If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Daniel chapter 8. We’re now in the second half of Daniel, chapters 7-12, which is a series of visions which took place before the fall of Babylon. These visions cover, at the least, a span of five centuries and four empires: Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome.

Unlike chapter 7, which was written in Aramaic, chapters 8 through 12 were written in Hebrew. Chapters 2 through 7 dealt with matters of broader concern to the Gentile nations, which may be why they were written in Aramaic – the common language of the Middle East at that time. Chapters 8 through 12 more specifically with matters affecting the people of Israel; so maybe it was written in Hebrew as Daniel’s homage to sacred scripture and Hebrew scholars. It’s also possible that Daniel wrote in Hebrew to prevent a Babylonian courtier from reading these chapters and divulging them to the king in an attempt to frame Daniel for treason.

¹ In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. ² In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. 

Daniel’s vision took place in 548 BC, the third year of King Belshazzar of Babylon’s reign. This vision came two years after the vision of the four beasts in chapter 7, which I spoke about last month. While the vision in chapter seven spanned at least five centuries in describing four great empires, this vision focuses on just two empires, Persian and Greece.

Daniel’s vision took place in the citadel of Susa (Shushan), about 150 miles north of the Persian Gulf in the province of Elam. Elam was located along the north and east coast of the Persian Gulf in what is now Iran. Elam was conquered by Babylon, and became one of its provinces; but it later became the center of a resurgent Persian Empire that joined forces with the Medes (or ancient Kurds) to overthrow Babylon. The Elamites appear early in the Bible, for Elam was a grandson of Noah through his father Shem, patriarch of all Semitic peoples – Persians, Arabs and Jews.

So God brought Daniel in a vision to what became the future capital of a vast Persian Empire. In his vision he was by the Ulai canal, which may have been the Karkheh river near to Susa. Centuries later, Alexander the Great sent boats up the Karkheh River to attack the Persian capital. Continuing with v. 3-4:

³ I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. ⁴ I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power. It did as it pleased and became great.

Daniel’s vision focused on two familiar creatures, a ram and a male or goat. Unlike the four unnatural beasts that were in chapter seven, these two creatures were familiar livestock – a ram and a Billy goat. Perhaps God used these normally domesticated animals to signify their inferiority to His kingdom. Just as shepherds herd sheep and goats, God was sovereignly herding these empires to serve His purposes.

According to the angel Gabriel, Daniel’s vision referred to “the time of the end.” Ironically, in Matthew 25, Jesus described the separation of believers and unbelievers on Judgment Day as a division of sheep and goats, though his use of these two creatures was completely different from this vision.

The ram in the vision had two horns, one longer than the other, and the longer one grew later. These horns described the Medo-Persian Empire that succeeded Babylon. The first horn represented the Medes to the north, ancestors of the modern Kurds. King Darius in Daniel 6 was a Median king and ally of the first Persian emperor, Cyrus the Great. Today, the Kurds are fighting ISIS in northern Iraq and Syria.

The longer horn represented the Persian people. They had been subdued by Babylon, so their rise to power came later than the Medes. But since Persia was a larger and more prosperous ethnic nation, they became ascendant in the Medo-Persian alliance. Cyrus the Great reigned in Susa and made Darius king over Babylon.

The Persian ram charged and conquered west into Mesopotamia, north into Anatolia or modern Turkey, and south into Arabia and Egypt. Their expansion was stopped in the West by an alliance of Greek city-states in the fifth century BC. The Persian Empire became very rich, and was the most advanced civilization in the world at that time. Persia made important advances in government, codification of laws, naval power, architectural design, horticulture, metallurgy, pottery, and weaving. But it became lethargic, making it vulnerable to an innovative commander, Alexander the Great.

Reading on in v. 5: As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. ⁶ It came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at it in great rage. ⁷ I saw it attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering its two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against it; the goat knocked it to the ground and trampled on it, and none could rescue the ram from its power. ⁸ The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.

The next creature to appear was a male goat with one horn. There is no such thing as a one-horned goat. This horn symbolized first king to unite the Greeks: Alexander the Great from Macedonia. Alexander defeated the Persian Empire in just a few years, using a well-trained army and superior military tactics. The goat moving swiftly over the ground without touching it symbolized the swiftness of Alexander’s conquest.

He was only 32 years old when he died, but was a military genius. In fifteen years of warfare, Alexander never lost a single battle. Alexander’s power rested with his army, which had been prepared and battle-tested by his father, King Philip II. Philip carefully prepared his son to be king, employing the great philosopher Aristotle as his son’s tutor. Philip used diplomacy and war against rival Greek states to make himself the hegemon, or Supreme Commander, of the Delphic League of city-states. It was Philip’s ambition to unify Greece and then conquer the Persian Empire; but he was assassinated by one of his guard commanders. Alexander inherited the kingdom at age 20 and immediately set out to fulfill his father’s ambition.

Alexander subdued the Greek states and added their armies to his own, making it the most effective fighting force in the world. He entered Asia Minor with a force of roughly 35,000 men and over 5,000 cavalry. He faced a much larger Persian army, but one that was unprepared for the phalanx and cavalry tactics used by Alexander. Their soldiers were not nearly as battle-hardened and disciplined as the Greeks.

As Gabriel said, Alexander died at the apex of power in the Indus Valley of modern Pakistan, the farthest reach of his empire. This led to power struggles within his empire. The empire was divided “toward the four winds of heaven” by four Greek generals, called the Diadochi. Commentators recognize the four horns in Daniel’s vision as symbolizing the four kingdoms which emerged as follows: (1) Cassander assumed rule over Macedonia and Greece in the west; (2) Lysimacus took control of Thrace, Bithynia, and most of Asia Minor in the north; (3) Seleucus took Syria and the lands to the east including Babylonia; and (4) Ptolemy established rule over Egypt and possibly Palestine and Arabia Petraea to the south. A fifth contender for political power, Antigonus, was soon defeated.” 

In the succeeding centuries, the Seleucid kingdom to the north and the Ptolemaic kingdom to the south battled for control of Judea, which suffered decades of opposing armies crossing their land and extracting tribute and provisions at the expense of the people. It was crucial that the Jewish people be forewarned of the power struggles that would afflict them, and might cause them to doubt the sovereignty of God.

Daniel witnessed a series of bloody and frightening attacks by this symbolic ram and goat, and discerned the peril that it placed upon his people. Now the vision turned to something even more strange and sinister. Reading on in v. 9: Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. ¹⁰ It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. ¹¹ It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down.¹² Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.

As with chapter 7, an evil little horn appears. There are similarities and differences between the two little horns, which leave an intriguing ambiguity that divide scholarly interpreters of the text. Both horns represent kings who rise to power through subterfuge rather than armed might.

In chapter 7, the little horn grew out of the ten horns on the fourth, terrifying beast. It had human eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. Daniel was told that the ten horns of the fourth beast represented ten kings from this fourth kingdom that “will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.”

This clearly described the Roman Empire. The little horn will be different from the others in that he subdues three kings, speaks against God, oppresses the Jews and tries to change set times and laws. Many interpreters see this little horn as prophetic of an end times Antichrist, though he could merely be a type of all Roman tyrants who crushed the Jewish rebellions in Judaea and persecuted Christians.

In chapter 8, there is no mention of Rome, even symbolically. The little horn, as Gabriel explains, is also a king who arises out of one of the four Hellenistic kingdoms that consolidated after Alexander the Great’s death. This little horn grew “to the south and east and toward the Beautiful land”, threatening Judea, which was initially controlled by the Ptolemaic kingdom centered in Egypt. So we can safely locate the little horn coming out of the Seleucid kingdom of Syria and Mesopotamia.

But this little horn continues to grow until it reaches the host of heaven, throwing “some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them.” It ultimately sets itself up to be equal to “the Commander of the Lord’s army” – that is the Messiah. It stops the daily sacrifice and Messiah’s “sanctuary is thrown down.” God’s people and sacred worship are given over to this evil king.

There is a clear parallel to this description in Revelation 12, where the great red dragon sweeps away a third of the stars of heaven and casts them to the earth. This parallel suggests that behind this little horn is an invisible and far more evil force behind the Hellenistic Empire that carved up Alexander’s empire. This invisible force is demonic, which will inspire the king to attack and oppress the people of God and stifle true worship of God. The little horn claims divinity and vaunts itself to be equal to the Son of God, and attempted to shut down the holy sacrifices to God. In Chapter 10, a glorified man – the Messiah – describes a conflict between a satanic Prince of Persia and satanic Prince of Greece; and this supports my point here that both human and demonic powers are at work in the little horn in Daniel’s vision.

Continuing in v. 13: Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled—the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, the surrender of the sanctuary and the trampling underfoot of the Lord’s people?”

¹⁴ He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.”

The two holy ones who are speaking are likely angels, though the second could have been “the Angel of the Lord” who in the Old Testament is the Messiah. The second angel states that it will take 2300 evenings and mornings to restore the sanctuary. The meaning of this number and its significance is disputed. Referring back to Genesis 1, it seems to refer to 2,300 days. But many commentators see it as a sum total of evenings and mornings, or 1150 days deprived of the evening and morning sacrifices required in the Law.

In 167 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the eighth in the dynasty of the northern Seleucid kingdom became enraged at rebellious Jews during his struggle for power with the Ptolemies to the South. He put an end to temple sacrifice for three years, and sacrificed a pig on the temple altar, thus defiling it. Many scholars thus apply this prophecy strictly to Antiochus Epiphanes.

The problem with this interpretation is that Antiochus died in December 164 BC, about two months short of the 1150 required days to fit this prophecy to this king. Others have suggested that 2,300 days began with the murder of the high priest Onias III in 171 BC by a corrupt, pro-Hellenist Jew named Menelaus and continued to 164 BC. King Antiochus appointed Menelaus as high priest to enforce his Hellenizing agenda.

Others say the little horn is entirely about a future antichrist figure who stops the sacrifice at a yet-to-be-constructed third temple during a roughly seven-year span before temple sacrifices are restored.

I believe that both Antiochus Epiphanes and a future Antichrist figure were conflated into the same prophecy, where Antiochus became an evil type of a leader who is destined to cause “astounding devastation”. The little horn who is Antiochus Epiphanes grew out of the four horns of the Hellenistic Empire; but the more evil antitype comes in the end times. In this way, God connected a momentous period in Jewish history with an even more terrifying and momentous period before Christ returns.

The Bible often uses lesser types in the past to describe or point to a greater antitype and fulfillment in the future; so both Antiochus and Caesar Nero could be types of a future Antichrist, as were Hitler, Stalin and Mao in the 20th century. We also see positive typology in the book of Hebrews, where Moses, the author of the old covenant, is a type of Jesus, the author of a better New Covenant. Aaron is the high priest who continually offers animal sacrifices as the inferior type of Jesus our eternal high priest, who offered His life as the one perfect sacrifice for our redemption.

In vv. 17 and 19, Gabriel tells Daniel, “Son of man”… “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end…. I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end.” What does “the time of the end mean”? Was it the end of oppression under the Seleucids after Antiochus’ death in 164 BC? Or does the end and “the time of wrath” refer to the Great Tribulation that precedes the return of Christ where God’s wrath is poured out on the earth. Or could it be a prophetic conflation of both lesser and greater times of wrath? As we shall next month, the conflation of type and antitype appears at the end of Daniel 9.

After Daniel saw this terrifying vision, he heard a man’s voice calling from the Ulai Canal: “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.” The “man” ordering Gabriel to give the meaning implies that He had greater authority than Gabriel, and must be the Messiah. These two appear again in Daniel 10. So Gabriel approached Daniel. In v. 17, we read:

¹⁷ As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.” ¹⁸ While he was speaking to me, I was in a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me and raised me to my feet.

Daniel’s response of terror and falling prostrate reveals the power that Gabriel exuded, and the impact that God intended this vision to have upon Daniel. His presence even caused Daniel to become comatose. This reinforces how momentous this vision was and what it could mean for the people of God.

¹⁹ He said: “I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. ²⁰ The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. ²¹ The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king. ²² The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power.

²³ “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. ²⁴ He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people. ²⁵ He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.

Gabriel confirmed that the four horns of the goat were the four kingdoms of the Hellenistic Empire from roughly 320 BC until roughly 60 BC. He then described the character of the little horn that grew out of the four. He arises when “rebels have become completely wicked”, suggesting a breakdown of political and moral order, when communities are subject to the depredations of criminal warlords. This wicked king will be fierce-looking or insolent, having a haughty face. He will be a master of intrigue, skilled in playing off adversaries and using treachery and deceit to gain power. He becomes very strong, but not by his own power, and deceit and lies predominate in his kingdom.

This description looks forward to the Beast of Revelation, who gains his power from the great dragon, who is Satan, to become an emperor with a vast dominion. This king even takes his stand against “the Prince of Princes” – suggesting the Messiah. But this evil king is destroyed, but not by human power. This looks forward to the fall of the Beast in Revelation in 19, when Messiah comes to judge him face-to-face before he is cast into the lake of fire by an angel.

Gabriel concluded in v. 26: “The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.”

The effect of this vision on Daniel was overwhelming. He concluded: I, Daniel, was worn out. I lay exhausted for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding.

Daniel was overwhelmed by the vision for two reasons: first, there was the extreme violence that he witnessed from these conquering beasts. But second, he was overwhelmed by the mystery of the grotesque little horn that came out of the Hellenistic Empire but grew up to challenge the authority of heaven. Daniel felt the demonic power infusing this little horn and it attacked his spirit. Yet Daniel saw the ultimate victory of the Lord over him.

So what can we take away from Daniel’s vision that is pertinent to us today? First, we can know that God controls the destiny of nations for His purpose. This is the great truth of Providence: that God secretly guides the destinies of everyone and every nation for a wise and good purpose that will bring Him the greatest glory, and His people the greatest joy in God.

The struggles we see in the world today are also essential to fulfilling God’s end-time purposes. They all will shape the right outcomes and context when Christ returns to reclaim the earth. So the tyranny of ISIS in the Middle East, or Islamic militants elsewhere, or the belligerence of Russia in the Ukraine, or China’s attempt to control the South China Sea, or North Korea’s threats to hurl nuclear missiles at the United States – all these threats somehow fit into God’s plan for the ages. And none of these powers will triumph in the end.

Second, the people of Israel – the Jews – are central to God’s purpose for the ages. The Jewish people have been intimately connected to the ancient empires that formed Western civilization: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece and Rome. God connected in chapters 7 and 8 a malevolent little horn to the last two civilizations, which suggests that the Jews will be at the center of prophecy until the end of time. God’s great enemy, Satan, hates the two great works of God that have undermined his grip on power in the earth – Israel and the Church. At the heart of all biblical revelation is the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, who is an offense both to orthodox Jews and secular people in the West. Muslims revere Jesus as a prophet, but are offended by His true identity as the Son of God.

The land of Israel lies at the conjunction of two great continents – Asia and Africa – and is situated on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea that defines the southern boundary of Europe. Modern Israel is now surrounded by Muslim majority nations, and has a large disaffected Palestinian community inside Israel and the West Bank and Gaza which it controls. Both peoples are chained to the other in rivalry, and the repeated acts of violence and counter-violence have penetrated our news cycles over the last 50 years. The Islamic Republic of Iran has made hostility to Israel and the recapture of Old Jerusalem, which they call al-Quds, a pillar of their foreign policy. Since the rebirth of Israel in 1948, no stable political solution has been achieved that will create peace between Israel and its neighbors.

Many biblical commentators believe a powerful ruler, either in Europe or the Middle East, will make a seven-year peace pact with Israel, only to betray it after 3½ years. That’s why numbers approximating 3½ and 7 years crop up in the apocalyptic works of Daniel and Revelation. However the future plays out, you can be sure that Israel will be in the middle of international conflict and intrigue.

Third, tyrants will always rise to threaten the political order in the world and attack God’s kingdom. The little horn is symbolic of all megalomaniac rulers who have exalted themselves in their sphere of power. Most countries throughout history have been ruled under varying levels of tyranny or rule by decree. Many such rulers have painted themselves as divine, far above the common people upon whom they depend for their wealth and power. The mythology of nobility in family names has been principally a method for ruling elites to maintain their grip on power over the masses. Our Founding Fathers saw the pernicious effect of class divisions based upon titles of nobility and abolished them in the Constitution. Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 states: No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

Still we see powerful rulers today who control wealth and power and the media to deceive the masses as to what is really occurring in the world. In Russia today, 110 oligarchs control 35% of all the wealth of the country – hundreds of billions of dollars – while the median net wealth of the Russian people is under $900. Their President, Valdimir Putin, sits atop the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons and material and is politically accountable to no one but himself.

Finally, Christ will crush all evil and vindicate God’s righteousness. The little horn represents all earthly powers that exalt themselves against “the Prince of Princes” – Jesus the Messiah. Psalm 2 prophesied in reply 3,000 years ago: “Now therefore, O kings, show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth. Kiss the Son, lest He become angry and you perish in the way. For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” Wise people in Christian lands, both high and low, have humbled themselves to honor the King of Kings. But they have always been a minority among the elites of this world. Paul said that “Not many wise [by human standards], not many mighty, not many noble” have responded to God’s call. “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong.”

One day in the future, and it is becoming ever more imminent, Jesus will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to overthrow all the governments of this world. Isaiah 2:17 says, “the pride of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of man will be abased, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.” God will vindicate Himself, and all who have trusted in Him, which means all of you if you hold to your faith. You who are in prison today will be set free and exalted forever as the royal priesthood of God in heaven.

Until then, we will have to persevere and contend for the faith and righteousness where we are. By bearing witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ in your life and your speech, you are testifying to a fallen world that only in Jesus can salvation be found. Will you take your stand for the truth of the gospel by fully entrusting yourself to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Let us pray.