God Controls the Details of World Events

Transcript

GR1915
4/19/2015
God Controls the Details of the World Events
Daniel 11:1-45
Gil Rugh

We are in the book of Daniel. We will be looking at chapter 11 if you want to turn there in your Bibles. As we look into prophetic areas of Scripture we remind ourselves that we don’t interpret the Bible through what is going on in the world but by the same token as we study what the Bible says will be taking place in future days, we want to be alert to what is going on in the world.

This week, it might have been at dinner time I don’t remember but Marilyn and I turned on the news and as we turned on the news there was a press conference I guess you would call it. There speaking was the Prime Minister of Italy and at the other podium was the President of the United States. There was the Prime Minister of Italy speaking and talking about how his country is going to step up and wants to become more involved in dealings and these kinds of things. I began to make sure I hadn’t missed the rapture. When we remember the little horn who is going to come out of Italy, the revived Roman Empire and provide leadership, an insignificant unimportant person. Don’t misunderstand. I am not saying the Prime Minister of Italy is the antichrist but you see how it amazes me, 2,500 years after Daniel wrote we see things taking place that fit what he said would be taking place. And not only Daniel but other prophecies. We see Russia becoming more and more involved aggressively as United States retires somewhat, Europe steps forward, things of great importance.

We come to Daniel chapter 11. We are in the closing vision of Daniel’s prophecy. It began in chapter 10, verse 1. We talk about the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia. A message was revealed to Daniel and so chapter 10 gives you something of the context and then you come to chapter 11 and you are going to get information conveyed to Daniel through angelic means and Daniel chapter 11 as I mentioned earlier today is the most detailed, extensive prophecy we have in all of Scripture. It is so detailed that it is the foundation for those who don’t believe in future things to say Daniel could not have been written when it claims to have been written. It had to have been written much later because it would not have been possible for him to write such extensive detail. And the details are such here we are not even going to be able to work through them but they unfold.

Daniel is concerned. We are at the third year of Cyrus, King of Persia. Chapter 11 opens up: “In the first year of Darius, the Mede.” And Darius the Mede, Cyrus an identification there. Whether they are the same individual the timing for them. Darius may have been appointed by Cyrus. Some think it may be another name for Cyrus but we are at the same period of time when we are talking about these men. So the first year of Darius is the first year of Cyrus. The third year of Cyrus is the third year of Darius.

And chapter 11 opens up when it says, “In the first year of Darius the Mede.” Remember that is significant because that is when the permission for the Jews to return to the land was given under Ezra and as time has gone on Daniel’s received messages back in chapter 9 that great prophetic section that we will be going back to a little bit tonight it opens up, “In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus of Median decent.” They will refer to Darius the Mede in chapter 11, verse 1, that period of time this angel who is connected with Michael. It’s not Michael but he’s connected with Michael. Verse 21 of chapter 10 says, “I’ll tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth.” And this is truth and it unfolded exactly as God said and the portion yet to be fulfilled will be fulfilled exactly as God said. There should be no misunderstanding on how prophecy is to be interpreted. If we didn’t have any other portion but the first 35 verses of chapter 11 of Daniel for we who do believe the Bible and believe God did prophecy what would happen we see everything here happens in careful detail. It’s remarkable. God is telling Daniel what will happen. Naturally Daniel has concerns. The seventy year captivity has come to a conclusion. He came to understand that from Daniel’s prophecies but where do we go from here? What is next for the nation Israel as a remnant returns to the land, 50,000 people or so? And they are going to start rebuilding the temple, then the walls of Jerusalem but the Persians rule. They are a dominant power. It’s wonderful the Jews get to return to the land but they have no kingdom. They are just a remnant returning because the Persian king has given permission and they can start to do some rebuilding and they can do that in the context of opposition. So it is natural Daniel would be concerned about where we are going.

Let me give you an overview. This is not mine. Would you give me the chart with the kings? This came from Paul Benware’s commentary on Daniel. For some time I have been trying to decide how we are going to move through chapter 11 with all the details because even when you read it, it is hard to keep it in your mind that this king came to power and this king’s daughter married this king and then this king’s daughter did this and on it goes. God controls the details. We can be thankful that He chose to limit what He included in His Word like John would later write, “If everything was written about what Jesus did you couldn’t contain the books.” This is just an example of how detailed God’s plan is as He unfolds. This just overviews chapter 11 for you so it puts it in some kind of context.

Verse 2 on the left hand column as you have them will tell you about the coming Persian rulers, not all of them but the key ones that we’re to be concerned about. Then it’s going to jump to Alexander so you will see the dates of the Persian rulers will be from 539 BC with the establishing of the Persian Empire to 465. Then we will jump to 334. I think there are eight Persian rulers that are left out there. Then you will have Alexander the great talked about in verses 3 and 4. Then verse 5-20. Remember when Alexander dies his empire was divided into four parts. We saw this back in Daniel chapter 8, some of this same material. We are concerned about two parts. There were four of his generals that ended up dividing up his empire. He’s dead at 32 or 33 years of age. So his empire gets divided. These verses are concerned with the kings of the north and the kings of the south. So we are talking about, if you will, the Greek empire in these two portions. The king of the north will be Syria. The kings of the south, Egypt and there you have the name, the Seleucid’s and the Ptolemaic dynasty that will be contending here. The other two don’t play a role in what is being revealed to Daniel here because he is carrying the future days. They are really coming then in verses 21 to 35 to Antiochus Epiphanies the fourth or Antiochus the fourth known as Epiphanies. Significant figure because of what he prefigures. Then we are going to take a jump at the last part of the chapter to something that has yet to be fulfilled. And interesting to read what unbelievers write. They are convinced Daniel couldn’t have written this. You know, 539, around that time because there is too much detail here. So what they say, “it was written around 164 and then he just got all confused and writes about things that hadn’t happened and it makes no sense.” Now that’s a great answer. The unbeliever will go to great extent to deny truth.

We are going to jump to the future. We know we are in the future for several reasons but come over to chapter 12. We touched on this this morning when we were looking at the resurrections and judgments. In chapter 12 we have “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time.” And then there will be resurrection. We noted the resurrection of Israel, Old Testament saints and the resurrection of tribulation saints. So you can see that “Now at that time” that starts chapter 12 connects it to what is going on here at the end of chapter 11. So we know we have moved to the end time, to the tribulation time and the coming resurrection that we talked about that will take place at the end of the 70th week of Daniel.

So we see something of the scope. We are really going from Daniel’s time all the way till the return of Christ and we are going to get a lot of detail along the way. It will carry us to Antiochus the IV, Epiphanies because he in many ways prefigures the man who is the antichrist. Antiochus the IV, Antiochus Epiphanies as we usually refer to him is not a major figure. He dominated, ruled in that region, Syria and sometimes controlled Palestine and tried to control Egypt but was thwarted in that from 175 to 164, a ten year period. He’s a minor king but he stands out for his vile treatment of the Jews, causing the death of tens of thousands, his desecration of the temple of the Jews. So in that sense he prefigures a coming figure that is the antichrist.

So as you look into Daniel chapter 11 I just touch a little bit here. You will see chapter 11opens up, “In the first year of Darius the Mede I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him.” Now there is some discussion on “an encouragement and a protection for him,” for whom? Is he talking about Darius or is he talking about Michael since Michael came to help the angel as he was bringing a message to Daniel remember and the demonic angel with the responsibility for Persia under Satan was preventing him. Michael came. So some say this is coming to work together with Michael. Either way the point would be the same. God is using Darius. He used him to provide for the Jews to return to Jerusalem. We know the spirit world going on behind. There is spiritual conflict going on as we talked about in chapter 10 between the angelic forces of God and the angelic forces of the devil which we know of as demons.

So as we talked about in chapter 10 there is this spiritual battle going on behind the scenes of what we see as the devil works to try to frustrate the plan and program of God but God even uses the sin of man and the sin of the devil for the carrying out of His purpose.

So verse 2 says: “Now I will tell you the truth.” Remember verse 21? “I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth.” Verse 2 of chapter 11: “I will tell you the truth.” Jesus said in His high priestly prayer in John chapter 17 in His prayer to the Father, “Your Word is truth.” And when God speaks, it is truth. He is the God who cannot lie. That is why everything He has said is sure. And we have full confidence that everything He has promised for the future that is yet to be realized.

“Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them.” And if you put that back up again you will see the four kings here. Cyrus and you have in parenthesis, Darius because they are either the same man or they are working together, Darius being under the authority of Cyrus but you have one king there. Then you have Cambyses, you have Pseudo Smerdis and then you have Darius the first. Pseudo Smerdis if you are looking for a name for one of your kids that hasn’t been used recently, he only ruled for seven months and so some have gotten confused because they don’t include him in the list since he had a rule of seven months and they have a hard time then getting this fourth important king but he is a king for seven months. Then you have Darius the First. Then you have Xerxes and Xerxes is the high point of the Persian Empire and we are familiar with him because we have read the book of Esther and he’s king Ahasuerus, another name for Xerxes. So, like I said, it’s the epitome of the Persian Empire, wealth, power. There are kings that follow him but the point is not to give every detail of coming history but highlights that enabled Daniel to get some idea of how some events are going to be unfolding. There was some conflict with Greece as Persia tried to conquer Greece and caused great depths of feeling among the Greeks against the Persians that will be vented when Alexander the Great has opportunity. These feelings we see like in the Middle East that run deep and run long and that would be true there.

And then you have verse 3. We are going to move on to the Greeks. So Daniel has gotten something of an idea of how the Persian Empire is going to proceed but again if Daniel unveiled every detail how many volumes would our Bible contain? So He is just giving Daniel an idea. He has already revealed to him succeeding empires in chapter 2, in chapter 7 and now He just fills in some detail of kings that will be involved here.

When you come to verse 3 and 4 you have Alexander the Great and that was a natural transition because Xerxes tried to conquer Greece and did great damage there. “Then a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases. But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass.” And that’s what we have already seen earlier in Daniel chapter 8 where Alexander the Great as a relatively young man who has conquered much of the known world, dies and as a result of the fighting and conflicts that go on ultimately four generals divide up the empire, four points of the compass though not to his own descendants. The four generals weren’t of Alexander’s family nor according to his authority, and they won’t have. Now you have each of those had, so to speak, a quarter of the kingdom so they don’t have the same power Alexander did, obviously. He was the sole ruler of the whole empire. His sovereignty will uproot it and give it to others besides them. So that sets the stage.

Then we can come to a more extensive section, verse 5-20 and you see the dates. That will carry us from 323 to 175 B.C. and this will be the kings of the North and the kings of the South. So verse 5: “Then the king of the South (that’s Egypt and you have the Ptolemaic Dynasty, you see kings of the South there) will grow strong along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion; his domain will be a great dominion. After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to carry out a peaceful arrangement.” So then you have the king of the North, that Seleucid Dynasty and you start here and you get into amazing detail that if you don’t believe God is giving the information, you can’t believe that this was really written as a prophecy. The daughter of the king of the South is going to be married to the king of the North for a peaceful arrangement but it won’t work out. I mentioned this chart comes from Paul Benware. He will give you somewhat of a summary. If you want a more detailed unfolding of this in a way to follow almost all the commentaries will walk you through the details but John Wolvoord’s commentary, revised by Charles Dyer, Wolvoord did it years ago but it’s been updated and in that along with the explanation they have two or three pages where they’ve put in parallel columns the verse or verses and then the fulfillment of what king this was so it helps you track it. For a while I made copies of that and tried to figure out how we would put this all on slides and then I came to my senses and thought I would just tell you, “read it in the book because it gets too small if you put too much on it.” But, just reading through one of the commentaries it will amaze you and remind you we have a sovereign God who controls the details. That is encouraging to me.

If we have a God who is not in control of the details how can He control the major events? I mean, you know if you study history you know how many things happen that it seemed like it was something minor that became something major. God is in control of the details. Remember He called Cyrus by name 300 years earlier in Isaiah’s prophecy so He is a God of great detail. Everything is under His control so that is what we are seeing here.

So you have this whole thing going on. He talks about verse 7: “One of the descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come forth against their army and center the fortress of the king of the North.” History unfolds how all of this is.

1st Maccabees contains some of this. That is the apocryphal books between the testaments unfolds some of the history. That is why we have it recorded there while they are not inspired, particularly 1st Maccabees is pretty reliable history. There is a 1st and 2nd Maccabees. 1st Maccabees history is a more reliable account but that is where a lot of this detail comes. So you can get a copy of 1st Maccabees and read it there as they wrote it after the event or during the time.

On down it comes. We are not going to come down. We are going to come all the way down to verse 21 and verse 21 we have “a despicable person will arise on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.” And as you read the history of this what happened, Antiochus Epiphanes was in Rome as a hostage if you will and the son of the king. When the king dies, the king of North, really his son gets sent to Rome as a hostage and Antiochus Epiphanes comes back and ends up taking over. He is a vile, wicked person. He has an extreme hatred of the Jews and many are familiar with the account and it’s recorded and you read it in some of the commentaries and so on but in the battle with the king of the South he wanted to come down and this then brings the Roman Empire into the Middle East because Rome is ascending to power. So you have Antiochus the IV, remember we talked about this earlier in Daniel but he is ascending now and this battle between the king of the South and the king of the North is constantly going back and forth and now Antiochus the IV is more powerful and he is coming down into Egypt but the king of the South has called for help from the Romans. That brings someone into the area that you don’t want there but now they are there and you are familiar with the account.

The Roman general who knew Antiochus Epiphanes from when he was in Rome but now the Roman general is there representing Rome tells Antiochus Epiphanes he has to stop and go back. Rome is not going to have potential trouble with Antiochus developing a larger empire. Antiochus Epiphanes does what is recorded anyway, reported to be true. It may or may not. That he would have to think about it and the Roman general took a bamboo stick and drew a circle in the sand around him and said fine. You have until you leave the circle to give your answer. Well, it is humiliating for Antiochus the IV. So he can’t take on Rome so he goes back up through Palestine and vents all his vengeance and fury on the Jews and the desecration of the temple, the sacrificing of a pig and all of that takes place. So then the account breaks off.

So you come down to verse 35 and you have a transition here that gives you some indication that we are going to move forward in time. And there have been breaks in time we saw between the Persian Empire and Alexander the Great but here is going to be a great break in time.

Verse 35 says: “Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge, and make them pure, until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.” You have an expression toward the end of verse 36, “until the indignation is finished.” In verse 4 it starts, “At the end time.” Then you come down into chapter 12 which is not you know, a great chapter break because it is “Now at the time” that he has been talking about so it continues on down through verse 3 of events that take place in connection.

So there is really this last vision that carries us from Daniel’s day down until the establishing of the kingdom and we saw that in Daniel chapter 7; an overview of earthly empires carrying it to the establishing of the Messianic Kingdom on earth. The end of Daniel chapter 9, the last part of it we had the seventy weeks of Daniel flowing out.

So verse 36 I take it: “Then the king will do as he pleases,” and like I say even those who say that the first 35 verses were written sometime around 64 after these happen there is just no correlation to anything in history carrying on that they can say fit the rest of the chapter. So they say the person writing it just filled it in without really you know, having the real knowledge of what would take place but we know God has as He does the Old Testament jumps forward. Here we are going to carry it to the close of time.

Would you put up the chart on the seventy weeks again, Steve? Remember we have looked at this chart numerous times. This is the seventy weeks of Daniel. Seventy sevens literally coming out of Daniel chapter 9 and we noted those are seven year periods and we looked through the reasons for that and so on. Starting in 444 B.C. coming down to the Messiah there were 69 weeks and come to Palm Sunday before the crucifixion and we noted in Daniel 9 after the 69th week Messiah will be cut off. It didn’t say in the 70th just one of those windows because we are going to come into the church age and we noted that period we have put in color here does not appear anywhere in Old Testament prophecy so it is not surprising that Daniel would jump down to this last seven year period in the prophecy being given to him. We are going to jump from Antiochus Epiphanes who is a pre-figuring if you will by the exaltation of himself by what he does in the temple, of desecrating the temple; so this individual.

Now we jump down and we are going to be at the 70th week of Daniel from verse 36 and following, the individual we saw in chapter 7 as the little horn. Come back to chapter 7, verse 8. We had the empires starting with Babylon coming to Rome. Verse 8: “I was contemplating the horn, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the root; behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth uttering great boasts,” and so on and that carries us to the kingdom, verse 13 and 14, the kingdom that Christ will establish.

So in chapter 9, verse 24 that is where we had the 70 sevens “decreed for your people and your holy city.” If we don’t read into passages like this the church, the confusion will be kept out. This is for your people, Daniel, the Jews, your holy city, Jerusalem. Six things would be accomplished we noted there he says. Then after seven weeks and then after 62 weeks, verse 26, the 62 weeks was after the seven weeks. So “after a total of 69 weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city.” That is how we know he is a Roman. That’s why I said when I turned on the news and watched the Prime Minister of Israel speaking and he’s, I don’t say this disrespectfully, but he’s a little nobody standing next to the President of the United States yet he is talking about what they are going to do to contribute and someday there will be a little horn who will come, an insignificant person. This person will come, “will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Antiochus Epiphanes the IV did that and that just gives you a little preview of what the ultimate antichrist is going to do. “He will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.” And that is what marks the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel. It doesn’t follow just on the 69th week. It’s the signing of that covenant. “In the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering.” We will say more about that in a moment. “On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate.” And when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place we saw in Matthew 24, even earlier today.

So we are going to jump ahead. Not unusual in Old Testament prophecy. We have gaps. I’ve revealed what is significant and this whole church age doesn’t appear because these prophecies are for Israel and Jerusalem, not for the church. That is why Paul says the church is a mystery revealed to him. So that period of time is not there. So when you collapse that well Daniel has already had information on the 70 weeks so the fact that we are going to jump up here within that framework, you have an end point in chapter 12, verses 1-3 so you know you are at the end. So how much has been left out Daniel would have no way of knowing.

Okay, back to Daniel chapter 11, verse 36. We are at the time of the end. This is the end for Israel, that last seven year period. “Then the king will do as he pleases.” So one of the titles we take from this passage for the antichrist is the willful king, II Thessalonians 2, he’s the man of lawlessness. In the first epistle of John he is the antichrist. From Revelation 13 he is the first beast out of the sea. Different titles are given to him through Scripture but referring to that individual and revealing his character.

“He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods.” He is going to be the worst of the worse. The tribulation that takes place during his reign will be the worst the world has ever seen and he will be the worst man that has ever ruled. He will not only want to put himself in the pantheon of gods like Antiochus did, he set up with the worship of Greek gods or some of the Roman emperors that wanted to be included among the gods. This man is going to want to be viewed as the only god, the only one worthy of worship. “He will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.”

That’s why we as believers don’t wring our hands at what is going on in the world. Don’t get frustrated and shout at the TV when we are watching political activity do we? I am not confessing and you are not either but we remind ourselves. What is decreed will be done and the things to be done, the indignation will be finished. People criticize us even in the evangelical world for taking the Bible literally. That makes us pessimistic. So we don’t try to help improve the world. We are not doing kingdom work. We talk about that again and again. The kingdom is yet to come. It will come by the divine intervention of Christ. This will go on that long.
“He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers.” King James translated this “the god of his fathers,” it is Elohim, not Yahweh, a covenant name of God. It sometimes could be used of God and so some have taken this that he will be Jewish because it is talking about the god of his fathers, capital “G,” maybe he’s Jewish but we saw in chapter 7, he comes from the nation that destroys Jerusalem in 70 A.D. it’s Rome. I take it this is the right translation as they have it in the text in the New American Standard and other modern translations have also done this. “No regard for the gods of his fathers.” In other words, in contrast to others who have lived he will not recognize other gods.

Like I say, Antiochus Epiphanes with his maniacal view of himself but he still wanted to exalt the pantheon of the Greek gods. That’s true with some of the Roman emperors as things proceeded but they saw he will not recognize any other god. We will see more about that in a moment.

“Or for the desire of women.” There has been different ways this has been looked at, an objective genitive or a subjective genitive. This “what women desire” or “have no desire for women.” I think probably in the context here it just shows, no god, no respect for perhaps the Messiah, the Savior God has provided just showing the ultimate opposition because that standpoint desire of women in the Jewish context would be the Messiah. He’s just centered totally on himself. “Show no regard for any god; for he will magnify himself above them all.” That is the point. He is god. That is what it comes to. “He will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones, and treasures.”

I think the point is here, the way we use it in the expression, “might makes right.” I know we live in a day as if we could only have peace and if we make these adjustments and make these concessions there will be peace. There will be no peace. So what he does is build the strongest military might and pours all the resources into it and we should learn empires come and go and how do they come? Because they are stronger than the other empires and how do they go; because they get weaker than another empire that comes on the scene. It goes on. Men think they can create peace, they can’t. I think that is what he is talking about here. “He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him, and he will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.”

Here is a man and we see this in minor ways. You know, the Russian ruler and people who live close to him live well. We can use him as an example. It would be true of other kings that have been rulers. That is the way it is. He assembles power because he shares what he has with those around him, those that reinforce his power. That is just fallen man at work empowered and enabled by Satan in a greater way than ever before.

“At the time of the end the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them, and pass through. He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand; Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.” These are the trans-Jordan regions, the other side, the Eastern side of the Jordan River, the land of Moab, Edom, and Ammon. Some of you have visited some of that area. You go over to Jordan, you go down to Petra and those are the regions we are talking about. Other prophets prophesied that this would be a place of refuge for the Jews.

I think what you have pictured here, the seven years begins with the antichrist signing an agreement. I remember Revelation 6; the first horseman of the Apocalypse comes riding on a white horse but not with any arrows and it seems that it is a peaceful conquest. Here you have a man, he signs an agreement with Israel, assures the peace of Israel and for the first three and a half years things are going on. We know the temple will be rebuilt. Now it could be rebuilt before the tribulation. All we know is that by the time we get to the middle of the tribulation the temple is present, sacrifices are being offered and so on. So perhaps it is rebuilt as a result of this covenant and their seeming peace under the protection of this man. Remember, he rose from among ten kings that have been joined together in that revived Roman Empire and becomes a dominant figure. He’s a little horn to begin, insignificant, seemingly unimportant but a person of magnetic personality, enabled to accomplish things because Satan is working. This is his man.

It seems what perhaps might happen, what we are talking about here toward the middle of this,
things unravel. It could be here. When you talk about the king of the North and the king of the South that referred in previous parts of the chapter, remember to Egypt and the South, Syria in the North but now could be carrying that ultimate picture of the alliances that would go from the North and the South, the same kind of operation. It could be here.

Come back to Ezekiel 38. There is discussion, where does Ezekiel 38, 39 fit. All who take a literal interpretation of prophecy put it in the last days in the context of this seven year period. Some put it at the beginning, some put it in the middle and some put it at the end. I still am most comfortable with putting it in the middle. But some of these events we are told about when they happen as we precisely worked them out we try to fit them with other things. It could be the events of the king of the North and the king of the South as the alliance talked about in Ezekiel 38 where you have an alliance of peoples, I take it aligned with Russia from the ultimate North than other allies mentioned here, including a country like Persia, modern day Iran and other nations joined together. We have talked about this so we are not going to go into it.

When will this take place? These will come, verse 6 “from the remote parts of the North” and these nations have joined together, squeaked down and they experience destruction. And if you flip back, keep your finger there a moment and you flip back to Daniel 11, he will enter countries, “He will enter the Beautiful Land and many countries will fall.” As the result of his covenant when the attack is launched against Israel, not so hard to think that could happen these days, is it? But there will be a covenant that will give Israel the sense that everything is okay. But it won’t be and when that attack comes he has an agreement. So an attack on his allies is an attack against him so he moves to marshal his armies and come into the Middle East but the armies of Ezekiel 38 and 39 are destroyed by God on the mountains surrounding Israel so now he comes into the land and he is total power. So that is a possible fulfillment.

If you go back to Ezekiel 38 you note this will happen, verse 8: “In the latter years” when the Jews, at the end of verse 8 “are living securely.” Verse 11: “when they are at rest, they live securely.” Down in verse 14: “They live securely.” At the end of verse 11: “They are living without walls and no bars or gates.” In Biblical times the defense of a city were the walls, the gates. So it indicates they in affect have disarmed and I take it that would fit the first three and a half years where Israel is so confident in this agreement and it is part of God’s decree that Israel will be deceived as part of the judgment God is bringing on them and so they are able to channel all their resources and the support of the western alliance. They can now have their temple to worship.

I looked in my file again at the article from many years ago from Time magazine from the place in Jerusalem where they have been making the garments and the items that will be necessary to use in the temple when it is rebuilt. So the desire is there but in the middle now with the armies that were potential, a balance of power so to speak, removed, the antichrist is ready to unveil his true character.

So you come back to Daniel chapter 11 before we jump out of here quickly. You see you read down through the chapter, see what happens and you come to chapter 12, verse 1-3. Remember there were no chapter breaks when this was written.

So “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard.” You have great tribulation. So this whole time here what we have just been reading about beginning in the middle of that seven years and the last three and a half years is the time so terrible.

Just on your way I want you to go to Matthew 24, verse 15. If you don’t get here I will read it. “Now therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, (let the reader understand)” don’t even take time to go back down into your house to get an extra coat. That is how quickly persecution is going to break out. I mean it is going to be night and day what has happened here.

Now you know when that abomination of desolation standing in the holy place the temple has to have been rebuilt, right? It is the holy place. You see the desecration that it was somewhat prefigured in a rather minor compared to what is about to unfold on Israel at the end. Here the desecration of the temple, verse 21: “Then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now; nor ever will be. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved.” And we have talked about and you read in the book of Revelation, millions and then billions of people dying. Unless Christ intervened at the end of that seven year period the world would be overwhelmed and doomed. Nobody would survive. And then you come to the Second Coming and we’ve talked about these two chapters this morning.

Come over to II Thessalonians 2; just a reminder of these, verse 3 encouraging them. Don’t think because the Thessalonians were a persecuted church but he wants them to know and don’t let any false teachers deceive you or anybody who writes a letter saying it is from the Lord, the end of verse 2, “that the day of the Lord has come.” You are not in the day of the Lord. He talked about that in chapter 5 of his first letter. “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.” So other names for this antichrist, the little horn, the willful king, the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction. “Who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

So you see the sacrilege. Why is it that people are drawn to Israel, to Jerusalem? Why doesn’t he set himself up in Rome or Washington, or Brussels, Jerusalem because the devil is trying to establish a counterfeit kingdom to try to oppose God’s plan to establish a kingdom.

Verse 7: “The mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do as until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.” We know it is yet future. The Lord hasn’t come. The Spirit of God is restraining. I take it that restraint will be removed when the Spirit is removed in the way He came at the rapture of the church.

It doesn’t mean that the Spirit of God is not present. He was present from day one of creation. The Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters but in the way He came on Pentecost He will be removed and that is sign, an indication God is letting the program that He has established and that Satan wants to carry out in trying to destroy the Jews God’s plan is to use that to bring judgment on the Jews, to bring them to their knees and this “one is coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them, a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false.” The day of grace has passed in one sense. People are still going to be saved by the grace of God but there is going to be a world-wide delusion such as has never been seen before. God is bringing upon an unbelieving, rebellious world the judgment for their rebellion.

Come over to Revelation chapter 13. We are right on schedule. Chapter 12 talks about the middle, remember that war in heaven? We are half way into the tribulation. Verse 6, Israel, the woman pictured here, gave birth to the Messiah, “will flee into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God.” What did we read about? Edom, Ammon, Moab, that region, the Transjordan, the Western side of the Jordan. That is the place in the wilderness God has prepared. That is a refuge for them. They would “be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days,” three and a half years. “There was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon” and the dragon loses his access to heaven. “The great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels with him.”

You know we have talked about this. The devil has access to heaven. He’s lost his position but he’s not lost his access, Job chapters 1 and 2. There came a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and the devil came among them.

“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down.” Heaven realizes we are at the last act. We are three and a half years away from the return of the Lord.

Verse 13: “When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child;” now the persecution. If he can annihilate the Jews the kingdom prophecies of God cannot be fulfilled. Satan wins. You say, he knows he can’t win. Didn’t he read the rest of the book of Revelation?

Isn’t it something about sin? They don’t give up. Why hasn’t every sinner bowed before the living God and placed his faith in the salvation provided in Christ? Haven’t you read what He said is going to happen to you if you don’t? You’ll read what He will do for you if you do? It makes no sense. It never makes any sense. Sin makes you stupid. We do things that make no sense. Satan is a sinful fallen being. You say, hasn’t he read what is going to happen back here. Read chapter 19 Satan. You know where you are going? Read chapter 20. It makes no sense. It will be my way. You know the song, I did it my way?

So the dragon attempts to destroy the woman, then chapter 13. “I saw the beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads,” and we looked at this study earlier with Daniel and this beast coming out of the sea is the antichrist. It is the willful king, the man of lawlessness, the little horn. And here we find out he is wounded, killed in battle because he’s brought back to life, who else? This is Satan’s counterfeit to the death and resurrection of Christ and they worshipped the dragon. “And the whole earth was amazed, they worshipped the dragon, they worshipped the beast. There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months” the last half of the 70th week of Daniel “given him to make war with the saints.” Then you have “those who dwell on the earth will worship him whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who has been slain.”

And then you have the second beast of Revelation 13, the false prophet who imitates the ministry of the Holy Spirit and he directs the worship of the world to the antichrist. Verse 12: “He makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. And he performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven and was given him to perform in the presence of the beast these signs given to him to give breath to the image of the beast.” So this image they make of the antichrist set up on the temple and then what? The beast that calls it to life. Could this be any other but the living God that can make an image out of gold or silver or precious stones and then make it come to life? Any wonder the whole world is going to fall down and worship? That is where we are in Daniel 11.

So Daniel has gotten a little bit of an overview carrying him to the end times and the worst is yet to come for this world. Why has God delayed? “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth.” He is a gracious God. He is a patient God. He had His son come to provide salvation. Now He says I give you the free gift, eternal life in My Son. I withhold judgment on this godless world for another day so you can hear and believe. That is what is going on and gives us another day to tell people these are days of God’s grace, God’s salvation. We are not pessimists. Ultimately all creation will end up under the authority of our Lord and Savior. I tell you the future of the world and the unbeliever is bleak. I am not a pessimist, I am a realist. Judgment is coming on this unbelieving world. That is why we are not trying to rescue the world and lift our culture up. We are here as the song says, rescue the perishing, and bring the message of life to the lost to shine as lights in the darkness calling men to salvation. Today is the day, repent and believe.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the riches of Your Word. We are in awe of Your greatness, Your power. Lord for us as Your children it is a great comfort to be reminded, You are sovereign, You are in control. Your decrees are being accomplished. The sin of man, the opposition of the devil and the demons cannot frustrate Your purposes and plans. You are a God to be feared. You are a God of judgment. You are a God of wrath but You are a God of love, mercy, patience, kindness. I pray that we who have come to know Your grace in salvation would be bold in these days to tell those lost and on their way to destruction that there is deliverance, that there is salvation, there is a Savior and may we be urgent. May we be about Your business anticipating the coming of Christ to call the church into Your presence, we pray in Christ’s name, amen.