The Little, Little Horn (Part 3)

Daniel, right?

Seemed like it's been a while.! Remember, this is his second vision in the book of Daniel.

We've spent several weeks on it. Pretty important vision. Not so much in regard to us specifically and what is going to happen in our future, but primarily significant for the lives of Israel, people of Israel, because this vision is primarily for them, even though there are some allusions to other things, and principal character in the vision is a type of the Antichrist.

We've talked about that, even though the point here is not to really make a comparison to the Antichrist. The point here really is not to identify the Antichrist.

The point here is to identify a certain person who's going to come on the scene in Israel's history that is going to bring to them intense persecution.

This person and the intense persecution that he's going to bring upon God's people is going to take place within a couple hundred years before Christ comes.

His name is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and we've already identified him. And he was a terrible, wicked, and cruel ruler of Israel.

And so the point of the vision is to give them a heads up about that, even though the vision is taking place almost 400 years before it's going to happen, which is really quite amazing when you think about it.

And as we're going to see as we get to the end of the chapter, God constructed Daniel to keep this vision, preserve it, because the people will need it when they get to that time in their lives, and not just need it in terms of warning them of this persecution, but also and specifically in terms of God's promise that the persecution will only last a certain period of time, and it will be over, so it would be a great encouragement to them.

So this is the importance, the primary importance of the vision. And so we're to Roman numeral number three, the significance of Daniel's second vision. And I'll have to say that, you know, when we get into this portion of the chapter, we're really focusing on the angelic interpretation of the vision that Daniel has.

We're not going to spend a lot of time on this, because we've kind of already talked about most of this as we worked our way through the vision itself. And we've already made most of the connections that need to be made between what Daniel saw and what it signified, or what the principal parts of the vision, how they will be fulfilled.

But I want to go ahead and read then Daniel chapter 8, starting with verse 13. Read all the way to the end of the chapter, so at least we've got to have it all together there, and then we'll go back and kind of pick it apart.

So starting with verse 13, Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, 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?

So how long will that last? And he said to me, For two thousand three hundred days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. Now remember, we kind of covered some of this the last time, even though that's been, you know, a long time ago.

Then it happened, verse 15, 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 Ulai, 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, 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, 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, the he-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.

That is, not with the same power as the original horn. Now, even as I'm reading this, you're remembering as we kind of walk through the vision itself, made the connection, so we kind of already know these things.

And in the latter time of their kingdom, these four rulers, 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 rule. And he shall exalt 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 means. 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 arose and went about the king's business.

I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it. No one understood it. So, Daniel is seeing this.

This is how we ought to kind of picture this. Daniel, he's in kind of a dream state. And he's seeing this vision. And we've covered all those passages.

So, he's seeing this vision. He saw, what did he see? He saw, in his vision, a ram. Remember, first of all, a ram. And it had two horns.

One was longer than the other. It came out of the east and charged west and north and south. So, this ram charged north, west, and it came out of the east. So, it's coming from the eastern, from eastern portions of the world, civilized world.

And it conquered north and west and north and south. All right. So, the ram with those two horns. And none could withstand it.

That's what he saw. So, he's seeing this vision. All right. And then, what did he see? He saw the vision of a goat. A he-goat.

A male goat. It came out of the west. All right. So, the first one came out of the east. Then he sees this goat coming out of the west and it traveled so fast that it didn't even touch the ground.

All right. So, testament to how fast it moved. And it had a notable horn. Remember? One notable horn. Very prominent horn, but just one strange-looking goat.

And it conquered the ram. Remember? Conquered the ram. Then it grew strong. Conquered the whole world. All right.

This is what he saw. And after the notable horn was broken off, remember? It was broken off. That means its ruler was taken away.

Okay. Then four horns grew up in its place. Four notable horns, it says here. So, they were strong horns. Grew up in its place. And out of one of these, a, the Bible says, a little horn.

In fact, as described, it's a little, little horn. Okay. Just a little, little one. Grew up, but it grew exceedingly great. All right.

And this little, little horn did terrible things. Terrible, terrible things to those living, specifically living in the glorious land.

This is, this is the vision that, that he had. The glorious land being the holy land. The land of Israel. All right. So, he's seeing this vision. He's kind of rolling along, unfolding.

He's seeing all these very weird things. And he sees the ram, sees the goat, and their horns. And, and he's seeing this vision. And suddenly, two things happen. There is, first of all, an interruption.

An interruption to the vision. And then, an interpretation. All right. So, now, you know, he's come to the end of the vision. But it's, you know, it ends kind of strangely.

You know, he's seeing this vision, taking it all in, trying to figure out what is all this about. And suddenly, it seems as if it's just interrupted. All right. Because, you're just out of nowhere, without really even any introduction, Daniel sees something.

There's this conversation going on between these two beings. So, there's an interruption. That's the first thing I want you to see. An interruption to Daniel's vision.

The vision ends very abruptly. All right. You, you, you know, you might imagine that, you know, after he saw the little horn coming out and doing all these things, he might, you know, maybe he's making already a mental connection that these things are being done to his people.

And then, I mean, you kind of want to see, well, what, what's going to happen next? And yet, it's going to be interrupted. Verse 12 says, you know, he's going along with the vision.

Verse 12 says, an army was given over to the horn, this little, little horn, to oppose the daily sacrifices. And he cast truth down to the ground. Remember, we covered this passage.

And he did all this and prospered. And what? What happened next? I mean, it's in regard to a vision. What happened to the little, little horn?

What happened to him? What, what, what was, was he ever conquered? What happened next? Well, Daniel's vision is interrupted. It's interrupted by something.

And so, without even a word of introduction or explanation, two angelic beings are talking to one another. And he overhears this conversation.

They're having a conversation. And so, I want you to notice two things here. first, Daniel overheard something important. Daniel overheard something important.

So, let's look at verse 13 again. Then I heard a holy one speaking. Well, there's an interruption to the vision. Very abruptly. No introduction. Suddenly, it's almost, I didn't even see these guys before.

Suddenly, here's this angel, this holy one speaking. And another holy one said to that certain one he was speaking. How long will the vision be? Concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation and the giving of both of the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot.

So, he overhears this conversation. Now, these holy ones speaking, they're angels.

I've already mentioned that they were angels. angels. So, let's just make sure we understand. These are angels. He's overhearing this conversation between, and apparently, they were present while Daniel was having his vision.

Perhaps they were there all along and they hadn't noticed them in the vision, but here they are. And, you know, actually, we could maybe even assume that the whole angelic host had been there.

and Daniel suddenly saw the entire angelic host. It doesn't really tell us how many were there. It just says that one was speaking and another asked a question, but they may all have been there.

You know, he suddenly overheard one of them speaking. It says a certain one who was speaking. A certain one. One of possibly many. And the entire angelic host is there and they're watching this vision.

You know, they're allowed to view this. and now just what he was speaking, we're not told. Right? You get that? That here's an angel speaking.

But we're not told what he's saying. Now, we're told what the second one said. The second one asked the question. We don't know what he was speaking about, but apparently, I think it's safe to assume that he's seeing the vision of Daniel and he's talking about it.

About this vision. in a sense, they're having a conversation about the vision. And why? Because angels are interested in these things.

Did you know that? Angels are interested in what's going on in your life. I guess, in the broad sense, angels have always been interested in God's plan for us. In fact, 1 Peter 1, verse 12, God's plan for mankind are the things angels desire to look into.

That's what Peter said. Now, they can't have the salvation of God's plan for us. It's not that they're looking into these things hoping that it's for them or regretting that it's not.

It's just they're very interested in God's plan for us. And so, the angels are interested in this vision that God is unfolding before Daniel.

And one of them is going to have the duty to explain it today. So, they're having this conversation. And so, in accord with their desire to look into these things and understand these things, a second angel, another holy one, asked a question.

Asked a question. What's the question? How long will the vision be? That's the question. And the question, of course, pertains, and we talked a little bit about this last time.

The question pertains to the persecution of God's people by the little horn that is described in verse 12. The persecution that's described there. The question is the duration of it.

How long the duration will the vision be concerning the daily sacrifices? And according to verse 12, what happened to these sacrifices? Well, according to verse 12, the little horn opposed them.

What sacrifices are we talking about? We're talking about the sacrifices in the temple. In the glorious land, the temple, the temple in Jerusalem, the sacrifices prescribed and demanded of God back in the Mosaic law.

The sacrifices and the little, little horn opposed them. Meaning, literally, he caused these sacrifices to cease. That's what we understand from verse 12.

And so the angel is asking, how long is that going to take place? How long will these sacrifices cease? See, the little, little horn did that, cease the sacrifices really by, through a transgression, the transgression of desolation.

He had defiled the temple. And so they couldn't carry on the sacrifice because of the defilement. That's what verse 12 tells us, the transgression of desolation.

And we have it also mentioned in chapter 11, verse 31, and chapter 12, verse 11, using these words, the abomination of desolation. It's even mentioned in the New Testament.

Of course, the New Testament's reference to what the Antichrist will do when he comes. But this is not a reference to that, even though this is a type of that event that will take place in the future, at the end of all things.

All right, so the answer then to the question is given to whom? Given to Daniel. All right, so his vision is interrupted and he hears this angel speaking.

He doesn't tell us what he's saying, but he hears this, this, and then one of the, another angel asks a question, presumably asks this other angel a question, and the angel gives the answer to Daniel.

All right, so that's what the scriptures reveal here. And he, the first angel, said to me, to me, to Daniel, for 2,300 days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.

So this is the duration of this intense persecution by the little, little horn. We talked about this last time. The angel's answer was that the persecution of the little, little horn will endure for 2,300 days or 20, literally 2,300 evenings and mornings.

That's how they measured the time. And that means for six years and four months. Six years and four months. Persecution ended then on December 14, 164 B.C.

when Judas Maccabeus cleansed and rededicated the temple in Jerusalem, the feast of Hanukkah. Hanukkah meaning dedication, so the feast of dedication and the Jews still celebrate that today.

All right, now remember the purpose of the vision. God was warning his people of a future time of intense persecution that would come under the rule of a certain king who would arise during this time.

We know his name, Antiochus Epiphanes, and it would come, it would not come for nearly 400 years from when the vision was given, but they should be ready and they should be encouraged.

They should specifically be encouraged by the promise that God gave in the vision that it's only going to last for six years and four months. All right, so when this happens, you'll know, hey, six years, four months, I'm going to have to endure this, but God will bring it to the end, to an end, and the temple will be restored and rededicated.

So it was meant to be an encouragement to them, to the people living during that time. All right, so then first, Daniel overheard something important. Now second, Daniel was overwhelmed overwhelmed by someone by someone important.

He was overwhelmed by someone important. Verse 15 introduces another person, a third person. Then 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.

All right, now who is this third person? specifically mentioned in the text. There are others there. I'm convinced that a heavenly host is there watching the vision.

They're interested in it, want to look into things like that. One of them is speaking about it. Another one asks a question. And then there's this third person mentioned.

Now the Hebrew word translated man in the text is the word geber, geber in the Hebrew and it means strong or mighty.

So this other person or this person that is in the appearance of a man is the appearance of a mighty, mighty man, a strong person.

This is the idea here. Now the common view is that this is none other than the archangel Gabriel. I've read several commentaries and some that I really respect and they say this is Gabriel and they primarily say that because it seems that the person that Daniel sees is the person that continues to do the talking and eventually starts interpreting the vision.

But it's a little dicey when you get into the grammar and also dicey when you consider some other elements here because the other view is that this is God the Son. This is the second person of the Trinity who's appeared here.

This is God speaking, specifically God the Son. And the reason why we might say that is because first of all, in the next verse, it is the voice of this one who orders Gabriel to explain the vision.

Verse 16, look at it, and I heard a man's voice between the banks of Eluei, so it's a person kind of suspended up in the air, between the banks means he's out on the water or above the water of this river, who called and said, so this is what this third person said, Gabriel, so he's addressing Gabriel, it's not Gabriel, he's addressing Gabriel, commanding Gabriel, make this man understand the vision, so this is someone other than Gabriel, and again, looking at the word man, the suggestion is that this is the Almighty, this is God, and he's come in the form of a man, and so every time you have that in the Old Testament where God is visible to man in some sense, I think it's always the second person of the Trinity, who manifests God through physical means.

All right, second, this third person, I think is the Son of God because Daniel reacts in fear. He reacts in fear before this person, verse 17, so he came near where I stood, and when he came, I was afraid, fell on my face, see, Daniel never seemed to fear the angels, and we have other examples in the book of Daniel, he didn't even fear Gabriel, and we have an example of that, in chapter 7, verse 16, he didn't seem to have fear of angels, and in chapter 9, verse 21, which we'll see in verses following, we'll see that possibly next week, he didn't fear Gabriel either, so his fear wasn't directed toward Gabriel, or any angel, Daniel's response, this was Daniel's response to the presence of God, and that response characteristic of others in the Bible who had similar experiences, and I gave you three examples there,

Isaiah, Ezekiel, John, in the book of Revelation, Isaiah said, woe is me, when he came into the presence of God, God allowed him, rather in a vision, or actually to see some representation of him, he said, woe is me, I'm undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the lord of kings, the lord of hosts, Ezekiel had a similar expression, when Ezekiel saw God, he said, I fell on my face, that's what Daniel did, fell on his face, in fact, he was so traumatized, he fell asleep there on his face, and John in Revelation 117, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, so these are reactions when God manifested his presence in some visible form, and again, I think it's always the son of God, God's second person of the trinity, he was the one that would come and eventually be incarnate himself, take on human flesh, every time that happened, people were traumatized by it, and so

Daniel is, yet we have other examples in the book of Daniel where he came in contact with angels, and he didn't have the same response, so I think this is pointing to God.

All right, so we're talking about the significance of Daniel's second vision, first an interruption of Daniel's vision, Daniel overheard something important, Daniel was overwhelmed by something important, and so next, an interpretation of Daniel's vision, vision, that's B, an interpretation of Daniel's vision, God's spokesman, Gabriel, tells Daniel the meaning of his vision, all right, God speaks through Gabriel, Gabriel is his messenger, that's pretty much the definition of an angel, and so first we have the explanation of the vision, there's kind of a brief explanation, verse 18, now as he, and this is reference to Gabriel, was speaking with him, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground, and this is a fear-induced trauma because of the presence of

God, but he, Gabriel, that's Gabriel, 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, alright, so the vision, then, this is talking about a vision, it is of a distant future, the vision is of a distant future, in the latter time, now not distant for us in the sense of all the way to the end, this is not a reference to that, these events will occur at the end, this is really what it means, these things will occur at the end of a particular period of history, B, the end of this period of history will be characterized by wrath or indignation, the Hebrew word is za'am, I'm really like ze, zeom, and it always refers to God's active wrath as a demonstration of his indignation, then he's indignant about something and it's about sin and rebellion, so this wrath will come upon

Antiochus ultimately, but also it's going to come upon the unfaithful Israelites living during that period of time, it's all because of their rebellion and again this is just 164 years before Christ comes, now the end of this indignation has been appointed, there will be an end of it and it will come just as God has promised, verse 14 again says 2300 mornings and evenings, six years and four months, and so Gabriel said there in verse 19, for at the appointed time the end shall be, now what end, again let's make sure we're clear, we're not talking about the end of all things, you know the consummation of all things, the end time, we're talking about the end of this period of indignation, and it will come to an end, 2300 mornings and evenings, six years, four months, number two, the interpretation of the vision, all right, this is ground that we've really already covered, but let's look at it, first we have the ram with two horns, and verse 20 says, the ram which you saw having the two horns, they are the kings of

Media and Persia, so it's very clear, is it? now, the Medo-Persian empire had not yet come to power, but clearly it's close enough that Daniel could have guessed this part of the vision, he would have known, the coming of this kingdom, I think, was already in the minds of most who lived in his day, the male goat, be the male goat, this is part of the vision, so Gabriel is explaining, interpreting, various parts, various elements of the vision, and the male goat, verse 21, the male goat is the kingdom of Greece, now Greece was nowhere yet on people's minds, and so this is prophetic, obviously, and Daniel can't see these things, could not have known them, but this is part of the vision, the large horn that is between its eyes is the first king, that's what verse 21 says, again, it's very clear, now it's clearer to us than it was to Daniel, because we already know history, it's all past, so we know who that large horn, that prominent horn was, and it, first king of

Greece, not named in the text, but history reveals him as Alexander the Great, of course, see the four horns that replace the large horn that is broken off, verse 22, interprets the meaning of it, verse 22, 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, but still it's very clear, again, it's clear to us, all right, because this has already happened, so after Alexander's death, Greece, co-ruled by four of Alexander's generals, we covered this ground already, yet Greece, we do know, was never again as powerful as it was under Alexander the Great, so that's what he means, but not with its power, its original power, its power under the first horn, and D, the little, little horn that came out of the four, all right, what's the interpretation of that, well, we already know, but here's what Gabriel said, verse 23, and in the latter time of their kingdom, that is those four rulers, toward the end of that time, that when the transgressors have reached their fullness, we'll explain that in a minute, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes, that is, he's really good at it, again, this is really pretty clear, historically, this king that shall arise, is Antiochus the fourth epiphanies, that's who he is, who ruled over the region of

Palestine, we know from the vision that this ruler is going to be over that area where God's people are, over the promised land, over Palestine, and he was a fierce ruler, a wicked schemer, the transgressors, who are those, who are they?

Well, they were Israel, transgressors, were Israel, who once again had rebelled against God, so this king, this little, little horn will arise when Israel's transgressions reached their fullness, that is, the breaking point with God, the point where God's mercy would end, so God endured their rebellion for a time, and it's going to come to a head, and he raises up Antiochus, the fourth epiphanies, to bring intense persecution upon God's people, and he's fierce, and he's a schemer, and all of these things, and God was the one that raised him to power, to judge God's people.

It's his wrath, his indignation at their rebellion. Then he, the power of the little, little horn, verse 24, on into verse 25, his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power.

He shall destroy fearfully, shall prosper and thrive. He shall destroy the mighty, that would be a reference to rulers of nations within his area of jurisdiction, he would be a conqueror, and also the holy people, so he would destroy the holy people, he'd bring intense persecution, kill many of them, thousands of them, this would be Israel.

through his cunning, he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule, and he shall exalt himself in his heart, he shall destroy many in their prosperity, he shall even rise against the prince, capital P, the prince of princes.

Alright, so, like the Antichrist of the future, our future, who will one day come, of whom Antiochus is a type, clearly is a type, and that becomes even more clear and later visions that we find here in Daniel, we'll get to those eventually, but Antiochus is a type of the Antichrist, and so like the Antichrist, Antiochus will be empowered by Satan, or by Satan, and we know that of Antichrist, Revelation 13, 2, now the beast, that's Antichrist, which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion, all those signify power, the dragon, that's Satan, gave him his power, so Satan will give Antichrist his power, his throne, and his great authority, that's what Revelation 13, 2 says, 2 Thessalonians also says, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 9, the coming of the lawless one, that's

Antichrist, is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, so Antichrist will be empowered by Satan, and in the same way, Antiochus, it's not his power, it's the power of Satan, under Antiochus, this is, I think, interesting, truth was cast to the ground, remember that, we saw that back in verse 12, truth was cast to the ground, and to replace it, what?

Deceit, fitting, fitting contrast to it, deceit prospered under Antiochus, Antiochus was great in his own eyes, that's why, why we call him the little, little lord, he was a little, he was very insignificant, and yet, he was great in his own eyes, archaeologists, by the way, have discovered coins bearing his image, and inscribed on the coin, Theos Epiphanes, God manifest, so here's, here's his face on the coin, Theos, that's the Greek word for God, Epiphanes, manifest, exalted, and so this is what Antiochus thought of himself, the death of the little, little horn, not a lot to say about it, verse 25, latter part of verse 25, just simply says, but he shall be broken without human means, which means

Antiochus is not going to die by the hand of any man, not going to die in battle, or anything like that, not going to be an enemy who puts him to death, according to Josephus, Antiochus died of grief, a broken, broken heart, not in any positive way, but he was grieved when he learned that Israel had conquered his armies in Palestine, and he couldn't handle it, just died, so he didn't die by any man's hand, though this didn't just happen, it was God, of course, God brought him down from within, so the explanation of the vision, the interpretation of the vision, number three, quickly here, the preservation of the vision, needs to be preserved, because remember, it's going to be almost 400 years before it's fulfilled, and so, you know, if this vision is intended to be an encouragement, to be a warning to the people who will live 400 years later, then you better keep it safe somewhere, so that they'll have it, and that's the point of it.

Verse 26, 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 seal up doesn't mean to seal it so nobody can get to it, it just means to preserve it, preserve it, and again, why it would not be fulfilled for many, many years, almost 400 years, and the people living during the time of its fulfillment would need to know, be good for them, know the details of this prophetic vision, and especially when you consider the promise that is contained in it, that there would be an end to this persecution, and so the vision is very important, so keep it safe, keep it preserved.

All right, so the setting of Daniel's second vision, the substance of Daniel's second vision, the significance, this is kind of the broad outline, the significance, and then one final thing, and we can just read the scripture, we don't have to comment much on it, the sickness, the sickness of Daniel's second vision, that is as a result of his second vision, verse 27, and I, Daniel fainted and was sick for days, made him sick, of course there's a promise here in the vision, and that's the main point, I don't know that Daniel fully understood it, in fact there's an indication at the end of verse 27 that he didn't, he said no one understood it, now he was sick for days, and then he got up, went about the king's business, so he's still working for the king, although Daniel's very old at this point, but he was astonished by this vision, about what's going to happen to his people I think is what made him just sick inside, he knew what they were going to go through, and got a glimpse of what this ruler was going to do, do to the temple, and it just made him sick for days, but eventually he got up, went about his business, all these things that he saw, they happened.