Brother Mike Ministries
The many days of Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011!
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ETERNAL LIFE: No Longer Possible!!
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Whoso keeps the commandment shall feel no evil: and a wise man's heart discerns [will know] both time and judgment - Ec. 8:5
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Daniel 8:1-3
The Ram with the two high horns
!
By Brother Mike (10-12-24; 51 minutes)
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In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first
.
2
And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai
.
3
Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last
.
INTRODUCTION
You know, there has been virtually no person that has ever understood the vision given to Daniel in Daniel Chapter 8. Many have come to understand the literal historical meaning to it, and that has been as far as they go, but very few, if any, have come to understand the deeper spiritual meaning to Daniel 8, and there are two primary reasons for this. First, Daniel was told to seal up his visions until the time of the end (Daniel 8:17 then 26; 12:4, 9) which ultimately meant to keep them hidden to the perceptions of humans until the time of the end or end of the world. This means that no human, including Daniel himself, would be able to understand the deeper things of his visions until the time of the end that we have entered into ever since God's Final Judgment on this whole world first [began] at the House of God (1Peter 4:17) on May 21,1988 according to the
very accurate
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we read in the last verse of chapter 8 after Daniel saw his vision,
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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
.
Well, let's begin by reading verse one once again to begin to set the context in which Daniel saw his vision, and then we will move on to cover verses two and three and to begin to perceive the deeper meaning to the vision, not only meant for the time period near the end of the old covenant, which is as far as virtually anyone has ever gotten, but also the time of the end that we already entered into on May 21,1988 to begin God's Final Judgment on His Own Church and the Great Tribulation. As previously stated, we can now begin to see the deeper spiritual meaning to Daniel 8 because we are at the time of the end in which God has opened up the full truth to us. And the Holy Spirit has been still fulfilling what our Lord said almost 2,000 years ago:
John 16:13
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come
.
Verse 1:
In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first
.
We are, in this verse, first told that Daniel, whose name means God is my Judge, saw a vision in the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar, whose name means Bel (a Babylonian god) protect the king. According to Daniel 5:18, which in referring to Belshazzar states,
O thou king [Belshazzar], the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and
glory, and honor
, we can, therefore, assume that, at least, in some way, king
Belshazzar was considered the son of king Nebuchadnezzar who had conquered Jerusalem in 587 BC and took many Israelites captive into Babylon. Nevertheless, much evidence in the secular record has concluded that Belshazzar was not the immediate son of Nebuchadnezzar but of Abonidus, who reigned as king over Babylon from 555 BC to 539 BC.
But after Abonidus was taken into exile in 550 BC (
Britannica)
Now, Daniel says that his vision appeared unto him
after that which appeared unto [him] at the first
. This phrase,
at the first
, could just as well be translated,
at the beginning
, and so we must ask, at the first or beginning of what? This must mean at the beginning of king Belshazzar's reign that began in 550 BC after his father, Abonidus, went into exile, and his son, king Belshazzar, began to rule from Babylon as coregent in the absence of his father. So, Daniel's vision that appeared unto him at the first or beginning was that vision Daniel had received in the first year of king Belshazzar in 550 BC, which was recorded in Daniel 7, for in Daniel 7:1 we read,
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters
. And we had already studied
Daniel 7
But now, what is of great import is that in the Bible, king Cyrus of Persia, who came to rule over the Media-Persian kingdom is used as a type or foreshadow of Christ Himself, the Shepherd and Anointed One. For instance, we read what Yahweh says about Cyrus,
Isaiah 44:28
That saith of Cyrus
[God says of Cyrus]
, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid
.
Carefully notice, especially, how this language that Yahweh uses through Isaiah to describe Cyrus is language you would think would describe Christ and not some apparently pagan king, like Cyrus. This is an obvious clue to the deeper spiritual meaning to king Cyrus being a type or foreshadow of Christ Himself, exactly what we had already concluded about the
ram
. Remember, we already concluded that the
ram
symbolizes Jesus Christ.
And again, we read,
Isaiah 45:1
Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut
.
Once again, it is language that you would think should only describe Christ, for He was Yahweh's true Anointed One who would subdue nations before Himself. But Yahweh, the LORD, here says these things about king Cyrus who ruled over the Media-Persian kingdom. So, once again, we see Cyrus being used as a type or foreshadow of the true Christ who is the true Anointed One.
And although the angel Gabriel revealed to Daniel in 547 BC that our
ram
with two horns in Daniel 8:3 was the two kings of Media and Persia; that is, Astyages of the Medes and Cyrus of the Persians, there must be a deeper meaning to it all. In fact, this is what we call a historical parable that has a deeper meaning than just the literal interpretation. The literal historical account took place as declared, yes, but it symbolizes something deeper for the Latter Days or time of the end that began on May 21,1988 according to the
very accurate
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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
.
Now you might think that Daniel's vision was fulfilled near the end of the old covenant, and in its literal interpretation, we could draw that conclusion, as virtually every commentary on Daniel 8 does. But the previous verse says,
for at the time appointed the end shall be
. The term
the end
often refers to the end of everything or the end of the world in the Bible. Therefore, there is a warrant to see that this vision of Daniel is ultimately fulfilled at the end of the world, which we already know began when God's Final Judgment began, first, at the House of God (1Peter 4:17), the corporate Church on May 21,1988, and it expanded to also include the whole world when the many days of Judgment Day began on May 21,2011. This doesn't mean that Daniel's vision did not have a more literal fulfillment near the end of the old covenant, for as we shall see, it did.
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would come to save His people from their sins. So, we are on solid ground to see the
ram
as symbolizing Christ Himself in Daniel 8.
But now, we are told that this ram
had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last
. What does all this mean? Remember, the vision has a double meaning: a more literal meaning near the end of the old covenant or Old Testament period that points to a deeper ultimate meaning for the new covenant or New Testament period at the time right near the end of the world, as the former, being of the law or Old Testament scripture, was a foreshadow of things that would come at the time of the end of the New Testament period and the end of the world. In fact, this is why we say that the Old Testament history is full of parables that we call historical parables because the literal history is true, absolutely, but it is a foreshadow of spiritual truths that would be fulfilled in the New Testament period. And this vision of Daniel does just that. Let's look first at the literal Old Testament meaning to Daniel's vision, and then we will look at the deeper spiritual meaning being fulfilled in the New Testament period right at the time of the end of the world where we have been for some time now.
In looking at the literal Old Testament history, the two horns that are high must represent the power or strength of both the Median and Persian kingdoms because horns, in the Bible, often refer to power or strength. And that both these horns were high means that both kingdoms were powerful and strong. Then, in that one of the horns is higher and came up last must refer to the Persian kingdom because in the early days of the Median kingdom and the Persian kingdom, the Median kingdom was quite powerful and strong, but then later, the Persian kingdom under Cyrus eventually became stronger and more powerful than the Median kingdom and even conquered the Median kingdom in 550 BC. Hence, the horn representing the Persian kingdom became higher than that of Median kingdom, but it came up last while the Median high horn of power and strength had come up earlier before Persia had become the most powerful
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So, what we have seen in this study of the first three verses of Daniel 8 is that in the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar of Babylon, which was in 547 BC, Daniel had a vision after or in the likeness of the visions that he had had during his dream in the first year of king Belshazzar of Babylon, which was in 550 BC and recorded in
Daniel 7
Then, in Daniel's vision, he saw that he was brought to Shushan, the palace in the province of Elam. Shushan, which means lily, was a city where there were, not only many beautiful lilies, but where the palace of the Persian kings was located. Cyrus, who conquered the Median kingdom in 550 BC and Babylon in 539 BC, spent much time there, and with the river Ulai running right up next to Shushan and the palace, the surrounding lilies symbolized the great power, splendor, and glory of the king of Persia at the time of Daniel's vision. As we learned, Cyrus, the king of Persia, is used to typify or foreshadow the Christ, for it was he who made a proclamation after having conquered Babylon in 539 BC in favor of the ancient Israelites to be released from their exile in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple that had been destroyed in 587 BC by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon at that time who had taken many Israelites into exile into Babylon. Indeed, we saw how the language used in the Bible to describe Cyrus could refer to Christ Himself. We also further learned how the word Elam means eternity, and the river of Ulai that ran right by Shushan and the palace of the Persian king, Cyrus, means the flowing forth of God's word or gospel (symbolized by the river) of Christ's mighty ones, which mighty ones are a translation of the word Ulai, and Christ is symbolized by the Persian king, Cyrus who rules over them. So, the deeper meaning to all of this is that Daniel, in his vision, is taken to eternity, which is the meaning of Elam, where Christ (symbolized by king Cyrus) rules in beauty, splendor, and glory (symbolized by a Lily, the meaning to the word Shushan) over the flowing forth of God's Holy words (symbolized by the river) of Christ's mighty ones (symbolized by the word Ulai). The mighty
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