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It Is Written

John Bradshaw

Daniel the Prophet: Judgment and Justice

Coming up next, please stay tuned for It Is Written, presented by Pastor John Bradshaw.

Thanks for joining me on It Is Written and our continuing series on the book of Daniel.

The book of Daniel shifted in chapter 7 from narrative to visionary.

And in chapter 8, there's another shift, from Aramaic to Hebrew.

While Daniel 1 was written in Hebrew, most of chapter 2 through the end of chapter 7 was written in Aramaic, before switching back to Hebrew for chapters 8-12.

Daniel isn't the only bilingual book in the Bible.

Parts of Ezra are written in Aramaic, while most of the book is written in Hebrew, although in Ezra, the Aramaic parts of the book were letters and documents that were originally written in Aramaic.

The Bible writers simply opted to retain the original language and not translate them.

But there's no simple or obvious reason for the language switch in Daniel.

The languages follow the structure of the book, roughly, but not completely.

The most likely reason is that Aramaic was the official language of Babylon at the time Daniel was there.

It seems that Daniel simply used Hebrew for the parts of the book that were directed more at Israel, and Aramaic, the common international language of the time, for the parts of the book intended for more general consumption.

We have seen that Daniel 7 introduces us to beasts into the last days Antichrist.

It enlarges on Daniel 2 and the statue witnessed by an ancient king in his dramatic dream.

But instead of metals, we see in Daniel 7 4 beasts.

Daniel utilizes animals as symbols to represent nations as they rise and fall.

And new information is given to us as we're introduced to the Little Horn, a power that will have great influence down through history and near the end of time.

Arriving now in Daniel 8, we get to what might be the heart of the entire book.

The name Daniel means, God is my judge, and after having introduced the concept of judgment in Daniel 7, Daniel brings us back to it in Daniel chapter 8.

In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.

And I saw in a vision, and it came to pass when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam.

And I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai." Elam was the capital of the ancient Elamite Empire, in what is now Iran.

The palace in Shushan is the setting for the book of Esther.

In fact, archaeologists have located the ruins of the very palace Esther was in when she made her bold stand before the king at that time.

You'll notice there's no mention of Babylon in this vision.

The sequence starts with Medo-Persia, indicating Babylon is about to pass off the global stage.

Daniel said, "...then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had 2 horns.

And the 2 horns were high, but 1 was higher than the other.

I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward, so that no beasts might As in Daniel 2 and 7 we're looking here at nations.

They're represented again by animals, but animals different to those used in Daniel 7.

First a ram, and then, "...and as I was considering, behold, an he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground.

And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

The goat runs at the ram in the fury of his power.

And the goat, full of anger, the Bible says, smote the ram and break his 2 horns.

And there was no power in the ram to stand before him.

But he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him.

And there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

Therefore the he-goat waxed very great, and when he was strong the great horn was broken, and for it came up 4 notable ones toward the 4 winds of heaven.

A ram with 2 horns, then a male goat which collides with the ram in spectacular fashion.

If we're following the pattern outlined in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, and we are, the ram would be the kingdom of Medo-Persia which was depicted as a bear raised up on 1 side with 3 ribs in its mouth.

They represent Lydia, Babylon and Egypt, 3 powers the bear conquered on its way to dominance.

1 chapter over in Daniel 8, it has 2 horns, again because it was a joint kingdom.

The goat that came against it would be Greece, the next great kingdom on the world stage.

The notable horn between his eyes is Alexander the Great, And the goat conquers the ram.

Now, to double check that, you look at verse 20, which identifies the ram as Medo-Persia, and verse 21, which says, The rough goat is the king of Greecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

Alexander the Great is a remarkable character.

His father, Philip, united most of the city-states in Greece under his rule by 338 BC.

Alexander came to the throne of Macedonia in 336, distinguishing himself as an effective leader by putting down uprisings in Greece and Thrace, which was north and east of Greece, taking in what today we'd refer to as parts of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Alexander had his eyes on conquering the Persian Empire, something his father had wanted to do.

The Persian Empire was vast, but like the leopard Daniel used to symbolize him and his kingdom, Alexander was not only fierce, but fast.

The goat is represented as moving so fast it isn't even touching the ground, as though it's flying almost.

In 334 BC, Alexander entered Persian territory with only 35, 000 men and little in the way of finances.

After a succession of victories in the eastern Mediterranean region, including taking Egypt and founding the city of Alexandria, he set his sights on Mesopotamia, the heart of the Persian Empire.

After defeating the Persians at Arbala, basically Mosul in modern-day Iraq, incidentally the site of Nineveh, where Jonah went, Alexander was in charge of the world's greatest empire at the age of just 25.

He fought and conquered in Lebanon, and Pakistan, and Turkey, and Uzbekistan.

Alexander's empire stretched from Greece to India, which is where at what's now known as the Beas River in Punjab state, his troops told him they weren't willing to go any further.

Now, you'll notice the Bible is full of historical references.

While it's a spiritual book, a revelation from God to the human family, God anchors the Bible in history and geography.

God connects His Word with historical events and historical figures, underscoring the believability of Scripture.

The Bible is linked to actual events, actual places, and actual people.

There isn't another holy book like it in existence.

I understand people dismissing the Bible because of bad experiences, or for cultural reasons and so forth.

But you can't dismiss the Bible because it isn't true, because it is, demonstrably.

The sequence in Daniel 2 and 7 has been Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and then Rome.

Here in Daniel 8 we see the ram, Medo-Persia, the goat, Greece, and now a little horn.

Notice verse 8, Therefore the he-goat waxed very great, and when he was strong the great horn was broken, and for it came up 4 notable ones toward the 4 winds of heaven.

Verse 9, And out of 1 of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

The little horn came out of 1 of what exactly?

Did the little horn come out of 1 of the 4 horns?

Contextually, The little horn came out of 1 of the winds of heaven.

We identified it in our study of Daniel 7, but let's look at this again.

It's important we understand who it is not.

It's been said that this little horn is Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV, a Greek king who ruled a portion of the Greek empire for 10 or so years.

Here's why the little horn can't be Antiochus Epiphanes.

Medo-Persia is described as great in Daniel 8 verse 4, while Greece is described in verse 8 as very great.

Exceeding great is greater than great and greater than very great, meaning the little horn must be greater than both Medo-Persia and Greece.

Antiochus was not greater than the Persians and the Greeks.

The Little Horn plucked up 3 nations by the roots.

In Daniel 7, the Little Horn is said to rule for 1, 260 days, which is 1, 260 years.

Also, it's said later in the chapter that the little horn was to rise up in the latter time of their kingdom.

The kingdom from which Antiochus rose had more than 20 kings over roughly a 250 year period.

He was the 8th, meaning he did not rise up in the latter time of their kingdom.

Antiochus was a rascal, that's for sure, and he was something.

He desecrated the Jewish temple by sacrificing a pig on its altar.

He set up a statue of Zeus, the chief deity of the Greek pantheon, in the temple.

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Daniel the Prophet: Judgment and Justice

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