Daniel's vision of the ram and goat. Daniel chapter 8.

I am doing a quick study on Daniel chapter 8. If you know my writing, then you know that quick is a relative term for me, as this is eight pages long.

I took this study on because a teacher, whom I thought to be very knowledgeable in end times prophecy, seems to have changed his stance. To be straight, Joel Richardson wrote a book called The Islamic Antichrist, and it caused the prophetic books of the Bible to come alive for me. Suddenly, everything made sense. Having studied my Bible in light of this brother's books, I was able to respond when a pastor of mine told me, “No one can understand the Revelation!” I responded firmly with, I can, and I am no longer challenged by any of the prophetic books like Daniel or Ezekiel. So, Joel Richardson must have been experiencing tremendous pressure, for he asked his readers if there was anything they had read that gave them hostile or negative reactions toward Muslims. 

Inside myself, I heard this resounding answer, YES!, and I garnered that feeling from you, brother. 

Now, the reality of his question is that he perceived a growing level of animosity and was hoping that he had not fed into that. Think about this response to information and the reaction to such, when you learn that the most logical person to fulfill the roles of Antichrist and false prophet are Muslims, or, at least, strict followers of the Quran. 

Simply put, if you are a follower of the Quran, then you are a Muslim, and if you are a Muslim, then you know that the Quran demands that you follow the guidelines outlined in the Quran. 

For us naive Christians, who know little to nothing about the Quran, there are older passages that speak of respect and peace, but others have changed the rules, added newer passages, and made it clear that newer passages superseded the older ones, and that the newer ones call for an unquestioning elimination of those who do not bow to Mohamed, particularly, those of the book – the Bible.

So it comes across as though this author has now disavowed any knowledge of his first work, and, to make matters worse, I recently began to listen to him, as he spoke about his changing understanding of Daniel chapter 8 and how it did not speak to the future. 

To be honest, I cut him off before I became too disillusioned, and because of that, I cannot outrightly say that he is leading people into false teaching. I will say that what I heard prompted me to look, once again, at what Daniel tells us in chapter 8, and here it is.

Daniel's vision of the Ram and the Goat

Daniel 8:1-2 NET. "In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me previously. In this vision, I saw myself in Susa, the citadel, which is located in the province of Elam. In the vision, I saw myself at the Ulai Canal."

Daniel tells us that he has had a vision (again) after the previous vision. Do a quick check, and you will find that Daniel has had two previous visions. In Daniel 2:9, God has revealed to him the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. This dream is immensely significant, as it tells us who the first three kingdoms are.

Daniel 7:2 shows Daniel interpreting the dream of King Belshazzar. The passage reads like this:

Daniel 7:2-3 NET. "Daniel explained: "I was watching in my vision during the night as the four winds of the sky were stirring up the great sea. (3) Then four large beasts came up from the sea; they were different from one another."

These beasts are empires, with their associated rulers. 

Daniel 7:4 gives us a description that sounds much like the years that Nebuchadnezzar spent without any sense, and when his sense returned.

If you compare the fourth beast to Nebuchadnezzar's statue dream, there are some remarkable similarities.

Daniel 7:7 NET. "After these things, as I was watching in the night visions, a fourth beast appeared -- one dreadful, terrible, and very strong. It had two large rows of iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and anything that was left it trampled with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that came before it, and it had ten horns."

Daniel 2:33 NET. Its legs were of iron; its feet were partly of iron and partly of clay.

Most pairs of feet have ten toes.

Daniel 8:3 NET. I looked up and saw a ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long, but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one.

The ram with two horns is soon explained in Daniel 8:20

Daniel 8:20 NET. The ram that you saw with the two horns stands for the kings of Media and Persia.

Pay attention to this aspect of verse three, as this begins to play a role in the identification of the fourth beast.

" Its two horns were both long, but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee has this to say about these horns

“The higher came up last." In other words, the horn representing Media came up first when Gobryas, the Median general, destroyed Babylon. Then later, the Persian monarchs gained the ascendancy over the Medes and took the great empire to its highest peak. This ram, then, with its two horns and one horn more prominent than the other, is the Medo-Persian Empire with the Persians being in the ascendancy.”

From Dr. John Gill

“a ram, which had two horns; a symbol of the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, signified by the two horns, Dan_8:20, an emblem of power and dominion, and sometimes used to signify kings and kingdoms; see Dan_7:24 and these as united in one monarchy, under one monarch, Cyrus, and continued in his successors unto the times of Alexander; and therefore called "a ram", or "one ram" (m), as in the original; and which in sound has some likeness to Elam or Persia: and this kingdom or monarchy may be signified by it, partly because of its strength and power, and partly because of its riches, as some think, as well as because it is a fighting creature, and it may be chiefly because this monarchy was mild and kind, and gentle to the Jewish nation: and it is very remarkable, that, according to Ammianus Marcellinus (n), the ram was the royal ensign of the Persians; whose kings used to wear for a diadem something made of gold, in the shape of a ram's head, set with little stones:”

Dr. Gill, in the paragraph above, states that Daniel 7:24 demonstrates these kings as a unified monarchy/kingdom.

Illustration 1: The Persian Empire, about 500 B.C. From the Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1923/1926

Daniel 8:4 CJB  "I saw the ram pushing to the west, north, and south; and no animals could stand up against it; nor was there anyone that could rescue from its power. So it did as it pleased and became very strong."

As we can see from the map above, the Persian empire was very extensive.

Daniel 8:5 CJB  "I was beginning to understand, when a male goat came from the west, passing over the whole earth without touching the ground. The goat had a prominent horn between its eyes."

Many understand this male goat to be Alexander the Great, of the Grecian Empire – they seemed to be unstoppable. The singular horn then indicates one ruling body, Alexander.

Daniel 8:6 CJB  "It approached the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the river, and charged it with savage force."

“It” would be Alexander's troops attacking the Medo-Persian empire.

Daniel 8:7 CJB  "I watched as it advanced on the ram, filled with rage against it, and struck the ram, breaking its two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against it. It threw the ram to the ground and trampled it down, and there was no one that could rescue it from the goat's power."

The fact that it was powerless to stand, and that there was no one who could rescue it, does NOT mean that all persons were obliterated.

Daniel 8:8 CJB  "The male goat then became extremely strong; but when it was strong, the big horn was broken, and in its place arose what appeared to be four horns in the directions of the four winds of heaven."

The bighorn was Alexander, but the four horns that arose in its place were Alexander's four generals, and they took the Grecian kingdom as far as they could.

Daniel 8:9 NASB "Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land."

Out of the four, came two: the Seleucid kingdom to the North, and the Ptolemaic kingdom to the South. Out of the Seleucid kingdom came Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He is the one who is responsible for the desecration of the temple. The Beautiful land is Israel.

Daniel 8:10-11 NASB "It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down. (11) It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host, and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down."

To be honest, verses 10 and 11 are difficult, that is, until we consider the role of Antiochus in Israel's history. The problem here is that most of this information is not available to us in approved scripture.

This might seem like an odd conversation to many of you, but it took on a whole new meaning one day when I tried to have a conversation with a family at church that I had never spoken with before. The husband seemed taken aback that I would even try to discuss something biblical. He told me that we should only discuss things that are in the Bible. I responded back with, it's funny you should say that, for during the time of Herod, an entrepreneurial Jew, noticed that the law in Deuteronomy listed very specific items that would become ceremonially unclean; however, it never listed granite, and so they devised a method of lathing cups, bowls, and jugs from granite. The advantage here is that the granite dinnerware would never be deemed unclean and, therefore, unusable. This was such a novel idea that it became a standard and exists to this day. 

Does scripture tell us that, and therefore make it valid? 

Not exactly, but then there is that amazing moment in time, when Jesus, the tektōn son, ordered the servants at the Jewish wedding to fill up the stone vessels with water. We do not know if the servants were Gentiles or not, but if they had been, and the vessels had not been made of granite, those vessels would have been instantly made unclean by their touch and unusable. Did Jesus know the vessels were granite? Apparently, he did, and that is where this point of saying, he was a tektōn son, comes into play; for you see, a tektōn is the Greek word for a craftsman, and a craftsman could even apply to a poet. The scripture does not say that Joseph was a carpenter; it says he was a craftsman. He may well have been a craftsman with granite. Considering that a granite quarry was found just a half-mile outside of Nazareth, it could easily have been a place where Jesus learned a trade, lathing the very granite vessels that were at this party. Now, should I ignore outside information, especially when it paints a more accurate picture of the scene? No.

Verses 10-12 of Daniel chapter 8 are very clearly defined when they are read in 1Macabees 1:44-64, and in 2Macabees 4:13-17.

Suddenly, Daniel 8 takes a turn toward the future, which is about the time in which we live.

Daniel 8:13-14 NASB "Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, "How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?" (14) He said to me, "For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored."

In Matthew's gospel, it is recorded that the disciples, upon leaving the temple with Jesus, turned and pointed out the outstanding architecture and construction materials that made up the temple to Jesus. Jesus had his mind on other things and replied with this.

Matthew 24:1-2 NASB "Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. (2) And He said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down."

Interesting how Daniel 9 tells us that from the order to rebuild Jerusalem until the time of the Messiah, it would be 490 years. That is equal to 70 weeks of years. 483 of those years have transpired. There is nothing to prevent that seventieth week of years from taking place and bringing this all to an end, and yet we are still here. Are you ready?

It is almost as if there is nothing left to do but flip the switch, and I assure you, it will feel like it. And then, the church will be caught away.

Daniel 8:15-18 NLT  "As I, Daniel, was trying to understand the meaning of this vision, someone who looked like a man stood in front of me.  (16)  And I heard a human voice calling out from the Ulai River, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of his vision.”  (17)  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.”  (18)  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."

Gabriel tells Daniel, understand, for the vision is for the time of the end.
The time of the end is a relative term. To the Jews who are looking for the Messiah (still), this can only happen when He comes riding back onto the scene on His white horse, as the angry judge of the earth. To the church, the time of the end applies to the catching away of the church, and others still see this as the outpouring of God's wrath upon the earth.

In all of the above cases, none apply to Daniel.

Daniel 8:19 NASB "He said, 'Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end."

Much like the disciples, who asked Jesus two specific questions, Daniel is going to get an answer about a very detailed time frame. Another translation tells us,

Daniel 8:19 NLT  "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."

Perhaps you didn't catch the difference. One calls the last seven-year period the indignation, while the NLT appropriately calls it “the time of wrath.” There really is no difference, but it is easy to assign some bluster to the word indignation and still have no action added to it. I see this nonsense all the time with my grandchildren. Wrath, on the other hand, includes a good whipping. Webster's dictionary defines indignation as 1. Anger or extreme anger mingled with contempt, disgust, or abhorrence. Most certainly, these last seven years on earth will be all of the above.

Gabriel tells Daniel, “what you have seen pertains to the very end of time.” The NASB states, “it pertains to the appointed time of the end.” We have spoken of this before, but many get very confused and cannot make a distinction between the end of the seven-years and the coming of Christ for His church.
Revelation 14:7 speaks of that very time when God will come and sit as judge over the earth. Revelation 19 gives a detailed description of what He will look like when He comes.
But if you are looking for a heavily detailed description of Jesus in His return for His church, you won't find much. Here is what we do have.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 NASB (14) "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. (15) For this, we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. (16) For the Lord, Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord."

Titus 2:11-14 NASB "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, (12) instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, (13) looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, (14) who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."

Revelation, chapters 1-3, speaks of the church age, that time in which we live. This is an era that began when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, ascended into the heavens, and sent the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, teach, and comfort us. Chapter three of Revelation ends by talking about the Laodicean church, the last of the seven personifications of the church. 

With that, Revelation chapter 4 opens with these words, “after these things,” and thus begins the seven-years of wrath, and the wrath of God being poured out upon the earth.

Thus begins an explanation, by Gabriel, of Daniel's vision.

Daniel 8:20 NASB "The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia."

When Daniel interpreted the statue for Nebuchadnezzar, he said, you, oh king, are that head. With that information, we know, with precision, how the four kingdoms begin. 

In Daniel chapter five, we see Belshazzar now ruling as king. The chain of events takes us from Nebuchadnezzar to Armel-Marduk, and then to Nabonidus (Belshazzar), but these are all considered the Babylonian kingdom. 

The kingdom changed hands when Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two. (Daniel 5:31). Daniel enjoyed success in Babylonian captivity through the reign of Cyrus, the king of Persia.

A bit of information concerning Darius the Mede. 

There is no known historical character named Darius before Darius the Great, who is too late to fit in here. 

Since Cyrus became ruler when Babylon fell, some have identified Darius the Mede and Cyrus as one and the same (see Dan_6:28). The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. Copyright © 2000 by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas.

Daniel 8:21 NASB "The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king."

We just covered that information. So we transition from the Babylonian to the Medo-Persian, to the Grecian Empire, and Alexander.

Daniel 8:22 NLT  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.

Note how the verse tells us what the chain of events will be.

• The Grecian empire was ruled by one man, Alexander. In a relatively short time, he dies, and the kingdom splits into four, ruled by four of Alexander's generals.
• Now the Grecian kingdom is in four parts. (1) Seleucus, who had Syria and Babylon; (2) Lysimachus, who had Asia Minor; (3) Ptolemy, who had Egypt; and (4) Cassander, who had Greece.

We know from the beginning of our look into Daniel eight that the four horns end up being two.

Daniel 8:3 NLT  "As I looked up, I saw a ram with two long horns standing beside the river. One of the horns was longer than the other, even though it had grown later than the other one."

These two horns were the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires.

Daniel 8:23-25 NLT  “At the end of their rule, when their sin is at its height, a fierce king, a master of intrigue, will rise to power.  (24)  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.  (25)  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."

A quick stab at verses 23, 24 for a moment.
The Contemporary English Version tells us this: “when these rulers have become as evil as possible, their power will end, and then a king who is dangerous and cannot be trusted will appear.”
This guy has a variety of descriptives attributed to him: a king of fierce countenance, full of pride, and an arrogant king. These titles could fit a variety of people or ideologies.

Dan_8:25. stern-faced king. The description in verse Dan_8:23-25 pertains to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who reigned from 175 to 164 B.C. His wisdom was corrupted for use in hypocrisy, intrigue, double-crossing, and treachery. For a summary of his actions, see comments on Dan_11:21-39.
[The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. Copyright © 2000 by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas]

Dan_11:21. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164). Antiochus IV, the brother of Seleucus, had been in Rome as a political hostage and was just returning (he got as far as Athens) when the assassination of his brother took place. His goals included converting Jerusalem into a center for Greek culture and helping the Jews to make the transition to becoming Greek citizens with Greek ways. The intrigues that he became involved in were many, but certainly, the main one concerning Jerusalem was how he handled the high priesthood (see next entry). The text calls him contemptible, and indeed he was. His title “Epiphanes” means “god manifest”—but the people preferred “Epimanes”—“madman.” While he was certainly a member of the royal line, the throne should have gone to Seleucus's son, Demetrius (who instead was taking Antiochus's place as a hostage in Rome). Another intrigue concerned the throne. He set up a co-regency with his nephew (a minor), who, a few years later, was murdered.
[The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. Copyright © 2000 by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas]

While Antiochus fulfills the prophecy in many ways, there is another that is to come.
"The holy people" refers to Israel. 

The slaughter of these people by Antiochus Epiphanes seems almost unbelievable. He was as bad as Hitler. However, he is merely an adumbration of the Antichrist who is coming, of whom it is said: "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations" (Rev_13:7).” Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Note: An adumbration is a shadow, a faint resemblance, or an imperfect representation of a thing.

Since Dr. McGee referenced Revelation 13:7, let's go there for a minute.

“and there was given to it to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and there was given to it authority over every tribe, and tongue, and nation.” (YLT)

If we were looking at Antiochus as the complete fulfillment:

• How does he move forward in time to fulfill Revelation 13:7?   He doesn't.
• Did Antiochus have authority over every tribe, tongue, and nation?   The answer is NO.
• Could we say that Antiochus was able to make war with the saints and to overcome them? Again, the answer is NO.

Then it seems, for legitimacy's sake, I have to ask if God refers to His people as saints. 

Look for a reference to saints in the Old Testament, and you will only find it used twice in the Psalms and again in Daniel's writings. In Daniel, it is always used in the future tense. So let's consider what David said.

Psalms 16:3 NASB "As for the saints who are in the earth, They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight."

The word saints are the Hebrew word qadosh, which means sacred, holy: - consecrated.

While there may have been a few, like Moses and Joshua, only names like Samuel or Elijah come to mind, and we are certainly not talking about David – he was a man of flaws. 

But what do I learn about the character of God when I read about these people? 

God looks at people with different eyes than we do. The Word of God, which I must consider in its entirety, does not portray Israel as saints. If it helps to understand, I give you the Complete Jewish Bible translation.

Psalms 16:2-4 "I said to Adonai, 'You are my Lord; I have nothing good outside of you."  (3)  The holy people in the land are the ones who are worthy of honor; all my pleasure is in them.  (4)  Those who run after another god multiply their sorrows; to such gods, I will not offer drink offerings of blood or take their names on my lips." (CJB)

Pay attention to these words: “The holy people in the land are the ones who are worthy of honor; all my pleasure is in them.” The potential is there, but the predominant theme throughout the Old Testament comes across like this:

Deuteronomy 1:35 'Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers,"

So, yes, Antiochus has an immediate impact, but certainly not a future one.

However, there is one more aspect, and we see it in Revelation 13:7 when it says,

“and there was given to it to make war with the saints.”

What is God trying to say when He calls this “beast” an “it”? 

Perhaps God is trying to tell us that there is an evil spiritual entity that is migrating through powerful world leaders.

Let's stay on Daniel 8:25 for a minute.

Daniel 8:25 CJB  "He will succeed through craftiness and deceit, become swelled with pride, and destroy many people just when they feel the most secure. He will even challenge the prince of princes; but, without human intervention, he will be broken."

This personification of evil, whom the Quranic verses indicate will be the “Jesus” they are looking for,

He:

• “will succeed through craftiness and deceit,”
• Will “become swelled with pride,”
• Will “...destroy many people just when they feel the most secure.”
• “He will even challenge the prince of princes.”
• “but, without human intervention, he will be broken.”Having watched enough war movies, I know that the bad guy always gets taken out. Yes, this typically means killed in a dramatic fashion, but that is not necessarily the case here; this is one of those times when the terminology is inappropriate, for this false prophet will not be slain, but dramatically disposed of, almost as if some crane-like device reaches down and picks up both the beast and the false prophet.

Daniel 8:26-27 NLT  “This vision about the 2,300 evenings and mornings is true. But none of these things will happen for a long time, so keep this vision a secret.” 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 claims he could not understand. Perhaps that is because he did not need to understand, but the logic in that premise is thin, at best. But it is clear to me that WE were meant to understand. Read Daniel 12:10 in the NLT for it says, "Only those who are wise will know what it means."
In Christ, we are wise.

He was reading a fictional story based on Revelation 13.

Recently I turned to one of my “Christian” radio stations and heard Dr. David Jeremiah reading from his fictional book, which, he told us, is based upon Revelation 13. I had missed the introduction that he would have usually given, and so I cannot inform you which book Dr. Jeremiah was reading from; a strong possibility could be “Agents of the Apocalypse: A Riveting Look at the Key Players of the End Times.” Since Dr. Jeremiah wrote this book also, and it speaks of the Antichrist, a key player in the apocalypse, then it would be a logical assumption.

Here is the problem; although he is reading a fictional story, he tells us that it is based on scripture. The immediate inclination, on the part of the naive, is to think that what he is saying is exactly the way this particular scenario will play out. Dr. Jeremiah, as I entered the radio program, was talking about a character, that in just a matter of minutes, is demonstrated to be the Antichrist.

I get it that most choose not to believe how gullible we are so I will give you a powerful example.

In 1938 Orson Welles produced and introduced a radio production of H.G. Wells novel “The War of the Worlds.” “The one-hour program began with the theme music for the Mercury Theater on the Air and an announcement that the evening's show was an adaptation of The War of the Worlds. Orson Welles then read a prologue which was closely based on the opening of H.G. Wells' novel but modified to place the story's setting in 1939. The next half hour of the broadcast was presented as a typical evening of radio programming being interrupted by a series of news bulletins. The first few bulletins cut into a program of dance music and describe a series of odd explosions observed on Mars. The episode became famous for causing panic among its listening audience, though the scale of that panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners. The program has become famous for supposedly tricking some of its listeners into believing that a Martian invasion was actually taking place. The illusion of realism was furthered because the Mercury Theater on the Air was a sustaining show without commercial interruptions, and the first break in the program came almost 30 minutes after the introduction. Popular legend holds that some of the radio audience may have been listening to The Chase and Sanborn Hour with Edgar Bergen and tuned in to "The War of the Worlds" during a musical interlude, thereby missing the clear introduction that the show was a drama; however, contemporary research suggests that this happened only in rare instances.[3]:67–69
In the days after the adaptation, widespread outrage was expressed in the media. The program's news-bulletin format was described as deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the broadcasters and calls for regulation by the Federal Communications Commission.[2] Nevertheless, the episode secured Welles's fame as a dramatist.” (Sourced from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama))

When I turned on Dr. Jeremiah's radio program that day, he is introducing a character; based on the description, he easily could have been an Archbishop. Given permission to enter, the primary, fictitious characters office he steps forward and presents his case for a one world government and its one world religion. The person that we will soon understand to be the Antichrist responds with, excellent, as he refers to the Archbishop by name. I am glad you brought this up as it is something I feel strongly about; we need to talk about this more, but I must go ready myself for a critical, televised meeting. Hold your thought, and we will speak again about this matter. Within minutes of this meeting, the Antichrist character is shot in the head by an assassin. The doctors at the hospital declared him dead as there is no brain function and the Archbishop is called to the hospital room to say a prayer over the man. As the Archbishop begins to pray some standardized prayers over the deceased, the Antichrist character sits upright. Much to the surprise of everyone in the room the man who was dead only moments ago from an undeniable and severe head wound, now has no evidence of any injury to his head. With several short discussions, we find out that the plans are already in place to mark the citizens of the world in a manner that would cause all to be subject to this universal mark, and the “beast.”

While it makes for an exciting read, it is FICTION and must be looked at in that light alone.

Since Dr. Jeremiah informed his audience that the story is based in Revelation 13, then it behooves to study this out, and that is what we are going to do.

Revelation 13:1-2 NASB And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. (2) And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

Alright, in reading the first two verses, especially those which describe the beast, you should be asking, is there anything like this? The answer is a resounding NO unless the beast represents some other things.

Here is a massive clue for you, in attempting to “interpret” scripture, there is nothing new under the sun, and so you should be able to find comparable scriptures to help you understand. Do we have such a thing with this beast? YES!

Read Daniel 7: 1-8, and you will discover four kingdoms referred to as beasts; descriptions of the same animals that we see in Revelation 13, and the mention of horns and heads. The Jews gave considerable credence to prophetic patterns, and so should we.

In Revelation 13:3 we see one of the many heads sustain a head wound as though it had been killed.

Revelation 13:3 NASB I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;

As a child, I can remember, while on the playground at school, learning that our, then President, John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated, shot in the head. It seemed that the entire religious world watched and waited for him to come back to life; not because they thought he was evil, but because he was so well liked. He did not come back from the dead, and so life went on, and everyone went back to looking for the next potential Antichrist.

Another consideration for us. Daniel is one of the leading players when it comes to understanding the scheme of things in Revelation 13.

In Daniel chapter two Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. Daniel not only told the king what the dream was, but he explained what it meant. Daniel spoke in a language that the king could understand; in other words, he did not get all religious and spout high church theology. Daniel started by saying, “that head of gold is you oh king.” Gold represents the noblest position, and although Nebuchadnezzar may not have been the noblest representative for God, he is undoubtedly a resounding message to us all, as this first kingdom was the Babylonian empire.

If God's Word is true and logical, and it is, then it easy to assume such standards for the other kingdoms as well, and Daniel told us that there were to be three more. Daniel and history have helped us to understand.

In Daniel chapter five Nebuchadnezzar, we must assume, is dead and his son Belshazzar is now king.

We learn that Belshazzar gave a great party, and God saw fit to provide him with a great sign, handwriting on the wall. Daniel was eventually brought in to interpret, and this is what he read:

"This is the interpretation of the message: 'MENE'--God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. " 'TEKEL'--you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. " 'PERES'--your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians." (Daniel 5:26-28 NASB)

Clear cut evidence that the second empire, or head, is the Medo-Persian empire.

Wikipedia gives us this information:
In 334 BC after re-imposing control over the southern Greek City-States, Alexander began his invasion of the Persian Empire by conquering Asia Minor (Turkey), then Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. He then invaded Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), defeated the Persians at the Battle of Arbela (or Gaugamela) and conquered Babylon.

Thanks to history, we can understand that the third empire is the Grecian empire under Alexander's rule.

The Fourth empire is a bit of a mystery as the typical, but ill-conceived school of thought tries to tell us that we should be looking for a resurrected Roman Empire. The “evidence” they use to back their argument for this comes from Daniel chapter 9.

"Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. (Daniel 9:26 NASB)

Most attribute the title of “prince” to Antiochus Epiphanes, a Roman general who, desecrated the temple, but the scripture gives us every reason to believe that another temple (a third temple) will be built and that it once again will be desecrated.

Another argument is one that ignores the historical record given by both Josephus and Tacitus and attributes the destruction of the temple to the Roman army, an act in conflict with recorded history.

Josephus indicated that conscripted Assyrian troops, marching under the Roman flag, disobeyed commands from Titus to desist, and because of their violent hatred of the Jews, destroyed the temple. (Wars of the Jews, book 6 chapter 4.) This train of thought should help to undo the theory that we are looking for the Antichrist to come out of a restored Roman empire.

So what are we left with for options? Some common sense and history can help us figure that out.

After the death of Alexander, the Grecian empire dissolved under two remaining generals of Alexander, Ptolemy in the South (Egypt and Northern Africa), and Seleucid in North. The Seleucid empire took in the Assyrian empire which included the Babylonian empire, extended into Egypt, and North where they held allegiances with the Scythians of Asia and Southern Russia. Remnants of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires still exist today, as does the Assyrian empire under Islamic rule.

Since this head is NOT a man, although it is definite that a man will soon step up and try to lead whatever this entity is. What then are we talking about, an ideology such as Islam, a fallen angel/demon that controls blindsided nations and people? In 1924 the world thought they had killed off Islam and the damage the Ottoman Caliphate was causing. Only a fool would believe that the Caliphate is still dead. Hopefully, I have given you something logical to think about and therefore make a proper decision as to whom or what this head that sustains the mortal wound is.

Daniel chapter 11 - The Kings of the South and the North. Verses 1-4.

Let me apologize for the lack of posts, as I have been working on other things since delivering this bible study. Also, since getting advice from a friend who used to moderate a blog site, I have been conscious of the length. Initially, I intended to post all of chapter 11, but if you were to print it out, it would be twenty pages long. It took me three weeks to deliver. And, as you will see, it comes off as a rather intense history lesson. Consider the way God delivers information and how He speaks about the future. This is precisely why critics have found it easy to say, this was written after the fact. That is not the case, and I attempted to make it clear through timelines, explanations, and the interjection of historical aspects.  

Daniel chapter 11 - The Kings of the South and the North

A history of the Middle East from Darius to the future Antichrist. Daniel 11:1-34

Calvary Chapel Pastor David Guzik tells us, "This chapter contains one of the most specifically fulfilled prophecies of the Bible, predicting history over some 375 years and to the end of known time, with amazing accuracy.

Chuck Missler agrees with David Guzik when he says, "That the chapter is so specific, that many critics and scholars who deny supernatural revelation, have insisted that it is history, written after the fact, fraudulently claiming to be prophecy."

I realize we are working on chapter 11, but for the sake of understanding, How did Daniel 10 begin?

Daniel 10:1 In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia (550 -530BC), a message was revealed to Daniel.

By comparison, how does Daniel 11 start out?

Daniel 11:1 And in the first year of Darius the Mede (522-486BC), I stood to strengthen him and to provide protection for him.)

• in the first year of Darius the Mede (522-486BC),
  This is a chronological gap of over 25 years. While the statement, “in the first year of Darius the Mede,” might seem unimportant, Daniel gives us several clues. One clue speaks specifically to when this event happened. Since Darius the Mede is the third aspect of Nebuchadnezzar's statue, we know that a fourth empire is still coming. However, that fourth empire, if we attempt a chronological accounting, is Grecian. And, even then, after Alexander's death, there were four Grecian Generals who ruled in Alexander's stead. God, it seems, will bypass the four and focus on the lineage of the one that has the most significant impact on Israel.
• 
  
Timeline from Nebuchadnezzar to Darius

• “I stood to strengthen him and to provide protection for him.”

An alternate translation says I stood to be “an encouragement ...” This actually sounds like the character of Daniel.

• "Him" is a reference to Darius.

Isn't that odd? You would assume that God would be like us and only take care of His own. But, who is to say that Darius does not belong to God as well.

In Isaiah, it says that God sent Israel to Babylon.

Isaiah 43:14 NASB Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, "For your sake I have sent to Babylon, And will bring them all down as fugitives, Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice.

In Jeremiah, Israel is told that they will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 20:4 NASB "For thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and while your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will give over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away as exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.

Who arose or stood to strengthen him?

In Daniel 10:19,20 we established that Gabriel was speaking, and may well be the speaker here. However, if this is Daniel speaking, in what ways could Daniel have sought or provided protection for Darius?

While we have certainly perceived Daniel to be a purveyor of wisdom, to several captor kings, being a protector has never been implied. One thing you need to keep in mind is that Daniel has, while in Babylon, been under subjection to a series of kings that were willing to end your life in a hurry, especially if you were a captive slave.

Four more kings over Persia before Alexander the Great.

Daniel 11:2: "And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then, a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of Greece."

• "And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia.”
  
  

  Daniel 2:31-45. Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold, Cyrus the Mede, the shoulders of silver, and Darius, the Persian, the chest of bronze.

  
  
  Because the thighs and legs are made of iron and came after the Persian empire, it seems this is another.
  
  

  three kings. Note: These were, Cambyses, son of Cyrus; Smerdia the Magian impostor, and Darius Hystaspes. The Ultimate Cross-Reference Treasury

Matthew Henry's commentary tells us:

He (Gabriel) foretells the reign of four Persian kings (Dan_11:2): Now I will tell thee the truth, that is, the true meaning of the visions of the great image, and of the four beasts, and expound in plain terms what was before represented by dark types. (1.) There shall stand up three kings in Persia, besides Darius, in whose reign this prophecy is dated, Dan_9:1. Mr. Broughton makes these three to be Cyrus, Artaxasta or Artaxerxes, called by the Greeks Cambyses, and Ahasuerus that married Esther called Darius son of Hystaspes. To these three, the Persians gave these attributes - Cyrus was a father, Cambyses a master, and Darius a hoarder. So Herodotus. (2.) There shall be a fourth, far richer than they all, that is, Xerxes, of whose wealth the Greek authors take notice. By his strength (his vast army, consisting of 800,000 men at least) and his riches, with which he maintained and paid that vast army, he stirred up all against the realm of Greece. Xerxes's expedition against Greece is famous in history as the shameful defeat that he met. He who when he went out was the terror of Greece, in his return was the scorn of Greece.

With the understanding that we are using Darius as the baseline, Gabriel's comments logically pertain to those who come after Darius. However, we have already seen that God works outside our time frame, and He has little concern for chronology. We will see that this also pertains to a distant future; that future is now.

Timeline from Nebuchadnezzar to Darius

"There were several kings of Persia after Xerxes, such as Artaxerxes Longimanus, Darius Nothus, Artaxerxes Mnemon, Ochus, and Darius Codomanus, but these are not enumerated because the real ground of the invasion of Alexander, the thing which connected him with the affairs of Persia, did not occur in their reign, but it was the invasion of Greece by Xerxes." Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Daniel 11:2: “... he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.”

• • Xerxes did just that.
    The LASB has an intriguing comment: "The fourth Persian king may have been Xerxes I (also called Ahasuerus, 486-465 B.C.), who launched an all-out effort against Greece in 480 BC.
    This is the same king we see in the story of Esther.

Esther 1:1 - "The following events happened in the days of Ahasuerus. (I am referring to that Ahasuerus, who used to rule over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces extending all the way from India to Ethiopia." ) NET Bible

“A mighty King, Alexander the Great” Dan 8:21

Daniel 11:3 "And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.

Mighty is the Hebrew word gibbôr, which means powerful; by implication, warrior, tyrant. The disconcerting aspect of this word is that it was also used of the Nephaliim. This might imply that Alexander was also a giant.

Daniel 7:6 "After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

The beast having four heads is another clue that takes us back to Alexander's generals, who take over after his death.

Focusing on the word dominion.

H7985 - soltan: An Aramaic masculine noun meaning dominion, sovereignty. Most frequently, this noun is used in conjunction with God, showing that He has dominion over everything that exists (Dan_4:3 [3:33]; Dan_4:34 [31]). His dominion is greater than that of a person's many ways, one being that it is an everlasting dominion that can never be destroyed (Dan_7:14). This noun can also be used of kings (Dan_4:22 [19]). It was used in Daniel's dream of the four beasts to describe the dominion they have (Dan_7:6, Dan_7:12, Dan_7:26). Much less frequently, this word can be used in the concrete sense of a physical kingdom (Dan_6:26 [27]).

Daniel 8:5-8 "While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. 6) He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath. 7) I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power. 8) Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven."

Note that none could rescue the ram from his power. The large horn represents Alexander's reign. Broken, it was replaced by his four generals.

Daniel 8:20-21 "The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia. 21) "The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

I happen to believe the two horns represent the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires, the last of the Alexandrian empire.

The Division of Alexander's/Grecian empire into four kingdoms. Dan 8:22

Daniel 11:4 "But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to others besides them."

Alexander only ruled for 13 years (336-323BC.)

From Wikipedia: “According to a Babylonian astronomical diary, Alexander died between the evening of June 10 and the evening of June 11, 323 BC, at the age of thirty-two. This happened in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon. Proposed causes of Alexander's death included alcoholic liver disease, fever, and strychnine poisoning. According to the University of Maryland School of Medicine report of 1998, Alexander probably died of typhoid fever (which, along with malaria, was common in ancient Babylon). In the week before Alexander's death, historical accounts mention chills, sweats, exhaustion and high fever, typical symptoms of infectious diseases, including typhoid fever. [”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Alexander_the_Great]

Alexander's kingdom was parceled out to four generals, who were overtaken by Ptolemy to the south and Seleucus in the north.

• • “..though not to his own descendants.”

    From the IVPPBC: “Alexander died in 323BC, at the age of 33; a twenty-year struggle for succession ensued that eventually led to a four-way division of the empire. Two of those divisions were in the Aegean region (Cassander had Greece and Macedonia; Lysimachus had Thrace), while the other two divided up the Near East (Ptolemy had Egypt and Palestine; Seleucus had Syria, Mesopotamia and Persia). The Ptolemaic line is going to be represented by “the king of the South,” while the Seleucid line will be represented by “the king of the North.”