The Longest Prophecy

Daniel the Prophet - Chapters 8 - 9. Daniel gets another vision in chapter 8. It is Belshazzar's third year of reign, that means the Babylonians are still in power. But in vision he is moved to Persia, to the castle of Susa, in the province of Elam. He sees a ram, and then a goat, and then a little horn. It is the same story as in chapters two and seven, but with more details.
Daniel tried to understand the vision. Suddenly a figure stood before him who looked like a man. Then he hears a voice from between banks of Ulai, calling: Gabriel! Explain the sight to him! He is told that the sight refers to the time of the end. The ram was a picture of the kings of Media and Persia, and that the goat represented the king of Greece. The angel confirms that the vision is about the same issues as in chapters two and seven. About the rise and fall of the world powers. Only that now he started in Media and Persia instead of with Babylon, and as we remember, the vision began with Daniel being taken into the castle of Susa in the province of Elam. There is another reason why, for the entire long period of time, the two thousand three hundred days also began under the Median and Persian rule as Gabriel explains in chapter nine.
The little horn was to grow exceedingly large. All the way up to the army of heaven, and cast down some of the army and of the stars to the earth, and trod them down.
It was Herod, Rome's man in the land of God, who tried to rise above Jesus when he tried to kill all the boys after Jesus was born. There was also a Roman governor, Pilate, who sentenced Jesus to be crucified. It was a Roman emperor, Nero, who sentenced Paul to death. Rome persecuted the God’s people through the Dark Ages, the Reformers, were trampled down. They also threw the truth to the ground. Jesus is referred to in the Bible as the truth. His words and His law are also truth. The little horn has replaced it with other things. We must be watchful so that we do not replace Jesus and His ministry with our perception.
Daniel is stunned by what he sees. He hears one of the holy speak. Another saint said unto him that spoke: How long time does the vision of the perpetual and the destructive apostasy last. In other words, it was a constant apostasy, and a devastating apostasy. The answer that is given is: Two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings, then the sanctuary shall return to its rightful place.
All this gets so challenging for Daniel that he becomes ill. He did not understand what he saw.
In chapter 9, Daniel examines the prophet Jeremiah. He notices the number of the years that the Lord had told the prophet Jeremiah. That he would let seventy years end while Jerusalem was in ruins. He longs to return to Jerusalem. This leads Daniel to pray to God. It is one of the most beautiful prayers in the Bible. He had experienced the apostasy in Jerusalem, the abduction to Babylon, the homesickness tearing at him. The 70 years had soon passed. He confesses his sin, that he himself was part of the apostasy. He also confesses the sin of the people. He thanks God for His mercy and forgiveness.
Then he calls for God to listen to his humble prayer. Let Your face shine over Your destroyed sanctuary God, for your own sake. Lord, My God, turn your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our ruins and the city mentioned by your name! It is not our own righteous deeds that we base our humble prayers upon, but your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive me! Lord, give heed and do it, do not delay, for your own sake, my God! For your city and your people are called by your name.
Immediately he was visited by the angel Gabriel, whom he already had met in chapter eight. The angel said to him, Daniel, now I have come to help you understand.
What was he to understand? It was about the vision in chapter eight, the two thousand three hundred days. Daniel did not understand. He got sick.
Now Gabriel explains in detail. He first considers a period of seventy weeks, which was cut from the two thousand three hundred days. Gabriel gives us the opportunity to find the starting point, when things should happen. You must know and understand. In other words, we can understand it if we examine the word of God. From the time a word goes out to rebuild Jerusalem, until an Anointed One, a Prince, appears, seven weeks and sixty-two weeks will pass.
The absolute word about rebuilding Jerusalem came in 457 BC. It was a Persian king, Artaxerxes, who gave the decree. Sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years later, we find the time when the anointed was to appear. The anointed one is Jesus. It was at his baptism in 27 AD that he was anointed and began his public ministry. Three and a half years later, in the middle of the seventieth week at Passover 31 AD, Jesus confirms the covenant. He, the Lamb of the true God, dies on the cross, thereby bringing the sacrifices to an end.
It is not often that we meet the angel Gabriel in the Bible, but Gabriel reappears in the Gospel of Luke. He had watched the time, he knew when Jesus would appear. He visits Mary, the mother to be of Jesus, and informs her that the time has come to give birth to Jesus. It was Jesus who came to take people out of apostasy, to seal up sins, to cover up iniquity, and to bring forth eternal righteousness. It was He who sealed the vision and the prophet, who ascended to heaven as our high priest and anointed a Most Holy One there, before beginning His ministry in the sanctuary of heaven.