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Read: Daniel 8:1-14
Daniel’s remarkable
vision introduces a ram with two horns (v.2). This ram is identified
as the dual kingdom of Media-Persia (v.20). This ram is destroyed
by a he goat (v.7) that is later said to be Greece (v.21). The
he goat has “a notable horn between his eyes” (v.5). This horn
has to be Alexander the Great (see v.21). When “the great horn
was broken” (v.8 – Alexander died), in its place “came up four notable
ones toward the winds of heaven” (v.8). This was fulfilled when the
Greek empire was split up among four of Alexander’s generals
after Alexander’s death.
This all occurred
about 200 years after Daniel’s vision. Later, a “little horn” (v.9) “waxed
great”
(v.10) and “magnified himself” (v.11) so that “by him the daily sacrifice
was taken away” (v.11). This almost certainly refers to Antiochus Epiphanes who offered a swine in the Jewish temple about 350 years after
this prophecy was made.
Prophecies like this
prove scripture to be God-given. No other holy book for any major
religion stakes its claim to authority on its ability to foretell the
future. Only God’s word, the Holy Bible, takes this chance. Do
you believe that the words you read in scripture are the holy words
of a holy God? Do you read God’s word with reverence, awe and
anticipation? Do you regularly read the Book of books?