Ram With Two Horns (Part 2 of 6)
Chapter 8 of Daniel describes a powerful ram with two horns that is soon defeated by a male goat with one powerful horn. Any time you see a horn mentioned in the Bible it is referring to power or exaltation. Daniel 8:3 says:
Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.
The second horn will have more glory that the first horn. I will paraphrase the vision, but I also recommend reading the entire chapter. In Daniel’s vision, he saw a great ram that pushed north, south and west. He did as he willed and no one was able to stop him from becoming great. Suddenly a male goat with a large horn attacked the ram, broke his horns off and trampled him down. He became great and once established, the large horn was broken and four smaller horns replaced it. One of the horns grew and became great and exalted himself as the ‘Prince of the host’. In other words, he will set himself up to be God. He will be an evil transgressor that will cast down truth and put a stop to the daily sacrifices in the sanctuary (or temple). With desolation will pollute the temple for 2300 days and then the temple will be cleansed (Daniel 8:14).
The Bible gives the interpretation of this dream in the second half of Daniel 8. The ram with two horns was the kingdom of Media and Persia and Greece is the male goat that defeated this kingdom. We know this to be Alexander the Great (the stomach and thighs of bronze in the image of the first vision). The desolation that polluted the temple was Antiochus Epiphanes. In 171b.c. Antiochus overthrew the priest and made himself to be God in the temple. He called for and sacrificed a pig on the altar in the temple. This abomination caused the Maccabean revolt. On December 25th, 164b.c., 2,300 days after Antiochus overthrew the priest, the temple was re-consecrated. History documents an exact fulfillment of this prophecy down to the day.
Reliability of Daniel
Let’s stop for a moment and address another criticism that targets the book of Daniel. Critics argue that Daniel was written well after the events which enabled him to predict events with such accuracy. Some also claim that the book of Daniel must have been altered to appear as though it predicted an event that has already happened. It is understandable as to why skeptics are determined to discredit Daniel. Repeatedly, Daniel predicts precise events down to the exact day. As we will study later, even the Messiah was predicted to the exact day in the book of Daniel. Daniel is either an indisputable testimony to God’s plan and sovereign power to execute His declared plan, or it is a complete fraud.
Antiochus’ desecration of the temple was during the ‘400 silent years’ of the Bible. For four centuries, there were no prophets in Israel and no Divine revelations. However, as we can see through world events, in truth God was not silent at all.
One indisputable, verifiable historic event squelches all the claims of late-dating scripture. In 280 BC, Jewish leaders decreed that 70 specially selected scholars would translate the scriptures into Greek. These 70 scholars are known as the Septuagint. Since these documents are still in existence today and historically we know that they were translated almost 300 years before Christ, there is no reasonable argument for late-dating these prophecies. The prediction that Antiochus would set himself up as god in the temple and the temple would be trampled underfoot for 2300 days could not have been written after the fact. We have verifiable history outside of the Bible that shows that Daniel was translated into Greek over 100 years before this wicked man even came to power. Add to this the fact that the book of Daniel was written at least 200 years earlier still. Daniel was written between 500 – 600 years before Christ.
70 Weeks
Daniel’s prophecy of 70 weeks was delivered by an angel during his prayer and supplication for Israel. As he prayed, the angel Gabriel interrupted him to deliver this prophecy:
Daniel 9:
24 " Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.
25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 26 "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate."
The key to understanding prophecy is to interpret scripture by scripture. Instead of trying to fit scripture into our viewpoints, we should shape our beliefs in accordance to the truth of scripture. Many people try to explain away what is plainly stated because it doesn’t fit their end-times model. The first thing to be noted is that verse 24 identifies exactly who this prophecy is directed toward. The prophecy is for Daniel’s people and his holy city. Remember, this prophecy was delivered as a response to Daniel’s prayer for Israel and his request to return to Jerusalem. Daniel was praying because God judged Israel with exile from their land and gave the promise that they would return after 70 years. Daniel was a student of the Bible and recognized that this time was over. If we read on in scripture, we see that Babylon was overthrown and the captives were set free to return. However, along with that freedom, a decree would also be given to begin a countdown to the coming Messiah who would present Himself as King over Israel.
Verse 24 also gives a six-fold prophecy. Let’s examine these 6 parts.
1. To finish the transgression
This was fulfilled or partially fulfilled depending on whether you believe all 70 weeks were fulfilled or if the 70th week remains to be fulfilled. We will discuss this in detail shortly, but I will summarize here. 70 weeks represent weeks of years. In other words, one week equals 7 years and 70 weeks equals 490 years. Some believe that the 70 weeks are sequential and some believe that 69 weeks have been fulfilled. The last week will be the tribulation period and the anti-Christ will make a covenant with Israel and break it halfway through the week. Either way, the purpose of these 70 weeks is to finish the transgressions of Israel.
2. Make an end of sins
This has not been fulfilled. All we need to do is look in the newspaper, watch the evening news or observe the daily life of the world around us. Sin still abounds. Sin has not ended nor will it end until God returns to establish His eternal Kingdom and end the age of rebellion against Him. Some believe that this refers to Jesus’ payment for sins on the cross, but I can’t agree. This prophecy does not say that sin will be atoned; it says it will be ended once the 70 weeks come to a close.
3. Make reconciliation for iniquity
This does refer to the reconciliation is through Christ and was fulfilled on the cross. This also can fit two positions. In relation to the church, the power of sin was broken when Jesus died and the church was born. For the house of Israel, the reconciliation with God will not be acknowledged until Jesus returns to present Himself bodily and they see His scars. We will also cover this in detail later on. It can be argued that this also is partially fulfilled. Colossians 1 says:
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight --
For the church, which has received God’s gift of grace through the cross, reconciliation for iniquity has been fulfilled.
4. Bring in everlasting righteousness
This has not been fulfilled. 2 Peter 1 explains:
8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Bible instructs us to be fruitful in our knowledge of Christ and to be diligent to make our election sure. Our obedience is the result of loving God and looking ahead to the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ. The prophecy of the Messiah’s kingdom was revealed in Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 begins by proclaiming the gospel and the acceptable year of the Lord. Jesus made it clear that He only came to fulfill the first two verses of Isaiah 61. The remainder of the chapter foretells the vengeance of the Lord followed by His everlasting kingdom of righteousness. The acceptable year of the Lord, the vengeance of the Lord and the everlasting kingdom are one event, though they are separated by time and history.
5. Seal up vision and prophecy
It takes a little more examination to understand this portion of the prophecy. If we keep to the rule of allowing the Bible to interpret the Bible we will never fall off course. The context surrounding this passage does not make it clear; therefore we should look at what is clear to interpret what is clouded. In Nehemiah chapter 9, the prophet Nehemiah called the people to repent of their sins and return to the law handed down by God through Moses. Nehemiah presented the truth, called the people of God to repentance, made a covenant with God, and then they all placed their seal on as a testimony that they believed and held to the truth of this covenant. In Esther 8, the King issued a decree and sealed it with his signet ring to show authority of the document. Isaiah 8:16 says to bind up the testimony and seal the law among the disciples. If we take this back to Daniel, sealing the vision and prophecy would indicate the authority of the prophecy and the surety of the vision to come to pass. In other words, God has provided the prophecy and entrusted Daniel with the authority to write it down as it will surely come to pass. This seal should not be mistaken with the sealing of the prophecy in Daniel 12:4. This prophecy of the final earthly kingdom was to be shut up and sealed because it was only for the time of the end. In context we know the latter prophecy was closed, sealed and not to be understood during the time of Daniel.
6. To anoint the Most Holy
The ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy of the 70 weeks was to point to the anointing of the Messiah. From the time the decree goes forth to the time that Messiah presents Himself as King will be 7 weeks plus 62 weeks. 483 years after that decree, Jesus Christ will present Himself as the King of the Jews. Look at Messiah the Prince of Daniel 9:25 a little closer. The word ‘prince’ in this passage comes from the Hebrew word, ‘nagiyd’ which literally means ‘ruler’. A good example of this word is found in 1 Kings 1:35
35 "Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, and he shall be king in my place. For I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah."
Ruler and King are uses as synonymous to each other. When the king’s son, Abner, was killed in 2 Samuel 3:38, King David said that “a great prince has fallen today”. The word for prince comes from the Hebrew word, ‘sar’. The prince was royalty, but he was not a ruler over the nation. Other Hebrew words are also translated as prince, but do not equate to being king. So when we see that Messiah the Prince is coming, we know it is the ruler or King of Israel.
We know that the prophecy of the 70 weeks is not fulfilled because the six-fold purpose remains unfulfilled. God declared that at the end of the 70 weeks, these things would be fulfilled. We are awaiting to completed redemption and the end of sin. Israel is awaiting the reconciliation promised to them as a people. Both the church and the house of Israel are waiting for the everlasting kingdom of righteousness. The point of confusion is that people miss the intent of prophecy. Prophecy is not meant to predict the future, but so that you will recognize the future when it arrives and be confident in God’s plan until it comes to pass. What is prophesied as one event often is not fulfilled in unbroken history. Rather than giving my opinion, in the next lesson I will give scriptural examples.
