“Empires, Horns, and the Future: Unlocking Daniel 8”

Dave Robbins: In the third year
of King Belshazzar, Daniel
received a vision that was so
staggering, it left him sick
for days.
Hidden for 2500 years, revealed
for our time, empires rise and
fall, a ram, a goat, four
kingdoms, and a little horn with
world-shaking power.
Gabriel appears, and it’s not
just prophecy, it’s your future.
We’re gonna analyze Daniel
chapter 8 on this edition of
“The Endtime Show.”
♪♪♪
Dave: Good afternoon, everybody.
Dave Robbins with
Endtime Ministries.
I do thank you for joining me on
this edition of “The Endtime
Show” and we’re gonna continue
with our Daniel series.
And of course, in my opinion,
Daniel is the most salient
prophecy book in the Bible.
I understand Revelation very,
very, very important.
But without understanding the
book of Daniel first, it is
impossible to understand much
of the book of Revelation.
And so, we’re gonna start with
Daniel as a foundation here and,
you know, understand
Daniel’s not written in
chronological order.
And let’s see if I can remember.
I think the order is 1, 2,
3–chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8,
then 5, 6, and then 9, 11,
12, and then chapter 10.
And so, if you read them like
that, then you can say, “Okay.”
And it really helps to make
sense and it’s easy to see when
you go through all
the different kings.
In the second year of
Nebuchadnezzar, in the third
year of Belshazzar.
And so, it helps us to
understand that and to get the
true meaning of the book.
So, we’re going–we’re on Daniel
chapter 8 today and beginning
with Daniel chapter 8, verse 1,
it reveals that, “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.
So, you know that Daniel is
a–he is given a gift by God as
a dreamer and he’s a visionary,
God gives him visions, and he is
an interpreter of
dreams and visions.
And so, very, very, gifted
individual by God, a very
Spirit-led individual.
So, Daniel receives this vision
in chapter 7 two years before
this prophecy is given.
So, Nebuchadnezzar reigned
from 604 BC until 562 BC.
And now, I’ve got to tell you,
these dates, they may not be
totally reliable because history
from way back then is
sometimes disputed.
So, for–the dates are off a
couple of years here and there.
It’s not super critical but
we know the events that
happened, right?
Evil-Mordeca–Merodach, he
reigned from 562 to 560 BC, just
two years, then Nergal-Sharezer.
He reigned from
560 BC to 556 BC.
And then Nabonidus ruled from
556 BC to 539 BC and he was
Nebuchadnezzar’s son.
Then Belshazzar, the son of
Nabonidus, ruled from 553 BC
until 539 BC.
And again, some of these dates
are a little disputed, but these
are some of the–this is where
we come to rest on here after so
much research.
And Belshazzar was co-regent and
he had his father–he and his
father ruled together.
So, for years, critics have
claimed the book of Daniel was
totally unreliable because there
was no historical record of
Belshazzar.
Until the 1800s, historians
dismissed Daniel’s
account due to the absence of
any mention of such a king.
However, in the 1850s,
archaeologists excavating
Babylon, which is modern day
Iraq, they discovered a
cornerstone inscription and it
read, “Unto Nebuchadnezzar, his
son Nabonidus, and
his son Belshazzar.”
And this discovery, it really
confirmed Belshazzar’s existence
and of course vindicated
the biblical narrative.
So, although Belshazzar was
historically Nabonidus’s son and
Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson,
the Bible refers to him as
Nebuchadnezzar’s son, which
is a common usage in ancient
lineage references.
So, this is one of many
instances where the Bible has
proven more accurate than
critics claimed, right?
Than any history book.
I mean, when weighing historical
sources, the Bible has
consistently shown itself to
be a trustworthy account.
Have you found that to
be true in your life?
The vision in Daniel chapter 8
occurred somewhere between 550
BC and–I guess it
would be 540 BC.
Of course, the dates moved
backward towards the coming
of Jesus.
And so, let’s look at the
geographical setting of this
vision in Daniel chapter 8.
So, we’ll jump–
we’ll go to Daniel
chapter 8, verse 2, and it says,
“And I saw 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 vision, and I was by
the river of Ulal.”
Now, where is Shushan and where
is the river referred to in
this passage?
Well, today Shushan is called
Susa, which is located in Iran
and serves as the border
for about 80 miles.
Babylon is about 150 miles
from Shushan.
Sometimes Daniel was in Babylon
and at other times he was
in Shushan.
And then we go to Daniel chapter
8, verses 3 through 4, and
it–we’re gonna talk about the
ram and its two horns.
Now, this–it kind of gets
controversial as we go down
through here, and I’ll explain
this as we go along.
But Daniel chapter 8, verse 3
through 4, it says, “Then I
lifted up my eyes, and I saw,
and, behold, there stood before
the river a ram with two horns;
and the two horns were high; but
one was higher than the other,
and the higher came up last.
And I saw the ram pushing
westward, and northward, and
southward; so that no beast
might stand before him, neither
was there any that could deliver
out of his hand; but he did
according to his will,
and became great.”
So, if you remember, the vast
majority of the time, a beast in
Bible prophecy represents a
nation or a kingdom, not
every time.
But I’m gonna say, you know,
probably 95% or more of the time
it does.
The Ram represents here a nation
and it had two horns which
represents two kings that ruled
at the time of the ram.
Then we come to the goat and it
had one horn.
In Daniel chapter 8, verse 5
through 6, it says, “And as I
was considering, behold, an he
goat came up from the west in
the face of the whole earth, and
touched not the ground: and the
goat had a notable horn
between his eyes.
He came to the ram that had two
horns, which I had seen standing
before the river, and ran unto
him in the fury of his power.”
So, we see this goat with two
horns, which is–we see this
goat with another–which is
another nation, and it is
fighting against the
ram with two horns.
The goat has one horn,
the ram has two horns.
So, now we got to go to the four
kingdoms because–and again, I’m
running through the verses here,
but it’s gonna make sense here
in just a little bit because
it’s gonna tie together later on
in the chapter.
In Daniel chapter 8, verse 7
through 8, it says, “And I saw
him close onto the ram,” this
is the goat, “and he was moved
with choler against him, and
smote the ram, and brake his two
horns: and there was no power in
the ram to stand before him, but
he cast him down to the ground,
and stamped on him; and there
was none that could deliver
the ram out of his hand.
Therefore the he goat waxed very
great: and he was strong, the
great horn was broken; and for
it came up four notable ones
toward the four
winds of heaven.”
So, the goat totally destroys
the kingdom of the ram with
two horns.
So the great horn or king and
the goat was broken and four
horns or kings came
up in its place.
So, the host of heaven and the
stars, and we’re gonna get to
the interpretation of that
here in just a moment.
But I wanna make sure we hit
these verses as we go down
through here because it’s
all gonna tie together.
In Daniel chapter 8, verse 9
through 10, it says, “And out of
one of them came forth a little
horn, which waxed exceeding
great, toward the south, and
toward the east, and toward the
pleasant land.
And it waxed great, even to the
host of heaven; and it cast down
some of the host and of the
stars to the ground, and stamped
upon them.”
Now, what’s the host of heaven
and what is meant by the stars
in all of this prophetic
symbolism?
Well, we’re gonna answer these
questions a little later in
this lesson.
And I know you’re saying,
“Well, no, no, Dave, answer it
right now.”
Well, it’s all gonna tie
together with the verses as we
go along.
And I wanna do–I wanted to
do this as God gave Daniel
the vision.
So, you’ll understand here
in just a little bit.
So, the daily sacrifices are
taken away at this point.
Daniel chapter 8, verse 11
through 12 says, “Yea, he
magnified himself even to the
prince of the host, and by him
the daily sacrifice was taken
away, the place of the sanctuary
was cast down.
And an host was given him
against the daily sacrifice by
reason of transgression, and it
cast down the truth to the
ground; and it practiced,
and prospered.”
Now, there is a clue in this
particular passage which says,
“By him the daily sacrifice
was taken away.”
This is repeated many times in
the prophecies of the Bible, and
we know exactly when the daily
sacrifices are to be taken away.
And this verse–this really kind
of serves as like a signpost as
to what the Bible is
actually talking about.
It’s called–talking about right
there at the abomination of
desolation halfway through the
final seven years, but I wanna
continue on here before
we get deep into that.
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Dave: Then we come to the 2300
days, and this is kind of a
great question.
When you go to Daniel chapter 8,
verse 13 through 14, Daniel
said, “Then I heard one saint
speaking, and another saint said
unto that certain saint which
spake, How long shall be the
vision concerning the daily
sacrifice, and the transgression
of desolation, to give both the
sanctuary and the host to be
trodden underfoot?
And he said unto me, Unto two
thousand three hundred days;
then shall the sanctuary
be cleansed.”
Now, this is a vision concerning
the daily sacrifice, the
transgression of desolation,
and the 2300 days.
Many translations of the Bible
translate this as 2300 evenings
and mornings.
More translations translate it
this way rather than the
2300 days.
So, if this is correct,
then it is 1150 days.
Now, I cannot answer this
conclusively, and I want you to
know that, but we’re gonna
discuss this again a little
later on in this lesson.
And this is how God
revealed this to Daniel.
And so, this is how I wanted to
go through it because you say,
“Dave, hold on, you’re holding
some stuff back.”
Yes, I am because you’re gonna
see this as I go along.
This is what Daniel
went through.
And so, we’re going to go
through the same thing as we go
through here.
So, Gabriel’s message in Daniel
chapter 8, verse 15 through 19,
it says, “And it came to pass,
when I, even I Daniel, had seen
this vision, and I sought for
the meaning, and then, behold,
there stood before me as
the appearance of a man.
And I heard a man’s voice
between the banks of the–of
Ulai, which called, and said,
Gabriel, make this man to
understand this vision.
So he came near where I stood:
and when he came, I was afraid,
and I fell upon my face: but he
said unto me, Understand, O son
of man: for at the time of the
end shall be the vision.
Now as he was speaking with me,”
Daniel was saying, “I was in a
deep sleep on my face toward the
ground: but he touched me, and
set me upright.
And said, Behold, I will make
thee know what shall be in the
last end of the indignation: for
at the time appointed, the end
shall be.”
So, the angel Gabriel tells
Daniel this vision will be
fulfilled at the
time of the end.
Now, we will discover this is
referring to the time of the
end, but this vision actually
spans a very long period of
time, about almost–well,
close to 2500 years.
And so, now we’re gonna
come–now I’m gonna try–now I’m
gonna start tying the pieces
together here, okay.
Because just like you and me,
Daniel is saying, “What in the
world does this vision mean?”
And that’s what we’re
all asking right now.
So, the identity of the
ram and the goat.
So, the explanation of the
vision is found in Daniel verses
8–where are we at?
Verses 20 through 21.
And remember, the latter part of
the vision will be at the time
of the end.
So, some of these things–these
prophecies began well over 1000
years ago, but it’s all gonna
culminate right there at the
end, which is just ahead of us.
So, “The ram which thou sawest
having two horns are the kings
of Media and Persia.
And the rough goat is the king
of Grecia: and the great horn
that is between his eyes
is the first king.”
Now, again, this is Daniel
chapter 8, verses–I think it’s
20 and 21.
So, this is easy to understand
and God tells us in plain
language the identity of
the ram and the he-goat,
the ram with two horns and the
he goat in Daniel chapter 8.
This vision was given during the
time of Belshazzar’s reign.
Yet it foretells which kingdom
is going to replace the kingdom
of Babylon.
And it was the last day of
Belshazzar’s reign when the
Medes and the Persians came
and conquered Babylon.
This was the night of
Belshazzar’s impious feast when
he saw the famous
handwriting on the wall.
You guys remember the story.
So, that’s the night the Medes
and the Persians invaded and
overthrew the Babylonian Empire.
Then it became the kingdom of
the Medes and the Persians.
And they replaced him that
night, and we’re gonna study
about this in another lesson
as we go through this
Daniel series.
Because I think over in Daniel
chapter 11, it mentions
these–the symbolism again.
Now, this vision lets Daniel
know in advance that the Medes
and the Persians will come
and destroy Babylon.
The two horns of the ram
represent the king of Media,
which was–I think was the King
Darius, and the king of Persia,
which was King Cyrus.
There was a dual leadership, you
remember, the Medes and
the Persians.
Cyrus, the Persian king, Darius
the kings of the Medes.
God then jumps ahead 200 years
in one paragraph and reveals the
kingdom that will replace the
Medes and the Persians somewhere
around 331 BC.
This is the Grecian Empire.
When we study history, we
know that’s what happened.
We also know there is a
great king in this verse.
The Media-Persian Empire
came to power in 539 BC.
The Grecian Empire came to power
in–again, somewhere around
331 BC.
The great horn that came up on
the forehead of the goat was
Alexander the Great.
If you remember–do your
history, he conquered the entire
world by the time he
was 30 years of age.
When the last outpost of
resistance was conquered, he
actually sat down and wept
because there were no more
worlds to conquer.
He loved war that much.
The traditional teaching for
some commentaries says that–now
here’s where it gets kind of a
little controversial, but I’m
not afraid of that.
So, the traditional teaching for
some commentaries–actually,
many of the biblical
commentaries and the–some
prophecy books and things, they
say that in Daniel 7, that the
lion is–that it’s a–Daniel 7
is a mirror image of Daniel
chapter 2, that the–all of this
symbolism that the lion in
Daniel 7 is Babylon, the bear is
Media-Persia, the leopard is
Greece, and the ten-horn
kingdom is Rome.
And you know, as we’re
looking, this is–and trying to
understand these symbols, if you
read the verse in Daniel 8,
which says, “The ram
is Media-Persia,”
well, if you look at many of the
commentaries here which said,
“The bear is Media-Persia,” and
then you read in the book of
Daniel where the ram is
Media-Persia, you gotta ask
yourself, “Well, what
do I believe here?
I mean, should I believe the
Bible or should I believe
the commentaries?”
I mean, when we have this
choice, we should always believe
the Bible, right?
And then they said, “The leopard
is Greece,” but yet the Bible
says, “The goat is Greece.”
So, you gotta ask yourself and
then come to the realization–at
least I hope so, that the
commentaries were in error, and
they still are today,
many of them on this
particular interpretation.
And that’s when you’ve got to
look and say, “Okay, what did
the beast in Daniel 7
really mean?”
And of course, we know that
the–with the symbolism
that–the animal symbols in
Daniel chapter 7, those animal
symbols are actually–symbolize
kingdoms or nations that will be
on the earth at the time of the
second coming of Jesus Christ.
If you look at the–in Daniel
chapter 2, those were world
governing empires that ruled the
known world during their era.
So, Daniel 7 is not a mirror
image of Daniel 2, except for
the toes on–the feet of iron
mingled with clay and the ten
toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s
vision in Daniel 2.
That’s the same thing as the
ten-horned beast in Daniel
chapter 7, which is the
current European Union
or the Holy Roman Empire.
And the ten horns symbolize the
same things as the ten toes on
Nebuchadnezzar’s vision,
which were ten kings.
And it’s important as we go
throughout some of the other
passages in Daniel when it
talks about the kings.
And then when you get over into
Revelation, when you see a
seven-headed, ten horned beast,
it is impossible to understand
the ten horns and what they
are in Revelation until you
understand what they
are in Daniel 2
and in Daniel chapter 7.
They’re ten kings.
But there’s no way if you just
went to the book of Revelation,
and tried to understand that,
and read it, and say, “Okay,
these ten kings, what
do they mean?”
There’s no way to understand
that until you understand
Daniel first.
And that’s why I say in my
opinion, the book of Daniel is
the most salient prophecy book.
I know they’re all important,
believe me, but if you’re trying
to figure out prophecy, you’ve
got to go to the book of
Daniel first.
Now, the Medes and the Persians.
They ruled from about 539 BC
until about 331 BC.
Then Alexander the Great came
and took over the world.
And Greece ruled from 331 BC
until 197 BC.
Of course, that’s when–it’s
right around that time when the
Roman Empire defeated Greece
and they took control and
then there you go.
At least they took control of
the global empire at that point.
So, now we got to ask about the
identity of the four kingdoms.
Remember, I’m doing this as
Daniel got it from the
Lord, right?
In his vision.
And Daniel’s trying to figure
out the same thing we’re sitting
here wondering in
Daniel chapter 8.
Daniel gives this vision, and
then I gave you the vision in
the beginning, and then you’re
saying, “Well, Dave,
why are you holding off till
we get to the end?”
This is the same way–this is
the same thing that happened
to Daniel.
So, in Daniel chapter 8, verse
22, it’s gonna help us with the
identity of these four kingdoms.
It says, “Now that being broken,
whereas four stood up for it,
four kingdoms shall stand up
out of the nation, but not in
his power.”
So, if you remember what
happened, Alexander the Great
became ill and died in
about–around–I think it was
3–around 323 BC.
He had a massive empire and
ruled the known world of
his day.
The Grecian Empire was
then divided into four
small districts.
And this is important because
the Antichrist will come out of
one of these branches.
The four horns or kingdoms
are Greece, Thrace, Syria,
and Egypt.
His four generals were
Lysimachus, Cassander,
Seleucus, Ptolemy.
And these four generals replaced
Alexander the Great after
his death.
Now, this is historic and it
aligns up perfectly with
the Bible.
Of course, it’s–there’s a
million ways to validate
the Bible.
It’s absolutely true and it’s
the perfect Word of God.
But it’s so cool when you look
back through where–here now we
are close to 2500 years later
and we can look back and see.
Daniel was given the vision
about 2500 years ago roughly.
And he prophesied something in
the future and now we can look
back and see how it’ll
all come to pass, right?
It’s the only book in the
Bible–book in the world you can
do that with, the Bible.
So, again, prophecy is one of
the best ways that I have found
to validate the Word of God.
Again, there are many
testimonies and personal
experience, all kinds
of different things,
history, certainly.
But the Bible says in Revelation
chapter 19 that the testimony of
Jesus Christ is the
spirit of prophecy.
Jesus knew that prophecy was one
of the greatest ways of building
people’s faith in the
Word of God.
The–doesn’t it–didn’t Jesus
say, “I tell you these things
before they come to pass that
when they come to pass, you
might,” do what?
Run and hide in a
foxhole, right?
No, Jesus said, “I tell you
these things before they come to
pass that when they come to
pass, you might believe.”
Prophecy builds your faith
in the Word of God.
If I can use current events
today to show you how prophecies
written 2000 to 2500 years ago
are coming to pass right now,
then it builds your faith in the
Word of God, and that’s what
we’re doing here with
the book of Daniel.
It’s such a special book and I
hope you’re enjoying it as much
as I am teaching it because in
going through here and having to
teach it, I’ve learned some
things that I didn’t know or
hadn’t really looked at before.
And so, it’s such an enriching
book and I’m so thankful to be
able to teach it.
And I hope you’re enjoying
it as well.
So, all right, God bless.
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