Participants: Ty Gibson & James Rafferty
Series Code: DBOTB
Program Code: DBOTB000009A
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00:20 Hello friends and welcome to
00:22 Books of the Book. 00:23 We are continuing our study 00:24 of the book of Daniel and have 00:26 now come to Chapter 8. 00:27 I'm Ty Gibson. 00:29 I'm James Rafferty and we 00:30 want to invite you to open 00:31 your Bibles to Daniel Chapter 8. 00:33 Where we are going to look 00:35 at another prophetic Chapter. 00:36 We have emphasized through 00:38 the series Ty, that a lot of 00:40 the book of Daniel is relational. 00:42 It is stories that talk about the faith and the courage 00:45 of God's people as they continue in their faith 00:49 relationship with the Lord. 00:51 Now as we have moved into the latter part of this book, 00:54 we are moving into prophetic chapters. 00:56 Chapter 7 is dealing with these different beasts, images 00:59 or kingdoms and Chapter 8 again is doing the same thing. 01:02 In fact Chapter 8 is in a sense a parallel of the 01:06 prophetic portions of Daniel that we have seen so far. 01:09 Daniel 2, the prophetic picture of the image representing 01:13 four kingdoms coming down to the stone and Jesus' return. 01:16 Daniel 7 representing, in prophetic language, the beast 01:20 of those same kingdoms coming down and the 01:22 return of Jesus Christ. 01:23 The book of Daniel reveals to us a repeat and 01:27 and enlarge pattern, James. 01:29 The first prophecy in the book of Daniel is the vision 01:33 or dream that Nebuchadnezzar received. 01:35 The great image beginning with the head of gold and 01:38 coming all the way down the image to the feet mixed 01:41 with iron and clay. 01:42 This of course reveals a succession of kingdoms, 01:46 from the time of Babylon, the head of gold, down to the 01:49 second coming of Jesus. 01:50 Well then the second prophetic vision that we have, 01:53 in the book of Daniel Chapter 7, which we have already 01:56 looked at, covers the same history beginning with the 01:59 lion which parallels to the head of gold, the kingdom 02:02 of Babylon, and then a series of beasts are revealed 02:05 that give us a succession of kingdoms. 02:07 But now in Chapter 7, as we saw, greater focus, 02:11 greater details is given to the final power, the little horn. 02:14 Now, when we come to Chapter 8 of the book of Daniel, 02:18 Babylon is eliminated from the lineup and the vision 02:22 begins with Media Persia, which is symbolized by 02:26 the ram with two horns. 02:28 One of the horns was raised higher than the other because 02:32 the Media Persian kingdom was composed of two kingdoms 02:34 that were united and one was stronger than the other. 02:36 And then the goat which does battle with the ram 02:41 is a symbolic representation of the kingdom of Grecia. 02:45 You know it is interesting Ty, because the parallelism here 02:49 develops a basic theme or 02:52 a basic outline that is going 02:54 to be very vital for us as we 02:56 seek to understand more of what 02:58 Daniel 8 is focusing on. 02:59 You are seeing here an introduction, in a sense, to new 03:04 animals or new symbols, but there is a point that is made 03:08 in interpreting these symbols so that we can recognize 03:11 that they parallel Daniel 7 and Daniel 2. 03:14 The interpretation is very clear, or we don't have to 03:17 guess here in this Chapter because while Daniel's vision 03:21 reveals the ram and the he-goat, and their battle with one 03:24 another, later on in the vision it comes right out and 03:28 says, very plainly, in verse 20 that "ram which you saw" 03:32 "having two horns, they are the kings of the Medes" 03:35 "and the Persians". 03:36 And in verse 21 "the male goat is the kingdom of" 03:39 "Grecia, and the large horn between his eyes" 03:42 "is the first king," Or Alexander the Great. 03:45 So what you have here, you have the book of Daniel 03:49 taking us to a focus on a certain power, or kingdom, 03:54 that is going to be significant in its fight against God and 03:58 against God's people. 04:00 It is developing a basic theme of Babylon, Media Persia, 04:03 Greece and Rome. 04:05 It is homing in on Rome and that is what we find in 04:08 Daniel Chapter 8. 04:09 In Daniel 8, most of the discussion, 04:12 most of the focus, is on the activity again of the little 04:15 Horn, verse 9 of Daniel 8, "out of one of them came forth a" 04:19 "little Horn which waxed exceedingly great toward the" 04:22 "south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land. " 04:25 So here you have a little horn that you had in Daniel 7. 04:28 You have the succession of kingdoms. 04:30 You skip Babylon because it was removed from the scene. 04:33 Media Persia, you have Greece, it is not significant to 04:36 spend a lot of time on them, and then you have Rome. 04:40 Pagan and then papal stage. 04:42 Then your homing in on what this power is going to be 04:46 doing in relation to the sanctuary, and in relation to 04:50 God's people and the truth, especially down through the 04:54 centuries and the end of time. 04:55 So let's note the key characteristics of the little 04:58 horn in Chapter 8 here, and it's activities. 05:02 We see in verse 10, that it grew up, "even to the host" 05:06 "of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some" 05:09 "of the stars to the ground and trampled upon them. " 05:13 This again is parallel to the characteristic of the little 05:16 horn in Chapter 7, that it will be a persecuting 05:18 power that will use it's influence and it's might against 05:24 the people of God. 05:25 Then it says in verse 11, this is very fascinating James. 05:29 It says, "he even exalted himself as high as the" 05:35 "Prince of the host. " 05:38 That is the Messiah, Jesus Christ. 05:41 Not named as the Messiah, Jesus Christ in the prophecy 05:45 specifically, but the Prince of the host that is spoken 05:49 of here is a prophecy of the coming Messiah, 05:52 the Lord Jesus Christ. 05:54 And this little horn power, it is prophesied of this 05:56 little horn power that it will use its influence to exalt 06:01 itself up above even the Lord Jesus Christ. 06:05 And how do we know this Ty? 06:06 One of the reasons we know it, I think it is important 06:09 for viewers to see this, one of the reasons we know 06:11 this is because of the interpretation again in 06:14 verses 24 and 25. 06:16 Notice what it says, "and his power shall be mighty," 06:21 "but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully," 06:24 "and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the" 06:28 "mighty and the holy people. " 06:30 "And through his policy also he shall cause craft to" 06:33 "prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in" 06:37 "his heart, and by peace shall destroy many; he shall" 06:40 "also stand up against the Prince of princes;" 06:44 "but he shall be broken without hand. " 06:46 Now clearly the Prince of princes, in this interpretation 06:49 of what you have just read, is talking about Jesus Christ. 06:53 Absolutely, and it's fascinating to note here, that just 06:57 as a reminder, we are reading 07:00 words that were penned by Daniel 07:03 the prophet centuries in advance 07:05 of these unfolding events. 07:07 It's remarkable that we are looking at a prophecy that 07:12 foretells such details that are to occur 07:16 at the end of time. 07:17 As we go back now to verse 12, it says, "a host was" 07:22 "given to him against the daily sacrifice by reason of" 07:26 "transgression, and in a cast down the truth to the" 07:30 "ground; and it practiced, and prospered. " 07:33 So here we have an attack that 07:35 is being made, not only against 07:36 the Prince of the host, not 07:38 only against the sanctuary, 07:39 but also against the truth itself. 07:42 The truth is being cast down, and this power is practicing 07:46 and prospering in place of the truth. 07:49 We need to define very clearly what Daniel's prophecy is 07:53 referring to when it says that this power will cast the 07:57 truth to the ground. 07:58 First of all the context reveals that the truth, 08:02 that is spoken of here, is none other than the total 08:05 package of truth, that we has been speaking in previous 08:08 programs of the new covenant of which Jesus the Prince of 08:13 the host, the Messiah, is the source of the new covenant. 08:16 Jesus said it this way in the New Testament, He said, 08:20 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. " 08:22 He is the truth encapsulated. 08:25 So the little horn is a power that is using its influence 08:28 to attack the truth of the plan of salvation 08:32 and the new covenant. 08:33 To intervene to prevent the fulfillment of the plan 08:37 of salvation, to prevent the fulfillment of God's 08:40 new covenant plan. 08:41 This is it's objective the enemy of Christ and God's people 08:48 at the end of time. 08:49 You know what is significant about this Ty, in relation 08:52 to what we have dealt with so far, is that we looked in 08:55 Daniel 7 for an understanding of how that fit in with 08:59 the new covenant promise. 09:00 We saw that it was a subtle attack against the new 09:03 covenant by undermining God's law, changing God's law, 09:06 which is part of the new covenant promise of Hebrews 09:09 Chapter 8 and Chapter 10. 09:10 Now we see an attack made against the sanctuary and the 09:15 truth, I believe that this sanctuary language takes us 09:19 back to forgiveness, to the mercy of God and the 09:23 forgiveness of God that was set up 09:24 in the sanctuary system. 09:25 In fact the word daily, it is really interesting if you 09:28 do a study on the word daily, this word is used throughout the 09:31 Old Testament in connection with the earthly sanctuary. 09:34 The daily sacrifice, the ministration of the high priest 09:38 on a daily basis, the incense that was burning daily 09:41 in the sanctuary, the candlestick that was burning 09:44 daily in the sanctuary, the showbread that was to be set 09:47 in the sanctuary on a daily basis. 09:48 All of these were described with the word daily. 09:54 That whole sanctuary service described in this manner, 09:57 pointed Jesus Christ. 09:59 He was the sacrifice, He was the light, He is the incense, 10:02 He is the bread of life, all of it pointed to Jesus. 10:06 Jesus is the embodiment of truth. 10:07 Jesus in His mediation, He is our high Priest. 10:11 Jesus and the forgiveness of sins, that He has brought 10:14 to us through His sacrifice, the sacrifice of the Lamb. 10:17 So when you are looking at the picture in Daniel 8, 10:20 what you are looking at here is another attack against 10:23 the new covenant, not this time against the law, 10:25 but this time against the promise that their sins and 10:29 iniquities are remembered no more. 10:31 It is evident that what we are dealing with here is a 10:35 power at the end of time that is interposing itself 10:39 between human beings and God, between human beings and 10:43 Christ, as the One and only true Mediator. 10:47 We have reluctantly, but forthrightly identified the 10:52 little horn power, as the papal phase, 10:55 of the Roman empire. 10:56 We don't mean by this to indicate anything negative 11:00 against any of the parishioners, any of the members 11:04 of that worldwide denomination, that worldwide church, 11:08 that is represented in this prophecy. 11:11 What we do mean to indicate, and what Bible prophecy 11:15 means to indicate, is that the system itself, and the 11:19 doctrines that, that system espouses interposes between 11:23 the people and God. 11:25 To divert attention from the mediatorial ministry of 11:30 Jesus Christ as our high Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. 11:33 That is a very serious, serious matter according 11:39 to Bible prophecy. 11:40 God in mercy is revealing these things to us so that we 11:45 will direct our faith to Christ and Christ alone as our 11:49 Savior and not depend on any earthly system of priesthood 11:53 to bring us into a right relationship with God. 11:57 This is true Ty, it is really not people 12:01 we are talking about. 12:02 I was raised in the Catholic Church, I was an altar boy, 12:05 I was raised looking to the priest for forgiveness, 12:07 looking to the priest for intercession and 12:09 confession of sins. 12:10 It wasn't until I started studying the Bible and 12:12 recognized these new covenant promises, that I saw 12:15 Jesus Christ as my high Priest and I knew I could go 12:18 directly to Him for forgiveness of sins. 12:20 There are millions of people today, maybe a billion 12:23 people who don't understand this one truth. 12:25 It is vital for them to understand it. 12:27 It had been cast down. 12:29 It had been trampled underfoot. 12:32 It has been lost sight of in the minds and hearts of 12:34 millions of people, you may be one of those people. 12:37 So it is very important for this truth to be rectified, 12:40 for it to be made right. 12:42 For the sanctuary truth, that Jesus is our high Priest. 12:45 He is in the heavenly sanctuary mediating for us. 12:48 He is the one and only sacrifice for sin made once and for 12:52 all, that means a one time sacrifice for all people. 12:55 It is vital for us to understand friends, that Jesus 12:58 Christ is your High Priest right now mediating for you 13:01 in heaven and you can go directly to Him and asked for 13:04 forgiveness of sins, and that your sins can 13:07 be forgiven and forgotten according to the new covenant. 13:10 James, this is extremely good news because the truth of 13:14 the Gospel portrays God as a God who is approachable. 13:18 A God who has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ, 13:22 and He's invited us into a relationship with Himself. 13:27 We are not in need of any earthly system or mediatorial 13:31 system or any priesthood, not because God is seeking to attack 13:36 that system per se, but because God in a positive way is 13:41 trying to say no, you can 13:42 come directly to Me. 13:43 I love you and My heart is 13:45 open to you, My invitation 13:46 to salvation is to one and all through Jesus Christ. 13:51 There is one mediator between God and man and that is 13:55 the Lord Jesus Christ. 13:57 What a powerful invitation, and what a beautiful picture, 14:00 of the character of God. 14:02 Every member of the human family is invited freely to 14:06 approach God, through Christ, and through Christ alone. 14:09 You know I am really glad that you mentioned that Ty, 14:11 because that is the point. 14:13 I think it is a powerful point friends, 14:14 that we really need to emphasize 14:17 We are loved of God individually 14:19 and we don't need some other man 14:21 or person, to persuade God to 14:23 forgive us and to accept us 14:24 and to love us. 14:26 God wants us to know that He loves and 14:28 cares for us individually. 14:29 Don't go away, we'll be right back! |
Revised 2022-11-14