Daniel 8:15-27

Rachel Workman: ²⁷ 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. I find it interested that Daniel was appalled and exhausted for several days.

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John Burnett:  ¹⁵ While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man. ¹⁶ And I heard a man’s voice from the Ulai calling, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.”

¹⁷ As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. “Son of man,”^[a] 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.

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.^[b]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 is describing the antichrist in this passage.  I am so thankful for God’s promises that we will not have to face His wrath and won’t be around when the antichrist is in power.  I do look forward to seeing him defeated when we return with Jesus Christ and get to watch Him take His rightful place as ruler of His Kingdom.

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.”

²⁷ 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.

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Allen Michaels:  ¹⁵ While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man. ¹⁶ And I heard a man’s voice from the Ulai calling, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.” Gabriel is an angel, the heavenly messenger God used to explain Daniel’s visions (9:21). He also announced the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:11) and the Messiah (Luke 1:26).

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.” The “time of the end.” in this case, refers to the whole period from the end of the exile until the second coming of Christ. Many of the events that would happen under Antiochus IV Epiphanes will be repeated on a broader scale just before Christ’s second coming. During these times, God deals with Israel in a radically different way, with divine discipline coming through Gentile nations. This period is sometimes referred to as the “time of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24).

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.

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 Gabriel makes it certain that the two-horned ram represented the kings of Media and Persia.  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. Gabriel also identified the “shaggy goat” as the “king of Greece” with “the large horn between his eyes” as the “first king”. Although Alexander was not the “first king,” he was certainly the greatest who was “the large horn between the goat’s eyes”.

 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. Moreover, the four horns that replaced “large horn” that was broken off would be the four generals who would assume Alexander’s place after his death.   

²³ “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. This fierce-looking (stern looking in many versions) king describes both Antiochus IV Epiphanes AND the Antichrist at the end of human history. 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. The Prince of princes is God himself. No human power could defeat the king whom Daniel saw in his vision, but God would bring him down. Antiochus IV Epiphanes reportedly went insane and died in Oersia in 164 B.C. God’s power and justice will prevail, so we should never give up our faith or lose hope, no matter how powerful God’s enemies may seem.

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.” Daniel was told to “seal up the vision”, not because of the vision’s incomprehensibility or some hidden code it contained, but rather because it was sure to take place and because its word should be preserved against the day of its fulfilment.

²⁷ 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. This vision left Daniel “exhausted … and ill for many days”. These predictions that Daniel had seen and had explained to him were clear, but how could that all take place when the world had never seen a Medo-Persian or a Greek empire, never mind all the detail about a stern-faced king of the future and the like. But history is the final interpreter of prophecy, as Jesus reminded us in John 13:19 and it finally points to the fact that God, not these nations, is in control.

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Tomorrow's reading for Daniel 9:1-11

9 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes^[a] (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian^[b] kingdom— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. ³ So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:
“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁵ we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. ⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
⁷ “Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. ⁸ We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you. ⁹ The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; ¹⁰ we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.