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Portions of the Book of Daniel had been sealed until the time of the end. In the unsealing process we discover how God will confirm His holy covenant with HIs people at the end of time. Eden Lost becomes Eden Restored. This bible study contains powerful insights into the spiritual battles faced by our generation.
Introduction
Today’s study is Part 2 of a deep-dive into Daniel 8. If you haven’t yet listened to Part 1 called “Book of Daniel 8: Eden Lost”, click here to listen.
In Part 1, called “Eden Lost”, we learned that the vision that the prophet Daniel saw in Chapter 8, the vision of the ram and the he-goat, had two main contexts: the Sanctuary, and the Garden of Eden. These two contexts help provide the interpretation of the ram, the he-goat, the horns, and any other symbols used in the vision.
Today we’re going to focus on going deeper into the interpretation of the vision for the end time by understanding the important details and clues provided in the vision. Let’s get started!
The End Time Interpretation of Daniel’s Vision
The vision of Daniel 8 begins with Daniel seeing the ram with two horns standing beside the river. We just said that the ram represents Jesus. It also represents God’s people through a literary technique called blending. Let’s begin by considering one more layer of meaning to the symbol of the ram.
Remember that Daniel and Revelation are companion books. Let’s cross-reference them to get the full understanding of this vision. Notice that the ram does NOT come up out of the sea like the four beasts that Daniel saw in Daniel Chapter 7 or the beast that comes up out of the sea in Revelation 13. The ram with two horns in Daniel 8 is equivalent to the two-horned beast that comes up out of the earth in Revelation 13 and which represents the United States.
Daniel sees the ram pushing westward, northward and southward. That means the ram was coming from the one cardinal direction that’s left: it was coming from the east, the same direction from which Jesus will come. The ram became great so that no animal could withstand him. The ram pushing in all directions represents a Christian religious revival. Revelation 13 tells us that the earth beast performed signs and wonders, even calling down fire from heaven in the sight of men. This religious revival is necessary for Satan to show himself as prophesied in Daniel 12:11. It’s also necessary for a Sunday Law to be passed.
The Meaning of the Ram’s Horns
The two horns on the ram are significant. Horns in the Bible represent powers. They can also represent kings. In Daniel 8:20 the Angel Gabriel says to Daniel: “The ram which you saw, having the two horns—they are the kings of Media and Persia.”
We said horns symbolize kings or powers. The Angel Gabriel said the ram’s horns are the kings of Media and Persia. What characterized these kings? What was the unique nature of the Medo-Persian empire that was so different from the other three empires described in the Book of Daniel?
In history, the Medo-Persian empire was very respectful of the religions of the nations it conquered. We can say that the horns represent religious freedom as well as religious restoration. It was three Medo-Persian kings – Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes – who issued the three successive decrees to rebuild and/or restore Jerusalem. History archives show records of other similar decrees issued by Medo-Persian kings to preserve the religions of other nations within their empire.
Remember also how grieved King Darius was when Daniel ended up in the lions’ den because of the King’s decree against freedom of worship? Remember how the king was deceived by his advisors into issuing this death decree? History will be repeated very soon.
The he-goat attacking the ram tells us that in the end time Satan will destroy religious revival and reformation. How will he do that? By manufacturing a false revival where you can be a Christian without forsaking sin. That’s the gospel of cheap grace. Satan will pour out his evil spirit upon Christians who allow themselves to be deceived by this lie.
How can we recognize and avoid being deceived by a false revival? Those who reject God’s truth and don’t receive the love of the truth conduct themselves “in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and are by nature children of wrath, just as the others”. These are signs of a false Christian revival, where there is no genuine godliness.
Satan Impersonates Christ
Immediately after Daniel sees the ram, the real action begins. As the prophet was considering the ram, “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” (Daniel 8:5). The goat, a satyr as Gabriel said, came flying from the west across the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground.
Like the ram, this goat does NOT come up out of the sea. Instead, it appears in the air and moves through the air. Remember that one of Satan’s names is “the prince of the power of the air”.
Let’s read now Ephesians 2:2-3 which I loosely quoted earlier: “…according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” According to Galatians 2:2 the he-goat is actually a spirit.
Brothers and sisters, I’ve explained at great length in two previous studies that this vision Daniel had, which Gabriel said was for the time of the end, represents Satan’s brazen impersonation of Christ in a counterfeit Second Coming. If you think that because you know that Jesus’ feet won’t touch the ground you won’t be deceived, think again. Satan’s feet also won’t touch the ground.
The Bible is full of warnings about this nearly overmastering delusion. If you haven’t yet, please listen to my two previous podcasts called “Satan’s Appearing” and “The Devil Is In The Detail”. They’ll give you more insight into this extremely dangerous deception that will cause hundreds of thousands of souls to be lost.
What happens next in Daniel’s vision?
“6 Then he (the satyr goat) 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.” (Daniel 8:5-7).
Here Daniel is using a literary technique called “blending”. In certain passages of scripture, Jesus is blended with His followers, and Satan is blended with his. For example, when Jesus intercepted Paul on the road to Damascus He said to Paul: “Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou Me?” Jesus was already in heaven, but He was being persecuted in the person of His saints. In 2 Thessalonians 2, when Paul is describing anti-christ and talking about the Wicked one, he’s also referencing Satan. Both are blended together.
In the Garden of Eden, the ram represents Adam. (Remember that Jesus is the Second Adam). In the first generation, Satan attacked Adam and Eve through deception. He was furious at the love the Creator had for them and how he made them stewards of the garden. Eve was deceived and Adam sinned because he couldn’t bear to give her up. Therefore, the ram had been cast to the ground and had no power left to withstand Satan.
In the Dark Ages, the he-goat was the anti-christ beast and the ram represented God’s faithful Bible-believing people. Anti-christ persecuted and cast down God’s people to the ground until they could no longer withstand him. God brought their oppression to an end in 1798 by inflicting a deadly wound upon the beast’s head.
We see that this prophecy, which is for the time of the end, has several applications throughout history. At the end of time, the he-goat represents Satan once again. He will lead many souls to eternal destruction. They’ll be deceived by his impersonation of Christ. Tragically, these unsuspecting Christians will be mesmerized into receiving Satan’s spirit. This evil spirit will prevent them from receiving God’s Holy Spirit when the Latter Rain is poured out. Satan destroys them and tramples upon them not physically, but spiritually.
Satan will attack both the United States and Christianity at the time of the end. We get a second witness in Daniel 8:9, where the prophet tells us that anti-christ waxed great toward the south, the east and the Glorious Land. The Glorious Land is not the country of Israel. Rather, it’s the US, the capital of Spiritual Israel.
The following verse says “It (the little horn) grew up to the host of heaven” (Daniel 8:10). This is a parallel verse to Daniel 12:11, which describes how Satan will take away the scepter of power from the US and give it to the Papacy that is already working through the United Nations. By putting the Papacy in the seat of power, Satan will do away with religious freedom and establish a global persecuting power. This is described in Daniel 12:7, the 1260 days of persecution, and in Daniel 12:11, when the abomination of desolation is set up.
Many are confused by Daniel 12:11 believing that the word “abomination” refers only to an idol. Indeed, in the Bible, the word “abomination” is often used to describe idols, butt not only idols or idolatry. In many other uses of the word “abomination”, it’s used to describe anything that blatantly goes against God’s established order, in other words, a transgression of God’s law, statutes or ordinances. This is why Daniel 8:13 says: “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?” In this verse the word transgression is used instead of the word abomination, telling us that the abomination referred to is a transgression of God’s law and His established order.
The New World Order, the last Roman kingdom on earth before Jesus comes, will be ruled by anti-christ in the same spirit of rebellion that moved the builders of the Tower of Babel. They wanted to build a tower that would rise up high into the firmament because they didn’t believe God’s word or His covenant. The New World Order is a transgressor, not only because it’s an illegitimate kingdom, but also because it opposes every principle of God’s established order: marriage between a man and a woman, the seventh-day Sabbath, borders between countries, distinctions between nations, and man’s living across the expanse of the earth, to name only a few.
The Kingdom of Greece
Let’s consider one additional detail in the interpretation that the angel Gabriel gives Daniel of the ram and the he-goat: “And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece” (Daniel 8:21). Of course, in antiquity, this interpretation was true and Greece did overcome Medo-Persia and did take over the scepter of world power.
But because Gabriel said the vision was for the end time, what does it mean for us that the male goat is the kingdom of Greece? Is this verse literally referring to Greece today? No, it’s not. Remember that the he-goat or satyr is a demonic spirit. It represents the spirit that opposes the spirit of genuine Christian religious revival and reformation.
What spirit is that? That opposing spirit is the spirit of humanism represented by Athena, the goddess of reason, human wisdom and human civilization. You might be thinking, “Hmm, that sounds pretty farfetched”. Not so. In the Book of Acts Chapter 17, Paul had to confront this spirit when he was preaching in Athens and the Bible says that he reasoned with them. The idle Athenians always wanted to hear some new thing, and were very incredulous of Paul’s teaching about the resurrection.
So much so in fact, that in his First Letter to the Corinthians Chapter 1, Paul talked about the Greeks always seeking after wisdom, and how they thought that the cross was foolishness. Let’s read our second witness:
“22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:22-25)
Then we get a third witness in Daniel 11. When we get to Daniel 11, the entire chapter revolves around the controversy between the King of the North and the King of the South. The King of the North represents Babylon: false religion, spiritual confusion, and counterfeit revival. It’s an apostate religion with multitudes of deceived, so-called followers of Christ. The King of the South on the other hand represents Egypt: the spirit of humanism, atheism and secularism.
Don’t miss this connection here. Very deliberately in Daniel 8 and Daniel 11, the Lord is using cardinal directions to tie the two chapters together. The Bible draws a parallel between the East and the North, and between the West and the South:
The King of the North is a caricature of the authentic ram that comes from the east: Jesus, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The King of the North is a mockery of Christianity. He’s a counterfeit. We read in Isaiah 14:13 that Satan wanted to set his throne upon Mount Zion, on the sides of the north. In fact, let’s read it: “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.”
The King of the South on the other hand is in harmony with the west. The west is the spirit of Jesus’ overt opponent, that is to say, Satan. Pharaoh King of Egypt, the kingdom of the south, said “Who is God that I should obey Him?” In other words, Pharaoh didn’t recognize God. In Ezekiel 29:3 Pharaoh is called the Great Dragon, another name for Satan. Humanism, atheism and secularism, whose modern-day capital is France, are the natural continuation of Pharaoh’s disbelief and of the Greek/Hellenistic culture into our time.
Anti-christ exalts himself as high as Jesus, the Prince of the Host. He takes away the daily, meaning that he also takes over the scepter of spiritual power – not only political power – and casts down the place of God’s sanctuary. “Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down.” In the original Hebrew the word translated as “place” also means “foundation”. In other words, anti-christ casts down God’s law, which is the foundation of His government. (Daniel 8:11).
Because of transgression, a host – that is to say, an army of believers – was given over to the little horn to war against the rightful holder of the spiritual scepter of power: Jesus. This army is the millions of believers across the world who will be deceived by anti-christ as he casts down truth – Jesus – to the ground. And he practiced and prospered. (Daniel 8:12).
The Angel of the Covenant
Daniel 8 is the first chapter in which Jesus manifests Himself directly to the prophet. Daniel hears Him speak from between the banks of the Ulai River, an affluent of the Tigris River, one of the four rivers in the Garden of Eden. Jesus was standing above the Ulai River when He said “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.” In this very important vision, which stretches back to Creation week and the Garden of Eden, Jesus leaves no doubt that the Sanctuary will be cleansed.
What does that mean that the Sanctuary will be cleansed? It means that the work of Judgment upon the wicked will be completed. It means that Jesus will come back a second time to place on the head of the scapegoat – Satan – the sins of God’s people so that they can be blotted out of the records of heaven. It means that the Plan of Redemption and the covenant promise will be fulfilled. It also means that there will of necessity be an end time fulfillment of the 2300-Day Prophecy.
Let’s go beyond Daniel 8 to see how else Jesus manifests Himself to the prophet. In Daniel 10, we see Jesus appear in His glorified body. Let’s read it quickly: “5 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen (NOTE: like a high priest), whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: 6 His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.”
This is a parallel vision to Revelation 1, when Jesus appears to John the Revelator. Why is this significant? First of all, John tells us in Revelation 1:5 that Jesus is the Faithful Witness. John sees Jesus standing in the Holy Place in the midst of the seven candlesticks. Jesus had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His face shone as the sun. (Revelation 1:16).
Then Jesus helps John understand what he’s seeing. “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.” (Revelation 1:20) In other words, Jesus’ appearing in Daniel 10 – the parallel passage – is also for the angels of the seven churches and for the seven churches, God’s faithful people, the assembly of the saints. Jesus comes with His Father’s word in His mouth.
Let’s pull this all together by reading from Psalm 89:34-37: ”34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. 35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. 36 His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. 37 It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a Faithful Witness in heaven. Selah.” In other words, what comes out of Jesus’ mouth is the unchangeable, unbreakable covenant of obedience, the Father’s Law. We also find the sun again in this passage: Jesus’ throne will be a kingdom of righteousness that will last forever, with Jesus being a Faithful Witness to the Father’s righteous character.
Now, this very important passage in Psalm 89 gives us an important hook that connects us to the third and final revelation of Jesus to the prophet Daniel. What’s that hook? Verse 35 says: “Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.” Let’s make the connection now.
Let’s read in Daniel 12: “5 Then I, Daniel, looked; and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank. 6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?” 7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.”
What’s happening here? Jesus, the high priest clothed in linen who stands above the waters, swears by His Father who lives forever, that the persecution of His people at the end of time would last 3.5 years. Here Jesus is reassuring His people that no matter how terrible the tribulation gets, we have His word that it won’t last beyond 3.5 years. This is a solemn oath, where Jesus lifts up both hands to heaven. We’re going to find this in at least two other places in scripture.
Let’s go back to Psalm 89 where the Father is speaking about Jesus: “25 I will set His hand also in the sea, and His right hand in the rivers. 26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.” The Son’s hands will be established by the Father in the sea, that is to say the multitudes of nations, peoples and languages; and His right hand in the rivers, representing the Garden of Eden. The rivers are the sign of the territory – planet earth – that’s in contention in the great controversy between Jesus and Satan.
But there’s more. Jesus’ appearance in Daniel 12 is parallel to His appearance to John the Revelator in Revelation 10. There Jesus appears as the Angel of the Covenant, wearing a rainbow around His head. Let’s go to Revelation 10:
“1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon His head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:” (Revelation 10:1)
Jesus was dressed in a cloud. Whenever Jesus is dressed in a cloud or carried on a cloud, He’s going forth to perform a work of judgment. His face shines with righteousness, the glory of God. The rainbow on His head is the sign of the everlasting covenant, and points to the rainbow that is around God’s throne.
“2 And he had in His hand a little book open (having been opened is the original Greek form of the verb): and he set His right foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the earth, 3 and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars …” (Revelation 10:2-3)
Jesus is holding the Book of Daniel in His hand, a little book having been opened or that had already been opened. By setting His right foot on the sea and His left foot on the land He was affirming His dominion over the old kingdoms that arose out of the sea as well as the new kingdom that arose out of the earth. Jesus, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, roars like a lion. His dominion is universal.
“5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be time no longer, 7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.” (Revelation 10: 5-7)
Jesus evokes Creation to swear by the Creator. He takes a solemn oath and swears by His Father that there will be time no longer but that right before the 7th. trumpet, when it’s just about to sound, probation would close for the world. This is when the mystery of God, that is, the Plan of Redemption, will be finished. At that point, there’s no more opportunity for repentance. The door of mercy will be forever shut to all who didn’t accept God’s grace during their grace period.
Prophesy Again
Jesus, the Angel of the Covenant, had even more to say to John the Revelator. Let’s read again from Revelation 10:
“8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open (NOTE: The verb form used here in Greek actually means “having been opened”) in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.” 9 So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” 10 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. 11 And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about to many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.””
The little book had already been opened when Jesus the Covenant Angel asks John to prophesy again. This little book is the portion of the Book of Daniel that is written in Hebrew, the portion that was sealed until the time of the end. It’s not the entire book of Daniel that was sealed, that’s why it says “the little book”.
We know that Revelation 10 is referring to the bittersweet experience of the Millerites. The words were sweet but the disappointment was bitter. They had to prophesy again, and they did. They had the date right but the event wrong. They studied again until they understood with accuracy the nature of the event being prophesied by the 2300-Day Prophecy. It wasn’t the Second Coming, it was the beginning of the Judgment.
However, because we find the Angel of the Covenant in Daniel 12, we know that there is some prophecy or prophecies in Daniel Chapter 12, or in the Hebrew portion of the book, that have not been accurately interpreted and we need to prophesy again. That invitation, nay, that exhortation, is for us. It’s the last generation that needs to prophesy again until we get it right. Today’s study is part of the unveiling process of the little book. Isn’t that exciting?
The Covenant
In Daniel 9:27, the Angel Gabriel tells Daniel: “Then He (Jesus) shall confirm a covenant with many for one week”. Ha! Could this be why the Angel of the Covenant appears in Daniel 12? And what is the covenant that Jesus would confirm?
Let’s read in the Book of Genesis Chapter 9 verse 11: “Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And the Lord added that the sign of His covenant with mankind would be a rainbow in a cloud.
God’s covenant has morphed slightly throughout the history of salvation, but it’s still essentially the same covenant. As we just read, it started with Noah after the flood in Genesis 9. It was established between God and mankind, as well as every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.
Then God established His covenant with Abraham. The Lord told Abraham his descendants would be as the number of the stars in heaven (we’re back to the stars from Revelation 1 and Daniel 12). God would give Abraham’s descendants the promised land. The stars are Abraham’s seed. But He required perfect obedience. In Genesis 17 God told Abraham: “Walk before Me and be thou perfect”. Then God tests Abraham’s obedience, asking him to sacrifice Isaac, the son of the promise (Genesis 22). When Abraham obeyed the Lord unquestioningly, the Lord said: “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. (Genesis 22:18)
The Lord confirms this in Genesis 26: “Because that Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” This is a covenant of obedience.
Our generation will see the culmination of the Plan of Redemption, the fulfillment of the everlasting covenant. Our generation is about to be tested in a test as difficult as that which the Lord gave Abraham. We are going to see the covenant promise fulfilled. The condition, however, will be perfect obedience.
In 1 Chronicles 16, God was speaking to the nation of Israel. Today, He speaks to us, the last generation:
“13 O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones. 4 He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. 15 Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; 16 Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; 17 And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, 8 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance;” This is the lot in which Daniel shall stand at the end of time (Daniel 12:13).
The Lord said the same thing to Moses, in Exodus 19: ” 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
Now listen to this extraordinary declaration by the Lord, in Deuteronomy 29:
“9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do. … 12 That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day: 13 That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 4 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; 15 But with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day.”
Brothers and sisters, that covenant was established even with us, who were not there on that day! How stunningly beautiful, what a merciful God. His eyes saw down to the last generation.
Then the Lord evolved His covenant, to be even more pointedly a covenant of the heart. Let’s read in Jeremiah 31:
“31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
The new covenant was mediated by Jesus and established by “the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel”, according to Hebrews 12:24.
Eden Lost Becomes Eden Restored
Brothers and sisters, the Lord is working right now to bring His final work to a close. After nearly 6000 years of travail on this earth, the covenant promise is finally about to be fulfilled.
Satan knows it, and is working tirelessly to disannul God’s contract with mankind. In Daniel 11, we read about anti-christ, the King of the North, and how he works to undermine the holy covenant: “29 At the appointed time he (anti-christ) shall return and go toward the south; but it shall not be like the former or the latter. 30 For ships from Cyprus shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and return in rage against the holy covenant, and do damage. So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 And forces (armies) shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. 32 Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”
In this short passage, the covenant is referenced three times. The Lord is trying to tells us that the entire battle in Daniel 11 between the King of the North and the King of the South is over the holy covenant.
In Daniel 12:1, when Michael stands up, Jesus signals that His work in the Most Holy Place is done. He’s about to come back to earth to gather up His people. Who are His people? Those who have demonstrated perfect obedience to all of God’s commandments. There’s no way around it. The sealed/unsealed Book of Daniel that describes how it all ends, takes us back to the Book of Genesis where it all began. Then as now, now as then, God demands perfect obedience.
God is getting ready to destroy the world a second time. By reaffirming the holy covenant in this prophetic book, He wants us to know that His promises are sure. He will destroy the world and all the wicked, but He will keep the promise of eternal life to His people and bring us into our promised land, the New Jerusalem.
In Daniel 10, when Jesus stands on the Hiddekel River, now known as the Tigris River which was one of the four rivers in the Garden of Eden, He’s affirming His dominion over that land. The territory that Satan usurped shall be restored to God’s people. A rock cut without hands – Jesus the chief cornerstone – shall destroy the last kingdom on earth, the kingdom of anti-christ, as well as all other kingdoms. The scepter of power that was wrested from Adam will be restored to the throne of God. Eden lost will become Eden restored. This is how the Story of Redemption ends: “And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.” (Mark 13:27)
Brothers and sisters, I leave you with a solemn word of warning that we find in Psalms 74:20: “Have respect to the covenant; For the dark places of the earth are full of the haunts of cruelty.”
