Brother Mike Ministries

The many days of Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011!  
***
ETERNAL LIFE: No Longer Possible!! ***

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)


Note: you may miss out on some information if you do not listen to this study, but you only read it!


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 .
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 , Biblical Timeline of History .  

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himself who deceived all the churches and congregations worldwide to worship him and receive the Mark of the Beast, and he brought in his counterfeit gospels, counterfeit teachings, and counterfeit signs and wonders to spiritually destroy them. 

Now, before moving on further, we should note that Christ, like Satan, is also referred to as a lion in scripture. Remember, we read,  
 
Re 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David [Christ]
, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof .  
 
And, in describing Christ by four beasts (better translated as four living creatures), we read,   
 
Re 4:7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle

So, Christ and Satan can both be described as a lion in scripture, but Satan is the counterfeit lion. Satan comes looking just like Christ, which is one of the reasons why he is described as a lion in the same way that Christ is. And there are many Old Testament verses that both typify Christ and Satan as a lion that we will not get into for brevity, but with that being said, let's look at one last verse. We read, 

Hosea 13:5 I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought . {great ... : Heb. droughts }

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6 According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me
7 Therefore I [God]
will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I [God]
observe them :
8 I [God]
will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I [God] devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them . {wild ... : Heb. beast of the field } 

Notice that in this verse, because God is bringing judgment on His own people, God describes Himself as all three of the same beasts - the leopard, bear, and lion - which are used to describe Satan coming against God's Church as judgment against them during the Great Tribulation from May 21, 1988 to when Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011 in our verse of study, Revelation 13:2. In fact, Hosea 13:5-8, the verses we just read, typifies God's judgment that would come upon the New Testament Israel, the Church, which we see being described in verse 2 of our study in Revelation 13. 

Now, our verse 2 of Revelation 13 ends like this: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. That is, the beast (Satan and his kingdom) that rose up out of the sea (was loosed to rise up out of the bottomless pit in which it was first bound at the cross) to bring God's judgment against all the churches and congregations worldwide beginning on May 21, 1988 according to the well-proven , Biblical Timeline of History got its power from
the dragon who we learned is the devil, Satan himself .

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The other main reason why the deeper spiritual understanding to many of Daniel's visions have not been understood is that most Christians have defaulted to or been taught an incorrect method of interpreting the Bible. They have taken the default, literal historical view of interpretation as if the Bible were just another book that should be interpreted literally like some pagan holy book of some kind. But the Bible is not just another holy book! It is the only true Holy Book written by God through men; that is, if the Bible you read consists only of all those scriptures typically found in the modern Protestant Bibles where the goal of the interpreters was to stay absolutely true to the original languages without paraphrasing them. All other books, compared to the Bible, are shown to be in darkness in its light, and it is a spiritual book written by the one and only true God who is a Holy Spirit, which means it must be interpreted spiritually to see the truth that God whose very nature is spiritual wants us to see. We must learn to see the spiritual to understand what comes through the spiritual nature of the Holy Spirit who wrote the Holy scriptures. The Bible teaches that we must compare scripture with scripture, which are spiritual things with spiritual things (2Corinthians 2:13-14) to even begin to see the deeper spiritual meanings, which means we must look up words, phrases, sentences, and whole scriptural accounts everywhere they take place in the Bible while seeking to understand the deeper spiritual meaning to a word, phrase, sentence, or entire account to see how God defines it, and not how a secular dictionary defines it. Prayer, of course, is very important as well. So, coming to understand the deeper spiritual truths in the Bible can take a lot of work and time as we look to see how God defines a particular word, phrase, sentence, or account, but with the modern study tools of our time, it is made possible for virtually any Christian to begin to understand the deeper things of God.  
 
Now, as we dive into Daniel 8:1-3, we will be able to begin to understand its deeper spiritual teachings because we are in that time of the end in which Daniel's visions could finally be unsealed and understood. Daniel was not able to perceive the deeper truths meant for our day, but he understood that the things revealed to him were terrifying and horrible for God's people, which is why

we read in the last verse of chapter 8 after Daniel saw his vision, 

27 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)
, his son Belshazzar ruled over Babylon in his absence as coregent until 539 BC when Cyrus II, king of Persia conquered Babylon and slew Belshazzar in one night (Daniel 5:30). Then, Darius the Median [ or Mede]
took the kingdom [Babylon], being about threescore and two years old
(62 years old, Daniel 5:31). Therefore, since Daniel saw his vision in the third year of king Belshazzar, and king Belshazzar began to reign over Babylon in the place of his exiled father, Abonidus, in the year 550 BC, Daniel must have seen his vision three years later in the year 547 BC, which would have been only seven or eight years before Babylon and its king, Belshazzar, was conquered in the year 539 BC and replaced by Darius, the Mede. 

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 some time ago that you can click on to be reminded of, but let's now continue in our study of Daniel 8, which has to do with the vision that Daniel saw, not in the first year but, in the third year of king Belshazzar, namely in 547 BC. We read in verse 2 of Daniel 8,

  Verse 2: 

2 And I [Daniel] 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

This verse simply reveals where Daniel was brought to in his vision that is recorded in Daniel 8: we are told he was at Shushan, the palace (the word in of the phrase in the palace is not in the Hebrew), which is in the province of Elam. The province of Elam was not far Southeast of Babylon and it extended south along the eastern side of and almost halfway down the Persian Gulf in which the city of Shushan stood near its northern end, Southeast of Babylon. The Ulai river ran right next to Shushan ( River Ulai Map ), and it might be of some import to mention here that the word Shushan, when translated, means Lily, the word Ulai in the term river of Ulai means my leaders or my mighty ones, and the word Elam in the term region of Elam means eternity. Thus, we could say that when Daniel saw his vision, he was brought to the place of a lily, which is what the word Shushan means; and according to how the word lily is used in the bible, a place of a lily would be a place of splendor, glory, holiness, beauty, majesty, and even Christ Himself is called the lily of the valleys (So 2:1). Additionally, Daniel was brought to the palace in Shushan, which is the place of Eternity because Elam, the region that the palace was in, means Eternity, and, furthermore, in his vision, Daniel was brought to the river of my Leaders or Mighty Ones because the word Ulai in the term river of Ulai means my leaders or mighty ones. And, since spiritually, a river can represent the flowing forth of the word of God or gospel (see John 7:38, for instance), we might say that Daniel was brought by the streaming forth of the word of God or gospel of my mighty ones, those mighty ones being Christ and His people as they bring forth the word of God or gospel. And, as we shall see, this is exactly what the ram with the two horns that goes forth conquering represents. Of course, virtually everyone else till now simply interprets Daniel's vision in the literal way in which the angel Gabriel had revealed in Daniel 8:20-25 as we will see. 
Verse 3: 

3 Then I [Daniel] 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

Notice, first of all, that Daniel saw a ram which had two horns standing before the river (the river Ulai), which river, as we previously saw, symbolizes the streaming forth of God's word of Christ's mighty ones (Christ's Elect or Saints). In the Bible, the Hebrew word
ram (pronounced ah'-yil) normally refers to the animal called a
ram that was regularly sacrificed for the sins of the ancient people Israel. And, I think, we are all aware that this sacrificial ram was a type or foreshadow of the Christ Himself who was to be sacrificed just once on the cross in 33 AD during the Passover to pay the price for all the sins of His true people, the true Israel, a remnant of the old Israel, plus a remnant from every nation, including Israel, that came to faith in Christ during the New Testament period before the many days of Judgment Day began on May 21,2011. Remember when our ancient father Abraham was told by God to sacrifice his own son, Isaac, but instead, just in time, God provided a ram to be sacrificed in the place of his son, which ram was a type or foreshadow of what God, the Father would accomplish when He sacrificed His Own Son, the Christ, in 33 AD during the Passover? We read of the account of Abraham sacrificing his own son in Genesis 22,

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son [Isaac] .
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me .
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son
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And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh [God provides]: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen

The point being that whereas Yahweh provided a ram to be sacrificed in the place of Isaac, this ram was a type or foreshadow of Jesus Christ, who the Father, God did send to earth and was born in 7 BC to become the sacrifice for the sins of His people, the true Israel, in 33 BC at Passover.  Hence, we clearly see that, in the Bible, a ram can be a foreshadow or type of Jesus Christ Himself, and here in Daniel 8, that is exactly what we see: the ram symbolizes Christ.

And yet, we read in verse 20 of Daniel 8 where the angel Gabriel revealed to Daniel who this ram actually was: Gabriel said to Daniel, 

20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia .  

But how, then, can the ram refer to Christ, as we just previously stated, and also refer to the kings of Media and Persia, as stated to Daniel by the angel Gabriel? To answer this, we must realize that the Persian kingdom was ruled over by the king of Persia, Cyrus II, who, in 550 BC, conquered the Medes and their king, Astyages , and the Medes were incorporated into the Persian kingdom. Then later, in 539 BC, Cyrus installed Darius the Mede as ruler over Babylon when Babylon and its king, Belshazzar, were conquered by the Media-Persian kingdom (Daniel 5:31). Therefore, Darius the Mede ruled over Babylon under the Media-Persian monarchy of Cyrus II, the king of Persia. The Bible just refers to him as Cyrus. But when Daniel was first taken in his vision to see, the Persians had not yet conquered the Medes, and so the two kings that the ram with two horns represented are Cyrus II, the king of Persia and Astyages, king of the
Medes. But in 550 BC, Cyrus II conquered Astyages and the Medes, and the Medes and Persians became one kingdom called the Media-Persian kingdom by historians, then ruled over by Cyrus II of Persia who in 539 BC after conquering Babylon and its king, Belshazzar, made a proclamation to release the Israelites who had been taken captive into Babylon at several different times as well as when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 587 BC, so that they would come out from their exile to return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding their temple that had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, in 587 BC (Ezra 1:1-2).  

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 , Biblical Timeline of History , first discovered near the mid-nineteenth century. But this deeper understanding was not only kept from Daniel, but it was also hidden to all God's people until the time of the end. As Gabriel says to Daniel in 8:19, 
19 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.

Nevertheless, the ultimate fulfillment, as we shall see, took place during the time of the end that we have been in ever since leading up to the spiritual end of the Church Age and beginning of God's Judgment upon His Church on May 21,1988, and even to this very day. Indeed, Daniel's vision has a double fulfillment: one near the end of the old covenant, and another ultimate fulfillment near the end of the world and new covenant. This double application of the Holy Scripture is very common, especially throughout the ancient Prophets, the other Old Testament scriptures, and anything to do with the old covenant, for we read, 

Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of ... things to come ... 

Yes, the whole literal Old Testament law, which is all the Old Testament scripture, points to a deeper reality of spiritual truth that is ultimately fulfilled and revealed to those who are in Christ during the Last Days and at the time of the end. But those things that would take place right near the end of the world would not be revealed until that time came, which was when God's Final Judgment first began on His Own Church on May 21,1988. As the angel Gabriel first states to Daniel, 

17 ... Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision .  

And Daniel is once again told about his time of the end visions that no one would be able to ultimately understand them until the time of the end. We read,  

Da 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased .  

And once again, we read,  

Da 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end .
So, the reason why no theologian has been able to understand the teachings of Daniel until the time that we have reached is because they have been shut up or closed to anyone's understanding until the time of the end came, which was on May 21, 1988. It has nothing to do with anyone's own intellect or giftedness, including mine, but it has to do with the timing of things. The Holy Spirit simply would not reveal these truths to anyone until the time of the end came. All the glory, therefore, goes to God as it always should. 

Well, let's return to our verse of Daniel 8:3, which, once again, reads, 

3 Then I [Daniel] 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 .  

In this verse, we already learned from the angel Gabriel that the ram was the kings of Media and Persia, and these kings were Astyages and Cyrus, respectively. They are considered to be the one and the same
ram because eventually Astyages , king of the Medes who reigned from 585-550 BC was conquered by Cyrus, the Persian, and the Median kingdom became a part of the Persian kingdom, as Cyrus occupied and plundered Ecbatana, the Median capital in 550 BC. Then later, in 539 BC, the Median-Persian kingdom under the monarchy of king Cyrus, that one
ram , conquered Babylon in 539 BC, and Darius the Mede and son of
Astyages , was given rule over Babylon by Cyrus, the king over the Median-Persian kingdom.

We also previously learned that in the deeper understanding of things, the ram symbolized Christ Himself, as we had seen that the word ram in the Bible often referred to Christ in that a ram was regularly sacrificed as a picture of the Christ who would come to be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of His people. We saw this clearly in that when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, Yahweh provided a ram in his place, which ram was a picture of the Christ who

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7:1-6
7:7-8
7:9-12
7:13-19
7:20-26 
8:1-3

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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and strongest of the two kingdoms. And, of course, after king Cyrus of Persia conquered king Astyages of Media in 550 BC, and the Medes became a part of the Persian kingdom, there was no more Median kingdom at all, but now what historians call the Median-Persian kingdom under king Cyrus of Persia. 

Next, in looking at the deeper and ultimate meaning to Daniel's vision in chapter 8, which has been being fulfilled in our days at the time of the end, as we already learned, the ram refers to Christ. But what do the two horns represent? Since the number 2 symbolizes the Church, or we could say, the kingdom of Christ (see Bible number 2 ), the two horns, which represent power and strength in the Bible, represent the kingdom or Church of Jesus Christ. One horn represents the strength or power of the Old Testament Church or kingdom, and the other horn represents the power and strength of the New Testament Church or kingdom. And that one horn is higher than the other refers to the strength or power of the New Testament Church or kingdom, which came up last or after the Old Testament Church or kingdom, and in that it is higher than the other horn means it is more exalted and greater in strength and power. We get a good sense for how much greater the new covenant is over the old covenant, and the New Testament kingdom or Church over the Old Testament Church or kingdom; and, therefore, why the horn representing the New Testament kingdom or Church is higher than that of the Old Testament kingdom or Church when God declares in Hebrews 12, 

18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest ,
19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more [as during the old covenant]:
 20 ( For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart :
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21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake :)  
22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels ,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel .
25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven .
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear :
29 For our God is a consuming fire

We further see the much greater strength and power (the higher horn) of the new covenant over the old in Jesus's own words when He said, 

Luke 7:28
For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least ... 
in the kingdom of God is greater than he .  


CONCLUSION

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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 that we had studied at some time in the past, and you can click on it to be refreshed. 

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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ones could be none other than the Saints or Elect of our Lord Himself, Jesus Christ. The deeper context of Daniel's vision, then, has to do with Christ and His people sending forth the word of God, as we will see, especially, in our next study of Daniel 8.  

But finally, we saw how the ram that Daniel saw before the river, which symbolizes the sending forth of God's word, has a double meaning. In the historical account, it represented the kings of Media and Persian as was told to Daniel by the angel Gabriel, which until 550 BC when the Median king was conquered by the Persian king, were Astyages of Media and Cyrus of Persia. After Astyages of Media was conquered by Cyrus of Persia in 550 BC, Persia had clearly become more powerful and stronger than Media, which is why the horn on the ram representing the Persian kingdom was higher and came up last in comparison to the horn that represented the Median kingdom. In the deeper spiritual and ultimate account, being symbolized by the literal historical account, the ram represents Christ, and the two horns symbolize the power or strength of the Church or kingdom of Christ. The shorter horn that came up first symbolizes the power or strength of the Old Testament Church while the longer horn that came up last symbolizes the power or strength of the New Testament Church. The horn symbolizing the New Testament Church is higher because its power and strength is greater than that of the Old Testament Church, and the reason why it came of last is obvious. It came up last or after the Old Testament Church.


Now, until the next time, may Yahweh bless thee, and keep thee: Yahweh make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: Yahweh lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace (Numbers 6:24-26)
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