Daniel 8: The Greek Goat and the Little Horns of Every Age --- 2019/08/20

Rev. Nabil Nour, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hartford, South Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Daniel 8.

A few years after Daniel’s vision of the four beasts, Daniel has another vision of two beasts: a ram who is defeated by a goat with conspicuous horns. In Daniel 8, the angel Gabriel explains the vision’s meaning in detail: the Macedonian Empire (under the goat’s great horn, Alexander the Great) is about to rapidly overthrow the Medo-Persian Empire along with everything in the broader region. The great horn will suddenly break, and four little horns will emerge, with one in particular becoming very powerful and oppressing God’s people.

This little horn refers first of all to Antiochus IV of the Seleucid Empire, one of the worst oppressors of God’s people of all time. Yet the truth is that every age has “a little horn” that oppresses God’s people. But every horn will be broken, and God’s people will be preserved, until the day that the ascended Messiah subjugates every rule and authority.