Dan 8:20-26 | KingComments | STEP | Gabriel introduces his interpretation with the promise that he will let Daniel know “what will occur at the final period of the indignation”. The application and interpretation is therefore about the end time. It is called here the “period of indignation”. The expression “indignation” is used in Isaiah for the indignation of God upon His people who have turned away from Him, following the antichrist ( ). It is the time of great tribulation. The fact that it is about the time of the end means that the explanation goes beyond the immediate or near future. The near future is about the conquest by the Greeks of the empire of the Medes and Persians. We see this in the meaning of the ram and the male goat. What these represent, is clearly said. We also hear about the one large horn and the four horns that replace it. The first king is Alexander. Upon his death, his kingdom was divided among his four generals. This division also means the end of the power of the Greek empire. None of the four parts had the power Alexander had. When the four kings are at the end of their power, an “insolent” king will arise. That is the small horn, or the earlier mentioned Antiochus Epiphanes. The reason for his rise is not primarily the approaching end of the kingship of the four kings, but the behavior of the apostates. It concerns the apostates of God’s people. There comes a moment when the degenerate Jews have made full the measure of their iniquity (cf. ; ; ). That is the moment when they are ripe for the destruction that God will bring upon them through Antiochus as a discipline. Besides his insolent deeds, this king is also “skilled in intrigue”, which indicates the corruptness of his character. He achieves his goals by exercising a reign of terror and the use of lies and deceit. The great power he develops he does not possess by himself: “His power will be mighty, but not by his [own] power.” He owes his strength to another power. By this other power he is strong and he succeeds in his pursuit of causing destruction. It can’t be otherwise but if someone who takes pleasure in causing destruction is an instrument of the devil. The remark “that he will destroy to an extraordinary degree” also shows this. Someone of whom you do not expect to be so powerful and yet to be so, has help from the realm of darkness. He has sold his soul to the devil who rewards him with ‘power’. To this aim, the devil uses Russia, the mighty empire in the far north ( ). The fact that the driving force behind Antiochus is the devil is also shown by the fact that he wants to cause destruction among God’s people in particular. He will do it and he will succeed. We know it is because he – without being aware of it – is used by God as a means of discipline in His hand. However, this does not absolve him from his corrupt actions through and through, which will also be judged by God, as we read at the end of . God knows how to use man’s evil deeds, for which he is fully responsible himself, for His purpose. His goal is the welfare of His people and the glorification of His Son by those people. The “mighty men” he destroys are the leaders of Israel who lead the people into the apostasy. He will also destroy “the holy people”. Despite the apostasy of the people, God’s Spirit calls them here “the holy people”. That is what the people should have been: a people set apart from all peoples to live only for God. But because they rejected Him and surrendered to the idolatry of the nations, they are surrendered by God to their enemies, here in the person of the cruel, wicked Antiochus. This is not a new way of acting by God. We see in the book of Judges several times that God surrenders His people into the hands of their enemies when they have departed from Him. He does so that they may return to Him. When they call upon Him, He sends a liberator. This can also happen in our personal lives. When we depart from the Lord, He sometimes has to give us up to the power of sin. Then we learn the reign of sin through experiencing the power of sin. By this we will remember how good it was when we followed the Lord and served Him. We hear that also from the prodigal son and what he says in the parable the Lord Jesus tells ( ). The result is that we will then acknowledge with repentance our wrong path. We will know that the Father awaits us and takes us in His arms when we come back to Him. In attention is once again drawn to his cunning. Because he is cunning, he manages to be deceitful. He may well conceal his true intention and exercise power over others. His success will make him proud. He will boast of his prosperity. Somehow he will succeed in gaining a foothold in Israel. If the Jews think they have nothing to fear from him and they are at rest, he will strike and kill many. In his pride he will even venture to stand up against the Lord Jesus, as if he could destroy Him too. But he dies suddenly by the hand of God ( ; ).

‏ Daniel 8:20-26

The Interpretation of the Vision

Gabriel introduces his interpretation with the promise that he will let Daniel know “what will occur at the final period of the indignation”. The application and interpretation is therefore about the end time. It is called here the “period of indignation”. The expression “indignation” is used in Isaiah for the indignation of God upon His people who have turned away from Him, following the antichrist (Isa 10:25 ; Isa 26:20). It is the time of great tribulation.

The fact that it is about the time of the end means that the explanation goes beyond the immediate or near future. The near future is about the conquest by the Greeks of the empire of the Medes and Persians. We see this in the meaning of the ram and the male goat. What these represent, is clearly said. We also hear about the one large horn and the four horns that replace it. The first king is Alexander. Upon his death, his kingdom was divided among his four generals. This division also means the end of the power of the Greek empire. None of the four parts had the power Alexander had.

When the four kings are at the end of their power, an “insolent” king will arise. That is the small horn, or the earlier mentioned Antiochus Epiphanes. The reason for his rise is not primarily the approaching end of the kingship of the four kings, but the behavior of the apostates. It concerns the apostates of God’s people. There comes a moment when the degenerate Jews have made full the measure of their iniquity (cf. Mt 23:32; Gen 15:16; 1Thes 2:16). That is the moment when they are ripe for the destruction that God will bring upon them through Antiochus as a discipline. Besides his insolent deeds, this king is also “skilled in intrigue”, which indicates the corruptness of his character. He achieves his goals by exercising a reign of terror and the use of lies and deceit.

The great power he develops he does not possess by himself: “His power will be mighty, but not by his [own] power.” He owes his strength to another power. By this other power he is strong and he succeeds in his pursuit of causing destruction. It can’t be otherwise but if someone who takes pleasure in causing destruction is an instrument of the devil. The remark “that he will destroy to an extraordinary degree” also shows this. Someone of whom you do not expect to be so powerful and yet to be so, has help from the realm of darkness. He has sold his soul to the devil who rewards him with ‘power’. To this aim, the devil uses Russia, the mighty empire in the far north (Eze 38:2-6 ; 14-16 ; Eze 39:1-2).

The fact that the driving force behind Antiochus is the devil is also shown by the fact that he wants to cause destruction among God’s people in particular. He will do it and he will succeed. We know it is because he – without being aware of it – is used by God as a means of discipline in His hand. However, this does not absolve him from his corrupt actions through and through, which will also be judged by God, as we read at the end of Dan 8:25. God knows how to use man’s evil deeds, for which he is fully responsible himself, for His purpose. His goal is the welfare of His people and the glorification of His Son by those people.

The “mighty men” he destroys are the leaders of Israel who lead the people into the apostasy. He will also destroy “the holy people”. Despite the apostasy of the people, God’s Spirit calls them here “the holy people”. That is what the people should have been: a people set apart from all peoples to live only for God. But because they rejected Him and surrendered to the idolatry of the nations, they are surrendered by God to their enemies, here in the person of the cruel, wicked Antiochus. This is not a new way of acting by God. We see in the book of Judges several times that God surrenders His people into the hands of their enemies when they have departed from Him. He does so that they may return to Him. When they call upon Him, He sends a liberator.

This can also happen in our personal lives. When we depart from the Lord, He sometimes has to give us up to the power of sin. Then we learn the reign of sin through experiencing the power of sin. By this we will remember how good it was when we followed the Lord and served Him. We hear that also from the prodigal son and what he says in the parable the Lord Jesus tells (Lk 15:17). The result is that we will then acknowledge with repentance our wrong path. We will know that the Father awaits us and takes us in His arms when we come back to Him.

In Dan 8:25 attention is once again drawn to his cunning. Because he is cunning, he manages to be deceitful. He may well conceal his true intention and exercise power over others. His success will make him proud. He will boast of his prosperity. Somehow he will succeed in gaining a foothold in Israel. If the Jews think they have nothing to fear from him and they are at rest, he will strike and kill many. In his pride he will even venture to stand up against the Lord Jesus, as if he could destroy Him too. But he dies suddenly by the hand of God (Dan 2:45; Job 34:20).

The Effect on Daniel

If we had to give this vision a name, we could call it ‘the vision of the ram and the male goat’. God’s Spirit does not call this vision with that name. At the end of the vision the Spirit of God calls it “the vision of the evenings and the mornings”. We think it is about the battle between the Greeks and the Medes and Persians. But God’s Spirit says that in reality it is about the time when God’s sacrifice, repeated twice a day, is denied Him. It “is true”. We need not doubt it.

This is about the daily burnt offering. That speaks of the Lord Jesus in His work on the cross that was accomplished for God. Christ has glorified God perfectly and in everything. God wants us to tell Him what the Lord Jesus meant to Him on the cross. We often think about what the Lord Jesus did for us, what the consequences of His work are for us. But how often do we think about what His sacrifice means to God?

Daniel must keep the vision secret. It is not only important for the immediate future in connection with the coming of the Greek empire and in particular the small horn (Antiochus Epiphanes). What it lastly is all about is the time of the end. Then what this vision has shown will find its fulfilment in the great tribulation, when enemies will oppress both from the outside and from within God’s people. The (religious) main enemy inside is the antichrist. The (political) enemy from outside comes from the north, Syria, supported by the enemy from the far north, Russia.

When Daniel has seen the vision and heard the interpretation, he is exhausted. He is sick of it because it all touched him deeply. For us it’s a bit different. It need not make us sick or even surprise us that there are world rulers who want to have nothing to do with God and persecute His people (1Pet 4:12).

What should touch us is how the believers are doing spiritually. Do we have an eye for the fact that there are spiritual powers that are gaining entrance among God’s people to draw this people away from bringing daily sacrifices to God? False brothers try to sneak in and undermine our faith (Gal 2:4-5). If a spirit of legalism gets a grip on the believers, it means the end of bringing sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to God. That this can happen should make us sick.

Because of everything that came down on Daniel, he is sick for a few days. He had to call in sick to the king. We see here that prophets are not machines that receive a message mechanically and deliver it onto the people. Prophets are holy men of God who are driven by the Holy Spirit (2Pet 1:21). They have not understood everything that has been told to them and have examined it carefully. Much has remained a mystery to them too, but they believed what is said: “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that [would come] to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look” (1Pet 1:10-12).

With Daniel we see that every vision has worked a deep soul exercise with him. It has brought him to fasting and reading the Word of God. The same is necessary for us. We cannot grow in the grace and knowledge of God’s Word if we do not pray and if there are no soul exercises. In the next chapter we will see another wonderful example of this. The question for us is also: How does the Lord’s teaching about future events affect us?