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Daniel 8

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1 In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared unto me, [even] to me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.

2 And I saw in the vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was in the fortress of Shushan, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai.

3 And 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; and one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, and no beast could stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; and he did according to his will, and became great.

5 And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west over the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

6 And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran upon him in the fury of his power.

7 And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged with him, and smote the ram, and broke his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him; and he cast him down to the ground, and trampled upon him; and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

8 And the he-goat became exceeding great; but when he was become strong, the great horn was broken; and in its stead came up four notable ones toward the four winds of the heavens.

9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which became exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beauty [of the earth].

10 And it became great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down [some] of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled upon them.

11 (And he magnified [himself] even to the prince of the host, and from him the continual [sacrifice] was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

12 And a time of trial was appointed unto the continual [sacrifice] by reason of transgression.) And it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised and prospered.

13 And I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that one who spoke, How long shall be the vision of the continual [sacrifice] and of the transgression that maketh desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden down under foot?

14 And he said unto me, Until two thousand and three hundred evenings [and] mornings: then shall the sanctuary be vindicated.

15 And it came to pass, when I Daniel had seen the vision, I sought for the understanding of it, and behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.

16 And I heard a man's voice between [the banks of] the Ulai; and he called and said, Gabriel, make this [man] to understand the vision.

17 And he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was afraid, and fell on my face; and he said unto me, Understand, son of man; for the vision is for the time of the end.

18 Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep stupor, with my face toward the ground. And he touched me, and set me up where I had stood.

19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be at the end of the indignation: for at the set time the end shall be.

20 The ram that thou sawest having the two horns: they are the kings of Media and Persia.

21 And the rough goat is the king of Greece; and the great horn that was between his eyes is the first king.

22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up in its stead, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his power.

23 And at the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors shall have come to the full, a king of bold countenance, and understanding riddles, shall stand up.

24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy marvellously, and shall prosper, and shall practise, and shall destroy the mighty ones, and the people of the saints.

25 And through his cunning shall he cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he will magnify [himself] in his heart, and by prosperity will corrupt many; and he will stand up against the Prince of princes: but he shall be broken without hand.

26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which hath been told is true; but close thou up the vision, for it is for many days [to come].

27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick [certain] days: then I rose up, and did the king's business. And I was astonished at the vision, but none understood [it].

   

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Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) # 2

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2. PROPOSITION THE FIRST

I. THERE HAVE BEEN FOUR CHURCHES ON THIS EARTH SINCE THE TIME OF ITS CREATION: A FIRST, WHICH IS TO BE CALLED THE ADAMIC; A SECOND, THE NOACHIAN; A THIRD, THE ISRAELITISH; AND A FOURTH, THE CHRISTIAN. That four Churches have existed on this earth since the creation of the world, manifestly appears in Daniel; first, from the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, and, afterwards, from the four beasts rising up out of the sea. On the subject of Nebuchadnezzar's image we read as follows:

Daniel said, Thou, O King, sawest, and behold a great image. And the appearance thereof, standing over against thee, was excellent, and the aspect thereof was terrible. The head of this statue was of fine gold; its breast and arms, of silver; its belly and its thighs, of brass; its legs, of iron; its feet, partly of iron and partly of clay. Thou sawest until a stone was cut out, which was cut without hands, and smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and ground them to powder. Then were the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, ground to powder together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, so that the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them: but the stone which smote the image, became a great rock, and filled the whole earth. In these days shall the God of the heavens set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and His kingdom shall not be entrusted to another people: it shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, but it shall stand for ever (Dan. 2:31-35, 44).

That this dream did not signify four political kingdoms on this earth, but four Churches, which should follow one after another, is plain from the following considerations:

(1) That such kingdoms, one after another, have not existed on this earth.

(2) That the Divine Word, in its bosom, does not treat of the kingdoms of the world, but of Churches, which constitute God's kingdom on earth.

(3) Also, because it is said that the God of the heavens shall set up a kingdom which shall not be destroyed to the ages, and that a stone, cut out, not by hands, became a great rock, which filled the whole earth.

(4) And, inasmuch as the Lord our Saviour Jesus Christ, in the Word of both Testaments, is called the "Stone" and "Rock," it is manifest that His kingdom is meant by the last words in this passage.

(5) Moreover, the state of the Church is described, in innumerable passages of the Word, by gold, silver, brass, and iron; its spiritual state as to the good of love by gold, its spiritual state as to the truth of wisdom by silver, its natural state as to the good of charity by brass, and its natural state as to the truth of faith by iron (as may be seen confirmed from the Word in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED , n. 913[2], and elsewhere).

[2] For this reason, the wise in the first ages, who knew the significations of metals, compared the ages which were to follow one another from the first to the last, to those four metals, and called the first age "golden," the second age "silver," the third age "copper," and the fourth age "iron"; and they described them thus according to goods and truths; and, since genuine goods and truths are from no other origin than from the God of heaven, they described them according to the states of the Church with those who lived in those ages; for from these and according to these, all the civil states of kingdoms in respect to justice and judgment exist, thrive and live.

[3] That the Lord the Saviour Jesus Christ is called the "Stone" and "Rock" in the Word of both Testaments, is plain from the following passages. That He is called a "Stone" from these:

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Behold I will lay in Zion a Stone of approval, a precious corner[-stone] of settled foundation; he who hath believed will not make haste; then I will set judgment to the rule, and justice to the plummet (Isa. 28:16-17).

Jehovah will visit His flock; from Him will come forth the cornerstone (Zech. 10:3-4).

The Stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner (Psalm 118:22).

Have ye not read in the Scripture that the Stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner? (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10-11; Luke 20:17-18; Isa. 8:14-15).

Ye have come to the Lord, the living Stone, rejected indeed of men, but chosen of God; ye yourselves also, as living stones, are built up into a spiritual house; therefore, it is said in the Scripture, I lay in Zion a corner-stone, elect, precious, and he who believeth on Him shall not be ashamed (1 Peter 2:4, 5, 6).

Ye are built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, whose corner-stone is Jesus Christ, by whom the whole building, well cemented together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord; by whom ye are built together into a habitation of God in the spirit (Ephes. 2:20-21, 22).

Jesus Christ is the Stone, rejected by the builders, which is become the head of the corner; and there is no salvation in any other (Acts 4:11-12).

That the Lord is called a "Rock," is evident from these passages in the Word:

When Jeshurun waxed fat, he kicked, and he forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation (Deut. 32:15, 18).

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me (2 Sam. 23:3).

Let the words of my mouth be well-pleasing, O Jehovah, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14).

And they remembered that God was their Rock, and the High God their Redeemer (Psalm 78:35).

They all drank spiritual drink; for they drank of the spiritual Rock; the Rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4; Exod. 17:6).

From these passages, it is now plainly evident that by the Stone which smote the image, and became a great rock and filled the whole earth, and whose kingdom shall stand for ever, is meant our Lord Jesus Christ.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.