Lesson for July 27, 2022
The Book of Daniel
Chapter 8
Vision of the Ram and the Goat
Verses 1-27
“In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously. I looked in the vision, and while I was looking, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal. Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand against him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and made himself great. While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a prominent horn between his eyes. He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal and rushed at him in his mighty wrath. And I saw him come up beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and smashed his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So, he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was no one to rescue the ram from his power. Then the male goat made himself exceedingly great. But once he became powerful, the large horn was broken; and in its place four prominent horns came up toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew up to the heavenly lights, and some of the lights, that is, some of the stars it threw down to the earth, and it trampled them. It even exalted itself to be equal with the Commander of the army; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary (the Temple) was overthrown. And because of an offense the army will be given to the horn (the Antichrist) along with the regular sacrifice; and it will hurl truth to the ground and do as it please and be successful.
Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, ‘How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the offense causes horror, so as to allow both the sanctuary and the army to be trampled?’ And he said to me, ‘For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be properly restored.’ When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one who looked like a man. And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, ‘Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.’ So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened and fell on my face; and he said to me, ‘Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.’ Now while he was talking with me, I was dazed with my face to the ground; but he touched me and made me stand at my place. And he said, ‘Behold, I am going to inform you of what will occur at the final period of the indignation, because it pertains to the appointed time of the end. The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king. The broken horn and the four horns that came up in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power. And in the latter period of their rule, a king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue. And his power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and be successful and do as he pleases; he will destroy mighty men and the holy people. And through his shrewdness he will make deceit a success by his influence; and he will make himself great in his own mind, and he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, but he will be broken without human agency. And the vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true; but as for you, keep the vision secret, because it pertains to many days in the future.’ Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up and carried on the king’s business; but I was astounded at the vision, and there was no one to explain it.”
This vision of Daniel came in the third year that Belshazzar was king. This vision gave further details of the historical events that were revealed to Daniel in the vision of the four beasts and actually coincide with the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. The vision of the ram with two horns is explained as the Medo-Persian Empire. In his vision, Daniel was transported to the city of Susa (Shushan), the capital of Persia.
And he said to me, ‘For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be properly restored refers to a historical period when the Temple had been destroyed and would eventually be restored and is not a reference to the Tribulation period.
What Daniel saw was the successful conquering of the Persians toward nations in the west, north and south. Daniel saw a male goat with a large horn traveling from the west toward the ram with fierceness. The goat stuck the ram and broke its two horns knocking the ram to the ground and stomping it. When the goat became great his one horn broke off into four horns. From the four horns came one horn that became exceedingly great toward the south, the east and toward Palestine.
The male goat and the one horn represented the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great. Interestingly, coins have been discovered from both the Medo-Persian and the Grecian period that coincide with these images. For example, Persian coins had a ram’s head on them, and the goat was on Grecian coins. When Alexander died at the early age of 33, his four generals divided his kingdom among them, thus the four horns. Eventually these four kingdoms became part of the Roman Empire, the fourth beast as described by Daniel previously.
After the Church Age when the Tribulation begins, the Roman Empire will be revived and the one who is described by Daniel in verses 23-26 is the Antichrist of the Tribulation. And his power will be mighty, but not by his own power means the Antichrist will have mighty power but not by his own power. He will be indwelt by Satan and/or his demons, and his power will come as a result. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, but he will be broken without human agency. Verse 25 says he will oppose the Prince of princes, Who is Jesus Christ, but will be broken without human agency, meaning the Antichrist is defeated by divine power.
Greed and prosperity will be the order of the day for both the religious and political powers during the last half of the Tribulation. The Tribulation will begin immediately after the Rapture of the Church and lasts for seven years (one period of “seven” called a week in the Bible – Hebrew word for week “shabua” means “seven”) according to Daniel 9:24-27. It is the final seven years of the Dispensation of Israel, since the Age of Israel was interrupted by the Church Age.
Christ offered the millennial kingdom to Israel, and they rejected it and rejected Him as Messiah. God is now forming a royal family of believers for His Son, who will become the Bride of Christ in Heaven at the Rapture. The Rapture begins with only unbelievers left on earth.
Temple worship will be restarted by means of a covenant between Israel and the Antichrist during the first half of the Tribulation. This covenant will be a peace treaty allowing Israel to rebuild their Temple. The promise of world peace will be how the Antichrist seduces people into believing that he is the answer to all their problems. (Daniel 9:27, 11:31; Revelation 11:1-2) During the Tribulation there will be 144,000 Jews who become believers and become evangelists for Christ. It is through these Jewish evangelists that many will come to know Christ as Savior. (Revelation 7:1-14)
Most of the book of Revelation is John’s vision of the Tribulation given to him by an angel from God and gives more thorough details than the book of Daniel of what will occur. Revelation 1-3 are messages to certain local churches from Jesus Christ that culminate in the Rapture. The Church is not seen after chapter 3. Revelation 4 is a scene in God’s throne room in Heaven, indicating that the Church has already been taken to Heaven.