Donald Campbell, a former president of Dallas Seminary while I was there, once met a retired colonel from the U.S. military who was a dedicated believer. The retired colonel told about he and other members of the military during the Cold War had practiced mock war-games. They had assumed that at some point a war would break out between the Arabs and Israel that would turn into a nuclear conflict. And that very soon the United States and the Soviet Union would be pulled into the conflict. And as the scenario played out in nuclear war some decades ago, the result would have been 55 million Americans killed in the U.S. alone. He was so shaken by his first-hand participation in a not unlikely scenario that he became all the more dedicated to telling everyone he knew about Jesus Christ before this Nuclear Armageddon might possibly occur.
His experience is not unlike that of the prophet Daniel in Daniel 8. As we mentioned last week, we are now in the apocalyptic section of Daniel, which spans Daniel chapters 7-12 and contains a description of four dreams and visions Daniel had about the future of the world. The vision of Daniel chapter 8 was so graphic, so dramatic, and so terrible that Daniel confesses at the end of the chapter that it left him exhausted and sick for many days because he was so astounded at what he had seen.
So what had he seen? Well, in Daniel 7 he had seen a vision of what on Earth is going to happen. In Daniel 8 we could add two words to that—What on Earth is Going to Happen to Israel. The Focus in Daniel 2-7 had been worldwide events that involved the dominant Gentile nations of that time and at the end of time. The focus now turns from the Gentile nations of the world to what happens to Israel during the times of the Gentiles. The Times of the Gentiles is something Christ Himself referred to in Luke 21:24 as a way of describing the time during which Gentile nations, rather than Israel, would be dominant upon the earth and during which Israel would at various times be “trampled underfoot” by the Gentiles. And of course, what he saw regarding his nation Israel’s future during this long period of Gentile dominance was not a pretty picture. And if there’s a lesson that we as mostly Gentile believers can learn from this chapter it’s this. Take sin seriously—unrepentant sin inevitably results in unrelenting judgment. Such has been and will yet be for a time, until the Kingdom comes, the experience of God’s chosen nation, Israel.
The setting in which the vision takes place is Babylon, the third year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Babylon’s final king, about 12 years before Babylon’s defeat by the Medes and the Persians. It’s about 551 B.C. when Daniel has this vision. And in the vision he finds himself in the fortress city of Susa, in the province of Elam, next to a canal. Now you’ve got to wonder why God chooses a different venue for this vision other than Babylon, where Daniel resided. It’s because the center of Gentile power and domination is about to change. It’s no longer going to be in Babylon. Power is now about to be transferred to what will in about 50 years become the fortress city and capital of the Media-Persian Empire, Susa, which was located about 230 miles due east of Babylon. It was located in the province of Elam, an ancient nation, located in the western portion of modern-day Iran, just west of ancient Persia. It was there that the kings of Media-Persia would rebuild Susa, which at the time of this vision was largely in ruins, so that it would become the seat of power in their kingdom, the place from which their kings would rule. We find Susa mentioned in Nehemiah 1, as Nehemiah, the Jew, was the cupbearer to the Media-Persian King Artaxerxes, and it is mentioned numerous times in the Book of Esther, for Esther, as that book tells us, as a Jewess, became the queen of Persian King Ahasuerus. Both Nehemiah and Esther were used greatly to rescue the Jews in times of their distress due to their proximity to the ultimate authority of the Medo-Persian Kings in Susa.
And beginning with this chapter there’s a switch in the original language in which Daniel was written. From chapter 2:4 through chapter 7 Daniel had been written in Aramaic, rather than Hebrew. Aramaic was the standard language of commerce in the Babylonian Empire at this time, and Daniel 2-7 was written as much for the Gentiles, and all men, as it was for the Jews, as the stories and vision focused on bringing Gentiles to fear the God of Daniel, and the visions and dreams accurately foretold Gentile history. Now as the focus of chapters 8-12 becomes Jewish history, the book is written in Hebrew, because its contents would be of primary interest to the Jews.
And the first lesson we will earn is the accuracy of biblical prophecy. God again shows himself able to accurately foretell the violent future of human history. It’s important for us to recognize, for you to recognize, that these are not the mere speculations of an over-active human imagination. These are the very oracles of God, much of it originally written as predictive prophecy which has now become fulfilled history. The lesson in the first eight verses is this: Just as God has accurately predicted history, so we’ve got to know what remains to be fulfilled of His prophecies will certainly be fulfilled. You can take these predictions of God in Daniel, and in all of Scripture, to the bank. God will see to it that His prophetic predictions are fulfilled.
And Daniel’s vision begins with a portion of Gentile history which has already been predicted by dreams and visions which he has either interpreted for others or had himself, both in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. If you’ll remember, both the dreams of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 predicted that there would come to pass four great Gentile kingdoms that would dominate human history for a period—the Babylonian kingdom in which Daniel lived, and then the Kingdom of the Medes and the Persians, in which he would live as well, and following that the Kingdom of Greece and the Roman Empire. This vision begins with a more detailed explanation of the history of the Medo-Persian Empire and the Greek Empire, and ultimately how the Greek Empire would affect the people of Israel.
In verse 3 as Daniel sees himself in Susa, he sees a vision of a Ram with two horns standing in front of the Ulai Canal. It’s interesting to note that the Kings of the Medes and the Persians wore crowns that consisted of rams’ horns. So the identification is not difficult to make, especially when you consider that the Angel Gabriel, who is present in the vision, reveals in verse 20 that the Ram represents the kings of Media and Persia. The Ram is identified as having two horns, but one that is longer than the other, but coming out later than the other. All of this is consonant with Media-Persian history. The Medes and Persians were an alliance of two peoples, always represented as a two-sided kingdom in Daniel’s visions—having two arms in the vision of the great statue in Daniel 2 and then as a bear raised up on one side in Daniel 7. Now we’re told that one horn is longer than the other, but it came out later than the first. This is exactly what happened in the course of the Medo-Persian Empire. Initially the Medes were the more dominant, but the Persians ultimately became the more dominant of the two peoples who had joined to form this Empire. Daniel’s prophecies were to be fulfilled precisely.
Verse 4 tells us that the ram then butted westward, northward and southward, which precisely parallels the successful military campaigns of the Persian King Cyrus and his son Cambyses as the Medo-Persian Empire expanded. The Persian armies expanded the kingdom westward to Greece, creating long-lasting resentments there, which they would later pay for. They also conquered Armenian territory to the north, and Egypt to the south, making their Empire the largest world empire the world had seen. Verse 4 tells us that no other beasts (i.e., nations or kings) could stand before him, the ram, nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.” The Medo-Persians were absolutely unrivaled in their power and dominance from 539 B.C. until 334 B.C.
At that point, things changed. Alexander the Great of Macedonia came on the scene, and as a very young man, still nursing resentments for what the Medes and the Persians had done to his nation some 150 years earlier, he decides to take the Medes and the Persians on. He’s represented by a shaggy goat. Again, there is an historical parallel. The first king of Macedonia was said to be led to the seat of his kingdom by a pack of goats. And now Alexander the Great and Greece are represented as a goat, which we are assured by Gabriel in verse 21 is indeed the case. Verse 5 then tells us that this goat comes flying across from the west, just as Greece was on the western extremity of the Medo-Persian Empire and it has a conspicuous horn between his eyes. In all these prophecies we have learned that a horn constitutes royalty, or ruling power, often symbolic of kings. This single horn between the eyes is evidently Alexander the Great. And this goat with the single horn violently attacks the Ram, verse 6: “He rushed at him in his mighty wrath.” Verse 7 indicates that because the goat was enraged at the ram, he struck the Ram and shattered his two horns and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power.”
Well, militarily, this is precisely what happened. Alexander and his relatively small but rapidly moving army of 35 to 40 thousand soldiers, came west and violently attacked the Medo-Persians in Asia Minor, present-day Turkey, and in three successive grand battles, overwhelmingly defeated them. Alexander and his armies moved quickly through Asia Minor, and made conquests of Syria, Tyre, Israel, and North Africa, and then headed west to sack all the citadels of the Medo-Persians as far as India. And the Kingdom of Greece ruled the world by 330 B.C.
Verse 8 then tells us what transpired. Remember, this was a prophecy at the time it was written. But it’s now history. “Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken, and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.”
Sure enough, within six years of conquering the Medes and the Persians, Alexander the Great died before reaching the age of 33, and his kingdom was divided between his four generals. These four generals are represented by the four conspicuous horns that took over large swaths of territory and eventually competed among themselves for territory. And this is where the effect of one of these four horns, one of these four kingdoms, came into conflict with the Jews. The lesson? Because God has accurately predicted ancient history, we know his predictions for the future will come true as well.
The vision continues now with another little horn that grows out of on the four horns. Verse 9: “Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east and toward the Beautiful Land.” Historically, this is undoubtedly a description of the career of one Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who ruled Syria and all the lands east as part of the Seleucid Empire which had emerged from the Kingdom of Alexander the Great. He rules from 175-164 B. C., and he became the great enemy and persecutor of the Jews. He has been called the Old Testament Antichrist because his career and his opposition to the Jews in many respects parallels the predicted career of the New Testament Antichrist at the end of the Age.
Verse 10: “It,” this little horn, “grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down.”
Now this is a challenging verse to interpret, as is much of this passage. The host of heaven often refers to angels, as do the stars of heaven. But the stars of heaven at times symbolizes human believers or saints, as it does in Daniel 12:3 and probably in Revelation 2 and 3. The host of heaven often refers to those who populate heaven, whether angels or saints. And here we are told that this little horn grew up toward, and apparently against the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth and it trampled them down.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes was an exceedingly wicked ruler who sought from his base in Syria, north of Israel, to conquer Egypt. However, he was defeated there apparently by the Romans, and upon his return through Israel decided to consolidate his power over Israel as a buffer state between himself and his enemies by imposing Greek culture and religion upon all his subjects, including the Jews. There were some Jews, a considerable number of them, that were apparently for this, according to I Maccabees 1, one of the apocryphal and historical books, so they sold out to him. But there were others who were opposed. And so Antiochus made war against them. In one three-day campaign he killed 40,000 of them and took 10,000 into captivity. So he caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and he trampled them down.
Antiochus also deified himself. He claimed to be God. In fact, his name, Epiphanes, actually meant the glorious appearance of God. God to him was Jupiter or Zeus. And so verse 11 was fulfilled. It, the little horn, “even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host”—who can that be but God Himself—“and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of the sanctuary was thrown down.” This is precisely what happened around 170 B.C. As he imposed Greek culture and religion upon Israel, he made it illegal to read the Torah, in fact, those who even possessed a copy of the Torah, or the Old Testament, were executed. He made it illegal to observe the Sabbath and to be circumcised. He arrogantly entered the temple, proclaiming himself to be God, sacrificed a pig on the altar, removed the golden altar of incense, and forced his Jewish subjects to eat swine’s flesh. And he remodeled the temple so that Jupiter or Zeus was worshiped, and he put a stop to sacrifices and offerings to the one true God inside the temple. So that indeed the regular sacrifice was removed and the place of His sanctuary, the very place of the manifest presence of God in the Holy of Holies, was thrown down and removed Room was then made for worship of the Greek Gods.
Now, you wonder why God allowed this to happen. The explanation is given in verse 12: “And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground.” What was the transgression? The apocryphal book of I Maccabees, 1:10-21 tells us that many of the Jews were complicit with Antiochus and his plans: “In those days (175 B.C.) lawless men came forth from Israel and misled many, saying, ‘Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us. This proposal pleased them, and some of the people eagerly went out the king. He authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles. So they build a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentiles customs, and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil. After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the 143rd year (169 B.C.). He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar/”
Verse 13 tells us exactly how long Jewish worship in the temple would be interrupted. Daniel writes, “Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one (I take it an angel) said to that particular one who was speaking, “How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled? He said to me, “For 300 evenings and mornings, then the holy places will be properly restored.” In other words, for a period of six years and 140 days this would go on, which fits neatly within the period of approximately 171 A.D. to 165 A.D. when these events took place. Worship was restored when the priest Judas Maccabeus and His sons rebelled against the Tyranny of Antiochus and his Greek Armies, and with God’s help defeated them, which allowed them to then refurbish the temple and re-institute Old Testament offering in the temple in December of 165 B.C.—an event which is now celebrated by Jews as the Feast of Hanukkah.
Now the spiritual lesson we can learn from this, and from Israel’s experiences, is that persistent sin brings persistent and unrelenting judgment. Take sin seriously, because God does, and there will be judgment and discipline when we don’t. But when there is repentance, God blesses, as He did here, so that the adversary was repulsed. Interestingly, Antiochus died of grief over these events in the next year and acknowledged that his death was due to the sins he committed in relationship to the Jews and Jerusalem.
Now we’ve had quite a history lesson so far. But according to the angels interpreting this dream, it’s more than a history lesson. It’s a lesson with regard to future history, the history of the Jews in the end times, and the world. Because the Antichrist of the Old Testament foreshadows and is a type of the Antichrist who is yet to come, the Antichrist of the book of Revelation. We know what he will be like and what he will do, because his career will largely parallel that of the Antichrist of the Old Testament, Antiochus Epiphanes.
Now this is where the interpretation of this chapter gets a bit sticky. I know it’s late but hang in there with me for just a few more moment. Verses 15-26 confirm this conclusion. Daniel has seen this vision of things now fulfilled in history in verses 1-14, and now, once again, as he’s in the vision, he seeks understanding from someone standing next to him who looked like a man. It’s actually the angel Gabriel, as is revealed in a discussion between angels. Verses 17 and 19 are critical to our understanding of the fact that Antiochus was a type of the Antichrist.
Verse 17: “So he,” (Gabriel) “came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened and fell on my face,; but he said to me, ‘Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.’” Now the question I ask, and all of us ask, since all this was fulfilled in ancient history more than 2,000 years ago, is this, how can this vision pertain to the time of the end? It appears to throw us off for a moment. But Gabriel is insistent, that this vision was given not just to predict what would happen 2,000 years ago, but what will happen in the end—apparently the end of this age. He repeats this fact in verse 19 just so that we don’t miss it. This is critical to understanding the purpose of this vision. He says, once again, in verse 19, “Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.” Again we find the words “final” and “appointed time of the end” which seem to make it emphatic that this vision somehow applies to the end of the age, at the time when God’s indignation against Israel, and mankind in general, will be finished.
So naturally, we ask, how so? The angel begins with his identification of the ram and the goat as Medo-Persia and Greece, the broken horn and the four horns as the four kingdoms that arise thereafter. Then we come to the critical verse 23: “In the latter period of their rule, when the transgressors have run their course, a king will arise.” Now at first it appears that it’s speaking of the latter period of the rule of the four kings. But I think in light of the fact that verses 17 and 19 are speaking of the time of the end, it’s best to interpret that it’s in the latter period of their rule, as the latter period of the rule of the four beasts, or of the Gentile kingdoms in general, the latter period of the Times of the Gentiles. That’s the only time when the transgressors will have run and finished their course. As we know, transgression will continue in this age until the end of the age, so that now the angel must be talking about the end of this age, at the end of the rule of Gentile nations on the earth. It’s at this time that this king will arise, “insolent and skilled in intrigue. His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree, and prosper and perform his will. He will destroy mighty men and the holy people”—just like Antiochus Epiphanies did, only more so. “And through his shrewdness, He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence. He will magnify himself fin his heart, and he will destroy many while they are at ease.” And here comes the clincher, “He will even oppose the Prince of Princes.” Who could this be but Messiah himself, who had yet to come in Daniel’s time? Yes, he will be ultimate Antichrist, “but he will be broken without human agency.” And of course we know that Antichrist is destroyed by divine agency—by the sword that comes from Christ’s mouth at his return in Revelation 19. And then the angel assures Daniel that this vision is true: “The vision of the evenings and the mornings ,which has been told is true. But keep the vision secret, for it pertains to many days in the future.”
Wow, what we’ve seen and heard is this: Be prepared, an Antichrist like Antiochus will be part of God’s Judgment upon Israel and the World in the end. Antiochus was an historical and biblical type for what Antichrist will be like, and what he will do. And sure enough, we’re told in II Thessalonians 2 and in the book of Revelation exactly what he will do. He will double-cross the Jews by deceit, take his seat in the Temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God, and he will persecute the saints and Israel successfully until he comes to His end by divine agency, by the return of Jesus Christ Himself.
It’s enough to take your breath way. We learn this lesson: Take sin seriously, God does. Unrepentant sin ultimately brings unrelenting judgment. But God wins in the end.
Having heard this, it seems that II Peter 1:11-12 is appropriate: “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the day of God.”
Let’s pray.
