DANIEL BIBLE VERSES
Welcome to our Christianity Oasis Bible Characters study program. This is our Daniel Bible Verses study. The truth within this SON-derful Daniel Bible Verses study will truly enhance your be-YOU-tiful Christian walk.
THE BOOK OF DANIEL
CHAPTER 1
We are going to talk about a terrible time in the Jewish people's lives.
In about 587 BC God allowed the king of Babylon (Iraq) named
Nebuchadnezzar to overtake Jerusalem and to even destroy the Temple. The
reason God allowed this was because the Jewish people were not in obedience
to God. The prophet Jeremiah warned them as well as other prophets but they
would not heed. Sooooooo, God allowed them to become enslaved by the
Babylonians.
During the captivity, the king of Babylon told his people that he wanted all
of the children of the Jewish people that appeared to be unblemished,
skillful and wise to be brought to Babylon to be taught the Babylonian
speech and ways. Of these children was a special child named Daniel. There
were also three friends of his named Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego.
The king ordered that these Jewish children were to eat a certain type of
foods that would make them big and strong. However, Daniel and his friends
were liked by the keeper of Daniel and his friends and Daniel told him that
Daniel and his
friends could not eat the food and wine of the Babylonians because it would
defile them. The keeper of the children feared the king would know that
Daniel was not eating the food because his appearance would be weak. But,
Daniel said "give us 10 days of only water and fruit and I will prove to you
that we will be as strong looking as the others that eat the Babylonian
diet" ... Of course, after the 10 days was over they looked stronger than
the others.
These four
children were given knowledge and skill from God. He gave Daniel the ability
to understand and interpret dreams just as he had given Joseph in the book
of Genesis. This would come in handy in Daniel's future ... After a set
amount of time, the king of Babylon called in all the Jewish children that
were brought to Babylon. He found Daniel and his friends to be the best of
the crop. He found them to be 10 times wiser than all his magicians and his
advisors around him.
THE BOOK OF DANIEL
CHAPTER 2
Daniel
and his friends have been brought to Babylon after the destruction of
Jerusalem and it's Temple. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon has found
these 4 to be the best of the crop because of their gifts from God. Daniel
has the ability to interpret dreams ...
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. When he awoke, he had all his wise men, advisors
and astrologers come to him and he asked them to tell him what his dream was
and what it meant. They all pondered on his request and asked him to tell
them what he dreamed and they would try and interpret it. Nebuchadnezzar
said no, he wanted them to tell him what the dream was as well as what it
meant. They could not ... Nebuchadnezzar ordered all of them killed as well
as the Jewish children which included Daniel and his friends because he was
so upset that he could not find the meaning of the dream.
When Daniel heard of this he asked for a lil time to ask God what the dream
was and what it meant ... God did give him the dream and the interpretation
of the dream. Daniel thanked God and headed out to talk to Nebuchadnezzar.
He told him that only God could reveal the dream and had. he began to reveal
the dream ...
Daniel told king Nebuchadnezzar that the dream
the king had was of a great statue with a gold head, chest and arms of
silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet of iron and
clay. Then, a stone cut without hands would hit the feet of the statue
and all the parts were destroyed togetherVerse
35 Daniel went further and interpreted the dream
for the king in
Verses
36-45... He says that Nebuchadnezzar's empire Babylon was the gold head in the dream. That after him another empire
would arise Medo Persia which is the silver part of the statue and after
that the next empire (Greece) which is the brass would conquer and after that the 4th empire would be
(Rome) which was the iron.
Verses 38-40
(Note: These are the countries that DID become
the major power, one after another just as Daniel predicted.)
Daniel then said that the last empire, which was made
of iron and clay would be a divided kingdom and would be part strong and
part broken. They shall not cleave to one another. In the days of this
empire, God will destroy it and set up an everlasting Kingdom.
Verses
41-45 Now we KNOW that God has not destroyed this part
iron and part clay kingdom as of yet, because God has not set up His
everlasting kingdom, YET. So this part iron and clay, 10 unit (10 toes)
empire, is in our future and you WILL find out ... That it is Antichrist's empire.
Of course, king Nebuchadnezzar was shocked that Daniel was able to not only
tell him his dream but to interpret it. he fell to the ground and worshipped
Daniel. he said I now know that Daniel's God is the only TRUE God. The king
made Daniel a GREAT man in the kingdom (Just as Pharaoh did for Joseph when
he interpreted the dream Pharaoh had) Daniel asked that his 3 friends
Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego become rulers as well and it was granted. God
sure takes care of his own.
THE BOOK OF DANIEL
CHAPTER 3
Daniel has just interpreted a dream of
Nebuchadnezzar with the gift from God he has. Nebuchadnezzar made him a
ruler in the kingdom. Years have passed and Nebuchadnezzar has decided to make a
golden statue of himself and that everybody was to drop to their knees, bow and
worship the statue when they heard the music sound off.
There came certain men that told the king that the 3 friends of Daniel ... Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego refused to bow and worship the statue and
suggested that those who would not should be thrown into a fiery furnace. He had
them brought before them and asked why. They told him that God would not like it
and would save them from any punishment that may be given for not worshiping the
image. The king was furious and commanded that the fire be turned up 7 times as
hot as usual. He commanded the strongest men he had to bind the three men and
toss them into the fire. As they threw the three into the fire, the men that
threw them in were burned up because of the intensity of the heat of the fire.
As Nebuchadnezzar watched the three men fall into the furnace he stood up amazed
and asked his advisors that stood by "Did we not cast 3 men into the fire" They
answered him yes. He said then why do I see 4 men walking around in the middle
of the fire and no harm is coming unto them? He also said a strange thing ... He
said that the form of the fourth person was that of the SON OF GOD ...
Isn't that awesome? The Bible calls angels the sons of God. Even Nebuchadnezzar
recognized this angel as an angel. Think the people that were watching weren't
freaking out?
Nebuchadnezzar commanded the three to come out of the fire and they did and
their hair was not even singed. Then Nebuchadnezzar said blessed be the God of Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego who sent his angel to protect his servants. he
also said that any person who ever said anything bad against this God was to be
cut in pieces.
THE BOOK OF DANIEL
CHAPTER 4
Nebuchadnezzar makes
yet another announcement praising God and reminding the people about how Daniel
was able to interpret a dream he had. He then begins to tell of yet another
dream he has had ...
In
his dream he saw a great tall tree that reached unto Heaven. The leaves were
fair and the fruit fed everyone. The beasts of the field could take refuge in
the shade of this tree. In his dream a holy watcher came down from Heaven. This
holy one cried out to cut down the great tree, cut off the branches shake off
the leaves and scatter the fruit. But he said to leave the stump of his roots in
the earth even with a band of iron and brass and let the grass be wet with the
dew of heaven and let his portion be with the beasts of the earth. Let his heart
be changed from a man's to that of a beast and let seven times pass over him.
This matter was the decree of the watchers and holy ones. This was commanded so
that all may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men.
He
asks Daniel to interpret the dream for him ... Within one hour Daniel came
troubled and revealed the dream's interpretation. He said YOU are the tree
Nebuchadnezzar. Thou art grown and become strong. Thy greatness has grown unto
Heaven. God has said that you shall be driven from men and thy dwelling shall be
with the beasts for seven years. The stump shall stay for now as your kingdom
will continue after you. Then shall you know that GOD rules ... Not man. Daniel
told him to stop sinning and to show mercy to the poor.
Twelve
months passed, Nebuchadnezzar was walking around his palace and said Is not
Babylon the greatest and was it not built by me and my great power? While he was
speaking these words a voice from Heaven said O King Nebuchadnezzar to thee it
is spoken. The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from
men. And thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: They shall make
thee to eat grass as oxen and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know
that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He
will.
With the same hour these thing occurred to Nebuchadnezzar. Soon his hairs were
like eagle's feathers and his nails were like claws. At the end of the seven
years, Nebuchadnezzar looked up to Heaven and his understanding returned to him.
He blessed and praised the most High. he knew that all the inhabitants of the
earth are as nothing. That God is the one who runs the show.
At
the same time Nebuchadnezzar regained his kingdom and had more honor than before
because he now KNEW TRUTH. He served God the rest of his days ... his last
spoken words were that he who walks in pride ... God is able to put down.
THE
BOOK OF DANIEL
CHAPTER 5
Where does the saying "Read
the writing on
the wall," come from? Well, perhaps it's from this Bible story.
The kingdom of Babylon was passed down
to Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's son. One day Belshazzar was partying
with his friends, worshipping strange gods and drinking wine. He had an
idea to impress them by serving his guests with God's vessels that his dad
stole from the temple in Jerusalem. You could think of those vessels as
God's good china.
God, on the other hand, didn't think
this was such a hot idea, being that they were worshiping other gods and
all. So in that same hour the fingers of a man's hand (God's) wrote a
message on the wall of the king's palace where they were having their good
old time.
Understandably, when Belshazzar saw
this, he was so shaken that his knees were knocking. He called for all the
fortune tellers, stargazers and scholars of Babylon and offered a reward to
whoever could discern the message. But, nobody could. So he called in his
personal group of "wise" men but they couldn't tell him what it meant
either. Then his wife said, don't worry, there's this guy named Daniel who
has the Spirit, wisdom, light and understanding of God, he can tell you what
it means. He did the same thing for Nebuchadnezzar.
They brought in Daniel and the king
offered him great gifts to interpret the writing. Daniel said, keep your
gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. (See, Daniel knew
that the credit always goes to God for the interpretation of things of this
nature.)
Daniel explained that God gave
Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom and fame. And for all the magnificence that God
gave to him, all people respected him. He killed whoever he wished to, and
whoever he wished, he kept alive. Everyone's success or failure was in his
control. But when he became arrogant and his pride overtook him, God took
away his fame and glory and he was driven from the people and his mind was
changed to be like that of a beast. He lived in the wild and ate grass like
oxen. He lived like an animal until he learned that God rules over all and
it is in His power to elect whoever He wants to be important. The humbling
of Nebuchadnezzar took seven years.
Daniel's interpretation continues as
he tells Belshazzar that even though he knew all this, he had not humbled
his heart either, but had put himself above God and brought the things of
God's temple that was in Jerusalem in while he and his filthy friends drank
out of them while praising false lifeless Gods. But the God whose hand his
own breath (life) was in ... he had not glorified.
That was when the hand was sent from
Him and He wrote this thing, Daniel explained. This is what it means: God
has numbered (put an end to) your kingdom. (Numbered, as in "your days are
numbered") You have been judged and have been found unworthy. And your
kingdom will be divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. Well,
imagine that in today's world. A country like (Iraq) Babylon, and the king
(Sadaam Huessein) Belshazzar, hearing that his country is going to be split
up like a candy bar and given to (Iran and Syria or Turkey) the Medes and
the Persians. OH MY!
Belshazzar was astonished. So
Belshazzar ordered that Daniel should be the next ruler in Babylon. That
night, old Belshazzar was killed and sure enough, Darius the Median, took
over the kingdom.
It's funny how we go through years of
our lives, using phrases like "the writing on the wall" and we never even
knew where they originated. Now that Babylon is under the rule of Darius,
what's in store for Daniel next?
THE BOOK OF DANIEL
CHAPTER 6
Keep in mind that the
times that Daniel was living in, was when the people of Israel were in
captivity. This was a time of sorrow for most of the Hebrews, because they
longed for their homeland, their freedom and if any of you have ever had the
feeling that God was hiding His face from you because of something you had
done ... Then just imagine the children of Israel, for 70 years, praying to
enter into His good Graces once more.
Now, we've learned that
Daniel, having been blessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit to interpret
dreams, escaped quite a life of hardship. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
took a liking to Daniel because he interpreted troubling dreams of his, and
promoted Daniel to a position of great honor among the Chaldean people.
When Belshazzar died,
the new king, Darius, chose one hundred twenty princes to set over the
entire kingdom. Over the princes were three presidents that they accounted
to. Daniel's reputation was so favorable that Darius chose him to be the
highest ranking of these three presidents, which you can imagine made all
the others, both princes and presidents, burn with jealousy.
They conspired to
discredit Daniel but they couldn't find any faults with him, so they decided
that the only thing they could find against him was concerning the law of
his God. They requested of the king, that he make a decree, that whoever ask
anything of any God or man for thirty days, except the king, was to be cast
into the den of lions.
In those days, royal
decisions were not overturned. Once a decree was signed by the king, it was
not and could not be altered. King Darius, unaware of the wickedness that
his royal subjects were devising, signed the decree.
When Daniel heard about
the new law, he went into his house and the window that faced Jerusalem was
open in his room. And just as he always did before, Daniel kneeled down
three times a day to pray and give thanks to God.
According to their plan,
the princes and presidents spied on Daniel, and found him praying and asking
God for blessings. They eagerly reported their discovery to the king, who
was very angry with himself for signing the decree, but could not overrule
it, according to the law. So Darius determined within himself to find a way
to save Daniel, and until the sun went down, he intently tried to figure a
way, but it was of no use. The men who accused Daniel reminded the king that
the law of the Medes and Persians is that no law that the king establishes
may be changed.
The king had no choice, so
he told them to take Daniel and throw him into the lion's den. But because
the king was fond of Daniel, he said to him, Your God, who you are faithful
to, will save you. They rolled a stone over the opening of the cave to seal
it, and the king spent a sleepless night in worry about Daniel.
Early in the morning,
Darius hurried to the lion's den. Calling out Daniel's name, he asked, Was
your God able to save you from the lions? Daniel replied, My God has sent
His angel and has shut the lions' mouths so they haven't hurt me, because He
knows that I am innocent, and even you know I have done nothing wrong.
The king was very happy,
and ordered that Daniel be taken out of the den ... It was a miracle from
God, Daniel hadn't a scratch on him. The king then commanded that Daniel's
accusers, their wives and their children be thrown to the lions, and the
lions devoured them.
King Darius then wrote a
new decree:
I make a decree, That in every
dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for He
is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and His Kingdom shall not be
destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivers and
rescues, and He works miracles in Heaven and on Earth. He has delivered
Daniel from the power of the lions.
So Daniel continued to prosper
during the reign of Darius, and during the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
THE BOOK OF DANIEL
CHAPTER 7
In our study
of the book of Daniel, Chapter 7 is not in chronological order, as it
takes place in the first year of the reign of king Belshazzar. As you
may recall, Chapter 6, the story about Daniel in the lion's den, took
place during the reign of king Darius, the successor of king Belshazzar,
so obviously the events of Chapter 7 took place before the events of
Chapter 6.
What is a dream? What is a
vision? Where do dreams and visions come from?
Let's take a look at what the
Bible says:
Job
33:14-17
For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In
a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon
men, in slumberings upon the bed; Then He openeth the ears of
men, and sealeth their instruction, That He may withdraw man
from his purpose, and hide pride from man. |
In modern English ... God
speaks to us once, even twice, and because of one reason or another, we
don't perceive His message. He may communicate to us through the Word, another Christian, His still
small voice, a sudden breeze, or even a thunderbolt, but many times we
fail to recognize God's leading in our lives. So when we sleep,
when our pride, our own will, and/or our flesh doesn't prevent us, God opens
our understanding and sends His message via a dream.
What's the difference between
a dream and a vision? A vision can be part of a dream. A dream of course
takes place while you are asleep, or in a state of unconsciousness. A
vision can take place while you are awake. The word vision, of course
means to see, but it also means to understand. To envision something,
means you can imagine it. Notice the root word of imagine is image. An
image is something you can see, but to imagine is to picture something,
without it actually being a tangible object. In other words, a vision is a spiritual
understanding or foresight of something. A vision can take place in
either a conscious or an unconscious state, but dreams only occur in the
unconscious realm. A
vision can feel like a dream, for example, you may have experienced
something that is commonly known as daydreaming, where you actually feel
like you're someplace else, and you lose awareness of all that is going
on around you, even though your eyes are open and you are not asleep. Have
you ever been driving home from somewhere and when you pull up in the
driveway, you can't remember much of the drive? A vision is similar to
this "daydreaming" phenomena that we have all experienced,
except for the fact that in a vision, the events that you experience while
you are in this spiritual realm, are messages from God. A dream doesn't always include
a vision or a message from God. Solomon said:
Ecclesiastes
5:3
For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a
fool's voice is known by multitude of words. |
In plain talk ... If
there is something important that has been weighing on your mind at your
job ... That may cause you to dream about work. Or maybe you watched a
scary movie before going to sleep ... That may cause you to have fretful
dreams. When something affects you deeply, chances are, you may dream
about it, and your dream may or may not be a message from
God.
You may recall having a dream
about yourself or someone you know, and then some time in the future
your dream, or part of it, comes to pass. Did you ever consider that
your dream was a message from God? Now, I want you to put yourself in
Daniel's shoes for a moment, because his dream is one that affects the
future of all
mankind. Can you imagine?
Daniel said that in
his dream, he saw a terrible tempest upon the sea with the winds of
Heaven coming from all directions. Then four great beasts came up out of
the water, each one different from the other.
The first was like a lion,
and had eagle's wings. The wings were plucked and it was lifted up from
the Earth, and stood on it's feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
The second was like a bear.
It raised itself up on one side, and it had three ribs between its
teeth, and they said to it, Arise, and devour much flesh.
The
third was like a leopard. It had four heads and four wings on its back
and it was given power.
The
fourth was a beast was different than the other three. This beast had
iron teeth and ten horns. It was very dreadful and terrible and strong.
It destroyed the others and stamped the residue with its feet.
In the book of Revelation,
antichrist's empire is compared to the same beasts ...
Revelation
13:2
And the beast which I
saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of
a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon
gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
|
In the last part of Daniel's
dream, another smaller horn came up from among the ten horns and it
plucked up three of the ten horns. This little horn had eyes like a man
and spoke great things.
Whew ... How could anyone
(who didn't have the gift of interpreting dreams) ever figure out the
message from a dream like this? You'll see in a short while that the
Lord provided Daniel with an interpretation, but that wasn't the end of
the dream yet.
Daniel watched until the
thrones were cast down (a throne is the seat of a deity or devil). This
is also mentioned by John in his vision in the book of Revelation:
Revelation
20:4
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was
given unto them ... |
In other words,
Satan and his angels were evicted from Heaven:
Revelation
12:7-9
And there was
war in Heaven: Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon;
and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither
was their place found any more in Heaven. And the great dragon
was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the Earth,
and his angels were cast out with him. |
Next, Daniel saw the Ancient
of days ... GOD ... On His throne, and the books were opened for the
Great White Throne Judgment. Next in his vision, the beast was destroyed,
and the rest of the beasts had their power taken away.
Lastly, Daniel saw Jesus in
the clouds of Heaven, and brought before God, who gave Him power and
glory and an everlasting Kingdom, and all people should serve Him.
As you can imagine, this
vision was a frightening experience for Daniel. For one thing, Daniel
lived in Old Testament times, before Jesus first visit, so he really
knew nothing compared to what we know today of Jesus' life, death and
resurrection, not to mention all that we are fortunate to have of the
Gospels and the other New Testament writings that teach of the End
Times, the Millennium and the New Heaven and New Earth. Taking all this
into consideration, you can appreciate Daniel's perplexity when he
wrote:
I Daniel was grieved in
my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled
me.
Ever have that feeling, when something is so worrisome
to you that you actually feel sick? It sounds like that's what Daniel is
describing. It may have even been easier for Daniel to interpret
Nebuchadnezzar's dream than his own, because he didn't experience the
horror of the king's dream firsthand.Not to worry though, the Lord
sent help.
The
next thing that Daniel wrote was that he approached "one of them
that stood by," and asked him the TRUTH of all this. So he told me,
and made me know the interpretation of the things. This obviously was a
messenger from God, sent to explain the meaning of the dream to Daniel.
The
four beasts are four kings, which shall arise, but the saints of God
shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever. Daniel wanted
to know more details about this fourth beast because the horn that came
up out of the ten horns that were in his head, made war with the saints
and prevailed until God came and gave them the kingdom.
It
was explained to Daniel that the fourth beast will be the fourth kingdom
on Earth, which will be different than all kingdoms and will devour the
whole earth, tread it down, and destroy it. The ten horns out of this
kingdom are ten kings or leaders that will arise and another will rise
after them. He will be different from the first and he will subdue three
kings. He will speak terrible words against God (blasphemy), and
will persecute the saints, and change times and laws, and they shall be given
into his hand for three and a half years. But justice will
prevail and the saints will take away his power and destroy it once and
for all. Then the kingdom will be given to the saints of God and all
will serve Him.
That
was the end of Daniel's vision. Do ya think this kind of dream would
shake ya up a bit? Here's what Daniel said about it: Hitherto is the end
of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my
countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.
NO
DOUBT!
Take
a look with me at a little more of what we read earlier from Revelation:
Revelation
13:1-3
And I stood upon the
sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,
having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten
crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the
beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were
as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:
and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great
authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to
death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world
wondered after the beast.
|
The
dragon is Satan, and the beast is Antichrist. The Antichrist empire has 10 parts
(the ten horns of the beast in Daniel's dream.
If
you're a little confused, stay tuned, because Daniel had another vision
that we'll learn about in Chapter 11 that will explain this even
further, but for now, take a look at the similarities between
Nebuchadnezzar's dream from Chapter 2, Daniel's dream, and John's vision from
Revelation:
|
Nebuchadnezzar's
Nightmare
(Statue
Dream) |
Daniel's
Dream |
Revelation
13:1-3 |
Head |
Gold |
Lion |
Mouth
(lion) |
Chest
& Arms |
Silver |
Bear |
Feet
(bear) |
Belly
& Thighs |
Brass |
Leopard |
Beast
(leopard)
(deadly
wound healed)
antichrist |
Legs |
Iron |
|
Dragon
(satan)
|
Feet
10 toes |
Iron/Clay
Divided kingdom
Part strong/Part broken
Shall not cleave
one
to another |
Iron
Toothed Beast
10
horns
|
|
|
|
THE BOOK OF DANIEL
CHAPTER 8
To start off with, let's familiarize ourselves with the time period
and setting of our story. The events of this chapter happened two years after
Daniel's dream that we studied in Chapter 7, but it is still before the lion's
den incident.
Daniel is a Prophet of God ... An Israelite, captive in Babylon, although he
has been well favored by the two kings that he has served under,
Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar, because of his incredible gift of
interpreting dreams and visions.
Daniel refers to
the incident you're about to read about, as
a
vision. In this vision, Daniel was in the palace at Shushan, which was
the capital of Persia at that time, in the ancient city of Elam, by the river of Ulai.
Today, this would be somewhere in the southwestern area of Iran.
In Daniel's
vision, he saw a ram, standing in front of the river, with two tall
horns, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up
last. The ram was pushing westward, northward and southward. No beasts
dared challenge him and nobody could be saved from him. He did whatever
he wished and became very strong.
Then
an he-goat came from the west carried through the air, and the goat
had a prominent horn between his eyes. He charged at the ram in great fury and
power and attacked, breaking his two horns, leaving the ram no strength to
remain standing. The goat threw him to the ground and stamped on him, and
nobody could save the ram from the goat.
When
the he-goat became strong, his great horn was broken and instead of it,
there came four horns
from the four winds of Heaven, and
out of one of them came a little horn, which became very strong,
toward the south, the east, and toward the pleasant land. It became very
powerful, opposing the host of Heaven, and
some of the host and the stars, it threw down to the ground, and
trampled on them.
He esteemed himself equal to
the prince of the host, and he took the daily sacrifice away and the
temple was pillaged. The he-goat accomplished and prospered much.
Then Daniel heard a holy one
say, How long will this last? And another Angel answered, Two thousand and three
hundred days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.
While Daniel tried to
understand the meaning of the vision, the Angel Gabriel appeared to him,
and a voice from the banks of the river called to him and said, Gabriel,
make this man to understand the vision. As he approached Daniel, it
terrified him and he fell on his face, but Gabriel said, Understand that
the vision will be at the time of the end.
Daniel then fell into a deep sleep with his face toward the ground
but Gabriel set him upright and explained the vision.
The ram, having
the two horns are the kings of Media and Persia, an empire growing to the
north, south and west, and the he-goat is the
king of Greece, west of the Medo-Persian Empire. The great horn between his eyes is the first king, then
there will be four after him which will not be of his bloodline, but will
come from different places.
Then there will arise a fierce
king, clever with trickery. He will exercise great power, derived from the
devil, and he will cause great destruction, and will prosper and destroy
the strong and the saints. He will magnify himself in
his heart and by his craftiness, in a time of peace, he will destroy many. He will also stand
up against the Prince of princes, but he will be destroyed without even being touched.
Gabriel continued, The vision
of the times that you've seen is true, but keep it to yourself, because it
won't happen for a long time. Daniel fainted and was sick for days, then
got up and returned to his work for the king. The vision astonished him, but
he really didn't understand it.
We've probably all heard it
said that history repeats itself. Well, There is a very interesting thing
about this vision of Daniel's. You see, it happened already, just as
Daniel prophesied, and the book of Revelation indicates, as well as the
Angel Gabriel explained, that it will happen during the End Times.
Let's take a look at that
period in history, when these things already came to pass for just a
moment, shall we? There was indeed a king from Greece that took over the
Medo-Persian empire. You've probably heard of him before, he was known as
Alexander the Great.
You can investigate this in
history books if you like, and you'll find that Alexander's kingdom was
not passed down to his heirs at his death, but rather, it fell among many
... but particularly, it was divided into four kingdoms. To the west of
Alexander's kingdom, became the Roman domain, the area that the Bible
refers to as Macedonia was ruled by Antigonus, the area formerly known as
Asia was taken over by Seleucus, and Egypt was conquered by Ptolemy.
By and by out of Greece there
came along the little horn, whose name was Antiochus Epiphanes. In
addition to his tyrannical ruling of every place he conquered, he reigned
terror on Israel for three and a half years, pillaged the temple, took
away the daily sacrifice and built an idol on God's altar. He made the
Jewish people build temples, set up idols in every city, offer swine to
them every day, and forsake the worship of God. Anyone who didn't obey him
was threatened to be punished. He murdered many, burned the city, took
thousands and thousands captive and appointed guards to make sure the
Jewish people did as he commanded.
Now, remember that in
Daniel's vision, Gabriel told him that he (the little horn) would be
destroyed without even being touched. It just so happened that Antiochus Epiphanes, in his pursuit to terrorize yet more people in Persia, was
challenged by them, driven away and lost much of his army in the conflict.
At the same time, the Jewish people began to strengthen themselves against
Antiochus by opposing his commanders in Judea, and when he was told of the
defeat, coupled with the beating he took in Persia, it literally drove him
mad, and he died of insanity, admitting just before his death that he was
being punished for the misery that he had brought upon the Jewish people.
If you
think all of this is interesting ... Just you wait!!! Have you ever had a
recurring dream? If so, you're not the only one! Daniel had another vision
concerning this very same thing that we'll be studying when we get to
Chapter 11, and you'll find out how this prophecy also refers to the
events that will happen in the End Times, so be sure to come back soon and
we'll enjoy more of God's word together.
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