The Longest Time Prophecy in the Bible

"The 2300 Year Prophecy of Daniel Chapter 8"

Before we begin this exciting study, read all of Daniel 8 below.

1 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 isbetween 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."
27 And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days; afterward I arose and went about the king's business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it.

Now let's explore the meaning of this prophetic book.

Often a true prophet of God is taken in vision and given messages that God wants conveyed to His people. In a future study, we are going to study about prophets. The reason is that Jesus said in the end time, there would be false prophets. Where you have false, there must be a true. The Bible gives all the ways necessary to determine if a prophet is a true prophet of God or a false prophet. Revelation 12:17 told us that his end time church, the remnant of her seed, would be both commandment keepers and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 19:10 tells us that the "testimony of Jesus" is the "spirit of prophecy". So God's people in the end time would be guided with special directions of Jesus, given to a true prophet that He has raised up. It was certain that

the devil was going to work very hard in the last days, Revelation 12:12,"for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time." and verse 17, "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed....", therefore Jesus knew His end time people would need special instruction. We will show that at the right time God did raise up such a prophet. And the devil has his false prophets all over the world.

Back to Daniel. As we cover each verse, reread the verse first and then come back to the lesson.

Verse 1- The third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, was in 538 BC, the final year of Babylon's rule as an empire. Babylon ruled from 603 BC to 538 BC. Daniel was taken in vision.

Verse. 2- He saw himself at Elam by the Ulai River.

Verse. 3- There he saw a two horned ram, with one horn higher than the other. Here we have a presentation of the kingdom of the Medes and Persians again, represented by the ram. The Persians being the bigger and stronger were represented by the higher horn. The ram of Daniel 8 was the "Chest and Arms of Silver" in Daniel chapter 2, and it is the "Bear raised up on one side" in Daniel chapter 7.

Verse 4- The ram pushed in all directions and no one could stand up to him. Medo-Persia was an eastern kingdom and it did in fact push "westward, and northward, and southward," just as the prophecy foretold. The ram kingdom, the Medo-Persian empire ruled from 538 BC to 331 BC. Coincidently, the ram was frequently employed in Persian art. It was even found on purely functional objects as jar handles.

Verse 5- Next Daniel witnessed a fast moving he goat with a notable horn between his eyes.

Verse 6- He charged the ram with great fury.

Verse 7- He conquered the ram. The he goat is the kingdom of Greece. He was the "Thighs of Brass" in Daniel 2 and the "Four headed leopard" of Daniel 7. The Grecian empire ruled from 331 BC to 168 BC.

Verse 8- The notable horn between the eyes of the he goat was Alexander the Great, the first ruler. The kingdom was divided to the four generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Selecus and Ptolemy, after the death of Alexander.

Verse 9- The little horn represented here would be both Pagan Rome and later Papal Rome. Some scholars have interpreted the little horn as the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, who ruled over Palestine in the second century BC, and disrupted the Jewish worship services. But there are four reasons why it must be Rome. #1. Daniel, chapters 2 & 7 point to Rome as the successor to Grecia; #2. In verse 4 the Medes and Persians became great. In verse 8 the Grecian empire became very great. But in verse 9, this power became exceeding great. That was true of Rome, but not of Antiochus Epiphanes; #3. Rome did extend it's empire to the south (Egypt), to the east (Macedonia), and the pleasant land (Palestine), and #4. It was Rome that stood up against the "Prince of the host" (Jesus), verse 11, crucifying Jesus in the spring of AD 31. Jesus' sacrifice ended the system of sacrifice. It was Pagan Rome in AD 70 that destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. So this little horn, according to Daniel in Verses 10-12, was to wage a warfare of a distinctly religious nature, its energies bent on bringing to naught the sanctuary and its services.

The visions of Daniel 8 & 9 ultimately point to a pre-advent judgement that will occur in the heavenly sanctuary. Be sure to study "Daniel 9, the Seventy Weeks Prophecy" which is the companion study to Daniel 8 and it will be cover "The 70 Weeks of Daniel 9".

Verse 13- Daniel heard two holy ones conversing about the length oftime that has to pass before the fulfillment of the twofold prophecy on the daily sacrifice and the sanctuary issue.

Verse 14- Answers with a 2,300 day period, then the sanctuary would be cleansed. This being a prophecy and using the day for a year principle regarding prophecies, Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6, the period would be 2,300 years.

Verses 15-19 Daniel seeing the vision wanted to know the meaning. The angel Gabriel was instructed to tell Daniel the meaning of some of the vision.

Verses 20-22 He identifies the ram of verses 3 & 4 as the Medes and the Persians, and the he goat as Greece, and the notable horn as the first king (Alexander), then the split up of the power to the four kingdoms (the four generals) but not having the power of Alexander.

Verse 23-25 The latter time of their kingdom refers to the latter end of the Hellenistic (Greek) kingdom. The little horn kingdom in verse 9 would arise, represented here in verses 23-25, again would be both Pagan Rome and later Papal Rome. It's a fierce, consuming power that persecutes and destroys holy people. Verse 24 says his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power (the Papal armies were those armies from countries willing to serve the Papacy, they sought and destroyed under Papal decree). In verse 25 he shall stand up against the Prince of princes (Jesus). Against Him , His people and His sanctuary, the power of Rome fought a most amazing warfare. While pagan Rome withstood Christ and did indeed destroy the Jewish temple in 70 AD, Papal Rome effectively obscured the priestly mediatorial ministry of Christ in behalf of sinners in the heavenly sanctuary (See Hebrews 8: 1,2) by substituting a priesthood that purports to offer forgiveness through the mediation of men. The little horn power would eventually be broken without hand (the second coming of Christ). See Daniel 2:34,44,45.

Verse 26- Daniel is told that the 2300 evening/morning vision prophecy is true and it should be shut up (sealed) since it would be a long time in fulfilling and to be understood. According to the explanation Daniel later received, only a portion of this 2300 day (year) prophecy applied to the Jews and Jerusalem, where their sanctuary was located. Since the conclusion of the 2300 years would be far into the future, the cleansing of the sanctuary referred to in Daniel 8:14 points not to the Jewish earthly sanctuary, but to the heavenly sanctuary that is to be cleansed prior to Christ's second coming.

To understand the concluding date of the 2300 years, it will be necessary to know the date it began. The answer is in our study "The Seventy Weeks of Daniel Chapter 9".

Daniel 9

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