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December 15 - Daniel 8 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends. It's Sean here.
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  It's December the 15th. It's a Monday, the start of a
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  new week. And friends, welcome to
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  Apocalyptic Week. That's right, this week we are
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  well and truly in the swing of all of this apocalyptic
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  writings, dreams, visions that Daniel has while he is having
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  his life in exile. And we will attempt to unpack
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  what each of them is going on about so that we have a little
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  bit of a path to navigate through the confusing world of
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  what can sound like, well, a whole lot of madness when God
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  actually has a clear message he wants us to hear.
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  So today, today's actually a wonderful chapter because it
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  actually explains what that crazy vision is all about.
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  In the second half, God takes pity on Port Daniel, who's
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  freaking out and explains it to him so you will hear the
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  explanation. And this chapter tells us that
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  yes, the story of history will come and go and evil is a real
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  thing, but neither history nor evil is going to ultimately win.
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  But God has it all in his hands. And that is the same God that we
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  worship and that is with us now. Holy Spirit, open up our hearts
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  so that through these crazy visions and dreams, we will see
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  you and we will feel you, and we will learn more about the way
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  that you come to us in our life, in our world.
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  All right, friends, with all of that said and done, let us read
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  together Daniel Chapter 8. During the third year of
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  Belshazzar's reign, I, Daniel, saw another vision following the
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  one that had already appeared to me.
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  In this vision, I was at the fortress of Susa in the province
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  of Elam, standing beside the Ulai river.
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  As I looked up, I saw a ram with two long horns standing beside
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  the river. One of the horns was longer than
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  the other, even though it had grown later than the other one.
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  The ram buttered everything out of his way to the West, to the
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  north, and to the South, and no one could stand against him or
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  help his victims. He did as he pleased and became
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  very great. While I was watching, suddenly a
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  male goat appeared from the West, crossing the land so
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  swiftly that he didn't even touch the ground.
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  This goat, which had one very large horn between its eyes,
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  headed toward the two horned ram that I had seen standing beside
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  the river, rushing at him in a rage.
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  The goat charged furiously at the ram and struck him, breaking
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  off both his horns. Now the ram was helpless, and
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  the goat knocked him down and trampled him.
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  No one could rescue the ram from the goat's power.
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  The goat became very powerful, and at the height of his
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  powerful his large horn was broken off.
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  In the large horns place grew 4 prominent horns pointing in the
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  four directions of the earth. Then from one of the prominent
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  horns came a small horn whose power grew very great.
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  It extended toward the South and the east and toward the glorious
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  land of Israel. Its power reached to the
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  heavens, where it attacked the heavenly army, throwing some of
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  the heavenly beings and some of the stars to the ground and
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  trampling them, and even challenged the commander of
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  Heaven's army by cancelling the daily sacrifices offered to him
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  and by destroying his temple. The army of Heaven was
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  restrained from responding to their rebellion.
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  So the daily sacrifice was halted and truth was overthrown.
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  The Horn succeeded in everything it did.
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  Then I heard two holy ones talking to each other.
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  One of them asked, how long will the events of this vision last?
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  How long will the rebellion that causes desecration stop the
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  daily sacrifices? How long will the temple and
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  heaven's army be trampled on? The other replied it will take
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  2300 evenings and mornings, then the temple would be made right
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  again. As I, Daniel, was trying to
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  understand the meaning of this vision, someone who looked like
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  a man stood in front of me, and I heard a human voice calling
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  out from the ulai River. Gabriel, tell this man the
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  meaning of his vision. As Gabriel approached the place
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  where I was standing, I became so terrified that I fell with my
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  face to the ground. Son of Man, he said, You must
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  understand that the events you have seen in your vision relate
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  to the time of the end. While he was speaking, I fainted
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  and lay there with my face to the ground, but Gabriel roused
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  me with a touch and helped me to my feet.
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  Then he said, I am here to tell you what will happen later in
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  the time of wrath. What you have seen pertains to
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  the very end of time. The two horned ram represents
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  the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy male goat represents
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  the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes
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  represents the first king of the Greek Empire.
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  The four prominent horns that replace the one large horn show
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  that the Greek Empire will break into four kingdoms, but none as
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  great as the first. At the end of their rule, when
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  their sin is at its height, a fierce king, a master of
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  intrigue, will rise to power. He will become very strong, but
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  not by his own power. He will cause a shocking amount
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  of destruction and succeed in everything he does.
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  He will destroy powerful leaders and devastate the holy people.
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  He will be a master of deception and will become arrogant.
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  He will destroy many without warning.
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  He will even take on the Prince of Princess in battle.
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  But he will be broken, though not by human power.
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  This vision about the 2300 evenings and mornings is true,
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  but none of these things will happen for a long time, so keep
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  this vision a secret. Then I, Daniel, was overcome and
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  lay sick for several days afterward.
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  I got up and performed my duties for the King, but I was greatly
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  troubled by the vision and could not understand it.
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  Our Lord, while every day for us feels like a real mission, the
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  rise and fall of generations and kingdoms lies within your
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  vision, lies within your grasp, lies before you, so obvious and
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  easy for you to see. And Lord, we see in this that
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  great success brings this arrogance and brings this
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  resistance to you and your rule. Our Lord, I pray that when we
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  have success, that when we win in the game of life, that you
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  would keep us humble, that You would always remind us that
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  every good thing comes from you and is a gift from You and every
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  bit of power that we're able to wield in our life.
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  That is your power. For you are king.
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  You are the great and glorious Lord, bigger than any ram or
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  shaggy goat and any number of horns.
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  And so we place you on that highest place, and we worship
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  you and no other. A wonderful, good and kind God.
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  And we thank you for all that you have done for us, and we
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  thank you for giving us Jesus. And we pray all of this in his
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  saving name, Amen.