Tomorrow I’m joining another blogger in doing a “Character Counts” meme. It’s a meme that celebrates people of good character, who’ve overcome adversity, done exceptional things or lived extraordinary lives. I’ll be doing this on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. My goal for this week is to finish the study on the book of Daniel, and then I would like to get into a “love” theme…what the Bible has to say about love, but of course this all depends on the leading of the Holy Spirit. So let’s pick up where we left off, as Gabriel explains the vision Daniel had of a ram and a goat…
“As Gabriel approached the place where I was standing, I became so terrified that I fell with my face to the ground. ‘Son of man,’ he said, ‘you must understand that the events you have seen in your vision relate to the time of the end.
While he was speaking, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. But Gabriel roused me with a touch and helped me to my feet.” Daniel 8: 17-18
Gabriel is God’s heavenly messenger. He uses Gabriel time and time again to get His messages through (remember the Angel Gabriel announcing the birth of Christ?). The “time of the end” refers to the entire period from the end of the Israelites Exile, until the second coming of Christ. This is the period the Bible refers to as the “period of the gentiles.” Let’s look at what Jesus says in Luke 21:24…
“They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end.”
In Jesus’ day, Israel was governed by the Roman Empire. History tells us that Jerusalem was destroyed by a Roman general in A.D. 70. The “Period of the Gentiles” refers not just to the repeated destructions of Jerusalem, but also the continuing and mounting persecution of God’s people until the end. Hmmm, isn’t Israel currently being persecuted? Also, remember the statue…The Roman Empire was the fourth ruling power. We are now in the times of the ten toes.
“Then he said, ‘I am here to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath. What you have seen pertains to the very end of time. The two-horned ram represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy male goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes represents the first king of the Greek Empire. The four prominent horns that replaced the one large horn show that the Greek Empire will break into four kingdoms, but none as great as the first.
At the end of their rule, when their sin is at its height, a fierce king, a master of intrigue, will rise to power. He will become very strong, but not by his own power, He will cause a shocking amount of destruction and succeed in everything he does. He will destroy powerful leaders and devastate the holy people. He will be a master of deception and will become arrogant; he will destroy many without warning. He will even take on the Prince of princes in battle, but he will be broken, though not by human power.
Then I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for several days. Afterward I got up and performed my duties for the king, but I was greatly troubled by the vision and could not understand it.” Daniel 8: 19-25, 27
This “fierce” king refers to both Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Antichrist at the end of human history. The Prince of princes is God himself. No human power could defeat the king whom Daniel saw in his vision, but God would bring him down. Antiochus IV Epiphanes went insane and died in Persia in 164 B.C. God’s power and justice will prevail, so we should never give up our faith or lose hope, no matter how powerful God’s enemies may seem… that’s great advice…never give up!