The Sealed Vision

Today's title of the study is, The Sealed Vision. The Sealed Vision. I invite you to open your Bibles. Let's turn to Daniel 8. Daniel 8. You'll remember that we left off last time finishing in chapter 7. And the recording of those beasts rising up out of the sea. Now we want to continue here in Daniel 8 and begin reading from verse 1 as we come to what is essentially two additional great visions.

First, we will see a vision of a ram and a goat. But we also see a second one, which is much more sinister, as we are introduced to one who is full of sinister schemes. And one who would even dare to rise up against the Prince of Princes, Jesus Christ Himself.

Let's get to these visions here. To set the foundation of our study, let's read Daniel 8. Let's read verses 1 through 15 here. Daniel 8, verses 1 through 15. Daniel records, In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, to me Daniel, after the one that appeared to me the first time. I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in Shushun, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw a vision that I was by the river Uli.

Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and there standing beside the river was a ram, which had two horns. And the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other. Now higher one came up last. I saw the ram that ran with the horns, pushing westward, northward, southward, that no animal could withstand him.

Nor was there any who could deliver from his hand. But he did according to his will and became great. So verse 5, and, as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a notable horn between its eyes.

And it came to the ram that had the two horns, which was seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. And I saw him confronting the ram, and he was moved with rage against him, attacking the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him to the ground and trampled him. There was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand. So the ram's gone. Therefore, verse 8, the male goat grew great, and when he became strong, however we could say, the large horn was broken.

And in place of it, four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them, so out of the four horns, came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great to the south, to the east, to the glorious land. And it grew up to the host of heaven. And it cast down some host, and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high as the prince of the host.

And by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices, and he cast truth down to the ground, and he did all this and prospered. Then I heard a Holy One speaking, and another Holy One said to that certain one who was speaking, How long would this vision be concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot?

And he said to me, For two thousand three hundred days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. And then the first part of verse 15, Then it happened when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, and was seeking the meaning. So we'll stop there. Well, we seek the meaning too, don't we here today? And I confess, in preparation for these studies in Daniel's, and even my personal studies, I've derived significant encouragement from the reaction that we see from Daniel to these visions.

You remember how chapter 7 ended? It ended with Daniel looking pale, and his countenance was changed. He was troubled. He was keeping his thoughts to himself as he worked through all those visions in chapter 7. So we may ask, well, how does it end here in chapter 8? Does he fare much better? Well, look at the end of the chapter. Chapter 8, just allow your eyes to go down to verse 27.

Verse 27 in chapter 8 here, he says, I, Daniel, fainted. It was sick for days. And he was astonished, he said, that in the end, no one had understanding of the vision. So again, I find it wonderfully encouraging, you know, because you can read these things and I've had my experience. I've read through this and looked at different things and about, you know, thinking, well, I don't know any more than three hours when I started this process.

So it is encouraging. But apparently, what Daniel was experiencing was great anxiety here, and it was just daunting. So you can imagine if it's daunting for us to try to understand this, you can imagine how daunting it is compared to the burden of trying to record this and proclaim it, that Daniel was given the commission to do. Because what you have here is Daniel, who is fully aware of the fact that the exile is about to come to an end.

You remember, he is deep in his 70s at this point, maybe even his early 80s. And he knows that both Isaiah and Jeremiah have both recorded that the exile will last for about 70 years. So he knows that they're about to go back to Jerusalem soon, at some point in the near future. But now he knows that as a result of these visions in chapter 8, then in the returning exiles and the subsequent generations to come, they're going to continue to have a very hard time. Because when they're finally put back in the place of their homestead from where they were torn, they're now going to face the events that are described here.

These events are going to befall them. In the opening two verses here of chapter 8, it really sets the scene for us here. Beginning in the first part of verse 1, it says, in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, you remember chapter 7 says in the first year of the reign of King Belshazzar.

So this vision comes some two years after that vision. Chapter 7 was a panoramic shot of all the events, these beasts arising, symbolizing the great empires, the four great worldly empires that are going to arise. It goes all the way to the fifth empire, the consummation of the kingdom of God and the return of Jesus Christ. That was in chapter 7. Now in the first half of chapter 8 here, we've been given a vision which is only a part of that panoramic.

It focuses on beasts 2 and 3 of the overarching picture. It'll help us to keep that in mind. Verse 2 here, he sees himself in Shushan. In other words, he's transported in his vision somewhere else. He was not in Shushan. This is some 220 miles east of Babylon. This is a Persian capital here. You see Shushan in other places in the Bible. Esther takes place in Shushan, for example. He's transported to Shushan here. That's the context. He begins to see.

These are the verbs here that we begin to see. I think they're important. The vision appear to him, it says. They weren't initially written down. The emphasis on seeing is here. Verse 2, I saw in a vision and it happened while I was looking. And I saw in the vision and I was by the river Uli. Verse 3, then I lifted my eyes and saw. Verse 4, I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, southward.

And you may ask, well, you know, why are you pointing that out? Well, it's simply to reinforce that when we read our Bibles, we have to deal with the genre and the text and how it's given to us. This is apocalyptic material here. It's provided in such a way that in reading it, we're to be brought underneath it. And it calls for us to see. And it actually calls for us to hear as well. It calls for us to feel the impact here. Because this is a different way of describing things.

This is a technique used to describe the indescribable. That's the technique used in these apocalyptic books. So that's why you have these dramatic pictures that are painted for us here.

And that's why our young ones can usually be pretty good at picking up these prophetic books. They can see it. I was reading the other day, there was a British journalist named Chesterton. He was writing in the foreword of a children's book. And it just reminded me of this. I think it's fitting here. But he writes in the foreword of a children's book. He wrote these words. This is the sort of book we like. For you and I are very small, with pictures stuck in anyhow, and hardly any words at all.

You will not understand a word and all the words including mine. Never you trouble. You can see, and all directness is divine. Stand up and keep your childishness. Read all the pendants, screeds, and scriptures. But don't believe anything that can't be told in colored pictures. I just thought it relates a little bit to Daniel here. As he's painting a picture. So, never shy away from giving these kind of books to our young ones. They'll eat it up. Every time I've given a teen Bible study where I get into these, they're just fascinated by these visual pictures that are painted here.

So, we have to get underneath this. We have to hear it. We have to see it. Feel the weight of it. We have this, first of all, this ram. You will notice in verse 3 here. Verse 3, I lifted my eyes, Daniel writes, and I saw, and there, standing beside the river was a ram with two horns. The two horns were high, but one was higher than the other. The higher one came up last. So, if you've been tracking this, you may have an inkling of what we studied before this.

You remember that creature, the bear, in chapter 7. It's a few weeks ago now. The bear was kind of leaning to one side. One part of him was higher than the other. It relates here. So, it was with the kingdoms of the Media-Persia kingdoms when they were together. Media-Persia, eventually Persia superseded the Medio part, triumphed in the relationship. Persia became greater than the kingdom of Media, the kingdom that followed the Babylonian kingdom.

You say, where do you get that? Well, allow your eyes to go down to verse 20. Verse 20, The ram you saw having the two horns, well, they are the kings of Media-Persia. These are the two kingdoms. So, we don't have to be a biblical scholar. We just...you can see it right here.

The ram represents the Medo-Persia empire. History tells us this is the empire that followed the Babylonian empire. The higher part of the horn representing the dominance of Persia, very clear. We read that the ram with two horns was charging westward, northward, southward. It's interesting to look. You can actually find the movements of the Persia kingdom. And these were the movements as it conquered territory.

They were apparently invincible in their day. No beast could stand before them. No one could be rescued from their power. The king did as he pleased, it says. It came very great. A picture of invincibility, the Medo-Persia empire. But, verse 5 begins, as I was thinking about this, considering this, verse 5, Daniel says, And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came out from the west across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. So what is this?

Well, verse 21 helps us with this. Allow your eyes to go down to verse 21. The male goat here, it's the kingdom of Greece. The large horn between its eyes is the first king. In other words, this is a reference to the Greek empire. We know the Greek empire followed the Medo-Persia empire. History tells us. And the horn, obviously, then, is Alexander the Great. History records that. This is a testimony to the truthfulness of the Bible.

Can God, five centuries out, make these kind of predictions where they come true? Did God actually give Daniel a revelation that proves out five centuries earlier? Yes. Absolutely astonishing. Again, it's the evidence that the Bible is true. What is prophesied comes through fruition.

This gives us comfort. It strengthens our faith. So, this male goat with the conspicuous horn came to the ram with the two horns standing beside the river. The goat with furious power attacks the ram with two horns. You've seen this on nature shows. I know you have. Oh, and you can almost... I've seen two rams come together, I think it is.

Have you ever heard the horns that come together? They kind of rare up and then, oh, it almost makes you want to recall, you know, from the whole thing. That's what Daniel's seen here. They just go at each other, the sound of those horns, and the horns breaking. Can you imagine that sound? We're supposed to hear this, you know. This is what the text calls us to do. Why should Daniel be the only one who's kind of sickened, you know, from this vision? We can see it. We can feel it. We can hear it.

The sights and the sounds of these two empires coming together, one rising up against another. The Persian Empire, the invincible empire, comes to an end. By Alexander the Great, and Alexander the Great's victories were just incredibly significant in history. We have Alexander's movement. So swift! He was fast! His army was fast! It's almost as if his armies never touched the ground. That's how fast they were moving. The kingdom stretching across the surface of the earth without touching the ground.

While Alexander was still in his twenties, he ruled the world. By the time he was 26, he won these amazing battles. You can look those up. Amazing victories. Top of the world he was. The ruler, absolute ruler of the then-known world by the age of 29. Dead by the age of 33.

How? Well, for man, his days are like grass, aren't they? The glory of man fades like flowers in the field. The grass withers, the flowers fade, the wind blows over his place, and he remembers it no more. You see, it's only the ancient of days. It's only his kingdom, which is an everlasting kingdom. We established that last chapter. So, Alexander, at the height of his reign, at the height of his self-proclaimed magnificence, reduced to utter humiliation, poison, and intrigue would surround his death. Apparently, he was found dead in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It's a story of history. It's a story of the Bible.

So, end of verse 8. End of verse 8. In the place of it, of Alexander, four notable horns came up toward the four winds of heaven. We talked about the winds of heaven last time. God's sovereignty blows over all these events. We know that. Read history, and you'll find out that Alexander the Great died, and there were four generals that rose up, divided the kingdom into four different territories, ruled for a time.

There will be a test about this later. Cassandra ruled over Macedonia and Greece. Lysimachus, I believe it's pronounced, oh man, I need a test. Over Thrace and Aesom minor. Seleutius over Babylon. Ptolemy over Egypt. Those are the four generals that rose up after Alexander the Great. It's all there. The Bible's true. It's God-inspired. And then out of one of them, verse 9, history records this as well, came a little horn. Look at this, verse 9. And out of one of them, so out of these four broken up regions, came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great to the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. So, some of you may be saying to yourself, oh good, we're back in familiar territory now. I remember this little horn. You remember the little horn from chapter 7?

Well, I have bad news for you. This is a different little horn. It's related, but different. Chapter 7, the little horn represents the Antichrist that comes out of Rome. You remember? Here in chapter 8, this little horn comes out of Greece. And history records that this great ruler rose up and was a man named Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus Epiphanes, a Greek king, which would rise up from these four generals, and he would dominate, absolutely dominate. But there is a connection between Antiochus, the little horn, here in chapter 8, and the little horn referenced in chapter 7. Our UCG commentary references the Expositor's Bible commentary and explains it this way. The little horn arising from this Greek kingdom serves as a prototype of the little horn that rose from the Roman Empire from chapter 7. In the crisis destined to confront God's people in the time of the earlier little horn, Antiochus Epiphanes will bear a strong similarity to the crisis that will befall them in the final phase of the fourth kingdom in the last days. In each case, a determined effort will be made by a ruthless dictator to suppress completely the Biblical faith and the worship of the one true God. So here we have, we come to this King Antiochus, and he embodies all the characteristics of man's rebellion against God. He embodies all of the characteristics of an evil leader.

He embodies all the characteristics, the evil characteristics of the evil leader that will rise up shortly before Christ's return, and rise up against God and rise up against his people. So there is a connection here between these little horns.

And again, he was an absolute evil leader at that time, evil ruler, and this made Daniel sick. Because this hadn't happened yet, you know, when Daniel was seeing these visions. So he knew, once again, that God's people were going to be brought back, and they were going to be brought back to incredible persecution. So you see, this was future for Daniel. Antiochus' epiphanies hadn't come onto the scene yet. But it was very, very worrisome, you can imagine, for Daniel. Now, before we get into this next section of chapter 8, I just want to give you, give us, what is the purpose and the conclusion of what we're about to get into in all the second half of chapter 8 here. Why wait? We can get the purpose and the conclusion of it all right now. Here it is. This vision, which is given to Daniel regarding this little horn and this absolute evil ruler, was to forewarn Israel about a time of severe persecution that's going to come in the future, and to assure them that their sovereign God will limit the days of persecution and ultimately destroy the persecutor. Very important. This is what it's about to be conveyed in this next vision. And I want you to think about this in context for us today, God's people today. What lies ahead for us? If we're still in existence at the fourth kingdom that we read about in the seventh chapter, again, this part of the vision about this little horn was given to Daniel that begins here in verse 9. It was to forewarn Israel about the period of severe persecution, which was going to come, but it was to assure them that the sovereign God was going to limit the days of persecution and ultimately destroy the persecutor. Okay. So that's why Daniel writes this down. So when all this begins to unfold, well, God's people would be able to say, ah, this is exactly the way God said it would happen. It's similar to the way Jesus prepared his disciples as well. Jesus said, I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of synagogues. The time is coming that when whoever kills you will think that they're offering a service to God. And they'll do these things because they haven't known my father or me. But I've said these things to you, Jesus says. So when the hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you. So that's John 16. You can look that up later. So God's doing the exact same thing now, inspiring these visions for Daniel to record all this time before even his son, God's son, would come upon the earth. So ultimately, the function of chapter 8 and the function of all the prophetic visions is not necessarily for our calendar, but it's for our comfort. Okay. So with that, the second half of Daniel's vision here, let's read of this ruler which will embody pure evil here. Let's read these verses together. Verses 9, and we're going to go through verses 26, but we're going to skip around a little bit here. So verse 9, So it's challenging God the Father.

So you think of the prophetic future here.

And by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. You know, his sanctuary, it's a capital H there, God's sanctuary. Verse 12, Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices, and to cast down to the ground, cast truth down to the ground. And he did all this and prospered. Then I, Daniel, heard a Holy One speaking, and another Holy One said to the certain one who was speaking, How long will this vision be concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation? The given evoked the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot. And he, the Holy One, said to me, For two thousand three hundred days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking meaning, that suddenly there stood before me having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Uli, and called and said, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face. And he said to me, Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end. Now skipping down to verse 23, more about this evil man, in the time of the end. Verse 23. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understand sinister schemes. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. He shall destroy fearfully, and shall prosper and thrive, and he shall destroy the mighty, also the holy people, that's you and I, God's people. Through his cunning, he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule, and he shall exalt himself in his heart, and he shall destroy many in their prosperities, and he shall even rise against the prince of princes. But he shall be broken without human means, and the vision of the evenings and the mornings which was told is true. Therefore seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future.

So there we have it. And again, initially, you can imagine this vision would have just struck fear in the hearts of God people. But it was written to produce just the opposite.

French theologian John Calvin, in commenting on the prophetic elements concerning this vision, he writes, If nothing had been predicted, the pious, God's people in that time era, the pious would have glided gently downwards to despair in the consequence of their heavy afflictions. And if they had not been predicted, they would have thought themselves deceived by the splendid promises concerning their return. But when they perceived everything was occurring according to as they had been forewarned, it became no slight solace in the midst of their woes. I think it says it well there. In other words, God in His grace and His kindness provides this vision so Daniel could record it, seal it up at the appropriate time when they returned from being exiles. They would have this material and understand God's still sovereign. He's still in control.

So here is the introduction to us of this individual described here. You will see that in verse 25, this particular individual, this little horn is cunning. Deceit will prosper. He'll even rise up against the prince of princes. So this is no longer a conflict here that's solely on the human plane. Prophecy does that. It plays out many times on the human plane. It has a prophetic spiritual fulfillment as well. So it's not solely on the human plane between one empire and another, but this is a conflict ultimately that's a spiritual one. It's a conflict which lies at the heart of all conflicts in the world where man, in his rebellion against God, succumbs to the advances of the evil one and seeks to defy God.

In the animosity of this little horn here, it's focused on God's people, on God's place, His sanctuary. Antiochus elevated himself in this way. History records that he had coins made, and on them it said, theos epiphanies, meaning God manifested. So he identified as a manifestation of God. He probably saw himself as a manifestation of Zeus. He didn't know the true God, of course. But he went into the temple. History records. This is after the exile was over. Stole the treasures of the temple. Stopped all the sacrifices. Forbade the Jews from conducting their worship. Built a pagan altar in the place of the altar of God, where they had been making their morning and evening sacrifices. It's recorded that he even brought in a pig and sacrificed it there in the altar of the temple. Essentially saying to everyone, I'm your God now.

All this activity is actually recorded in the first book of Maccabees. Some of you have heard of that. Don't go out and buy yourself one. Your computer will do you just fine. You remember the Maccabean rebellion? A group of Jewish warriors actually rose up and rebelled against Antiochus. The book of Maccabees records this activity about this abomination of desolation, which occurred in the temple. These pagan sacrifices. You remember Mark's Gospel as well. It uses that same phrase by Jesus Christ, when the abomination of desolation occurs in the temple. This will occur once again. Scripture tells us that Christ returned. We're going to get to that in a later study. Scripture does indicate that the daily sacrifices will begin again. They will be stopped by an end time evil figure.

You'll note that all this is brought on God's people as a result of their turning from God. That's verse 12. Because of transgression, it says, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices, cast truth down to the ground. Because of transgression, an army was given over to do these things. That's the transgression of God's people. It makes sense. Deuteronomy records that God warned His people. It's a warning for us today. Obey My law. If you disobey My law and go your own way, the disobedience will bring you into bondage. Disobedience will bring us into bondage, one way or another. Captivity. God's people at that time, they disobeyed God's law. They were brought into bondage. We know that was described in the very first chapter of Daniel, where they were taken over by the Babylonians. Everything, this predicament, is a result of sin. Here's the picture for us. The truth of God is cast down to the ground. The sanctuary is overthrown. Tychus, it's recorded, even took the scrolls of the Torah, shredded them, had his soldiers burn them. Is this your law? This is what I think about your law. Destroys it in front of the people, sets fire to it, tramples it to the ground. Inevitably, the question arises, how long? How long is this going to go on? Daniel has the opportunity to overhear a few holy ones, having a conversation. That's verse 13. I heard a holy one speaking to another holy one, to that certain one who was speaking. How long will this be? How long will this, concerning the daily sacrifices and this transgression of desolation, the giving over of this sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot? How long will this be? So they're not asking why, it's how long. We know why, the transgression. And here, Daniel needs the answer to this question. So in verse 14, it's given to him for 2,300 days. Then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. So here's a calendar number. In 2,300 days, we can go at this a few ways, I think. I always recommend that ucg.org is a great resource on these matters. But there are, most agree, there's two, keeping this in mind, there's actually two things, possibilities, logical possibilities for this number. We keep in mind what actually happened in history, and keep in mind what we know about the end time events as well. So if the number refers to days, 2,300 days, that's approximately a little over six years, six years, four months. So in the realm of seven years, not quite. That would cover the entire period of Antiochus over through in his persecution against God's people. However, it may refer to 2,300 mornings and 2,300 evenings. Some have that translation as mornings and evenings. You can even see it. Verse 26, it refers to the vision as morning and evenings.

There in verse 26. So if this refers to morning and evening sacrifices, and I'm inclined to this view, because there's so much mentioned here about sacrifices in the temple and all of this. If it refers to morning and evening sacrifices, then 2,300 becomes half. That becomes 1,150 mornings and 1,150 evenings. That's 1,150 days. The abomination of desolation. That puts it in the realm of about three years, about three years. That would actually line up with the period of time that this abomination of desolation actually lasted by Antiochus. Because it was BC 167 in which he set up the pagan temple, the altar in the temple. It was BC 164, approximately three years later, that the temple was cleansed. Antiochus was overthrown and the temple was rededicated. So in applying this to our future time events that we know, we know that the tribulation lasts for three and a half years. That would put this abomination occurring within that last three and a half years, the time of tribulation. We're going to get into a little bit more of that in a future study. So after approximately three years, Antiochus, from the first time he defiles the temple, he's overthrown and the temple is cleansed and rededicated. That celebration of dedication, we know, is the celebration of Hanukkah. That's where you get the origin of Hanukkah, that the Jews celebrate. All Hanukkah is, is the celebration of the cleansing of the temple and its rededication after Antiochus Epiphanes' defilement. So the rededication of the temple after the raid of Antiochus Epiphanes, the time in which the Maccabees, those Jewish warriors, successfully rose up against, defeated Antiochus. After that, we have the cleansing, the rededication of the temple.

And so we have this vision, and it's being explained here to us. Gabriel's given the responsibility of explaining it to Daniel, we read. And the whole vision really is referring to the end. We know this applies to us, specifically to us. So the second part of verse 17, as it says there, understand Son of Man, understand Daniel, that the vision refers to the time of the end. And then we have this later time, referenced in verse 19. And he said, look, I'm making known to you what shall happen in the later time of the indignation. For the appointed time, the end shall be. This is making known to Daniel what the end, the end of what? Well, the end is referring to this destruction of Antiochus. But it's also referring, and gives us a foretaste of the final destruction of the Antichrist himself. That fourth empire we spoke about in chapter 7.

So, we need to know what to look for. And we need to unpack this man, this little horn here. What are his characteristics? Notice verse 23. In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall rise. He's going to have fierce features, who understand sinister schemes. Fierce features, and fierce there. That same description is a description used for the harlot in Proverbs chapter 7. So, he's going to be brazen, he's going to be bold, insolent, arrogant, defiant, skilled, and intrigue. A man who understands riddles, if you will. Sinister schemes, skillful at double talk. A man who's absolutely masterful. He uses God's given intelligence against God. It's interesting to think about. Verse 24 and 25. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. He shall destroy fearfully, he shall prosper and thrive, he shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people. Through his cunning, he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule. Exalt himself in his heart, he shall destroy many in their prosperity, and shall even rise up against the prince of princes, but shall be broken without human means. So you have deceit, destruction in his own mind. He's got this delusion of grandeur here. Even rise up against Jesus Christ himself, the prince of princes. The first part of verse 24. His power shall be mighty, but not of his own power. C.S. Lewis writes, For even the breath that it breathes to sin against God, it is dependent upon the one against whom it sins. God's sovereign over all of this, never fear.

But will you be ready? Will I be ready to stand against the wiles of this masterful scheme? His schemes? Deception. Always deception and delusion. When you break his schemes down, it's simply always in exchange for truth, for the lie. That's at the heart of every one of the Evil One's schemes. Beginning of creation, the lie from the Evil One to Adam and Eve. You don't have to pay attention to that kind of stuff. You can eat what you like. God doesn't want you to eat that. He wants to spoil your life. If he wanted you to have a nice life, he would let you do whatever he wanted to do. It's a lie. It's a particular lie that's being given to our young people. If God were good, he'd let you do whatever he wanted to do. Like overdose on drugs, you know? Like wreck your life with promiscuity. Is that a good God? He'll let you do whatever you want to do.

Now God says, here's the way. I've given you the instructions where you can have a full life. Happy, joyous life. Just leave that stuff alone. And Satan comes and he says, no, you don't have to leave that stuff alone. So at the root of man's rebellion, defiance of God, the root of these evil schemes is the same thing. It's very cunning. Deceit will prosper, it says.

But just remember who you stand with. You are with the one who in the end ultimately will break this individual, we see here, not by human hands. This individual is not going to be broken by human hands. It's going to be broken by God himself and Jesus Christ. That's there at the end of verse 25. He should be broken, broken without human means.

And verse 26, and know the vision of the evenings and the mornings, which was told, is true. Therefore seal up the vision, it refers to many days in the future. So what does that mean? Presumably roll this up, seal it. This is important information for time that is not yet. It's the notion of preserving it for the time in which we'll need it. This vision, some 400 years would pass from the time Daniel gets this vision, before all the senticus epiphanies would come to... that he would step onto the stage of human history. 400 years would pass. So it's so important that God's people had these sealed words, so they had them at the right time.

They don't have to fear. Well, in the end, Daniel went back to bed. Verse 27, he was sick for many days. So God pulled back the curtain to show Daniel what was going to happen. It puts him in his bed. We'll see in the next chapter, it puts him on his knees. I think that's the right response. So after he sorted all these things out afterward, verse 27, afterward, I arose and went about the king's business. I went about the king's business. So we'll finish with this, this notion of arising and going about the king's business. We have to arise, too, in this. We have to arise understanding that God has placed us at this particular time in history. He's given us a particular space, a particular place, where we have a sphere of influence. We can be a light, be a good example, share the hope that's within us. We arise to this and go back to the king's business every morning, alerted to the reality of the drama and divine impact of this, understanding the danger and the challenge which Daniel has painted for us here, to understand that the spirit behind Antiochus, the spirit behind this, is going to be the spirit behind the future in Antiochus that rises up. It may no doubt, Antiochus is here with us today, today, and he's trying to destroy the temple. So we have house God's Holy Spirit in us, and Antiochus, Satan the devil today, is trying to trample and destroy that truth that lies in us. We can't let it happen. We have to be alerted to these things. Satan the devil is real, and he's looking to cast down God's truth in us. Look at all these descriptions, cunning, deceitful. We have to be on guard. So the challenge is, for all of God's people, runs throughout the Bible, choose this day who you will serve. We must stand firm.

Well, let's have the Daniels of our day stand forward. Let's have men and women, young and old alike, hold fast to these prophecies as true. Let's be about the king's business. Until these visions are fulfilled.