Gabriel begins the explanation of the vision to Daniel (Daniel 8:14-19) | Adult Sunday School

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us your own. You have love, you love your son, we've been shown.

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We're your children now, you made us your own.

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We are strangers to the world, but no strangers to your throne.

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We draw near you now with confidence, for all our fears are gone.

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And when Christ our King returns, we'll meet saints we've never known, that you made.

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We are unsure.

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We're your children, made us your own.

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Your son, by his blood, we've been shown.

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We're your children now, we're your children now, made us your own.

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Christ my King, through eternal ages, let us all shout and sing.

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I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that cannot fail.

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When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail. By the living word of God I shall prevail.

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I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my

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Savior. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God.

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Lordship, word of joy divine. Leaning on the everlasting arms.

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Word of blessed means. Word of blessed means. Leaning on everlasting arms.

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I'm leaning, oh leaning. Leaning on everlasting arms.

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I'm leaning, oh leaning. Leaning on everlasting arms. I'm leaning. Not on yet.

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Nobody can hear me, so I'm going to recite the alphabet. Good morning. Are we on?

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Good morning. Welcome to Adult Sunday School Kootenai Community Church.

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We are in the book of Daniel, page 1152 and 1153.

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No? Aren't the pages scriptural?

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I didn't know that. Let's open in prayer.

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Father your word is truth and it is from your word that we learn of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this morning as we look into the

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Old Testament book of Daniel, we know that he is there. He said so himself and therefore it is true.

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Let us always rely on your word, on your word first, on your word always. Look to secondary sources as we need, but Father your word is truth.

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And so this morning as we look at the book of Daniel again in chapter 8, bring it to our minds, illuminate us, help us to be those kinds of followers of the

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Lord Jesus Christ about which it was said they really loved one another. And we'll thank you for that in Jesus' name.

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Amen. So as we travel through the book of Daniel, we need to keep before our minds something that I believe is very important.

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And that is that through the millennia there have been and there always will be people who want to disprove the

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Bible. And there's only really a couple of reasons to disprove the Bible and it's because of the implications of what scripture says.

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If Jesus is Lord, the implications are massive.

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And if the scripture is about him, then that is where those implications emanate from.

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And so because of that throughout the millennia people will always look for ways to point out that the scripture isn't true.

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And in the book of Daniel there are numerous attempts to do that. We talked early on about the attempt to make it appear that Daniel was a false prophecy or was a history rather than the prophecy it claims to be because a certain king didn't appear in history.

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And then, oh whoops, he appeared in history. And so it is the contention of serious biblical scholars and always has been because of what scripture says that the scripture is true.

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And history will come alongside that eventually. And if it hasn't, it's because we haven't dug deep enough and it's really that simple.

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And so this morning as we're going to be looking at a section that has not terrible contention but five billion different ideas about what it means.

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And I know my wife has told me a trillion times not to exaggerate. But it will be incumbent upon us to remember first and foremost that the scripture is true.

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What it says in Daniel chapter 8 is truth. And as we try to organize our thoughts about the dates involved from the beginning of the destruction of Jewish worship in this time period in the 160s to the end of that destruction is a three year, approximately three year, ten day period.

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And over the decades and centuries scholars have tried to fit that time period with different interpretations.

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Now there's some spurious interpretations and I've ignored those. But I've tried to give credence to the better ones.

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And I personally believe that we're talking about 2300 evenings and mornings which is 1150 days.

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There's the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. And I'm going to go through the context and the explanation.

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But I just want to get this out at the beginning so you'll have something to hang your Daniel hat on as we go through it.

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I believe there's ample evidence to support that. But what I believe first is that Daniel chapter 8 is true.

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And that if I don't make the case for the 1150 morning sacrifices and the 1150 evening sacrifices, actually in reverse order.

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Because you remember in the book of Genesis it says in the evening and the morning were the first day. And that is kind of our template as to where that concept came from in the

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Hebrew mind and in our minds. If I don't make the case, it is important to me that you all remember that the scripture is true.

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And Cornel was just dumber in the post, okay? Because I've been there before. But I will do my best to show you why

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I think it's 1150 evening sacrifices and 1150 morning sacrifices.

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And it comfortably fits within that three year period where the Jews lost their ability to sacrifice in the

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So with that as a long blow hard introduction, let's read Daniel chapter 8 verses 1 -20.

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Daniel chapter 8 verses 1 -20. In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, the king, a vision appeared to me,

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Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously. And I looked in the vision, and it came about while I was looking that I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam.

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And I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal. Then I lifted my gaze and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal.

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Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. I saw a ram budding westward, northward, and southward, and no other beast could stand before him, nor was there anyone to rescue from his power.

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But he did as he pleased and magnified himself. While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground, and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.

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And 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.

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And I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him, and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him.

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So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power. Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly.

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But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken, and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.

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And out of one of them came forth a rather small horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the beautiful land.

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And it grew up to the host of heaven, and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down.

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It even magnified itself to be equal with the commander of the host, and it removed the regular sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was thrown down.

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And on account of transgression, the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice, and it will fling truth to the ground, and perform its will and prosper.

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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?

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While the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled.

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And he said to me, For twenty -three hundred evenings and mornings, then the holy place will be properly restored.

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And it came about when I, Daniel, had seen the vision that I sought to understand it, and behold, standing before me was one who looked like a man.

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And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Uli, and called out and said, I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Uli.

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And he called out and said, Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision. So he came nearer to where I was standing, and when he came

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I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.

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Now while he was talking with me I sank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground, and he touched me, but he touched me and made me stand upright.

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And he said, Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.

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The ram which you saw with the two horns represented the kings of Media and Persia. And we'll end there because we won't make it past,

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I don't believe we'll make it past verse 19 this morning. So last week, let me get this magic out here, last week we finished up kind of in the middle, so I'm going to back up a bit and talk about the fact that scribes, scholars, scribes, yeah those two, scholars over the centuries have ascribed this 2 ,300 days that we're looking at in verse, yeah, it's only in verse 14,

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I was thinking of another thing, but yeah, in verse 14. They have looked at that as 2 ,300 years, 2 ,300 days, and some have ascribed it to be 2 ,300 evenings and mornings.

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Now for the most part that is the standard understanding of that verse.

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The entire chapter deals with a vision we talked about that is based on earth and not in the heavenlies.

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Note also that the word in verses 11, 12, and 13 for regular sacrifice is the word

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Tamid, T -A -M -I -Y -D, and is actually just the word regular. The word sacrifice is added in English translations because it would be confusing to an

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English reader if just the word regular was printed there. To the Jewish reader, however, the word regular would be well understood as meaning the daily burnt offering that was given in the morning and in the evening, or in the evening and in the morning is how the order would have been in the

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Jewish mind. And so one man looked at this particular word and this grouping here, and here's his analysis of it.

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He said, My own exegetical examination of the term Tamid was partly motivated to see if it was really necessary to connect the showbread and candlestick with the regular, essentially to discern if the regular meant the entire setup of the holy place in the temple, including the furnishings, or if it was restricted to the whole burnt offering that was replenished on the altar twice a day.

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He says, What caught my attention was that in Daniel 8, 11, and 12, the reason the Hebrew term for burnt offering, Olah, was not included in those passages was because for the

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Jews it was redundant. In those particular instances, the article the is added to Tamid making what is elsewhere an adverb meaning continual into a noun with a particular idiomatic meaning.

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That noun form of the word Ha -Tamid designates a particular thing that is continual, the never ceasing whole burnt offering on the altar, dedicated entirely to God to honor

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Him with nothing eaten by the priests. The word sacrifice is added in English translations of those passages only because writing the regular or the continual would be confusing for us, though not for the original

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Jewish readers. Actually, it would have been better for the supplied word to have been offering, because the whole burnt offering was purely for the honor and pleasure of God, not in expiation for sins, which is in Exodus 29, 38 -42.

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This ties in with what verse 8, 11 says, The rather small horn removed, the regular from him.

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He removed it from him, from God. The Jews lost it. They lost the ability to sacrifice, but it was

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Antiochus' attempt to remove something that would continually focus the

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Jews on Yahweh. He wanted to be God, and men make really bad gods, and he wanted to remove from the foremost of their vision the regular sacrifice, which was for God.

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This sacrifice was for God. It was for God's pleasure they got taken away, not an expiatory sacrifice, expiatory sacrifice for human sins.

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A standard reference work, the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, says this, This word is most frequently used in an adjectival genitive construction with Olah for the continual whole burnt offering made to God every morning and evening.

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Then it lists a whole raft of scriptures. Every morning and the continual sacrifice, the word is used alone, not modifying another, to designate the daily burnt offering in Daniel 8,

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Numbers 4 -7 refers to the bread of continuity, meaning the bread that was always there. So this is a specific word, and it refers to that daily burnt offering that was offered by the

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Jews, by the Hebrews, for God. This was for God. This was to praise, to honor, to bless

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Him. So it is likely then, and context and translation can support this, that the 2300 evenings and mornings, and notice that the translation is 2300 evening mornings, the word and is supplied.

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It's a common statement in Hebrew, in ancient

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Jewish custom. But for us, the article gives us context and meaning because it was an evening and a morning sacrifice.

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So, this refers to the twice daily sacrifice, which was a continual sacrifice. It was supposed to never go out.

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Many attempts have been made to reconcile this portion of Daniel with the record in 1st Maccabees, which is not inspired.

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Maccabees is not inspired, but it's a good solid history. However, it is, as I said, reliable history.

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There is one attempt by an earlier commentator to postulate that the Jews were using a 360 day year calendar, that calendar that Herodotus had come up with, as formulated by, actually he didn't come up with it, he used it.

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A 5th century Greek astronomer named Meton came up with this, the Meton calendar. This has been proven to not be a tenable explanation because the

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Jews would not have used such an outdated calendar, which would have been outdated by this time, at the time of the

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Maccabean revolt. They most certainly would have used the Seleucid calendar. So with this as a basis for understanding the connection between the 1150 days and the description in Maccabees, we can see that the regular sacrifice must have been disrupted before the actual abomination of desolation.

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This would account for the extra time needed to reconcile the 1150 days of twice daily sacrifices in Daniel 8, within the three years and ten days between the desecration of the temple in 1st

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Maccabees 154 and its restoration 452. So looking at the text of 1st

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Maccabees, we find this, 1 Maccabees 1, 7 -10.

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Not used to that. And after Alexander had reigned twelve years, he died. Then his officers began to rule each in his own place.

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They all put on crowns after his death, and so did their sons after them for many years. They caused many evils on the earth, and from them came forth a sinful root,

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Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king. He had been a hostage in Rome. The king had been a hostage in Rome.

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He began to reign in the 137th year of the kingdom of the Greeks. So after the death of Alexander, four kings took his place, who were then succeeded by various rulers.

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One of these later was Antiochus Epiphanes. 1st Maccabees 1, 20 and 21.

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After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the 143rd year.

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He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar and the lampstand for the light and all of its utensils.

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So the Seleucid era began around the spring of 11 -311 BC. As the

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Jews reckoned it, the 6 months earlier in the fall of 312

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BC, over a century after Herodotus' death. The Jews used that calendar during the Maccabean period.

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We get the date for Antiochus' abomination of desolation from 1 Maccabees 1, 54 -59.

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Then, 1 Maccabees 1, 29 -38, and I think

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I've got a wrong number there. Oh, chapter 29. No, I'll find out when

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I get here. Have you ever copied and pasted the wrong thing? It's one of my superpowers.

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Two years later, the king sent to the cities of Judah a chief collector of tribute, and he came to Jerusalem with a large force.

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Deceitfully, he spoke peaceable words to them, and they believed him. But he suddenly...does

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that ever happen in our day? Boy. Deceitfully, he spoke peaceable words to them, and they believed him.

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But he suddenly fell upon the city, dealt it a severe blow, and destroyed many people of Israel. He plundered the city, burned it with fire, and tore down its houses and its surrounding walls.

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And they took captive the women and children and seized the cattle. Then they fortified the city of David with a great strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.

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And they stationed there a sinful people, lawless men. These strengthened their position.

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They stored up arms and food, collecting the spoils of Jerusalem. They stored them there, and it became a great snare.

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It became an ambush against the sanctuary, an evil adversary of Israel continually. On every side of the sanctuary they shed innocent blood.

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They even defiled the sanctuary. Because of them, the residents of Jerusalem fled.

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She became a dwelling of strangers. She became strange to her offspring, and her children forsook her.

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So then two years passed, after which we learn a chief collector of tribute arrives in Jerusalem with a large force.

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That would be 145 S .E., Seleucid era. He wreaked havoc around the temple, posting troops in the city and defiling the sanctuary.

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This would necessarily have caused the regular to cease, since offerings could never be given if the holy place was defiled by the entry of unclean

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Gentiles. The result was that her sanctuary became desolate, as the

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Maccabees posit. At that time, and the people forsook worshipping there.

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This is when we should understand the Hatamid offerings were interrupted. However, the exact date this began, as far as I can tell, is nowhere given in the histories.

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So we know that the regular sacrifices ceased earlier than the abomination of desolation.

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But we don't have an exact date. And that's okay. Daniel 8 is still true.

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I don't know what the 29 meant. I'll find out and get back to you next week. 1

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Maccabees 1, 41 -59. Oh, I do know what it meant. Some of you do already, don't you?

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It's the first verse in that group. Yeah, well, I've never been the sharpest knife in the drawer. Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, and that each should give up his customs.

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Just go along with the crowd. That would never happen today. I'm sure glad.

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All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion.

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One of the priests at the time took a Hellenistic name, Jason. And he actually introduced

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Greek wrestling outside the temple in the period of the Maccabees. Now the foremost thing to remember about that is the

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Greeks wrestled naked. This was part of the abomination that was going on.

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It was horrifying. And to traditional devout Jews, this was nothing short of an insurrection that would have to restore this.

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It was awful, unbelievable. Okay, back to where I was. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion.

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They sacrificed to idols and profaned the Sabbath. And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah.

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He directed them to follow customs strange to the land, to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane

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Sabbaths and feasts, to defile the sanctuary and the priests, to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, and to leave their sons uncircumcised.

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They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, so that they would forget the law and change all the ordinances.

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Marvelous. I mean, seriously, sinisterly marvelous.

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And forget all the ordinances, change all the ordinances. And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die.

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In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom, and he appointed inspectors over all the people, I think it was 87 ,000 inspectors, over all the people and commanded the chiefs of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city.

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You know, if people listen to this later on without the historical context, they're going to wonder what that means. But you know, don't you?

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And that's why we had to have the word sacrifice added. So, change all the ordinances.

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Okay, many of the people, everyone who forsook the law joined them, and they did evil in the land.

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They drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had. Now on the 15th day of Chislev, in the 145th year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering.

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They also built altars in the surrounding cities of Judah and burned incense at the doors of houses and in the streets.

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The books of the law, which they had found, they tore to pieces and burned with fire. Where the book of the covenant was found in possession of anyone or of anyone adhered to the law, the decree of the king condemned him to death.

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They kept using violence against Israel, against those found month after month in the cities. And on the 25th day of the month, they offered sacrifice on the altar, which was upon the altar of burnt offering.

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So the commentator who worked all this out has come to some of these interesting conclusions.

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And as I studied it, I came to basically the same conclusion. So shortly after the official letters arrived, which decreed that burnt offerings were to cease and altars replaced by pagan altars on which unclean animals were to be sacrificed, inspectors were appointed to ensure compliance with Antiochus' diktat.

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The result was that they erected a desolating sacrifice upon the altar of burnt offering. The regular hatamid, however, had already been stopped earlier by a chief collector of tribute.

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So we have the cessation of the regular sometime prior to the desecration of the altar, a desecration triggered by erecting a pagan altar upon it, which was first used 10 days after it was set up.

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So three 354 -day years and one or two 30 -day intermediary or intercalary months after this, the

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Maccabees were victorious over the Seleucid forces and rebuilt the altar, rededicated it, and resumed the regular once again.

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This fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel 8 .14. So as discussed earlier, the

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Jewish use of the Metonic cycle indicates that less than 2 ,300 evening mornings were missed between the desolation and restoration of the altar, perhaps 2264 or 2204.

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Either way, the remaining missed regular burnt offerings of the 2 ,300 fell between the desecrating of the sanctuary by a chief collector of tribute and the erection of the abomination of desolation on the altar by a later inspector.

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Precision may elude us in the historical data, yet all of the data of both history and Scripture smoothly reconcile with each other, and that is what matters here.

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So the adoption of a new calendar, the Seleucid calendar, that's going to complicate things.

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And then us looking back thousands of years later at this mishmash of calendar years.

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So it wasn't until not too long ago that scientists were able to come up with a much better way of reconciling the missing day when you have a 360 -day year, a 355 -day year, a 354 -day year.

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Ours is a 365 -day year with one day added every four years. And that doesn't quite do it.

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I don't remember what the second edition is, but every so many years they have to add another one. Is there somebody in here? I mean, it's not important, but I'm a nerd, and I would like to know what that is.

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I suppose I could look it up. At any rate, the point is our revolution around the sun is like 365 .24

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or whatever, and there's no such thing as a .24 day. I mean, God could have done that if he wanted to, but he chose not to.

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So the reconciliation of these dates is what has eluded people all these years. I believe this is a pretty good analysis of the situation and sets up an understanding that the three years and 10 days, give or take, occurred between the initial removal of the regular, which was before the abomination of desolation, and then the restoration of the kingdom by the

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Maccabees in their revolt against the Seleucids. And so Daniel 8 .14 is true no matter what, but this, at least in my mind, gives a reasonable explanation of the dates involved.

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Now, if anybody wants that in writing so that you can understand what the 29 was, I'd be glad to give it to you.

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Just let me know. Any questions about 8 .14? And why it's important is to just remember that Scripture is true.

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And if we put our minds to it, we can figure out how history aligns with it. Or, if the guy hasn't showed up yet, like Belshazzar, we just got to wait until he's discovered.

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But Scripture is true. So to repeat, the 2 ,300 evening and mornings refer to an 1 ,150 day time period which fits very neatly inside the history given to us in 1

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Maccabees. And to repeat again, 1 Maccabees is not our anchor. Daniel is our anchor.

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Maccabees is a good history that gives us some time periods to look into and file these dates into and see how they work out.

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So then in verse 15, Daniel says, So this is the first instance of an angel being named in Scripture.

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It's important to note that Daniel says that the person standing before him looked like a man. He was seeking deeper understanding of this vision.

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The implication of this verse is that the angel appeared suddenly. Of course, the Lord could anticipate that Daniel was going to be asking questions, and so he made available one who could explain even before Daniel asked.

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This is the same angel that announced John the Baptist's birth to Zacharias and Jesus' birth to Mary in Luke chapter 1, 19 and 26.

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Verse 16, So the origin of the voice is not named.

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We don't know who the voice was that called out. Some think it was the angel Michael. Calvin believes it was the

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Lord Jesus Christ. The word for man in verse 15 comes from the Hebrew geber, which refers to a man or a warrior and sounds like the beginning of Gabriel's name.

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To this word is added the word El, which is the word for God forming the name man of God or warrior of God, Gabriel.

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The only other angel mentioned in the Scriptures is the angel Michael in Jude 9 and in Revelation 12, 7.

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In contrast, angels are mentioned multitudes of times in non -scriptural apocrypha. Supposedly, the names of the archangels, if you want, are

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Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Jeremiah, Uriel, Raguel, Remiel, Zerachiel, Salaphiel, Jeleduel, Barachiel, Seraquel, Phanuel, and don't eat the salad.

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So, but those are all in extra -scriptural apocrypha and therefore we can look at them and say, oh, wow, cool names.

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But the only two that are named in the Scriptures are Gabriel and Michael. Scriptural is careful in only naming those who had specific responsibilities.

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In any event, Gabriel was instructed to give Daniel an understanding of the vision. Now, I notice here that he doesn't say a full understanding, but an understanding of the vision.

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Daniel 8, 17. So he came to where I was standing and when he came, I was frightened and I fell on my face, but he said to me, son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.

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So apparently, when the angel approached, when the angel approached, it was terrifying because remember

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Daniel was the man who, now remember this, Daniel was the man who stood up to Nebuchadnezzar even though it meant death.

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He was the man who had friends like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Abedneo, Abednego, Abednego.

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I was doing the archangels again. So maybe he was an archangel. Hey, we could start our own church.

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Give me a break. This was a man who was used to being put in places where he had to make a decision to do the right thing.

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And he was terrified. Apparently, we thought by nothing, but when this angel came to him, it said that it was terrifying.

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I was frightened and I fell on my face. Now, the first thing

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Gabriel declares is that this vision pertains to the time of the end. So it has end times implications as verse 19 indicates.

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It has something to do, and as verse 19 implicates it, it has something to do with something called the indignation.

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Here, Daniel prostrated himself out of fear. This is very similar to what

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John did when the angel appeared to him. In Revelation 19, 9 -10, the angel came to John. Then he said to me,

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Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God.

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Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, Don't do that. Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus.

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Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So angels, a true angel is not going to want to be worshipped.

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A true messenger of God, whether it's an angel or a human, will direct all worship to the

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Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Always keep that in mind. Now, verse 18,

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While he was talking with me, I sank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. And he touched me and made me stand upright.

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So it's unlikely, I mean, can you picture this? You're in the face of the angel

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Gabriel and he's going to dictate to you the end times. I don't think that's what happened.

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It is unlikely that this is indicating that Daniel went to sleep. He would hardly do so in an exciting time like this.

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It's much more likely that he fainted. And this is a nice way of putting it. The Hebrew word for deep sleep refers to being stunned or stupefied.

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And this is understandable, since he was in the presence of an incredible mighty angel. Eventually, Gabriel touched him and woke him up and helped him to stand upright.

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Come back to awake, Daniel. I have an explanation for you. Verse 19, he said, Then he said,

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Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.

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What is the indignation? Daniel here refers to something called the indignation.

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This is a general reference to the fact that God, at various times throughout

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Israel's history, was greatly angered at their behavior and had to chastise them. He used many agencies throughout history, including the

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Gentile nations. There will be a final period of indignation just before the second coming of Christ.

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But some of the applications of God's indignation included, number one, conquest and subjugation by Assyria in approximately 740

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B .C. Isaiah 10 .5, Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, and the staff in whose hands is my indignation.

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And then 10 .25, For in a very little while my indignation will be spent, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.

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So he would use Gentile nations, and then he would come to Israel's rescue, once they had come around, as it were.

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Number two, conquest and captivity by Babylon, 597 B .C. Lamentations 2 .6,

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And he has violently treated his tabernacle like a garden booth. He has destroyed his appointed meeting place.

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The Lord has caused to be forgotten the appointed feast and Sabbath in Zion. And he has despised king and priest in the indignation of his anger.

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So that's Jeremiah and his lamentations recording what God did in the Babylonian captivity.

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And then in Zechariah 1 .12, Then the angel of the Lord said, O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah with which you have been indignant these seventy years?

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And then last, it will continue through the time of the tribulation and the Antichrist.

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Daniel 11 .36, Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and will speak monstrous things against the god of gods, and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.

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So the indignation began approximately 737 B .C., and will continue until the second coming of Christ.

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It parallels the times of the Gentiles. The fact that there is a former portion of the indignation indicates that there is a former and a latter.

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So this former again is that which began with the captivity of Assyria. The latter stretches from the end of the

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Babylonian captivity until the second coming of Christ. One commentator put it this way, he said, It could be said that the indignation is the title of God's program for Israel, and the times of the

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Gentiles is the title of God's program for the Gentiles during the same basic period of history.

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So Daniel received this vision during the former portion of the indignation, but through Daniel, God predicted the

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Medo -Persian ascendancy, and the Grecian conquest, and then later the Roman conquest, but including the horrible things that Antiochus Epiphanes did to the

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Jewish nation. So God in the former portion of the indignation predicts what is to come in the second, the latter part of the indignation.

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So now regarding the fulfillment of this, there are four main views that have emerged over the centuries regarding this section of scripture.

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Number one is the historical view, and the historical view is that all of Daniel has been fulfilled.

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This is largely supported by liberals and some amillennials. It is generally the liberal view that the little horn of Daniel 7 is the same as the small horn of Daniel 8.

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Conservative scholarship rightly disputes this. Conservative amillennials also dispute this. They separate the two.

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So this conflating of the two horns results in the view that the time of the end refers only to the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes and the few short months just before his death.

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Other references to the time of the end in Daniel clearly refer to the end of the Gentile domination, which would be the end times.

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So that's the first view, the historical view, and that is that all of Daniel 8 has been fulfilled. The second view, which is held by very few people, is the futuristic view, the view that it is entirely future.

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This view is taken by some who also conflate the horn of 7 and the horn of 8 as being the same. They posit a future

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Roman Empire fulfillment. The problem here is that there are significant differences between the two horns in Daniel 7 and Daniel 8.

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They arise from different beasts. Their horns are different in number, and the end result is different. And if the horn in the fourth kingdom of Daniel 7 is

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Rome, and the third kingdom represented by the goat in chapter 8 is certainly not Rome. The messianic kingdom, according to Daniel 7, was going to be erected after the final world empire.

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This is not true of the period following the goat in chapter 8. The rule that similarities do not prove identity applies here.

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There are many factors that contrast the two chapters and their contents. So this is one of the, it's an idea, but it's the least accepted one.

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Number three, and this is a fairly logical one. The view based upon,

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I shouldn't say fairly, it's logical. I can see how people would gather this particular view, would come to this particular view.

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It is based on the principle of dual fulfillment of prophecy that Daniel 8 is intentionally a prophetic reference both to Antiochus Epiphanes, now fulfilled, and to the end of the age and the final world ruler who persecutes

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Israel before the second advent. This is the idea that past fulfilled prophecy foreshadows a future event that will completely fulfill the passage.

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And this view is very well defended by Pentecost, J. Dwight Pentecost. Here's what he said.

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He said the keys to understanding chapters 7 through 12 of Daniel's prophecy is to understand

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Daniel is focusing his attention on this one great ruler and his kingdom which will arise in the end time.

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And while Daniel may use historical reference and refer to events which to us have been fulfilled,

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Daniel is thinking of them only to give us more details about this final form of Gentile world power and its ruler who will reign on the earth.

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In Daniel chapter 8, we have another reference to this one. Daniel describes a king who is going to conquer the

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Medo -Persian Empire. This is a historical event that took place several centuries after Daniel lived.

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There was an individual that came out of the Grecian Empire who was a great enemy of the nation Israel. We know him as Antiochus Epiphanes.

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Antiochus Epiphanes was a ruler who sought to show his contempt for Palestine, the Jews, and the

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Jewish religion by going to the temple in Jerusalem with a sow which he slaughtered and putting its blood upon the altar.

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This man was known as the one who desolated or the desolator. But this passage in Daniel 8 is speaking not only of Antiochus and his desolation and his desecration of the temple, it is looking forward to the great desolator who would come, the one who was called the little horn in Daniel 7.

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And in Daniel 8 .23 we read of this one in his ministry. So that's Pentecost defense of this idea that what they call the dual fulfillment.

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Daniel 8 is intentionally a prophetic reference to both Antiochus Epiphanes, now fulfilled, and to the end of the age and the final world ruler who persecutes

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Israel before the second advent. I can see how he got that. The fourth view, which is the one that I subscribe to and which

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I think most pre -millennial dispensationalists subscribe to, isn't much different from the third view.

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This is the view that the passage is prophecy, historically fulfilled, but intentionally typical of similar events and personages at the end of the age.

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Typology in Scripture, there's a lot of typology in Scripture. You have to just be really careful when you try to make something a type.

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Because if you impose a type on something that God never intended for it to be a type, you end up with a lot of heretical teachings.

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So this view regards the chapter as historically fulfilled, but foreshadowing a future world ruler who will dominate the world at the end of the times of the

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Gentiles. And it is this view that most conservative pre -millennial expositors hold. And here is how that is described by John Walvoord.

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It may be concluded that many pre -millennial expositors find a dual fulfillment in Daniel 8.

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Some achieve this by a division of the first part of the chapter as historically fulfilled, and the last part prophetically future.

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Some regard the whole chapter as having, in some sense, a dual fulfillment historically as well as in the future.

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But most of them find the futuristic elements emphasized, especially in the interpretation of the vision.

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A variation of the view that the last part of the chapter is specifically futuristic is found in the interpretation that has much to commend itself.

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This variation regards the entire chapter. This variation regards the entire chapter as historically fulfilled in Antiochus, but to varying degrees foreshadowing, typically, the future world ruler who would dominate the situation at the end of the times of the

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Gentiles. And he would be the Antichrist. So this view,

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I believe, imposed the least number of disturbances on the text.

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This is the most clearly, we take as it says, we compare it with Daniel 8,

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Daniel 9 revelation, and we see that this is also speaking of the Antichrist, typically.

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But it is a fulfilled prophecy. Antiochus Epiphanes was the desolator.

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And the Maccabees revolted and took him down. And they did it in a period when he had begun to introduce into Hebrew custom horrifying

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Grecian concepts that would desecrate their temple, would destroy their faith in God, would change their idea about what is right and wrong.

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We live in such a time. We live in such a time when there are those who would want you to change your ideas about what is right and wrong.

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And Daniel lived through this. Now, if the Lord is going to tarry, we will live through this.

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How we stand will be recorded. But I really don't care what's recorded about me.

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What I want to be recorded is that the church stayed true to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we need to be a part of that.

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And the things that I see coming, and I'm no prophet, and you are glad I'm not. Because there's no such thing today, which means

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I would be equivalent to a unicorn. There may have been unicorns.

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We'll talk about that some other time. We need to hold true, just as Daniel did.

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Now, there's going to be times when you're going to be on your face out of fear. And that's okay. But the time to stay on your face will come and pass.

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And the time will be to get back up. I believe so.

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So, I don't recall

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Titus taking... He was asking if a world ruler, a ruler in 70

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A .D. with the name appended Epiphanes. Titus Epiphanes went in and ravaged

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Jerusalem. Titus did go in and ravage Jerusalem. He did. I don't recall there being a nickname.

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I believe he tried to set himself up as God. But see, Antiochus Epiphanes said,

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Theos, Antiochus, Epiphanes, Theos. He had a coin struck. He used the word God.

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He said, God, Antiochus, appearing, God. That's who he wanted to be remembered by.

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And that's... So, yes, Titus did come in and destroy the temple. I don't recall...

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Does anybody here... I have no recollection of Titus having a nickname of Epiphanes, or taking that nickname.

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I'll look into it some more. All right. Any other questions? So, I would like to just end this morning...

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Yes, Peter. Well, he was fearful of Gabriel.

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And Gabriel was doing his best to make sure Daniel needed to know, You don't need to fear me. We don't need to fear the servants of God.

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We need to properly fear God. So... So, that's how

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I'm going to end this. I'm going to say, Fear not. Let's pray. Father, there are times that we are going to come into places of fear in our lives.

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But, absolutely nothing will stop Your sovereign march through time, in bringing the

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Lord Jesus Christ to His throne. And so, let us be a part of that, Lord. Let us get up off our faces when we're fearful, and look to You.

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Look to Your Scripture. We thank You that You have given us this wondrous Word, that we can always prepare to, and find

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You. Find You explaining and lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ. And let us do that as well, in the days to come.

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Even if they are difficult. And we'll thank You for Your strength, for Your guidance, for Your mercy. Especially for Your mercy.