Two hundred years before the world even heard of Alexander the Great, Daniel prophesied of him:
“Then I lifted up mine yes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns…and as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth…and ran unto him in the fury of his power…and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him…Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven” (Dan. 8:3-8).
We don’t have to guess about what this vision means. The angel Gabriel interpreted it for Daniel:
“The ram which thou safest having two horns are the kinds of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power” (Dan. 8:20-22).
This prophecy was fulfilled just as Daniel wrote it. Alexander the Great led the Greek army to conquer everything in their path, including the Persian empire. After Alexander’s death, his Greek empire divided into four parts in fulfillment of this amazing prophecy.
The world makes a big deal over Alexander’s victories. From a human viewpoint, it is remarkable that a young man could take as much of the world as he wanted in so little time. How could one man do this? Men with this kind of ambition and success only appear once every thousand years, or perhaps once in the entire history of the world. But one thing is sure: the world was changed by this man, and his exploits affect the way people live today in ways most of them don’t even realize.
But Alexander had help. All famous and influential figures do. Circumstances help to make a man what he is. A slight change in circumstance can cause an Alexander to rise or make him fall. Only God knows how many others could have accomplished what Alexander did, or maybe more, had their circumstances in life been different.
Alexander became great because he had help from above. God Himself worked behind the scenes to bring about this shift in power. An angel later told Daniel:
“Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come” (Dan. 10:20).
In an unseen way and without violating the free will of those involved, an angel of god made Alexander’s conquest of Persia possible.
To the world, Alexander the Great is one of the most famous figures in history. To God, he was a feeble, sinful man that God used to bring about elements Alexander himself never envisioned.
-Kerry Duke
