Does Daniel’s Prophecy Accurately Predict Antiochus IV Epiphanes?
“And now I shall tell you the truth about these things”—Daniel 11:1 NJB
“The vision of the evenings and the mornings which has been revealed is true”—Daniel 8:26 NJB
Other articles on this site have provided documented evidence that the Book of Daniel was written in the 500’s BCE, and 350 years in advance, accurately foretold details of the exploits of Syrian King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who was the Biblical “king of the north” (compare Daniel 11:7,13,15) for about 12 years. The Greek philosopher Porphyry (233-304 CE) wrote a work in fifteen volumes he called Against the Christians, in which he attempted to prove that Jesus Christ was only an outstanding philosopher, but not who he said he was. In fact, Porphyry railed against Jesus’ reference to “the prophet Daniel” (Matthew 24:15 NIV) as being the writer of the book bearing his name. His reasoning was based, at least, in part, on the fact that Daniel 8:9-14,23-25; 11:21-39 so accurately described Antiochus IV Epiphanes, that he could not accept it as prophecy written in advance. The “predictions” were just too accurate for him to accept. He claimed that a fraud pretending to write prophecy in advance had to have written Daniel, because the events described could not have been so accurately predicted.
In the past, much effort has been made to identify “The Antichrist” as being one prominent individual, such as Pompey, Nero, Mohammed, or the Papacy. Today, many preachers and denominations say there is going to appear on the world scene in the future, just before the end, a very charismatic world leader and deceiver that the Bible calls ‘THE ANTICHRIST.” Such Biblical prognosticators even use scriptures from Daniel about the “little horn,” and Revelation about “a beast coming up out of the sea,” to “prove” their point. They have developed quite an elaborate story about what “The Antichrist” is “predicted” to do in the future.
