Daniel 8 :1. 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 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 the vision, that I was by the river of
Ulai. 3. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, look, there stood
before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high;
but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. 4. I saw
the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no
animals 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. 5.
And as I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west on the
face of the whole earth, not touching the ground: and the goat had a
notable horn between his eyes. 6. And he came to the ram that had two
horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran up to him in
the fury of his power. 7. And I saw him come close to the ram, and he
was moved with rage against him, and struck the ram, and broke 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 upon him: and there was none
that could deliver the ram out of his hand. 8. Therefore the male goat
became very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken;
and in it's place came up four notable ones toward the four winds of
heaven. 9. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which grew
exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the
pleasant land. 10. And it grew great, even to the army of heaven; and it
cast down some of the army and of the stars to the ground, and stamped
upon them. 11. Yes, he magnified himself even to the ruler of the army,
and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his
sanctuary was cast down. 12. And an army 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. 13. Then I heard one holy one
speaking, and another holy said to that certain holy one which spoke,
How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the
transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the army to
be trodden under foot? 14. And he said to me, Until two thousand and
three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. 15. And it
came to pass, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the
meaning, then, look, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.
16. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called,
and said, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. 17. So he came
near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my
face: but he said to me, Understand, O son of
man: for at the time of the end shall the vision be. (The
end of the First Covenant age.) 18. 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. 19. And he said, look, I will make you
understand what shall be in the final period
of wrath: for at the time appointed the end shall be.
20. The ram which you saw having the two
horns are the kings of Media and Persia. 21. And the rough goat is the
king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first
king. 22. Now that being broken, whereas four stood in its place, four
kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
23. And in the latter time of their kingdom,
when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce
expression, skilled in intrigues, shall stand up. 24. And his power
shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy
wonderfully, and shall prosper, and accomplish, and shall destroy the
mighty and the holy people. 25. 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. 26. And the
vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore
shut up the vision; for it shall be for many days. 27. 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.
Notice that the angel
is giving a very clear date as to when this final period of wrath starts
that leads to the end of the age. Verse 23, the latter time of
their kingdom, meaning
near the end of the Greek empire that had divided into four sections
each ruled by Greek kings. The person who fulfilled this prophecy
precisely was Antiochus IV Epiphanies. He showed up exactly when this prophecy said he would,
near the end of the Greek empire shortly before Rome conquered the
remaining two sections. Because of what Antiochus IV Epiphanieshe does
to the Israelites a a lot of prophecy is devoted to him in the book of Daniel. In
short, he got a large number of the Israelites to apostatize and make
sacrifices to Zeus. Then after a humiliating affair with Rome he got
back into Jerusalem deceitfully. He murdered and sold into slavery
approx. 160,000 Jews. He stopped the daily offering and desecrated the
temple. Plundered and burned the city. Burned the books of the law,
forbad any celebrations of any of the feasts. He set up an idol of Zeus
at the alter of burnt offering. He sacrificed a pig on the alter. (One
of the two abominations of desolations.) He forced the Jews to sacrifice a pig on the
25th of each month to celebrate his birthday. He sought to exterminate
Judaism and Hellenize them. ie: Convert them to the customs and religion
of the Greeks.
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