STAND FIRM: Prophecy Fulfilled Before Our Eyes (Part 2)
I’m still sharing about my recent trip to Israel. After Israeli after Israeli looked me in the eyes and said, “Please tell the truth of what you saw,” there’s nothing else I can do until I fulfill that responsibility. This current series of articles came as I met with officials, watching their slides and listening to their presentations. It was as if I was watching prophecies unfold before me. There were three that I felt I was seeing. The first I wrote about last week was that seeing the land where the red heifers will soon be sacrificed pointed to the prophecies about the restoration of the sacrifices and building of a new temple.
The second prophecy I felt I was watching unfold was from two presentations done by military leaders. One worked for the Alma Research Center, which specializes in the northern front, the border of Israel with Syria and Lebanon. Another was from the head of the strategic command of the Israeli Defense Force. They said the same things in their presentations and showed the same slides. They both said the attack by Hamas was nothing compared to what could happen from the north and the hand of Hezbollah. They expect Hezbollah to attack at any moment. These military experts took us down a terrorist rabbit hole that got deeper and deeper. It began with Hamas and how Hamas is the smallest and least armed of the terrorist groups that have their sights set on Israel. Hezbollah in Lebanon is the largest.
That rabbit hole then continued behind the scenes of the news headlines. Multiple terror groups across the Middle East serve as proxies for Iran. The ones that pose an immediate threat to Israel are Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Palestinian Jihad and the Houthis in Yemen. There are many more proxy groups. These groups played a major in the Syrian Civil War. They have essentially conquered Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen have greatly impacted international trade.
As I listened, these men showed this more expansive network of terror that threatens Israel and beyond, as well as how Iran pulls the strings of each of them. I felt as if I was reading Daniel 8. I have written about Daniel 8 in the past, and it likely could be the most informative prophecy in helping us understand the current reality in the Middle East and where it’s headed. Still, it is the one I am the most reluctant to talk about.
If Daniel 8 could inform us that clearly, then it should be talked about more often, but I waver back and forth on my understanding of the passage. Daniel is given a vision in that chapter, and the angel Gabriel is sent to explain it. The vision is of a ram with two horns that begins to charge and claim territory in the west, north and south. Then, in the west, a goat with one prominent horn appears and destroys the ram. That goat claims even more territory, but the horn breaks and turns into four horns. Then, from those four horns arises a little horn that grows in power, conquers territory and eventually comes against the Beautiful Land, which is interpreted as Israel.
Daniel is very distraught over this vision, so he prays and fasts for an answer. Gabriel is sent to explain, and he explains that the ram represents the Medes and the Persians, who would conquer in the directions mentioned. But then, another leader and nation would rise, represented by the shaggy goat with the prominent horn. The goat comes from what most translations say is Greece, but the actual word is Javan. Javan is more accurately Asia Minor and north to ancient Macedonia and then Greece. The leader from there would arise and defeat the Medes and Persians, and then he would die, and that nation would be divided up. The little horn that would then rise and be against God and Israel is the Antichrist.
With just a casual reading through Daniel 8, you can see how informative it is. If you are familiar with history, you likely recognize that the Medes and Persians did arise. Their empire defeated the Babylonian Empire but was defeated by Alexander the Great, who came from Macedonia/Greece. He died in his prime and his empire was divided up. Of course, this happened long ago, but the part about the little horn has yet to happen.
This is how the chapter is typically interpreted, with the first half of the prophecy having been fulfilled in the time of Alexander and the little horn part to be fulfilled in the last days. I agree with this interpretation but if you take time to read through the passage, the chapter explicitly says these things will happen in the last days. A few years ago, some trusted prophecy authors and teachers I work with proposed that it was possible that, though it did happen in the past, the prophecy may be completely fulfilled in the last days, too. Though that may seem contradictory, that is how most Old Testament prophecy works. There almost always is a near fulfillment in the past, but it will be completely fulfilled in the last days. This is called pattern prophecy.
I feel like this completely futuristic idea has a lot of merit, though I am in the minority of those who feel that way. You probably can see why I’m reluctant to talk about it because it can be dangerous when you’re on the minority side of an interpretation of the Bible. I desperately do not want to lead anyone astray, so I hope you will not take my word for it but will study it yourself.
If this passage will be completely fulfilled in the future, it means that Persia (which is modern-day Iran) will spread its power across the Middle East, but eventually, a leader will rise out of Javan (which is likely modern-day Turkey), who will likely have conquered the Macedonian area, and then will come against Iran and defeat her. Then, this leader would die, and the conquered lands would be split up. This split would be short-lived, and the Antichrist will rise from that. Therefore, you can see if Daniel 8 will completely happen in the future how much it can help us understand what is happening now in the Middle East and where we are in the prophetic time.
The verdict is out on whether that interpretation is true, but one thing that is happening is that Persia (modern-day Iran) is spreading out across the Middle East and doing so now with the use of proxies that are in the form of smaller terrorist groups, and these proxies are at the forefront of what is happening right now in Israel and Yemen.
— Jake is a state missionary and would love to share about the work in Northwest Arkansas and encourage your church to stand firm. (standfirmministries.com)
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Jake McCandless
Jake McCandless authors a weekly column titled, Stand Firm and Live Epic, through which he seeks to encourage the modern church to not just survive, but thrive in current times. He also addresses many end-times topics.
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