Daniel 8:23-25 - He will cause deceit to prosper

8:23,24

Jesus said “there will be wars and rumours of wars”. Intrigue, conspiracies, rebellions and power struggles are all a perpetual part of the human condition. Here we read of there being rebels, and the rebels becoming increasingly wicked. Antiochus IV began his infamous rule in 175 BC and first entered the temple in 169 BC. “A master of intrigue will arise”, Antiochus was an example of this, but there have been many more throughout history. Behind him will be a power that is not his own. There are rulers who are just plain evil, but there are others who are “extra evil”. Mussoline was an evil ruler in Italy, but he was just common or garden evil. Hitler was different, there was something demonic about him and his reign. For a time this ruler will succeed in all he does, and will destroy the “holy people”. Hitler, of course, is a prime example of this.

8:25

“He will cause deceit to prosper”. A symptom of evil rule is that truth dies. It happened in Nazi Germany, it happened in Communist Russia (the Soviet Union) and happens in Communist China. It happens in the woke West. “He will consider himself superior”, this is true of all dictators. “He will destroy many”. Evil dictators never last, but they do immense damage in the time that they do rule. “Take his stand against the Prince of princes”. Pride will so get hold of him that he will not be content with attacking God’s people, he will set himself up against God Himself. “Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power”. These dictators never last. He became strong “not by his own power”, and he will be destroyed not by human power, but by God. As it says in 2 Thess 2:8 “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming.”.