History in Exile (Daniel 11:1-45)

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Good morning church, you can go ahead and grab your Bibles, open up to Daniel chapter 11. Daniel chapter 11. Word of warning, as you’re turning to Daniel 11. This was the hardest passage I’ve had to prep yet in my sermon prep, and because it’s so difficult, if you read it in advance, as I know many of you do you know that it is a long and obscure history, which is bad enough, but then it’s given an apocalyptic form, so it’s doubly difficult. But even strip away the apocalyptic, and this is a hard enough passage, and in part because not everyone likes history, some of you probably agree with one of Jane Alston’s characters from Northanger Abbey who said, History I cannot be interested in. It tells me nothing that does not either Vex or weary me, the quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilences on every page, the men all good for nothing and hardly any women at all. It’s all very tiresome. This is a potentially tiresome history that might well Vex or weary you especially because you’re not going to know the events or people that are talked about here. Like there are people that, if you know your world history at all, you would know. We’ve talked about a lot of them in Daniel Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander the Great These are big figures you should just know in history, but we’re not talking about them. We’re talking about Seleucus and Antiochus and Ptolemy and Cleopatra, but not that one, the other one. So we’re not going to know any of these people. And so all this is going to feel and again, maybe this is your sense of history anyway. Feel a little bit like how Joseph Heller described a history which is a trash bag of random coincidences torn open in a wind not like God’s sovereign and wise rule. History is brutal and chaotic and seemingly random, and the people of God often suffer in it, which can be faith weakening for all of us, whether we’re experiencing that or just seeing it, can still weaken our faith. But as we’ve been learning throughout Daniel, God will bring history to its end, which will include just judgment on the unrepentant wicked. And part of the good news that we proclaim in the Gospel is the bad news of judgment on the unrepentant wicked. And that really is the heart of our passage. Today, God draws a line evil can go this far and no farther, not in time, not in space. A day is coming when he will bring history to its end. So that’s the big idea. I’m gonna give it to you up front we haven’t done front. We haven’t done this in a while, but this is such a tricky passage. I just want you to know what we’re gonna argue All right, so here’s the big idea. As you watch history unfold in this text right now, but in the newspaper as well, as you watch history unfold, strengthen yourself with the knowledge that God will bring evil to an end. Evil is never left unchecked. History is never random. God is never surprised. That should encourage us, an encouragement we are going to need, because, as we’re going to see, our kind of three sections today, we go from bad to worse to worst. So Daniel 11, open your Bibles. Okay, open your Bibles. Get to Daniel chapter 11. Why? It’s gonna take me a minimum of eight minutes just to read the text. And you all get fussy when I go till noon. So alright, this can be a long one, so just settle in. I’m gonna read really fast. I always read fast. I’m gonna read really fast. Scan the page as I’m reading. Okay? Daniel chapter 11, verses two to 20, which is our first era bad. Here you go. Now. Then I tell you the truth, three more kings will arise in Persia, and then a fourth will be far richer than all the others. When he has gained power, by his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty king will arise who will rule with great power and do as he pleases. After he has arisen, his empire will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. Will not go to his descendants, nor will have the power he exercised, because his empire will be uprooted and given to others. The King of the South will become strong, but one of his commanders will become even stronger than he, and will rule his own kingdom with great power. After some years, they will become allies. The daughter of the king of the south will go to the king of the north to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last. In those days, she will be betrayed, together with her royal escort and her father and the one who supported her, one from her family line, will arise to take her place. He will attack the forces of the king of the north and enter his fortress. He will fight against them and be victorious. He will also seize their gods, their metal images, and their valuable articles of silver and gold, and carry them off to Egypt. For some years, he will leave the king of the north alone. Then the King of the North will invade the realm of the king of the south, but will retreat to his own country. His sons will prepare for war and assemble a great army which will sweep on like an irresistible flood and. Carry the battle as far as his fortress, then the king of the south will march out in a rage and fight against the King of the North will raise a large army, but it will be defeated when the army is carried off, the king of the south will be filled with pride and will slaughter many 1000s, yet he will not remain triumphant, for the King of the North will muster another army, larger than the first, and after several years, he will advance with a huge army, fully equipped. In those times, many will rise against the king of the south. Those who are violent among your own people will rebel in fulfillment of the vision, but without success, then the King of the North will come and build up siege ramps and will capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will be powerless to resist. Even their best troops will not have the strength to stand. The Invader will do as he pleases. No one will be able to stand against him. He will establish himself and the beautiful land will have the power to destroy it. He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom, and will make an alliance with the king of the south. He will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom. But his plans will not succeed or help him. Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands. Will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back on him. After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country, but will stumble and fall to be seen no more. His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor in a few years, however, he will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle. All right. Verses two to four are a brief summary of Persian and Greek history. We go from 550-ish, when Daniel is receiving this vision, to 320, in just three verses. This is not a detailed summary, right? This is just real quick, and we get another one of those four fold schemes that we’ve seen throughout Daniel symbolic and summative, not the actual number of Kings between where we are now and Alexander the Great, although the fourth king from here is Xerxes the first. That’s Esther’s husband, if that helps you out at all, who was famed for his wealth and who was the one who first launched the invasion of Greece, which didn’t go well. He was defeated at Slammis, and it kind of set these two empires on a collision course that culminates in Alexander’s arrival, Alexander the Great, and the defeat of the Persian Empire under Darius the third. Alexander the Great. We already talked about this, right? He dies at the height of his power, and his empire is broken up into these four tetrarchies. Well, then starting in verse five, we zoom in on just two of these tetrarchies, Egypt, and then Babylon. But really kind of Syria is more where we are at this point. So that’s the rest of the section starting verse five to the end. We go from 323, to 175,
okay, so from Alexander the Great to Antiochus the fourth, and we’ll talk more about him. Just narrowly focused on these two. I’m gonna help you out. We’re gonna put the kings to the north and the kings to the south up on the slide. I used to tell my kids this, like in English class and stuff, like, there’s some things you have to master and there’s some things just to be exposed to. This is an exposure one. Okay, you’re not gonna get tested on all the Seleucids. Okay, so just you know, first two kings, king of the north, King of the South, King of the South is Ptolemy. The first king of the north is Seleucus. The first. Ptolemy, the first, is over Egypt. Seleucus is over Babylon, kind of what we would think of that whole area again, including Syria and whatnot. But he is driven out by one of the other tetrarchs, and so he becomes this ally with Ptolemies there in Egypt. And together, they defeat this other Tetrarch and drive, you know, him, out so that he can rule in Babylon syllabus, including over Palestine, which is really important, right? We’re focused on Israel. Of course. The problem is that Ptolemy occupies Syria, Syria and Palestine and Seleucus and his heirs never give up their claim to that tract of land, and that’s what sets up all these wars. Everyone having fun yet. Yeah, that was the easy part. All right, so verse six, okay, these two dads, right? Their their grandkids are involved. We skipped a generation right here. Okay, so his granddaughter Bernice, is given to the grandson Antiochus, the second in marriage to kind of shore up this alliance. Only problem is Antiochus is already married to Laodicea, so he divorces her, marries Bernice, they have a son. Then he reconciles Laodicea, who’s not a big fan of Bernice or her son. They die in mysterious circumstances. No idea how that happened, right? They were poisoned, of course, and that’s it. Did you notice, by the way, that that’s exactly what verse six says, like fulfilled to the letter. This is why some people think Daniel was written in the two hundreds, because the prophecies are so exact, you go, well, it must be the perspective of history and not prophecy. Of course, that objection only works if God isn’t real, if the God of the Bible exists. Of course, prophecy is not a problem. It actually keeps going too, like, how exact? This is verse seven. We get Ptolemy, the third, who is Bernice’s brother. One from her family line, right, who attacks Laodices Son, select Seleucus the second. Steal some of the images. Returns to Egypt. Great. Okay, moving along, Seleucus the third and Antiochus the third. His son, Antiochus the third is Antiochus the Great, by the way, they together. You know, across two generations, attack Ptolemy the fourth, and win back huge chunks of land. Most likely the fortress that keeps getting mentioned is Palestine. But there’s some debate about that. I’m not going to answer that question. Okay, we then focus on Antiochus, the third. Antiochus the Great through verse 19. Why? Partly because he was great, so he’s got a lot of history, but mostly because it’s under his reign that Jerusalem comes under Seleucid control, Seleucid rule, and it sets the stage then for everything that’s going to follow in the next section. So what do we get? Verse 11, we’ve got the Battle of Rapha in 217 where told me the fourth defeats Antiochus the third, but he doesn’t pursue the army like doesn’t wipe them out at this point. And so Antiochus is able to rebuild his army, waiting for an opportunity when he can pounce. The opportunity comes when told me the fourth dies at age 35 and told me the fifth, who is this a young boy told only the face. He six years old, he succeeds to the throne and Tyo kiss the third sees his opening, and he wins this decisive battle. Okay, but what’s happening in verse 14? Because all of a sudden, we’re talking about what’s going on among the Jews at this point. And it does capture kind of the vibe that would be happening. You got to put yourself in the shoes of the Jewish people at this point. So we do a little bit of whiplash here in this country, right? Just had an election, and so you kind of have that, like, we’re red, no wait, we’re blue. No wait, we’re red. Now we’re blue. Like, who’s in charge right now? So imagine that whiplash that we experience, except that it’s actually foreign invaders, like we’re a province of Egypt. No wait now we’re a province of Syria. And when our the same kind of thing would happen. So these invading armies just passing through your land all the time, and you would start to go, you know what? Things are better under the Egyptians, or things are better under the the Syrians? And so they kind of divide into these two camps. You actually can see them there, the to buy ads and the Oniads, which is a whole lot of fun to say, the Oniads, they’re the ones who have the high priesthood, like Onias is the high priest, and they are aligned with Egypt, with the Ptolemies. Then you’ve got the Tobias, who are this powerful, like non pure Jewish family, and who are aligned with the slow kids. What violence are we talking about exactly, who knows? Like, at some point these factions are clashing, certainly, and in fulfillment of what vision, who knows, but probably Daniel, like, probably what’s being talked about right here, in any case. So whatever is happening there in Jerusalem Antiochus, the third completes his victory. He chases the Ptolemies back into Egypt and takes control of the beautiful land, which is Palestine. So now that he’s got the upper hand, what do you do when you’re the conquering king? Verse 17, you pursue dynastic Alliance. You’re gonna have a marriage that unites these two warring parties so that everybody is friends in perpetuity. And so he gives his daughter Cleopatra, the first Cleopatra, the Syrian, because this is the, you know, she’s from Syria at this point, given to Ptolemy the fifth. Why to incline her husband towards Syria? To kind of go, No, my dad’s not bad, like we should be friends. Let’s all hang out. The only problem is, it doesn’t work. She sides with her hubby instead. No idea why, just maybe she saw a better chance for herself. He also dies early, and so she actually becomes a major power player with her son. Told me the six which is why Cleopatra is such a famous name, they end up kind of ruling Egypt in many ways. The Cleopatras. And then 18 Antiochus, the third keeps going. So he’s beaten Egypt. And then he’s like, I can take on anybody again. He’s Antiochus the Great. That’s what you do. And so he starts annexing parts of Asia, minor, which is modern day Turkey, the Greek islands, gets as far as Thrace. And at that point, this burgeoning power in the West. You may have heard of them Rome. You say, Nope, that’s enough. Okay, that’s that guy who who intervenes and puts an end to the insolence. That’s Rome. So he’s defeated. He goes home. He dies in 187 and his son, Seleucus, the fourth, succeeds him. That’s verse 20. He’s unpopular because he’s gotta keep taxing the people to keep all of the Romans away. And then what happens to sale? Kiss the fourth, well, he dies in mysterious circumstances as his brother, who was taken hostage by Rome, is just coincidentally returning to Syria. His brother’s name and TYA. Kiss the fourth. We’re going to talk a lot about him. We talk. About him already. So that’s what’s happening here. I promised you long and tedious, yeah, okay, I delivered at least on that. It is filled with wars and rumors of wars, and it all seems like it’s accomplishing very little, like I’m reading this, and in my head, I’m picturing World War One and trench warfare like, you know, the no man’s land was Israel, and it’s just basically, like, now it’s the Germans. Now it’s the French now it’s the Germans. Now it’s two miles of land. Like, that’s all that’s happened here. These, these men who are, you know, clashing over and over and over again for nothing, just chasing wind. That’s what it looks like from a historical perspective. But the perspective of faith brings peace, because in this we can see that God is actually accomplishing His purposes in the beautiful land the kings of this world cannot destroy the kingdom of God. And part of the reason we have that confidence is because God knows the end. From the beginning, he’s still saying all of this in 550 and we’re now in 170 right? And think about what that should do to us, even as we experience these kinds of clashes that are happening. You know, world powers over there that we have nothing to do with, maybe even smaller than that. I mean, maybe corporate closed your local office and you’re out of a job back in 550 BC, God knew that was coming. Like there is nothing happening outside of his purposes. Maybe the election goes wrong. Maybe you think the last one went wrong. Maybe you think the next one’s gonna go wrong. Everybody thinks one of them went wrong, at least. Guess what? God is, the one who raises up and deposes rulers. Maybe a pandemic happens and the world shuts down. We did one. Maybe where there’s another one coming. One coming. We don’t even know, right? God knows that’s the point. We can cling firmly to the knowledge of God’s sovereignty, because even the evil actions of wicked men like these can be used to accomplish his purposes, as we’ll see. We can rest in that truth. We can rest even as we go from bad to worse, second era worse, verses 21 to 35
he will be succeeded by a contemptible person who has not been given the honor of royalty. He will invade the kingdom when its people feel secure, and he will seize it through intrigue. Then an overwhelming army will be swept away before him, both it and a prince of the covenant will be destroyed after coming to an agreement with him. He will act deceitfully and with only a few people. He will rise to power when the richest provinces feel secure, he will invade them and will achieve what neither his fathers nor his forefathers did. He will distribute plunder, loot and wealth among his followers. He will plot the overthrow of fortresses, but only for a time with a large army. He will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the south. King of the South will wage war with a large and very powerful army, but he will not be able to stand because of the plots devised against Him. Those who eat from the king’s provisions will try to destroy him. His army will be swept away, and many will fall in battle. The two kings with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come. At the appointed time, King of the North will return to his own country with great wealth, but his heart will be set against the Holy Covenant. He will take action against it, and then return to his own country. The appointed time, he will invade the south again, but this time, the outcome will be different from what it was before ships of the Western coastlands will oppose him, and he will lose heart. Then he will turn back and vent his fury against the Holy Covenant. He will return and show favor to those who forsake the holy covenant. His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation with flattery. He will corrupt those who have violated the covenant. The people who know their God will firmly resist Him. Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. Some of the wise will stumble so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless, until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time. So we’ve got a contemptible person who is not royalty, meaning he’s not in line for the throne. Again, that’s Antiochus the fourth we met him already in Daniel eight. And he sees the throne through intrigue and deceit. He should be the uncle, protector of these you know, the boy who’s to be king instead, he’s like Richard the Third with the princes in the tower, and he seizes the power for himself. Verse 22 hits the highlights of his reign, the devastation of war, including the death of the prince of the Covenant, most likely a reference to the high priest, again, that would be Onias, the third who is killed in this conflict. Why is Onias killed? Because Antiochus allies with the Tobias, because they’re the ones who are pro Syria at this point, and so they install Onias, brother Jason, as high priest, which is good. Were both parties. Antiochus has got people he likes and who like him in power, and now they get, you know, elevated to power. These are the two groups, Antiochus, of course, but the Tobias are the ones who are for hellenizing Israel. So, you know, it’s time to just fit into the larger Empire at this point. And so they’re, they’re corrupting the purity of the Jewish religion, but the high priesthood is part of the plunder that he distributes to his followers. It also causes massive unrest and anger in Jerusalem. Like World History teaches you anything, it’s don’t mess with the high priest, with the Jews, like that always leads to bad things in the Old Testament. Well, then in verse 25 we turn our attention to Egypt, the king of the south again, and Antiochus invades. He routes Egypt under these two advisors. Those are the two who eat at the king’s table. They’re basically regents again in this kingdom. And then in verses 29 and 30, he returns later at the appointed time, just again, showing us someone is in charge at the appointed time, he returns, and he’s ready to just wipe out Egypt. At this point, ships from the Western coastland arrive. Who’s that? Well, that’s Rome again, and Rome at this point is undisputed power in the world. And so it’s hilarious story, unless you’re Antiochus, but Popeilus Lainus shows up. He’s the Roman proconsul, and he just has a bundle of sticks. He doesn’t carry weapons with them. The consul never did for Rome. The bundle of sticks actually called a fascis, which is where we get fascism from, because one stick easy to break, bunch of sticks very hard to break. That’s the idea. So shows up this bundle of sticks, no weapons. He draws a circle around Antiochus the fourth and says, Make your decision before you walk out of this circle. You head south Rome will destroy you. You go back home to the north. Everything’s copacetic. So he chooses, wisely, decides not to be destroyed. But this is humiliating for him, of course. So he is embarrassed and angry, which is not a good place for him to be, considering what’s happening in Jerusalem. Because, remember, he just went down to Egypt. Rome came. All of a sudden, rumors are circulating that Antiochus the fourth has actually been killed, and so Jerusalem rebels, the Oniads, at least rebel, here’s our opportunity. And so embarrassed and angry, he returns to Jerusalem that’s now rebelling against Him. What do you think he’s going to do? He vents his fury upon them at this point. And he also, of course, hates the covenant of God. We know that. How would a guy like this not hate God’s covenant, which is based on love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, love your neighbor as yourself makes it really tough to worship yourself the way he is doing. He desecrates the temple, sets up the abomination that’s, you know, this evil thing that that desolates the temple means it’s no longer used for its purpose to offer sacrifices to God. It’s a meteorite that’s being offered to Baal shame, which is basically the Syrian Zeus. And verse 32 we’ve seen this before, but he aligns himself with corrupt Jews. But this is a divided people. Some go with him, but some, like Daniel, remain faithful. These are the wise described in verse 33 and they are the key group in all of this. Even though they don’t seem like they have power, they’ve got more power than anybody. Why? Because they have the word of God, and they keep instructing the people in God’s covenant. That’s what wisdom is. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and they’re instructing people in the fear of the Lord, and even their suffering. You’ll notice that some of them suffer. They fall by the sword, they’re burned, they’re captured, they’re plundered, even their suffering has redemptive purposes. In verse 35 God is using it to refine them like gold in the fire, refining them for the end, which again, will come at its appointed time. Now we have to ask here, not just this section, but everything we’ve done so far, like I can usually read the room when I’m preaching, and you all are glazed over right now. And that’s fair. I told you, this one was hard. So we’re asking the question all of us internally right now, how exactly is this text useful, profitable for teaching rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that we, the servants of God, might be thoroughly equipped for every good work. It’s just an outline of ancient history. Like we would struggle to enjoy this if we were in a class that we were taking, but in a sermon like, Are we just supposed to learn the broad contours of the Egyptian Syrian conflict in the later centuries of the era before Christ. No, there’s some things we can learn in this. Of course, one thing is this passage is really hard, and that encourages us to study well God’s word, because scripture is filled with hard passages. Some of them have obscure history in them, but some of them have theological mystery in them. And all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Plus, let’s not forget, this wasn’t ancient history. This was prophecy.
You think of how important that is. Again, we’re getting this in 550 we’re talking about what’s going on in 170 that encourages us to trust God’s sovereign rule if he can predict all of this, because he knows what’s coming to the T that should tell us something. Why would we study God’s Word carefully? Because this is who God is like. This is his sovereignty, if he’s able to do this. Yeah, I would think we should listen to him and listen to him quite carefully, and also don’t forget, this is part of a larger story, right? Kyle told us that last week 10 to 12 is all one episode. It’s all one vision. So we saw we started it last week in chapter 10, when Daniel prayed to God, and God gave him this vision in response to prepare him for what’s coming, and so that he might live well in light of it. So that we might live well in light of what’s coming too. And I think there are some ways to live well, even just in light of this. Sinclair Ferguson, in his commentary on Daniel, suggests four truths that we would be wise to remember, to ponder, to consider, even as we study this. First of all, we certainly see that this world and its powers are passing away. So you’re gonna want to build your life on a sure foundation, like if you bet on Egypt and the Ptolemies, you lost, and if you bet on Syria, on the slow kids, you lost, if you bet on Rome, you’re going to be disappointed. Augustine had something to say about that. And arguably the most important work produced in the west the City of God is when Rome fell, the whole church went, wait, what now? Why? Because they put their hope in an unstable regime. Put your hope in the everlasting Kingdom, and the king who will reign forever, second and very closely related to it is the reminder. It’s a saying been around forever. You know, man proposes God disposes like we make our plans, and it is God’s purposes that come to fruition. You see that in the repetition of but I didn’t go through and count how many times it happens here, but just over and over and over again in this text, we read so and so did this, but this happened. So and so did this, but this happened that. But Is God intervening and overruling the purposes of worldly powers? Third, notice that evil gains a foothold among God’s people in verses 30 to 32 and this is a reminder to us, because we do live in hostile territory. We are under the authority of worldly powers, that we are always in danger of being corrupted. The danger here was Hellenization, that they would become more Greek than Jewish. What’s the danger here? Americanization, of course, the Americanization of the gospel all sorts of things we could talk about. I don’t have a time for it today. But you know what this looks like? Of course, it is a gospel of materialism. It is a gospel of individualism. It is we could go on Fourth and finally, notice that God works all things for our good. There’s a lot of bad stuff happening to the Jewish people in these centuries, and yet God is refining them. That’s what it means for God to work all things for our good, to conform us to the image of His Son, to make us like Jesus. He is refining us like gold in the fire, fitting us for heaven, so that we can live with him there, which, by the way, we get to next week. So that’s gonna be awesome. These are lessons we will need, because that what we just did was history. But this next section is what’s coming for us, too. Third Era, worst. Let me wrap up the chapter, verses 36 to 45 the king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and will say unheard of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. He will show no regard for the gods of his ancestors, for the one desired by women. Nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. Instead of them, he will honor a God of fortresses, a god unknown to his ancestors. He will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god, and will greatly honor those who acknowledge Him. He will make them rulers over many people, and will distribute the land at a price. The time of the end, the king of the south will engage him in battle. The King of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. He will also invade the beautiful land. Many countries will fall but Edom. Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. He will extend his power over many countries Egypt will not escape. He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and the Cushites in submission the reports from the east and the North will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful, holy mountain, yet he will come to his end and no one will help him. This is an exceedingly difficult passage, and you should be rightly skeptical of anyone who doesn’t acknowledge how difficult this passage is. So if you’re reading a commentary or study Bible or something that’s like, this is what this means. Put that one down. Find a different one. Okay, that says I’m gonna try my best. Okay, so I’m gonna try my best as well. The big question is, Who exactly is in mind in this section? Who are we talking about here? But it’s not just who is in mind, but also in whose mind. That complicates matters. Certainly, because it’s it’s possible that Daniel the prophet thinks that we’re talking about Antiochus the fourth still, but that the Spirit of God has broadened his view, and Daniel is speaking better than he knows this would happen, of course. Second, Peter 121, reminds us of how prophecy works. It says, For prophecy never had its origin in the human will. But prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So is he being carried along by the Holy Spirit, again to realms that he does not know? I think yes. And there are several indications in the text that we have a broader view. First and most obvious one is this actually doesn’t fit with what we know of Antiochus, the fourth life. So we’ve gotten all these prophecies that are exactly right. So right that people go is must be history, and then right here at the end, the wheels come off. It’s like, no, that’s that’s not what happened. Like what it says about Egypt, what it says about where he dies, all that kind of stuff. It’s not true. Is the prophecy wrong? Again? Was this written in 200 so that all the history was right? And then he started making guesses, and he got that part wrong. And that’s fine if you deny God’s sovereignty, but if we take a high view of Scripture, that can’t be it. Second indication is that we’ve got cosmic language here, like we move from history textbook kinds of descriptions to this sweeping, mythical language, which would seem to indicate, again, more of a later framework. The third reason, then, the time of the end that’s talked about in verse 40, again, the time of what end Antioch is. The fourth end, maybe, or are we actually at the end? At this point, good question. We’ll come back to it in just a moment. So there are some indications that we’re talking about something else, but at the same time, there’s no clear signal that we’ve moved on to something new. If your Bible looks like mine, you get a big break, right here, new section, right? There’s no big break. Like, that’s something the editors put in later. Like, it just keeps going. So what exactly is happening? We talked about this in Joel, right? We got to keep talking about. We’ll talk about in Revelation. Also, like, this is that mountain range idea. You look at a mountain, it kind of looks like this, and if you walk around to the side, you realize, oh, it’s actually like this. There’s one peak, but then another one, and then another one is that’s what’s happening, where Daniel is looking at one peak, and we can walk around to the side and go, Oh no, something else just happened. Another way of thinking about this, they’ll actually call it telescoping, not because you’re making something far away look close, but because you remember old spy glasses and like pirate movies. And yeah, exactly. Erica is doing it for me. Thank you, Erica. You can come up here and demonstrate for everyone. No, you’re right. It’s a little one. You got it? You go, right. So it’s like one piece, and then it’s three pieces. Is that what’s happened here, where we’re looking at the spy glass, when it’s like this, and so you know this event, and then this event, and they’re close together. And you go, and actually, no, they’re centuries apart at this point, you remember nothing else from this sermon, except that’s great. I’m here to help you. This is really common in apocalyptic, by the way, in this genre, like we see telescoping in the Olivet Discourse, when Jesus talks about the end of the world, except he’s talking not about the end of the world. He’s talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in the temple. And all of a sudden they go from 8070 to the end of time. Good. Got it so? Features of Antiochus, the fourth s life, are blown up to cosmic scale in this passage. And so his life anticipates and foreshadows the coming Antichrist, or even anti Christs, because there are definitely shades of the Antichrist in Antiochus, the fourth pride. I mean, you look at him, he’s forsaking his ancestral religion, the gods of his people, the popular gods of that time, the one desired by women. Apollos, most likely. But there are some other guesses as well, and he exalts himself a. Of every god. Well, who else exalts himself above every god? Here he is, Isaiah, chapter 14, how you have fallen from heaven. Morning Star, son of the dawn. The name Lucifer, by the way, is what that is. You said in your heart, I will ascend to the heavens. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High. So this desire to lift yourself above the gods is, in his most literal sense, satanic. It’s just like the Antichrist, although it gets confusing because then it says he’s worshiping a different God, a God of fortresses. Except that’s not a God. There is no god of fortresses in the ancient Near East. The God that he’s worshiping is military might. He’s worshiping at the altar of the military industrial complex, and he sacrifices greatly for it, because armies cost a lot of money, and that’s where all that money is going. Except he is successful. And so again, the king will do as he pleases, which certainly sounds anti Christian in its description. Then at the time of the end. And again, the end of what the end of Antioch is the four, well, definitely the end of the life of this unholy king, but also the end of his arrogance. We’re going to see next week, the time of the end, the very next verses. And this is all again, one section here, the very next verses. Daniel 12, one to three talk about the end, like the resurrection of the dead, some to everlasting life, some to eternal condemnation. So we are talking about the end at this point, and then what happens between now and then? Like, are we talking about specific events when we talk about Edom and Moab and Egypt and stuff? Maybe more likely, again, we’re just talking about wars and rumors of wars. Like, history is just going to keep happening. This will be birth pangs anticipating the end of all things, the suffering and conflict that marks history will continue and even intensify. There will be a violent end to history, one that we will see in Revelation when we get there in January as well. But don’t miss the key point in all this, which is the destruction of pride and evil and suffering, God will bring that to an end at its appointed time. So like next week, we get the other side of the coin, the blessed hope of the resurrection. But here we get the good news, the good news of judgment. Why is judgment good news? Because it means evil has an expiration date, as we talked about, before Antichrists will come. They will set themselves against God. They will wage war on his people and on goodness, and they will lose in the end, history will be brutal and chaotic. It still is that will cause God’s people to suffer. They still do, but God will bring history to its appointed end. So part of the Good News of the Gospel is the bad news for the unrepentant wicked like Satan and everyone who sets themselves in opposition to Christ, these come together. It’s the same picture the flood, right, which is meant to be a symbol of the coming salvation and judgment that we will experience what happens in the flood. God wipes the filth of sin clean from this earth, and he also makes a way for anyone who wants to to be saved. There’s a giant boat. All you had to do was get in. Only eight people get in. More people will get in in Christ, of course, but that’s what’s happening, right in Christ, God triumphs over sin and Satan, he breaks Satan’s power forever, and he makes a way for us to be spared what we deserve. And deserve it we do because we participated in this great evil we have added by our sin filth to this world, which means we need to be saved. We need to be saved from ourselves, by the way. Remember that Isaiah 14, and you know, I’m going to make myself like the Most High you can read about that somewhere else too. Genesis three. Eat of this fruit and you will be like God. That’s what we all want. We want to be in control. We want to be God of our own lives. So every one of us has the anti-christ Spirit in us, by birth, by our nature, we need to be saved from ourselves, and God has done it in Christ. So as you watch history unfold, strengthen yourself with the knowledge. Knowledge that God will bring evil to an end. He has already brought evil to its knees. In Christ, evil can go this far and no farther. That is the message of this passage. God, in the end, will kick hell the fire that we lit by our sin. He will kick hell out of the new heavens and the new earth.
It will be tossed outside like leaving a trash on the curb. It’s actually the image that’s given in Scripture for hell. Gehenna was the trash dump outside, outside, outside, outside the city. And so all of our filth and wickedness will be cast outside the Eternal City. So how do we strengthen ourselves with the knowledge that God will bring evil to an end? What does it look like when we put that into practice? Let me just give you four very concrete steps that we can take as we close. The first one is and you’d be expecting this one, trust. Trust. That’s what it looks like to strengthen yourself. God is sovereign over history. History is not a trash bag that’s just been opened in the wind. God is accomplishing His purposes. Listen to what ws Towner says about this. I think he’s exactly right. He says talking about this prophecy, the fact that the predicted course has been followed in exquisite detail leads us to turn about and face forward with confidence. So we look back at the fact that God did exactly what he said he was going to do, means we look forward and go, God’s probably going to do what he said he’s going to do with confidence, certain that the future too will be as securely in God’s hand as world history has been since the Sears time. We don’t need to understand all the details. We don’t understand all the details. We don’t need to understand all of the details to experience the consolation and confidence that comes with this vision. Trust, second, Resist. Resist. I’m drawing from verse 32 here, right? The people who know their God, that would be those who trust, by the way, the people who know their God will firmly resist Him, as in, I’m not going to be corrupted, squeezed into this world’s mold, I will not be Hellenized. I will not be Americanized in whatever area we might be talking about. And yes, we know, as we keep reading in that section, we may suffer as a result of our refusal to compromise. That’s okay. We know that suffering is refining us like gold in the fire. We know that it could get worse. Some of the people in this passage are murdered. So so what like if history is unfolding without purpose, if it’s just random, then of course, there’s no point in being murdered, because you lost the only chance you’ve got at joy in this life, but if there is a resurrection, well, I could quote Jim Elliot here. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Third, instruct. Verse 33 those who are wise will instruct many. Do you fear the Lord? Are you growing in wisdom? Then here is your mandate, proclaim the gospel, patiently, teach and warn and admonish. Sounds like Paul in Ephesians five, be very careful. Then how you live not as unwise, but as wise. What does that look like? Making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. It’s like a commentary on Daniel 11 that verse, right? Make the most of every opportunity you have to proclaim the gospel, the good news of Jesus’ triumph over evil to those who are in such desperate need of that news. And then lastly, fourth, intercede. It’s not here in this passage, but we gotta remember the narrative frame. Kyle gave it to us last week. How many y’all been praying different prayers this week? By the way, that was lamer than I was hoping for. But that’s okay. I’m glad you all said yes, at least keep praying, though that’s a point. Remember in the narrative frame, this is not going to happen in our strength. This happens in his power, because it is his victory. Keep praying to the one who rules history. We say you have probably said people have said to you all good things must come to an end. We say that about, you know, like vacations or something, but really it’s the opposite that is true. It is evil that will be brought to an end, and joy will increase forever. For those who love God, strengthen yourself with that knowledge. Choose joy, get in the ark of Jesus Christ, trust, resist, instruct, intercede, because God wins in the end. Let’s pray to Him.