You’ve probably seen the gorgeous mosaic from Pompeii. Focused, tanned, bold Alexander the Great zeroes in on a terrified Darius II of Persia. Darius seems to be urging his charioteer to cut and run from the Issus battlefield. The heroic and inspirational message is clear. Dedication, courage, focus and energy are the key to victory.
Are they? With no disrespect to that list of virtues you might try reading Daniel 8:5-8 for the true key to victory. Glance up at the map above and notice that Greece lies to the west of Persia. The Greek he goat, furious with the Persian ram for its invasion of Greece, charged down on the enemy. Alexander the Great, the notable horn, led the charge. The ram was seen standing beside a river. Look back up at the map of the battle that opened up the land of Israel to the invading Greek, the battle that led to the New Testament being written with the incredibly precise Greek language, isn’t that a river the Persian is standing beside? Daniel 8:5-8 is history now. It was a prophecy when written over 200 years before the events it describes. At that time Greece was a rabble of independent city states and Belshazzar sat on the Babylonian throne surrounded by 70-foot walls that towered up to 300 feet above the plains around.
So, when the Lord works in us the courage, focus and energy necessary for a spiritual victory, who will get the credit—the servant or his Lord?