In Daniel Chapter eight the LORD’s prophet had a vision which we are told concerned the distant future, or the time of the end of this present age (Daniel 8:19, 26). In its past historical context we have the account of the ancient empire of Persia being crushed by the empire of Greece under the command of Alexander the Great.

Now “horns” in Bible prophecy represent kings, whereas “beasts” in Bible prophecy represent the empires over which these kings rule.

Persia represented the ram with two horns, one of which was longer than the other. These two horns represented the Medo-Persian Empire. The Persians were greater in number than the Medes, but later the Medes grew in number as the smaller horn grew longer.

The goat represented Greece and the dominant horn between its eyes represented Alexander the Great.

In the vision Daniel saw the Greek Empire shatter the power of Persia as we see the goat charging against the ram and shattering its two horns. After this the horn on the goat was broken off, which described the premature death of Alexander. The four horns that grew in its place were Alexanders four main Generals. They were Ptolemy, Antigonus, Cassander, and Seleucus. See; (Daniel 8:1-8).

Now out of the four horns one became prominent being the empire of Seleucus. The Seleucid Greeks occupied a stretch of land that extended from present-day Syria and Lebanon to present day Iran. The dynasty produced Antiochus Epiphanes who with his armed forces came out of Syria and invaded Israel. His name meant “god-manifest.” Antiochus was also known as “the mad man” who undoubtedly viewed himself as deity.

In light of Biblical prophecy he was a major type of the Antichrist to come. What he did in Israel foreshadowed what the Antichrist will do when his armies come out of Syria to invade Israel and defile the rebuilt Temple at Jerusalem.

The Book of Daniel tells us what Antiochus did and is also recorded in the Apocryphal books. Antiochus IV Epiphanes persecuted the Jews in Jerusalem by outlawing their religious practices and stopping the sacrifices, desecrating the Temple, and forcing them to adopt Greek customs.

He set up a statue of Zeus in the Temple and sacrificed pigs on the altar, which led to the Maccabean Revolt against his despotic reign, hence, started the seven year war between the Seleucid Greeks with the Maccabees ending in the Jewish patriots driving out Antiochus and his armies and reconsecrating the Temple (167BC-160BC). See; (Daniel 8:9-14). Today this is celebrated by the Jewish people at Hanukkah.

Gabriel came to Daniel and explained the meaning of the vision in its historical context and telescoped the vision also to encompass and apply to the time of the end, or we could say the latter or the last days of this present age (Vs.19).

In the vision clearly we see not only the historical reference to Antiochus and what he did, but also a prophetic reference to the future Antichrist and how he will duplicate or mirror what Antiochus did.

His end will come when he takes his stand against the Prince of princes (the Messiah our Lord Jesus) and will be destroyed, not by human power, but by the power of God (Daniel 8:15-26) (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

Prophetically today we have Iran, (the ram) and Turkey (the goat).” Why Turkey? In the original text of Daniel the word “Greece” is translated as “yavan” or “ionia” (Daniel 8:21; 10:20). The empire of Alexander the Great had two legs to it. You had the western part of his empire but also the eastern part of his empire which included Ionia which today is located in modern day Turkey.

In the current situation in the Middle-East at present Syria is centre stage with Turkey poised on its border with Syria to invade it because it would give Erdogan direct access to Israel. The Israelis are watching Turkey.

In Syria you have a continuous conflict with warring Islamic factions as well as dominated by the regime of the former terrorist Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani. He came to power after deposing the Assad regime. His forces were backed by Turkey and still are and treated as allies by Erdogan.

Now both Erdogan and al-Julani are Sunni Muslims, and Sunnis have always been fighting the Shiites. In fact the Sunnis are by far the largest sect of Islam that is followed by as many as 90% of the 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.

The Assad regime was Shiite as well as Iran is Shiite, and while Assad was in power Iran could move weapons through Syria to Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen and to other terrorist factions in Syria and Iraq as well. Now things have changed and we may well see Iran reduced to a regional power at best while Turkey is on the rise as the dominant Islamic power in the Middle-East.

Having said this, Iran is no longer a major power player in the Middle-East due to the Israelis and the Americans taking out Iran’s three main nuclear facilities with bunker bombs. Even though there are Iranian forces still present in Syria the real threat comes from Turkey that backs the al-Julani regime to the hilt.

Erdogan has clearly revealed that he wants to unify the whole Muslim world to fight against Israel and to capture the Temple Mount for Islam to show that his god “Allah” (in reality the Arabic moon-god of war) is greater than the Triune God of the Jews and the Christians.

Watching his latest speech it is clear Turkey is in fact declaring war on Israel and blaming them for all of the so called civilian ‘martyrs’ in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Iran. In his deep mind he really wants to have his resurrected Turkish Ottoman caliphate established with his capital at Jerusalem and he needs to control Syria first to do this.

Also Erdogan would be keeping in mind that American military personnel are present in Syria along with Russian forces maintaining bases and influence in the region following the fall of the Assad regime to the al-Julani regime. Also Israel has some military outposts in Syria near to the border between Syria and Israel and they undoubtedly are very carefully watching Turkey.

The current Israeli airstrikes on al-Julani’s military forces are to protect the Druze communities, many of which have already been butchered by al-Julani’s forces joining in with the Sunni Bedouin tribes seeking to exterminate the Druze in Suwayda with its predominantly Druze population.

Israel is the only nation in the world that has taken action to protect the minorities in Syria, the Alawites, the Kurds, the Druze and the Christians from the Islamic Jihadist butchery of all that will not submit to Islam.

All the mainstream media, the UN and the EU can do is to continuously perpetrate their “Israel bashing” rhetoric while ignoring the genocidal massacre being perpetrated by Sunni Islamic Jihadist extremists including al-Julani military forces, against the ethnic minorities in Syria especially the Druze.

At present, due to Israeli air strikes on Damascus, al-Julani military forces by and large are withdrawing from Suwayda but some are reported to be still fighting against the Druze.

While al-Julani publically says he is seeking to stabilise the situation, and even bring to justice those perpetrating the atrocities against the Druze, he does not seem to have the clout to stop the attacks against the Druze. In fact his real intention is to subject all of Syria to his despotic Jihadist agenda.

Most likely being a former member of Al-Qaeda al-Julani, under the Islamic practice of Taqiyya towards the western democracies, most certainly ordered his military forces to advance towards Suwayda and to attack the Druze, however he does not seem to be in control of the overall situation in Syria which in reality is out of control, or is it?

Al-Qaeda, is a pan-Islamist militant organization led by Sunni jihadists who self-identify as a vanguard spearheading a global Islamist revolution to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic caliphate. This ideology fits Erdogan’s ideology as a hand to a glove!

Israel is committed to defending the Druze and Prime Minister Netanyahu warned al-Julani that if his military forces moved towards Suwayda in South West Syria that there would be consequences, hence al-Julani ignored Israel’s warnings and sent his military forces to attack and kill as many Druze as possible, consequently the Israeli air force took out al-Julani’s main command centre in Damascus and slightly damaged the royal palace, as well as destroying his tanks and other armoured vehicles, even as many of them have been moving away from Suwayda.

As for the outskirts of Damascus they are already rubble. It may well be very soon we are going to see Damascus turned into a ruinous heap of rubble? (Isaiah 17:1). Things seem to be moving rapidly in this direction.

Now Iran, being Shiite, may seek to send their military armed forces as well as their elite Revolutionary Guard Corps into Syria to regain the territory that the Assad regime held when they were in power.

Assad also being Shiite, lost to al-Julani’s military forces. Also al-Julani, a Sunni Muslim, is supported by Erdogan of Turkey, who is also a Sunni Muslim that fully supports the regime as well as the Sunni Bedouins still perpetrating atrocities against the Druze.

Now, coming back to Daniel’s vision of the ram and the goat, from its prophetic perspective referring to the last days at the end of this present age, If the “ram” (Iran) attacks al-Julani’s military forces in Syria, it may well be that the “goat” (Turkey) will crush the Iranian military forces. Erdogan considers al-Julani an ally in the region and one who would undoubtedly support a caliphate that encompasses the whole of Syria and the entire Middle-Eastern region including Israel.

Once Erdogan has Syria he will not stop until he has Jerusalem and the demise of Israel as a nation. Just watching his latest vehement tirade against Israel and calling his fellow Sunnis “brothers and sisters” clearly reveals his hate and distain for Israel and fixation with establishing a Caliphate of global proportions.

Added to this situation, the Jewish Temple is underway. Preparations are continuing, but while it is a gradual process it is progressing. The Temple has to be rebuilt for the Antichrist to sit in the temple and proclaim himself as God, just as Antiochus did centuries ago whose name meant “god manifest” undoubtedly a major type of the Antichrist in scripture.

We know from Daniel Chapter 10 verses 20-21 that there is a principality over Iran at present, however, when that principality has been removed the principality over Turkey will come and unify the Islamic world to engage in an offensive against Israel, the likes of which has never been equalled in past history. We see this in the Book of Joel concerning this great army.

While Joel’s army historically and contextually described the future Babylonian invasion of the Southern kingdom of Judah, prophetically, Joel’s army will be the armies of the Antichrist, that, like Locusts, will blanket the land of Israel (Joel 1:1-4), but when God intervenes in jealousy for His Land and expresses His pity for His people Israel, this army will be driven into the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea and its stench will rise to heaven.

As the prophet Joel prophesies…

“Then the Lord will be zealous for His land And will have pity on His people.  The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I am going to send you grain (His Word) of, new wine (His joy) and oil (His Holy Spirit), And you will be satisfied in full with them; And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations. “But I will remove the northern army far from you, And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, And its vanguard into the eastern sea (the Dead Sea), And its rear guard into the western sea (The Mediterranean Sea). And its stench will arise and its foul smell will come up, For it has done prideful things” (Joel 2:18-20). See also; (Joel 3:1-3, 12-19).

If the man from Turkey is the Antichrist and his armed forces (the goat), after having reduced Iran and its armed forces (the ram) to servitude to the resurrected caliphate, and consequently invading Syria and Israel with a Jihadist Islamic army as large as a locust plague, all of them will fall on the mountains of Israel when the Messiah our Lord Jesus returns with great power and glory to once again place His feet on the Mount of Olives and proceed to subdue and destroy all of Israel’s enemies as the King of the Jews and as THE KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS who will rule the surviving nations with a sceptre of iron!  (Psalm 2:7–9) (Revelation 12:5; 19:15).

As we read how the prophecy of Joel ends… “Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations. Their bloodguilt which I have not pardoned, I will pardon.” The LORD dwells in Zion!”(Joel 3:20-21).Selah!