August 16: SEAL UP THE VISION
And the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true; Therefore seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future. Daniel 8:26
The angel Gabriel had been called to help Daniel understand what he was being shown. It built upon the vision given to him two years earlier, described in the previous chapter. The evenings and mornings in today’s verse refer to the days mentioned in verse 14: the two thousand three hundred days. Daniel was to know that the time allowed for the fourth beast to roam the earth unhindered had a limit.
Daniel was quite stunned. It is noteworthy that the Hebrew wording of the question of v. 13, voiced by the angel, is tersely spoken. Angels were looking on as Daniel’s vision played out before his eyes. Know that angels bear tremendous interest in the lives of humans, for they are God’s ministering agents in the unseen world. A literal rendering of the angel’s question: How long the continual interference in the daily, this desolating transgression that tramples the sanctuary and the host [of believers]? The answer, given in days, is a prophetic reference to years.
Daniel’s book contains an internal timeline. In order to place its symbolism correctly, we must allow the Scripture to explain itself. The framework for this timeline is laid out in stages, sort of like the construction of a house. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, also given to Daniel after he and his friends prayed (2:19), outlines the foundation of the “house”. This timeline begins in Babylon, where Daniel lives as a captive servant to King Nebuchadnezzar, and continues to the end of our fallen world, marked by the return of Jesus to gather His saints. The details provided in chapter 2 are minimal, yet render a definitive outline of the kingdoms that directly impact the people of God – all the way until the end.
In chapter 7 we are given the studs and walls of the “house”. We enter the “lion room” of Babylonian dominance (v.4); next is the “bear room” where the Medes and Persians conquer Babylon and add Egypt and Lydia to the territory of their empire (v.5); then comes the “leopard room” of Alexander the Great’s military conquests, including the continuation of divided Greece (v.6).
Finally, we enter the room of the dragon-like beast. It is Rome, the fourth beast (v.7-8), and comprises the rest of the “house”. Daniel saw that, as this beast continued to carry on, a heavenly judgement scene began (v.9). The rest of chapter 7 makes it clear that the fourth beast continues to operate, even as the process of judgement continues in the heavenly court. It is this judgment scene that commences at the end of the two thousand three hundred days mentioned in 8:14.
More details are forthcoming in chapter 9. But let us consider that, as Daniel faithfully records all that the Holy Spirit is leading him to write, he is instructed to seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future. This unusual instruction piques one’s interest regarding when it is opened, or unsealed, for God’s people to better understand. Revelation 10 points to a time when that happens.
And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days; afterward I arose and went about the king’s business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it. Daniel 8:27
Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me [John] again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.” Revelation 10:8