The Book of Daniel, The Anti-Christ of the Old Testament, Daniel 8:15-27 - Lesson 33

Daniel 8:15-27,   And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.  And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.  So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and 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, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright.  And he 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.  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 that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.  And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.  And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.  And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.  And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days. And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.

Our last study revealed to us that Satan Incarnate possessed a king named Antiochus Epiphanes who was the little horn of the third beast, the beast who represented the king of Greece.

This is the Anti-Christ of the Old Testament and from him we can learn somewhat of the character of the Anti-Christ of the New Testament.

Antiochus Epiphanes was known to be arrogant, cunning, and deceptive, powerful, but "not by his own power."

He was so wicked and evil that it was apparent someone was behind him, someone greater than he who granted him power and enlarged his pride.

The source of this power can be no other than Satan himself.

This king evidenced the same pride, which characterizes Satan.

He will deceive and destroy "to an extraordinary degree."

He will be a master of destruction.

The destruction he brings will be all the greater because in some way he will put men at ease, bringing about their destruction when they do not expect it.

But in the end destruction will come upon him as unexpectedly as that which he brought on others, but not by any human hand.

As far as Christ is concerned the Anti-Christ of the Old Testament and the Anti-Christ of the New Testament are the same for both are Satan Incarnate and as such both display the total depravity of the Evil One.

In some ways there is a blending of these two men in the mind of Christ for they both are products of Satan, the adversary.

God told us in the creation story that there was a battle raging on high and that battle continues on this earth.

The battle is between the Son of God and Satan for God told us in Gen. 3:15 that Jesus Christ would be wounded but the seed of the serpent, that is the Anti-Christ would be destroyed.

The Bible commentator, Arthur Pink explains that "the Antichrist, then, will be more than a man, he will be the actual and literal Seed of that Old Serpent, the Devil; as Christ was, according to the flesh, the actual and literal Seed of the woman."

Consequently, as Christ was God incarnate, Antichrist will be Satan incarnate and Antiochus was the prototype of the Anti-Christ who will be revealed in the Great Tribulation.

One of the great aims of man is to become God.

This of course is the ultimate destination of where a belief in evolution requires man to arrive.

For to believe in evolution is to believe that man continues to progress upward forever until he becomes master of his own fate and the universe and the possessor of eternal life.

In our times he does not recognize the God of Heaven, saying there is no God, but in saying this he intends by the power of evolution and technology, to become the God of this universe.

Of course this kind of man is simply a pawn in Satan’s plan for Satan attempts to use man to bring this about using his ultimate man whom we call the Anti-Christ, a man, yes, but in reality Satan Incarnate.

This word "anti" has a double meaning, one meaning being in opposition to and the other meaning being side by side.

As to the second definition place this Anti-Christ next to the real Christ and Satan intends for you to see the same thing.

Satan’s Christ is a mock Christ but one who comes in the image of the real Christ.

One strong characteristic of today is that we are so enamored with image.

Our daily world is become the image of the real world as we, instead of participating in life, watch an image of life, on our television, our video games, our computers, the internet, even the cell phone.

Instead of getting out and enjoying God’s creation we simply see God’s creation in picture form on the television.

Many think that unless a picture is taken the event captured did not occur.

Image is everything, reality is only proven if an image is captured.

As long as something has the image of the real we are satisfied.

That is what Satan intends to provide, a mock Christ who will attract the world to himself.

But Christ has warned us in his word about this so we can be armed against falling for Satan’s counterfeit for we are, or should be well acquainted with the real Christ.

Unless you know the biblical Christ you will fall for the mock Christ of Satan.

But from Daniel’s words we can also find comfort for God is in control of both of the little horns for both shall be broken without hand.

Verse 25: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

When we studied the dream of Nebuchadnezzar we learned of the stone made without hand which destroys the whole of the world kingdoms.

Antiochus IV Epiphanes power was broken without the aid of man for he was afflicted by a horrible death.

This death was brought about by a disease that took him at age 51, while he was on his way to Judea, intending to take vengeance for the defeat of his armies by the Maccabees.

As Daniel saw in his vision he was indeed broken without any man made device.

In like manner the stone made without hands shall suddenly strike the counterfeit kingdom of the Anti-Christ.

We see both little horns standing up against the Prince of princes, but both are broken without hand.

And since God is in control both periods end with deliverance.

In spite of the terror and evil that Antiochus brought upon the Jew, in spite of halting the sacrifices and setting up the heathen altar with heathen sacrifices in 164 B.C. Judas Maccabeus eventually restored the sanctuary and sacrificial system.

The nation of Israel was freed by the Maccabees from the brutal regime of the Old Testament Antichrist.

But in the coming days the nation of Israel will be saved from the terrible world system of the New Testament Antichrist by their soon coming Savior and "Deliverer"

Romans. 11:26,  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:  And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.

Gabriel’s final words provide instructions for Daniel concerning his vision: the vision is true and reliable and the events are certain to take place.

But these are events in the distant future, long after Daniel’s death.

Daniel is instructed to keep this vision to himself and not make it known to anyone else, almost as though this vision is recorded in Daniel’s diary to be published after his death.

Daniel paid a high price for receiving this vision.

It is easy to see that God is frugal in giving visions of future events for such visions are extremely hard to come to grips with.

Daniel did not understand the vision, he was told to keep it to himself and the experience so drained his strength that he lay sick and exhausted for days.

We have the benefit of hindsight, Daniel did not.

We know that the little horn of chapter eight came and went as the king of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes.

Daniel had a problem with this vision for it was all future and we have a problem with understanding the Anti-Christ to come for it too is all future.

We are not built to know all about what God tells us.

Daniel did not understand the prophecy contained in his vision, even after Gabriel’s explanation.

Most of the prophets did not fully know of what they were given to write by the Spirit of God.

God’s purpose in revealing the vision to Daniel was not to enable him to understand the future before it happened nor is it His purpose for revealing this vision to us.

Prophecy has never been fully understood in advance, nor will it ever be so.

God revealed this prophecy not so that we might understand completely His plan or be able to recognize every event as it is fulfilled, but to reveal to us some of what lies ahead, and to assure us that His purposes and promises will be fulfilled.

Daniel 8 tells us that before the coming of the end there will be a time when an evil king will arise who will resist God, persecute His saints, and even appear to succeed.

There have been tough times in the past and there will be tough times in the future.

This is what caused Daniel such agony, knowing his people, would suffer at the hands of wicked men.

Daniel’s vision tells us clearly that the success of this evil horn is by divine permission in order to fulfill God’s purposes.

In the end, God will destroy this wicked one and reward the righteous.

We need to know no more than this: God is in control of the future.

While we may not understand exactly what is going to happen, or when, we do know that God is in control, and that He is causing all things to work together for His glory and for the good of His saints.

We are not made to know all things to come.

We could not bear to know many things such as suffering that might be ahead for some or for many.

God did not explain himself to Job nor will he explain himself to you if you are to suffer.

We do not need to know what will happen tomorrow.

We do not need to know the reasons for what God is doing in our lives at the moment.

We are told to trust in the Lord and lean not to our own understanding.

All we need to know is that He is our God, and that He is in control.

This is the essence of chapter 8: we know our future is in God’s hands and that suffering must precede glory.

Knowing this is enough.

The important thing to focus on is knowing Him and if we know Him, we know all we need to know.

That is the essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who says come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.

God does not give us prophecy so that we will understand all that the infinitely wise God is doing

Prophecy is given to teach me and to remind me that I do not understand God’s ways.

When His promises are fulfilled, we will look back in wonder, confessing that we would never have planned it that way, and we would not have believed God would achieve His ends that way, even if we had been told in advance.

Prophecy assures us of God’s infinite holiness, power, and goodness, and turns us to Him for the wisdom and grace we need in our weakness:

Isaiah 40:28-31,  Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, [that] the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? [there is] no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 55:6-11,  Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: ¹¹So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.