2. DANIEL'S EIGHTH CHAPTER
I assume that the prophecies of Daniel and the history of Daniel, the words on every page, are true. This is the famous man who has been subjected to hungry lions and hungry critics desiring but unable to rip him to shreds. Only unbelievers continue to discredit this most astounding work of the Spirit. Daniel’s fulfilled prophecies as well as those yet to be fulfilled continue to astonish us with their accuracy. The fulfilled ones are so on target that they have become a target. “Nothing could be that perfect,” say the critics. They say this because they do not know our perfect God and His ability to communicate to man.
Daniel single-handedly answers nearly every question that there is about the world’s final ruler before Christ. Where is he from? How does he rise to power? How long will he last? What will be his way of ruling? How successful will he be? What are his supernatural connections? Will saints survive his slaughters? Jesus refers to him. Paul obviously read and believed him. And the great Revelator at the end of the Bible saw what Daniel saw from the same Spirit-guided messengers.
If you want to know who is the antichrist, you’re in the right place by reading Daniel. God’s people can see in Daniel’s few chapters the truths of the last days. In fact the recorded prophecies tell the history of mankind from the days of the great Babylonian Empire, through Medo-Persia, Greece, and the various manifestations of the world’s last reign in Rome. That last formation of Romanism will be ruled by the subject of our study, called in Daniel “the little horn” or simply “the king.”
In chapter two is the giant human statue seen by King Nebuchadnezzar, each part of which represents a phase of history from Babylon to Rome. In chapter seven is a vision of animals seen by Daniel, paralleling Nebuchadnezzar’s vision but adding crucial details. Having established twice God’s knowledge of the total view of history, the Spirit focuses on two of the four featured kingdoms in chapter eight. Medo-Persia and Greece are singled out for our attention, and finally the period of the late Grecian and early Roman time. It is from out of this period that the man of sin originates, says Daniel. Later in the book are more details about Christ and antichrist, the times of their kingdoms, the steps leading up to them.
Before we begin chapter 8 in detail, some words about Daniel the man. Most that we know about him is drawn from the first part of his book where the wonderful stories of the fiery furnace and the lion’s den appear. We meet a young man who even though he is a servant of Babylon, brought against his will from his own land, is sold out to the God of Israel. He repudiates a comfortable life-style, the diet of his time, the gods of Babylon. But God is with Daniel as he was with Joseph in his prison experience. He protects and exalts Daniel and bit by bit honors his love for Israel by telling him details of Israel’s future. Of course, in doing so, he touches us, the people of God who have been grafted into the tree of which Paul spoke in Romans 11, the very Kingdom which was Daniel’s.
In the first chapters of Daniel, he is a teenager. Later we see him middle-aged. By the time of chapter eight’s vision, he is in his 80’s. We see him weak and often confused, and wish God might have visited him this way in his full strength. That is how we think. But God chooses our weakest times to do His strongest work in us. Daniel will receive no credit for having thought up the incredible ideas that follow. It is God saying these things, and we will do well to heed the Voice that comes from Heaven.
Verses 1-4, 20. The last emperor of Babylon is reigning. Soon Medo-Persia will be replacing Belshazzar and company, as recorded in the famous “handwriting on the wall” story of chapter five. But before Belshazzar’s demise, the God of history intervenes via a vision to His prophet. Daniel sees a two-horned ram, with uneven horns. It is pushing north, south, and west. No one is able to stop him. Since he is not pushing east, we assume the ram is an eastern power. But no need to speculate any further, for Gabriel, Daniel’s guide in most of his visions, tell us that the ram with two horns is the uneven amalgamation known in history as Medo-Persia. The two-ness of the ram’s horns matches with the uneven sides of the bear of chapter seven and the two arms of the statue. Three visions, but one message.
Verses 5-7, 21. Next comes a goat. From the west. It is flying. Goats don’t fly, and neither do leopards. But a flying leopard represents this same nation in chapter seven. Medo-Persia, eastern, pushed west, as in the great marcher Xerxes. But this nation is western, pushing east and covering the whole known earth! What a perfect description of the rise of Greece and its first major push by Alexander the Great, represented here by one horn. But all of this too is not guesswork, for Gabriel tells us that the goat is Greece and that the horn is the first or primary king of that emerging empire, whom we know to be Alexander, the one who some say wept because he had conquered the earth so quickly that there were no more challenges.
There is a confrontation between ram and goat and the eventual victory of Greece, which now rules the world several hundred years before Jesus’ visit. But you say, why is world history suddenly so important? Did you not offer disparaging remarks about how Bible scholars depend on history when defending their interpretations of Scripture? Yes, that’s what I said, but this is very different! Here, the Holy Spirit Himself, via an angel and a prophet, are the historians. They are giving the interpretations and deliberately pointing us to historical settings. We are compelled by Heaven to look closely at Greece and the politics that follow. When you look long enough you will see the answer to the question of the disciples…
Verse 8, 22. The goat in the vision grows. Greece expands. But the goat’s horn is broken. Alexander dies. Greece does not die, only the horn, the leader. In place of the one horn grow four horns. In place of the one leader there are four leaders with four separate territories. Gabriel points us to more history. He says that four kingdoms will arise from the Greek Empire. Did it happen? Most definitely! The generals of Alexander fought for many years over his legacy and who would rule what. The conflicts that ensued have been dubbed the “successor wars.”
When the dust settled there were indeed four regions vying for power. One was Greece itself, tied to Macedonia. We might call this area, roughly, the Balkans today. Another was Egypt. Then there was Asia Minor, or Turkey. By far the largest and therefore the most difficult to control was the eastern portion of the empire. Today that portion is the combination of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Palestine, and even more territory to the east .
Are you following? Look where the Book of Daniel has gone in just a short time. All the kingdoms of the world from Daniel’s day to the end of time. Then just Medo-Persia and Greece. Then Greece. But we must narrow further to find the one we seek.
Verses 9-12, 23-25. The heart of Daniel’s message here and in other chapters is the defining of another horn on the goat, the territory of the Grecian Empire after Alexander, represented by four horns now, thus four parts. Now Daniel sees a fifth horn. It is small at first. Thus the term “little horn” has been applied to the person represented. He was small at the beginning. “Vile”, says the angel in chapter 11. Despised. Rejected from royalty. But he does not stay small. Over time, over the ages, he grows to become a fantastically significant world power.
In this tiny fragment of a verse hidden away in your Old Testament is a secret that is larger than you can imagine. Let’s see where the angel takes us.
First we see the temporal or earthly rise of the little horn. It/he grows to the south, to the east, and toward Israel, the “glorious land.” Two things we learn here about the man who will come. One, there must be a land farther south of him than Israel. And, two, from where he is at the beginning, Israel is not east. Chapter eleven will identify him much more clearly, and show how he indeed did move to the directions here indicated.
Then am I saying that he is merely a historical figure and that this passage has been fulfilled? A thousand times, no! Historical yes, fulfilled , no! Bear with me until you see the whole vision as Daniel saw it! And you still will have trouble. That’s why God saw fit to give Daniel another view of the same man from a different perspective in chapter eleven. There will be no mistaking the identity of this man.
And let me pause here to remind readers that we are not talking about a bright young man named Daniel who conjured up a cool story about the future of nations. We are talking about a very old, confused and overawed man who cowers in the presence of angels and who is being given visions directly from Heaven. Let not cynicism enter our thinking here or we will lose sight of what God is saying. This Word is from heaven. It is pure in every syllable and must be examined carefully.
Verse ten is a turning point. Read it again. This man suddenly is having influence in heaven as well as earth. This is no mere mortal any longer. Something has changed! The “little” king has grown up! Grown up to the heavens! Because of him, some of Heaven’s armies are cast to the ground! Perhaps they are in part responsible for the earthly army that surrounds Jerusalem (or is this army heavenly too, in the worst sense?).
The plot sickens. This vile contender for the throne of Syria and surroundings is now contending for a universal throne, and the throne of the King of Kings. He wants it all! That’s what Gabriel says. He exalts himself to the Prince of Heaven.
As the army encircles Jerusalem in this last showdown of history, the horn commands that daily sacrifices of the Jews be stopped. No more need to sacrifice to this Jewish God, when a better one is available. The sanctuary is entered, then cast down.
Historically this man has been identified as Antiochus Epiphanes. But Biblically, so far, there is no need to do that. I say, there is no need so far. Chapter eleven will tie together the historical man with the future man. But chapter eight does not do that except in one phrase. In explaining who this man is, Gabriel says simply that he arises (not that he is born and raised) in the latter days of one of the four divisions of Alexander’s Empire. This clue, coupled to the descriptive “out of one of them” phrase earlier in the chapter (verse 9) lets us know only that the end time tyrant comes originally from somewhere in post-Alexander Greece. That is, he was born either in Greece, Turkey, The Middle East, or Egypt.
We cannot bring prior knowledge into a text. We let the text speak first. So far the text has only pointed us to Greece and the very end of time, and tied these two eras together in a man. There is no demand by the chapter eight text to bring in Antiochus or any man we have known in history. All that this man does in this text can be done in the future.
We now know, with certainty, where antichrist arises! We also know that when he arises it is with supernatural help. We know that it is he who will, aided by an army –perhaps a heavenly one– stop the Jewish sacrifices and himself profane and destroy the Temple. We see soon the phrase “transgression of desolation” (verse 13) and know we are close to the very sign Jesus gave for His soon return. And then comes the clear definition of the timing of this man:
Verses 13-14. First there is the exchange between two angels who identify the time period involved as a little more than six years. This time seems to comprise the lead-up to the abomination, the abomination itself, and the subsequent “trampling” (remember that word from Luke 21?) of Jerusalem. We’ll discuss the seven-year time frame when we get to chapter nine.
Verses 15-17. The key conversation which we are granted grace to overhear is between a Man and the angel Gabriel. The Man commands Gabriel to help Daniel understand the vision. The first and perhaps most important thing that Daniel is made to understand is that (verse 17) the vision refers to the time of the end. This phrase will be spoken and expanded on several other times later in this book. There is no doubt allowed here that the little horn vision culminates in the end time, not 200 years before Christ came to earth, via Antiochus Epiphanes!
So our conclusion can only be that “the abomination of desolation” spoken of by Daniel the prophet, still in the future when Jesus spoke about it, refers not to any episode in the life of Antiochus Epiphanes, but to the end of all time, as demanded by the angel Gabriel and the Man who commanded the message.
I understand why books and teachers in our day try to make everything fit neatly in pre-Christian history. The alternative explanation, that the man Daniel saw was actually alive thousands of years later, is too incredible for words. But all who ignore what is being said must give account to Gabriel and to his Master. Fair warning, before we get to chapter eleven, when the incredible becomes nearly unbearable. There we will discover a master plan that has been executed by the enemy of our souls. It is a plan for world-wide domination. It has reared its ugly head time and again. Many have been the willing tools in Satan’s hand to grasp world power and attempt to dethrone Jesus and all those for whom Jesus has throne plans, His elect. He shall fail. But the attempt is clear, and we have been privileged to see it beforehand, so that we will not be deceived when it surfaces yet again. Truly the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and no other!
Verses 23-27. So he who begins in the Near East winds up in a lake of fire, by way of Jerusalem, fulfilling every prophecy about the man of sin. When the cup of the nations involved is full, this one will arise. The question that will be answered in chapter eleven is, does this mean simply that he will be born and raised in one of these four nations as they express themselves in modern times, or that he was already born there long ago, and literally “arises” in the end? You know now my prejudice toward the literal, so you can imagine where this is going.
A few details about the “arisen” man. He will have a fierce countenance. Think Hitler. He’ll be deep. Sinister. Pure evil. He will not rule by his own power. A definite clue that this one will be Satan-filled. He will be a destroyer. Again think Hitler. He will persecute and kill believers. He will magnify himself. We will discuss this very scenario in II Thessalonians. But he’ll be broken without human hand. Think Lake of Fire. We surely must all be in agreement now: This is not talking about Antiochus Epiphanes! Or is it? Make no conclusions until we have shared together the rest of Daniel’s work.
Poor Daniel. He could not think any of the comments we so glibly discuss today. No Hitler, no Paul, no Matthew 24. He was the very first to receive clear descriptions of our future. It literally made him sick. He could not figure it out. In struggling with God over these texts we too may become emotionally involved. Again I point out that there is certainly no better cause to which we can give our hearts than the finding of God’s plan, both for our personal lives, and, as much as he reveals, for the church of God. Let us proceed.
3. DANIEL'S NINTH CHAPTER
So we have learned thus far that Matthew 24 and Daniel 8 have several things in common:
• There is coming to earth a horrible transgression and transgressor that will bring an unprecedented desolation.
• This thing will be accompanied by the surrounding of Jerusalem.
• It will happen at the “time of the end.”
• Following both prophecies were historical, actual, world events that seemed “close” to the fulfillment and were thus jumped on by students of the Word . Obviously both historical events must be canceled out since they are not in the end time, they did not lead to the return of Jesus, and they did not produce an evil man whose life is supernaturally powered.
Thus the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, and pointed to by Jesus in Matthew, is still in our future. Allow Daniel himself to speak of this event once more, in the famous “Seventy weeks” prophecy.
The message given in this ninth chapter was meant by the Spirit to shed light on the “when” of Messiah’s coming along with more details about the man of sin that precedes Him. It was given in response to Daniel’s discovery that the current time line on Jerusalem was about to be up. Daniel had discovered Jeremiah 25:11 which tells readers that God’s people were to be in bondage to Babylon for seventy years. But that time was nearly passed, and it was the beginning of the Medo-Persian time. It would soon be announced by Cyrus the Emperor that the Jews could go back to their land.
Caught up in the joyful news he had discovered, Daniel begins to pray a prayer of repentance covering himself and his people (verses 1-19) . While he is praying (verse 20) Gabriel re-appears to him, letting him know how pleased Heaven is with his prayers, and revealing further plans for Israel. These plans involve, not seventy years, but seven times seventy. During these 490 years, all of God’s dealings with Israel will be finished. And the looked-for announcement of Cyrus is to be the trigger that will start the clock. So the final years of Israel’s life will begin where Jeremiah leaves off and continue, with one major interruption, until the end of time.
Let us speak first of the concept of interruptions, or “gaps” in Scripture. Daniel actually uses this pattern unknowingly throughout the book. He is unaware of the great period of time that will exist, for example, in his ram-goat prophecy, between the horn of Alexander and the horn of the final conqueror. Reading Daniel casually you might think they are side by side. He does it again in chapter eleven. There, he speaks of one who can only be identified as Antiochus Epiphanes, for the Spirit directs us to that interpretation. Then there occurs the gap again, and suddenly we are in the end time speaking of antichrist. Daniel had no clue. In an even greater way the prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue and Daniel’s animals do the same thing. There seems to be a quick resolution of world history after Rome. Though this is true in actual years spent, we are still living in the “gap” between early Rome and its final form.
Thus when the Spirit in Daniel 9 speaks of 490 years to be lived out for the Jewish people, it must be borne in mind that these years are not consecutive. Even the text divides these years into three groupings. Again, every word, every detail, must be taken into account when a mystery is before us.
Daniel is not the only prophet who unwittingly demonstrates the gap phenomenon. Isaiah, chapter 9, predicts the birth of a Child Who will sit upon the throne of David. True enough, brother Isaiah, but the Child was born long ago and still we await the enthronement. Later, Isaiah laments the sorrowful plight of the sin-bearing Messiah in most of his chapter 53, but then rejoices that “(God) will divide Him a portion with the great…” a happening scheduled for the return of Christ to earth in our future. Zechariah touts the lowly Jesus “riding on a donkey…” then praises in the same breath the One Whose dominion shall be “from sea to sea.” First and second comings of Jesus, thousands of years apart, spoken of in two consecutive verses, with no hint of a history between.
Is it any wonder that Jesus’ disciples, schooled in the precise memorization and understanding of Scripture, would stumble a bit when they heard Him talking one moment of death and the next of victory? Is it any wonder that they expected the Kingdom to be set up immediately? It is this gap mechanism that is at the heart of the Judeo-Christian mystery. A Christ who was, and “is not” (on the earth) , but who will be. Antichrist, we now understand, will be able to use that same definition, by the secret workings of Satan who has been granted permission to bring it to pass and deceive the nations.
Armed with this principle we can approach the four verses (9:24-27) that spell out what is coming to Israel and when…
First we learn that a period of seventy “sevens”, divided into three separate time categories, will complete all Jewish history. The Hebrew word translated “weeks” simply means a period of seven units of time. The year is the only unit that makes sense of the prophecy. So seventy periods of seven years each, or 490 years, is the full amount of time with which we have to work.
Next we discover what exactly must happen during those 490 years.
• Sin will be dealt a death blow via Messiah’s death and His return to create a perfect Satan-bound world. Sin will be judged, then eradicated.
• Every prophecy related to Judaism, given by the prophets, will be fulfilled.
• The “Most Holy” will be anointed. Does this refer to the baptismal scene of Jesus, where the Spirit descended on Jesus? Or is this Psalm 45:7, where God anoints Jesus as ruler over all the earth? No matter. Both events occur in the 490 years.
• Everlasting righteousness will be brought in. That is, the Millennial-Eternal reign of Christ begins.
That’s a tall order for only 490 years. Some of it has already happened.
Next, having stated what will happen, he spells out when the time period will begin. The announcement that Jews are going back to Jerusalem to dwell in their own land is seen as the signal for Jewish history to continue and begin its final round. This announcement is given twice in Scripture: II Chronicles 36:22-23 and on the next page of your Bible, Ezra 1:1-4. We are told there was historically another announcement given and that there are different ways of counting, but the vast majority of those who have studied this prophecy agree that from this moment in time, whenever it precisely occurred, until the Messiah, was 483 years.
Why 483 and not 490? The prophecy states that there will be two divisions of time between the announcement and the Messiah’s death (Daniel uses the term “cut off”). First, a forty-nine year period of rebuilding, followed by a 434 year period leading up to the Christ’s work. 49 + 434 = 483.
In my thinking these first two verses, and these first two periods of time, are very straightforward and seem to be consecutive. Christians have rejoiced in this passage for centuries as it was so succinct and clear that the Holy Spirit was telling us exactly when Messiah would come the first time! Yet, one reflects, the world knew Him not, though this simple math, added to the prophecy about Bethlehem, and many more were there for the reading.
So it shall be in the last days. Though Bibles and books and booklets will abound telling people exactly when and where to look for antichrist and Christ, the world and the professing church will ignore them, in pursuit of feel-good religion and the worries of this life.
But though verses 24-25 are easily grasped, 26 and 27 cannot be tackled so quickly. Perhaps they, along with all passages on this topic have been deliberately “muddied”, to insure they are hidden until the right time. I confess I still have questions here and elsewhere in this study. I share with you the things of which I am certain. Others will certainly pick up the rest when it is time.
After the second time period of 434 years, Messiah is killed. “But not for Himself!” Don’t you love the way the Spirit injects this sad but wonderful truth in the midst of a preview of history? Now is this immediately after? Sometime after? And the destruction of Jerusalem foretold in verse 26, is it the one that indeed occurred after Jesus, or the one we have already seen coming at the end?
Here I can only give my opinion. I believe that consistency to the text and all the other similar texts in Daniel demands that we place this portion of the prophecy in the end time. For in verse 27 that follows there is no question that the war mentioned must be at the end.
Nevertheless, I am not in denial that Rome did destroy Jerusalem shortly after Jesus was crucified, that temple worship stopped, that the city was surrounded, that Jews fled… but we have already seen that much of this will be repeated in the last days, and lead to Christ’s return. Here the mystery is difficult to extricate from the historical. And here is where we need to keep our focus narrow. We are looking for the man of sin who will precipitate the last events of history. He is in this passage…
Notice in verse 26 the destruction of the sanctuary. This matches with chapter 8. Notice the word “desolations”, one of the keys all the way from Matthew. You may even want to consider the presence of a flood as in Revelation 12:15’s mention of a demonic flood sent to stop the woman, who is Israel.
I offer all of this for your meditation and prayer. But to return to things of which there is a greater certainty we move to verse 27.
One thing emerges right away. The seventieth seven does not immediately follow the sixty-ninth. Verse 27 speaks of an end to sacrifice and offering. We now know for certain that when Daniel speaks of this happening, he is speaking of the end time, not of Antiochus of old. Remember, we have Gabriel’s word on that. But now we have Daniel himself admitting that this does not occur until Jesus is killed, some 200 years after Antiochus!
We have a problem of a different sort if we try to attach this verse to the Romans of A.D. 70. The Spirit says there are 490 years, and that after 490 years, the Millennium begins, sin is gone, etc. Those who try to stop the clock at Jesus (as they should) but start it up again with Titus (A.D.70), will find that the clock runs out in A.D. 77, with no return of Christ. That was the dilemma of thinking back in those days, when Jesus did not come, though the abomination had surely occurred. They thought.
In fact, the only place to put a final week, or seven years, is in the end of history. But that is done easily enough, because that is where Jesus places the event of the end of sacrifices, and the following abomination and desolations that verse 27 mentions.
Ultimately, this work I am sharing with you now does not end with the abomination, the desolations, the end of sacrifices, the surrounding of the city, the army. All of this is present, but my question has to do with the man. In verse 26 there is one called “the prince who is to come.” This same one seems to be referred to in 27, as “he” and “one who makes desolate.”
I cannot prove here that all three of these persons are one. But I believe they are. The coming prince seems to be the dictator over the revived Roman Empire, the final form of the beast seen by Daniel and John. He makes a treaty with the Jewish people that lasts for one week (27a), or seven years. This same person who made the treaty will break it (27b) half-way through. That’s about three and one half years later, leaving another three and one half years for judgment and chaos, the Great Tribulation. It is this three and one half year period that is mentioned in Daniel and Revelation as Earth’s final time.
The prince thus starts the clock of Judaism ticking again. No matter that Jewish sacrifices cannot take away sin. They never could. They pointed to Christ. They will still point to Him. No matter that God is not commanding a Temple be built. The Jewish people will be like Israel of old, seeking to go to the Promised Land after God has already pronounced judgment. They will be given seven years to play all of this out, a new Temple, revived worship in the Jewish way, world-wide prominence, even peace for a time. But only a short time. Then the reversal, followed by what Daniel seems to be calling an outpouring of judgment. He uses the word consummation, and “poured out”, reminding us of the bowl judgments of the book of Revelation, chapter 16. And he pinpoints the “one who makes desolate.” Notice here it is not referred to in the neuter sense. Not a “thing” placed in the Temple, but a man.
It is said this man will be on the “wing” of abominations. The old King James used the word “overspreading,” but that word would be a very uncommon usage of the Hebrew “kawnawf”. “Wing”, as in a bird, is a common usage of that word in Scripture. It can even refer to angels’ wings. It is the wings of cherubim (man-made) that sit above the Ark of the Covenant, and are a part of the mercy seat Moses was commanded to make. According to Exodus 25:22, God ordained that this would be the special place where he would speak with his man, between the two overspreading wings of the cherubim. Here God would actually appear “in the cloud above the mercy seat (Exodus 16:2)." Is it possible that when the Jews put together this magnificent structure again that they will create once more the mercy seat in all its detail? And will the one who is so jealous of our God decide to sit there and mock His Holy Name before the world? Could this be the “wings” of abomination?
Be that as it may, the clock of old Jewishness ends when the final earthly-satanic messiah is cast into the Lake of Fire and Christ’s true Judaism is set up in the Holy City. Soon perhaps will come one who will announce to the world that the clock of Israel is about to begin its last works.
We must continue reviewing, so that we not forget important pieces of the puzzle:
• There is a specific sign of the beginning of the end of the world.
• It is the abomination of desolation, albeit it must be the one spoken of by Daniel.
• Daniel speaks of such an abomination, twice so far, and the surrounding of Jerusalem, and the removal of the daily sacrifices, all followed by desolations as God Himself backs off from the scene. Nothing can be more desolate than this.
• No less than a messenger from Heaven, Gabriel, is behind all these prophecies.
• All agree that these things happen in the final days of earth’s history.
• Daniel points out a man behind all the problems: “a little horn”, “a king,” and “the prince who is to come.” He sees him not as a “type” but as the actual perpetrator of the evil.
I tremble as I think ahead to chapter eleven. I believe I have identified there the one who will come. I ask that you reserve your own judgment of this until we confirm the details in Revelation and II Thessalonians. But for now, the last prophecy of Daniel. It is like no other in Scripture.
