The End of All Things
Well, it wouldn't just be great, it will be necessary for you to keep your bibles open, because we're going to be looking at the whole of Daniel 8 and also delving into chapters 10-12. With so much to cover we won't be able to answer every question you might have about these passages. But if you like you can come up and ask after the service. We'll do our best to answer, or even better help you join a small group, find a commentary or go to Bible College!
We're going to focus though, on the vision that Daniel has in chapter 8. This vision takes place in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar. It's then, two years after the vision in Daniel 7, which we looked at last week.
This vision begins with Daniel being transported to the banks of the Ulai river which flows by the city of Susa. In Jewish thinking, this is the centre of the Persian Empire. The location signifies a change in empire, which at the time Daniel has this vision is still yet to come, though isn't too far off. It's a hint that the vision's going to be about events in the not-so distant future.
What does Daniel see? As he's standing by the river a Ram comes up. Like Rams do, it has two horns, but one is longer than the other. It's a bit like the bear that had one side larger than the other, which Daniel saw in his previous vision in chapter 7. We don't have to speculate what the ram signifies because in in the passage that follows our reading an angel is sent to interpret the vision for Daniel. And in verse 20 the angel tells us that the ram is the kingdom of Media and Persia. It's an apt description because Persia came up after Media and after it conquered Media became the more important part of this empire. In the vision the ram charges about the place, west, north and south, it conquers all the other animals, and no one could rescue from its power. That's what the Medo-Persian Empire did. It was indeed strong and mighty, enough that it can do what ever it wanted. For a time it looked like no one could stop it.
But then in the vision, a goat with one horn comes rushing from the west. It's travelling at lightening speed, so fast it looks like its feet don't even touch the ground. It smashes into the ram and destroys it. In verse 21 the angel explains that the goat is the Greek Empire, and the great horn is it's first king. That makes it Alexander the Great, and history tells us he did indeed sweep across the face of the earth like a whirlwind, conquering all in his path. Like the horn in the vision Alexander became exceedingly great. But then, at the height of its power the horn is suddenly broken. There's no indication why, but the implication is that it was God who broke the horn. Alexander died suddenly and inexplicably when he was just thirty-two. Which just happens to be how old I am, though I feel inadequate next to Alexander. When Alexander died, his kingdom fell apart. It ended up being divided into four smaller kingdoms ruled by his four generals. In the vision, this matches the four prominent horns Daniel sees coming up in the place of the one that was broken.
But then Daniel sees a little horn rising from their midst. This little horn becomes exceedingly great. Based on what it goes on to do, this horn is almost without a doubt Antiochus IV. If this is the case, the vision has skipped over about 150 years. But if we read Daniel's final vision, in chapters 10-12, many of those details of those years are filled in. God gives Daniel a prophetic vision of the political intrigues and wars that will occur between the Selucids who ruled Syria to the north, and the Ptolemies who ruled Egypt to the south. The details of that vision align closely with what we know went on to occur in history. It's a sign that God knows what will happen in human history, indeed that he's in control of human history.
Let's turn back to this little horn. Can you see what it does? It starts out as a little horn, without the power and might of the original horn or the four that followed it. It mightn't have power, but in the interpretation, in verses 23-25, we're told it's bold and skilled in intrigue. In Daniel's final vision we're introduced to this king in 11:21 and we're told he's a contemptible person on whom royal majesty had not been conferred; he shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom through intrigue.
Which is exactly how Antiochus IV came to power. He wasn't in line for the throne of the northern Seleucid kingdom, but stole it from his nephew through bribery and corruption. Having obtained power, he began wielding it with ruthless abandon. Like the little horn in Daniel's vision he conquered Egypt to the south, and Persia to the East. But then he turned his attention on the beautiful land, the Promised Land, the nation of Israel.
This little horn vanquishes the lands around it and grows puffed up with delusions of grandeur. The little horn grew as high as the host of heaven, as we're told in verse 10. Though the implication is that it didn't really become great, but merely thought it was. As it turns out, Antiochus IV took the name Epiphanes, which means revelation or manifestation of God!
But the little horn, and the man it represents, weren't content with simply conquering the land. The little horn wages bloody war against God's people. Verse 10 goes on to say it threw down to the earth some of the host and some of the stars, and trampled on them. The interpretation in verse 24 is that he destroys the power and the people of the holy ones. Can you see why Daniel was so troubled? He's given a vision in which God's people are back living in the Promised Land, but when they face brutal, bloody opposition at the hands of this king. In one instance, Antiochus ordered a brutal retaliation in response to a perceived rebellion in Judah.
12He commanded his soldiers to cut down relentlessly everyone they met and to kill those who went into their houses. 13Then there was massacre of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaughter of young girls and infants. 14Within the total of three days eighty thousand were destroyed, forty thousand in hand-to-hand fighting, and as many were sold into slavery as were killed. (2 Maccabees 5:12-14)
But, then things get even worse! The little horn doesn't just wage war against the people of God; he wages war against God himself:
11Even against the prince of the host it acted arrogantly; it took the regular burnt offering away from him and overthrew the place of his sanctuary. 12Because of wickedness, the host was given over to it together with the regular burnt offering; it cast truth to the ground, and kept prospering in what it did. (Dan 8:11-12)
We're given more of a picture of what'll look like in 11:31:
31Forces sent by him shall occupy and profane the temple and fortress. They shall abolish the regular burnt offering and set up the abomination that makes desolate. (Dan. 11:31)
Can you imagine how seeing this, and hearing this, made Daniel feel? What's being described is the desecration of the temple in Jerusalem. It's an invasion, a pervasion, of what was meant to be the Holy of Holies. If you remember back from the first half of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar when he conquered Judah took away many of the vessels from the temple. Then in Daniel 5 King Belshazzar, during who's reign Daniel has this vision, throws a massive feast and decides to use the vessels from the temple as wine glasses, then God sends him a message and that very night he dies. What Daniel sees this little horn doing, what he's told this king will do, is much, much worse. And unfortunately all this came true, just as God said it would. In 167 BC Antiochus ordered that ceremonial worship of God cease. He then setup an altar to the Greek God Zeus within the temple in Jerusalem, making it impossible for faithful priests to bring their sacrifices before the One True God. To rub salt in the wound it's recorded that Antiochus then had his men defile the altar with a pagan sacrifice, probably a pig. Antiochus was a master of terror and error, those two weapons Ruth mentioned to us last week, the two classic weapons that evil uses. He trampled nations and people underfoot and cast truth to ground.
We might pause for a minute and ask why is all this going to happen? Haven't God's people suffered enough? We're told in verse 12 that this will occur because of wickedness, the wickedness of God's people. Once the Babylonian empire fell the Israelites were able to begin returning to Promised Land. But their hearts never fully returned to God. They might've been dwelling in the Promised Land, but what they really needed was for God to dwell in their hearts, as he promises to do in Christ.
God's revealed all this to Daniel, in a vision years beforehand, letting him know what's to come. And what's coming is not a return to the golden, prosperous age of the Israelite nation, but of further future conquest, militarily, politically, and spiritually.
It's no wonder that at the end of this vision Daniel's overcome, he's left wasted and sick to his guts as we read in verse 27, unable even to get out of bed for several days. It's no surprise that in chapter 10 Daniel needs to be strengthened three times before he's able to hear the final message God has for him.
The angels themselves are left asking in verse 13, ??How long O Lord?' How long will this go on? Daniel asks the same question in 12:6. In chapter 8 the answer that's given is 2300 evenings and mornings. That does, almost, match up with the number of days that Antiochus' reign of terror lasted. But given we're in the middle of apocalyptic literature, we're probably meant to take the number symbolically. It's like the time, two times and half a time that's given as answer in chapter 12. The point is the severe persecution won't last forever. In won't go on for a moment more than what God has ordained it to be. Rather than pulling out our calendars and trying to work out when all these things will take place, and when they'll end we should focus on the reason Daniel receives these visions.
Daniel's visions are of what for him is the not so distant future. It's God's way of preparing, and comforting his people. But that comfort isn't just for the people living in exile in Babylon, nor even just for those who lived through the troubling times of the second century BC. As Ruth said last week throughout history evil rulers have resembled one or other of the beasts. One of the things the apocalyptic chapters of Daniel 7-12 do is show the rise and fall of nations, the taking of power at the expense of others is pattern we see throughout history. And so the message of Daniel 8-12 is one of comfort for us at any time that we as God's people face persecution and opposition.
But there's more than repetition at work here. In the final vision, around 11:35, there's a change that appears to take place. The vision shifts, it doesn't seem like it's about Antiohcus IV any longer. The details in 11:35-45 just don't match up to history. In fact, the final part of the vision in 11-12 doesn't seem to be describing any of the rulers that came after him, but one who's still yet to come. It speaks of a ruler who will rise against God and his people at the very end of time. There's part of this vision that we, are still waiting to see fulfilled. That's made all the more clear in the first four verses of chapter 12. Daniel's told there will be a time of anguish, such as has never been seen.
Jesus connects Daniel's vision with what's yet to come. In Matthew 24 Jesus says:
15??So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), 16then those in Judea must flee to the mountains;
21For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
It might be that Jesus is only talking about the destruction of the second temple, which took place in AD 70. But there's a hint here, and in a few other places in the New Testament, that these things are still to take place. They're awaiting a further, fuller fulfilment at the time of the end. We have yet to face this time of persecution unlike any we've seen before, though persecution perhaps that our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world might be more familiar with.
It's a great thing we have to look forward to isn't it? I'm guessing about now you're feeling about as cheery a Daniel felt? Well take heart. The little horn in Daniel 8 is broken, and not by human hands. After the appointed time the sanctuary is restored to its rightful state.
If Daniel 8 was a vision for the immediate future for the Israelites, through the 6th-2nd century BC, and the end of chapter 11 portrays a still yet future even greater persecution, then chapter 12 looks all the way to the end. It's a picture of the very end of days. And it's a glorious picture.
1??At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. 2Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
It's not unlike the picture we see at the end of the book of Revelations. It's a promise that in the conflict between kingdoms, God will triumph. God will not be defeated by those who stand against him, or his people. He is able to rescue us, even from death itself. As Jesus said in John 13:33:
33I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!?