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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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True Christian Religion # 761

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761. The final period of the Christian church is absolute night, in which the previous churches ended, as can be established from the Lord's prediction about it in the Gospels and in Daniel. A passage from the Gospels states that they would see the abomination of desolation, and there would be great affliction such as had not been since the beginning of the world up to now, and would not be in the future; and that unless those days were shortened, no flesh could be saved; and finally the sun would be darkened, the moon would not give its light, and the stars would fall from the sky (Matthew 24:15, 21-22, 29). This period is also called night elsewhere in the Gospels, as in Luke:

On that night there will be two in one bed; one will be received, the other left behind, Luke 17:34.

And in John:

I must do the work of Him that sent me. The night will come, when no one will be able to work, John 9:4.

[2] Since all light departs in the middle of the night, and the Lord is the true light (John 1:4ff; John 8:12; 12:35-36, 46), He said to the disciples when He went up into heaven:

I am with you until the ending of the age, Matthew 28:20.

Then He leaves them for the new church. There is further proof in Daniel for this final period of the church being absolute night, in which the previous churches ended, in this passage:

Finally upon the bird of abominations desolation, to the point of ending and cutting off; it shall be poured drop by drop upon devastation, Daniel 9:27.

It is clear from the Lord's words in Matthew 24:15 that this is a prediction of the end of the Christian church. It is also clear from this passage of Daniel about the fourth kingdom, that is, the fourth church, represented by the statue Nebuchadnezzar saw:

As you saw iron mixed with common clay, so will people intermingle by means of human seed; but they will not hold together, one with another, just as iron does not with clay, Daniel 2:43.

Human seed there is the truth of the Word.

[3] It is also clear from this passage about the fourth church represented by the fourth beast coming up out of the sea:

I saw in visions of the night, and there was the fourth beast, dreadful and frightening; it will devour the whole earth and trample it and crush it, Daniel 7:7, 23.

This means that it would put an end to all the truth of the church. Then it would be night, because the truth of the church is light. There are many similar predictions about this church in Revelation, especially chapter 16, where it speaks of the bowls of God's wrath being poured out upon the earth. These mean the falsities which will then swamp and destroy the church. There are many similar passages in the Prophets, as for example:

Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, thick darkness and no brilliance? Amos 5:18, 20; Zephaniah 1:15.

Also:

On that day Jehovah will look down on the earth, and behold, darkness, and the light will become dim in its ruins, Isaiah 5:30; 8:22.

The day of Jehovah is that of the Lord's coming.

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

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Genesis 37:11

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11 And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying.