Chapter 8, like chapter 7, is highly instructive to us. In these prophecies of Daniel, we are allowed to see the entire sweep of human history from 605 BC to the end. Essentially, we are allowed to see what only God and angels could possibly know. It is interesting to me that, in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream from chapter 2, he saw that sweep of history as precious metals, starting with the golden head. Isn’t that just like us? We want to think we’re very important, that what matters in life are the things that sparkle. However, what does Daniel see? Beasts. From what the godly man Daniel sees, what do humans become when you give them power? What are their “great” kingdoms? Beasts.
Step back and think about it. In chapter 7, what came up out of the sea? Four beasts (v.3). In v.5, the second beast was told, “Get up and eat your fill of flesh.” In v.7, the fourth beast was “terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.” In v.8, the little horn arises first by uprooting three other horns, then in v11 we see it “waging war against the saints.”
Violent and destructive. Government
without God
Now what do we see in chapter 8? We first see the two horned ram and what is he doing? “Butting to the west and the north and the south.” Note it says in v.4, “He did as he pleased and became great.” Notice the “he became great.” We’ll come back to that. In v.5, the goat with the prominent horn races across the face of the earth and what does he do? “I saw him attack the ram furiously … shattering his two horns, knocked him to the ground and trampled on him” (v.7). If anything, the goat is even more violent than the ram had been. Note again it says, “The goat became very great …” (v.8).
Finally, we see the little horn. It “started small but grew in power.” So we see again, the kingdoms of this world “become great,” They “grow in power.” And what do they do with that “greatness?” What do they do with that “power?” See what the little horn does: “It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low … It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground” (vv.10-12).
Government without God is evil. Men without God may, under common grace, manage to do and be some good things, but there lingering under it all is their true nature: evil. As Jesus said, “They are of their father the devil, and the lusts of their father they will do. He is a liar and the father of lies. He was a murderer from the beginning. Like a roaring lion, he roams the earth, looking for someone to devour.”
In the book of Esther, the king and his prime minister agree to slaughter an entire people group of their citizens, then sit down to drink (3:15). Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union reportedly murdered millions of his own people, as did Mao Tse Tung in China. It is reported that as many as fifty million people died under and due to Adolf Hitler. James said, “Then, after (evil) desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (1:15). So governments become “great” and what does it get “we the people?” Murdered. As governments become great, what do they do? Attack each other. Always fighting. Always killing.
It’s interesting that the only government ever assembled by men who were at least acknowledging God was a government designed to be what? Restrained. The framers of the American Constitution had the Biblical wisdom to know that human government must be restrained. They built their system of “checks and balances” precisely because they knew the only alternative would end up being one form of tyranny or another.
As I have observed before, one problem us older American Christians have is that we got to grow up in a country where we believed the government really was trying to do us good and to protect us. Our government even told us we had rights – the “inalienable rights” of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” For us, it is a very deep heartache to see what our government has become. More and more they suppress those “rights” and we can rest assured, it is only a matter of time before they start killing those of us who don’t buy their lies. That is what we see all down through recorded history and it is precisely the picture Daniel is seeing, even as he is given a vision of what the world would become.
As ugly and dark as it may appear, we Christians, of all people, ought to embrace realistic views of this world. It is right there in our Bibles. Government without God is, has been, and always will be violent, warring, and murderous. It is evil. However, we also know why they’re so evil, why that is the direction all human government heads. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12).
The true problem is not a political party or a few particularly evil people. The problem is spiritual. The problem of evil human government is simply an expression of the cosmic spiritual battle that is raging in the universe around us. There may be some things we can and should do here on earth. Christians should vote, even if it is obvious the elections are being rigged. Some Christians should pursue careers in government. Even if we know it is a “hive of scum and villainy,” there can still be the Daniels and Esthers, the Josephs and Nehemiahs, those who attain high positions in government and from there sincerely try to do good in this world. However, we of all people need to be the ones praying. We of all people should be the ones living a life of love and a life of truth, so that, even as others suffer under their unjust government, perhaps they can see a difference in us and maybe even “come and ask a reason of the hope that is in you.”
We simply need to be realistic, then live our lives under God even as a very wicked world swirls around us, even as nations rise and fall and one evil person after another becomes “great” only to turn and use that “greatness” to do even more evil.
The good news is that, even in this wicked world, our God is still working “all things together for our good” (Rom.8:28) and the day will come when the “stone cut without hands” (Dan. 2:34) will smash this world’s evil governments and establish His kingdom of righteousness.
Let’s be realistic about what this world truly is even as we know Psalm 33:20-22:
“We wait in hope for the Lord;
He is our help and shield.
In Him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in His holy name.
May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord,
even as we put our hope in You.”
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