Posted by Elana Janson on September 27, 2006 at 14:56:28:
The apocalyptic message of Daniel through the knowledge of Revelation – Daniel 8:16-27
Daniel 8:16-19
“And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, which called and said, Gabriel make this man to understand this vision. So he came near where I stood: and when he came I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision. Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me and set me upright. And he said Behold I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.”
It was shown in the previous post how the words “and I heard a voice” are used in Revelation in the verses where God made known crucial insight into the time measures of Revelation. God made it known that I could understand the visions of Revelation and the twelve time measures on which Revelation is constructed.
“At the time appointed the end shall be”
These words are of great significance in the total understanding of Revelation. Through my understanding of Revelation there is no doubt that the time of the end of this civilization of the earth, which is also the time of the Return of Jesus the Christ, was laid down by God since the time of the creation of the earth.
The ram and the goat
In the following verses (Daniel 8:20-22) Gabriel uses the symbols of the ram and the goat to explain what is going to happen in the ruling of Israel. This prophecy has been brought to bear in the ancient history of Israel and the Middle East. It has been explained in numerous books.
Daniel 8:20 - 22 “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.”
It was shown in a previous post how the symbols of the ram and the goat, with the knowledge of Revelation and the words that appear in both Daniel and Revelation, also relate to the time we are living in.
Daniel 8:23-25
Through words that appear in this section (Dan. 23-25) as well as in Revelation we can know that sections of these verses also relate to the very end time.
Rev 8:23 “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.”
Through the knowledge of Revelation that the time of the very end could also be applied to the symbols of the ram and the goat, as well as the similarity of the words in Daniel 8:23-24 the following verses 8:23-25 relate to Israel and the Middle East, but specifically to the end time.
Dan 8:23 “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.” Through the word “king”, this verse also relates to Rev 9:11 “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit”. In Revelation this “king” is symbolic of the rule of the nations that has many evil (“angel of the bottomless pit”) tendencies (as explained in the analyses of the beasts of Revelation) and which is at its most powerful in the last days (“in the latter time of their kingdom”), when the entire earth is in their grip.
Dan 8:24 “And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and practice and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.”
The words “But not by his own power” relate to the words of Rev 17:13 and 17. Rev 17:13 “These have one mind, and give their power and strength unto the beast”. God reveals that Israel in the time after Daniel and the nations of the end time are going to be ruled by leaders that are directed by forces of darkness. Rev 17:17 “For God hath put it in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled”.
“And he shall destroy wonderfully”: these words also relate to Revelation 11:7 “And when they (“two witnesses” - those that carry the testimony of Jesus Christ - “two” referring to their testimony, accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit) shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.”
The words “shall overcome and kill them” mean that many will be led astray in the last days as the nations are misled by the seemingly ‘wonderful’ leadership of the beast. The nations are fooled by Satan’s the man made ideologies of the twenty-first century. For example those that think that “freedom” means freedom from the laws of God.
Dan 8:25 “And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of Princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
These words are very true for the twenty-first century. The ideology of the nations (‘policy’) gives man total freedom if he so chooses. How many people do not lose themselves in their vocation or many interests (sports, quest for knowledge of the earth etc) available to man in 2006? They spend all their time and energy in their tasks for the day (‘cause craft to prosper’). They find no time or need for the spiritual or the knowledge in order to inherit everlasting life (‘magnify himself in his heart’). The nations believe that the world rule of democracy or the rule of men in the twenty-first century is the answer to world peace. In the time of peace and prosperity man is falling away from his faith. So austere has man become that that he even thinks that he need no longer look to the message of everlasting life through Jesus Christ (‘stand up against the Prince of Princes’). Prince of Princes is a prophecy of the coming Messiah which is Jesus Christ. A prophecy of how in the end time man will through the influence of evil regard himself and his accomplishments greater than the message of the Messiah. The fall of the nations will come through man’s own mental indiscretions in 2006. Indiscretions brought about through the influence of evil - toward a God that has provided for his earthly needs and a way to everlasting life through the ages.
Dan 8:26
“And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: therefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.” The vision was for the future time of Israel and for the end time.
Dan 8:27
“And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the kings business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” With the knowledge of history and the insight into the Revelation of Jesus Christ the vision is no longer locked up.