Daniel 8:1-9 :27

1.  Daniel had an amazing vision in which he saw a ram with two horns.  Whom does this ram represent?

Daniel 8:20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Medes and Persia.

Ram - Medo-Persia

2. Next Daniel saw a goat with a great horn between his eyes. What does the mean?

Daniel 8:21,22 - The rough goat is the king of Greece;  and the great horn that is between his eye is the the first king.  Now that broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation.

The male goat represents Greece and the big horn is a symbol of the first ruler,  Alexander the Great.

Big horn
Alexander the Great

The four horns represent the four generals who took over parts of the empire when Alexander died.  1. Cassander  2. Seleucus  3. Ptolemy  4. Lysimachus

4 horns Represent the 4 generals that divided the Greek empire

3.  Then a little horn sprouts up from out of one of the four.  What power did this "little horn" represent? Acts 18:2 Claudius Caesar and commanded all Jews to depart from Rome.

The "little horn"  that persecuted God's people, trampled holy things, and stood up against Jesus represented Rome - both pagan and papal.  No other power except Rome followed Grecia and became exceeding great.  Nothing else fits.

Daniel was told that his little horn would defile the sanctuary.  How long until it would be cleansed?

Daniel 8: 14 Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed

Note:  It would be 2,300 days.  This is the longest time prophecy in the Bible, but the starting point is not given until the next chapter.   See Daniel 9:25

2300 year prophecy starts at the command to rebuild Jerusalem in 457 A.D.

2300 year prophecy starts at the command to rebuild Jerusalem in 457 A.D.

2300 year prophecy ends 2300 years later after the decree in the fall of 457 A.D. that reaches to Oct 22, 1844 a Jewish Day of atonement.

5.  How did Daniel respond when he saw the little-horn power persecute God's people and obscure the truth?

Daniel 8:27  And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days;.... and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.

Note:  Daniel was so deeply grieved by what was to come upon God's people that he fainted and was sick for some time.  But initially neither Daniel nor his friends understood the 2,300 day section of the vision.

6.  In the next chapter, the angel explains the prophecy in greater detail.  How long was the time period not previously described in the vision?

Daniel 9:24  Seventy Weeks are determined upon thy people and upon they holy city,... to seal up the vision and prophecy.  Several years after Daniel's vision about the 2,300 days, an angel of heaven flew quickly to his side to help him understand it.  The angel also expanded the vision to include 70 prophetic weeks that were "determined upon ", or allotted to, the Jews and the city of Jerusalem.  God was giving His chosen nation another chance a 490 year opportunity to accomplish its purpose of presenting the Messiah to the world (Daniel 9:23,24)

490 years given the Jew's to repent, the count starts at the decree to rebuild Jerusalem in 457BC.

490 Years after 457 BC. brings us to AD 34 When the Jew's offical reject Jesus as the Messiah and stoned Stephen

7.  What was the starting point for 2,300 day and 70 week time prophecies to begin?

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.

NOTE:  The angel told Daniel to begin counting the 2,300 day and the 70 week prophecies from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.  God's people were in captivity in the Persian empire at this time.  The decree was made in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, who began to reign in 464 B.C. (Ezra 7:7) Artaxerxes's decree in 457 BC was the only one that specified restoring and rebuilding Jerusalem.

8.  The angel said that if you count 69 weeks from 457 B.C. you will come to Messiah the Prince.  Did this happen?  Acts 10:37, 38 That word, I say, ye know.... after the baptism which John preached, How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.

Here is a fantastic miracle.  Hundreds of years before Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost, the event was foretold in prophecy! "Messiah" is the Hebrew word for "anointing and the word"Christ" is the Greek equivalent.  Luke 3:21, 22 says this special anointing by the Holy Ghost took place at His baptism.

Now remember that in Bible prophecy, one prophetic day equals one literal year (Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6; Luke 13:32)  Adding 69 weeks, or 483 prophetic days (69 x 7 = 483), to 457 B.C. brings us to the year A.D. 27.  483 years + 457 B.C. Fall of the year.  beginning date = A.D. 27 AD   Jesus began His ministry as the Messiah after His baptism in A.D. 27 exactly 483 years after the degree given in  Fall of 457 B.C.  This is why Jesus began preaching after His baptism, that the "time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand" Mark 1:15

Daniel 8:9 - What was to take place next in the prophecy?  Daniel 9:26, 27 After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself ... And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.

NOTE:  The prophecy next predicted that Jesus would be "cut off" or crucified, in the middle of the  last week of the 70 week prophecy.  Counting three and one-half years from His anointing in the fall of A.D. 27 would take us to the spring of A.D. 31 which is precisely when Jesus was crucified.  At the time He died, the temple veil was torn into two sections from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50,51)  indicating that Jesus had caused the sacrificial system to cease by His death as the Lamb of God.  Please review the time line below.  Remember there are 360 days in a Jewish Year, our year is based on the Gregorian Calendar so to try to make 365 days = 1 year is wrong.  This can only be calculated based on the Jewish calendar.

10.  Jesus told His disciples to preach first to which group of people? Matthew 10:5,6 Go not into the way of the Gentiles,   ...But go rather to the lost sheep of of Israel.

NOTE:  Jesus insisted that His disciples preach first to the Jews, they still had three and one half years remaining  of the 490 year opportunity to accept and proclaim the Messiah.  The prophecy in Daniel 9:27 said that Jesus would confirm the covenant or the great plan of Salvation, with many for one prophetic week  (seven literal years)  But Jesus  was crucified in the midst of the week allotted to His chosen nation, so how could He confirm the covenant with them after His death? The answer is found in Hebrews 2:3 "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him," Jesus disciples preached to the Jews for that final three and one half years, until the nation officially rejected the gospel message in A.D. 34 when Stephen, a righteous deacon, was publicly stoned.

11.  What warning did Jesus give to His chosen people? Matthew 21:43 The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

NOTE:  Jesus had made it very clear that the special status of the Jewish nation would be taken away if the people persisted in rejecting the Messiah.

12.  So what is the other "nation spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 21:43, which would become His chosen people? Galatians 3:29 and if ye be, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Romans 2:28,29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; But he is a Jew which is one inwardly.

NOTE:  As of A.D. 34 with the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58,59) the literal Jewish nation was no longer God's only chosen nation. Because they consistently resisted God's plan for them, the nation of Israel is no longer the central focus of end time prophecy.  Now all who accept Jesus are His chosen people, and the Promises God made to literal Israel now also apply to spiritual Israel (Romans 9:6-8)

13.  According to the angel who spoke with Daniel, what would happen at he end of the 2,300 years?

Daniel 8:14 - And he said unto me, Unto two thousand three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

NOTE:  in A.D. 34, there remained 1810 years of the 2,300 year prophecy. Study the diagram below and notice the dates.  Adding 1810 years to A.D. 34 brings us to the autumn of 1844.  The angel said that at that time, the heavenly sanctuary would be cleansed, remember that the earthly sanctuary was destroyed in A.D. 70.  Jesus, our High Priest in heaven (Hebrews 4:14-16; 8:1-5) began removing the records of sin from the heavenly sanctuary ( Revelation 20:12 Acts 3:19-21 )  in 1844.  This is the first phase of  the judgment, also called the pre-advent judgement because it takes place before Jesus second coming