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 Well good evening. I'm so glad that you're here. I'm so glad that you're fellowshiping around the table. You've had a good meal. You're fellowshiping. Now just don't go to sleep while I teach, okay? All right. That's okay. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Our heavenly Father, we are so thankful for a good day. We're so thankful that you've given us a breath in our body for tonight. We thank you, heavenly Father, that we have a Bible that we can open and study. We thank you, heavenly Father, that we know whatever may come across our path in this world. Lord, you have a wonderful future all designed for us. Lord Jesus, you said that you've gone to heaven to prepare a place for us. We can't imagine how wonderful it will be, Lord. We believe that exactly what the psalmist wrote in Psalm chapter 16, that in the presence of God there's fullness of joy and in your right hand there are pleasures forever. Lord, we can't wait to be with you in your presence forever. And Lord, till we get there, I pray that you would help us to continue to grow spiritually, help us to study the Word, to pray, to seek you with all of our heart. Lord, you say in Jeremiah chapter 29, "You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart." And I pray we'd never quit searching for you, we'd never quit pursuing you as long as we have a breath in our body. We love you and thank you. Bless our study tonight, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, Daniel chapter 8. Daniel chapter 8. Now when Daniel chapter 8 opens, I want you to notice, "In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, the king, a vision appeared to me Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously." Now, it's what I want you to remember. Chapters 1 through 6 of Daniel is a historical narrative part of the book of Daniel, okay? If you look at the last verse of chapter 6, verse 28, chapter 6 verse 28, "So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." That's his swan song. That capsules his life from the beginning of the exile until the end of the exile, okay? That's it. So that's a historical narrative. Now, the prophecy section, chapters 7 through 12, was written, all these prophecies were written during the time that Daniel was alive, obviously, during the period of chapters 1 through 6. That's why it says here in chapter 7, verse 1, "In the first year of Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, Daniel had a vision." That's vision number 1. Vision number 2, Daniel chapter 8, "In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, the king had a vision," excuse me, "In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, the king, a vision appeared to me Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously." So tonight, we're going to look at the second vision that God gave to Daniel. Now, you may say, "Well, well, they're just alike." No, they're not. They're different. They are different. And I'm going to point out the differences to you tonight. And the differences make a difference, I promise you. Now, look at verse 27. "Daniel learned a valuable lesson, a valuable lesson, even though he was in exile, even though the Jewish people had suffered in that exile." Notice what chapter 7, verse 27 says, "Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey him." Now, that is a wonderful verse of hope. It's a verse of hope. It was a verse of hope for Daniel. It's a verse of hope for us. Now, while there was great hope in store for God's covenant people, they still had to face many, many difficulties, many difficulties, much heartache. Even once they got back in the land, once they rebuilt the temple, once temple worship was restored, it was going to be very, very difficult on them. And that's what chapter 8 is all about. Okay?

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 Now, one thing I'd like to say, bringing it to the 21st century. But we don't know what's over the horizon. Okay? There are a lot of ominous things happening in our world today, right? Will you agree with me? I mean, look at the economy. Look at the rise of Russia and the rise of these very, China. There are a lot of threats. America's under threat from Islam right here today, a major threat from Islam. And we look at these things and sometimes we wonder, are we going to make it? And we can get down, but here's what we've got to remember. Chapter 7 verse 27 applied to Daniel. But I can tell you this, it also applies. There's great hope in store for us, right? Great hope in store for us. The Bible says that, in fact, somebody texted me this week about how God was blessing their lives. And I texted a line from the hymn, "Every day with Jesus is better than the day before." Isn't that true? And it's going to be even better when we're in His presence, I promise you. Now, look at chapters one, chapter eight verses one and two. "In the third year, the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me, Daniel subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously." Verse two. "I looked in the vision." It was a vision now. Remember, it was a vision. "And while I was looking, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam, and I looked in the vision and I myself was beside the Eli Canal." Now, Daniel did not make the 200 plus mile trip from Babylon to Elam. Now, Elam is present day Iran, okay?

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 He did not make that trip. It was a vision. He says very plainly here, it was a vision.

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 So he's transported to this place called Susa in the province of Elam to the Eli Canal, about 200 miles to the east of Babylon. And Susa is what would later become the capital of Persia. Now, Persia or Iran was a part of that next kingdom that would take over and defeat the Babylonians, right? We remember that from chapter two. We remember that from chapter seven. The empire would shortly, the Medo-Persian Empire would shortly overthrow and defeat Babylon and Belshazzar. Look at verse three and four. "Then I lifted my eyes

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 and behold a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other with the longer one coming up last. I saw the ram budding westward, northward and southward and no other beast could stand before him, nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself."

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 So Daniel's in his second vision. In this one, he sees a ram with two horns. One is larger than the other. This ram is charging this way and that way and nothing could stand before it. And the Bible says here in verse four, "He did as he pleased and magnified himself." Now, this ram represents the Medo-Persian Empire in chapter eight. Now, in chapter seven, the Medo-Persian Empire was represented by the bear, but here it's the ram. Now, look at verses five through eight. "While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west." Now, notice where the male goats come from. It's coming from the west. So if you're in Babylon and you're looking west, you're looking toward Israel and you're looking across the Mediterranean to the European continent, and I believe this is what he's referring to. "And this male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground, and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes." Now, when it talks about the goat seemingly not touching the ground, it's speaking of the speed of this empire. And this male goat represents the empire of Greece.

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 Now, remember you had the Babylonian Empire. We'll go back to chapter two. The Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the empire of Greek, the Greece, and the empire of Rome. Those are the four major world empires that will take place in human history. And so here, we have this empire of Greece that moves with lightning speed to defeat their enemies. And it had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. Now, this horn represents Alexander the Great, who was ruling the king of the empire of Greece. He's a great warrior and he was known for leading his army to make lightning fast movements to defeat their enemies. And he came up to the ram. Now, the ram is what? With the two horns. It's the Medo-Persian Empire, all right? Which I had seen standing in front of the canal and rushed at him with his mighty wrath. Now, I want you to notice something. These empires were very powerful. In fact, look at the verbs. Look at the verb. Look at verse seven. "I saw him come beside the ram. He was enraged at him, and he struck the ram and he shattered his two horns." The two horns represent the Medes and the Persians. "And the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground." There's another verb. "He hurled him to the ground, trampled on him," another verb. "And there was none to rescue the ram from his power, the power of the male goat. Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken. And in its place, there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven." Now, what I want you to see here is that this male goat with a conspicuous horn that was broken represents Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was a powerful, powerful strategic leader. And at the age of 33, he died. 33. He died and he was brokenhearted. You know why he was brokenhearted? Because he had no more kingdoms to conquer. Brokenhearted. Now, so Daniel's attention in this vision shifts from the ram with the two horns to the male goat with a single horn between his eyes. Now,

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 Alexander's kingdom, once he died at the age of 33, it was divided into four weaker kingdoms. And they were weaker. Okay. They were not as strong as Alexander's empire of Greece. Cassandra, a general was over Macedon and Greece. Lysimachus, another general, of Alexander's generals, was over Thrace and Asia Minor. Seleucus, another general was over Syria and Babylon. And Ptolemy, another general was over Egypt. Now, the Bible makes it very clear in this prophecy that these four kingdoms would be weaker than Alexander's kingdom. Okay. They would be like minor kingdoms, you might say, but they still had a lot of power and a lot of influence. Now, just to review,

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 we have a ram with two horns, which leads to a goat with one horn, which is broken off and is replaced by four horns. Just want you to get that in your mind. Okay. Now remember this, when Daniel receives this prophecy from God, it's a God revealed to him this prophecy. It's a prophecy that would take place once the Jews got back in the land of Israel. Okay. It was many years in the future. In fact, many liberal scholars have said that they believe that Daniel wrote this prophecy after all this stuff happened. Now that is absolutely foolish. God gave Daniel this vision to prepare the covenant people of Israel for the trouble they would experience once they got back in the land. Okay. And it was going to be very, very difficult for them once they got back in the land. I'm sure as they were making their way back to Israel to rebuild the temple and to restore temple worship and to repopulate the promised land, I'm sure they were singing songs of great victory and they didn't, they may not have been able to anticipate all the trouble that would lay before them. Okay. So God gives Daniel this prophecy to prepare them for the difficulty that was coming their way. Now, when we compare the vision in chapter eight with the one in chapter seven, we do see some parallels. The four unusual beasts of chapter seven included a beast like lion representing Babylon, a beast like bear representing the Medes and Persians, a beast like leopard representing Greece, and a beast unlike any known animal representing Rome. Rome. Now the ram in chapter eight corresponds to the bear in chapter seven. It represents the, the, the ram represents the Medo-Persian empire. The goat corresponds to the leopard in chapter seven and it corresponds to the empire of Greece. Now there's an important clue that's located here and we look at our bibles and we don't see it and it's language. It's language. It's the fact that the writing changes from Aramaic to Hebrew. For instance, in Daniel chapter one, verse one to chapter two, verse three, it's written in Hebrew. In Daniel chapter two, verse four to chapter seven, verse 28 is written in Aramaic. In Daniel chapter eight, verse one to chapter 12, verse 13, the end of the book is written in Hebrew again. You say, why is this switch? I'm not sure there's another book in the Bible that switches languages in the midst of the book. I don't think there is.

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 To me, it's a clue and the clue is simply this, that in chapters two through seven,

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 God is using the Aramaic language, which was the dominant Gentile language at that time to communicate to the Gentiles. And then you come to the Hebrew portion and it's written primarily for the Hebrews. Think about it. This vision in chapter eight, it's for the Jews once they get back in the land. Okay. It's a very specific prophecy for the Jews. Now, let's look at chapter eight, verses nine through 12. Chapter eight, verses nine through 12.

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 Out of one of them came forth a smaller horn. So we've got the four horns and out of one of them comes a smaller horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east and toward the beautiful land. Now the beautiful land is the land of Israel. It's the promised land.

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 Verse 10, it grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth and it trampled them down. Now this small horn is different from the small horn in chapter seven. Let me tell you why it's different. The little horn in chapter seven, if you study it, it came out of the Roman empire, the last empire. The little horn in chapter eight has come out of the empire of Greece. So it's a totally different thing, even though it may have some implications for the other. Now we studied the little horn of chapter seven last week and we discovered that it's referring to the Antichrist and we spent a lot of time talking about the Antichrist last week. And that's what the little horn in chapter seven is about. But the little horn in chapter eight is about an individual that would wreak havoc upon the Jewish people when they got back in the land. Okay. His name was Antiochus Epiphanes. And I'm sure you've read about him in history, but he was one cruel guy. So it grew up to the host of heaven, caused some of the hosts and some of the stars to fall to the earth and it trampled them down. It even magnified itself to be equal with the commander of the host and it removed the regular sacrifice from him and the place of its sanctuary was thrown down.

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 And on account of transgression, the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.

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 Then I heard a Holy one speaking and another Holy one, I assumed those are angels.

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 One angel speaking to another angel said to that particular one who was speaking, how long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply? Now that you know what that tells us that tells us that the Jewish people that were in exile for 70 years, they're already back in the land. They have, they have rebuilt the temple and they are involved in temple worship because he talks about the regular sacrifice and what this little horn in chapter eight will do is he'll stop the regular sacrifice. He'll do everything he can to get the Jewish people not to worship God, the true God. Now the name Antiochus Epiphanes literally means God manifest.

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 Antiochus Epiphanes claimed to be God. By the way, do you remember what we talked about last week with Antichrist? What does he do? He claims to be God, right? And he demands that the whole world worship him. Well, Antiochus Epiphanes is like a, like a prelude, a picture of the coming Antichrist who will be here in the last days leading up to the return of Christ. So he, remember this, the Bible says in first John that even this the first century, he said, even now there are many Antichrists in the world, the spirit of Antichrist. It doesn't mean that the Antichrist, but the spirit of Antichrist. Remember this, don't, don't forgive this. Satan is not God. Okay. Satan is not omniscient. He doesn't know everything. He's not omnipotent. He doesn't have all power. He's not omnipresent. He can't be everywhere at once. He can't be tempting you and your home and me and my home at the same time. He has to, he has to dispatch a demon to, to do his work among multiple people. You got to remember that. So the devil does not know, remember this, he doesn't know when Jesus has come again. Do you know Jesus said even he didn't know when he was coming again. Well, if he doesn't know when he's coming again, I promise you the devil doesn't know when he's coming again. So here's what the devil has to do. It's with each generation. He has to have a man on stage ready to perform as the Antichrist. He has to have a man ready. Now I remember,

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 you know, you remember people that we thought was Antichrist. I remember people said Kissinger was Antichrist. Remember that? Hitler was Antichrist. By the way, Hitler magnified himself and, and he claimed that he would have a thousand year reign. The right would have a, the third right would have a thousand year reign. You know how long it lasted. He came to power in 1933 and he killed himself in a hole in 1945. See, there are a lot of leaders, there are a lot of politicians, there are a lot of empire, so-called empires that rise to the surface, but they don't turn out the way their leaders think they're going to turn out. Right? And here's what we can't do. We can't get all twisted up with fear when we see one of these great leaders, this benevolent leaders rise to the surface and begin to threaten the whole world. We can't get all twisted up about that. Our king rules. Listen, the one thing about Daniel you've got to remember. Daniel champions the idea of the sovereignty of God over and over and over and over again. Now, so where does it stop?

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 I got to chasing a rabbit. All right, look, let's start with verse 12. And on account, page four, and on account of transgression, the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice and it will fling truth to the ground, perform its will and prosper. By the way, that's what Antiochus Epiphanes did. And that's what the Antichrist will do in the last days.

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 Then verse 13, then I heard a Holy One speaking, how long with the vision about the regular sacrifice apply. And verse 14, he said to me for 2300 evenings and mornings, then the Holy Place will be properly restored. So it's a prophecy that when the Jews get back in the land,

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 the abomination of desolation will occur. And God is prophesying the abomination of desolation approximately 500 years before Christ comes. Amazing it. So the chief new element

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 of the vision in chapter eight is that the little horn is different from the one mentioned in chapter seven. Uh, we're talking about Antiochus Epiphanes and you know how long he would rain.

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 Man, he, he, he was like Hitler. They all the same cut from the same cloth.

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 They, they have an inflated view of themselves. They believe that they are God's gift to not God's gift, the devil's gift to the world. But Antiochus Epiphanes would rain from 175 to 163 BC. That's it.

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 Now I've got some information about him on the next page. I want to sort of go over that with you. He was a Antiochus Epiphanes was the eighth king of the Seleucid dynasty. Remember he was the one that was over Syria and that part. And he was one of the four powers into which the Greek empire was divided after the death of Alexander. Daniel describes him as being, look at this, wicked and a master of intrigue sound just like the Antichrist, doesn't it?

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 In Jerusalem, he tried to impose religious and cultural uniformity by suppressing Jewish worship.

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 In 175 BC, at the beginning of his reign, he expelled the godly high priest there in Jerusalem and replaced him with a compromiser. He put an end to the daily sacrifices at the temple. He forbid them from circumcising the Jewish little boys and made it a crime to possess a copy of the Jewish scriptures. I'm telling you what this chapter eight is prophesying about the little horn

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 has so much resemblance to the little horn in chapter seven, the Antichrist. In December 168 BC Antiochus seized Jerusalem. He sent his general Apolloneus into the city with 20,000 troops.

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 An idol of Zeus was erected in the temple area. The altar was desecrated by offering swine upon it. The idol and the offering of swine on the altar became known to the Jews as the abomination of desolation. Look at Daniel chapter 11 verse 31. Daniel chapter 11 verse 31.

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 Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress,

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 do away with the regular sacrifice, and they will set up the abomination of desolation. Look at Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24 verse 15. Matthew 24 verse 15. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet,

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 standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Isn't it interesting how the Bible just is pieced together, just absolutely beautifully put together the abomination of desolation. It's a sign

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 of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll tell you, for a person, for a Jew who's alive

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 and living in Jerusalem at the time when the abomination of desolation occurs,

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 it's almost like they can know when Jesus is coming to be seven years after the tribulation begins. Right? For the last half of tribulation is called the time the Jacob's trouble, called great tribulation. It's a tribulation like the world has never seen before. And they're told the Jews who live living in Jerusalem at the time in the promised land are told to go to the mountains, go to the mountains. Now, look at this.

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 So Antiochus Epiphanes viewed himself as God made manifest. All right. Now the 2300 evenings and mornings may mean approximately seven years, or it may refer to approximately three and a half years. In 168 BC, the temple was desecrated. That's what Antiochus Epiphanes did in 168 BC. In 164 BC, it was cleansed and restored. By the Maccabees. That fits well with a three and a half year understanding. I want to talk a little bit more about what happened with the cleansing of the temple after Antiochus Epiphanes and toward the end of our time tonight. So I want you to look at how Daniel responds to all these perplexing details. In Daniel chapter eight, verse 15 to 19, when I, Daniel had seen the vision,

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 I sought to understand it. Can I be honest with you? I've been studying all day

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 and I've been seeking to understand it too. But God didn't send Gabriel to help me out like he sent Gabriel to Daniel to help him out. So when I, Daniel had seen the vision, I sought to understand it and behold standing before me was one who looked like a man. And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Eulite.

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 And it called out and said, he called out, "Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision."

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 So he came near to where I was standing. And when he came, he said, "I'm not going to be in the middle of the earth." And when he came, I was frightened, fell on my face.

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 But he said to me, "Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end."

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 Now while he was talking with me, I sank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground, but he touched me. I guess he was touched by an angel and made me stand up right. And he said, "Behold, I'm going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation

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 pertains to the appointed time of the end." Now we see that and we think he's talking about the time of Christ coming. But I don't think he's talking about that at this point. I think he's talking about the time when the Jews get back in the land and Antiochus Epiphanes arises and begins to spew his hatred and ruthlessness all over the Jewish people and the land of Israel. I think he's talking about that. So God sent his angel gave. By the way, I think I'm right. I guess some of you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in the Old Testament, the only book of the Bible

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 that reveals the name of an angel is a book of Daniel. Daniel talks about Gabriel and Daniel talks about Michael. I don't think there's another book in the Bible that gives the name of an angel.

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 Could be wrong. I'm sure you'll help me out if I'm wrong. So God sent his angel to help Daniel understand the vision. Now, I've got a little statement here I want you to look at. When it comes to prophetic passages, there is a law of interpretation called the law of double fulfillment. Prophetic passages can apply to a person who live during Daniel's day

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 and to a person who would surface at some time in the distant future.

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 It's the law of double fulfillment. Stephen Miller wrote this. It is possible to be true to the text

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 and allow that the little horn of chapter eight, Antiochus IV, may be a type of that one spoken of in chapter seven, the eschatological antichrist, for the parallels between their characters and careers are striking. Okay. So I do want you to understand that law of double fulfillment. Now Daniel eight revolves around three main characters, a ram, a goat, and a little horn.

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 A ram, a goat, and a little horn. Some things in the text are clearly explained to us. Now, if you were to read the first part of chapter eight, you might be scratching your head trying to figure all this stuff out. But if you read the last part of chapter eight and you hear the interpretation that Gabriel gives to Daniel, it begins to make some sense to you. Okay. I think one thing we do to our own detriment is we don't allow scripture

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 to explain scripture to us. Listen, the greatest commentary on scripture is scripture. Please remember that. Now, Daniel chapter eight, verse 18 to 26, look at it. Now, while he was talking with me, I sank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground, but he touched me and made me stand up right. And he said, behold, I'm going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation for it pertains to the appointed time of the end. God's people, the nation of Israel, were being disciplined and were suffering because they sinned against God.

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 Do you know the Bible says that as a born again believer, as a child of God, that he disciplines us. In fact, take your Bible, turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Just a minute. Hebrews chapter 12.

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 Look at verse four. You have not resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin and you have forgotten the exhortation which was addressed to you as sons. My son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor faint when you are reproved by him.

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 Look at this, verse six. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons. If you're a born again believer in this room tonight or if you're a born again believer watching live stream,

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 I want you to know that the God of heaven loves you so much that he will discipline you if you get out of line. Just like you would discipline your own children when they get out of line.

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 It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. But if you were without discipline, in other words, if you get off course and you began to do things antithetical to the way God wants you to live and you reject the word of God, the will of God and the way of God, if you're a born again believer, he's going to discipline you. He's going to discipline you. If you're not a believer,

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 he won't discipline you. That's what it's saying right here. He won't discipline. He only disciplines his children. He does not punish his children. He disciplines his children. Now look at this, verse nine, "Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the father spirits and live for they discipline us for a short time as seen best for them. But he discipline." Look at this. You won't know why God disciplines us. He disciplines us for our good so that we may share his holiness. That's what God was doing with the nation of Israel. When they went back into the land, even after being in exile for 70 years, they still were not faithful to God. And God disciplined them because he wanted them to be holy. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful. It doesn't, does it? I remember my daddy who spanked me and you know how you hear this, "Well, it hurts me more than it does you, son." No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. Not at all. And the Bible says here, "All discipline for the moment seemed not to be joyful, but sorrowful. Yet to those," look at this, "Yet to those who have been trained by it afterward, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." So you take that teaching in Hebrews and you apply it back to what God was doing with the nation of Israel as he would discipline them because they got out of line again. They got way out of line again. And it wouldn't be the last time they would get out of line.

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 And he disciplined them because he loved them and he wanted them to be holy. Now look at this,

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 verses 18 to 26 again, God's people will be disciplined and suffer for their sins. Verse 20 to 22, look at it, "The ram which you saw," and this is Gabriel talking, okay, "The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Midia and Persia."

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 So, Gabriel is explaining this vision to Daniel. And then verse 21, "The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king." That would be Alexander the Great. "The broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation although," look at it, "although not with his power."

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 They won't be as strong as the empire of Greece under the leadership of Alexander the Great. Now, these verses enlighten our understanding about the main characters. We've seen it right here. Look at verses 23 to 26, "In the latter period of their rule," I'm talking about the latter period

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 of the four generals that took over for their weaker kingdoms, okay, "in the latter part of their rule when the transgressors have run their course a king will arise." Insolent,

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 skilled, and intrigued. Now, this king that will arise here is Antiochus Epiphanes.

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 His power will be mighty but not by his own power. You know where he got his power? From Satan. You know where the Antichrist is going to get his power from?

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 He's going to get it from demonic beings, okay. His power will be mighty but not by his own power. He will and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will. He will destroy mighty men of the holy people and through his shrewdness he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence and he will magnify himself in his heart and he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the prince of princes but he will be broken without human agency. The vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true. It's true. This vision is true. Gabriel attests to the fact that this vision is true. You know one of the ways that you can prove that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired, infallible Word of God, truth without mixture of error, is look at biblical prophecy and look at prophecies that were written hundreds and hundreds of years before they ever came to pass and how they came came to pass right just the way the Bible says that we're going to come to pass and it proves that the Bible is the Word of the living God. It's a great apologetic tool for us to defend our faith and our belief in the Bible.

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 Okay.

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 Look at this verse 25 again and through his shrewdness he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence. He will magnify himself in his heart. He will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the prince of princes.

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 But he will be broken without human agency. The vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true but keep the vision secret for it pertains to many days in the future.

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 It was not for the Jewish people living during Belshazzar's day. It would be for the Jewish people who will be living in the time when the Antiochus Epiphanes would come to power.

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 So I want you to understand that when Daniel wrote this, he wrote about something that was going to happen a few hundred years later. Okay. And it is absolutely amazing how it happened exactly the way God said it would happen in this vision. Now,

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 the words he and he is are prominent in verses 24 and 25.

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 I want you to look at this with me. I've just listed it. Talking about Antiochus Epiphanes.

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 And look, I think that we can also say because of the law of double fulfillment that it also applies to the Antichrist who will rise in the last days. Okay. His power will be mighty but not by his own power. He will be a satanically empowered puppet. That's what Daniel was saying to the Jewish people. He's writing in Hebrew now. Okay. He will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will. Verse 24. Verse 24. He'll be victorious in battle, achieve power and amass enormous wealth.

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 He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. Verse 24. The powerful along with the holy.

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 He will defeat many opponents in war and will war successfully against God's people for almost seven years. He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence. Antiochus Epiphanes was shrewd and deceptive, stopping at nothing to further his agenda and prosper his hand. He will magnify himself in his heart. Chapter 25 verse 11. Arrogance, pride, self-deification or his holy trinity. Look at verse 11 of our chapter eight also. It says the same thing. It even magnified itself to be equal with the commander of the host. Wow. Talk about pride and arrogance.

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 He will destroy many while they are at ease. He's ruthless and unconscionable murderer. He will even oppose a Prince of Prince's. He stands in opposition to God himself. Listen, because he really believed he was God. He believed he was God manifest, so he renamed himself Antiochus Epiphanes.

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 But he will be broken without human agency. His reign would be short. His downfall devastating. You know who killed Antiochus Epiphanes? God.

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 No Maccabean soldier killed him. God struck him dead. Look at verse 26. Verse 26, the Bible says the vision of the evening and morning which have been told is true, but keep the vision secret for pertains to many days in the future. Now, the Jewish people who would be living during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes brutal reign would really need this prophecy. Okay. And I'm so glad that Daniel wrote it down. Okay. For them and for us. Okay.

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 Now, the Maccabean revolt occurred in 164 BC. Judas Maccabee, Maccabees, his name means the hammer, would lead the Jews to victory, the cleansing of the temple and the restoration of their religion. Today, Jews will be celebrating Hanukkah, the festival of lights, in remembrance of what Judas Maccabees and his people did to defeat Antiochus Epiphanes, his army, and to restore the temple and cleanse the temple. And what happened to Antiochus? Well, second Maccabees is an apocryphal book, but it records his end. It's like a history book, you might say, but here's how it ended for him. But the all seeing Lord, the God of Israel struck him an incurable and unseen blow. As soon as he sees speaking, he was seized with a pain in his bowels for which there was no relief and with sharp internal tortures. And that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others and many with many and strange inflictions. Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews and giving orders to hasten the journey. And so it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along. And the fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body. God killed him. Hey, look at verse 27, the last verse in this chapter.

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 "Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for many days. Then I got up again and carried on the king's business." Now what king was it? They carried on as Belshazzar. Remember, it's a third year Belshazzar.

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 But I was astounded at the vision and there was none to explain it.

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 Gabriel explained it, but being a human being, it was hard for him to put it all together in his head. So chapter eight, interesting chapter, right? Chapter seven, chapter eight, boy, a lot of very significant prophecy in these two chapters. Hey, next week, next Wednesday, we will not be meeting. It's a Wednesday before Thanksgiving. So we will not meet next Wednesday, but we will meet the next Wednesday. Okay. All right. Thank you for being here.

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 Mr. Bill told me before we got started, asked me, "Now, did you study enough to make it worth me driving up here tonight?" I said, "Mr. Bill, I've studied all day." All day. So thank you for being here. God bless you. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you that all these kingdoms, all these empires, all these nations that rise up as if they're going to rule the world, Lord Jesus, nobody's going to rule the world but you. And I pray, Lord, that we would not get twisted up with fear when we see whether it be Russia, China, or whoever rise up and threaten the world. I pray, Lord, that we would not be fearful, but that we would have mountain moving faith and know that you are totally in control and you will rule and reign forever. Lord, we love you and thank you for the hope we have in Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.

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 All right. Thank you.