I Dare You: Be Shocked! - Part A

God revealed the future to him in a vision, and what he saw absolutely shocked him to the core. So we're going to consider in Daniel chapter 8 what he saw, what it means, or what it meant, and what he felt.

The vision, the interpretation, and the reaction. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares a profound message about a prophecy God gave Daniel that shook him to his core and what it means to us today. Then, after the message, we'll join Skip and Lenya in the studio for their thoughts on Daniel's vision of the future. From a Jewish perspective, before Christianity even came on the scene, is that there is going to be a Messiah. He is going to have a kingdom. He is going to rule forever, and he is going to rule with his people. Okay, now fast forward to us.

We're those people. He's drawing out his church out of this world to himself, so no matter how bad it gets here, brother, sister, you have a kingdom awaiting you. The best is yet to come. Now, here's an offer that'll strengthen your marriage as you grow closer to your spouse and God. Great marriages are made, not born. God wants you to have a strong, thriving, and fun marriage. The Marriage Devotional 52 Days to Strengthen the Soul of Your Marriage by Levi and Jenny Lesko is designed to help your marriage not just survive, but thrive. You want to understand God's secret, the secret for fruit in your marriage, in your family, in your parenting. If you feel overwhelmed because your marriage is a long way from where you feel like it should be, or if you feel discouraged and excluded today because divorce is in your story, and here you see God's plan for flourishing, and you've disqualified yourself because of what's in your past, let me tell you something.

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That's connectwithskip.com slash offer. Now, we're in Daniel 8 today as we join Skip for his message. People aren't shocked anymore. Those are the words of a law enforcement officer, a federal law enforcement officer. After 30 years of law enforcement experience, he made that bold statement, people aren't shocked anymore. How we respond to what we see, what's around us, tells a lot about us. What causes you to cringe?

What moves you or motivates you or shocks you? When I was in junior high school, just finishing junior high school, there was a a book that was very popular called Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. And he coined a phrase that everybody knows these days, but he coined the phrase information overload. He also called it infobesity.

Isn't that a great term? Infobesity. Too much information. According to Toffler, too much information hinders our ability to make clear cogent decisions. That the input exceeds our capacity. Information overload.

Well, we have that these days in spades, don't we? Information overload. But there's something far worse than information overload and that is emotion overload. Exposure to pain and sorrow, all the visuals that we have today, we can see the suffering of humanity in one day. I mean, you can only see so many starving babies, so many wounded people, so many violent games, where after a while the emotional response that should be there, it's like, eh. Information overload, emotion overload.

Many studies have been done. One brain study studying teenagers who are exposed to violent streaming videos over time, they lose their capability to have an appropriate emotion. Now we're dealing with the book of Daniel. Daniel, he had no television. He couldn't go down to the Babylonian theater and watch the latest movie. He didn't have the internet. He didn't have Instagram, at Daniel the prophet, didn't have that.

Didn't have Twitter, didn't have any of that stuff. But what he had was real life. And in the midst of his real life, a vision from God. God revealed the future to him in a vision. And what he saw absolutely shocked him to the core. So we're going to consider in Daniel, chapter 8, what he saw, what it means or what it meant, and what he felt.

The vision the interpretation and the reaction. Now I want to refresh your memory so we don't lose you here in the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel has been about primarily four kingdoms that were from Daniel's time up until the coming of Jesus Christ in the future.

Four world-governing empires. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, and then the reconstituted Roman empire at the end of days. So in chapter 2 Nebuchadnezzar saw this vision that you see now on your screen.

This is the polymetallic image. The head of gold, chest and arms of silver, stomach and thighs of bronze, brass, legs of iron, feet of iron, and clay. That's what Nebuchadnezzar saw and that represented those empires. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. In chapter 7 Daniel saw the same revelation but with different motif.

He didn't see a polymetallic image. He saw four ravenous beasts come up out of the sea. A winged lion, a lopsided bear with three ribs in its mouth, a leopard with four wings, and a script terrible horrible beast that was worse than all the others.

That's what Daniel saw but it's the same truth. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Now we get to chapter 8. Chapter 8 takes the two middle kingdoms, Medo-Persia and Greece, and highlights them. And what Daniel sees is different motif all together about those two coming empires.

One is of a ram and one is of a goat with a notable horn that takes over the ram. Here's the question, why? Why is God giving to Daniel this revelation about these two kingdoms? Primarily because there is coming out of the Grecian empire a couple of rulers especially the second ruler who's going to be so bad in the way he treats the Jewish people and desecrates the temple and defies God that he's going to be a lot like the one coming in the very end of days that we've already discussed the antichrist.

He's a prototype of the antichrist. Now let's just push the pause button for a second. I want to give to you tools. Three things to put in your toolbox whenever you study prophecy remember these things. Number one, verb tense. Don't worry this is not going to be an English lesson. Those days for you are over. But verb tense is important.

Here's what I mean. Sometimes God uses the past tense to describe a future event. Classic example is Isaiah 53 which talks about the coming of the Messiah and his suffering. He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquity.

The chastisement for our peace was upon him. That's all past tense but it hadn't happened yet when he wrote it. You go, why does God do that?

Because God is so sure it's going to happen that to him it's done. Verb tense. Number two, perspective. Remember perspective whenever we study prophecy. The perspective of the prophets is what we called a couple of weeks ago if you remember in our Isaiah 61 study something called prophetic foreshortening. That is the prophets talked about coming events but they couldn't delineate between the sequence of the events nor the time that elapsed between those events. In the illustration we gave you it's like looking at a mountain range from a distance it all looks like one solid unit.

The closer you get to it however you see there are various peaks with valleys in between. So remember verb tense when you study prophecy. Remember perspective and a third is types. Types. There are types in the Bible. That is one event or one person becomes a type or a shadow or a picture or a model of something that will be like it but in in a different greater way later on. Classic example the Passover where they took a lamb and put the blood on the lintels and the doorpost of the house would become a type of what would happen years later when God's lamb Jesus Christ was slain on Calvary's cross. And here we have a type actually we have all of these three incorporated in this study on prophecy.

We have a Grecian king who will come and be a prototype of the Antichrist. When Daniel understands and sees this he is shocked. Now un-push the pause button and let's look at the scripture the vision the interpretation and the reaction. This is what he saw verse 8. Let's just jump right in there. Therefore I know it's bad to jump right in the middle but I'm supposing you were here in our last study. Therefore the male goat grew very great but when he became strong the large horn was broken and in its place four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven 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 some translations say the glorious land of Israel that's what he's talking about 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 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 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 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 under foot and he said to me for 2 300 days then the sanctuary shall be cleansed boy one thing's for sure there are more horns in the book of Daniel than in an orchestra pit right but we know what it means we means it means authority and strength it typically refers to a king that is coming so here's the vision so here's the vision Daniel sees he sees a ram come strong and he conquers the known world the medo-persian empire but then he sees coming from the west this goat I call the last time turbo goat he moves so swiftly from west to the east his feet didn't even touch the ground and with the notable horn which we see is the first king of the grecian empire as told in this vision he defeats the ram but the horn the king is broken and in its place as we read four horns come in its place one has a little horn that grows up from it now this little horn in chapter 8 is a type of the little horn that will come in the end of time already discussed in chapter 7 the antichrist one is a type of the other when I was a kid my dad used to be a home builder and a real estate guy and when he had a good idea whenever he would build homes he would build a model home and I mean a little model home about that big and it had a roof that you could like retract you just like lift off and he'd love to we'd love to like go in his study and take the roof off and and he did that so that he could lift the roof off and let prospective buyers see how that home in three dimensions works and the layout of it and how one room communicates with another room chapter 8 is the model historically to the prophetic house of the antichrist that is coming in the future and the the primary reason there are several but the primary reason god is giving this information through daniel to the jewish people in particular is so that they will not be deceived when false prophets come their way in the future and by the way jewish history is littered with false messiahs but especially so that they won't be deceived at the very end of days by the antichrist this last year i was on a tour of the holy land with some of you and we we took a trip in the journeys of paul to the port city of ephysis where paul spent several years and i was with my tour guide from israel and he said Skip i want to take you to my favorite store in this port city kusadasi which is part of ephysis and i said okay david what is that he goes it's a shop where they sell fake watches and i mean you can't tell the difference between the real ones these famous ones and these fake ones so i thought well i don't know if that's cool or not i mean it's sort of like a bad industry but but sure enough we're walking down the street and we see a huge sign in the middle of broad daylight that says fake watches sold here so i go inside and i'm looking at these watches and i happen to be with a guy who has a real one of these watches i'm looking at he couldn't tell the difference it was an exact replica front and back movement and all but you know how you could tell if it was fake you look inside give that to a jeweler and he'll go this is a fake watch she would never know it by looking at it jesus said beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves and he said many are going to come and so to prohibit that and to help them spot the ultimate fake watch that is coming at the end of days this chapter is given now before we read any further into the interpretation of this there's a principle i want you to be aware of here that's just sort of highlighted by this chapter here's the principle god likes to reveal stuff i'm not getting any oohs and aahs out of it because you're thinking that's not all that profound god likes to reveal stuff but follow me here god reveals himself he reveals truth to humanity he wants us to have information he does it in two ways he does it in creation we call that general revelation the heavens declare the glory of god the firmament shows his handiwork the second is called creation special revelation the same psalm says the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul so in the world and by the word those two places god reveals himself to humanity he reveals the truth you say okay i know that so what here's the so what no one can plead ignorance any longer even the world even an unbeliever god says in romans chapter one god has revealed himself in creation so that they are without what excuse they have no excuse god has given enough information just in the world he created for people to wake up look around smell the flowers and go something someone must have made this they're without excuse god reveals himself in the world and by the word take it a step further we live in a day and age where anybody who's interested at all in spiritual truth can find it virtually every biblical resource you can get for free just about on the internet any historical data any information any bible commentary so the problem is not lack of information if people are unaware one of three things is going on number one laziness number two indifference whatever number three they just flat don't want to hear it now what i've always been concerned with is this incredible spiritual illiteracy among christians listen to this only 19 percent of protestants know that salvation comes through faith alone not by works that's shocking 45 percent of protestants 45 percent can't name the four gospels matthew mark luke and john the people of my generation still think it's john paul george and ringo a different fab four only 55 of protestants know that the golden rule is not one of the 10 commandments a married couple came in to see an episcopal episcopal pastor true story they had a teenage son and they had a list of questions their son wanted answered so they made an appointment with a with the pastor first question on the list that their son wanted to know here's the question what's that guy doing hanging up there on that plus sign and these are church people these are church people god wants to reveal himself the question is how eager are we to get the revelation i'll ask a fundamental question boil it down to its irreducible minimum do you expose yourself to what god reveals as much as you expose yourself to what the world dishes out that's the question god's all about revealing himself are we eager to receive it so that's the vision god reveals let's look at what it means the interpretation verse 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 and i heard a man's voice between the banks of the yuli that's the river in the vision who called and said gabriel make this man understand the vision so how cool is this the angel gabriel comes and gives him the meaning of it so he came near where i stood and when he came i was afraid and fell on my face ouch but he said to me understand son of man that the vision refers to the time of the end 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 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 the ram which you saw having two horns they are the kings of media and persia and the male goat is the kingdom of greece the large horn that is between its eyes is the first king that's alexander the great that's Skip heideck with a message from the series i dare you find the full message as well as books booklets and full teaching series at connect with Skip dot com now let's go in the studio with Skip and lenya as they discuss daniel's vision of the future and what it means to us today Skip the visions that god gave daniel were astounding to him but as you shared today they hold meaning for us now what are some of the things about these prophecies that give you the most hope um for the future of christianity well um i love daniel because he's called or it's called the book of daniel the backbone of bible prophecy you know he had visions of beasts that's and uh one devouring another and one overtaking another and he was seeing a succession of empires like nebu kenezer whose dreams he interpreted before him but then he had this incredible revelation by god's angel of the future which included the coming of the son of man the coming of the prince of peace one and the same but um you know what you see from a jewish perspective before christianity even came on the scene is that there is going to be a messiah he is going to have a kingdom he is going to rule forever and he is going to rule with his people okay now fast forward us we're those people yeah he's drawing out his church out of this world to himself so no matter how bad it gets here brother sister you have a kingdom awaiting the best is yet to come for sure amen you know one of the other things i love that you talk about daniel his two visions from god's perspective the political the politics the nations of man are beasts yeah and you know sometimes you do look at politics and countries and wars and rumors of wars and god sees it as very beastly very base if you will it's a good description of politics isn't it i mean it is um it is different than man sees it nebu kenezer saw shiny gold silver bronze he saw a polymetallic image god saw a poly voracious image you know in these beasts and we have to keep in mind that um that's the spiritual battle behind it all yeah that's right there is a in the political realm there's a spiritual battle going on it's more than just democrat republican or moderate or whatever it's there's spiritual values and kind of get beyond the veil and see that that's good thanks Skip and lenya we hope you've enjoyed getting to know Skip and lenya a little better through this conversation you can join them in connecting others with the life-changing gospel with a gift today to keep these bible teachings going strong on the radio on television and online just call 800-922-1888 that's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate that's connectwithskip.com slash donate thank you join us again tomorrow for more from Skip hitek and be challenged to have a heart for reaching the lost who will one day face eternity make a connection connect with Skip hitek is a presentation of connection communications connecting you to god's never changing truth in ever-changing times