SERMON: “A Different Antichrist, Part 1” (Dan. 8:1–10)
“A Different Antichrist, Part
1” (Dan. 8:1–10)
Series: “Daniel:
God’s Sovereign Plans” #20 Text: Daniel 8:1–10
By: Shaun
Marksbury Date: February 15, 2026
Venue: Living Water Baptist Church Occasion: PM Service
I.
Introduction
One of the criticisms of dispensationalism from other
Christians is that it is too focused on the distant future, making the prophecy
of Bible inapplicable to God’s people living during biblical times. Because of dispensationalism’s futurist
emphasis, such as looking forward to fulfillment of prophecies about Israel,
the tribulation, and the millennium, disconnects biblical prophecy from the
original audiences of Scripture. The Bible
becomes a codebook for end-times enthusiasts, sidelining practical value for
God’s people across history. And,
indeed, some dispensationalists do become too enthusiastic with their interpretations.
Yet, our reading of Daniel 8 pushes back on this. This text shows us a prophecy that was future-oriented
to the Jews in Daniel’s time (the 6th century BC), but it has a clear and
verifiable fulfillment in their near future (about 350–400 years later). This was a prophecy that answered their
present concerns and prepared them for future suffering. This wasn’t some vague vision of something
some 2,200 years later; it equipped God’s covenant people for trials they would
actually face.
Unlike the previous chapters, this chapter returns to
Hebrew. That indicates that the contents
here were specifically for God’s people.
At this time, the end of the Babylonian Captivity was drawing near, but it
would come with the rise of the Medo-Persian Empire. The Jewish people might be worried about
their immediate future, whether they would survive the conquering of Babylon or
the subsequent years. Here, God gives
them an overview of their next few hundred years.
At the same time, this chapter also produces descriptions of
the final Antichrist. Antiochus
Epiphanes becomes a historical preview—a type—of the ultimate enemy of God’s
people who will arise in the last days. As John tells us, “the spirit of the
antichrist… is now already in the world” (1 John 4:3), and Antiochus’s ability
to destroy will introduce the Antichrist to us in a historically tangible way.
Because of the fulfillment of this chapter in the intertestamental
period (that time between the Old and New Testaments), we see a bit of a
history lesson in this chapter, one that will take us two weeks to fully
explore. Yet, while God’s people will
receive a comfort and a warning of what is to come, we will also see a
foreshadowing of the final Antichrist. Today,
we’ll see first that God’s people need to know about the coming of Persia (vv.
1–4), second, that they need not worry about Persia (vv. 5–7), third, that they
need not worry about Alexander (v. 8), and fourth, that they do need to
know about Antiochus (vv. 9–10). Let’s
begin looking at this astonishing prophecy and its past fulfillments.
II.
First, God’s People Need to Know About the
Coming of Persia (vv. 1–4)
In the third year
of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent
to the one which appeared to me previously. I looked in the vision, and while I was
looking I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I
looked in the vision and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal. Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold,
a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was
longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and
southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to
rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.
These opening verses place this vision around 551/550 BC. That would only be two years after the vision
of chapter 7. That means that it will
still be years before Babylon falls in chapter 5. At this point in history, Babylon was still
strong — but its days were numbered.
Cyrus the Persian would have just conquered the Median Empire, leading
to the creation of the Medo-Persia Empire that would topple Babylon in twelve
years.[1]
That means that the Babylonian Captivity isn’t quite over at
this point. Yet, the Lord sends Daniel
another vision. Daniel will, of course,
know that he must share this with the Jewish people.
He begins describing it in v. 2. We read that Daniel was transported in spirit
to Susa.[2] This is remarkable because, at the time of
this vision, Susa was not yet the dominant capital of Persia. But, it would become exactly that, meaning
that God was placing Daniel at the geographic center of this coming great
empire. A century later, Esther and Nehemiah
would later find themselves there (Neh. 1:1; Esth. 1:2; 2:8).[3] The great documents of Babylon would also
find a home there; in 1901, archeologists found the Cord of Hammurabi there.[4] As such, at this time, the Lord shows Daniel
the future from the future’s point of view!
We see a further description here. Susa was in the northeaster part of the province
of Elam, where the Ulai Canal ran.
Today, this canal is dry, but the area is modern-day Iran.[5]
That is the setting for the vision. Now, Daniel describes looking and seeing a
ram with two horns in front of the canal.
Later, in v. 20, God explicitly identifies this ram as the Medo-Persian
Empire. A ram is a fitting symbol for
two possible reasons. One study notes astrology;
“A first-century bc zodiac list
identifies Persia as a ram.”[6] Another study notes that “the Persian ruler
carried the gold head of a ram when he marched before his army.”[7] Whichever is the case, the ram is a good
picture here to typify this empire.
The two horns represent the Medes and the Persians, with one
horn being longer and coming up last (similar to how the bear was raised up one
side in 7:5).[8] Historically speaking, this is describes how
the Medes were initially dominant, but then the Persians rose under Cyrus and
became the stronger power.[9] God predicted not just the empire — but its
internal power structure with this imbalance.
V. 4 then describes the unstoppable expansion of Persia. Daniel says he “saw the ram butting westward,
northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was
there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified
himself.” Here, the ram is butting, “charging”
(ESV, CSB), or “pushing” (N/KJV) in nearly all four cardinal directions. Historically, Persia conquered westward into
Babylon and Asia Minor, northward into Armenia, and southward into Egypt.[10] As the Reformation Study Bible notes
here, Medo-Persia became the largest empire in world history until this point.
No one could stand before it, so, from a human perspective
at the time, this empire looked invincible.
It boasted, much like the mighty king of Daniel 11:3 will. (The antichrist will be the culmination of
everything bad in these kingdoms.) Yet, God
showed Daniel this in advance so His people would know that even the rise of
this massive empire was part of His sovereign plan.
Empires do not rise randomly; they rise by divine
appointment. Remember, Daniel 2:21 says,
“It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and
establishes kings.” God’s people needed
to know Persia was coming. But they also
needed to know something else.
III.
Second, God’s People Need Not Worry About Persia
(vv. 5–7)
While I was
observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the
whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn
between his eyes. He came up to the ram
that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and
rushed at him in his mighty wrath. I saw
him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and
shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he
hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the
ram from his power.
Persia will be a powerhouse, but God’s people needn’t fear. While Daniel was still pondering the ram, a
new figure bursts onto the scene: “a male goat.” Again, verse 21 will interpret this goat as being
Greece, and the conspicuous horn will be is its first king — Alexander the
Great. This famous conqueror was born in
356 BC as the son of Philip of Macedon (who had united Greece), and he was
educated by Aristotle; after his father was murdered, at only twenty years old,
he succeeded his father and continued his father’s planning to attack Persia.[11]
God foretells this to Daniel in the image of the goat coming
“from the west,” which would be across the Mediterranean.[12] It was moving with lightning speed, “without
touching the ground.” These points support
history.
It was only a year and a half after Alexander came to power
that he attacked the Persians. That same
year (334 BC), Alexander’s victory in the Battle of Granicus ended the power of
the Medo-Persian Empire. Within three years,
Alexander completed his dismantling of the empire, even though the Persians
outnumbered the Greeks.[13] He stood as master of the Near East before he
was twenty-five years old.[14]
There’s some interesting nuance here. We also read that the goat rushed at the ram “in
his mighty wrath,” and history records that Alexander’s hatred of Persia was
personal. You might recall the famous Battle
of Thermopylae, where the Spartans under King Leonidas resisted the Persian
advance in 480 BC. There were other ongoing
skirmishes with Persia which led to Alexander’s bitter determination for
victory 150 years later.[15]
This is staggering.
As one study notes, “The greatness that had characterized the ram now belonged to the goat. Previously none could escape from the ram’s
power (v. 4); now none could escape
from the goat (v. 7).”[16] Persia would not be a concern to God’s
people.
This is a comfort. The
Jews would live under Persian rule for two centuries, and while it was not
always easy, it was never the final word. God would raise up Greece to judge Persia and,
in the process, scatter Greek language and culture across the world — preparing
the soil for the spread of the gospel in the common tongue of Koine Greek.[17]
But, lest God’s people worry about this conqueror, the Lord
has something else to say.
IV.
Third, God’s People Need Not Worry About
Alexander (v. 8)
Then the male goat
magnified himself exceedingly. But as
soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came
up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.
Alexander’s conquests were breathtaking. By 327 BC he had pushed all the way to the
Indus River. His empire stretched from
Greece to India — most of the known world in his day. Eclipsing the Medo-Persian Empire which had
been before, now the Greek Empire is the largest in history. Alexander began to magnify himself, claiming
Achilles and Hercules as his ancestors, and he began to require people to worship
him.[18]
But pride goes before destruction. At the very pinnacle of his power, the great
horn snapped. This is because Alexander
died in Babylon in June 323 BC at the age of thirty-two or thirty-three (probably
from malaria or complications from a drinking binge). In an instant, the man who had conquered the
world was gone.[19]
In his place — the place of the broken horn — arose “four
conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.” After a period of bloody struggle, four of
Alexander’s generals carved up the empire: Ptolemy in Egypt and southern Syria,
Seleucus in Syria and the east, Lysimachus in Thrace and Asia Minor, and
Cassander in Macedonia[20]
(two of these names, Ptolemy and Seleucus, will become important to the Jewish
people and to the Book of Daniel). As
such, the Greek Empire did not disappear; it simply fragmented.
Notice the contrast: the ram had magnified itself, and now
the goat does the same. Human pride is a
recurring theme in Daniel, but every proud empire and ruler meets the same end.
Moreover, again, Alexander’s work spread
the Greek language throughout the known world, an unintended blessing that
would one day make the New Testament accessible. These empires are tools in the hand of the
sovereign God.
The Jews may have been worried about the Persians coming,
and once they knew, the Greeks later.
However, they would largely be safe.
The true threat would come later — not so much with Alexander, or one of
these four horns, but with one would come afterward. That one especially would arise who would
cause great turmoil, and that ruler is who Daniel will turn his attention to
next.
V.
Fourth, God’s People Need to Know about
Antiochus (vv. 9–10)
Out of one of them
came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south,
toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew up to the host of heaven and caused
some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled
them down.
Now, we might think until this point that we’re reviewing
chapter 7. If you think that, you might
think that this “rather small horn” is the “little horn” of chapter 7. However, that one arises from Rome, while this
one emerges from one of the four Greek kingdoms. This is a different individual, and he comes
before the Roman Empire does.
This is a different threat, and he arises from the Seleucid
dynasty in Syria some 126 years later. His name is Antiochus IV, who ruled from 175
to 164 BC.[21] He’s a “little” horn because he began in relative
insignificance; he was the younger brother of the family, sent to be a hostage
in Rome, and a political schemer who returned and eventually seized the throne
through bribery, flattery, and even murder.[22]
In this way, this “little horn” grew “exceedingly great.” He then campaigned south into Egypt[23] and
east against the Parthians. Most
importantly for us, he also set his sight on “the Beautiful Land,” the land of
Israel (cf. Ps. 48:2; Dan. 11:16, 41). The Holy Spirit doesn’t call Judah this for
its scenery but for its spiritual attraction: This is where Yahweh placed His
name, where the Messiah would one day be born.[24] Zion is the joy of the whole earth (Psa.
48:2),[25] but
Antiochus would have it for his own.
And the horn grew up according to v. 10. This speaks of the arrogance of Antiochus,
which we will look at more closely next time.
He became puffed up. He began to have
theos (“god”) printed on his coinage, calling himself Antiochus Epiphanes
(the manifestation). However, others
called him Antiochus Epimanes — “Antiochus the furious.”[26]
Verse 10 also takes on cosmic language: The horn grows to
the point of “the host of heaven,” and it “caused some of the host and some of
the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down.” Now, this language often speaks of angelic
activity,[27] but
we mustn’t think that a mere man managed some heavenly assault. Rather, v. 24 tells us that his assault is
aimed at God’s people. The “host of
heaven” and “stars” can also symbolize the people of God (see Gen. 15:5; 22:17;
Exod. 12:41; Dan. 12:3). Thus, many
commentators interpret v. 10 here has describing the intense persecution of God’s
people. [28]
Indeed, that is what we see in history. He assassinated the high priest Onias III and
his troops murdered innocents. He also plundered
the temple, forbade circumcision and Sabbath observance, and — on December 25,
167 BC — erected an altar to Zeus in the Holy of Holies and there sacrificed a
pig.[29] This was the “abomination of desolation” that
Jesus would later cite as a preview of the final Antichrist’s act (Matt.
24:15). Antiochus is an foreshadowing of
the future Antichrist.
That might be why v. 10 uses such cosmic language. Turn with me to Revelation 12:4. The apostle John, under the inspiration of the
same Spirit, sees “a great red dragon” (the devil) whose tail “swept away a
third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.” The parallel is unmistakable, and this chapter
of Revelation precedes the image of the Antichrist in chapter 13.
In other words, the same satanic power that energized
Antiochus is still raging and has future plans. In the centuries between the Testaments, the
dragon tried to destroy the woman’s seed before the Child could be born. He stirred up Hellenistic kings, false
philosophies, and brutal persecution to snuff out the line of promise. He almost succeeded at Bethlehem, but Christ
was born nonetheless, and He ascended into heaven.
The dragon will try again in the last days.
But here is the comfort for every believer in every age: the
same God who preserved a remnant in the days of the Maccabees, the same God who
protected the infant Jesus, will protect His people when the final Antichrist
arises. The dragon’s tail may sweep
stars to the ground, but he cannot touch the One who holds the stars in His
right hand (Rev. 1:16).
VI.
Conclusion
God’s people in the sixth century BC needed to know what was
coming in before the birth of the Messiah.
And God, in His providence, protected His people. They survived both the Persians and the
Greeks. And while we still have more of
this chapter to examine, we know that the Jews survived their encounter with
the demonic Antiochus.
We also need to know, though, that God will protect us as
the days grow dark. The spirit of
antichrist is already at work through cultural pressures, political machinations,
and spiritual deception that will grow to the final moments of history. Thankfully, we know that the God who is sovereign
over history will continue to protect His people, one way or another.
[1] Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, The New American Commentary,
(Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 18:220.
[2] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and
Unabridged in One Volume, (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 1448.
[3] J. Dwight Pentecost, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures,
1985, 1, 1355.
[4] Miller, 18:221.
[5] Ibid.
[6] John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael
S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R.
Grigoni, and David Bomar, Faithlife Study Bible, (Bellingham, WA:
Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Da 8:3.
[7] Miller, 18:221–222.
[8] Pentecost.
[9] Miller, 18:222.
[10] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald Barclay Allen, and H. Wayne
House, The
Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version, (Nashville: T.
Nelson Publishers, 1997), Da 8:4.
[11] Miller, 18:223.
[12] Barry, et. al., Da 8:5.
[13] Radmacher, et. al., Da 8:7.
[14] Miller.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Pentecost.
[17] Miller, 18:224.
[18] Ibid., 18:223–224.
[19] Ibid., 18:224.
[20] Radmacher, et. al., Da 8:8.
[21] Ibid., Da 8:9.
[22] Miller, 18:225.
[23] Radmacher, et. al., Da 8:9.
[24] Miller.
[25] Henry, 1449.
[26] Henry, 1448–1449.
[27] Miller, 18:225–226.
[28] John MacArthur Jr., Ed., The MacArthur Study Bible,
electronic ed., (Nashville, TN: Word Pub., 1997), 1241.
[29] Miller, 18:226.