Vision of the Ram & Goat (day 3) Daniel 8

SPEAKER 03 : 0:00

What do we learn in the book of Daniel? We learn about the sovereignty and power of God. Remember I told you that one of the themes of this book could very well be the sovereignty and power of Almighty God. Demonstrated over and over again in these fabulous historical sections, fulfillments of Bible prophecy, but also a testimony to the power of our God.

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This is Hope for Today, the Bible teaching ministry of David Hawking. And on today’s broadcast, we come to the final section of our study in Daniel chapter 8, the vision of the ram and goat. The symbols, they’ve been wild. A ram, a goat, a broken horn, but it’s all building to this climax. A dark power that rises from the ashes of empire. He’s slick, arrogant, and he’s deadly. He doesn’t just wage war on nations. He wages war on God himself. And what Daniel saw, frankly, it made him sick. A preview of a world leader who’s still to come. And if we’re paying attention, it should shake us as well. Stay with us. The final part of the vision of the ram and the goat begins in just a moment. First, we want to let you know about a powerful free resource available right now at DavidHawking.org. It’s called Does God Truly Love Me? Does God Truly Love Me? is a straightforward, biblically grounded study written by Richard A. Bennett. Again, it’s free, it’s available in multiple languages, and it’s designed to answer one of the most personal, heart-level questions any of us can ask. Visit davidhawking.org. Right there on the homepage, you’ll find the link to Does God Truly Love Me? Well, as promised, here’s David with day three of Vision of the Ram and Goat.

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Daniel chapter 8. In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, to me, Daniel, after the one that appeared to me the first time. I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision that I was by the river Ulai. Verse 2. Verse 3. And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. And I saw him confronting the ram. He was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him, and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand. Therefore the male goat grew very great, but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. And it grew up to the host of heaven. It cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high as the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices, and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered. And he said to me, Then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. Now it happened when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Uli who called and said, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face. But he said to me, Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end. Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground, but he touched me and stood me upright. And he said, Look, I’m making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation, for at the appointed time the end shall be. The ram which you saw having the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise having fierce features who understands sinister schemes. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. He shall destroy fearfully and shall prosper and thrive. He shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people. Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the prince of princes, but he shall be broken without human hand. And the vision of the evenings and mornings, which was told, is true. Therefore seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future. And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days. Afterward I rose and went about the king’s business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it. Turn to Daniel chapter 8, please, verse 14. Verse 13, the question was, how long will the vision be concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation? The giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot. How long is it going to last? And he said to me, for 2,300 days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. So how do you figure the 2,300 days? Antiochus died, folks, in a campaign in media in 164 B.C. The 2,300 days began in 171 B.C. They last about six years, a little more than that. Onias III, who was the legitimate high priest of Israel, was murdered in 171 B.C., and a pseudo-line of priests was established by Antiochus Epiphanes. The temple, the desecration of it, actually occurred on December 25th in 167 B.C., and a Greek altar was erected. But the abomination, the desecration of Israel’s worship services had begun long before the 2300 days referred to the entire time of that desolation and desecration. And right on the nose… From the day it began with the murdering of the high priest of Israel, the legitimate one in the line, and setting up a pseudo line of priests that were involved with paganism, from that moment to the exact day, 2300 days, would be on December 25th in 165 B.C. And that’s the day that the Maccabeans restored the temple and cleansed it. That’s the exact day restored on December 25th, 165 B.C. And once again, I say hallelujah. This is the word of the living God. And the details are quite remarkable. In verses 15 to 19, you have the intention of the vision. If we may look at that quickly. In verse 15 to 16, you have the appearance of a man. Hebrew word, Gaber, which is the sound of the name Gabriel. the strength or power of God. It’s the first mention of this angel by name, and he appears again in Daniel 9, 21, and as you know, in Luke 1, 19 and 26. Gabriel, he comes forth in important issues and important times. And the assurance of understanding came to Daniel’s heart, verse 17 and 18. He’s afraid, he fell on his face, but the man said, understand that the vision refers to what? What does it say? The time of what? The time of the end. Uh-oh. Now here’s where we get into problems. Now if the vision refers to the time of the end, is it the time of the end of the desecrations of the temple, meaning in Antiochus Epiphanes’ time? Or is it at the familiar time of the end that goes into the tribulation period that’s still future from our day? And this becomes a point which confuses Bible students who study it. Let’s keep looking. Verse 19. He said, Look, I’m making known to you what shall happen in the… What’s the next word? In the New King James, the latter time of the indignation. Does that mean the indignation which Antiochus Epiphanes brought? Or does that mean the indignation, which is wrath, spoken of at the tribulation period, which is also called the same thing? The next statement says, For at the appointed time, God is in control, His sovereign will decides when the end will be. But what is the end? Is it the end of that period and the set up, the restoration by the Jews under the Maccabean revolt? which was accomplished by 165, 164 B.C.? Is that what it’s talking about, or is it talking about the future at the tribulation period? Very interesting problem. If you read the latter time, then it has to mean there’s a former time. And I’d like to make a little suggestion. The former time of indignation is also described in the Bible as the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. And indignation means God’s wrath against Israel. It means when God is angry at Israel for its rebellion and its sin. When was the former indignation? If this is the latter time of the indignation. And the former one was both under Assyria in the case of Israel and Judah in the case of Babylon. They’re both called indignation. It’s an appointed time. God has determined it. Well, is the latter time of the indignation, meaning God’s anger against Israel through Antiochus Epiphanes, or is it referring to the tribulation period, which is also called the indignation of God against Israel? That’s the problem. It’s a very serious matter as it relates to the Bible and its interpretation. Which brings me to verse 20, the interpretation of the vision. Verses 20 to 26. Watch this carefully. Verse 20, “…the ram which you saw, having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia. The male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn between its eyes is that first king.” That’s Alexander the Great. “…as for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power.” Which is true. He died a drunken man and they just were dividing it up among themselves. Now verse 23, in the latter time of, what’s that pronoun? Their kingdom. When the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise. Many people say this king is the Antichrist. There are a lot of Bible prophecy teachers today that say that. So the little horn is the same as Daniel 7. I don’t believe that. I believe verse 23 clearly tells us this is not the Antichrist, maybe a type of the Antichrist, but this is Antiochus Epiphanes. It has to come in the latter time of their kingdom. What kingdom? The four kingdoms that came out of Greece. It has to come in their latter time. Well, when is their time over? Well, we well know after the Antiochus Epiphanes debacle and disaster, we know that they never once had power again like they had under him. As a matter of fact, it didn’t take Rome long because by 30 B.C. they were in charge of everything and started the Roman Empire. And the Roman Republic, which had started in 705 B.C. and has been a threat to Greece all along, all of a sudden now becomes the conquering empire of all. And Rome literally takes over. So it didn’t take them long. No, they’re done, folks. Antiochus Epiphanes is their last great shot. In the latter time of their kingdom, a king arises with fierce features. That’s Antiochus Epiphanes. And I believe that is a very important phrase. The character of this future king, would you take a look at it for a moment? His personality is described as having fierce features. And the Bible says he understands sinister schemes. In verse 25 it refers to his cunning. And history, I read just a little bit and pointed it out to you, history records in the book of Maccabees about Antiochus and his deceit and his cunning. He was constantly deceiving the people, making them think that he was really their friend. He’d set them all up, he’d get them to pay tribute, try to honor them with a few things, and then turn on them and slaughter them. That was Antiochus Epiphanes. His power, verse 24, is described as being mighty. And boy, did he have mighty power. He conquered Egypt as well. And he was slaughtering everybody in sight. His prosperity, it says, verse 24, he shall prosper and thrive. Verse 25, he’ll cause deceit to prosper under his hand. And that was true of him. And his prosperity grew so much so that minting a coinage in your name and putting on the coins for the entire world to market with was saying, You are the God who is manifest. You understand how powerful and mighty and by deceit he is proclaiming himself as the heir to world empire. But he never quite succeeded. His persecution, it says, he shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people. That’s what it says. And in verse 25, he shall destroy many in their prosperity. That’s exactly what he did. He unleashed his fury against those who were wealthy landowners and had a lot of money and had a lot of seemingly landowner power. And he literally devastated them all, took over everything. He was totally conquering in every way imaginable. His pride, the Bible says, verse 25, he shall magnify himself in his heart. Not only that, but he’s going to rise against the prince of princes, verse 25, against the Lord himself. That’s exactly what he did when he called himself Antiochus Epiphanes, the God who is manifested to the world. He wanted the world to worship him as God, taught that there was no God. And his punishment, it says in verse 25, he’ll be broken without human hand. How did Antiochus die? He died of a foul disease. Alexander the Great, conquer the world, 32 years old. I haven’t got any more worlds to conquer. I’ll take on anybody. I mean, he was Mr. Buff. He had won Mr. America contests. He could stand at the front of his armies without fear and lead them into battle. What a man he was. They said there was no one like Alexander the Great. And how did God take care of him? God doesn’t need a whole army. His own drunkenness killed him. Antiochus Epiphanes, I’m God. Worship me. I’ll conquer everybody. I’ll let everybody know that I’m God too. I’ll put it on all the coins. It won’t be in God we trust, it’ll be Antiochus we trust. How did God handle him? Just destroyed him with a disease. What do we learn in the book of Daniel? We learn about the sovereignty and power of God. Remember I told you that one of the themes of this book could very well be the sovereignty and power of Almighty God. Demonstrated over and over again in these fabulous historical sections, fulfillments of Bible prophecy, but also a testimony to the power of our God. Just a little comparison of the little horn. In chapter 7, he came out of the fourth kingdom, which is Rome. In chapter 8, he comes out of Greece, which is the third kingdom. In chapter 7, the little horn is the eleventh horn that comes among ten and roots up three. But in chapter 8, he’s the fifth horn that comes out of the four. The little horn in chapter 7 persecutes God’s people for 42 months or three and a half years. But in chapter 8, he persecutes God’s people for 2,300 days or six years. What I’m trying to say is there are so many differences, I cannot conscientiously agree with many fine Bible teachers, by the way, many of them currently writing books and teaching on this subject, who say that Antiochus is the Antichrist. I can’t believe it. I don’t believe it. But I do believe he’s a type of him. He’s a historical type who tells us a lot about a coming leader who will deceive also and will devastate and destroy the people of God in great numbers. Thousands, perhaps millions of people will die in the tribulation period. Everyone who does not take the mark of the beast will be killed, the Bible says. Well, what if you had this vision? Verse 26, the vision of the evenings and mornings, by the way, that’s the 2,300 days. The Hebrew text of verse 14 says 2,300 evenings and mornings. So verse 26 says, the vision about that which was told is true. In other words, you can rely on it, count exactly. Therefore seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future. Literally many days, the words in the future in italics. And Daniel fainted and was sick for days. Daniel saw the future and saw the terrible devastation, saw the persecution, saw what God was going to do. The man went about the king’s business but was astonished by it. But no one understood it. Why? None of it had happened as yet. Remember Daniel chapter 8 and the last verse. No one understood it, including Daniel. How interesting. And we don’t understand it either, what’s happening in the future, though we have many descriptions of it. And we try to figure it out, but we don’t know. So then what are we supposed to do? Well, we’re supposed to spend more time trying to figure it out, aren’t we? No. Do you know what the purpose of prophecy is? Turn to Revelation chapter 22, verse 8, 22-8. Now I, John, saw and heard these things. 44 times in Revelation he says he saw something. Distinct visions of God. He lived in the first century and he saw things that haven’t even happened yet in our time. And when I heard and saw, I immediately got out my concordance and my historical volumes and began to analyze. Is that what it says? It says I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, See that you do not do that, for I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. Let’s pray. Lord, teach us that not only do we see things clearly fulfilled, but there is so much that we don’t understand that’s known to your great knowledge and plan. May our response be as John, to worship the one who is in sovereign control, is bringing everything to pass right on time, every detail fulfilled. Thank you, Lord, for encouraging us by showing some passages that are clearly revealed. You interpret them for us, and you tell us what the events are, and help us to understand that the ones we don’t know about will be fulfilled exactly the way you have described, even though we cannot see it now. Teach us, Lord, to worship the God who is in sovereign control and to bow the knee to him and to live our lives in obedience to him until all these things shall come to pass. We thank you in Jesus’ wonderful name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER 02 : 20:18

Amen. Well, that’s David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back with some additional teaching to close out our time today, so please stay with us. First, Matt’s here, and together we’re going to share a great resource that Hope for Today has for you.

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The accuracy and reliability of Daniel’s Old Testament writings concerning future events have led many Bible critics to reject his authorship of the book that carries his own name.

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Well, Matt, inside Daniel, prophecies of the last days, your dad makes the case that we can have complete confidence that Daniel not only wrote the book, but that God used him powerfully and prophetically.

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And his story and God-given visions are critical to our understanding of Revelation and what’s happening in our world today.

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That’s why this month, Matt, we’re featuring your dad’s book, Daniel, Prophecies of the Last Days. It’s an exciting companion to our radio series going into additional depth and detail to what David’s sharing on the air.

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You can get Daniel, Prophecies of the Last Days. Yeah. And it’s just $20 at davidhocking.org. Or call us.

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In Canada at 1-888-75-BIBLE. In the U.S., call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE. And Bible by the numbers?

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24253.

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And a quick reminder that your purchase today will not only bring encouragement and answers to your life, but it will also help the ministry of hope for today. Please pray for the ministry and prayerfully consider a purchase or donation today.

SPEAKER 01 : 21:45

DavidHawking.org or call us in Canada at 1-888-75-BIBLE. In the U.S., call 1-800-75-BIBLE.

SPEAKER 02 : 21:55

By the way, you can also get the complete sermon audio and companion study notes for this entire radio series in Daniel. Whether you want to catch up on what you might have missed, review the teaching at your own pace, or dig deeper into these powerful prophecies, well, we’ve got you covered. The audio, again, for our Daniel series on radio is available on MP3 for just $30 or on audio CDs for $50. Oh, and by the way, David’s original sermon notes and outlines for each message are are available in print form or online for just $10. To order, call 875-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, or you can order online at davidhawking.org. By the way, if you’d like to get in touch with us to share your testimony or maybe a prayer request, write to Hope for Today, Box 3927. Tustin, California, 92781. Or if you’re listening in Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, BC, V2S 8P1. We’d love to hear from you. Once again, here’s David.

SPEAKER 04 : 23:10

Thanks for listening today. I hope you’re enjoying our study. Remember, the little horn rises to power, probably referring to Antiochus Epiphanes IV, who was the eighth king in the Syrian dynasty. His attacks centered against Israel, as verse 10 makes it clear, and against God, of course. called himself Antiochus Epiphanes, the glorious one, and against the Mosaic law. Verse 12 says he cast truth down to the ground. Wow, that’s pretty important. And the abomination he brought is mentioned in verse 13 and 14. Antiochus died in a campaign in Media in 164 B.C. Those 23 days that are mentioned began in 171 B.C., the legitimate high priest of Israel was murdered, and a pseudo line of priests was established. That all happened December 25th, 165 B.C. And a Greek altar was erected in the month of December in 167 B.C. So this is pretty fascinating stuff. The intention of this vision, the appearance of a man, Hebrew, gaber, sounds a lot like Gabriel. There’s an announcement about the time in this prophecy. It says, the time of the end. It also reminds us that the appointed time means that God has determined it completely. We don’t hesitate to ask you, our radio listeners, to help us. We are in need of your prayers. And as the Lord lays in our new heart, would you give to help us through these difficult months, completely paying every bill that we have? Thank you for supporting this ministry. Plan to be with us for our next broadcast.

SPEAKER 02 : 25:21

Well, thank you, David. And friend, if you’d like to support this daily broadcast, if you’d like to partner with us and become a part of this ministry, your gift will help us keep teaching God’s Word on air and online. To donate by phone, call 800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, Bible by the numbers 24253, or visit davidhonking.org. And thank you for standing with us. Then have you ever been so burdened you just couldn’t hold back the tears? And all you could do is drop to your knees and cry out to God. Well, on our next broadcast, we step into Daniel chapter 9, verses 1 through 23, where Daniel lifts up a desperate prayer to heaven, and heaven answers. It’s raw, it’s repentant, and it’s real. Don’t miss day one of our powerful message, God Answers Prayer. It’s coming up next time on Hope for Today.