What is it that Daniel is illustrating? Well, the premise of this vision is it's about what happens to God's people in the latter days. Daniel is illustrating God's people in the latter days. The ancient prophets spoke more for our time than the days in which they lived. Daniel is representing God's people at the end of the world. And by the context of the verses, there is information about God's people conveyed. If you go back to verse 6, this heavenly being raises the question, how long shall it be to the end of these wonders? Why is he asking that question? He's asking that question certainly so that Christ on the water can give the answer, but not simply that. He's asking the question because the Lord wants the person that is reading this passage of Daniel to understand that there is a question mark in this illustration. In verse 8, when Daniel speaks, he reemphasizes the question mark because in verse 8, Daniel says, Oh my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? Verse 6, the angel asks, how long shall it be to the end of these wonders? Then Daniel asks the same question in a different sort of way, what shall be the end of these things? The angel of these wonders, Daniel of these things. In between these two questions, we see Christ identifying the 1260 year time period that the papacy ruled the world and emphasizing it because brothers and sisters, if you look closely at the word scatter and gather in Bible prophecy, you'll find that during the 1260 years of the dark ages, that God's people, that his true people.... .... ...is definitely the 1260 years of the dark ages. And he emphasizes in verse 7 that that's when these things will be finished. And Daniel here asks the same question of the angel, raising the question of how do we understand this. What we should understand here, brothers and sisters, is that Daniel is portraying God's people at the end of the world... ...who do not understand the end of these things or the end of these wonders. And then verse 9 says this, and he said, ... Now what's the time of the end? It's the end of time prophecies. And his words are sealed up through the providence of history until these time prophecies come into history. Brothers and sisters, what's being sealed up is the end of time.