Daniel 8:8-14. In Daniel's vision the he-goat which has become very powerful has its horn break and from it four new horns grow "toward the four winds of heaven." Out of one of these sprouts a small horn which grows greater and greater until it actually reaches the host of heaven and casts down some of the host and tramples them. "Itt magnified itself, even up to the Prince of the host;" and the continual burnt offering of heaven was taken from the Prince and his sanctuary overthrown. Through the transgression, the host and the continual burnt offering are given over to the giant horn "and truth was cast down to the ground, and the horn acted and prospered." Daniel hears the voice of holy one then ask another how long this will go on. The answer is "for two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state."

I have so many thoughts! First, the he-goat, as powerful as it is, is not the ultimate evil. Instead, the ultimate evil springs from him. Not directly, but his horn breaks and brings forth four new horns and one of them actually sprouts the horn that destroys the sanctuary. This showns us that when we give ourselves over to wickedness or the pursuit of power, challenging God's supremacy, we lose control over what may come of it (which, by the way, is also true for giving ourselves over to good, but the outcome is very different). Wickedness gives birth to things like the horns - not something we directly create or control, but rather things that spring from each of us and grow and fester in their own way, using our very selves as their source but really just feeding off of us. If instead of wickedness we are pursuing good, then instead of cold, dead, bony horns, we produce fruit: living, life-giving effects and outcomes. In either case we have no real contol over what springs from us (we rarely see the full effect that our actions and words have on people and the world), but what we are doing and pursing actually creates either horns or fruits. And these things prosper as they are fed by us. So we should be concerend with what we are allowing to grow from us and prosper in the world. If it is fruit, it will continue to give life to us and to the world - this is the power of love, of God. This is a good example of how we are always participating in creation, directly or indirectly.

Second, the little horn that grows to be the one to overthrow the sanctuary does so by magnifying itself. That is, it sees nothing of value outside of itself - it has become its own god through pride. When fed well with the evil acts, influence, and guidance of others and the world, the self and the ego can become very powerful. Since this horn represents Lucifer, an angel, it already was very powerful, so it's magnification of self creates a creature powerful enough to rob the Prince of heaven of his continual burn offering and his sanctuary; powerful enough to cast truth to the ground.

This is an image of the Fall, and the establishment of Satan as the prince of this world. As awful as all of this is and as much suffering and death as it has caused, it is not the end. We know this. God, the creator, is of course more powerful than any of his creatures. Lucifer could never magnify himself to in any way challenge God's supremacy overall, but he could and did magnify himself to challenge God's plan for us in the "short-term" by flattering our pride and egos and thus getting us to agree to go along with him. And to us, the "short-term" is all of time and history, unfortunately.

So we are in this fallen world to which, in the fullness of time, the Prince of heaven actually came to save us. And we know there is an end date to all of this suffering, to the reign of evil - "two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings" until the sanctuary is restored. We don't know how this time is counted or measured, but we know that the holy ones in heaven speak truth, which has been trampled here in our world.

So we have hope, secure in the knowledge that God will prevail and all will be restored to its proper order in the end, due to the sacrifice of the Prince of heaven, which countered the transgression of the Prince of this world. Evil may be prospering, but its days are numbered.