., they are to be again represented territorially as four kingdoms in the last days at the Times of the Gentiles” (William Stevens quoted in Walvoord, 198)
F. The king is also to “…take his stand against the Prince of princes…” (25). Ironside states “Prince of princes can be none other than the Messiah…” (Walvoord, 198)
G. Finally, note “…he will be destroyed, but not by human power” (25)
1. Antiochus died of natural (divine) causes.
2. The antichrist will be defeated by Jesus and cast alive into hell! (Rev. 21:20)
Conclusion: Daniel was to seal up the vision because it dealt with the distant future. We know from history that Antiochus’ part has been fulfilled. The vision so exhausted Daniel that he lay ill for several days. Daniel was appalled by it. Shouldn’t the carnage of Revelation make us ill?