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The 2,300 Days

In the 8th chapter of Daniel is an astounding prophecy.
Some believe it was fulfilled in 1844.
Others say in 165 B.C. by Antiochus Epiphanies.
Daniel could not understand it!
It was sealed from human comprehension "until the time of the end" — this 20th Century!

 

THE MOMENT has come to reveal an astonishing, yet little-known prophecy for "the latter days" — this 20th century! Few churches ever speak of it. Most scholars admit they do not understand it.

But God's time has come to reveal it!

 

Sealed Until NOW

Did you know that the book of Daniel, in your Bible, was closed to human understanding until these latter days?

Daniel was commanded: ". . . shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end. . . ." Again we read: "For the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand" (Dan. 12:4, 9-10).

Now open your Bibles to Daniel 8. Here is a vital prophecy for our time. Notice particularly verse 26. Daniel is commanded to "shut up the vision; for it shall be for many days" — far into the future. Daniel "was astonished at the vision, but none understood it" (verse 27, last part).

This prophecy was not meant to be understood till the time of the end. Today the wise shall understand. This is God's promise.

 

Time Setting of the Prophecy

Notice the setting of the prophecy in Daniel 8. It is the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king of Babylon, about 550 B.C. Daniel is given a vision while at Shushan in the palace in the province of Elam (Dan. 8:1-2). Here is what he sees in the vision:

"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. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great" (verses 3 and 4).

Here is a mysterious "ram." What does this ram symbolize?

Notice God's explanation, revealed in verse 20! "The ram which thou rawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia"!

This ram symbolized the Medo-Persian Empire. It destroyed the Kingdom of Babylon in the autumn of 539 B.C. It ruled to 331 B.C.

But this is only the beginning of the prophecy. Now read verse 5:

"And as I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes."

What is the Bible explanation of this mysterious symbol? "And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king" (verse 21).

This is not man's interpretation. This is the Bible's own explanation of its symbols.

These symbols were revealed to Daniel. He was inspired to write them in Scripture so that we today can understand the important TIME SETTING of this end-time prophecy. Notice the verse-by-verse movement of time. The ram — the Medo-Persian Empire — came on the world scene in the autumn, 539 B.C. It ruled until 331 B.C.

Then the Greco-Macedonian Empire came on the scene with its first great king, Alexander the Great (verses 6 and 7). The final conquest of the Medo-Persian Empire by Alexander the Great occurred in 331 B.C.

Understand what this means. By the end of verse 7 we have moved in history from 539 B.C. to the time of Alexander the Great.

Continue, now, with verse 8. ". . . the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven."

Remember, the great horn in the goat's head symbolized the "first king" of the Greco-Macedonian Empire. That was Alexander the Great. But this horn was suddenly "broken"! Alexander the Great died suddenly of a fever in Babylon in 323 B.C., about thirty-three years of age!

Then what followed in time sequence?

Continuing in verse 8: "For it [that is, "in its place" after Alexander's death — after 323 B.C.] came up four notable ones [four other horns] toward the four winds of heaven" — in more modern English, in the four directions of the compass. The Bible interpretation of this verse is found in verse 22:

"Now that being broken," — Alexander the Great being dead — "whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the kingdom, but not in his power."

Alexander's Empire was divided among his generals after his death. By 301 B.C. four generals divided the Empire, fulfilling this verse of the prophecy. In the South — Egypt — ruled Ptolemy. Syria — the North and East — was held by Seleucus.

The Northwest — Thrace — was under the control of Lysimachus. Macedonia, in the far West, was dominated by Cassander.

The Kingdom of the North, prophesied in Daniel 11,
was at first a Greek Empire with its capital in Syria.

Later, in 281 B.C. Seleucus overthrew Lysimachus and completely controlled the North. Thereafter the two dominant areas of the Empire were the Kingdom of the South, under the Ptolemies, and the Kingdom of the North under the Seleucidae. The struggles between these two kingdoms — down to our day, this 20th Century! — is made plain in the longest prophecy in the Bible — Daniel 11.

Consider again the vital time setting of this prophecy. It commenced with the Medo-Persian Empire which lasted until 331 B.C. Then the Greco-Macedonian Empire came on the scene with its first king, Alexander the Great. In 323 B.C. Alexander died at the age of 33. Alexander's Empire was divided into four major parts — verse 22. None of these parts was as strong as the whole kingdom had been under Alexander the Great. The time setting of the four divisions of Alexander's Empire, foretold in this prophecy, brings us to the date 301 B.C.!

The rest of the prophecy therefore cannot begin before this date!

Now notice what is to happen next on the world scene — after 301 B.C.

 

A Prophecy for the Latter Time!

Turn in your Bible to verse 9: "And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land."

Look at this verse again. Here a "little horn" appears coming out of one of the four divisions of Alexander's Empire. This "little horn" therefore cannot have arisen before 301 B.C. because not until then was the fourfold division of Alexander's Empire settled!

Notice that again! "Out of one of them came forth a little horn"! Out of one of the four! — the prophecy will later disclose out of which one!

Whatever this mysterious horn symbolizes, whatever this little horn does on the world scene, must occur AFTER the death of Alexander the Great — and after the division of his empire in 301 B.C. into four parts!

We come now to the climax of this astounding vision.

Daniel is told: "For at the time of the end shall be the vision" (verse 17). The vision of "the little horn" is for the time of the end! The same time setting is recorded also in verse 23, "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full."

Who — what — does this "little horn" symbolize?

The "Little Horn"

Some think Antiochus Epiphanies. Others think it is pagan or papal Rome, or both. But what does the Bible say? What is the Bible's own interpretation of its symbols?

Notice the Bible explanation!

"A king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty . . . and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace [the margin says "prosperity"] shall destroy many; HE SHALL ALSO STAND UP AGAINST THE PRINCE OF PRINCES; but he shall be broken without hand" (verses 23-25).

There is the answer! Could anything be more astounding!

Look at this prophecy again. It is a prophecy for the last days. The little horn symbolizes "a king" — a ruler — who shall arise "in the latter time of their kingdom" (verse 23). Not immediately after the fourfold division of Alexander's empire — but in the "latter time" of human misrule. This "little horn" — this ruler — this mortal man stands up against the Prince of princes — that is Christ at His second coming!

Here is a great Gentile world ruler who stands up against Christ and is supernaturally destroyed — "without hand" — not by human hand but by divine intervention in human affairs.

The Bible interprets this "little horn" as a great ruler who shall exist at the second coming of Christ! He comes on the scene when world transgression — world sin — has reached its climax (Daniel 8:23).

This "little horn" of Daniel 8 is described again in Revelation 17:14. There we read that he makes war with the Lamb (Jesus Christ) and the Lamb shall overcome him and his allies. This "little horn" does the same thing as the final "beast" of Revelation 17!

 

What the "Little Horn" Will Do

Continue with this amazing prophecy for the latter days! "And it [the little horn] waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down" (Dan. 8:10-11).

The next verse — 12 — is not clearly translated in the King James Version. It reads: "And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression" — the margin reads: "the host was given over for the transgression against the daily sacrifice" — "and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered."

A clearer rendering of verse 12 is found in the Jewish translation: "And the host was given over to it [the little horn] together with the continual burnt-offering through transgression . . ." (The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society).

Many have attempted to interpret these mysterious symbols out of their own human reasoning. They have tried to read into the Bible meanings that are not there. Let THE BIBLE interpret the Bible!

The explanation of verse 10 is revealed in verse 24: "And his [the little horn's] power shall be mighty." That's the explanation of the first part of verse 10: "it waxed great."

To continue with verse 24: "But not by his own power." This king will not accomplish his great deeds by his own strength. Revelation 17:17 reveals why. Ten lesser kings give their military power and strength "unto the Beast."

This little horn (Dan. 8:24) "shall destroy wonderfully" — shall have marvelous, frightening military powers "and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people" (verse 24).

Here is a persecuting power, a union of church and state, which destroys the hosts — armies — of the "mighty people" — God's people Israel. That includes not only the Jews — the House of Judah, but the whole English-speaking world — the House of Israel, the so-called Lost Ten Tribes! Where Israel is today is made plain in our astounding booklet The United States and the British Commonwealth in Prophecy.

Write for it.

The "little horn" also persecutes the true Church — the "holy people" who shall shine in the resurrection like the stars of heaven (compare Dan. 8:10 and 24 with Dan. 12:3).

Verse 25 continues to explain verse 11, and so on.

But what about the "daily sacrifice" — the "continual burnt-offering" — that is to be taken away? Where is the "sanctuary" that is to be cast down? What do these symbolize? What do they mean?