Q4 When was the first time that Gabriel had appeared to Daniel?
And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid. Daniel 8:16,17.
Q5 What was the vision that God wanted Daniel to understand?
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. Daniel 8:3,4.
Q6 In the vision what animal took away the greatness of the two horned ram?
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. Daniel 8:5-7 |
Q7 How did Gabriel explain these two prophetic animals to Daniel?
The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Daniel 8:21
NOTE: Here is part of the same sequence of nations as Daniel saw in the visions of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. The symbols used there were metals, then beasts. Here the 2nd and the 3rd kingdoms of the sequence are revealed to Daniel.
- Babylon
- Medo-Persia
- Greece
- Rome
This vision begins with Medo-Persia, followed by Greece. It does not begin with Babylon as the other visions had done, for the period of Babylon’s supremacy is about to finish. The prophetic principle used in Bible prophecy is of ‘repetition and expansion’.
- The ‘outline’ was given in Daniel 2 with the great image and the metals.
- The prophecy was expanded in Daniel 7 with the 4 beasts that represented the same kingdoms.
- Now for a third time two of these same kingdoms are represented by the ram and the rough goat.
To understand prophecy, the Bible must be its own interpreter. |
