What Will Be

Daniel 8:19-27

And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

Now when God starts naming people, times, and regions please sit up and take notes. That is not the time to apply these to other places like the dream of the statue man which the Lord did not say. I will say it one more time for those in the back. The ram is "the kings of Media and Persia." Well, this confirms what was thought earlier regarding the two peoples and the two personalities. Do not get all holy and spiritual now. How many of you put on different guises to make YouTube skits featuring one person with various roles. Obviously, I am not comparing the Lord to a Youtube skit. This is a little bit more spiritual with a holy purpose. Now this is for the time of the end. Let me explain. There is a time and then there is a time yet to come. The text speaks of indignation then the end thereof. Thus, if the indignation is the fall of the ram and the breaking of its' horns, then the end thereof is yet to come.

There is a time appointed for the end of such things. It might be Good Friday today but remember the resurrection is coming. It might be the worst week of your life but hold on. The Lord promised that Sunday is coming. The situation has an appointed end date. Your troubles have an expiration date. There is a resurrection on its' way to the situation. Now, King Nebuchanezzer is gone having become proud and fallen into his prophecy. His son King Belshazzar sits on the throne. Daniel is very upset and angry at these happenings even if he is serving in his appointed position. I would also be if we went from a good ruler to a bad one only to find an ungodly one where he should not be. But this was only for a time. King Nebuchanezzer would be back as appointed in the person of the king of the Medes and Persians. See God is good all the time to keep the situation. If he did it this way before to keep his ruler alive, what makes you think he would not do so again.

And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.

Now the time of the rough goat is the indignation to come. For the time appointed its' end will be. The one horn between the eyes is the first king of Grecia. However, we see the division of his kingdom into the ten horns; this has been spoken of before in other visions but not here. There is a building to be seen indicating a progression. The four stood up out of it just as the three Hebrew children with God in their midst walked around the fiery furnace. They walked as those freed. These four seem to move as the spirits of God sent to the four corners of the earth. They stood up in their own power, seeming to accompany this move in direction. Thus, they are in the time of the rough goat but not of it. Just because something came out of turmoil, mess, and the bad situation does not mean it is evil. It does not mean it is bad. Instead, it shows how God will use any situation and turn it around for his glory. Just as the four spirits came up from the crash of the goat with the ram, but they did not consist thereof. This would suggest that these, unlike the vision of the four creatures, were driven by the winds of the spirits.

Therefore, they seem to have had some outside help. At least, the goat did. The ram was all by himself in his own power. But even though the goat seemed to prosper for a time, it did not really. For there is fighting seen within the goat. Ten horns are divided into seven as three of them are removed. They were plucked up by the roots; I would like to say they were not from this goat to begin with, but Revelation 17:12-14 would like to argue. Had they been of the goat, the root would have remained much as the stump remained in the ground as the Holy Seed with iron and brass. Therefore, one can argue that their nature is not goat for they each have their own root and source. However, since they cropped up on the head, one could also argue that they are. I do not know of what source they come from, but it is clear to see there is mischief afoot. This can be seen as the house divided against itself which could not stand in Matthew 12:25. Then the little horn will come against God and his people to subdue them for the time appointed. In it we see division and oppression within the territory of the goat. Now this brings us into the province of the sevens. There are seven churches of Revelation 1 and 2 with Jesus in their midst. Here there are seven horns still belonging to the goat with the little one ruling over them. Never have the kingdoms of light and darkness been more clearly divided. In the end, people will choose to worship the beast and Satan rather than the Lord for their true heart nature will be exposed. Now it is not yet clear where the church will be during this period. Let us not speculate more than the Scripture has said for reasons given above in the warning label. Nor does Daniel dwell on this point.

And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

"In the latter time of their kingdom" says they reigned for a time appointed. How many of you know that even in the time of the transgressors God is still on the throne. Now look at who will arise. This is as the little horn spoken of before in the prior visions before whom the three were removed. At first this sounds like a mighty king indeed. But as we go on further with the description, we will see that this king is evil and everything he does is also. His rebellion is like witchcraft, and he is well versed in the arcane and dark arts. 1 Samuel 15:23 speaks of the dark sentence which means he both gives and receives such for what he has done. He understands them for he has been made to do so. I will not go into much detail about this here. I find it better to focus on the Lord rather than on the curse. Genesis 3:14-15 speaks of that which sent Satan to go upon his belly as the servant. Suffice to say, whatever this king does, God will even turn that into good according to Genesis 50:20.

And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

"Not by his own power" he will do these things. In Revelation 13:11-14 we see power given to the first and second beast from on high. How is it they are going to be proud and boast greatly when they have obtained someone else's power. Now they carry it as if it is their own. This is identity theft on the highest of levels. Is it little wonder that even the elect of Mark 13:22 would be deceived if it were not for the Lord's keeping power. He is so powerful he can keep his own people and allow the evil ones to come against them. It is little wonder also that the rest of the world worshipped the beast and Satan; it looked like he was the most powerful and misused boss in the world. How many of you know that the devil is a liar as in John 8:44. He will even stand against God himself at Revelation 12:7 where war is seen in Heaven. But the devil is going to be broken because of several things. He does not understand the patient endurance of the saints nor the power of the incense of their prayers. God has not been defeated. Rather he will use the very things the devil lacks to bring him down from his position. We will discuss more of this move between prayer and the supernatural in future texts. We do not pray to God to give him power to overcome the evil one. The battle has already been won a long time ago on the cross and at the empty grave when Jesus crushed the serpent's head.

And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.

Now, we see a sealing of the vision. This directly correlates to what is written on the sealed scrolls of Revelation 5:8 and that which the thunders uttered. There are some things that we do not need to know until their proper time. I feel the church has an unholy fascination with this topic; however, in the absence of sound doctrine it will make up anything. "The vision of the evening and the morning" speaks of the unmaking of all things. In Genesis 1:5 God created the heavens and the earth and called it the first day. There is an undoing in these words. It is a process. We are getting a new Heavens and a new earth one day. We must go through the unmaking process however to get it. This vision, although sealed, is the key to understanding all others that came before and those which follow. I did not understand the book appropriately until I came to this passage. This is why the church has gotten it wrong. They have not gotten in God's ear to find out what he wanted them to know. So often we like to go off and do our own thing away from the direction of the Holy. The angel of the Lord, Gabriel, was telling Daniel these things. It was not even Daniel's preferred messenger of God who delivered all sorts of news. Notice this vision will be for many days. We are halfway through the period of King Belshazzar's reign. Now may be the time of Daniel's seventy weeks. The scripture does not say that explicitly, but we can see many days recorded here that this vision will be for. Daniel is certainly feeling very ill indeed. When I get to Heaven, I will ask the Lord how many days Daniel was ill for. Then you can ask him when Daniel's seventy weeks took place.

This is a vision no one understood. Gabriel just told Daniel the meaning of it. I imagine without the rest of Scripture such a revelation would be difficult to understand. However, consider that even in this day with as much as we have been given we still do not understand. It requires spiritual understanding to be discerned. One could say what Daniel was astonished by his service to the king during such a time and place; more than that he was under such a vision and understanding as he had been given. How many of you have had something you thought was for the time you were in then only to be told it was for the future yet to come. I feel like saying with the disciples on the boat, 'Lord the situation is bad now.' God knows and he understands all this. There are some days discussed later in the book of Daniel known as his seventy-weeks. The text does not make it clear how many days he was ill, but it seems to be a rather personal matter. The situation is only temporary and will lead to their deliverance. "Sick certain days" indicates that Daniel has a period set aside for being unwell. Now speaking of the seventy-weeks, some have created all sorts of lovely diagrams. Others have gone as far as cutting the feet off the statue man in King Nebuchadnezzar's vision to explain them. None of them agree with each other, and I find it best to let the matter remain sealed until such a time as the Lord sees fit.