Daniel 8:12 + End Times

Daniel 8:12b ... it cast truth to the ground, and kept prospering in what it did.

The first words of the first commentary I read today were: "Daniel chapter 8 is a preacher’s nightmare." The summation was that if even the dream interpreter himself -- Daniel -- didn't have the foggiest notion of the vision’s meaning, what prayer does the average preacher have!

One common intrepretation is that Alexander the Great became the eventual great goat horn who defeated the two rams horns -- the Medes and the Persians. But those aren't really the primary focus. It's the little horn that really matters. And a common interpretation is that the little horn -- after the four smaller horns -- was Antiochus IV (who nicknamed himself "Epiphanes," the illustrious one) who, about 200 years before the birth of Christ, persecuted Israel and blamsphemed God.

But that's only part one of the prophecy. Gabriel tells Daniel that what will factually play out in history will repeat itself at "17 the time of the end." In this view, history gives us a little horn named Antiochus Epiphanus. The end times gives us the same pattern and the same horn known as the Antichrist. Both, we are told, will "12 cast truth to the ground" and will "12 k[eep] prospering" in its evil.

Our reflection always needs to be: how is truth cast the ground in our generation and what are we doing to keep it from prospering in our midst?

Gracious Lord, make me a brave and grace-filled defender of your truth.

+