D A N I E L . 8
1After that vision (ABOUT 2 YEARS AFTER) I, Daniel, saw another vision during the third year that Belshazzar was King (ABOUT 551 B.C). 2In the vision I saw that I was in the city of Shushan, the capital city in the province of Elam (PERSIA). I was standing by the Ulai River.
3I looked up and saw a ram standing at the side of the river. The ram had two long horns (SYMBOLISING TWO KINGS OF TWO SEPARATE KINGDOMS). The horns were both long, but one horn was longer than the other horn. The long horn was farther back than the other horn. 4I watched the ram run into things with its horns. I watched the ram run to the west, to the north, and to the south. No other beast could stop the ram, for it did whatever it wanted, and it became very powerful.
WHEN WE LOOK BACK IN HISTORY WE SEE JUST HOW ACCURATE THIS PROPHECY WAS. TO THE WEST MEDO- PERSIA CONQUERED OVER BABYLON, SYRIA AND MUCH OF ASIA MINOR. TO THE NORTH THEY CONQUERED ARMENIA AND THE REGION AROUND THE CASPIAN SEA. AND TO THE SOUTH THEIR MAJOR CONQUESTS WERE EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA, BUT THEY ALSO TOOK OVER THE FORMER ISRAELITE LANDS OF THE HEBREWS BECAUSE THAT WAS PART OF THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE THAT THEY HAD ACQUIRED. THEY TRIED TO MAKES GAINS TO THE EAST, BUT GENERALLY WERE EITHER REPULSED, OR THE GAINS WERE MINOR, OR THEY WERE UNABLE TO HOLD ON TO WHAT THEY WON FOR VERY LONG.
BUT LET’S ALSO NOTICE SOMETHING ELSE: THE BEAST SYMBOL IN DANIEL’S FIRST VISION FOR MEDO-PERSIA WAS THE BEAR. AND IF YOU’LL RECALL THE BEAR CARRIED 3 RIB BONES IN ITS MOUTH. THE SYMBOLISM OF THOSE 3 RIB BONES IS NOW REVEALED TO US, AS A SYMBOL OF MEDO-PERSIA’S SUCCESSFUL CONQUESTS TO 3 OF THE 4 COMPASS DIRECTIONS:
THE WEST, NORTH AND SOUTH.....BUT NOT TO THE EAST (OTHERWISE THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN 4 RIB BONES IN THE BEAR’S MOUTH).
LET’S CONNECT THIS GOAT WITH DANIEL’S FIRST VISION. THE 3RD BEAST (AFTER BABYLON, AND THEN MEDO-PERSIA - THE LION AND THE BEAR) WAS SYMBOLISED BY A 4-HEADED LEOPARD THAT HAD BIRD’S WINGS. THE RAM REPRESENTS MEDO-PERSIA, AND THE GOAT REPRESENTS GREECE WHO CONQUERS THEM. THE RAM HAS ONE HORN THAT IS LONGER THAN THE OTHER, BECAUSE PERSIA WAS A LITTLE MORE POWERFUL THAN MEDIA.
5I thought about the ram. While I was watching, I saw a male goat come from the west. It had one large horn that was easy to see. It ran so fast its feet barely touched the ground. 6The goat came to the ram with the two horns (the one I'd seen standing by the Ulai River.) The goat was very angry and ran at the ram. 7As I watched, the goat ran at the ram and broke both of the ram’s horns. The ram could not stop the goat. The goat knocked it to the ground and walked all over it. There was no one to save the ram from the goat. 8So the goat became very powerful. But after he became strong, his big horn broke off. Then four horns grew in place of the one big horn. Those four horns were clear as day and easy to see, and they pointed in all four different directions.
NEXT WE LEARN THAT THE GOAT WITH ONE LARGE HORN WILL EVENTUALLY HAVE THAT HORN BROKEN, WHICH MEANS THAT THIS ALL-POWERFUL KING OF GREECE WILL BE DESTROYED. AND IN PLACE OF THIS 1 LARGE HORN, 4 SMALLER ONES WOULD EMERGE. THAT IS, THE EMPIRE OF GREECE THAT AT ONE TIME WAS RULED BY ONE IMMENSELY POWERFUL MAN (ALEXANDER THE GREAT) WOULD, UPON HIS DEATH, BE SLICED UP INTO 4 GOVERNING DISTRICTS AND SO RULED BY A GROUP OF 4 RULERS.
9Then a little horn grew from one of those four horns. It grew and became very big. It grew toward the southeast, toward the splendid land. 10The little horn became very big. It grew until it reached the sky. It even threw some of Heaven’s hosts and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them. 11That little horn became very strong, and it even exalted itself above the Ruler of Heaven’s host. It stopped the continual daily sacrifices that were offered to the Ruler. And the set-apart place (TEMPLE) where people served the Ruler was pulled down also. 12Because of this sin, the continual daily sacrifices were stopped. Truth was thrown down to the ground. The little horn did all these things and was very successful. (GREEK HORN)
SO ONE OF THE 4 HORNS WILL LOSE ITS POWER TO A SMALLER HORN THAT EVENTUALLY GROWS VERY POWERFUL. AND HISTORY PROVED THAT WHEN ALEXANDER THE GREAT DIED, 4 OF HIS GENERALS RULED OVER THE 4 GOVERNING DISTRICTS THAT WERE ESTABLISHED. AND THEN IN TIME ONE OF THEM WAS REPLACED BY A MAN OF LITTLE POWER (NO DOUBT THIS WAS SUPERNATURALLY ARRANGED BY YAHUAH TO ACHIEVE HIS PURPOSES).
THIS LITTLE HORN RULED OVER EGYPT AND THE PROMISED LAND. HE WAS INFAMOUSLY HOSTILE AND CRUEL TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND EVENTUALLY DEFILED THE SET-APART TEMPLE AND DISSOLVED THE PRIESTHOOD. HIS NAME WAS ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANIES.
INSOLENTLY BREAKING INTO THE SANCTUARY, HE REMOVED THE GOLDEN ALTAR AND THE LAMPSTAND FOR THE LIGHT WITH ALL ITS FITTINGS, TOGETHER WITH THE TABLE FOR THE LOAVES OF PERMANENT OFFERING, THE DRINK VESSELS, THE CUPS, THE GOLDEN CENSERS, THE VEIL, THE CROWNS, AND THE GOLDEN DECORATION ON THE FRONT OF THE TEMPLE, WHICH HE STRIPPED OF EVERYTHING.
THE KING ALSO SENT MESSENGERS TO JERUSALEM AND THE TOWNS OF JUDAH, TELLING THEM TO ADOPT CUSTOMS FOREIGN TO THE COUNTRY, BANNING BURNT OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES FROM THE TEMPLE, STOPPING SABBATHS AND FEASTS, DEFILING THE SANCTUARY AND ALL THINGS SET-APART, BUILDING ALTARS, SHRINES AND TEMPLES FOR IDOLS, SACRIFICING PIGS AND UNCLEAN BEASTS, LEAVING THEIR SONS UNCIRCUMCISED, AND WHORING THEMSELVES TO ALL KINDS OF IMPURITY AND ABOMINATION, SO THAT THEY SHOULD FORGET THE LAW AND REVOKE ALL OBSERVANCE OF IT. ANYONE NOT OBEYING THE KING'S COMMAND WAS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.
SO THE LITTLE HORN WILL INVADE THE SANCTUARY OF YAHUAH (THE TEMPLE THAT YAHUAH NEVER RETURNED TO ANYWAY), AND WILL BRING A HALT TO THE OFFERING OF SACRIFICES TO YAHUAH.
AFTER HIS CONQUEST OF EGYPT, IN THE YEAR 143, ANTIOCHUS TURNED ABOUT AND ADVANCED ON ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM
IN MASSIVE STRENGTH.
SO AS PREDICTED IN DANIEL 8, THE TEMPLE WAS INVADED, TAKEN OVER, AND OTHER GODS WERE WORSHIPPED, SACRIFICES TO THOSE GODS BEGAN, AND THE TORAH-SACRIFICES TO YAHUAH WERE ENDED. TEACHING YAHUAH’S WORD ALSO ENDED,
AND IT WAS REPLACED WITH POLITICALLY CORRECT DOCTRINES THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF THE LITTLE HORN (EPIPHANIES) ORDAINED - AND MANY JEWS WHO JUST WANTED TO GO-ALONG-TO-GET-ALONG READILY ACCEPTED ALL OF THESE PERVERTED THINGS AND REGARDED THEM AS SET-APART AND ACCEPTABLE TO THE ALAHIM OF ISRAEL.
13Then I heard two set-apart Angels speaking. One of them asked the other, “How long will the things in this vision last - the stopping of the continual daily sacrifices, the abomination that lays waste and destroys, and the trampling down of the set-apart place and Heaven’s host?” 14The other set-apart Angel said, “This will last for 2300 evenings and mornings (OFFERINGS). Then that which is set-apart will be made right again.”
THIS 2300 REFERS TO THE NUMBER OF SACRIFICES THAT WILL BE MISSED (2 SACRIFICES PER DAY x 1150 DAYS = 2300 EVENING AND MORNING SACRIFICES). AND INDEED IN THE MID 2ND CENTURY B.C. THE GREEK TYRANT ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANIES ORDERED A HALT TO THE TEMPLE SACRIFICES.
ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANIES WAS A BITTER, RUTHLESS, CUNNING AND AMBITIOUS MAN WHO INTENDED TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME AFTER HIS YEARS OF BEING CAST ASIDE BY HIS FATHER AND OFFERED UP AS A POLITICAL HOSTAGE TO ROME. EPIPHANIES WOULD RULE FROM 175 TO 164 B.C. AND HE HAD AN OVERWHELMING HATRED OF THE JEWS. HE BELIEVED HE WAS DOING MANKIND A FAVOUR BY RIDDING THE WORLD OF THE JEWISH RELIGION.
SINCE EPIPHANIES WAS SHOCKED BY SUCH HATRED DIRECTED AGAINST ALL MANKIND HE SET HIMSELF TO BREAK DOWN THEIR TRADITIONAL PRACTICES, ENDEAVOURING TO ABOLISH JEWISH SUPERSTITION AND (INSTEAD) TO INTRODUCE GREEK CIVILISATION (LATER GIVEN THE SCHOLARLY NAME OF HELLENISATION).
THIS SET OFF A REBELLION OF THE JEWS, WHICH WAS LED BY JUDAS THE MACCABEE, AND BY 164 B.C JUDAS HAD RETAKEN THE TEMPLE FROM EPIPHANIES’ ARMY, CLEANSED IT, AND REINSTITUTED THE MORNING AND EVENING SACRIFICES. WHILE THE DATES RECORDED FROM EXACTLY WHEN EPIPHANIES ORDERED THE SACRIFICES ENDED TO WHEN THE TEMPLE WAS RECAPTURED AND CLEANSED BY THE JEWISH REBELS ARE HARD TO PINPOINT TO THE PRECISE DAY, THE LENGTH OF TIME FALLS WELL WITHIN THE PROPHESIED TIMEFRAME OF 1150 DAYS, DURING WHICH 2300 MORNING AND EVENING SACRIFICES WERE MISSED.
WHEN IT CAME TIME TO RELIGHT THE TEMPLE MENORAH, ONLY ONE JAR OF SET-APART OIL COULD BE FOUND, BUT IT TOOK ONE JAR PER DAY TO FUEL THE TEMPLE MENORAH. HOWEVER APARANTLY IN A MIRACLE FROM YAHUAH, THAT SINGLE JAR OF OIL KEPT THE MENORAH BURNING FOR 8 DAYS. TO COMMEMORATE THE RE-DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE AND THAT MIRACLE, A HOLIDAY WAS CREATED CALLED HANUKKAH. THIS IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE DECEMBER 25TH WINTER SOLSTICE ON THE ROMAN CALENDAR.
15I, Daniel, saw this vision and tried to understand what it meant. While I was thinking about it, someone who looked like a mighty man suddenly stood in front of me. 16Then I heard a man’s voice coming from above the Ulai River. The voice called out, “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.” 17So Gabriel, the Angel who looked like a man, came to me. I was very afraid and fell down to the ground. But Gabriel said to me, “Son of man (HUMAN BEING) understand that this vision is about the time of the end.”
18While Gabriel was speaking, I fell to the ground completely stunned, but Gabriel touched me and lifted me to my feet again. 19He said, “Now, I’ll explain the vision to you and tell you what will happen in the future. Your vision was about the end times you know! The time of wrath! 20You saw a ram with two horns. The horns are the countries of Media and Persia. (THE RAM WAS THE COMMONLY RECOGNISED FORM OF PERSIA’S GUARDIAN SPIRIT). 21The goat is the King of Greece. The big horn between its eyes is the first King (ALEXANDER THE GREAT). 22That horn broke off and four horns grew in its place. The four horns are four Kingdoms/Empires. Those four Kingdoms will come from the nation of the first King, but they will not be as strong as the first King.
23When the end is near for those Kingdoms, and the disobedient have done all there is to do, there will be a very fierce, cruel and cunning King. 24This King will be very powerful, but his power does not come from himself. This King will cause terrible destruction. He will be successful in everything he does. He will destroy powerful people and even set-apart people.
25This King will be very smart and tricky. He will use his wisdom and lies make deceit prosper. He will think that he’s mosy important and destroy many people, when they least expect it. He will even try to fight the Prince of Princes. But that cruel King’s power will be destroyed, and it will not be a human hand that destroys him.
26What I said and the vision about those times are true. But seal up the vision, because those things will not happen for a long, long time.”
THIS IS AN OATH SOLEMNLY SWORN BY GABRIEL THAT THE AMOUNT OF TIME THAT THE BURNT OFFERINGS WILL BE STOPPED WILL HAPPEN AS PROMISED. BUT THAT DANIEL IS TO SEAL UP THE VISION BECAUSE IT IS NOT MEANT FOR NOW BUT FOR A DISTANT TIME. THE IDEA OF “SEALING UP” IS NOT THAT THE VERSES ARE TO BE KEPT LOCKED AWAY - IT IS THAT WHEN A SEAL IS AFFIXED TO SOMETHING, IT MEANS THAT THE MATTER IS COMPLETE, CONCLUDED, WON’T BE CHANGED, AND CANNOT BE TAMPERED WITH. IT’S A DONE DEAL.
27Then I, Daniel, became very weak and was sick for several days after this vision. Then I got up and went back to work for the King, but I was very upset about the vision, for I didn’t understand what it meant.
DANIEL COULDN’T IMAGINE WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES WOULD BE OR HOW THIS WAS GOING TO COME ABOUT THAT MEDIA-PERSIA WOULD BECOME A WORLD POWER - AND THAT GREECE 200 YEARS LATER WOULD OVERTAKE MEDO-PERSIA, OR HOW THIS LITTLE HORN MIGHT BE RECOGNISED.
ISN'T IT INTERESTING THAT MOST OF THIS CHAPTER CAN BE READ AND UNDERSTOOD FOR THE 21st CENTURY TODAY !!
C O N T I N U A L
11That little horn became very strong, and it even exalted itself above the Ruler of Heaven’s host. It stopped the continual daily sacrifices that were offered to the Ruler. And the set-apart place (TEMPLE) where people served the Ruler was pulled down also. 12Because of this sin, the continual daily sacrifices were stopped.'
Search results for "CONTINUAL": ( H E B R E W U N D E R S T A N D I N G )
1065 - a weeping, a dripping, overflowing, sore.
2956 - to drive on, to follow close, unsatiable.
5627 - apostasy, crime, rebellion, revolt, turn away, wrong.
8548 - to stretch, continuance, a constant, the regular (daily) sacrifice, always, perpetual.
( S C R I P T U R E U N D E R S T A N D I N G )
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends".
"And walk in the way of love, just as Yahusha loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice".
"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it".
"But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners".
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few".
YAHUSHA’S WAY OF DAILY SACRIFICE IS CONTINUAL AND THE BEAST ABSOLUTELY HATES US WALKING THIS NARROW PATH OF OVERCOMING, SO WILL TRY TO DISTRACT, ATTACK AND MAKE US STUMBLE.
MANKIND WAS CREATED TO BE A SET-APART TEMPLE OF YAHUSHA’S SUPERNATURAL LOVE - SO THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO BE TRANSFORMED BACK INTO SUCH, ARE CALLED TO OFFER THEMSELVES UP AS ADAILY SACRIFICE AND LOVE YAHUSHA WITH ALL THEIR HEART, MIND AND BEING - AND LOVE THEIR NEIGHBOUR AS THEMSELVES. LIVING THIS WAY IS NOT POPULAR, BUT WITH OUR ARMOUR ON WE NEED HAVE NO FEAR OF THE FIERY TRAILS BY DAY OR THE ATTACKS THAT COME AT NIGHT. YAHUSHA KNOWS THOSE HE IS WORKING WITH AND EMPOWERS THEM TO FINISH THE RACE (THE NARROW PATH) HE HAS PUT THEM ON.
IT’S NOT JUST YAHUSHA’S APPOINTED TIMES (SABBATHS) THAT ARE CONTINUAL IN OUR LIVES, BUT EVERY PATH AND PROCESS AND ROUTINE AND IDEA HE HAS TOLD US THE WALK, BEHAVE ND IMPLEMENT IN OUR LIVES WHICH MUST BE ADHERED TO - BECAUSE THERE IS ALWAYS GOING TO BE PRESSURE FROM WITHOUT AND WITHIN TO LAY WASTE AND STOP LIVING GOOD, OBEDIENTLY AND RIGHT.
THE ABOMINATION THAT LAYS WASTE (SATAN REIGNING IN YAHUSHA'S TEMPLE) IS ALREADY SET UP STRONG AND PROUD IN PEOPLE'S HEARTS - WHICH MEANS THE END IS VERY NEAR !!