5-29-14. Daniel 8:1-27. A RAM, A GOAT AND A HORN-my devotional

Key Verse: 8:25                                                                                                       Kevin E. Jesmer

“By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand” (25) ESV

Dear Lord, Jesus, please help me to find deep truth to hold onto in my heart. Please help me to grow through your word today. Grant me strength to live and work and take care of those you have brought into my life. I thank you Lord, for your love and grace and truth. I pray in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

Part 1: A Ram, A Goat And Truth Thrown Down (1-14).

Verses 1-14, “In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. 2 And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. 3 I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. 4 I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great. 5 As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. 6 He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. 7 I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. 8 Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. 9 Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. 10 It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. 11 It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. 12 And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. 13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” 14 And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”

We must have some personal interaction with the Living God if we are spiritual people. Daniel was a spiritual person, who had a connection with God. He had some interaction with God. Daniel 8:1a reads, “In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me,…” and verse 13a, “Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke,…” He overheard conversations in the spiritual realm. God was revealing to him visions and interpretations of the visions. Being a Christian is not just living by Christian principles and growing in Bible knowledge. It also involves a reciprocal relationship with Christ, who is living. We pray. God answers. We ask questions. God answers. We seek wisdom and God grants it in abundance. We want enlightenment, God gives light. God is truly alive and he interacts with his people. We should never be satisfied with just acquiring knowledge and finding more principles to live by. Our faith urges us to go on beyond that. We are spiritual people and we must  have some spiritual, relationships with God one personal level.

Let’s take a superficial “fly-over” of the vision. The fist observation is about world powers. The second deals with persecution. First, world powers: The ram charged here and there, did as it pleased and became great. But a goat from the west came and trampled it. World powers look invincible, but they are always replaced by stronger powers with no rescuer (4,7). Nations are always in turmoil. Think about the world news. New nations are thrown into conflict. This is the way of the world. It is people of the nations are like the seas and the waves are like the political movements of the nations. We should not be fearful about these things. We need to pray and find our roles in them, but we must trust the Lord. God is the sovereign Ruler of the universe. Believers can trust his guiding hand.

Second, spiritual persecution; One horn challenged God’s power and holiness and threw God’s sanctuary and truth down to the ground (10-12). Unbelievers do this to the church of God. They do this because they do not God. They also do not know the love of God. They think and act and speak from the viewpoint of the world. Jesus knew this, and that is one reason why he prayed from the cross, “Forgive them Father, for they do not now what they are doing.” (Lk 23:34) We may taste persecution, but we need to forgive our persecutors and show them the love of God in hopes that they may meet their Savior, Jesus Christ.

There is hope in all persecutions. Look at verse 14b, “…Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.” But things will be eventually restored by God. Jesus, through his suffering, death and resurrection, restored the holy sanctuary. He reconciled believers to the Father. He opened the doors to eternal life in the Kingdom of God for billions of people. Also, persecution events will eventually end and things will be restored. We can always trust that God will come through in his time and in his way. All things will be restored by God.

Part 2: The Interpretation (15-27).

Verses 15-27, “15 When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. 16 And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” 17 So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.” 18 And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. 19 He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. 20 As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. 22 As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. 23 And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. 24 His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. 25 By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. 26 The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.” 27 And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.” (ESV)

There is a saying, “You Can’t Handle The Truth.” There is some truth to this for all of us. I can see Daniel’s reaction to the revelation of God that it is not easy to handle the truth. He was in shock. Look at Daniel 8:17a, “17 So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face….” and 18b, “…I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up.” And finally, verse 27, “27 And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.”  Daniel had such an emotional response to God. His emotions ran the full gamut of expression. There are other reactions in the Bible of people who were deeply touched by the word of God to them. Apostle John fell on his face in the Book of Revelation. “17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” (Rev 1:17) If you study the black words in the book of Mark, you can see the peoples’ reaction to Jesus’ teachings. They were amazed and awed about the things that Jesus said.

There is saying, “You Can’t Handle The Truth.” The truth is, we can’t handle the truth of God if it was revealed to us in its entirety. Jesus even said, ““I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” (Jn 16:12 NIV) Jesus also said, “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (Jn 3:12 NIV) Paul wrote, “However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—.” (1 Cor 2:9 NIV)

The whole truth of God was too much for Daniel. It nearly incapacitated him. If it was too much for Daniel, the spiritual giant, how about us? God really has to feed us his truth slowly so that we can digest it properly. Think about it, can we handle the whole truth about judgment, heaven, hell, the spiritual world, eternal life, salvation, the plan of God unfolding in history. Could you sleep seeing angels all around you? We can not even gaze upon the full glory of God in our present reality. And so the Creator comes to us and reveals his truths to us slowly and in ways that we can handle. He grow us spiritually one step at a time. God is very personal with each one of us and I thank God for this.

What can we do to increase our capacity for the truth of God? We need to ask God in prayer. We can study the word of God more intensely. We can trust God that he is maturing our hearts at the right pace. We need to be born again. John 3:3,
“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (NIV) This is a free gift of God. (If you don’t understand, ask God in prayer.) Remember the words of Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” When we seek the Kingdom of God, as top priority in our lives, God will bless. The truth of God will shine forth in our hearts. We can increase our capacity to handle the truth. God will bless us with increased revelation and we will be amazed and awed.

Daniel was again given the meaning. The ram was Media-Persia. The goat was Greece. The large horn was Alexander the Great, whose kingdom was divided in four parts. The horn (9) or “master of intrigue” (23) was Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who captured “the BeautifulLand” and tried to destroy the Jewish faith. He abolished daily sacrifices, defiled the temple, and caused deceit to prosper.

Antichrists that seek to destroy God’s people have arisen and will arise. They may succeed for a time, but they will be destroyed (25). Even when truth is thrown down, ultimate victory belongs to God, the Judge.

Again I can see the victory of Christ over all things. This world and the godless may try their best to oppress the people of God. But God is in control Christianity is alive and well in China and Russia and I believe it is prospering in the Muslim world. God is control. He will bring about the ultimate victory when Jesus comes again and gathers his elect from the four corners of the earth. That is the ultimate victory. It sure feels good to be on the winning side.

Prayer: Lord, at times truth is thrown down, deceit prospers and we are appalled. May we never God has already won.

One Word: God’s victory is sure.