Are We There Yet?
Daniel 8:1-26

I. You need to remember that only God’s Kingdom is forever.

A. In vs. 3 Daniel sees a vision of a ram with two horns – with one horn higher than the other. This ram was powerful because no beast could stand before him (vs. 4). Then in vs. 5 a goat appears before Daniel. The goat is also powerful, and it was quickly conquering territory. Verse 5 says the goat was moving without touching the ground. This goat then does battle with the ram in vs. 6. The ram is defeated by the goat in vs. 7, and the goat then became exceedingly great as the power on earth (vs. 8).

B. Daniel’s vision of the ram and the goat says that there will be different powerful kingdoms in this world that will rise up and rule the world. But no matter how great and powerful an empire appears to be, it is simply an actor in a play written by someone else. The play is written by God, and when the role assigned to the different kings is finished, God says to those kings, “It’s time for you to get off the stage.” Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

II. You need to remember that God’s greatest concern is for His people.

A. According to vs. 9 from one of these four generals came a little horn who would expand his rule toward the glorious land, Israel. Verse 11 says that the little horn’s power would become great. We can identify this little horn with the historical figure Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of the Seleucid empire, one of the four kingdoms that emerged from Alexander the Great. In vs. 25 we read that Antiochus shall be broken – but by no human hand. God would rescue His people. When you touch God’s people, you touch the apple of God’s eye.

B. One way that God meant to comfort His people is through what He said in vs. 14.  An angel says in that verse that the suffering of God’s people will last for 2,300 evenings and mornings. We do not know exactly what this number 2,300 means. What we do know is that God knows. God has a precise calendar for the suffering of His people, a calendar that is accurate to the day. But only God knows the day of the return of Christ. Matthew 24:36: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

III. You need to remember that your battle is not against flesh and blood.

A. Ephesians 6:12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” As far as God was concerned, Antiochus was fighting against God by picking a fight with the Jews. He saw in Antiochus’ fight a proud attempt to make himself as great as God (vs. 10). But when anyone fights against God what is going to be the result? We find it in vs. 25. Daniel says of Antiochus: he shall be broken.

Application:
Remember that God is in control while you wait for the Kingdom of God.

Sources:
The prophecy of Daniel
Commentaries on Daniel by Iain Duguid and Tremper Longman III