Bible prophecy mentions Greece. The Lord predicted in the book of Daniel that the kingdom that would follow Babylon would be Medo-Persia and then Greece. The following prophecy was made 200 years before the time of Alexander the Great:
Prophecy
“Look! there was a male of the goats coming from the sunset upon the surface of the whole earth, and it was not touching the earth. And as regards the he-goat, there was a conspicuous horn between its eyes. And it kept coming all the way to the ram possessing the two horns . . . it proceeded to strike down the ram and to break its two horns, and there proved to be no power in the ram to stand before it. So it threw it to the earth and trampled it down . . . but as soon as it became mighty, the great horn was broken, and there proceeded to come up conspicuously four instead of it” (Daniel 8:5-8).
Then, the angel Gabriel explained the prophecy about Greece to Daniel saying: “The ram that you saw possessing the two horns stands for the kings of Media and Persia. And the hairy he-goat stands for the king of Greece; and as for the great horn that was between its eyes, it stands for the first king” (Daniel 8:20-22).
The Goat
The “goat” represented Greece (v. 21), that is, the Macedonian Empire (Daniel 7:6). Alexander the Great was the great horn, the “first king” of that world empire. His empire was to replace the Persian Empire (Daniel 8: 5–8; ch. 7:6). It should be added, that the phrase “it was not touching the earth” represents the the astonishing speed and completeness of Alexander’s conquests.
And the Scriptures foretold that “as soon as it became mighty, the great horn”—Alexander—would be “broken.” Four generals would replace him (Daniel 11:4). Alexander became king empire of Greece in 336 B.C.E. And he defeated the great Persian King Darius III within seven years. He also expanded his empire until he died in 323 B.C.E., at the age of 32. Then, his four top generals—Lysimachus, Cassander, Seleucus, and Ptolemy—“proclaimed themselves kings” after him and took over the Greek empire.
Alexander the king of the Greece empire fulfilled other Bible prophecies during his expansions. For instance, Ezekiel and Zechariah, who ministered in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., predicted the ruin of the city of Tyre. (Ezekiel 26:3-5, 12; 27:32-36; Zechariah 9:3, 4). The prophet Ezekiel specifically foretold that the stones and dust of Tyre would be placed “in the very midst of the water.” Alexander’s army built a causeway from the mainland to the island and used the stones and rubble from Old Tyre to do it during the siege of New Tyre in 332 B.C. Thus, he fulfilled this prophecy.
The New Testament
And in the Christian era, the Word of God, mentioned Greece and the effect of the gospel on the Greek people, their conversion, and their faith in the Lord (Mark 7:26; John 7:35; 12:20; Acts 6:1; 9:29; 16:1-3; 17:4; 18:4; 20:2; 21:27-28; Romans 1:14; 10:11-13; Galatians 2:3, 16-19; 1 Corin. 1:22-24;12:13; Colossians 3:11).
The Hellenistic Jews were usually most fervent about their faith, in comparison with many of the Palestinian Jews. These Greeks came from far places to worship at the temple in Jerusalem, whereas to the local Jews, the temple too often was a familiar building (Acts 21:27, 28). In addition, the New Testament mentions several times the ten Hellenistic cities called the Decapolis (Matthew 4:25; Mark 5:20; 7:31), which secular history and archaeology confirm existed.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
