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Daniel 11-12

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11/24/1991
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Daniel 11-12
Daniel 11-12
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27 Daniel - 1991

Daniel is a book of history as well as prophecy, and it contains one of the most awesome and detailed predictions in the entire Bible. Skip Heitzig examines the backbone of Bible prophecy.

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Daniel 11-12

Now there are those who I believe have Dalmatian theology, which means they believe the Bible is inspired in spots. It's not all inspired, they say. The red letters, they're pretty good. I would tend to believe those, these people might remark. But there are those parts of the Bible that I don't consider inspired.

Of course, the next logical question are which ones, and who makes the decision? You have to be pretty arbitrary when it comes to making a statement like that. And basically what you are saying is, I believe the ones that I like. The ones that I don't like, especially the ones that are threatening to my lifestyle, I choose not to believe.

You won't get anywhere with that, but there are those who espouse it today in liberal churches across our country, saying that Daniel didn't write the Book of Daniel. We've covered some of this in the past. But Daniel chapter 11 is one of those places where the critic has a tough time because in Daniel chapter 11, within 35 verses, 135 detailed prophecies are fulfilled, and they have been fulfilled in history.

And so the skeptic has made up all sorts of fanciful explanations as to why this has occurred, the most notable being the late dating theory of Daniel-- which says that Daniel was not written by Daniel, but it was written by somebody during the Macobean period, or the period between the Old and the New Testaments-- except we have documentation that goes before the intertestamental period that has the book of Daniel within it, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, which predates the Macobean period, and others.

They have a tough time with this. But the issue-- rather than did Daniel write it, did John write this, and who wrote that-- the big issue is with God. If God is God, then God is omniscient. If God is omniscient, than God is omniscient about the future as well as the present. If he is all powerful, he can predict, either in generalities or in specific detail, things that are going to happen. And it shouldn't astonish us that God can do that. If you really know this omniscient God of which we speak, he is all powerful. He can do anything he wants to.

And I thank God not only for his omniscience, but for his patience with unbelieving man. You know, if I were God, I'm convinced I wouldn't have the patience level that our God has. You can thank God that I am not God. I would see a puny little man shaking his fist at me. I would observe insignificant, finite man trying to argue me out of their existence, and I would probably just want to say, you guys are history, and I'd wipe them out.

God is far more patient than I am, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God's a patient God. Well, in Daniel chapter 11, as we saw last week, you can slice it into two, the first part being conflicts of Israel's past, the second part, from verse 36 onward, conflicts that Israel will face in the future.

If you have been with us, there is a key chapter to this book. It's called Daniel chapter 9. And in Daniel chapter 9 is the key called Daniel's 70 weeks. The 70 weeks is the lens through which we view chapter 11. The first part of chapter 11, verses one through 35, deal with Israel's conflicts during, principally, the first 69 weeks of Daniel 9, or the 483 years predicted by the angel.

There is a final period of Israel's history. And I want to underscore that because I believe sincerely that if the average Christian could get under his or her belt the plan of Israel in the future, they would not be confused as to what the tribulation is all about. They would not be confused as to is it pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib. And the real key element is that many Christians are basically ignorant of Israel's plan in the future that God has for them. Thus they find a difficult time piecing scriptures together.

Daniel's 70 weeks, as the angels said, were determined upon Daniel's people, the Jews, and the holy city of Jerusalem. Are there other nations involved? Certainly. But it principally surrounds and centers upon the nation of Israel. We've already seen in last chapter how that behind the scenes of every battle on earth, every conflict on earth, every disagreement, there is a battle going on in heavenly places. And the Christian needs to be aware of that.

Paul said, we don't wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in high spiritual places. He spoke of demonic conflict. Now that conflict in the heavens can often spill over and result in conflict upon the earth. But we would again be ignorant if we didn't see that much of what we see in the world today stems from spiritual warfare that we cannot see with our eyes, the invisible war, as Donald Grey Barnhouse described it.

One of the most significant spillovers of that war in the heavens is with the Jewish nation. God said, whoever touches you, the nation of Israel, touches the apple of my eye, and God intervenes. We've seen some of that conflict in chapter 10. We will see more of it in chapter 11 as we unveil, in Daniel's 70 weeks, detailed processes regarding nations, how they relate to Israel, and specifically anti-Semitism.

Now I've said this before. It does bear repeating. All forms of prejudice are evil. They're sinful. Whether a person would be prejudiced against blacks or Hispanics or whites or Chinese, or different income level people, or different people with accents, that's wrong. Anti-Semitism, however, is in a category unto itself in that anti-Semitism is specifically fueled by the devil.

Why? Because Israel has always had a plan, in the mind of God, for several things. God planned that the Messiah, first of all, come through the nation of Israel. All of the prophets came from Israel. The scriptures that you read-- Old Testament comes from Israel. New Testament, most of it, comes through the Jewish nation, people who are Jewish, people who wrote it. So we have a lot to be indebted for. Yet God has a plan for the Jews in the future.

Now someone once put it to me this way. If God's plan of salvation required the existence of a nation and the continuance of that nation, if somehow you could obliterate that nation, you would have defeated God's plan. That's a good premise. That's very accurate. And I believe that that has been Satan's premise all along from the beginning of creation, even up till now and well during the tribulation period, because God made a promise that through the seed of the woman-- which is a contradiction in terms. The seed comes from the man-- but the seed of the woman, the Messiah would come. The seed of the woman could only happen if somebody was born through a virgin birth.

The Messiah was predicted. From the time Messiah was predicted, Satan started his counterattack, trying to kill the seed of the woman so that the Messiah couldn't come. The first instance was when Cain killed Abel to kill the godly line. God had another plan, raised up Seth, and the godly line continues through Seth. Attacks continue to be made by the enemy.

And probably the best thing that Satan could think of doing is just corrupt the whole mess of the human race so that God would be so angry that he would obliterate all of them, and he did, with the flood, except for eight. And that except for eight you can thank God for, because if God wiped out everybody, including Noah and his family, God could not fulfill his promise that through the seed of the woman, the Messiah would come. You have to maintain lineage somehow.

It continues till we recognize that this unique seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be the lineage through which God produces his promise to the world and all the nations of the earth are blessed. And as the children of Israel begin to populate down in Egypt and are well taken care of, a pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph. And in persecuting the Jewish nation, seeking to kill all of the Jewish males, was Satan's attack to obliterate the seed of the woman.

It continues on. I could cite, time after time in the Old Testament, in the royal house of Judah, through the lineage of David, when Saul tried to kill David, so on and so forth, that Satan counterattacked to stop the event of salvation from coming to pass until we get to Bethlehem, when I believe, again, Satan inspired Herod to kill all of the Hebrew children, the young boys two years and younger in Bethlehem, again, to get the seed of the woman.

But we've brought this out so many times it doesn't bear going into too much detail. But God was able to preserve, through the Jewish nation, his plan of salvation, his thread of prophecy and revelation. That's why the Christian today can thank God for the Jew. We have a lot to be indebted for, as Paul said. And that explains why so much anti-Semitism has existed and does exist, because it is Satan's desire to bring emnity upon the object of God's love. He said, well, what's the big deal with the Jew? Are they better than anybody else?

Oh, no. In fact, you could say, on the contrary. I think God chose the Jewish people to prove his grace. And he decided they would be a great example of his unmerited favor because they've blown it many times. In fact, God told them in Deuteronomy, don't think I chose you because you are greater or more in number than anybody else. I just picked you because I decided to love you. I love you because I love you, not because oh, you were so wonderful, I just couldn't pass you up.

And see, that's the doctrine of election. God chooses you not because he couldn't pass you up. He just marked you out in advance, knowing you'd respond to his love, and he decided to set his love upon you.

We get into chapter 11 and we've seen some of the first part-- oh, I thought of something. There was a neighborhood. I think it was back on the east coast. A very populated, wealthy neighborhood. Multimillion dollar homes being put on specialized property housing development. And at first, just a few Jewish people moved into the community and started building their homes, and then more and then more until pretty soon the neighbors were getting agitated that the Jews were taking over.

They got a little angry, and they decided to get a neighborhood coalition to stop the Jews from building in the neighborhood. Well, there was a local Protestant pastor who decided to take advantage of the situation. And on his billboard, when often churches will say what sermon they're going to preach Sunday, the next Sunday he was going to preach on how to get rid of the Jews. Well, that marked everybody's attention, perked up their ears, and the church was packed that Sunday, including several Jewish people and the local rabbi. And he was angry.

But the pastor decided that this would be his text. It was marvelously engineered. Thus says the Lord-- this is out of Jeremiah-- who gives the son for a light by day and the ordinances of the moon and stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea and the waves' roar, the Lord of Hosts is his name.

If those ordinances-- the sun, moon stars-- depart from before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from becoming a nation before me forever. Thus says the Lord, if heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then also I will cast off the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord.

That's what he began with. And the rabbi sighed a sigh of relief and thought, it's OK, boys. It's OK. You see, what he was getting at is God was saying never, no matter what Israel does, will I forsake them. I will continue my plan through them. And this is precisely the point where many theologians and many Bible-believing Christians get messed up. They believe that because Israel rejected Jesus, that God rejected Israel.

Well, just read Romans 9, 10, and 11, and you will see contraire. God still has a plan. And that's important when you get to the seven-year tribulation, or the last week of years. It has to do with Israel, primarily. Yes, God judges the world through tribulation, on and on. But he's bringing out a remnant to fulfill his promise. And if we goof up on that, we'll goof up prophetically.

All right. Chapter 11. We'll peruse it. The first part, as we discovered last week, deals with the kingdoms of Persia and Greece. And we mentioned Xerxes and Alexander the Great. We covered that already. In verse 5, the angel who is giving this message of the future to Daniel focuses now upon two further nations, two divisions of Alexander the Great's empire. Remember we said in versus three and four, the angel was predicting the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great.

We also discovered several times in this study that the kingdom was divided into four sections, and his four generals took it over. And you can see on your sheet. We've given those names to you already. Cassandra, Lasimicus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. Well, the angel in verse 5 focuses upon two of the divisions of Alexander's empire. The two are Egypt, or the Ptolemaic dynasty, and the Seleucid dynasty, or Syria, because for many years these two nations hated each other's guts. They couldn't get along, and they had perpetual warring one with the other.

And so you see the reference in the next several verses to the King of the North, the King of the South, the King of the South, the King of the North. And it's the Seleucids against the Ptolemys in several successive wars, in several successive kings, until we get to verse 36. Then we see a twist on it.

But it says-- let's read a few of the verses. The King of the South shall become strong. This is probably Ptolemy I Soter-- It's written on your sheet-- as well as one of his princes, and shall have gained power over him and have dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion. And indeed it was. He became very strong. The Ptolemaic empire swelled under his dominion, and he decided to go to war.

And I just lost my place. Oh, here we are. And at the end of some years, they shall join forces, for the daughter of the King of the South shall go to the King of the North to make an agreement, but she shall not retain the power of her authority. Neither he nor his authority shall stand, but she shall be given up with those who brought her and with him who begot her, and with him who strengthened her in those times. But from a branch of her roots, one shall arise in his place who shall come with an army, enter the fortress of the King of the North, and deal with them and prevail.

Now I am not going to read all of these verses. I have given you a sheet which describes where what things fit in. And I could recommend to you several commentaries. Gleason Archer, Daniel by loophole, which describes in detail the breakup of the kingdom, the fight against these people, the daughter Bernice, who is brought and killed and so on and so forth. But I'll let you do that on your own. I think it would turn into such an extravagant history lesson that we'd lose everybody.

Suffice it to say, as you can see, all of these versus, the detail that is given. Now the question naturally arises, why so much detail? Why does God spend a whole chapter, or almost, going into such detail? Well, there's a few answers. Number one, because they affect the Jewish nation. Every one of the Kings of the North and the Kings of the south, when they had a battle, who was in between them? The land bridge of Israel. They often crossed each other and fought in the Plain of Megiddo. Or they crossed through Israel and fought in Upper Egypt.

And every one of the battles, every one of the emperors, touched somehow Israel. And the battles of the past are significant because they foreshadow a greater battle with the nations of the world in Israel in the future. And so because they touch the Jewish nation, they're written about in such detail.

You know the survival of the Jews is a miracle. It really is. It is God's miracle. Can you name any other nation who has survived against all odds? You can't name one. You can't name another nation who was displaced a few times from its homeland, who, after a couple thousand years, was brought back, who, after that long a time, never lost its original language. Most nations that are taken into captivity are assimilated into the nation that took them captive. Eventually they become part of that nation.

But Israel, after thousands of years being scattered all over the world, was brought back, scattered again in 70 AD, and after 2000 years brought back. And we see the mandate still happening as Jews from Russia are flooding in Israel today. No matter what the PLO, the Arab neighbors, and even our own president says, they're still coming, fulfilling the prediction of scripture that they would be brought back.

Queen Victoria had a Prime Minister, and she said-- knowing he was a Bible-believing Christian-- she said, show me one verse in scripture that proves the Bible is true, one passage of scripture, one anything. And he simply replied, the Jew, Madam, the Jew. You want something that proves the word of God and the veracity of scripture. It's God's promises to the Jewish nation and how he's kept them over time against all odds.

And so we see the detail continue. Another reason the detail is given in these verses is because it will give us a base to speak about a Seleucid King named Antiochus Epiphanies. Time and time, verse and verse again, we read about the Seleucid King, King of the North, against the Ptolemaic king, the King of the South. They fought, they did this. And the prophecies have been fulfilled.

But it's a base to show you a great King, Antiochus IV, who persecuted the Jews unlike any other persecutor in Jewish history except maybe Adolf Hitler. And he performed what the Jews called the abomination of desolation, something that happened historically in the past. But that becomes a foreshadow of another abomination of desolation under the Antichrist.

And I think there's a third reason, and I think it's pretty obvious. Why so much detail? Just to show off God's track record. You know, God often used as his calling card prophetic scripture. And he challenged the gods of the nations around. He said, OK, boys. Let's get together. Let's have a little deity showdown, shall we? Can you predict anything in advance and have it come to pass with the detail that I can? And God challenged the nations to produce one deity that could come close to him. None could.

And so we have the track record, which should cause us to rely upon God. Again, I say every time I study scripture, it causes me to say, Lord, if you are that powerful, what do I have to be worried about? Oh, I've got a debt. I've got a rent to pay. I don't know if God's big enough to handle that. Really? The God who moves armies, the God who shapes his will through history, he's not big enough to take care of you? If he can take care of the little birdies in the air-- and they don't worry, Jesus said. You don't see a little bird out there with a hardhat on, and I've got to go to work, and I'm so worried, sweat pouring down its little beak.

Said the sparrow to the robin, I would surely like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so. Said the robin to the sparrow, friend, I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me. Oh, we get so anxious, don't we, instead of seeking first the Kingdom of God. But as you go through these scriptures, you marvel, if you have any sense at all, that God is big enough to take care of you. And it will cause you to trust in him.

135 prophecies in 35 verses. That's staggering. Dr. A. Casey Morrison, who served on the board of the New York Academy of Sciences, proved an experiment of odds one time that illustrates this important point. He said, if you could take 10 pennies and mark them one through 10 and put them in your pocket, or put them in a jar, put them wherever, put them in a bag-- and they're marked consecutively one through 10. You put them up, you mix them up. And then you reach in your pocket and you make a prediction. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm about to pull out penny number one. What are your odds?

One in 10. There's 10 pennies. You're going to do it the first time. But every time you take out a penny and you make a prediction-- I'm going to take out now penny number two and penny number three-- you exponentially decrease your odds so that if you could pull it off and pull out one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 contiguously, your odds would be one in 10 billion that you could do that, making 10 predictions.

Now if I did that in front of you tonight, you'd probably think you fixed the odds. You fixed the game. You did something. You cheated. Well, God didn't cheat. In a sense, he did. The game is fixed. He has foreknowledge. He already knows the plays in advance. It's sort of like you watching a game on television. Or you were live at the game, better yet. And the next day it's televised, and you're in the living room with your friends and you say, guys, let's make a little bet. All right. Now I bet that this guy's going to take the ball, and he's going to knock that other guy down, and he's going to make a touchdown. I'll bet you $150,000. All right, all right.

Well, you cheated. You saw it first. God has foreknowledge. That which is future is past to him. It's done. He lives in the eternal now. He doesn't have, well, it's-- OK, almost 8:00. He doesn't live like that. He doesn't need to. He's not confined to the time, the space domain that you and I are on, the continuum that you and I are. He's not confined to that. And so this is peanuts for him to predict, with detail, these things.

That's his track record. The game is fixed. He knows in advance what's going to happen. Well, we go through these verses, and verses 10 through 19 discuss the third part of this kind of five-phase unfolding episode, the Kings of the North fighting the Kings of the South.

And we get to an interesting part, now, of the division. In verse 20, there shall arise in his place one who imposes taxes on the glorious kingdom. But within a few days he shall be destroyed, but not in anger nor battle. And in his place shall arise-- verse 21-- a vile person, creepola numero uno, Antiochus IV. In the dynasty of the Seleucid kings, Antiochus IV was a great persecutor of the Jewish nation to whom they will not give the honor of royalty. But he shall come in peaceably and seize the kingdom by intrigue.

He illegally seized the throne from his nephew. He made himself the ruler, and he gave himself a name, Antiochus, Theos Antiochus, Theos Epiphaeas, which basically means, I am God in human flesh, like it or not. Needless to say, he was a ruthless dictator. He had a short fuse. He had ambitions of controlling the world. And Antiochus decided nobly that he would take the torch passed on from Alexander the Great, his predecessor, and follow through with it.

Now Alexander had a dream to Helenize the world, or to make it Greek, to impose Greek language, Greek customs, Greek culture on every people that he conquered, and he conquered the known world. Well, he failed. He died. His four generals took over. Antiochus, in the lineage of the Seleucid kings, decided, you know, I'm going to follow through and make all of the nations of the world Greek. And he succeeded, pretty much, in his little domain, with the exception of one stubborn group of people.

Guess who they were? The Jews. The Jews were stubbornly dedicated to God. Even in their backslidden condition they had a reverence for the scripture that said they must write by hand every single letter and then count up the letters on the page. And if letters and the markings of the letters didn't match, they would throw the page away and start all over again. They had such reverence for the word of God. And they were stubbornly dedicated to the God of their fathers.

And so he didn't succeed in that, and that caused tremendous persecution. Well, in verses 21 and 22 describes his rise to power. And verses 25 through 28, his invasion and victory over the King of the South, or Egypt. Look at verse 27. Both these kings' hearts-- oh, let's go back to verse 25. What the heck. He shall stir up his power and his courage against the King of the South, the Egyptian King, the Ptolemaic Dynasty with great army. And the King of the South shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army. But he shall not stand, for they shall devise plans against him.

Yes, those who eat of a portion of his delicacy shall destroy him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. Both these kings' hearts shall be bent on evil. And they shall speak lies at the same table.

I should mention to you a couple of things. There was a time, before Antiochus Epiphanies ever was on the scene, that there was a guy named Antiochus III. Antiochus III fought also against Egypt. You know, these guys just battled it out sort of like a soap opera, year after year, generation after generation. And at one strategic point, when the Syrian troops were defeated by the Egyptian troops, because Antiochus III was so ambitious and he was so prideful, there came a time, after several years, that Antiochus III decided I'm going to try it again, but this time I'll bring allies. And he even used the Jews, and the Jews rally behind Antiochus III.

And by rallying behind him, they defeated the Egyptians, which brought the domination of the Syrians over that empire. The Jews did not know what they were doing. They basically paved the road for persecution in the future. Had they known what was going to happen with Antiochus IV, they never would've done it. They would have let the Egyptians take over. But it was predicted and it happened.

But verse 27 I find interesting. It sounds to me very much like a modern peace conference. And when I see what's going on with the peace in the Middle East and the conferences they're having, I think you will, too. Both these kings' hearts shall be bent on evil, and they shall speak lies at the same table. That's an interesting kind of a phrase. They're at the negotiating table, and they're both speaking lies.

Sounds to me very reminiscent of many modern day peace conference. You know in the last 3,100 years, 8,000 formal peace treaties have been broken by nations after signing them? So big deal. Let's say they all get together over in the Middle East. They shake hands, they give each other a little kiss on each cheek. Brother, and they sign a peace treaty. Oh, boy. Like that's going to make a big difference.

So many have been broken in the past. I mean, yes, let's make steps to peace. But from my surmisal of what has gone on in the Middle East-- I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. I have been to Israel 14 times. I did live over there for a while, and I've traveled to other Middle Eastern nations. In February I plan to go to Baghdad.

From what I know of both cultures and what I know of the Palestinian West Bank situation, I do not see hope. I do not see Israel giving up land for peace. No way, Jose. Their posture is no more land for peace. We tried that. We gave you the Sinai. We told you to stay out of the Battle in '67. You didn't do it. It's ours now. We'll give you peace for peace. We won't hassle you. You don't hassle us. No, we want land for peace. Not going to happen.

And the neighbors of Israel are not going to be that excited. There's still going to be this cold, and in some cases, a real hot antagonism against Israel in the future. All right.

They shall speak lies at the same table, but it shall not prosper. Now Antiochus Epiphanies, in some of the battles and negotiations he was having with Egypt, one time, on the way back from Egypt, went through Israel, naturally. But he heard there was a riot in Jerusalem. So he went to Jerusalem to quell the riot. And in doing so, he desecrating the temple on one occasion. This was not what they called the abomination of desolation. He just desecrated the temple.

Well, let's go on and you'll see it predicted. Verse 28. While returning to his land with great riches, his heart shall be moved against the holy covenant. So he shall do damage and return to his own land. At the appointed time he shall return and go toward the south, but it shall not be like the former or the latter, for ships from Cyprus shall come against him. Therefore he shall be grieved, and return in rage against the holy covenant and do damage.

So he shall return and shall regard for those who forsake the holy covenant, and forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress. Then they shall take away the daily sacrifices and place there the abomination of desolation.

Now this is what happened. Antiocus IV, like his buddies, was very arrogant. He thought he could do anything. So he went down to Egypt again and decided, I'm going to push my weight around. Forget the negotiations. This time, outside of Alexandria, Egypt, the Roman armies had gathered together and basically stood up for Egypt. They didn't want a war. And they said, Antiochus, buddy, if you get in a battle, you will then proclaim war on Rome and Rome will plop proclaim war on you. And we're going to just make you dust.

Well, that put him on the spot because everyone's looking at him to see what decision he's going to make. In fact, the Roman general drew a circle in the sand around Antiochus. He said, step over that circle, buddy, with your sword, and you just declared war. You're a dead man. That put him to shame. He lost face in front of his enemy.

In rage, he returns to Syria, going through Jerusalem, decides to take out and vent his anger upon the Jews. They wouldn't conform to Hellenistic culture. Let's just smash them. And he did. He killed 80,000. He took 40,000 in captivity to Syria. He desecrated the temple. He put a statue of Zeus in the temple instead of the altar that was there for sacrifices.

He took a pig, unkosher meat, the abomination to the Jewish people, sacrificed it on the altar of sacrifice, burned it, spread its juices around the temple, put Syrian harlots running around the temple, proclaimed that anyone who had a copy of the scriptures would be put to death, commanded that the Sabbath be stopped, that the feast to be stopped.

Josephus tells us of women who defied it. They were killed. The women had their children killed in front of them. There was two women who had a baby each, circumcised their children. Antiochus Epiphanies found out about it, killed each baby before their mothers' eyes, put each baby around the mother's neck dead, and had the mom marched through every street in Jerusalem, and finally flung her over the wall into the valley to be killed.

He was just ruthless. And he becomes a foreshadow of the beast, the man of sin in the great tribulation period whom we non-technically call the Antichrist, the one who is opposed to Jesus Christ and his plan. Verse 32 says those who do wickedly against the covenant, he shall corrupt with flattery. But the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits.

This is a reference to Judas Maccabeus. Every village had an altar put there by the Syrian government. You had to worship the false gods at this altar. There was a village outside of Jerusalem, the village of Modine, filled with Hasmonean priests. And the Syrian army marched into Modine one day and commanded that a sacrifice be made and people worship at this altar.

And a man by the name of Mattathias was singled out from the crowd. And the Syrian administrator said, OK, eat unkosher meat. He said, I refuse. I won't do it. And another man stepped from the crowd, said, I'll do it. And just as he was there to eat unkosher meat at the sacrifice, Mattathias took out his sword and killed the traitor and killed the officer from Syria on the horse, and killed several of the men, and began what the Jews still call today their great liberation, the Macobean Revolt.

His five sons succeeded him, doing great exploits. The principal figure was his son Judas, the hammer, Judas Macobeas. And he succeeded in driving out and crushing the Syrian forces, re-establishing worship in the temple. And as the legend goes-- we don't know how accurate-- there was one container or cruse of oil found for the lighting of the menorah. They didn't have candles back then. There was oil cups. There was one day's worth of oil.

The legend says, miraculously-- and it could be true, knowing God. He's a God of miracles-- miraculously, that one day's worth of oil lasted for eight days. And so they call it Hanukkah. Hanukkah, the festival of lights. And so today you will see Jewish homes celebrating the crushing of Antiochus Epiphanies by putting out what they call a Hanukkiah.

Now people ask me this all the time, so I want to just answer this question. Sometimes you see this configuration behind me, this little lamp stand. It's got seven on it. That's a menorah, not a Hanukkiah. It's a menorah. The menorah was what stood in the holy place of the Jewish temple. That's a model of it. But it has candles this time. It's probably about five, sox feet tall. The Hanukkiah, which has nine spaces, celebrates the festival of lights, Hanukkah, the festival of dedication of the temple.

And so you'll have eight spaces for burning oil, and you'll have a ninth little cup which is the server cup. And each day you light a candle till you have all eight of them burning. And so if you see that in Jewish homes, that's a Hanukkiah. They celebrate at December 25 the festival of the dedication of the temple or of lights.

That was what verse 32 refers to. Those that know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. And those are the people who understand, shall instruct many. Yet for many days, they shall fall by sword, flame, captivity, plundering. Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help. But many shall join with them by intrigue, and some of those of understanding shall fall to refine them, to purge them, to make them white until the time of the end because it is still for an appointed time.

The Macobean Revolt, many were killed. The Jews were purified. But there is still something that is going to happen at the end, the appointed time for the end. Remarkable. Within 35 verses, 135 predictions that have been fulfilled historically. And if you're a skeptic, I challenge you to look up the dating of Daniel by some reputable scholars and see if your mind isn't fried, or at least blown, at the end of that.

You know, in the Jesus movement-- and it still continues. Jesus is still moving. It wasn't a one-time event. But in what has been called, in the '60s and '70s, the Jesus movement-- which I had the privilege of seeing part of in California-- there was lots of talk about Jesus coming for his church, the rapture of the church, the last days prophecy.

And as time went on and Jesus didn't come back within two or three weeks, like some expected him to do, there's a few people who got discouraged. And when you talk about it today, oh, I've heard that so often, for such a long time. You don't expect me to believe that.

I once heard of a man who bought a barometer. It was his lifelong dream to buy this special, expensive handmade barometer. He lived in Long Island. One day he saved up the money, bought the barometer, took it home. He took it out of the box. He was so excited. Made out of cherry wood and brass. Oh, it was just-- it was a killer barometer. I don't know who'd get that excited about it, but he did. And in those days it was a big deal.

He took it out, but he noticed that it seemed that the needle was stuck into the position reading hurricane. He thought, oh, what's wrong with this thing? Nice day outside. He hit it a little bit, shook it around. It did free up. So he decided he would write a nasty letter to the store that he bought it from and the manufacturer. He wrote the letter the next day, traveled into Manhattan, mailed the letter-- got my business done-- only to come home that night, finding that not only was his barometer missing, but the house in which he lived was also gone. It was right. A hurricane had come and wiped out that portion of Long Island.

And you know, Jesus hasn't come yet, since '73 or '75. Hey, praise the Lord. Some of you wouldn't know Jesus Christ if he would haves come back during the time that many of us wished he would and were mad at God because he didn't. God is patient, long-suffering, not willing that any should perish. And the Bible says God is waiting for a full number of non-Jewish believers-- Gentile believers, Roman says-- to come into the fold. And then at that time, the full number, whichever it is, the last person, it will seal up that number, God knows. And God will begin once again, through the 70th week of Daniel, his prophetic program with the nation of Israel specifically.

And you know, you might be-- I mean, maybe, maybe not-- but some of you in here tonight, or one of you, might be that last holdout. And we thank God that he is Terry. But if you're the last holdout, you better surrender your life to Jesus Christ so that we can get the show on the road and get busy with kingdom work and see what God has for us in the future.

Verse 36 seems to be a long gap. There are prophecies in the next several verses that don't seem to fit historically anywhere. Though it speaks about the King of the South, they don't seem to fit Antiochus Epiphanies. In fact, Antiochus has been called, up to this point, the King of the North in opposition to the King of the South of Egypt. But now there is a distinction between this new person, this king, that verse 36 introduces and the King of the South and the King of the North. There is a distinction between them.

Look over at verse 40. At that time of the end, the King of the South shall attack him, and the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind. There's three different figures, unlike the previous that we have read. That's important for you to note because though some people disagree, and would say that this really does refer to the past-- Antiochus-- many more scholars say no, it cannot fit.

It seems that Antiochus was like a shadow, a prediction, a foreshadow of someone who would follow in his footsteps with hatred against the Jews in the future. And if you read the rest of the scripture, he fits perfectly the prediction of the Antichrist spoken of by Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 7, Daniel chapter 8, Daniel chapter 9, revelation chapter 9, revelation 13. We could go on. It seems to fit.

Then the king shall do wickedly according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every God, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished. For what has been determined shall be done. He shall neither regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any God, for he shall magnify himself above them all. This is the difference between Antiochus and the Antichrist.

Yes, Antiochus gave him the fancy name, I am God made manifest. But he never commanded people to worship him. He went into Jerusalem and erected a statue not of himself, but of Zeus. The Antichrist will set a figure of himself and command the world to worship him as opposed to anyone else. He won't be into organized religion. He'll be very self-willed, and he will exalt himself. He'll be self-determined. And probably that's why many people will be so attracted to him because in these days, the doctrine of self has become the number one principle doctrine of this world, especially this country. We are now exalting self-determination.

And it seems that for some reason, public enemy number one is low self-esteem. In other words, we exalt pride. And the Bible says, in the last days, men will be lovers of themselves. And men who love themselves, and who are very self-reliant, very macho-- I don't need anybody else-- will be attracted to a leader who's like that, the Antichrist. They'll fall hook, line, and sinker for him. But in their place, he shall honor a God of fortresses-- he'll be a military man-- and a God which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things.

You know, we could spend three weeks from verse 36 to 45, but we won't. If you want to chase that down on your own, there's several books and things you can get. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign God which he shall acknowledge and advance its glory, and it shall cause them to rule over many and divide the land for gain.

Verses 40 to 45 speak about how he is challenged and destroyed. This is the good part. And at the time of the end, the King of the South shall attack him, and the King of the North shall come against him. Like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, with many ships, he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown.

But these shall escape from his hand, Edom Moab and the prominent people of Amman. That's the Jordanians. And if you wonder why I fly into Jordan all the time, maybe this will give you a clue. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the Land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver and over all precious things of Egypt, also the Libyans. That's an interesting one. The Ethiopians shall follow at his heels.

But news from the east and the north shall trouble him. Therefore, he shall go out with a great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain-- which probably means his headquarters would be in Jerusalem-- and he shall come to his end and no one will help him.

Daniel's 70th week, or the seven years of tribulation, is divided into two. The first part he'll make a peace treaty with Israel. He'll join himself to the people of the covenant. He'll say, OK, boys, you can build your temple. And it could be that he will solve the mideast problem between the Arabs and the Jews, something that Baker, Bush, any of these guys have not been able to do, that somehow he'll come up with a solution that's suitable. He will be the head of the re-established Roman Empire in Europe.

In the middle of the tribulation period, he breaks the deal that he made with the Jews, and he begins persecuting them, and he chases them out of their land. And he sets up an image of himself in the temple, Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians. He sets himself above God or all that is called God. And he commands that the world worship himself.

It seems from these verses that he will make an alliance with Egypt and her allies, the King of the South at that time. Egypt will play a prominent role, probably as an ally. It says in verse 44, as he's making great military waves, but news from the east and the north shall trouble him. Therefore, he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. He'll hear of the massive armies we read about in Revelation from the east, from China, and from the north, from the Soviet area, coming down, gathering themselves against Israel.

He said, why would the Russians have anything to do with Israel? Well, you know that the five lower states to the lower left-hand part of Russia called Central Asia, they have one thing in common. They're all Islamic. And one of them-- Kazakhstan, I think it's called-- is the fourth most powerful nuclear power on earth. I don't know if you knew that or not. One of those Soviet states is the fourth largest most powerful producer of nuclear weapons on earth.

And could it be that the sword of Islam, in alliance with Libya, in alliance with Iraq, and some of those common enemies of Israel, will be the hook in the jaws of the Soviets to bring the army down into Israel like Ezekiel 38 tells us? Says that great hordes will come down from the north against Israel. The Antichrist hears about this, and he's furious. He's angry. And he has a surprise waiting for him.

He shall place the tents of his powers between the seas and the glorious mountain-- here's the best news-- yet he shall come to his end and no one will help him. He'll be startled as the nations of the world gather together against Jerusalem, Zachariah chapter 12 and 14 tell us. And then they'll hear a noise, and they'll look up. And they'll see a guy named Jesus Christ with the armies of heaven coming down to not get involved in a war, but just to wipe them out.

And if you want some further information, you might want to read tonight Revelation chapter 19, where he comes with his vesture dipped in blood. It's not his own. It's theirs, the blood of his enemies. As he comes to take judgment upon the nations gathered against Israel, again, that nation, the apple of his eye, that he would still use for his prophetic plan in the future. He will come to his end and no one will help him. No one will help him.

OK. 10 minutes. 13 verses.

At that time-- now we've ushered in-- we're in the tribulation period. It's during that time-- Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. It seems, as I read the Bible, that this prince named Michael is like God's hit man. It's like the A team. When God wants some damage against the kingdom of darkness, he just kind of sends Mr. M out to get them. And Michael, he's this archangel. He's the only one in the scripture, Jude 9, called an archangel. And it could be that his voice is what we'll hear at the rapture, the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, and the dead and Christ shall rise first. We'll get to hear what he sounds like.

But notice his job. He's the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. So he protects the Jewish nation. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time. And at that time, your people shall be delivered. Of course, you could cross-reference what we've already read before in Matthew 24. You don't have to turn to it. Let me read it.

Therefore, when you see the abomination future of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. And let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the house top not come down to take anything out of the house. Let him who is in the field not go back to take his clothes. Woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days, and pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath. If you've ever hung around Israel on a Sabbath, you know the impact of that command.

For then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. It will make every other war, every other conflict pale in its presence. And so the conflicts of the past from chapter 11 up to verse 35 of chapter 11, is a pale reflection of what will come in the last or the 70th week of Daniel, a time of great trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time.

That's an incredible statement. If you're familiar with world history and world wars and the damage that has been done by wars, to make a statement like that-- that never was since there was a nation-- that's an incredibly profound statement. And Revelation tells us that billions of people during that time will kill each other and will be killed in judgment. Everyone who was found written in the book, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Now for your interest, that's the first time the word everlasting life is used in the Bible, though the concept is not new. It's the first time the phrase is used, but the concept of living forever is not new. Abraham believed in the Resurrection. When God said, go take your son and put him on Mount Mariah and kill him, Hebrews 11 says he did it by faith, accounting that God was able, even, to rise him from the dead. Job believed in the Resurrection. He said, I know that my redeemer lives, and that I will see him one day upon the earth.

And even though--and he was very graphic-- after the worms eat my rotting flesh, yet in my flesh I will see God. He believed in a physical Resurrection when he would see his messiah. He believed in it. The concept is not new. The phrase is introduced here. Those who are wise-- you want to be wise? Listen to this-- shall shine like the brightness of the firmament. And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

It seems a direct reference to those who, during the tribulation, become teachers of the word and evangelists, the 144,000. But if you want to be wise, listen to that verse again. You will lead many to righteousness. You know, the world honors the rich and famous. And it seems like a star will arise in Hollywood, and he'll be big stuff. Or some kind of an athlete will arise, and the people of the world rally around him. But after a few years, they forget about him. It's amazing how quickly musicians and actors and actresses fade from the scene. I think especially musicians. It's such a short-lived glory.

But God honors those that the world despises, that no one ever hears about. And God lets them shine forever. Now do you want to shine for just a brief period of time before the world, or do you want to shine forever? And I think a good illustration of that is the 4th of July. Oh, we love to buy fireworks, and we display them, or we go to the fairgrounds. Wow, oh, ooh, ah, wow.

But hang around at the fairgrounds for about an hour or so afterwards. Keep looking up. And you'll notice stars that have been there since God flung them into his universe. That's something to ooh and ah about. Those fireworks are so short-lived, those stars keep shining. And so it is spiritually. You can make a splash in this world, and it'll be a temporary splash, and you might be some big thing around your friends. They might think, wow, you're really tough, or ooh, you're really wonderful.

And you can live for that. There are people who live for the adulation and the praise of men. It's such a short-lived, vain, weak, tasteless thing to live for. But if you live for God-- you seek first the Kingdom of God, if your life is sold out to him-- then you'll be his star. You'll be on his walk of fame. It won't be a little thing in Hollywood that'll be crushed and burnt and destroyed. It'll last forever.

But you, Danley-- Daniel. Danley. That was his nickname that the angel gave him. They were friends, you see. But you, Daniel, shut up. Oh, he didn't say that. Let me finish it. Shut up the words and seal the book. Until the time of the end, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. Daniel, literally, preserve the book for a latter time. Not put it away, but preserve it for a latter time, for many will run to and fro, and knowledge will increase.

Now I know a lot of people pull this out, and it could have application to the fact that people are able now, in these days, to run to and fro, get on an airplane, go to another state, to another country quickly. And knowledge does increase very rapidly. But if you take it in context, it's speaking of prophetic knowledge. Many will go back and forth with an emphasis upon this sealed up prophecy of Daniel. And knowledge about it will increase.

And that's an interesting way to look at it. If you look at church history, folks, and you see the emphases of different periods of church history-- you see that during the apostolic time, the church was concerned about upholding the d.a. and the humanity of Christ. During the Nicene period, they were interested in upholding the doctrine of the Trinity and church government. During the Reformation, salvation by grace through faith.

But it seems in the last 15 years, 20 years, the emphasis of the church has been prophetic. There has been an incredible amount of literature written about prophecy, and much about Daniel's prophecy. There seems to be an emphasis, a looking forward, unlike any other period of church history, as an emphasis. Many will run to and fro, and knowledge shell increase. And I, Daniel, looked. I, Danley, looked.

And there were two others, one on this river bank and the other on that river bank. What river is he talking about? The Tigris River, where he's at over in Babylon. And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, how long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be? And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half a time. That's Hebrew reckoning for three and 1/2 years.

And when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all the things shall be finished. Although I heard, I did not understand. I can't blame him. I said, my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.

Now think of that, and think of looking back. Daniel was looking ahead. He didn't know what it meant. Looking back through all of history, seeing how Daniel has been fulfilled, the picture unfolds beautifully. Using Revelation to compare it with and other texts of scripture, the understanding becomes clear.

Many shall be purified, made white, refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.

Now we have a bit of a problem here. And I'll try to make it quick and understandable. In the scripture, Tribulation is seven years. Divide it up into two segments, three and 1/2 and three and 1/2. That's pretty basic. Three and 1/2 years, time, time, and a half a time, three and. 1/2 if you calculate it in months, that's 42 months. And the Bible gives us, in some places, 42 months as the number for half of the Tribulation, known as the Great Tribulation.

If you compute that in days-- and again, prophetic days go to the Babylonian year of 360 day years rather than 365 and 1/3 day years. If you compute it out, it's 1,260 days.

Well, we have a problem. There's an extra 30 days here. 1,290 days. A, it could mean that the abomination of Desolation to the end of the Tribulation it will be 1260 days, and there's an extra 30 days left over for judgment, which I'll explain in a moment. Or the counting is from 30 days before the actual abomination of desolation occurs, and they're counting from the announcement of the Antichrist that he will come in and take over and set the image up and be in charge. He will announce the abomination a month in advance. And so it's counted from that time.

I don't know. And frankly, I don't care all that much. It's an incidental. It's something, by the way, that fills volumes of literature. Why is it that some people decide to write on speculative literature rather than what is known? I don't know. But a lot of it's sealed up. And you know, the angel said, Daniel, go away. Sort of like when the disciple said, are you, at this time, going to restore? It's not for you to know the times and the seasons the Father put in his own power. Bug off. Don't worry about it. I've got work for you to do in the meantime.

But it gets more confusing. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the 1,335 days. We got another 45 days. So a 75-day period. Now it could be that judgments take place. The Bible speaks about a few different judgments. The Bema seat of Christ, which you'll be judged for what you do as a Christian. But there will be a judgment. There will be a great white throne judgment which occurs after the 1,000 years, after the Millennium. And the first Resurrection of the believers is before that. The second one unto death for the unbeliever, or the second death, comes after the 1,000 years.

And it could be that that 75-day period is the judgment of Israel and then the judgment of the nations of the world on how they treated Israel. Matthew chapter 25 talks about how the nations of the world will be judged for how they treated my brethren, the Jews. And he'll take and separate the nations as sheep from goats. And the nations, in Greek, means Gentile nations, apart from the Jews.

So it could be that there is a period of judgment between them. But go your way-- verse 13-- till the end. For you shall rest, and you will rise to your inheritance at the end of days. There's another possibility. It could be that during that period there'll be a cleanup crew to clean up Armageddon as the blood flows for 175 miles throughout the land of Israel.

Several possibilities. You can get tech if you want to on any of them. But all I know is that at the end of 1,335 days, man, the Millennium is going to kick in view. After the tribulation, after the judgment, 1,000 years of peace on earth, and Daniel will come again. And he will be stoked to see what God has in view.

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8/25/1991
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Daniel 1
Daniel 1
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9/1/1991
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Daniel 2
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9/22/1991
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Daniel 3
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Daniel 4
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Daniel 5
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Daniel 6
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Daniel 7
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11/3/1991
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Daniel 8
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11/10/1991
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Daniel 9
Daniel 9
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11/17/1991
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Daniel 10
Daniel 10
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