Sermon Tone Analysis

*“End of an Era”*

*Daniel 8:1-27*

 

Intro – This morning we are continuing our study through the Book of Daniel.

I have found out that it is interesting to watch The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars when studying this book.

It’s not good when you end up envisioning Gandalf riding on the back of a winged leopard or Yoda slicing off horns of a goat with a lightsabre!

And that’s sort of what apocalyptic genre is like – in this case with better theology.

Whereas prophecy often comes in plain language, apocalyptic literature paints a graphic picture that communicates God’s message.

I hope that this text paints such a graphic picture for you that it did for me.

At the same time we must remember that it is not merely entertainment but communication of God’s message.

So our task is to watch this movie and interpret it for its content.

This one is not produced by Hollywood but proceeds from the mouth of God Himself.

I will begin by reading through the text in its entirety (without commercials) and then we will take a closer look and identify the main characters and events and, finally, the message and its implications for Daniel, the Israelites, and us.

We are going to jump around quite a bit in the text.

So it would be helpful for you to have your Bibles open and at the ready.

Please turn to Daniel chapter 8.

May God enliven His Word as we read the text.

*Read Chapter 8:1-27.*

So the first thing we notice is that the vision Daniel has in chapter 8 is two years after the previous vision from chapter 7. Verse one tells us that it was in the third year of Belshazzar’s reign.

It is in this vision that he is transported to Susa which is in the province of Elam and near the Persian Gulf.

And then he says he is at the Ulai Canal.

The first image that enters the scene is that of a ram which is standing at the bank of this canal.

It has two horns on it – one was higher than the other.

The ram charges in multiple directions – west, north, and south.

It was unstoppable.

That is until Scene 2.

Daniel is just sitting there thinking to himself, “considering” the text says.

And now another figure enters.

In verse 5 and without warning, Daniel sees a male goat coming from the west.

It’s not on a casual stroll.

This thing arrives on the scene and its feet aren’t even touching the ground.

This is no ordinary goat.

It has a horn between its eyes, attacks the ram, and then breaks the horns off of it.

But the goat is not finished.

He continues to throw and trample him.

And the ram is lying there, powerless.

There is no one who is able to help him out.

If you’re anything like my wife, you probably feel sorry for the helpless little ram at this point.

And fortunately for us, we actually have the text to help us to interpret these figures.

Fast forward (because it is DVD format) to verse 15 with me.

Because, like the rest of us, Daniel wants to know what these images mean.

He sought to understand them.

While he was pondering, “one having the appearance of a man” is there with him.

He speaks in verse 16 and calls out to the angel Gabriel to interpret the vision for Daniel.

The One giving the instructions is most likely God himself.

We believe this because verse 17 says he fell on his face in His presence.

We know that, for Daniel, the presence of an angel does not have that effect.

In chapter 7, he is not even fearful of the angel.

In chapter 9, he is not even fearful of Gabriel.

But in this instance he falls on his face.

And we know from other accounts that this is often the case.

The prophet Ezekiel, also encountered the Lord and had a similar experience.

In Ezekiel 3:23, the prophet writes, “So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and I fell on my face.”

In 44:4, “Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord.

And I fell on my face.”

Joshua met the Lord near Jericho and fell on his face before him.

The apostle Paul, on the road to Damascus encountered the risen Christ and fell to the ground.

John also, in Revelation wrote, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.”

God reveals himself and everybody is overwhelmed!!  How many of us live our daily lives as though God were present and could manifest himself any moment?

That’s a concept that parents have used through the ages to help with their authority.

“You know God is always watching you.

He is looking through the roof even now!”

But if God were to manifest himself to us at any point in the day, would we be ashamed at his “arrival”?

It’s one thing to be embarrassed doing something that is inappropriate.

But we also know that there is a day coming when God will again manifest himself in the Person of Jesus Christ.

We will indeed see Him, and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.

Some will be comforted, and many others terrified.

For at that time, there are no other opportunities to trust in Him.

We will either gladly bow the knee to Him in that time, or be forced to.

If you do not yet know him, consider it grace that you still have the opportunity to bow /willingly/.

Let me encourage you.

To bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ is not stifling or oppressive.

It is freedom like you have never known.

Who would you rather serve?

Yourself?

You see, here is the paradox: Mark 8:35-36 reads, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

Daniel was then told that the images that he received pertained to the time of the end.

This doesn’t mean the end of history.

It means the end of the era.

And we will see that it pertains to the time up to and including the intertestamental period of approximately 400 years.

And then the text reads that Daniel falls into a deep sleep.

I don’t think that it is from boredom or exhaustion.

I think it is more of a loss of consciousness.

He was overwhelmed.

But nonetheless, he is awakened and given the interpretation.

The ram with different sized horns is interpreted as the kingdom of Medo-Persia.

And if you’ve been tracking, this should recall to mind the image of the bear in chapter 7. Do you remember?

It was a grotesque animal that was sort of raised up higher on one side.

Chapter 7 verse 5 “And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear.

It was raised up on one side.

It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.”

We also have the benefit of looking back into history and seeing the prophecies fulfilled.

We know that before Cyrus came to power Media was a powerful force while Persia was a smaller country.

But Cyrus was able to gain control over the Medes to the north and he made Persia the more important of the two states.

United, they became the vast Medo-Persian Empire.

So we know that of the two horns, Persia was the greater that came up last and stood taller than the other.

Under Cyrus, they were the dominant force.

So, in verse 5, it says that the ram (or Medo-Persia) charged unabated westward, northward, and southward.

They attacked Babylonia, Syria, Asia Minor and Greece to the west.

To the north – Armenia, Scythia, and the Caspian Sea region.