Antiochus Or Anti-Christ?

Q

I appreciate the time you take in answering questions. I imagine you get millions of them. I have a question concerning Daniel chapter 8. I heard many people use that as a reference to anti-Christ especially the part that says “by peace he will destroy many”. I see no reference to anti-Christ but only Antiochus in that chapter. Am I correct?

A

The angel Gabriel gave Daniel the interpretation of his vision of a ram and a goat (Daniel 8). In verse 17 he said it concerned the time of the end and in verse 19 he specifically placed it at the time of God’s wrath. He then explained the vision, identifying the Ram as representing Persia and the Goat as Greece with the large horn being Alexander. Then in verse 23 he switched to the End Times. He closed by saying the 2300 evenings and mornings (Daniel 8:14), which most commentators apply to Antiochus and the Maccabees, was correct but that the vision was ultimately for the distant future (Daniel 8:26). Therefore Antiochus has to be a partial fulfillment who points us toward the anti-Christ, of whom Antiochus was a clear type, or model.