Prophecy 3
– The Antichrist
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The
Antichrist – Daniel 8:1-12
Beginning
Point in Time: About
538 B.C.
Ending Point in Time: Second
Coming of Jesus
Summary:
The essence of this prophecy can be
summarized in three sentences: When
the 2,300 days expire (1844), Jesus
will begin to cleanse Heaven’s
temple of guilt. Later, Lucifer (the
horn power) will physically appear
and eventually lead all of the wicked
to commit the unpardonable sin. The
work of Jesus in the temple (the
daily) will end when Lucifer
completes his work. By that point in
time, every sinner will have reached
the point of no return and there is
nothing further Jesus can do to save
them.
Introduction:
We saw how God used the technique of
“repetition and
enlargement” in Daniel 7 to
expand our understanding of Daniel 2.
In the same way, this prophecy uses
repetition and enlargement to expand
our understanding of Daniel 7. As we
proceed through the seventeen
prophecies, you will see how they
work together to tell one harmonious
story. The information provided in
each prophecy is additive in nature,
which means you need to understand
the entire prophetic story before you
completely understand any part of it!
From the beginning, God designed the
seventeen prophecies in Daniel and
Revelation to work together so that
when the time came for the book of
Daniel to be unsealed at the time of
the end, the mystery and ambiguity
encasing apocalyptic prophecy over
the past twenty-six centuries would
disappear. Look at figure 3.1. You
will see how the prophecies in Daniel
2, 7, and 8 align. Notice the list
under 457 B.C. The ram, bear, and
silver align. This alignment is
important to the final generation
because these three prophecies
provide a historical setting for two
prophetic time periods that are very
important. Knowing that most people
have little interest in matters of
antiquity, God moves our
understanding of His plans in very
large steps in the book of Daniel.
For example, in Figure 3.1, one
prophetic time period moves us
forward in time 2,300 years and
another moves us forward 1,260 years.
The alignment
of these three prophecies is
important to the final generation
because there is an intimate
relationship between 1798 and 1844.
We learned in Prophecy 2 that the
courtroom scene in Daniel 7:9,10 occurred
in 1798. We will discover in this
prophecy that the opening of the
books of record occurred in
1844. Daniel 7:10 says: “The
court was seated, and the books were
opened.” Because
Prophecy 3 overlays Prophecy 2, and
Prophecy 2 overlays Prophecy 1, God
is building a stack of prophecies to
help us understand that even though
the plan of redemption is huge, His
timing is perfect, always on track.
God may seem to be slow, but He is
moving with deliberate haste. The
problem of sin will not last one day
longer than absolutely necessary.
The longest
prophetic time period given in the
Bible is found in this prophecy. It
lasts for 2,300 years. In terms of
chronological progression, this is
one huge step forward! In fact, it is
more than twice the length of the
1,000 year prophecy in Revelation 20.
To make sure that people understand
when this time period ends, God
placed the origin of this time period
within a well documented historical
setting. By clearly establishing the
beginning date of the 2,300 years
there can be no mistake about the
ending date. Moreover, the ending
date is directly linked to a very
important event in Heaven’s
temple. This event is “Judgment
Day.” The court was seated in
1798, and in 1844 Jesus began to
judge the dead so that He might
determine the eternal destiny of each
person who has lived.
One final
point. As we progress through these
prophecies (more so in the prophecies
of Revelation), we will discover that
God sometimes inserts an odd element
within a prophecy. For example, this
prophecy concerns a ram, a goat, and
a horn power. Since all three
elements are in the same prophecy,
the horn power must have something to
do with the ram and goat. At first
glance, there also appears to be some
“disconnected discussion”
in this prophecy about Heaven’s
temple. For example, verse 14 appears
to have nothing to do with the ram,
goat, or horn power! Verse 14
says, “It will take
2,300 evenings and mornings; then the
sanctuary will be
reconsecrated.” This
verse has created all kinds of
problems in the past. However, if we
understand the essential doctrine of
parallel temples[1] and the
use of valid rules of interpretation,
we can make sense of this vision. It
aligns perfectly with the timing in
Prophecies 8 and 11.
The
Sequence:
Daniel 8:1-4
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. 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.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.{1} In
the third year of King
Belshazzar’s reign, I received a
vision.
{2} I was in
the city of Susa, located in the
province of Elam. I was standing
beside the beautiful Ulai Canal.
{3} I looked up
into the sky and I saw a powerful ram
with two great horns growing out of
its head. One horn was longer than
the other and the longer horn grew
out last.
{4} I watched
as the ram came from the east. He
charged toward the west, the north,
and the south. No one could stand
against him, and none could escape
his awesome power. He did as he
pleased and he became great.
Daniel 8:5-8
And
as I was considering, behold, an 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. And he
came to the ram that had two horns,
which I had seen standing before the
river, and ran unto him in the fury
of his power. And I saw him come
close unto the ram, and he was moved
with choler against him, and smote
the ram, and brake his two horns: and
there was no power in the ram to
stand before him, but he cast him
down to the ground, and stamped upon
him: and there was none that could
deliver the ram out of his hand.
Therefore 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.{5} While
watching this powerful beast,
suddenly a goat with a big horn
between his eyes came out of the
west. He was traveling so fast that
he did not appear to touch the
ground.
{6} He charged
the two-horned ram with enormous
fury.
{7} The goat
struck the ram and shattered its two
horns. The ram was hurled to the
ground and trampled. No one could
rescue the ram from the goat’s
attack.
{8} The goat
became a great kingdom, but something
unusual happened. At the height of
its power, the goat’s mighty
horn was broken off and in its place
four substantial horns grew –
one toward the north, the south, the
east, and the west.
Daniel 8:9
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.{9} As I
watched, I saw another scene. Out of
the north I saw a horn approaching.
This horn did not have an animal
host.[2] It was
not related to the ram or the goat or
any earthly kingdom.[3] As I
watched, it started small, but it
quickly grew in power and popularity
toward the south, east, and the west
(my homeland, the Beautiful Land).
Daniel 8:10
And
it 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.{10} This
horn grew until his fame was known
and honored all over the world. When
he became able, he threw down the
starry host (various gods that
mankind worships) and trampled on
them.[4]
Many people
make the mistake of thinking the horn
in Daniel 8 and the little horn
in Daniel 7 are one and the
same. There are several reasons why
this is not possible. First, this
prophecy completely
“leapfrogs” the time
periods of the fourth beast (168 B.C.
– A.D. 476) and the little horn
(538 -1798). The fourth empire in
Daniel 7 (Rome) is not mentioned
in this prophecy because the horn in
Daniel 8 is not attached to any
beast. This horn does not rise out of
a world empire. It appears from out
of nowhere, “out of the four
winds,” specifically, out of the
north. The north is prophetically
important because it is often said in
Scripture that divine wrath comes out
of the north.[5] Second,
within the context of this vision, a
beast is a symbol of an empire and a
horn is a symbol of a king. The
mighty horn on the goat (verse 21)
represents the first king of Greecia
(Alexander the Great). Similarly, the
horn that just appears out of the
north represents “a stern-faced
king” that will appear and
overtake the world “when rebels
have become completely wicked”
(verse 23). Third, Gabriel told
Daniel (verses 17 and 19) that this
vision concerns the appointed time
of the end which occurs after the
2,300 day/years expire in 1844. In
other words, the horn in this vision
will appear on Earth after 1844
– at the appointed time of the
end. Prophecies 8 and 11 will further
explain why this horn represents the
physical appearing of Lucifer, the
dreaded Antichrist.
Jesus will
permit Lucifer to physically appear
before the people of Earth during the
Great Tribulation. Jesus will release
the devil from the Abyss at an
appointed time to lead the world into
destruction.[6] Lucifer
will deceive the wicked and his
followers will be like the sand on
the seashore. Lucifer will astonish
Earth’s inhabitants with his
miracles, boldness, and assumed
authority. At the sixth trumpet, the
devil will abolish all of the
religions of the world and trample on
them. He will claim to be Almighty
God[7] and as
such, he will demand that religious
diversity be eliminated.[8] He is
The Master of Deception. He will
deceive Moslems, Jews, Catholics,
Atheists, Protestants, Eastern
Mystics, and the Heathen by
performing great signs and miracles
– even calling fire down from
Heaven.[9] He will
eliminate the starry hosts – an
ancient term used for various
“gods” or whatever is
worshiped as “God”[10] and he
will demand that everyone honor and
worship him as God Almighty.[11]
Daniel 8:11
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.{11} Lucifer
will masquerade as Almighty God. He
will bring to an end the daily
ministry Jesus does on behalf of
sinners by forcing everyone into a
decision. Near the end of the Great
Tribulation, everyone on Earth will
have either the seal of God or the
mark of the beast. With lies and
deceit, Lucifer will trample on the
honor and respect that belongs to
man’s Creator.
The 144,000
will lead many millions of people to
receive Jesus as their Savior (see
Prophecy 7), but the work of the
144,000 will eventually stall. At the
appointed time, Jesus will release
the devil from the Abyss and his
horrific actions will cause many of
the undecided wicked to repent and
embrace the gospel. Lucifer will lead
the defiant wicked into rebellion[12] against
the gospel of Jesus Christ and those
who embrace it. The wicked will
ridicule and reject the ministry and
intercession that Jesus offers for
individuals at Heaven’s Altar of
Burnt Offering. Lucifer will lead the
world into rebellion because he knows
that no sinner can be saved
on his own merits. Lucifer knows
why Jesus died and he knows that
salvation comes only through faith in
the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.
Masquerading as Almighty God, Lucifer
will demand that everyone on Earth
obey him or be killed.[13] The
choice will be simple: Submit to the
laws of our Creator/Redeemer and face
death, or submit to the laws of
Lucifer and live a few months longer.
(See Prophecy 12.) When every person
has made a firm decision, Jesus’
daily intercession on behalf of
individuals will close and God’s
generous offer of salvation will end.
