Dec 10th

“As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions of my head kept alarming me.

I came near to one of those who were standing by and began seeking out from him the exact meaning of all this. So he said it to me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:

‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.

But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.’

“Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, extraordinarily fearsome, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet,

and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth speaking great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates.

I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overcoming them

until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the season arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

“Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.

As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will make low three kings.

He will speak words against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make changes in seasons and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.

Then the reign, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’

“At this point the matter of this revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me, and the splendor of my face changed, but I kept the matter in my heart.”

In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one which appeared to me previously.

And I looked in the vision. And it happened that while I was looking, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal.

Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last.

I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before it, nor was there anyone to deliver from its power, but it did as it pleased and magnified itself.

And while I was considering, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between its eyes.

Then it came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and ran at it in his strong wrath.

And I saw it reach the side of the ram, and it was enraged at it; and it struck the ram and broke its two horns in pieces, and the ram had no strength to stand in opposition to it. So it threw it down to the ground and trampled on it, and there was none to deliver the ram from its power.

Then the male goat magnified itself exceedingly. But as soon as it was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.

And out of one of them came forth a rather small horn. And it grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land.

Then it grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down.

And it even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.

And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will throw truth down to the ground and do its will and succeed.

Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, “How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes desolation, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?”

He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be made righteous.”

Now it happened when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one who had the appearance of a man.

And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, “Gabriel, give this man an understanding of what has appeared.”

So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was terrified and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.”

Now while he was talking with me, I sank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me and made me stand upright.

Then he said, “Behold, I am going to let you know what will happen at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.

The ram which you saw with the two horns is the kings of Media and Persia.

Now the shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

And the broken horn and the four horns that stood in its place are four kingdoms which will take their stand from his nation, although not with his power.

Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I rose up again and did the king’s work; but I was appalled at what had appeared, and there was none to make me understand it.

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, from the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—

in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the number of the years concerning which the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

And I prayed to Yahweh my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

we have sinned and committed iniquity and acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and judgments.

Moreover, we have not listened to Your slaves the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.

“To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have banished them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.

O Yahweh, to us belongs open shame, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.

To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;

nor have we listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, to walk in His laws which He put before us through His slaves the prophets.

Indeed all Israel has trespassed against Your law, even turning aside, not listening to Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.

Thus He has established His words which He had spoken against us and against our judges who judged us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.

As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God by turning from our iniquity and acting wisely in Your truth.

Therefore Yahweh has watched over the calamity and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not listened to His voice.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world hears them.

We are from God. The one who knows God hears us; the one who is not from God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

We have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

By this, love has been perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as He is, so also are we in this world.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

We love, because He first loved us.

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.