Zeal of the Lord
God gives Daniel a clear vision of exactly how all of gentile history is going to play out in chronological order, over the next 500 years before any of it happened.
Isaiah 9:6
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this
Zeal - great energy, enthusiasm, and intense devotion in pursuit of a cause, ideal, or objective
Apocalyptic dreams
Daniel 7
Daniel 7 is basically Daniel 2 from heaven’s perspective.
- Daniel 2 showed successive kingdoms as a magnificent statue.
- Daniel 7 shows those same kinds of empires as beasts.
- Then shows God judging them and giving everlasting dominion to the Son of Man.
What Daniel 7 says
Daniel has a night vision and sees four great beasts rise out of the sea.
The first beast is like a lion with eagle’s wings ---- Babylon
The second beast is like a bear ---- Medo-Persia
The third beast is like a leopard ---- Greece
The fourth beast has terrifying with iron teeth. —— Rome
It crushes & devours, and has ten horns.
Then Daniel sees another little horn rise among the ten.
Three horns are uprooted before it.
This little horn has eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great and arrogant things.
But there is a Kingdom from everlasting to everlasting that has not come yet:
Daniel 7:
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Daniel 8:
Daniel 8:1-2
In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. 2 In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal.
Daniel sees a ram with two horns. One horn is higher than the other, though it came up later. The ram charges west, north, and south, and no animal can stand against it.
Daniel 8:21
20 The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia.
The ram = Medo-Persia
The two horns represent the combined Medo-Persian power.
The horn that comes up later but becomes greater is Persia becoming dominant over Media.
Then a male goat comes from the west so quickly that it seems not to touch the ground. The goat has one large horn between its eyes.
Daniel 8:21
21 The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king.
The goat = Greece
The great horn represents the first great Greek king. Alexander the Great
The goat (Greece) attacks the ram, (Medo Persia) shatters its horns, and completely defeats it.
Then, at the height of the goat’s (Greece’s) power, the large horn is broken.
Daniel 8:8
8 The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off……..
Alexander died suddenly at 32 years old at the height of his power.
Daniel 8:8
….. and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.
After his death his generals divide his kingdom into 4.
Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, Ptolemy
Daniel 8:9-12
9 Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. 10 It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. 11 It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down. 12 Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.
This little horn:
- exalts itself,
- attacks God’s people,
- interferes with worship,
- removes the regular sacrifice,
- desecrates the sanctuary,
- throws truth to the ground,
- and prospers for a limited period.
Historically, this most clearly points to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a Seleucid ruler who reigned in the second century BC, 384 years after Daniels vision.
“Antiochus” was a family throne-name used repeatedly by rulers in the Seleucid dynasty.
IV means the fourth Seleucid ruler named Antiochus.
Epiphanes comes from the Greek epiphanēs, In his royal usage it meant “God Manifest”
- He brutally persecuted the Jewish people.
- He interfered with temple worship.
- He stopped the regular sacrifices.
- He desecrated the temple.
- He promoted pagan worship.
- And he tried to suppress Jewish religious practice.
Antiochus is often understood as a type or foreshadowing of the final Antichrist.
Daniel 8:
23 “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. 24 He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people. 25 He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.
The governmental point of Daniel is that all readers can identify:
A pattern and A promise.
The Pattern:
human beings and their kingdoms become violent beasts when they glorify their own power, and don't acknowledge God as their true king.
The Promise:
One day God will confront the Beast. He will rescue His world and His people and bringing His kingdom over all nations.
Daniel 2:44
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever
Daniel 7:13-14
13 “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Matthew 28:18-19
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Zechariah 14:9
9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
Promise:
- This present evil has a deadline
- He has told us beforehand what to watch for
