Daniel 8:1-27; The Dream of the Ram and Goat

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You have a copy of God's Word.

Please turn with me to the book of Daniel.

So go to the middle of your Bible, open it up.

You should be around the book of Psalms.

Keep going towards the back of your Bible, towards the New Testament, and just past Ezekiel you'll find the book of Daniel.

So turn to Daniel, chapter 8.

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

This morning We've been in a study this fall in the book of Daniel and if you remember, if you were here last week or you've been keeping up with our study, we reached a turning point last week in chapter 7.

Up until chapter 7, the book of Daniel has been stories.

It's been narrative, it's been all the stories possibly that you've been familiar with, maybe the lion's den or the fiery furnace, some amazing stories.

Well, all of that begins to shift and change in Daniel, chapter 7.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

Because then, instead of stories, you get what is called in the Bible apocalyptic literature.

Again, that's a fancy way of saying.

In chapter 7.

Things start to get weird in the book of Daniel and if you were here last week you know that fool well.

Well, welcome back.

We're going to see that again in chapter 8.

Let me say again another word.

I think it helps us and I realize not everyone was here last week, but think about apocalyptic literature, and the word apocalypse means simply to reveal or unveil.

And so apocalyptic literature is meant and I think this is important, is meant to reveal, not conceal, the truth about God and His world.

And it seeks to do that not through, as you think about other parts of the Bible, history and gospels and letters and poetry, but through images, through powerful pictures that are meant to revive our hearts, are meant to stick with us, capture our imaginations and change our life.

And that is we're praying for no less this morning through Daniel chapter 8.

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

My prayer has been all week that your heart and my heart would be captured by this passage, by these pictures, and it would change our life and we would have an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's what we're after this morning through these crazy passages like Daniel chapter 8.

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

Daniel chapter 8 has two parts you have.

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

The first half of the passage is the vision.

The second half of the passage is the interpretation of the vision.

Let me summarize the vision and we'll read the interpretation together, starting in verse 15.

First, a summary of the vision, and you can follow along there in your bulletin or in the passage if you have your Bible open.

Daniel is introduced to a ram with two great horns.

The ram creates destruction and no one can be rescued from his power.

And no one can be rescued from his power until the ram is met by a goat that collides with him, breaks off his horns, casts him to the ground and tramples him.

The goat then becomes great until what Same thing.

Remember, we've been seeing the pattern of history Kings rise, kingdoms rise, kingdoms fall.

We see the exact same thing here in this vision, until the goat's great horn was broken and then four other horns rise up, and one of them, you'll note, is the little horn which grew exceedingly great and wreaked havoc on the people of God.

That's the vision.

Let's pick up now with the interpretation, starting in verse 15.

This is God's word.

When I, daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it.

And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man, and I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Uli, and it called Gabriel.

Make this man understand the vision.

So he came near where I stood and when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face.

But he said to me understand, o son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.

And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground.

But he touched me and made me stand up, and he said Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end.

As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia, and the goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between his eyes is the first king.

As for the horn that was broken, a place of which four others arose.

Four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power, and at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors had reached their limits, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise.

His power shall be great, but not by his own power, and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints.

By his cunning, he shall make deceit prosper under his hand and in his own mind.

He shall become great Without warning, he shall destroy many and he shall rise up against the prince of princes and he shall be broken, but by no human hand.

The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.

And I, daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days.

Then I rose and went about the king's business and I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.

This is God's word.

Let's pray again and let's ask God to help us here with another very challenging passage before us this morning.

Please pray with me, father.

We do ask for your Spirit to help us.

We always need help understanding your Word, and so please come, holy Spirit, and make this clear to every heart that is listening, those in this room and those in the overflow, and I pray that you would show us the Lord Jesus and the good news of the gospel through Daniel, chapter 8.

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

I said last week, these are very challenging passages.

They're challenging for me, but I think they're also challenging for you to engage and to understand and to hang in there.

And so, as we come to passages like this, I think it's really important that, as a church, that we lock in, that we engage, that we do the hard work of understanding difficult passages like we have in Daniel chapter 8.

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

And if we do that this is what apocalyptic literature is meant to do if we do the hard work of engaging and listening, then God will use these passages this is what they're meant to do to bless us and encourage us.

And so, with that in mind, let's dig in this morning.

Remember Daniel chapter 7 from last week.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

Daniel chapter 7 and Daniel chapter 8 go together.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention Daniel 8 · chapter mention

Daniel chapter 7 gives us a wide-angle view of human history.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

We get to Daniel chapter 8 and the camera zooms in on specifics of identifiable historical figures and kingdoms.

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

And this vision in Daniel chapter 8, which is really interesting and important took place around 550 BC.

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

And all of these visions that we're going to see in this passage played out exactly the way God said they would over the next 400 years or so.

Isn't that amazing?

And yes, of course that means, and one of the takeaways for us this morning is, of course God is on His throne, human history is working out just as God said it would, and God's in control of human history and all things, and that should be comforting for us and give us great hope as we look back on events like this and see how they played out, exactly the way God said.

But what I want you to do this morning is get into the story and think about the context of this passage.

Get into this story 2,600 years ago and remember what's happening.

Daniel and the people of God have been in exile up at this point for decades, and he had seen the visions of the handwriting on the wall and knowing that Babylon would soon fall and that the fall of Babylon would be near.

And so Daniel is most certainly thinking, or had thought, yes, we'll finally get out of here, babylon's going to fall, we'll get to go back home, we'll get to get on with our lives and we'll get to get on with building back the temple.

And then Daniel gets this vision.

And what does he see?

Well, he sees here that things are about to get much worse Way beyond Babylon.

Things will get worse for God's people, that there are going to be other kings and other kingdoms that are going to come along and seek to oppress God's people and destroy them.

It's why, you see, in verse 27, daniel is laid low by this vision he's overcome, and it says he lay sick in his bed for days.

And, yes, this is obviously and again, this is a hard word again, when you really see what's being communicated here.

It would have been a hard word for Daniel.

It is a hard word for us this morning as well, isn't it?

Because, if you're like me, I want comfort, I want peace, I want quick fixes, and this is basically saying instead, we need to have a long view of discipleship and faithfulness.

This passage is saying strap in for the long haul, because world history is going to be full of bumps and bruises and trials and twists and turns and hardships and sufferings.

Yes, we need to keep in mind Jesus.

He could return today, he might return tomorrow.

No one knows the time of Jesus' return, except God, the Father.

We long for that day.

The question I'm asking, and this passage is asking, is what do we do while we wait?

How do we stay faithful in Babylon?

How do we stay faithful in Babylon?

How do we stay faithful to Jesus for the long haul?

Or, to say it another way, how did you walk faithfully with God and let all of these earthly kingdoms around us run their course and wait for God's eternal kingdom to come?

This passage helps us.

It tells us that we need three things.

We need to first, stay alert.

If you're a note taker, stay alert.

Press on number two.

Lastly, keep Jesus on the big screen.

Lastly, focus on Jesus.

So stay alert, press on, focus on Jesus.

Let's take those in turn.

Look at our first heading.

Stay alert, press on, focus on Jesus.

Let's take those in turn.

Look at our first heading, stay alert.

I'm going to focus on verses 9 and, following the vision of the little horn, because that's really the focus of the passage this morning, and to set this up, to set up the vision, and since I think it was helpful last week from hearing from some of you, let's continue with the Buffalo Wild Wings illustration or analogy.

Remember, on Saturday you walk into Wild Wings, you have the main TV, the 80-inch TV, and you have all these other little TVs.

The Ancient of Days is still on the big screen, let's not forget that.

And you get to verses 1 through 7, and the goat is identified from history and from scholarship, as Alexander the Great.

And in verse 8, his empire is divided into four regions and now, instead of the beast being on the small screen in chapter 7, one of the rulers of these regions takes center stage on Daniel's vision on his small screen.

Who is it?

Verse 9 and following you can look there.

A little horn grew exceedingly towards the glorious land.

That means grew exceedingly towards God's people.

And you see that this little horn fought against the stars, fought against God's heavenly host and against God's people.

Alexander the Great proved to be confused and evil, of course, but this little horn here is singled out, takes up all the ink in the chapter.

It's the focus of the chapter.

Why?

Because of where his evil is directed.

The little horn's evil is directed and it is a big deal to God.

There is demonic hatred of the little horn against God's people and all they represent.

Who is the little horn?

Well, again, we're benefiting by looking back at history and scholars are all in agreement.

I didn't read one person who did not agree with this.

All scholars are in agreement that the little horn in Daniel, chapter 8, is Antiochus Epiphanes IV.

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

Antiochus Epiphanes was the king of the Seleucid Empire.

He was truly wicked.

He was a tyrant.

He banned circumcision and think about circumcision, the Old Testament covenant sign for God's people and their children.

He was so wicked.

He puts an end to the sacrifices in the temple in Jerusalem.

He defiled and deliberately desecrated the temple.

Get this by burning a pig on the altar and by placing a sacred object of Zeus in the holies of holies.

He burned copies of the scriptures.

He slaughtered God's people who remained true to their faith and he perfectly fits the description in verses 22 and 24 as a bold, stern-faced king who was completely and truly wicked.

You get to verses 13 and 14.

Daniel overhears two heavenly beings discussing how long this oppression and persecution and evil is going to last, and it said that they would endure for 2,300 days and then the temple would be restored.

And people have spent a lot of ink and spent a lot of time trying to decode and figure out what that number actually means.

What means the same thing as the end in verses 17 through 19, the number and the end is not talking about the end of the world, but simply that there will be an end to this persecution, that it has an end date and that God will step in and he will preserve his people.

And that's exactly what happens.

Look at verses 25 and 26.

The end did come for Antiochus and notice verse 25 says by no human hand.

Now that doesn't mean that no human agency was involved in the destruction of Antiochus, but rather that God is the ultimate power behind the taking down of Antiochus.

You see, antiochus triggered a rebellion on the part of faithful Jews that was led by a group called the Maccabees, and the Seleucid Empire was driven out.

The temple was cleansed and rededicated in 164 BC.

Daniel's vision of the little horn is an anticipation and prophecy of those events.

So what Good history lesson?

What does that have to do with us this morning?

So what Good history lesson?

What does that have to do with us this morning?

One of the things apocalyptic literature is meant to do, and what this passage is meant to do, is to remind us that there is something bigger always going on in the world.

Remember, apocalyptic literature means to unveil or reveal.

Daniel is pulling back the curtain and pointing us into the heavenly places and showing us that there is a bigger war going on as we speak.

And it is good for us because we need to see and resist the urge to always reduce everything to a natural explanation, because think about a mighty fortress is our God.

One of the reasons why I love that song, because it talks about the war that's actually going on, and the Bible talks the exact same way that the war is not against flesh and blood, but it's against the principalities of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians, chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

And you hear that and maybe you're like that sounds kind of strange to me and sounds awfully weird.

What does this spiritual war actually look like?

Well, look at verse 7.

There's other things we could say here, but let me just focus on one of the ways that Satan wages war against God's people.

You'll see in verse 11, by taking away the regular burnt offerings.

This is obviously talking about the Old Testament sacrifices, where they would sacrifice an animal to cover their sin.

Now, instead of an altar, we don't make sacrifices of animals on Sunday morning.

Instead of an altar, we have a table.

Why?

Well, because the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, has come into the world and he shed His blood on a cross and he became the final sacrifice for our sins on a cross.

And he became the final sacrifice for our sins.

And one of the tactics of Satan is still this happened in 550 BC where this vision is about and it is still true that Satan seeks to take away the sacrifices of God's people and take away Jesus from us.

How does it look today.

Well, it might look like this going on inside your heart and maybe you've felt that since you've walked in this room this morning Look at what you've done.

And you call yourself a Christian.

You hear it.

And you call yourself a Christian.

You hear it.

Are you really going to share Christ and invite the person at your workplace to church when you just talked horribly about them 15 minutes ago?

Or you're a terrible Christian.

Why would God ever use you to do anything?

Or maybe it looks like you mean you're going to go to church and you're going to sing all these songs and you're going to take notes during the message and you're going to act really religious, like you have it all together and we all know what you did on Friday night.

You hear it.

What's happening there in those accusations?

Satan, the accuser, is trying to take Jesus away from you and his sacrifices on your behalf.

How do you fight back against the tactics and accusations?

Through the blood of the Lamb, through the final sacrifice of Jesus, who came to save not the righteous, not the good people, but sinners.

Romans 8, verse 1, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

You see one of the ways we wait faithfully for Jesus' return is we stay alert because our enemy, the devil, prowls around God's people and the church like a roaring lion waiting for someone to devour.

Stay alert.

Secondly, press on.

Look at verse 27.

Daniel was overcome and lay sick for days.

And so Daniel gets this vision about what lies ahead in the world and what lies ahead for God's people, and it fills him with lament, it fills him with deep grief.

Christians in Babylon are to be people of lament.

It is right and good and appropriate for us to lament the brokenness in our lives and the brokenness we see in the world around us.

But Christians don't stop there.

Christians, as they are filled with lament, at the same time they groan and they long for glory.

They long for the King, king Jesus, to come and make this world right again.

And so, living in Babylon, christians, as we wait faithfully over the long haul, we are to be people marked with lament and longing.

And then notice Daniel.

What he does next.

He laments for a few days and then it says that he gets up and he goes about.

The king's business.

Isn't that interesting?

He gets this horrible vision.

He doesn't run and hide, he doesn't panic, he doesn't retreat from the world.

When he knows the evil that is coming, he laments, which, again, it's completely appropriate, but he gets up and he goes back to work doing what God has called him to do.

It reminds me of the famous story about John Wesley.

He was an evangelist.

He was preaching one day and, as he was going to that preaching event, a stranger stopped him and said Mr Wesley, if Jesus were to return at noon the next day, what would you do?

And Wesley reaches into his saddlebag and pulls out his diary, which would have been like an iPhone with a Google calendar for us, and he starts to read his calendar and the appointments he has the rest of that day and the appointments he has the rest of that day and the appointments he has the next morning, all the way till noon.

And he said that, sir, is what I would do, and I love that and I think that is one of.

There's been lots of things this study has been good for my soul and for my heart, but one of the things that has stuck out to me throughout this study is Daniel's world is chaos.

Daniel is in a foreign land and is completely opposed to God, and yet Daniel is the most settled, stable person in Babylon.

He is at peace in Babylon.

He is at peace Because he knows that all of this someday is going to come to an end and that somehow God in his own time, in his own way, is going to make things right.

He doesn't know the answers to those questions that's above his pay grade but he knows his role and his role is to trust God and to go back to work, to trust that God's working it out and to go back to work, trying, by God's grace, to be faithful where God has placed him.

And I think that is super helpful for us as we think about our lives and as we think about the world, because lots of people, maybe you, are asking similar questions but what are we supposed to do?

This world seems chaotic, like it's falling apart, it feels foreign, it feels hostile, it feels like it's going nowhere.

Or maybe you're asking the question what do we do on November the 6th, when we wake up and your political party, whatever that is, is not in power?

What do you do?

You know what you do.

You wake up and you go about the king's business.

You wake up and you don't panic.

Think about Daniel here.

You don't retreat.

Think about Daniel here.

You don't retreat, you know God's in control of all things and you go about your work and what God has called you to do, whatever that is, whether it's a stay-at-home mom, an accountant, a doctor, maybe you're in real estate or maybe you're a student.

Your calling, my calling, is to press on when we wake up tomorrow to what God has called us to do, and to do that for the glory of God.

To seek the welfare of the city that God in place, that God has called us, to make the place of the world that God has called us a better place, yes, to practice faithfulness there and to pray for that little corner of the world where God has us To walk faithfully with Jesus over the long haul.

We need to stay alert.

Secondly, press on.

Lastly, focus on Jesus.

Keep Jesus on the big screen.

Remember all of the Bibles about Jesus.

That's one thing I hope you pick up from being here at our church is that we talk about Jesus a lot every time we open the Bible.

Up from being here at our church is that we talk about Jesus a lot every time we open the Bible.

Why?

Because that's who the Bible is about.

He's the center of the Scriptures, all the Old Testament points to him.

This passage points to him Because, you see, this passage points us beyond the darkness and beyond the restoration of the days of Antiochus, to an even greater rebellion and an even greater defilement.

Because the defilement that Daniel sees in the time of Antiochus, yes, it was horrific, but the worst was yet to come.

The worst was yet to come Because, you see, though Antiochus desecrated the temple, at least they didn't lay hands on God Himself.

But a few centuries later, that would all change, wouldn't it?

Because Jesus, the dwelling place of God, would come into the world and Jesus would be desecrated, would be desecrated by our sin and our rebellion, and God's people would align themselves with evil forces against the prince of the Lord's army, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they would call for his death, hand him over to death, and not only that, they would stand in the crowd and yell, crucify him.

And we read verse 25 about how the enemies of God will rise up against the prince of princes, god himself, and they will be cast to the ground and broken.

And we hear that and we're like, yes, that sounds awesome, go get them.

God, wait a minute.

We react that way until we realize that the Bible says that we are all by nature Antiochus, that we're all enemies of God and in a sense have the same rebellion inside of us against God and left to ourselves.

The Bible says we too would be found in the crowd crying crucify him.

And I realize that might be offensive for some of you listening this morning, but please understand Jesus will never be sweet to you.

Jesus will never be on the big screen of your heart and life until you see that it is your sin that put Jesus there on that cross.

We have the tendency, don't we, to think man, I'm so glad that Jesus came for the really bad people, came for the really messed up people.

They really need it.

Yeah, yeah, we say Jesus.

I know he died for the sins of the world.

No, jesus died for you and for your sin and for my sin.

That means Jesus died for your gossip.

He died for your lust and your anger and your dishonesty and your bitterness, and the list goes on.

John Stott says it this way until you see the cross is that which is done by you, you will never appreciate what the cross has done for you.

I know it's football season, but you might not know this.

I'm a basketball fan, so I know this.

You might not know this.

I'm a basketball fan, so I know this.

The NBA started last week.

Nba basketball started last week and on Friday night, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns in one of the opening games of the season.

And you might not be aware either that LeBron James plays for the Los Angeles Lakers and his son is a first-year player also playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.

And lots of basketball experts will tell you that Bronny James, lebron's son, does not deserve to be in the league, does not deserve to be in the league, that he doesn't deserve to be on the team because he's not good enough.

And on Friday night, after the Lakers win, bronny James became the first NBA player ever to have a post-game interview after recording zero points, zero rebounds, zero assists, zero steals and zero blocks.

Everyone in the world knows that Bronny James is in the league and being interviewed for one reason and one reason only he's there because of someone else.

He's there because of his dad and friends.

I'll be the first to tell you I've been hard on Bronny James.

I'll be the first to tell you I've been hard on Bronnie James.

I've been critical of Bronnie James, and then it dawned on me that that's actually me, that's us.

That is the gospel.

We have zero points.

We contribute nothing to God except for our sin and our only hope.

The only reason we are there is because of someone else, and that someone else is Jesus Christ, who lived for us and who took the punishment that we deserved in order to reconcile us to God.

Romans 5, verse 10,.

Romans 5:10

While we were enemies of God, god made us friends by the death of His Son.

Jesus is better than you think.

The gospel is better than you think.

The gospel is better than you think.

What do you say?

We keep the gospel and Jesus on the big screen.

Amen, let's pray.

Thank you, lord, for saving us from our ultimate enemy, sin and death.

Holy Spirit, I ask that you would help us to stay alert to the spiritual war that is going on around us.

Would you give us steadfastness to be faithful to what you have called us to do in this world, even when the world feels chaotic?

And for those who are in anguish over the accusations that Satan is throwing at them, I pray you would convince them of your deep love and of Jesus' final sacrifice for their sin.

We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.