Power of Prophecy Daniel 8 and11

The Ram and the Goat (8)• 3rd Year of Belshazzar = 558 BC• The Vision 8:1-8, Gabriel’s Explanation 8:20-22• A Ram with two horns = Media and

Persia • One was taller than the other 8:3

• Goat with 1 Horn = King of Greece• “Flies” from the West, breaks the Horns of

the Ram 8:5-7• As soon as the Goat comes to full

power the horn will break, splitting into four 8:8• Four kingdoms will come from the Greek

Kingdom

- 227 Years Pass - • This would be the equivalent of someone

today explaining what was going to happen in 2243.

• 227 years ago from 2016 would be 1789• George Washington was elected for the First

Term• The U.S. Bill of Rights is created

331 BC – The Goat Destroys the Ram• Alexander the Great (Greece) “flies” over

Persian defenses and takes Babylon• Darius III flees after the Battle of

Guagemella1

Alexander’s Conquest

Alexander Does Not Siege Jerusalem in 332 BC

• Josephus records that the 200 year old book of Daniel was read to Alexander• And when he had said this to Parmenion, and had

given the high-priest his right hand, the priests ran along by him, and he came into the city. And when he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high-priest's direction, and magnificently treated both the high-priest and the priests. And when the Book of Daniel was showed him wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended. And as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present. 2

Daniel 11:1-4• 1st Year of Darius the Mede = 538 BC• Three more kings will rise in Persia• The forth shall be far richer• He shall stir up all against the realm of

Greece• The mighty king shall arise

• Rule with great dominion• His kingdom shall be broken up in four

parts

Three More Kings, then Fourth

Xerxes I • Comes to power in 486 BC, 102 years

after prophecy• “he through his riches, he shall stir up all

against the realm of Greece”• He had a tremendous amount of wealth• He pays for a 60,000 solders, 10,000 of them

very costly trained. (The Immortals)3

• The Feast of 180 Days - Esther 1 • By attacking Greece and Macedonia the

city-states will unify against him - 480 BC• This is the beginning of the Greek Empire• The Battle at Plataea4

Xerxes I’s Campaign

Alexander acknowledges Xerxes I • Plutarch records him talking to the burnt

capital of Xerxes• “Shall I pass by and leave you lying there

because of the expeditions you led against Greece, or shall I set you up again because of your magnanimity and your virtues in other respects?”5

4 Kingdoms from the Goat’s Horn• 4 Generals take Alexander’s Empire. The

states come to be around 305 BC• 253 years after Daniel’s vision of the Goat• 2016 + 253 = 2269; 2016 – 253 = 1763

11:5

11:6

Sources1. Ulrich Wilcken, Alexander the Great.2. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, chap. 8, sec.

5, William Whiston translation, 19813. Barkworth, 1993. The Organization of Xerxes' Army.

Iranica Antiqua Vol. 27, pp. 149–1674. Herodotus IX.28.2-29.15. O'Brien, John Maxwell (1994). Alexander the Great: The

Invisible Enemy: A Biography. Psychology Press. p. 104.

2 Peter 1:19-2119 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.