As we noted earlier, v.1 tells us this was the 3rd year of Belshazzar. I said then, “This is believed to be about the year 550 BC. Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 BC, so it has been twelve years and Daniel would now be probably right around 70 years old. In the twelve years since Nebuchadnezzar died, Daniel has had to survive through four complete changes of administration with one king taking over by killing his predecessor. Finally, Belshazzar’s father Nabonidus killed the third one and took over, then left his son in charge of Babylon while he tended to other matters in the kingdom.”
So let’s get that in our heads – our friend Daniel is about 70 years old. He has spent his life front and center through what the Jewish people call “the Babylonian captivity.” As a young man, he was ripped away from his home and his family at the fall of his own nation. He has served in high government positions in none other than the city of Babylon, the very epicenter of evil in this material universe. Since Nebuchadnezzar passed, he’s watched four times as one man kills another so he can be king. By this time, no one needs to tell Daniel that human governments are evil.
As we read that Daniel is here allowed to see a vision, let’s not glibly skip along thinking, “Gosh, I wish I was a prophet! Wouldn’t it be cool to be Daniel!” Daniel has lived a very hard life. My personal admiration for him as a man only grows with every study I do in this book, that he could pull off being such a godly man not in Israel, but in the very epicenter of evil – the city of Babel! And now, we see that even the vision he receives is very painful for him, yet he goes on.
What does he see? First of all he
sees what we’ve already noted, the evil and violence of human government. He’s
certainly seen it swirling around him! Now, what he sees is that, if anything,
it only gets worse. He sees the ram butting. He sees the goat violently
attacking the ram. He sees the goat’s kingdom divided into four. He sees the
little horn rise up to persecute the people of God. Those are awful things to
see!
For myself, I definitely feel his pain. One of the things I cannot bear to see is photos and documentaries on the Holocaust. I’m glad for now at least we still have a historical record of that horrific, cosmically shameful chapter of human history. However, I can’t bear to see it. If I do, it takes me three days to shake off the melancholy and downright depression I’m left with. It is painful to see this world’s cruelty, to see the abuse of power and position, to see the violence and murder that invariably goes on. Daniel has seen plenty of it first hand. Now he has to see it looking into the future.
Then, as has happened before, Daniel is allowed to see into the cosmic spiritual battle which swirls around us. He actually sees, hears, and interacts with angels! At this point, I want to pause and note that you and I need to “see” those angels too. What I mean is that what Daniel is seeing is real. It is reality. We are surrounded by angels, both good and bad. We may not be able to see it with our own eyes, but, knowing our Bibles, we can and should be very aware that world is swirling around us. For me, following Daniel around like this does help me to see that world, to be reminded it is there, and that it is profoundly affecting this world we can see.
I’m trying to see all of this through Daniel’s eyes. What I mean is that, as I said above, much of what he saw then as a prophetic vision is for us now a matter of recorded history. We know all about the Medes and Persians and how they ruled the civilized world from about 539 BC until about 330 BC. Then, too, there is no missing the imagery of Alexander as the goat with the prominent horn racing across the face of the earth without touching the ground, crushing the Persian empire, only to die his untimely death in 323 BC. Then his kingdom was divided amongst his four generals, eventually giving rise to Antiochus Epiphanes and his terrible persecution of the Jewish people.
My thought is that, as I read the prophecy, it’s just like, “Oh, yeah. Of course …” However, I have to stop and remember, that is all future to Daniel. He knows no such history. I know the goat’s name is Alexander. Daniel does not. He needed Gabriel to tell him the two horned ram was the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. He certainly needed someone to tell him the goat was the king of Greece. Daniel, having seen Nebuchadnezzar’s vision from chapter 2 (with the silver arms and chest) and his own vision from chapter 7 (with the bear lifted up on one side), may have already suspected the Medes and Persians might soon conquer Babylon (the head of gold/the winged lion). He wasn’t stupid. Since Nebuchadnezzar died, he no doubt could see the Babylonian empire rapidly declining, while the Medes and Persians were at the same time rapidly ascending. Remember too he worked in some very high position in the Babylonian government, so he would be well informed of political developments occurring all around him.
I wonder what it was like to be Daniel and to see his own nation rapidly declining and knowing it was soon to be conquered? Of course he is 70 years old, which has somewhat of a stabilizing effect, but still, there would naturally be the fear of “What will that mean for me?” Kings often simply executed everyone in the conquered kingdom’s government. I feel some of that fear watching America plummet under the current totally crooked leadership, especially as we watch China constantly ascending and knowing Bible prophecy and where this world is headed. The thing is, I don’t know exactly how all of this is going to play out. Daniel, as he sees the vision, and as Gabriel explains it, knows clearly that, as he probably suspected, it was only a matter of time and yes, the Medes and Persians would conquer Babylon.
Interestingly enough, what did it mean for Daniel? We know from chapter 6, when the Medes and Persians did in fact conquer Babylon, he not only wasn’t killed, but instead was elevated to be Darius’s prime minister! That reminds me that you and I don’t have to worry either. Our nation may fall. Someone else, probably China, may conquer us. What will that mean for you and me? The natural response is to fear. However, we must remember the BIG lesson from the book of Daniel: The Most High rules in the nations of men! The God we trust today will be there in all our tomorrows – even if that includes our nation falling around us. “I’ve been young, and I’ve been old, yet, I’ve never seen the children of righteous begging bread.” Like Daniel, even in a falling nation, whether his Judah as a young man, or his Babylon as an old man, the Lord could always assure him, “The plans I have are to do you good and not to harm you.” Our world may fall apart, but our God still stands strong, wise, powerful, good, and kind to us in it all. Daniel could trust Him. So can we. As David Jeremiah said in his book Hope, “We find true stability in this unstable world only when we trust in God” (p.69).
So, as we read, let us be reminded that to Daniel, basically this entire vision concerns future events. As I pointed out in an earlier post, it is cryptic in many ways even still to us, but, as we read, we need to remember that for Daniel, as he describes it later (v.27), it was to him “beyond understanding.”
This actually brings me to my last point, that I think there is much to learn simply from Daniel, the man. Remember Daniel is just that – a man. He may be a prophet and a man of great faith, but he is still just a man. As all of these events swirl around him, he isn’t made of cardboard. He doesn’t somehow just float over it all in ethereal bliss. Remember from chapter 7 how that vision affected him. He said there, “I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this” (v.15,16). He concluded chapter 7 saying, “I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself” (v.28).
Now, in chapter 8, given this second vision, he says, “While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man (Gabriel) … As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate …” (vv.15-17). He concludes this chapter saying, “I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days … I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding” (v.27).
I love how in chapter 7 he said, “I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this” (v16), then here in chapter 8 he says concerning the ram, “As I was thinking about this …” (v.5), then he adds, “While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it …” (v.15). I love Daniel’s curiosity. He wants to understand. If there is someone around he thinks can help, he goes and asks them! When it comes to the things of God, may we all be found like Daniel – incorrigibly curious! We are only finite, created beings, limited people, just like Daniel, but our God is the Creator Himself – infinite and utterly beyond our understanding.
We are like a blind man, lying on a beach in Virginia, and longing to know all there is about America. As he lies there, he may know there is the sand beneath him, he hears the sound of the surf behind him, and perhaps birds chirping. However, how could he ever dream of what the very expanse of America holds, the mountains and valleys, the plains, the rivers and lakes, the woodlands and so much more? He could wander this country for literally millennia and still not know it all. Then assume one day he suddenly receives his sight! He would have to start all over and spend more millennia just to take in the sights of every square inch of this vast land! However, realize his task is much simpler than seeking to know God. We know so little, really – only what He has chosen to reveal to us – and just to truly know all the Bible has revealed to us about Him is probably the task of millennia in itself.
Fortunately for us, the incomprehensible God has, in fact, revealed much to us, but that knowledge will only be granted to those who actually seek it. It should come as no surprise that Daniel learned much. He sought it. “My son, … if you call out for insight … and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Prov. 2:1-6). May we all be students of the Word and seek the Lord like Daniel did.
However, let us note too, that the understanding of God and the things of God may not always leave us skipping down the church aisle singing praises. To see the truth here may be very ugly and devastating. While others console themselves about the “inherent goodness of man,” we see instead the awful cruelty that pervades the homes and communities and businesses and governments of this world. Like Daniel, as we understand our Bibles more and more, we’ll see in this world less and less of the gold and silver and more and more of the voracious beasts!
See how it affected Daniel. We see him at the end of this vision “exhausted and ill for several days.” That is Daniel, the man. If you and I would know his faith, we should expect that, one way or another, we’ll also know his sorrow. We saw these things back in chapter 7 and here we are again. Jesus was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” I think we need to embrace what is perhaps a more mature expectation of faith – that, yes, it will bring us great blessing – love and joy and peace – but, “it is enough for a disciple to be like his Master.” If we would know God’s heart, then how could we see the brokenness of this, His beautiful world, and not know grief?
Yes, Daniel is a real man. He’s real like you and me. May we not get so fascinated with the prophecies he recorded that we fail to learn all we can from the man himself.
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