Daniel's Vision of the Ram and Goat, Part 1

Let's bow forward to prayer together. We'll begin. Father, thank you, Lord, for tonight. We are grateful for a chance to study the Bible. We realize, Lord, that there is so much to understand concerning your word. Our prayer, Lord, is that you'd open our eyes, that we might behold wonderful things out of your law, and that as we understand Daniel chapter eight, Lord, you'd help us to see the things that Daniel saw, that we might come to grips with the reality of the coming Antichrist, but yet more so, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will rule and reign forever, in your name, amen.

Daniel chapter eight, Daniel chapter eight, the vision of the ram and the goat, all right? Now, this is gonna be, to some degree, technical, but on the other aspect, it's gonna be very, very practical. In fact, we're studying prophecy, right? Now, prophecy promises to provide the most practical principles for the person in the pew. All right, you get that? Prophecy promises to provide the most practical principles for the person who sits in the pew. So, we're gonna give you those principles, some of them tonight.

We're gonna look at four major points, this week and next. We're gonna look at the introduction to the vision.

Then we're gonna look at the identification within the vision, the interpretation of the vision, and then the implications of the vision.

But we give you at least three of those implications this evening, and the rest of them next week, as you begin to understand how practical prophecy is, even as you live today. Now, think about this. It's been two years since Daniel received the vision in Daniel chapter seven, two years, all right? And I'm sure that during that time, he had conveyed to the people in captivity, the Jewish captives, different things about the vision, to help them understand about the coming of the Messiah, to give them hope, hope about the future, hope about their Messiah, hope in the fact that he was going to come again, but at the same time, help them to realize that there will be a lot of trouble, persecution, and anxiety for the nation itself.

And imagine Daniel trying to go back to those in captivity and explain to them chapter seven, four beasts that rise out of the sea, beasts that he understands some of them, but one, he has no idea what it's about. And then from that beast comes a little horn that wreaks havoc upon the Jewish people, trying to explain that to them, not having second Thessalonians chapter two, not having Matthew 24, not having Revelation 13, not having Revelation 17, he has none of that, but he's gonna explain this little horn that rises to great power and wreaks havoc upon the Jewish nation until Jesus comes again, the Messiah arrives in all of his glory and splendor.

They had to be bewildered. They had to scratch their heads. I mean, think about it. We have the revelation and we're scratching our heads trying to figure out what's going on. So imagine trying to explain to the Jews in captivity all these visions of beasts coming up out of the sea. And then trying to parallel that account with the second chapter of Daniel, as he would go back with them and help them to understand there was this great colossal image that Nebuchadnezzar had in his dream.

He asked me to come and interpret it for him, so I did. And so trying to interpret that dream to the nation of Israel, helping them to understand the different nations that will rise and be powerful, trying to explain to them 10 toes and being crushed by a stone. Well, the Lord gives another vision, Daniel 7, to add to that one to give more explanation to it. In fact, if you've got your chart, you can see it right here, right? To help you understand the parallels between Daniel 2 and Daniel chapter 7.

Very important to understand this because what's gonna happen is that throughout the whole second half of Daniel, Daniel 7 to 12, the main feature of his emphasis is this coming world ruler who's gonna rise to power.

And what he's going to do is he is going to wreak havoc upon the Jewish people until King Messiah arrives. And so in these two years, people are bewildered to say the least. Now, granted we're not there, so we don't know exactly how Daniel explained it to him, but I'm sure he just reiterated the vision, what the angel told him about what he saw in the vision. But now the Lord is gonna open his eyes even all the more. He's gonna focus on two nations of the four nations that rose up out of the sea, help them understand that before the coming final little horn, there's gonna be a big horn, and there's gonna be another little horn before the final horn, just so they don't get confused like you are right now, see?

So he wants to explain all this to them. And so what God's gonna do is open the eyes of Daniel so he can behold the wonderful things out of the law of God. Now, this is very important, why? Because when you think about what's happening with Russia and Ukraine right now, it's very easy for people to jump on the prophetic bandwagon and begin to talk about Ezekiel 38. We talked about this last week with our Q&A. But you have to stay in your lane, you gotta slow your roll and begin to understand what's happening.

You need to know the order of events. You need to know what's happening in the prophetic future in order for you to interpret things correctly. We know that what's happening in Ukraine at this point is horrific. It's not Ezekiel 38. We know that because although Israel is present in the land, Israel is not at peace in their land and Israel is not prosperous in their land. Those three things must happen according to Ezekiel chapter 38. So we know that Russia invading Ukraine is not Ezekiel 38, why?

Outside of that, there's also Russia coming down to invade Israel. Everything about prophecy centers on Israel. It centers on the Jewish nation. It centers on the chosen people of the living God. And Daniel's whole thing is about the times of the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles began when Israel went into captivity in Daniel one, verse number one, and that would last all the way until the Messiah comes again.

And so Daniel's vision is all about the times of the Gentiles not this week, but next week, we're gonna talk to you about the times of indignation. What is that? The times of the Gentiles speak about the fact that the Gentile nations are ruling over Israel. The times of indignation are specific times in which God is chasing Israel. And that began in the 730 BCs with the Assyrian captivity that leads you all the way to the end when Messiah comes again. But we'll talk to you more about that next week.

But you need to understand the dynamics of what is trying to be portrayed so you begin to understand all that's taken place. Having said that, you will need to understand that what's happening in Russia and Ukraine is at best a precursor to things that ultimately will happen. We know it's not Revelation 6 because the man of peace on the white horse has not come. That man of peace is gonna bring peace to a world. Well, that's not happening right now.

Well, the four horsemen of the apocalypse is first of all is the white horse that comes and brings peace.

The next horse is the red horse, which is all about war, right? And battles, assassinations, massacres. And you can see that happening right now, but there's also a time during the tribulation where there'll be wars and rumors of wars and all kinds of wars taking place. And there'll be all kinds of murders and death. But what follows? What follows wars? The black horse, Revelation 6. What's the black horse? Black horse is famine. Black horse is famine. Famine follows war. It always does. And you can begin to see the workings of that kind of thing in a very minute detail in this situation.

Think about Russia and Ukraine, right? The breadbasket of the world. 25% of all wheat comes from Russia and Ukraine. Well, if they can't export that wheat, guess who's affected? Egypt, Africa, who are completely dependent upon the export of wheat to their countries. And if that doesn't happen, they will suffer to some degree. Think about the export of fertilizer. The number one exporter of fertilizer, Russia.

The number two exporter of fertilizer, China, okay? And they far surpass any other exporter of fertilizer. Well, who needs that? Farmers, because they gotta grow everything. So if Russia decides not to export fertilizer to America, let's say, how do the farmers now fertilize their crops so the food will grow so that you can get your food in the grocery store, right? There's this domino effect that happens. We're not even talking about gas and oil, where Russia, once again, is the number one exporter of gas and oil.

So you see, you can begin to understand how famine follows war very easily. But in Revelation 6, it says these words about the famine. It says, when he broke the third seal, this is verse five, I heard the third living creature saying, come, I looked and behold, a black horse.

And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for denarii and three quarters of barley for denarii. And do not damage the oil and the wine. I mean, there's so much there. A denarii is a day's wage for one person to eat. So in order for you to get the barley, you must give your full day's wage. But you can't harm the oil, you can't harm the wine because the oil and wine are used for cooking and cleansing all that you cook and all that you eat.

And so famine follows war. And what follows famine? Death, that's the fourth horseman. When the land broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, come, I looked and behold an ashen horse or a pale horse. And he who sat on it had the name death and Hades. Was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beast of the earth. And so during the tribulation, what's gonna happen?

We got 7.75 billion people in the world as of 2020. Okay, this is 2022. So we're close to 8 billion people. A quarter of the world dies. That means 2 billion people die. Okay, because of famine, because of war, because of pestilence, because of wild beast. And if you're with us on our study of revelation, many, many years ago, we told you the wild beasts were rats because rats are that which do more harm to people than any other wild beast known to man. And so what you have is this whole situation that's in Russia and Ukraine, giving you just a very smidgen of famine, a smidgen of war, a smidgen of death, although many people are dying to show you that when the Antichrist rules and comes, it'll be unprecedented wars and famines and pestilence and murders and death.

But the good thing is, is that that hasn't happened yet. Okay, because you're still here and so am I. Okay, and I believe in a pre-tribulational rapture. And so did Jesus, by the way, just in case you wanted to know that. I believe what Jesus taught. So if Jesus taught a pre-trib rapture, so do I, right? So all that being said, when you come to Daniel 8, Daniel is giving a whole precursor to what that final horn from Daniel 7, the Antichrist, is gonna look like by using a big horn and a little horn to describe to you the character and nature of the final horn, the Antichrist, who's gonna come and rule the world.

Got that? That's where we're at. Hopefully you're with us. Let's look first of all at the introduction, okay?

Daniel 8, verses one and two. Daniel 8, verses one and two. In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, the king of vision appeared to me.

Daniel, I Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously. I looked in the vision, and while I was looking, I was in the citadel or the palace of Susa, which is in the province of Elam. And I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal. Now you read that and you think, who cares, right? Well, you need to care because Daniel has a vision. Daniel is still in Babylon. Belshazzar, this is the third year of Belshazzar's reign.

Okay? This is 551 BC. It's gonna be 12 years before the Medes and the Persians come and take Babylon. If you don't know by now, you must understand that the book of Daniel is not in chronological order. The order is as follows. Daniel one, two, three, four, Daniel seven, Daniel eight, Daniel five, Daniel nine, Daniel six, Daniel 10, 11, and 12. You must know the order. Because if you don't know the order, you get mixed up in terms of, wait a minute, I thought the Medes and the Persians invaded Babylon in chapter five.

And that's when Belshazzar was reigning. Well, now we're in Daniel eight, and this is the third year of Belshazzar's reign.

What's going on here? Why does the Lord mix it up like that? I don't know. I have no idea why he does it this way. He did, but it's for us to understand exactly what's happening. So when you look at this introduction, here is Daniel.

He has this vision, and he sees himself in this citadel in Susa. And it's by a canal. At the time that Daniel sees it, there is no canal because the Medes and the Persians built the canal. All it was was a river. That's why maybe yours says the river, you lie. Because there's going to be a canal there, but it's not gonna happen until another decade plus down the road. This is prophecy. This is a vision that Daniel has. And it's very important in Israel's history. It's very important to the history of the Jewish people.

Why? Well, if you read Nehemiah chapter one, you're gonna realize that when Nehemiah goes back to build the walls around Jerusalem, he is commissioned in the palace at Susa. Or maybe your text says Shushan. Okay, same place. He is commissioned from that palace. Well, that's not till 461 BC. And how about Esther? Esther was a queen who sat on a throne. Where was the throne? The capital of Persia, Susa. So this all plays a major part in Israel's future. But right now it's not there, but Daniel is transported into the future to be able to see what's exactly happening down the road.

This is all prophetic. And so this interprets or introduces to us what's going to happen next. It's gonna tell us what's going to unfold down the road. This is all prophecy. And so you need to see it as such. So Daniel articulates for us where he is transported to, what he saw, where he was, because at the time of writing, the Medes were the dominant power, not the Persians. And this place is located 230 miles east of Babylon and about 120 miles north of the Persian Gulf today. Elam is modern day Iran, so that you know where that is.

And so all this is prophetic. All this takes us into the future. And so it helps us understand what it is God is doing in the life of Daniel, that we might come to grips with all that's going on. Now listen to what it says. It says, I, Daniel. Look what it says over in verse number 15. When I, Daniel. Then over in verse number 27. Then I, Daniel. Three times it says, and I, Daniel. It's almost as if he is overwhelmed at the opportunity. It's written as such that Daniel is saying, I can't believe that I'm seeing what I'm seeing.

Me, I, Daniel. He's overwhelmed by the opportunity. He's overwhelmed with the responsibility. And that's because he's a very humble person. Daniel's not an arrogant man. He's a very humble person. But to think of the fact that Daniel has already received one vision, Daniel seven. He's already had the opportunity to interpret dreams, the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel two. Now he's receiving a subsequent vision that will give him more information about the one he had in chapter seven. It just comes two years later.

Listen, if you were here last week and you didn't understand, you come seven days later and you get more information. They're waiting two years to get more explanation. You're waiting seven days to come to the next Bible study to get more information. And on top of that, we have the whole revelation of God. We have so much more than Daniel had. And it should be for us an overwhelming experience. I, Jim, I, Sam, I, Betty, I, whoever, have received this revelation. And I had this wonderful opportunity to understand what God is doing.

And on top of that, I had the responsibility to share with others what God is teaching me. Can you believe that God is opening my eyes to see the beauty of his prophecy? Can you believe that God's opening my eyes that I understand who he is, the character and nature of my God? Can you believe that God's opening my eyes to understand the prophetic future and the coming of the Messiah and the rise of the Antichrist and how he's gonna be defeated, how God is supremely in control of everything? I, whomever you may be, should be absolutely overwhelmed with the truth of the scripture.

Daniel was. He doesn't have near the information you have. He's way, way, way behind when it comes to understanding everything. We, on the other hand, have all the revelation that God wants to give us. And we should be as overwhelmed as Daniel is. And if you're not, you gotta ask yourself the question, why? How is it I can read Daniel 8 or Daniel 7? The beast rising out of the sea and not be overwhelmed. Or the vision of the ram and the goat with a horn in between the eyes of the goat. Why doesn't that overwhelm me?

It overwhelmed Daniel. Why doesn't it overwhelm me? You see, we find ourselves not so interested in prophecy because we just don't think it's gonna happen in our lifetime. We know it's gonna happen because God said it's gonna happen. We just don't understand it's gonna happen in our lifetime. So we think, well, you know, it's somewhere down the road, but it might happen, but probably not. That's not living in expectation that our Lord could come at any moment. And we need to be ready. So you move from the introduction to number two, the identification of the vision.

Now, think about this. When Daniel, who Babylon is still ruling the world for all practical purposes, right? Nebuchadnezzar, yes, has been dead for a number of years, but Babylon's still in charge. And he would have never ever dreamt that Babylon would fall in his lifetime. He would never think about that. It was a fortress. It was a formidable enemy, a army. He would never think that they were going to fall, but the vision is gonna explain to him the subsequent nation that's gonna rise to power.

And so it might not ever cross his mind that they're going to fall. They are. And that's where the vision comes into play. Verse three. Then I looked in my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram, which had two horns, was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other. With the longer one coming up last. I saw the ram budding westward, northward, and southward, and no other beast could stand before him, nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.

Now you read that and you wonder, okay, what does that mean? And how do you know who that is? Well, remember I told you last week that when it comes to prophecy, if you just keep reading, the Lord will interpret what he's given you. We know that this is the Medo-Persian empire. Why? Because he tells us. Verse 20. The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia. See that? How hard is that to understand? It's not, but that's comes with the interpretation to the vision.

Daniel sees this ram, okay? Now in Daniel 7, it's a bear. In Daniel 8, it's a ram. In Daniel 7, there is a leopard. In Daniel 8, there's a male goat. Why? That's a good question. Why not just keep with the bear picture? Why not just keep with the leopard picture? Remember, they weren't necessarily bears and leopards. They were like a bear. They were like a leopard. They were like a winged lion, right? Doesn't say it was a bear, a leopard, or a winged lion. It says it was like that. But why does he use a ram and why does he use a he-goat?

What's so unique about that? Stay with me and you'll understand. But there's this ram. He has two horns. One is bigger than the other. But as he watches the ram, the smaller one begins to grow. As it grows, it overtakes the other horn and becomes bigger. Now it says very clearly that there were two horns, okay? And they were very long. Horns are symbolic of power, right? Animals use their horns to defend themselves. They use their horns to attack. And so horns in the Old Testament were symbolic of power.

The taller and bigger the horn, the bigger the power of the animal or whatever it symbolizes. And so you have this ram and it's a ram that stands alone. And the Hebrew is very emphatic. It's one ram and one ram only. Now sheep, they travel in herds, right? They don't travel alone. If they're alone, they're lost. But this is a ram, this is a male sheep. And so therefore, he is all alone. Very important that. And he has two horns, one above the other. The bear had one leg up, one leg down as it leaned one way.

And we told you at that time, it was the Medo-Persian Empire. We told you back in Daniel chapter two that the breast of silver and the arms of silver represented the Medo-Persian Empire. Well, when you come to Daniel eight, you're told that this ram and its horns represents two kings of the Medo-Persian Empire. Now we know that during the time of Daniel's vision in 551 BC that the Medes were the stronger part of the Mede-Persian Empire. It wasn't later till Cyrus rose to power that the Persians took over and they became the dominant power.

So you have one horn rising above the other because when Cyrus begins to be the king, he becomes more powerful. And that's exactly what takes place. So when you look at history and you go back and read about history, you begin to understand how Cyrus rose to power.

And remember Isaiah chapter 45, 150 years before Daniel, 100 years before Daniel went off to Babylon, there was a prophecy given about Cyrus. Remember that? Isaiah chapter 45. It says in verse number 44, verse number 28. It is I who says of Cyrus, God is speaking. Cyrus is not born yet. Cyrus would not be born till 100 years from now.

But God names him anyway. His parents don't even know he's gonna be born. They don't even know what his name's gonna be, but God knows his name. He says, it is I who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd. He will perform all my desire. He declares of Jerusalem, she will be built. And at the temple, your foundation will be laid. How? By a Gentile pagan king that leads the way. He is the only Gentile ever referred to as my anointed. Look at chapter 45, verse number one.

Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, his anointed. His, listen, Messiah. It's Moshiach. Cyrus is my Messiah. Why? Because he's going to do Messiah kind of things. What's he gonna do? He's gonna bring Israel back into the land. He's gonna lead them back. That's what the Messiah does. So he's the only Gentile called my servant and my Messiah. And so it says this. He's gonna subdue the nations before him and to loose the loins of kings and to open doors before him, that gates will not be shut. I will go before you and make the rough places smooth.

I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through the iron bars. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places. You know what Cyrus did when he overtook Babylon? He took all the secret gold from the dark places and gave it to Israel to take back with them to Jerusalem. And it says, say, you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by name for the sake of Jacob, my servant, and Israel, my chosen one. I have also called you by your name. I have given you a title of honor, though you have not known me.

And then it says over in verse number 13, I have aroused him in righteousness and I will make all his ways smooth. He will build my city and will let my exiles go free. That was Cyrus. Well, Cyrus at the time of the vision was not in power, but the Medes were. Cyrus had come to power. He'd moved the capital of Persia to Susa and that would be his home station. And Daniel will see that's why he is caught up in his vision to this place called Susa on this canal because he sees this ram that's there.

Why? Because the ram symbolizes the Medo-Persian empire and the Persians are gonna rise under the reign of Cyrus and they will for 200 years rule the land. And notice what it says.

It says, I saw the ram, verse four, budding westward and northward and southward. Note, the order is significant because that's exactly what they did. They went westward first, northward second, and southward third.

Why didn't they go eastward? Because Persia is the east. They're coming from the east and they're moving toward the west. Then they're moving northward, then they're moving southward. They went west and conquered Babylonia, Asia Minor and Syria. Then they went north and captured Armenia and all the region around the Caspian Sea. Then they went south and they captured Egypt and Ethiopia. It's exactly what they did. And so the Lord is setting the scene for the rise of this big horn that's going to come, but he wants Daniel to understand that there's coming a king who's gonna rule from Persia.

And that is the Medo-Persian Empire under the reign of Cyrus. Now, I'm sure Daniel can read Isaiah 45 because Isaiah prophesied 100 years before Daniel. So I'm sure he could go back and read and put two and two together. And I'm sure that somehow you'd sit down with the Jewish nation and begin to connect the dots for them so they would understand. I mean, Daniel's a prophet, right? And so he's gonna wanna inform others as to what's going on and how they can read the scripture and begin to understand how this applies to their lives.

I mean, that's what preachers do, that's what prophets do. So he calls them into account to show them exactly how it all comes together. So you will see that the order of destruction in history happened the same way God said it would by way of prophecy. So important to understand that because God's word is absolutely accurate. Now, you need to know that when Persian kings went to war, they wore the symbol of the head of Iran when they went to war. You need to understand this. History tells us this.

The Zodiac has its roots in Persia and Aries is a sign of the ram, which is in reference to connected to Persia. So history puts all this out. That's why the ram is used as the animal or the beast in Daniel chapter eight. Because the Lord wants you to know it's a ram far enough in advance to help you understand that when Persia rises to power and the kings go to war with ram like heads and the Zodiac is introduced to the world, the Lord already knew that because he's in charge. He runs everything.

That's very important to grasp. So that's the ram. That's the first vision. That's the first animal he sees.

Verse five, while I was observing, behold, a male goat or a he 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. Now goats have horns, right? They have two horns and they're above the eyes. But this goat, this he goat has one horn and the horn is between his eyes. If horns are symbols of power, eyes are symbols for insight and intellect. So whoever this big horn is, not only is he powerful, not only is he strong, but he has all the insight and all the intelligence necessary to lead a nation.

And so it says, 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. 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. Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. Well, what does the he goat represent? Verse 21, the shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece.

Now that goes right in line with Daniel 7 and Daniel 2. If you look at your images there on the pages I gave you, you'll see that the image of the belly and the thighs of bronze represent Greece.

The iron legs represent Rome. The 10 toes, iron and clay are equivalent to the 10 kings of Daniel chapter seven. The stone in Daniel chapter two is representative of the Messiah in Daniel chapter seven. Well, here you have this he goat. And this he goat is, as the text says very clearly, represents the kingdom of Greece. And the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king, the prominent king of Greece.

Who's that? Alexander the Great. See, so the Lord has given this prophecy hundreds of years in advance, so that when it comes to be, everybody knows that what God's done is right, is true. And so the visions interpreted for us to help us to understand what these beasts are and what they represent. And sure enough, Alexander the Great was the first king of Greece and the most prominent king in Greece.

And so his father, Philip of Macedon, was the ruler until he died. He brought Macedonia and Greece together and he was the ruler. When he died, he was murdered. At 21 years of age, Alexander becomes king. Alexander, in a short amount of time, began to rule. In fact, from 334 to 331 BC, he destroyed 120 provinces of Persia. He came against the Persian army with 35,000 men when they had one million foot soldiers and defeated them all. Why? Because it speaks of the speed and the strength by which Alexander the Great would conquer the world.

It says, these words, this male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground. That's just a Hebrew idiom that speaks of swiftness and quickness. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes and he came up to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him with a mighty wrath. Why? Because there was great strength there. And Alexander the Great, in those three years, destroyed all of Persia. Now think about that.

The longest war that we've been a part of is the Afghan War. 19 years, 10 months. Before that, it was a Vietnam War. 19 years, five months. Alexander the Great, three years, destroys the Persian Empire. They have a leadership problem in America. That's all I got to tell you, a leadership problem. Big one, right? And so he was so swift, he was so strong that he was able to just whip through the nations. He became the world ruler. He became the greatest ruler. He was a specimen of strength. He was a dynamic man.

The way he talked was dynamic. He was awesome and forceful in his way of living. And yet, he died at age 33. Became king at 21, died at age 33. And while he could conquer all the enemies without, he could not conquer the enemy within because he was an alcoholic. He became drunk after arguing with his soldiers about what they were gonna conquer next. And there was no one else to conquer. And they began to argue about what was gonna happen next. And next thing you know, he was so depressed and so dejected because there was no one else to conquer.

He drank himself to death and died in his own vomit at 33 years of age. But that's just the beginning. Read on. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken. That was Alexander the Great. He was mighty. At the height of his career, 33 years of age, he was broken. And in its place, there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. Who are the four horns? Well, you go over to chapter eight, verse number 22. It says, the broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power.

So the four horns that rise are four kings that rule four nations. Do you know that after Alexander the Great died, it took 22 years for them to establish these four kings ruling over four nations. 22 years. Alexander the Great was so organized, so ferocious, so awesome, so intelligent, so mighty, that nobody could compare to him. So much so that it took over two decades to organize the rest of the world because the one man who ruled the world was dead. And of course, they were simply Cassandra who ruled in Macedonia and Greece, Lysimachus who ruled in Asia Minor and Thrace, Seleucus who ruled in Syria and Babylonia, and Ptolemy who ruled in Egypt, Israel, and Cyprus.

History proves all that to be true, right? It all happened exactly as Jesus, as the Lord God said it was going to happen because he is the ruler over all. He had it all mapped out. This is how it's going to come. Now, why is that important? Well, simply because, verse nine, 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. From one of those kingdoms came forth a small horn. This small horn is not the same small horn in Daniel chapter seven.

That small horn rose up out of a 10 nation Confederacy, 10 kings. This one rises up out of four kings. So they're not the same. But this fourth one, this one that rises up, excuse me, this one horn that rises up out of these four becomes a type, a symbol of the ultimate Antichrist that's going to come. And the Lord wants Daniel to understand this so that when he does arrive, Israel doesn't think that this is the little horn of Daniel chapter seven, but that he is a little horn that is a type of what will happen in the future.

Now, why is this important? Simply because Daniel prophesies in the 500 BCs. This happens in the 100 BCs. 400 years before it ever takes place, Daniel receives the vision. It's all prophecy. It all comes to be. So what does that mean for me? What does that mean for me? I'm looking at prophecy. How does prophecy promise to be the most practical, the most perfect set of principles for every person that's sitting in the pew this evening? Okay, let me give you three of them.

Number one is this. That is, in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found out about those 800 different fragments of the Old Testament in 11 different caves in Qumran there in the Judean wilderness. William Albright said that this was the greatest discovery of the 20th century, okay? And it was. It's probably the greatest discovery in the history of man because they were dated 200 BC, okay? So the earliest manuscript they had in Hebrew was 800 years after that. So to get these Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 and to realize that in them is Daniel and Daniel had prophesied so far beyond when these prophecies occurred was to prove the validity of all that God said because it's all true.

And so it tells us that when God speaks truth, you need to truly treasure that truth. Daniel did. I, Daniel, can you believe what I'm receiving? Can you believe what I have now to give to somebody else? I, Daniel. Daniel treasured the truth of God. We need to learn to treasure God's truth. Prophecy is so accurate. It's so true. And if what God said in Daniel 7 and Daniel 8 was coming to fruition exactly as he said it was with the exact same kings before they ever rose to power, then I can trust him for the future and all that's gonna take place, right?

I should treasure all that God has said. That's why the Bible says, thy word I've treasured in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

What did Job say? I've treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. That's why the Bible says, buy truth and never sell it.

It's the most precious thing you can ever purchase. You must be willing to pay premium price for the truth because there's nothing more valuable than God's word. If anything, this prophecy teaches us to treasure the truth of God. Number two, it teaches us to tackle the truth of God.

Have you ever noticed how so many Christians just tinker with the truth or toy with the truth or trifle with the truth? But very few Christians ever tackle the truth. Go after it with great tenacity. Go after it and embrace it to hold it true. Here is prophecy. It is for those who wanna study the scriptures. The Bible says, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed.

So many of us are ashamed because we don't study the word of God. We don't pour ourselves into the word of God. We wanna tinker with the truth instead of tackle the truth. Wanna toy with the truth. Most of us are not very serious about the truth. We can take it, we can leave it. If we read it today, fine. If not, I'll double up tomorrow or triple up the next day. No big deal. I don't need it for today. I don't need daily bread today. I can get daily bread tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just get weekly bread, once on Sundays.

That's all I need. Just eat one day a week. It's as if you just ate one meal a week. What you look like. Yet we wanna feed on God's word one meal a week. And you wonder why you look the way you look or you live the way you live. We don't tackle the truth. We don't go after it with all that we have. We don't go after it to dive right in and study everything we can. Daniel wants to know. And when he asked for the interpretation and Gabriel is gonna give him the interpretation because Gabriel is the archangel who's a messenger.

And so he asked particularly, I wanna know what this mean. What does this mean? Pray tell, how do I know what this means? Explain it to me. See, that's the way every one of us needs to be. You need to open the word of God. We say, oh, what does that mean? Pray tell, somebody tell me what it means. Show me what it means. Show me how to study that. I might know how to learn what it means. Very few of us do that. Then we wonder why we don't treasure the truth as we should. But Daniel was one who not only treasured the truth, but he would tackle the truth.

He knew what it meant to know his God. And he wanted to know more about his God. That means you wanna know more about the plan of God, right? The purposes of God. What is God doing? And how is he doing it? Well, it takes time to tackle the truth. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of energy to be a good tackler. How about you? And then number three, this is so incredibly important.

Not only do you treasure the truth and tackle the truth, you gotta trust. You gotta trust that what God says is gonna happen exactly as he says it.

Do you trust the truth of God's word? Do you trust that God's word's gonna do exactly what it says it's gonna do? Do you trust the word of God to cleanse your soul? When the Lord said, you've been made clean to the word which has spoken to you. Do you trust the word to convict your soul of sin, righteousness and judgment, John 16. Do you trust the truth to comfort your soul? Because Psalm 119.50, Psalm 94.19 tells us about the comfort God brings to us through his word. Do you trust the truth of God to do exactly all that it says, to open your eyes that you might see?

Do you trust the word to convert the soul? Because that's what the law of the Lord does. It converts the soul, Psalm 19 verse number eight. And so Daniel would trust what God said. And he had not near the information that you and I have through his word. And we have seen the fulfillment of prophecy. Daniel would see the fulfillment of the Medieval Persian Empire coming in and destroying Babylon. We've already covered that, that Daniel chapter five, right? So he'll see that. At the time, he doesn't think it's gonna happen, doesn't know what's gonna happen in his lifetime, but it does, right?

He's gonna see that 70 years captivity is up. We're gonna read about that in Daniel chapter nine, when he's reading the book of Jeremiah and realizes that the 70 years are almost up. We're gonna go back. He trusts what God says to be true.

Question is, do you? Do you? You see, prophecy truly provides for us the perfect principles to govern our lives. It teaches us to treasure truth. It teaches us we need to tackle the truth. It teaches us to trust the truth. And never waver, never compromise, never backtrack. Because what God says always comes to be, because he's sovereign.

He rules over all, he's in complete charge. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for our time together this evening. We are grateful, Lord, that we can open your word, the great treasure of knowledge, the treasure of your character, the treasure of all things dear. We are grateful. And our prayer, Lord, is that we would learn more and more and grow more and more in our understanding of you. And Father, we would truly trust all that you say, because you're the God of truth. You only speak truth.

And Lord, you've given us this prophecy that we might learn and grow and understand that, yeah, there are things that are hard to understand, but we have to really dive in deep, be committed for the long haul to learn, to grapple with all the different nuances of the text and come to understand what it is you want us to know, and we might live for you. So we thank you. Pray, Father, that as we go home this evening, you protect us, bring us back again this Lord's day, that we might be able to worship you in spirit and in truth.

In Jesus' name, amen.