Greetings to all our readers from any part of the world. We thank God for your lives and bless Him for the opportunity to present to you another episode of our daily study of the Scriptures. We thank God for the gift of life and for His benefits on us each new day. Praise be to God.
In our today’s episode 578, we shall be examining the book of Daniel Chapter 8 titled:
Daniel’s Weird Vision Of A Ram And A Goat; This Is What It Means
In this chapter, the details of the vision can be seen from verse 1 till verse 14, while the interpretation begins from verse 15 till 26.
Again, Daniel had this vision when Babylon was still very much in power. He said he was in Shushan. But looking at that statement very well, we will find out that Daniel was not in Shushan physically. He was only taken there spiritually in that vision.
Why Shushan and why not other locations?
The reason is simple, Shushan was the Capital of the Persian Empire that would come to invade and conquer Babylon. That’s why Daniel was taken there in the Spirit realm for him to see first-hand the empire that would bring Babylon to her knee.
As I was searching through the map to identify the modern-day locations of these places mentioned by Daniel, I found out that Shushan is in Iran, while Babylon is in Iraq. Both locations are about 1-hour flight from each other and if you are to travel with your car, you will spend about 15 hours on the road.
Shushan was a chief city of the Medo-Persian Empire. It was the capitol of the land of Elam. Shushan or Susa was a Persian royal city about two hundred miles east of Babylon where Daniel was at the time.
What did Daniel see in his vision?
He saw a ram that had two long horns, one of which was longer and newer than the other.
Daniel watched the ram butting with his horns to the west, the north, and the south. No animal could stop him or escape his power. He did as he pleased and grew arrogant.
While Daniel was wondering what this meant, a goat came rushing out of the west, moving so fast that his feet didn’t touch the ground. He had one prominent horn between his eyes.
The goat came toward the ram, rushed at him angrily with all his force and attacked the ram to an extent that he broke his two horns. The ram had no strength to resist. He was thrown to the ground and trampled on, and there was no one who could save him.
After winning the battle, the goat became proud, but at height of his power, his horn was broken. As a replacement of the broken horn, four horns came up. From one of these four horns, a little horn grew and was very powerful to the point that he was attacking the army of heaven and the stars. He threw some of them to the ground and trampled on them.
What is the meaning of all these symbolic representations?
A ram which had two horns was simply the Medo-Persian Empire.
Remember, Daniel said the ram had two horns and one horn was longer and newer than the other.
What happened was that the Medes and Persian empires partnered together to defeat Babylon. Persian empire was stronger and had more influence than the Medes.
The goat represents the Kingdom of Greece and the prominent horn between his eyes is their first King (Alexander the Great). Around 480 BC, there was a war between Greece (Goat) and Persia (Ram) and Greece (Goat) won the battle.
Unfortunately, the respite of that victory did not last long as the reign of the leader of the Greek Empire was suddenly cut short. That was the meaning of its broken horn.
Thereafter, the Greek Empire became divided among four rulers. Daniel 8:8
Greece became divided into: Main Greece and its regions, Asia Minor, Syria and the entire land of Israel and then Egypt.
The little horn that later grew from one of the four horns of the goat was no other person than Antiochus IV Epiphanes who ruled over Syria and the land of Israel.
You now understand why it was fighting with the people of God. He dominated the south, the east and the entire land of Israel. He put a stop to daily sacrifices in Jerusalem (verse 11 and 25).
He persecuted the Jewish people so much that he instructed his General to conquer Jerusalem on a Sabbath and set up his own idol there. All these happened because of the sins of the people of Israel.
Daniel became worried and heard one of the angelic beings asked how long will this terror continued? And one of them answered – 2300 days.
No wonder the temple in Jerusalem was cleansed around 165 BC.
This is just a typical demonstration of how the devil has been terrorising the church of God nowadays. But then, genuine believers have authority over him and his cohorts. Never forget this: The moment Jesus resurrected; we have been in charge since then. Hallelujah. Amen.
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let us Pray as we declare the following statement of faith together:
I declare I am a carrier of the creative Word and presence of God. Based on this truth, I speak healing, prosperity and every good thing of life into my life and family and I believe it is done already. I believe I have the answers now and I am at peace with God, in Jesus name. Amen!
Bible Readings For Today: Ezekiel Chapters 12, 13, 14 & 15 with Isaiah Chapter 38
I call you blessed now and always.
Tuesday October 27, 2020 (DDMI)
