Who likes history? Why do we need to know history? As Christians we need to know history As humans we need to know history. Because history repeats over and over again. We look at Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Serbia, Dilli, New York, Afghanistan, Israel. We say ‘never again’. But we see ‘again and again’.
Who knows anyone who died in a war? There are still a few Australian diggers who survived WWII. Most of our parents were born after WWII. Korea and Vietnam didn’t directly affect most of us. Perhaps an uncle here or there. Lets face it, we know little of the horror of war. We have lived our lives with few direct threats. We live in a wealthy western country hitched to Western power. We survive because of the ascendancy of the United States and the West in world politics and economics. But every empire has its day in the sun, and then falls. And the United States is no exception. 150 years ago Britain ruled the waves. 50 years ago Germany was a mighty power. 20 years ago Russia was a superpower.
That is basic history. Empires come, Empires Go. Leaders rise, and nations fall. New strategic alliances. New international power blocs. Many and varied wars. And people die. That is our world. Our world under judgment.
And it was no different for Daniel. Daniel as a boy saw the destruction of his own people and the city of Jerusalem. As a high ranking government official, he saw Kings and Empires come and go. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon grew powerful, and fell, Belshazzar his descendant grew powerful, and fell Darius the Mede grew powerful, and fell Cyrus the Persian grew powerful, and fell Daniel lived to see all these Emperors. He was a survivor.
And now in Chapter 8 Daniel has a vision. When? The vision comes two years after the one in chapter 7. during the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign (v1) Around 550BC[1] When will it come true? Verse 26 tells us the vision concerns the distant future. Daniel won’t see it’s fulfillment. For he was not serving himself when he saw this vision. (Cf 1 Peter 1:12) He served us and others.
Verse 17: The vision concerns the time of the end
Verse 19: Daniel is told what will happen later in the time of wrath.
The events lie in the future for Daniel But they lie in the past for us. These characters about which this vision speaks have already strode the world stage. They have done all that they were going to do. For Daniel they were prophecy. For us they are history. And we must pay attention to that history and learn from it. For God was faithful to the vision. He brought it about. And our world is not that much different from Daniel’s world.
What does Daniel see? He sees a disturbing sight. He sees himself, strange animals, angels. He hears the tongues of angels. He experiences terror. At one point he falls into a deep sleep. And he leaves the whole experience sick, appalled and confused (verse 27). If you long to see visions, and have contact with angels, note this. It was not pleasant for Daniel. It was costly.
The vision is set in the fortress city, the capital of the Empire. It is beside a Canal. For every great city is built on a river. And if not, they make one, like in Canberra. And Daniel sees animals grazing. And he sees two animals in particular. A roid raging ram and a mutant goat. Daniel’s gonna see blood and wool and sheep guts everywhere. It’s not suprising he feels sick afterwards!
The first animal he sees is the ram. Verse 3. The ram’s got two horns. In verse 20 the angel tells us the two horned ram … represents the kings of Media and Persia. The ram may have been a symbol for Persia[2], a bit like a Boxing Kangaroo standing for Australia. Everyone would have known who Daniel was talking about.
In verse 3, One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. The horns lack the normal symmetrical beauty. And this represents that in the coalition, Media was more powerful first, but later Persia became more powerful[3].
And Daniel sees the ram bully the other animals for a time. Verse 4:
I watched the ram as he charged towards the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and none could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great. (NIV)
Historically, the Medo Persian empire had victories against Babylon, Egypt, and even as far as Athens in Greece[4]. For a while the ram was the big fish. But there’s always a bigger fish. And there is a bigger fish on the way. So Daniel sees the attack of the killer goat (verses 5-8). Verse 5:
As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. (NIV)
A mono-horned goat. Like a unicorn or a rhinoceros. Not very attractive. But effective. And this goat has come a long way fast. His feet don’t even touch the ground. Verse 21 identifies the goat: The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. Who was the first King of Greece? Alexander the Great of Macedon. He is the first king. He raised a massive army. And he comes with savage intent. Verse 7:
I saw him attack the ram, furiously striking the ram and shattering his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him; the goat knocked him to the ground and trampled on him, and none could rescue the ram for his power. (NIV)
So there stands the goat, in the midst of what is left of the ram, a bloody mass of wool and mutilated mutton. What does this mean?
Well, Alexander invaded Persia in 334BC and settled an 150 year old score between Greece and Persia. Not a bad 21st birthday present for Alexander! But Alexander wasn’t settled with that. He wanted the world. He drove his troops up mountain and down valley until they reached India, the end of the known world. And there Alexander wept because there were no more worlds left to conquer. And there his troops mutinied, and he could go no further. But Alexander lived fast and died young. Verse 8:
The goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up towards the four winds of heaven. (NIV)
Alexander’s impact was huge. He created the largest empire the world had ever seen. He is the reason the New Testament was originally written in Greek. But Alexander died in 323BC at age 32[5]. And almost immediately his empire fractured. It first divided into four[6]. Verse 22 tells us:
The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power. (NIV)
These kings were Alexander’s surviving generals. And, of course, they fought each other for the remnants of Alexander’s Kingdom[7]. Daniel Chapter 11 will talk more about these conflicts. But through the next 150 years, one kingdom emerged dominant in Palestine. That is the one known as the Seleucid empire. Their capital city was at Antioch. And from this Kingdom one king later King emerged (verse 23), Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Epiphanes meant ‘God made manifest’. On his coins he had this inscribed. ‘King Antiochus God Manifest’. I think he thinks he is special This guy thinks himself God. And he is the King most commentators see as the ‘little horn’ And this little horn will exercise big power over the saints (verses 9-12). Verse 9:
He started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and towards the Beautiful Land. (NIV)
Antiochus started little. But from little things big things grow. And this little horn is growing. He moves towards the Beautiful land. The description Ezekiel uses for Israel. a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands (Ezekiel 20:6,15 NIV)
But he doesn’t stop there. He grew until he reached the host of the heavens He threw some of the starry host [lit armies] down to the earth and trampled on them. Some commentators think these are earthly kings.[8] Others that it is an attack on Israel’s armies. Others, that it an attack on God and his angels[9]. Either way, Antiochus, God made manifest, wants to take on the God of Israel. Verse 11:
It [the Horn] set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low. (NIV)
Antiochus attacks the worship God established for his people. He took away the daily sacrifice, the sacrifice of two lambs every day at the temple, one in the morning, one in the evening (Exodus 29:38-43). And he brought the temple low. The Book of Maccabees in the Apocrypha tells us what he did to the temple. He robbed it, stripping it of everything valuable (1 Maccabees 1:20-24). He murdered people in it (1 Maccabees 1:27). And as part of his ‘One Empire-One-religion’ policy, he set up altars for pagan worship in the Jerusalem temple and everywhere in the beautiful land (1 Maccabees 1:54ff).
Antiochus prospered in everything it did. (v12) God gave this liar, this violent and brutal man, what seemed to be free reign over his holy people (v24). He ordered them to worship false gods or die. Those who refused, Antiochus killed. As Verse 24 says He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people (v24).
But hang on. Didn’t we see earlier in Daniel that God gives the nations to whoever he pleases? (Dan 4:25) That those who walk in pride he is able to humble? (Dan 4:37) So why does it please God to let evil Antiochus succeed?
This is the question asked throughout the Bible? How can God let these evil kings prosper and the righteous be destroyed. This issue is everywhere in the bible. Habakkuk, Revelation, Psalms, Proverbs all struggle with it. God’s people remain faithful and are slaughtered. But the wicked prosper.
It seems to me the bible, and our passage, gives us two answers. They are not complete answers, but they are true answers.
First, it is because of sin that there is such suffering. Verse 12 Because of rebellion[10], the host [of the saints] and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. We live in a world in rebellion against God. And thus we live in a world under God’s judgment. And we are part of that world. We are not without fault. We ourselves offend in many things. That’s why we confess our sins to God almost every time we meet. And we must regard such suffering as God’s discipline (Hebrews 12). We have contributed in our own quota to this rebellion against God. And even when we surrender and become reconciled to God, we remain part of the world. But in these ways he disciplines us as his children.
The second answer is ‘won’t be long now’. The last bit of verse 25: He will be destroyed, but not by human power. When Daniel evesdrops on the angels (in verses 13-14), we learn that desecration is not the last word for the temple. The desecration and suffering will be for a limited time only. Verse 14: “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated[11]” Some see this as 3 and a half years[12]. Others approximately 7 years[13] Either way, it was for a short time. The High Priest was removed in 171BC. The temple sacrifices ceased in 167BC. But the temple was reconsecrated in 164BC.
It is a short time. And when we suffer (for it is not if but when) we must remember, God is disciplining us. It is for a short time. And we must not give up. It’s OK. The worst they can do is kill us! And then we will be with Jesus.
Our shore line was never invaded. Our country was never in flames. But that may not be forever. We hear all the time now that we live in ‘dangerous and uncertain times’. We’ve seen September 11. We followed on TV the Chase for Osama. We've seen the suicide bombings, kids rock throwing and tanks throwing shells.
Mr Bush said after September 11, 'We have a strong military. We will bring justice.' And that might be true. But God brings down nations and empires, and God raises them up. God does what he wants, strong army or not. We must not trust our army, our military. For perhaps the US led coalition won’t win the War against Terror.
We live in a world that is always in uncertain times. But the only certain thing we can trust is God, the God who revealed himself in his Son, the Lord Jesus. Jesus, who was born a man into our sinful world, who lived the life we should have lived, who died the death we deserved to die, who rose victorious, punching a whole through death that we might enter heaven through it, who is now seated in heaven, who upholds our each and every breath, who gives us his Spirit, that we might trust him, and who will come back one day to airlift us out of enemy territory.
So brothers and sisters, let us be strong. Many of you know I’m a big whimp. I faint when I have a blood test. But the day for dying is coming. And Jesus calls us to follow him to death. Not to deny. Not to fight. But give the other cheek. To suffer. And to die. And Jesus can make soft pudgy whimps like me and you strong. And Jesus can strengthen us to be brave and confess his name no matter what. May each of us be found in Christ on that day, the day of wrath.
Amen.
[1] Baldwin, 155
[2] Goldingay, 208
[3] Goldingay, 208
[4] Goldingay, 208
[5] MacMillan Bible Atlas, 134
[6] Goldingay, 295
[7] 4 kingdoms are: Cassander (Macedonia), Lysimachus (Thrace), Ptolemy I (Egypt), Seleucus I (Syria)
[8] Baldwin, 157; In Isaiah a similar image is used of the King of Babylon: Isaiah 14:12-14
How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the uttermost heights of the sacred mountain.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds’
I will make myself like the most high
[9] Goldingay, 210
[10] [v'p;ÐB] because of transgression; perhaps bet could be through, but Baldwin takes it ‘on account of the transgression of God’s people’ (p158)
[11] literally, and a sanctuary will be justified
[12] Baldwin, 158
[13] Goldingay, 213; Reid, 175