The Ram and the Goat - Daniel - Part 8

You know, this is a tough time for conquerors.

It's not a very popular time these days to be a conqueror. I was reading in Time magazine that many of you may not realize, but next year is the 500th year anniversary of Columbus discovering America. You know, in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, so that's 500 years ago.

And you would think that the event would be a gala celebration, but it really is not turning out that way. And the reason is, Columbus is not looked upon these days as having been a very popular or a very politically correct character. Indian rights groups, along with even the National Council of Churches, if you can believe this, have denounced all celebration of Columbus discovering America. They accused Columbus of being a rapist, a plunderer, a slave trader, a murderer, and a genocidal maniac who wiped out the Indian cultures of the United States. And they decry his discovery of America as the worst single event, I'm quoting now, to ever take place in the Western hemisphere.

Can you believe this? I know, if it wasn't so ridiculous, it's almost funny. His conquistador mentality is considered to be barbaric and repugnant, and as Professor Jack Weatherford of Macalester College said, and I quote, he, Columbus, represents the worst of his era, end of quote. In this world where everything has to be PC, politically correct, it's just not a good time to be a conqueror.

That's all there is to it. Now, as we look back through history, however, we find a great many conquerors. We find Napoleon, we find the great Arabic conqueror, conqueror Saladin, we find the great Ottoman Turks, Suleiman the Magnificent, who conquered most of what we think of today as the Middle East.

We celebrate in English history William the Conqueror. Y'all are looking at me like y'all didn't take history. Don't they teach history anymore by sitting there going, who are all these people? I say, I went to school when they make you take history, so I know who these people are.

I hope you do. Then there was Julius Caesar, and we've talked some about Nebuchadnezzar, and look, frankly, even King David of Israel has to be called a conqueror. That's what he did. And our chapter in Daniel this evening brings us face to face with another one of the greatest conquerors in all of the history of mankind, a man named Alexander the Great, and also takes us on to a man who's yet to come who will be a great conqueror, the Antichrist himself. And so in Daniel chapter 8, we have a marvelous piece of both history and of prophecy, a piece of prophecy that predicted world events that were yet future when Daniel predicted them, that we look back on now and call history, and also a prophecy that predicts things that are still future for us.

But one day we'll look back on it and call it history, and it'll happen just the way God said. And so we want to look at Daniel chapter 8, without a doubt one of the most significant prophecies in all of the Word of God regarding the end time. So let's begin in verse 1.

Now let me give you just a tiny bit of background. In chapter 7, if you remember, we begin the second major section of the book of Daniel. Chapters 1 to 6 of the book of Daniel is essentially historical.

We have the story of Daniel in the lion's den and the three boys in the fiery furnace and Daniel being taken to Babylon in the fall of the city under Belshazzar, basically historical events. In the second half of the book, beginning with chapter 7, the book becomes primarily prophetic, primarily prophecy. And chapter 7 was the first of those chapters, and it gives us a political picture of the world at the end of the age when the Antichrist arises. And what we saw is that in the end of this age there will be four kingdoms that will exist that will all be Middle Eastern kingdoms. The Antichrist, who's called in chapter 7 the Little Horn, will arise from the fourth of these kingdoms, I believe based on chapter 2, a kingdom that will be based in Babylon. He will dominate the world for a time, and then he will be personally destroyed by Jesus Christ at his return.

And from chapter 7 we got some lessons. Number 1, we said keep your eyes on the Middle East because it is going to be the focal point of the end of the age. Number 2, we said the Western powers, the United States, Britain, France, and the Far Eastern powers, China, Japan, do not seem to fit into this prophecy, and therefore I'm predicting based upon the Word of God are going to fade in importance as the end of the age begins to happen. Now I know after we just went over there and crushed Iraq that it sounds hard to believe that this could happen, but who would believe what could happen in Eastern Europe was happening? Who could believe that what's happening in Russia is happening? There are many ways that I can see for the United States, which is essentially broke. I mean we're essentially broke. There are many ways in which our fortunes could be reversed very quickly due to some kind of financial reversal in our world.

I don't think it's at all possible that most of the industrialized nations could fade from being world powers because of economic forces and the only people in the world who have money, the Middle East, could become the center of the world politically and economically. Third, we saw, and finally, that Islam will likely be the religious system of the Antichrist and his kingdom because he's coming out of Babylon, he's arising from the Middle East where Islam is the dominant religion, and it's very likely that Islam will be the religious system that he presses all over the world to get people to ascribe to. Now that's chapter 7, and the little horn of chapter 7, the Antichrist, shows up in chapter 8.

Let's look. Verse 1. In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, I, Daniel, had a vision after the one that had already appeared to me, chapter 7. In my vision, I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam, and in the vision I was beside the Ulay Canal. As the vision opens up, Daniel is carried away to the city of Susa.

Now, Susa at the time of Daniel, roughly 551 B.C., is when this prophecy comes, the third year of King Belshazzar. Susa is just a sleepy little old village about 150 miles north of the head of the Persian Gulf. Susa, however, would later go on to become one of the main residences of the kings of Persia and would become the summer capital of the Persian Empire. At Susa is where Esther went in before the king of Persia and saved her people. At Susa is where Nehemiah was serving the king of Persia when he went to him and asked for permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls of the city because this was the summer capital of the entire Persian Empire. But the Persian Empire has not yet arisen or consolidated, and at this time the city is just a sleepy little old village. And in this vision, Daniel is carried away to Susa, and there he sees his vision, but it makes sense that he would have gone there because the beginning of the vision is all about the beginning of the Persian Empire.

So what better place to go than Susa? Now, what does he see here? Verse 3. I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other, and I watched the ram as he charged towards the west, and he charged towards the north, and he charged towards the south.

No animal could stand against him, and none could rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and became great. The ram was the national emblem of the Persian Empire. The guardian animal of the Persian king was the ram.

As a matter of fact, the Persian king, when he stood at the head of his army and led them into battle, did not wear a crown like most kings wore. He actually wore the head of a ram. In fact, if you go back and you look, you'll find that ancient Persian coins all bear ram's heads on one side. So it was very appropriate that he should see as representative of the Persian Empire a ram coming up in Susa. And the ram in Daniel's vision stands for the Medo-Persian Empire, which we know from history was an amalgamation of two people, the Medes and the Persians.

And yet in the ram, there was one horn that was much bigger than the other horn, because we also know from history that the Persians far outnumbered and far outweighed the Medes in terms of relative strength in this alliance. So the ram and what Daniel sees historically is very, very accurate. Now, this identification as Persia is confirmed by verse 20. If you skip down to verse 20, we read this. It says the two-horned ram that you saw, this is the angel interpreting for him now, is the king of Media and Persia, represents the kings of Media and Persia.

So we know that's a confirmed identification of what this ram is. And verse 4 of Daniel tells us that this empire would expand enormously to the north, to the south and to the east, that its power would seem to be unstoppable. And this happened exactly the way God predicted. The Persian Empire conquered Babylon in 536 B.C. And from there Persia proceeded to conquer as far south as Egypt, as far north as Afghanistan and southern Russia, and as far west as Greece itself.

But the Persian Empire never expanded to the east, which is exactly what God says. Verse 5, suddenly a new animal appears on the scene. As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with one prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. He came towards the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and he charged at him in great rage. I saw him attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns.

The ram was powerless to stand against him. The goat knocked him to the ground and trampled him and nobody could rescue the ram from his power. And the goat became very great.

But at the height of his power, his horn, the large horn in between his eyes, was broken off. And in its place four prominent horns grew up towards the four winds of heaven. Here a goat arises. Notice the goat arises in the west of the Persian Empire. And this goat is unusual in that most goats have two horns. This goat didn't have two horns. He had one horn right in the middle of his head, the Bible says. And the goat comes from the west, crosses the earth, verse 5 says, so swiftly that his feet don't even touch the ground.

That's how swiftly he moved. And verse 6 and 7 tell us that he butts against the ram, butts against the ram, butts against the ram. The ram could not withstand him, could not stop him until he finally knocks the ram to the ground and tramples him. And the goat went on, verse 8 says, to become very great. But at the height of his power, the king dies. The big horn in the middle of his head dies.

And in its place four smaller horns or kings take over. And it says that their empires are towards the four compass points, towards the four directions, north, east, south, and west of the compass. Now who is this king and who in the world are we talking about? Look at verse 21. Verse 21 says, the shaggy goat that you saw is the king of Greece. And the large horn between his eyes is his first king. And the four horns that replace that one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation.

But none of them will have the same power as he had. Verse 21 tells us that this kingdom, represented by the goat, is Greece. And we also know that the goat was the national emblem of Greece in Daniel's time.

However, Greece was just nothing more than a little collection of feuding city-states. You know, we had Athens and there was Sparta and there was a few of those other things. Who but God could possibly look ahead and see that one day they would coalesce and they would become an alliance and they would exercise the kind of power that they did.

Now although the Bible doesn't name him as such, we know from history what the name of that one horn in the middle of that goat's head was. His name was Alexander the Great, the first king of that empire. And the prophecy of Daniel 8 fits perfectly with the events of history that we know relate to Alexander and to the rise of his empire. Greece was on the west.

Would you notice it says that this animal comes from the west. And under Alexander the Great, the Greek empire attacked the Persian empire. And in less than three years, the Greek empire, under Alexander the Great, had completely demolished the Persian empire and captured the entire Persian empire. Now listen, that is a more amazing feat than most of us sitting here realize. Do you understand the Persian empire was the greatest and the most massive empire that had ever existed in the history of the world up to its time?

Why the Persian empire controlled from all the way to what is India today all the way through southern Russia, Asia Minor, all of Syria, all of Israel down into Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, Babylon, enormous empire. And in three years, on foot, no atom bombs, no scuds, no warplanes. On foot, in three years, Alexander the Great succeeded in totally capturing the entire Persian empire.

And that's why the Bible says that the goat moved so fast his feet didn't even touch the ground. That's how swiftly Alexander the Great defeated the Persian empire. And after he had done all of this, many of you know the story, he wanted to go on to India and then to China. But his army, who had been gone and fighting for more than three years and had not seen home, refused. They rebelled.

They would not go any farther. And so he turned to drinking and he turned to carousing. He lived in Babylon. And as a young man in his early 30s, in the year 323 BC, Alexander the Great died of dissipation and alcoholism in the city of Babylon.

Now, that's exactly what the Bible says, isn't it? Then what happened to his empire? History tells us what happened. After he died, Alexander's four chief generals got together and they divided his empire, each of them taking roughly a fourth of the empire and splitting it as per the points on the compass. And Cassander, who was one of his generals, got the west. He took over Macedonia and Greece. Lysimachus ruled the north, that is, Asia Minor and the Black Sea. Lucius ruled the east, which was Syria and Babylon and Persia. And Ptolemy, his fourth general, took the south, which was Egypt. And they split his empire in the four directions of the compass. But isn't that exactly what Daniel chapter 8 says is going to happen? Four generals, four kings will arise after him and they will divide his empire, but none of them will be as great as he was.

That's true. The amazing accuracy of this prophecy. You say, well, Lon, when was this prophecy written again? 550 B.C. When did Alexander die?

323 B.C. You say, that's over 200 years. I know.

I know. Can you understand why critics of the Bible worked so hard to discredit the book of Daniel? Can you understand why critics of the Bible worked so hard to date the book of Daniel 165 B.C.

instead of 550 B.C.? Because, friends, if Daniel was written in 165 B.C., then Daniel or someone who claimed to be Daniel was merely looking back and taking history and rewriting it and pretending like it was prophecy. Well, that doesn't give someone who's a critic of the Bible any problem. They just say, well, the men who wrote the Bible weren't completely intellectually moral or honest and so they took what was history and they wrote it as prophecy. But, but, if this was really written in 550 B.C., how in the world could Daniel have known what was going to happen 200 years later?

The answer is he couldn't have unless there really is a living God who told him. Well, now, if you don't want to believe in a living God, you've got a real problem with Daniel chapter 8. If you don't want to come to grips with a living God who says that man is a sinner before a holy God that runs the universe and needs a savior and you're not interested in that, you'd rather run your life yourself, Daniel chapter 8 is a real problem for you.

And do you understand what the fight's about now? Do you understand why people worked so hard to re-date this book? It is positively inconceivable that Daniel could have guessed at this, that he could have just made a lucky guess. Either God really lives and told this to Daniel or the books of forgery and a fake. Well, I'm convinced God really exists and told this to Daniel because God knew about Alexander the Great and he knew about the Persian Empire and he knew about Cassander and Lysimachus and Seleucus and Ptolemy.

He knew about all these people and he revealed it to Daniel. Now, there's an interesting point I'd like to share with you that we get from the historian Josephus. Josephus was a Jew who wrote The History of the Jewish People and he tells an incident that records what happened when Alexander the Great showed up in Jerusalem in the year 332 BC. In 332 BC, Alexander was on his way to conquering the Persian Empire. He had already beaten the Persians in Asia Minor.

He had already taken back Egypt. He was marching through the promised land, through by Jerusalem and he was on his way to the final battle where he would defeat Darius and take over the Persian Empire. And when he got to Jerusalem, which don't forget was part of the Persian Empire, he was going to sack the city and burn it like he'd done every other city he took. Well, when he was camped outside of the city, Josephus tells us that the high priest got an idea and that the high priest took the book of Daniel and with a white flag went out to meet Alexander the Great. And with the book of Daniel, he sat down and showed Alexander the Great that he was in the book of Daniel and God had prophesied that he was going to be the man to take over the Persian Empire and defeat it. And Alexander the Great, in response, was so impressed that he spared the city of Jerusalem and gave the Jews in the city the right to continue to practice their religion unhindered and something that would be very important to a Jew, they didn't even have to pay taxes for seven years.

You say, that's really in there? Listen, and I'm quoting from Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, Section 5. And when the book of Daniel was shown to Alexander, wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks would destroy the empire of the Persians, Alexander assumed that he was the person intended and he was glad. He dismissed the crowd of Jews that were there for the present and the next day he called them back together and asked what favors they desired of him, whereupon the high priest asked that they might be allowed to enjoy the law of their forefathers without hindrance and that they might have to pay no taxes for seven years. Alexander granted them all that they desired and when they also asked him that he would permit the Jews in Babylon and Media to also enjoy the laws of their God unhindered, Alexander willingly promised to do whatever they desired, end of quote.

Amazing. You see, we have ancient tradition from outside of the Bible that supports the Bible's claim that this is genuine prophecy we are reading, not history. How in the world could the high priest in 332 have the book if it wasn't written till 165?

Something's not right. I believe the book was there and this is prophecy. Now up to this point the prophecy is fairly easy to follow, but suddenly it takes a sharp turn. Look at verse 9.

Verse 9 says, Out of one of them, out of one of them what? Well, out of one of them horns that grew up in the place of Alexander. Remember we just said four little horns came up to replace him. Out of one of them horns came another horn. It started little. Aha. Remember the little horn in Daniel 7?

Here he is again. It started little, but it grew in power to the south and to the east and towards the beautiful land. What land would that be? Israel.

Sure. And it grew until it reached the host of heavens. And it even threw some of the starry hosts down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the prince of the heavens. And it took away the daily sacrifice from him and the place of his sanctuary, meaning the prince of the heavens sanctuary, was brought low. Because of rebellion, the host of the saints and the daily sacrifice were given over to this little horn.

He prospered in everything he did and truth was thrown to the ground. And I heard a holy one speaking and another holy one said to him, How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled, the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host and their being trampled underfoot? And the other angel said to me, It will take twenty three hundred evenings and mornings and then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated. What do we have here? Well, we have another horn that appears. The Bible says it's a little horn, just like in Chapter seven.

It grew quite large and quite powerful. Well, when does all this happen? Look at verse seventeen. Verse seventeen says that the angel came near me and he said to me, Son of man, understand that this vision concerns the time of the end. And if you look down at verse nineteen, it says, I'm going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because this vision concerns the time of the end. Suddenly in this prophecy, we have jumped. We have leapfrogged from Alexander the Great, thousands of years down the corridors of time to the end of the age. That's what this prophecy has to do with.

And what we find out is that this little horn, who has to be the Antichrist himself, comes up. And would you notice he comes up out of one of the four kings' territory that arose and split up Alexander the Great's empire. You see that? That's clear.

Absolutely clear. As you look at verse nine. Now, is this the Antichrist? It has to be, although the Bible doesn't actually call him the Antichrist here.

Think of what he does. Verse nine, he expands his kingdom and takes over Israel, the beautiful land. Verse ten, he expands to the point of heaven itself. Verse eleven, he sets himself up as God himself, the prince of the heavens, he opposes. Verse eleven, he cuts off the sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem.

He desecrates the temple. Verse twelve, he exercises power over the saints, over the people of God. Verse twelve, he throws truth to the ground using lying and deception. The New Testament says that he will deceive all of those who live on the face of the earth by means of his lying and deception, the Antichrist. Verse twenty-three reiterates all of this.

Let me read it for you. Verse twenty-three says, in the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue will arise. Verse twenty-four, he will become very strong, but not by his own power. The Bible tells us in the New Testament that the Antichrist is energized by Satan himself, and it is Satan himself who gives him the power to become great.

Daniel says he'll become great, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation, verse twenty-four, and he will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy mighty men, he will destroy the holy people.

Verse twenty-five, he will cause deceit to prosper. He will consider himself superior, and when they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. What do we know about the Antichrist? Who destroys him? The Bible says Jesus Christ destroys him personally when he returns to earth at the second coming.

Isn't that what Daniel says? He'll be destroyed, but not by human power. Who else could this person be but the Antichrist himself? And would you notice he arises out of one of the four horns that replaced Alexander.

You say, Lon, which one? Well, I believe based on Daniel chapter two, and if you weren't here and you didn't hear my message on Daniel two, you need to get it on tape and listen to it. But I believe based on Daniel chapter two that the Antichrist will arise at Babylon, that Babylon will be the center of his kingdom. And other portions of Scripture refer to the Antichrist as coming from Babylon, coming from Assyria.

Isaiah chapter ten and eleven tell us not to be afraid of the Assyrian for the shoot that comes up from the branch of Jesse, the father of David, meaning Christ will destroy him in the proper time. I believe the Antichrist is going to come from the eastern branch of Alexander's empire, controlled by Seleucus, who controlled Syria, Assyria, and Babylon. There's no room whatsoever here for the Antichrist to be part of some revived Roman empire.

Listen, I hate to creep harping on that, but that's such a common view that I feel I need to keep telling you. There is no evidence anywhere in the Word of God that I can find to indicate Rome has anything to do with anything. Alexander never controlled Rome. He never got near Rome. Rome was still, you know, Romulus and Remus or whoever it was at this point. Rome is not even in the picture. Alexander never controlled Rome, and yet the Antichrist is coming from a part of Alexander's empire. He did control Babylon. As a matter of fact, that's where Alexander died.

Was it Babylon? So keep your eyes on Iraq. I don't know if it'll still be Iraq when the Antichrist arises, but in some way, some shape, or some form, that area that we know today as Iraq is going to be, in my opinion, based on the Word of God, the center of the Antichrist kingdom. And remember, he's not going to come on the scene with a lot of fanfare. He is a little horn that arises and then grows big.

So don't look for something great. Look for somebody fairly insignificant that at first you wouldn't even give much thought to, arising in that area, slowly consolidating power. But one of these days, he's going to consolidate it so significantly that the Bible says he will be a conqueror, just like Alexander the Great, and no one will be able to stop him. Now, there's one final part of the prophecy that we haven't covered yet, and that is this little conversation that goes on between the angels. If you notice verse 13, I heard one angel saying to the other, how long is it going to take for all of this to happen, for the temple to be desecrated, the sanctuary to be trampled underfoot, for the abomination of desolation to be set up, which Jesus talked about? And the other angel said, it will take 2,300 evenings and mornings, and then the sanctuary will be re-consecrated.

You've heard me preach before, those of you who have been around for a while, that I believe the temple is going to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. In fact, I'm sure of it, because the antichrist has to cut off the sacrifices. The antichrist has to cut off the daily offering. The antichrist has to set himself up in the temple, 2 Thessalonians says, proclaiming himself to be God.

The antichrist has to desecrate it so that it can be re-consecrated to God at the end of the tribulation period. Here it says it will be 2,300 days that the antichrist will desecrate the temple. Now if you divide 2,300 days by 360 to get the number of years, you say, what do you mean 360? 365 days in a year, not in a Jewish year. They're on the lunar calendar.

They go by the moon, not the sun. There's 360 days in their year. If you divide it by 360, you come up with just over six years. As a matter of fact, 6.4 years to be exact. Now we know the tribulation period is seven years, and when we study Daniel chapter 9 next, we're going to find out that the antichrist will make a covenant with Israel for one week, the last week of that prophecy, the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel. So that's why the tribulation period is seven years. That's why it's not five years or eight years or 12 years or 15 years. It's seven years. It's the last week of the prophecy.

You say, well, Lon, something doesn't seem to be right here. It says here he's going to desecrate the sanctuary for 6.4 years, and yet you're saying the tribulation period is seven years. That's right. Where does it say that he has to desecrate it at the beginning of the tribulation? The Bible never says he has to desecrate it the day the tribulation period starts.

As a matter of fact, I think he'd be rather stupid to do that. It says the antichrist will deceive people, and when they think everything is peace and safety, that's when he'll make his move. Some people have said the reason it's only 6.4 years is because the temple won't actually be finished possibly until a year or half a year into the tribulation period.

That's possible. It may be that part of the covenant that the antichrist makes with the nation of Israel is a covenant that includes permission to finish their temple, and it may be at the beginning of the tribulation period their temple's not even finished. It may be that it is finished, but the antichrist, being the wily old character that he is, waits a while before he makes his move. But the Bible says for 6.4 years he will desecrate and he will profane the temple, but the good news is when Christ returns at the end of that time, he will reconsecrate his temple and make it holy to himself once again. I'd like to quote from G. H. Pember, great prophetic teacher, a book called The Great Prophecies, and I quote, The time here mentioned is 220 days short of seven years. Now as we shall see when we consider the revelation of the 77s in Daniel chapter 9, the antichrist is to make a covenant with the majority of the Jewish nation for seven years, at the close of which period he will be destroyed by the appearing of the Lord, and the sanctuary will be cleansed. It would seem then that the antichrist will not tamper with the sanctuary until the 221st day from the commencement of his covenant. Indeed, it is even possible that the temple may not be completed until that day." Well, I don't know exactly what's right. All I know is if God says it's going to be 2,300 days, it will be 2,300 days.

And the reason doesn't matter, but that's the reality of what will happen. And this is the prophecy then that God gives Daniel in chapter 8. The historical accuracy of the parts of this we've been able to check out are astounding. The historical accuracy of the Persian Empire and the Persians being greater than the Medes and the Persian Empire and the direction in which it expanded, unbelievable. The historical accuracy of Alexander the Great and his empire and its breakup and the four kings that replaced him, unbelievable. May I suggest to you, if two-thirds of the prophecy has been confirmed historically with unbelievable accuracy, we would be quite wise to read the last part that's still future to us and expect that it is going to be fulfilled with the same incredible accuracy that the first two-thirds have been fulfilled.

And that leads me to conclude by asking the question, so what? And in answer to that, I would say to you, God didn't put this information about Persian, Greek, and Alexander the Great in the Bible for no reason. No, instead I believe that these events have great significance for the prophetic future of the world. God wants us to understand that the Antichrist will arise from one of Alexander the Great's branch kingdoms. That's why he told us about Alexander the Great. That's why he told us about his empire.

That's why he told us about his empire's divisions. God doesn't tell us things in the Bible we don't need to know. He didn't talk to us about Napoleon because Napoleon doesn't figure in the second coming of Christ. He didn't talk to us about Romulus and Remus and Julius Caesar because they don't figure in the second coming of Christ.

But Alexander the Great and the split out of his empire that control Babylon do. And that's why God told us about him. God wants us to train our eyes onto the Middle East.

He wants us to know where to put our eyes as the end of the age approaches. And God keeps telling us over and over and over in the book of Daniel where to look. Look at the Middle East. Look at Babylon.

Look at Iraq. We should be looking, as I've already said, for a little horn to arise there, inconspicuous at first just like Alexander was. But his power will multiply quickly just like Alexander's did. And his kingdom will expand to enormous size just like Alexander's did. And once he gets going, there will be no stopping him just as there was no stopping Alexander. He will be a mighty conqueror just as Alexander was. But at the height of his power, he'll be destroyed and cut off quickly just as Alexander.

Who knows, maybe God even put this in here because he wants us to understand the great similarities between these two great conquerors. The Antichrist will control Israel, the Bible teaches us. He will desecrate the temple for a while.

But Jesus Christ is coming back. And when he does, the Antichrist is history. God will do it all by himself.

You won't do it, I won't do it, the angels won't do it. God will handle that job personally. And he'll see to it it's done right. It won't be like Operation Desert Shield where we stop short of where I think we should have gone.

That's another issue. No, God, when he comes back, he's not going to stop short around the perimeter. He's going to take the Antichrist and he's going to solve him and Satan himself once and for all. So in these last days, friends, keep your eyes on the Middle East. Every day in the newspaper, you ought to be looking to the Middle East. Forget what happens in Poland, doesn't matter. Forget what happens in Russia, doesn't matter.

Forget what happens in Japan, doesn't matter. As prophetic students, we better keep our eyes on the Middle East. That's what's going to make the difference.

I believe. And the greatest human conqueror of all time is on his way. He's going to be greater than Napoleon.

He's going to be greater than Alexander. He's going to be greater than Julius Caesar. We have not yet seen the greatest conqueror that the world is ever to know. The Antichrist himself will be the greatest conqueror this world has ever experienced.

He'll make Hitler look like an amateur. Thank God, however, that he's not the greatest conqueror that will ever live. Jesus Christ is coming back and he will conquer the Antichrist. He'll destroy him. He'll establish his kingdom. And those of us who know Christ will rule and reign with him for all eternity. And so that's Daniel Chapter eight. I trust you'll subscribe to the newspaper.

You'll read the section on the Middle East. Keep your eyes open for that little horn because he's coming. And thank God, at least as I understand scripture, we won't be here to experience his wrath. But as we see the events of the end of the age take place, it's going to be amazing to watch how the prophecies of Daniel eight will be fulfilled exactly as God promised.