Daniel 8:1-26 “In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me--to me, Daniel--after the one that appeared to me the first time. (2) I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai. (3) Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. (4) I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great. (5) And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. (6) Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. (7) And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand. (8) Therefore, the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. (9) And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. (10) And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. (11) He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. (12) Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered. (13) Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, "How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?" (14) And he said to me, "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed." (15) Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. (16) And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, "Gabriel, make this man understand the vision." (17) So, he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, "Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end." (18) Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me, and stood me upright. (19) And he said, "Look, I am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation; for at the appointed time the end shall be. (20) The ram which you saw, having the two horns--they are the kings of Media and Persia. (21) And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. (22) As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power. (23) "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes. (24) His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; He shall destroy fearfully, and shall prosper and thrive; He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people. (25) "Through his cunning He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; and he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without human means. (26) "And the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true; therefore, seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future.”
In this section we want to discuss Daniel’s second vision of the anti-Christ and his kingdom, concentrating mainly on his kingdom i.e. its origin and its present state. The above quoted passage of scripture is an account of Daniel’s second vision relating to the end times. Daniel links this vision to the earlier vision that we have already discussed, for he mentions that this vision was given to him after the first one that he had received. In this vision the Lord gives us further insight regarding the anti-Christ and his kingdom. The vision culminates with the entry of the anti-Christ into the earth, for the angel tells us that when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes, referring to the person of the anti-Christ. This passage gives us a number of insights into the reign of the anti-Christ, which we will discuss in detail in a later section. In this section however, we want to concentrate more on the kingdom of the anti-Christ i.e. its location. In light of that, an important point to note from this passage is that our Lord placed Daniel at a very specific geographic location when He gave him this vision. Daniel was not physically at that location when he received the vision; the Holy Spirit transported him there in the spirit, and by the direction of the Holy Spirit Daniel recorded for us exactly where he was standing, i.e. Daniel found himself standing next to the river Ulai in the citadel of Shushan in the province of Elam. So why was it so important for Daniel to record his exact location when he received this vision? The reason is because this vision reveals to us where the anti-Christ will finally emerge into the earth, and also where the location of his kingdom will be. We know that because this passage tells us that beginning at the location where Daniel was standing, the kingdom of the anti-Christ (the little horn) will grow exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east and toward the Glorious Land. And so by identifying the geographic location mentioned in this passage we can identify the locations of both the anti-Christ and his kingdom. There are six succeeding kingdoms shown to Daniel in this vision, beginning with the Babylonian kingdom and ending with the kingdom of the anti-Christ. Clearly the angel reveals these kingdoms to us to provide us with a trail that we can follow, in order to identify the location of the kingdom of the anti-Christ. And so in following that trail, we will discuss each kingdom in turn. The first kingdom shown in this vision is the Babylonian Empire which is represented by the ram. Both biblical and historical records attribute the rise of the Babylonian Empire to King Nebuchadnezzar, known as Nebuchadnezzar the Great, because he is typically regarded as that empire's greatest king (Daniel 2:36-38)[1]. The Babylonian Empire at the time that Daniel received his vision was being ruled by King Belshazzar who was the son of King Nebuchadnezzar, for Daniel tells us in this passage that he received this vision in the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign. As an aside, King Belshazzar was assassinated in that same year, thus bringing an end to the Babylonian Empire. Historical records reveal to us that the Babylonian Empire began in the year 605 BC and ended in the year 561 BC. It is important to note that the map of the Babylonian Empire shown below incorporates the geographic location of the anti-Christ’s kingdom shown to Daniel.
Map of the Babylonian Empire (605 BC - 561 BC)
Michael E.B. Maher
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebuchadnezzar_II
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