Chapter 8:23-27 (ESV) - And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.”
And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king's business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.
Question to consider: Why would Daniel be overcome and sickened by this news from Gabriel?
I hope I haven’t confused everyone by breaking up this vision the way I did, but the first half of this chapter (verses 1-14) described the vision, and the second half (verses 15-26) was the explanation given by the angel Gabriel.
Today’s verses are the explanation concerning the small horn that would grow out of one of the four horns and become exceedingly great. As I mentioned yesterday (and according to Gabriel’s explanation), this small horn was a reference to Antiochus IV Epiphanes. “Their kingdom” in verse 23 was a reference to the four kings who were once generals under Alexander the Great. Antiochus came from the line of Seleucus, who ruled Syria and Babylon.
I find Gabriel’s perspective interesting because he described things from a heavenly view. The end of the power of the four kingdoms was described as when the transgressors had reached their limit. When people question why God allows evil in the world, they generally are talking about the second table of the Law— those concerning our love of neighbor. To them, good and evil are defined by the current culture so even those commands are relative. It is bad to kill some people but not others. It is bad to steal from some but not others. It is noble to covet your neighbors' things if they are wealthy. You can tell lies about your neighbor if it boosts your political agenda. Anything pertaining to our love of God is considered irrelevant or defined by our personal preference
The truth is, if God did not show mercy to evildoers, the world would not exist. Even though God shows us mercy, His mercy has a limit. All earthly kings eventually reach that limit, and so the blessed hope of Daniel (and all believers) was (and is) the eternal King who provides saving grace to people from all over the world.
The little horn was the opposite of this King— an anti-Christ who was a type and shadow of the one that would come at the end of the age. He believed himself to be worthy of rising up against Christ and His people. There is no question that he would be looked upon as great by men and destroy many in his wake, but he too would be broken. He would not be defeated with the sword, but by a terrible bowel disease that would drive him mad before killing him.
An important thing to consider was that Gabriel told Daniel to seal up the vision because it was not going to occur for many days. Antiochus IV would begin his reign in 175 BC. If Daniel received this vision in 448 or 447 BC, then 273 years was defined by Gabriel as far off. When John received his revelatory vision, he was told by the angel, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.” (Revelation 22:10) This is one reason I believe we should consider much of what was revealed to John as pertaining to the judgment that Jesus proclaimed would come upon the generation of His disciples in AD 70. I’ll address this more as we get to the latter chapters of this book.
For someone who had spent many years in exile with a longing for his people to be forgiven and restored by God, this vision made him physically ill. Telling Daniel to seal up this vision was a mercy for his fellow exiles. Daniel was able to trust in God and so get back to the king’s business after his initial shock. If the vision had this kind of impact on Daniel, it would have caused others to despair. Daniel didn’t understand why these things had to take place, but that understanding will come in his next encounter with Gabriel.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for what You have revealed to us in scripture. Please help us to rest in knowing that the future is in Your hands, and that what has been sealed up from our knowledge is for our own good. You are good, and we therefore will trust that You are working out all things for that good and for the glory of Christ Jesus. Amen.