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Collierville First Baptist Church
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Daniel chapter 11,
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it contains some of the most precise prophecies that you'll find anywhere in the Bible.
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In fact, the prophecies in this chapter are so precise
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that many liberal scholars, and I've mentioned this before, many liberal scholars have just out and out rejected the book of Daniel because they say it could not have been written by Daniel
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somewhere 500 years before Christ came.
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No way it could have done, they say,
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because of precise prophecies that were precisely fulfilled.
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See, the natural man, the natural man, the unsaved man cannot understand the supernatural power of God.
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The natural man cannot understand the things of God that are located in the Word of God. They cannot understand it. But we in this room, we know that the Bible is the Word of God.
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Now, interestingly, Daniel, again, wrote this book about 500 years before Christ came.
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And he recorded prophetic events that would stretch out for 375 years all the way to the very end of the world.
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Now, next week, we're gonna get into the end of the world stuff, okay?
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Now, the accuracy of these prophecies that we're gonna look at tonight are overwhelming. They're absolutely overwhelming. We're gonna read a lot about the kings of the north, the kings of the south. They did this, they did that, what happened to them, how it affected the nation of Israel. And we're gonna read about that tonight. I don't want you to lose this idea.
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These are prophecies that the angelic messenger gave to Daniel, things that would take place in the future from when Daniel was living. Understand that now. Daniel's writing about things that would take place hundreds of years later, all right?
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Next week, we'll see that he's writing about things that will take place at the very end of time, at the end of the world.
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So Daniel is one of my heroes. That's why I love to study the book of Daniel. I love to teach the book of Daniel.
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Now, I wanna say this to you and I've got it here in your notes.
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Those who reject the book of Daniel because of fulfilled prophecy,
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they're just missing a boat.
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I put a paragraph in here, I wanna read it to you. This is out of the Baptist faith and message, what we believe about the Bible.
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The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired
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and is God's revelation of himself to man.
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It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction.
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It has God for its author, salvation for its end and truth without any mixture of error for its matter.
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Therefore, all scripture is totally true and trustworthy. You ought to underline that.
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All scripture, the scripture you read in the epistles is true and trustworthy.
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The scriptures you read in the book of Psalms, true and trustworthy.
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The scriptures you read in the Pentateuch, true and trustworthy.
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The scriptures you read that are prophetic in nature like I just finished preaching verse by verse through Matthew 24 and 25, prophetic scripture. It's true, it's absolutely true.
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And whatever God says is going to happen will happen.
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You can mark that down, all right?
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Look at the next sentence.
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"It reveals the principles by which God judges us and therefore is and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and religious opinions should be tried.
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All scriptures, a testimony to Christ is himself the focus of divine revelation.
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Now, if you'll remember in our last meeting,
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we talked about the fact that Daniel received four visions,
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four, four prophetic visions.
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The final prophetic vision that he received, we read about in Daniel 10, 11 and 12.
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So the final vision covers three chapters, all right?
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Chapter 10 provides the context. Chapter 11 contains the content. And chapter 12 is the conclusion.
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Now, I wanna start with the beginning of this chapter.
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Like I said, I just honestly, I felt so bad last time I taught. I just felt like I just butchered it up, man. I'm telling you. So I wanted to come back
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and I wanted to make sure that I teach in a clear way. You know what mistake I did last time?
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I got down in the weeds too much. I got down in the tiny minutia and I've got to stay above that and stay about 10,000 feet instead of down about 100 feet. I got to stay at 10,000 feet and make sure I communicate clearly. And that's what I wanna do tonight. So let's look at Daniel 11, one and two.
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"In the first year of Darius the Mede, "I rose to be an encouragement and a protection for him.
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"And now I will tell you the truth.
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"Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia.
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"Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them.
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"As soon as he becomes strong through his riches, "he will arouse a whole empire against the realm of Greece."
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Understand that right here in verse two, we have prophetic truth. Here's Daniel receiving revelation from the angelic messenger, revelation of what will happen in the future when Daniel is long dead and gone, okay?
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And he's writing it down for us.
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You know, one of the reasons that gives me great confidence in the accuracy and the truthfulness of the Word of God is that God reveals things that's gonna happen in the future and they happen.
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That tells me the Word of God is true.
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It gives me great confidence in the Word of God. I'm gonna tell you what, there's no way I could stand up on Sunday morning or stand here on Wednesday night and teach or preach the Bible if I didn't believe it from cover to cover.
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Let me tell you, I believe it from cover to cover.
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Now, as we read this chapter,
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the nation of Israel is always in the background. Remember that, the nation of Israel is in the background.
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In relation to Israel, four great empires were described in Daniel chapter two and Daniel chapter seven. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. In Daniel chapter eight, the vision narrows the focus to two, Medo-Persia and Greece. Those same two empires are the interest of the angel in Daniel chapter 11, one through four.
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Now, who are those kings that will arise in Persia after Darius the Mede? Well, I've got them listed here for you. I want you to know that this is historical, historical truth and it's biblical truth. This prophecy came true to a T.
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These are the four kings that came to power in Persia after Darius.
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Now, the strong, rich fourth king that he mentions here,
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notice verse two, "Then a fourth will gain far more riches "than all of them. "As soon as he becomes strong through his riches, "he will arouse a whole empire against the realm of Greece."
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That king was King Xerxes, okay? King Xerxes. Now, Persia and Greece have the spotlight on them in our text tonight.
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These visions and insights regarding the future of the Persian and Greek empires were relevant because each empire tried to exterminate the Jews.
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Now, don't you understand this?
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We see it everywhere today, anti-Semitism.
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We hear it on our radios. We see it on our TVs. It's in the movie, it's everywhere, anti-Semitism.
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Let me tell you, anti-Semitism began back in the days of Exodus.
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You remember how the Pharaohs treated the Jewish people for 400 years, right?
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After Joseph had died, the Pharaohs enslaved the Jewish people.
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They made them do their work for them. And when they asked for a little reprieve, the Pharaoh wouldn't even give them the straws to make the bricks and made them get the straws and make the bricks and didn't never relinquish the number of their quota.
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And by the grace of God, he delivered the nation of Israel.
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But listen, the Persian empire tried to exterminate the Jews.
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The scoundrel's name was Haman.
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You've read about Esther and Haman.
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And Haman wanted to exterminate every Jew on the planet.
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He didn't know that Esther was a Jew.
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He didn't know that Mordecai was a Jew until later on.
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Now, the Greek empires also tried to exterminate the Jews.
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In fact, tonight we're gonna read a lot about Antiochus IV, Antiochus Epiphanes.
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And Antiochus Epiphanes tried to exterminate the Jews. So both Persia and Greece were very anti-Semitic. Now look at verses three and four.
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"And a mighty king will arise,
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"and he will rule with great authority "and do as he pleases.
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"But as soon as he is arisen, "his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out "toward the four points of the compass, "though not to his own descendants, to his own family, "nor according to his authority, which he wielded, "for his sovereignty will be uprooted "and given to others beside them." Now, this great mighty king is Alexander the Great.
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Now, once again, here you have some very precise prophecies that would happen hundreds of years later
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from when Daniel was living. And Daniel wrote them down, because a messenger from God revealed these truths, these prophetic truths to Daniel, and he wrote them just as the angel gave them to him.
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Now Alexander's sons, remember Alexander died around 32 years of age, 33 years of age,
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and his sons were murdered.
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So none of his descendants assumed his kingship
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over the empire of Greece.
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So when he died, four of his generals
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assumed his broken up empire. Cassandra took Macedonia and Greece.
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Lysimachus took Thrace or Europe and parts of Asia Minor.
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Ptolemy took Egypt and Israel. Seleucus took Syria and Mesopotamia. So you've got right here, again, fulfill prophecy.
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2 A.T., right down the line, exactly what God prophesied happened.
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Now, Daniel chapter 11, verses five to 13.
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Then the king of the south will grow strong,
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along with one of his princes,
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who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion. His domain will be a great dominion indeed.
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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.
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But she will not retain her position of power, nor will he remain with his power. But she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who sired her, as well as he who supported her in those times. But one of the descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he will deal with them and display great strength. Also their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, he will take into captivity to Egypt. And he on his part will refrain from attacking the king of the north for some years.
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Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the south, but will return to his own land. His sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces, and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through that he may again wage war up to his very fortress. The king of the south will be enraged and go forth and fight with the king of the north. Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be given into the hand of the former.
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When the multitude is carried away, his heart will be lifted up and he will cause tens of thousands to fall, yet he will not prevail. For the king of the north will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and after an interval of some years, he will press on with a great army and much equipment.
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Now, here's a mistake I made last time we met.
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I tried to get down and tell you about who that king was and what happened and the dates and all.
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Let me just simplify it. This whole section, five through 13, is all about a civil war,
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the north versus the south, okay? The north representing Seleucus,
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who was over Syria and Mesopotamia. Remember four generals took control of Alexander the Great's kingdom and Seleucus took Mesopotamia and Syria.
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And Ptolemy, that's the north, that's the north, and Ptolemy took the south or Egypt.
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So you got the north versus south, and it's like ping pong, okay?
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They just keep going back and forth.
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North versus south, one wins the skirmish, stays in power for a while, then the other one comes and they win the skirmish, and guess who's in the middle? Guess who the ping pong ball is?
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Israel.
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Israel is the ping pong ball,
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and they're getting batted back and forth, mistreated,
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and it's gonna get worse.
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It's gonna get worse as we move forward in our study tonight.
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Now, the dynasties of the Seleucids and the Ptolemies fought for some 130 years.
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I mean, they just had each other through.
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The stronger of the two, like if the south won the battles and they won the skirmishes, they had control of the Holy Land, okay? If the north won, they had control of the Holy Land. I'm telling you, Israel was a ping pong ball.
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Now, remember, if you had a map, a biblical map, you would see that you got the south Egypt down here, and you got the north Syria up here, and guess who's in between?
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Israel.
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Israel.
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You know, the Middle East is a tinderbox.
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It's been a tinderbox for years and years and years and decades and decades and century after century, okay?
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The Middle East, you study what's happening in the Middle East and you can see what God is up to prophetically, okay?
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Now, in verses 14 to 20, look at that. Now, in those times, many will rise up against the king of the south.
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The violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down.
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Then the king of the north will come, cast up a siege ramp, and capture a well-fortified city, and the forces of the south will not stand their ground, not even their choice is true, for there will be no strength to make a stand. But he who comes against him will do as he pleases,
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and no one will be able to withstand him. He will also stay for a time in the beautiful land. Guess what the beautiful land is? It's Israel.
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With destruction in his hand, verse 17.
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He will set his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace, which he will put into effect. He will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it. I'm not going anywhere with that one, okay?
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But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side. Verse 18, "Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many, but a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him. Moreover, he will repay him for his scorn. So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more. Then in his place, one will arise. He will send an oppressor through the jewel of his kingdom," that's Israel.
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Yet within a few days, he will be shattered,
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"though not in anger nor in battle." Now, here's what you got to realize.
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We're not talking about one king of the south or one king of the north. We're talking about a series of kings that ruled in the south and a series of kings that ruled in the north.
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And just whoever was in control, they just went back and forth with each other, okay?
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Now, these verses that I just read prophesy Antiochus III's defeat.
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Now, Antiochus III had an ignominious end. The son and successor of Antiochus III was Seleucus IV, Philippator.
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He sent a tax collector to collect money and to pay the thousand-talent indemnity demanded annually by the Romans.
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And Seleucus IV reigned only a few years, or excuse me, Seleucus IV reigned only a few years and was poisoned by his tax collector. Well, that sounded like today, doesn't it?
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So I guess the moral of that story is, if you get too serious about collecting taxes, it can cost you life.
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Now, we're gonna move into a different section.
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We're gonna talk about one of the kings of the north, he was Antiochus Epiphanes IV,
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Antiochus IV.
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Epiphanes means manifest.
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This is the guy that was so rotten to the core,
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so anti-Semitic, he hated the Jews.
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And this is the guy that gives us a preliminary picture of the Antichrist.
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We're gonna read some scripture here in a few minutes, and when we read the scripture, if you've read anything about the Antichrist in the Bible, you will see that there are many similarities between Antiochus Epiphanes and the Antichrist that will show up at the end of the age, all right?
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Now, next week, next week,
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we're gonna focus solely upon the Antichrist, okay?
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So right now, we're gonna lay into Antiochus Epiphanes. Look at verses 21 to 27.
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"In his place, in the place of Antiochus III," remember, I told you, they come and go, okay? These rulers come and go. "In the place of Antiochus III," who had an ignominious end,
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a despicable person will arise.
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Boy, that's a pretty solid description, isn't it? This is the word of God, and the word of God says that Antiochus Epiphanes was a despicable person.
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He will arise and on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred. Now, what that means is simply this.
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Antiochus Epiphanes was not in line to be the next king.
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He was not.
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Through hook and crook, through his own political savvy
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and his own sordid, despicable heart,
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he wormed his way into the kingship of the north,
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kingship of the north, okay?
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Look at this.
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On whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility. Hey, when's the Antichrist gonna show up?
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He's gonna come in a time of peace. He's gonna promise Israel peace.
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He's gonna make a covenant with him.
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And for three and a half years, he's gonna keep that covenant.
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And then at the end of three and a half years, he's gonna break the covenant.
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And I'm telling you, it's gonna get really, really bad. It's a time of Jacob's trouble.
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All right, look at this. He will seize the kingdom by intrigue, verse 22. The overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered and also the prince of the covenant.
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After an alliance is made with him, he will practice deception.
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And he will go up and gain power with a small force of people.
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In a time of tranquility,
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he will enter the richest parts of the realm and he will accomplish what his fathers never did nor his ancestors. He will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them and he will devise his schemes against strongholds but only for a time.
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Now you are, anytime as we're working through this section,
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if you see a phrase like only for a time, you ought to underline it and put a star by it, okay? I'll come back to the importance of that.
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The angelic messenger revealed to Daniel that the next king would be a despicable person.
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Now let me tell you about the Antiochus Epiphanes.
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He persecuted the Jews horribly.
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He massacred thousands of Jews.
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He represented one of the greatest threats
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to the worship of the true God in Israeli history.
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He would come to power in a time of false security or he would come unawares.
[01:28:19;14 - 01:28:27;25]
He utilized flattery, smooth promises and intrigue to win the support for his government.
[01:28:28;47 - 01:28:36;34]
The key figures of Syria were promised attractive rewards if they cooperated with him.
[01:28:37;44 - 01:28:41;22]
Now just zero in on verse 22 for just a moment.
[01:28:42;57 - 01:28:49;17]
The overflowing forces will be flooded away before him, before who? Antiochus Epiphanes IV.
[01:28:50;48 - 01:28:52;48]
Now think about this.
[01:28:54;13 - 01:29:18;50]
The Egyptian, the king of the south, Ptolemy VI attacked Antiochus with a large army. That's verse 22. But he was soundly defeated and taken captive. Antiochus also, look at what he did. He deposed Onias III, the rightful high priest in Jerusalem.
[01:29:20;24 - 01:29:30;54]
And here he is called the covenant prince. That's a reference to the high priest in Jerusalem. And Antiochus Epiphanes took it upon himself
[01:29:32;05 - 01:29:45;57]
to unseat the Jewish high priests because Antiochus Epiphanes had despicable plans in mind for the Jewish people and for the Jewish faith.
[01:29:47;37 - 01:29:50;59]
Now in verses 23 and 24,
[01:29:53;32 - 01:30:03;13]
we see that Antiochus consolidation of power as he continued to use his political savvy and sinful deception,
[01:30:04;28 - 01:30:09;09]
he negotiated an alliance with Egypt or the king of the south,
[01:30:10;12 - 01:30:22;45]
but he had no intention of keeping his promise. Boy, I'm telling you, I read some of this and I thought, man, these politicians back in those days remind me of the politicians we have today.
[01:30:23;57 - 01:30:53;40]
They sit down at a table to hammer out a peace deal or to hammer out some kind of legislation to bring favor and direction to countries. And they don't mean a word of it. They break it before they get up from their seat almost. And that's exactly what Antiochus Epiphanes did. And that's exactly what the king of the south did. Both of them did it.
[01:30:55;44 - 01:31:07;35]
So he had to leave Egypt. He didn't get full control of Egypt. He wanted Egypt bad. He wanted the king of the south territory bad.
[01:31:08;57 - 01:31:15;10]
But Antiochus Epiphanes didn't get it. But he did leave with a lot of plunder, okay?
[01:31:16;12 - 01:31:19;41]
And what he did, he took that plunder
[01:31:20;43 - 01:31:25;25]
and when he got back to his area in the north, Syria,
[01:31:26;40 - 01:31:31;56]
he lavished that plunder on people and bought their alliance.
[01:31:34;16 - 01:31:35;23]
He bought their alliance.
[01:31:37;12 - 01:31:39;10]
Now look at verses 25 to 28.
[01:31:40;46 - 01:31:51;52]
He will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the south with a large army. Again, we're talking about the king of the north. We're talking about Antiochus Epiphanes IV.
[01:31:53;32 - 01:31:58;19]
"So the king of the south will mobilize "an extremely large, mighty army for war,
[01:31:59;55 - 01:32:01;30]
"but he will not stand,
[01:32:02;56 - 01:32:05;14]
"for schemes will be devised against him.
[01:32:06;23 - 01:32:20;33]
"Those who eat his choice food will destroy him "and his army will overflow, "but many will fall down slain. "As for both kings, both kings, "king of the south, king of the north, "their hearts will be intent on evil
[01:32:21;40 - 01:32:25;14]
"and they will speak lies to each other at the same table.
[01:32:27;10 - 01:32:32;36]
"They will speak lies to each other at the same table.
[01:32:34;08 - 01:32:36;41]
"Man, but it will not succeed,
[01:32:37;54 - 01:32:41;05]
"for the end is still to come at the appointed time.
[01:32:42;34 - 01:32:46;01]
"Then he will return to his land with much plunder,
[01:32:47;14 - 01:32:50;57]
"but his heart will be set against the Holy Covenant, "the Mosaic Covenant,
[01:32:52;21 - 01:32:57;20]
"and he will take action and then return to his own land."
[01:32:58;44 - 01:33:02;35]
Now again, this section rehashes the political football
[01:33:03;47 - 01:33:08;48]
or the political ping pong game that was taking place between the king of the north and king of the south.
[01:33:10;31 - 01:33:13;29]
After Antiochus consolidated his kingdom,
[01:33:14;32 - 01:33:19;42]
he moved against Egypt and defeated them, though they had a much larger army.
[01:33:21;31 - 01:33:26;46]
The victor and the victim sat down and they tried to hammer out a peace deal, they failed.
[01:33:28;17 - 01:33:39;56]
And so Antiochus once again carried back wealth to his homeland, but he failed to get the plum that he was looking for and that is control of the king of the south territory.
[01:33:41;37 - 01:33:45;46]
And on his way back to Syria, remember, who's in the middle?
[01:33:47;24 - 01:33:47;54]
Israel.
[01:33:48;58 - 01:33:50;47]
You got the king of the south, that's Egypt.
[01:33:51;50 - 01:34:09;38]
You got the king of the north, that's Syria, Mesopotamia. And in between, you've got the Jews. Well, on the way back, when Antiochus Epiphanes and his group, his army was on the way back to Syria, they had a boatload of plunder,
[01:34:10;44 - 01:34:12;09]
but he didn't have what he wanted.
[01:34:13;13 - 01:34:15;34]
And he was so mad.
[01:34:16;43 - 01:34:22;20]
So you know what he did? On his way back through Israel, he persecuted the Jews.
[01:34:24;02 - 01:34:25;45]
He persecuted the Jews.
[01:34:27;07 - 01:34:32;02]
He was defiling the Jewish faith.
[01:34:34;08 - 01:34:38;44]
Now, he desecrated the temple in Jerusalem.
[01:34:39;48 - 01:34:41;47]
He opposed the Mosaic covenant.
[01:34:43;00 - 01:34:44;44]
Look at verses 29 and 30.
[01:34:46;09 - 01:34:57;24]
At the appointed time, he will return and come into the south. This is another trip to the south. But this last time, it will not turn out the way it did before.
[01:34:58;45 - 01:35:08;29]
For ships of Kiddom, my Bible, New America Standard, in the margin says it's Cyprus, island of Cyprus.
[01:35:09;43 - 01:35:14;34]
And these were Romans. The Roman Empire was arising to power.
[01:35:16;29 - 01:35:36;31]
The Empire of Greece was fading away. The Roman Empire was coming up to power and to strength. And the Romans sent some army by their navy, they had a navy, from Cyprus all the way down here to the King of the South.
[01:35:38;04 - 01:35:50;02]
And they stopped Antiochus Epiphanes and his army from taking the land of the King of the South. They intervened, the Romans intervened.
[01:35:51;09 - 01:35:55;29]
And I'm telling you, Antiochus Epiphanes was one hot dude.
[01:35:56;45 - 01:36:02;20]
And he tried to pull his little stunt with the Roman general.
[01:36:03;42 - 01:36:06;32]
And he asked for more time to think about it.
[01:36:07;40 - 01:36:17;13]
Now the Roman general didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. And he knew what he was doing. He was delaying so that he could build a larger army.
[01:36:18;39 - 01:36:31;55]
So here's what the general said to him. The general walked up to Antiochus Epiphanes. He drew a circle around Antiochus Epiphanes. He said, "You decide before you get out of that circle."
[01:36:34;16 - 01:36:37;20]
So he didn't give him a chance to build his army.
[01:36:38;22 - 01:36:40;20]
He asked for an immediate decision.
[01:36:42;27 - 01:36:49;35]
And Antiochus Epiphanes from that point forward was a vassal of the Roman Empire.
[01:36:51;23 - 01:36:51;35]
Okay?
[01:36:53;23 - 01:37:05;39]
Now, he had to return to his own land. Guess where he had to go through? He had to go through Israel. Look at verses 30 to 32 again.
[01:37:06;57 - 01:37:12;42]
11, 30 to 32. "For ships of Kiddom will come against him.
[01:37:13;55 - 01:37:15;49]
"Therefore he will be disheartened."
[01:37:17;18 - 01:37:23;20]
Now you don't wanna get a despicable person disheartened. Okay? That just don't play out well.
[01:37:24;43 - 01:37:34;59]
And will return and become enraged at the Holy Covenant. Of the Jewish people and take action.
[01:37:36;55 - 01:37:43;24]
So he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the Holy Covenant. You know what he's doing?
[01:37:44;59 - 01:37:46;48]
He's looking for Jewish people
[01:37:48;16 - 01:37:54;54]
who will turn their back on their faith, who will apostatize and join in with him.
[01:37:56;41 - 01:38:01;55]
And that's what that means. Then he goes on to say, verse 31,
[01:38:03;29 - 01:38:08;44]
"Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary."
[01:38:10;40 - 01:38:21;16]
Desecrate the sanctuary fortress. "Do away with the regular sacrifice "and they will set up the abomination of desolation." You say, "Well, pastor, how did Antiochus Epiphanes
[01:38:22;16 - 01:38:26;37]
"desecrate the sanctuary, the temple?" Well, here's what he did.
[01:38:28;19 - 01:38:31;17]
As you know, the Jewish people,
[01:38:32;18 - 01:38:41;16]
under the writings of Moses and the Word of God, they had particular ways they were to worship God.
[01:38:42;52 - 01:38:47;54]
They had particular sacrifices. They were to offer God in an act of worship.
[01:38:49;07 - 01:38:54;24]
And they were to do it in a certain way and they were to offer certain kinds of sacrifices. Okay?
[01:38:55;38 - 01:38:58;36]
And Antiochus Epiphanes came to the altar,
[01:39:00;15 - 01:39:16;42]
which was not the Holy of Holies. The altar was part of the temple complex and it was outside where the Holy of Holies was. It was outside. And he took a sow. You know what a sow is?
[01:39:17;57 - 01:39:19;20]
A sow is a girl pig.
[01:39:21;04 - 01:39:22;01]
He took a sow.
[01:39:24;24 - 01:39:28;03]
And he offered a sow, a pig,
[01:39:29;31 - 01:39:31;50]
on the Jewish altar of sacrifice.
[01:39:35;00 - 01:39:40;20]
A pig or a sow is an unclean animal according to Leviticus.
[01:39:42;41 - 01:39:43;34]
And I'm telling you,
[01:39:44;44 - 01:39:47;58]
this was high and holy treason against God.
[01:39:49;50 - 01:39:52;50]
And he offered that sow. And you know what else he did?
[01:39:54;04 - 01:39:56;48]
He required every Jew
[01:39:58;45 - 01:40:01;19]
on the 25th of every month
[01:40:02;38 - 01:40:10;46]
to offer every Jew, to offer a pig on the altar of God to celebrate his birthday.
[01:40:14;04 - 01:40:19;26]
He was a narcissist. He was a despicable narcissist. Okay?
[01:40:21;29 - 01:40:22;33]
And I'll tell you what he did.
[01:40:24;47 - 01:40:31;32]
He had historians say that he killed 80,000 Jews.
[01:40:34;09 - 01:40:36;13]
80,000 Jews right there in Jerusalem.
[01:40:37;25 - 01:40:41;08]
He took 40,000 women and children as slaves.
[01:40:43;29 - 01:40:46;21]
He robbed the temple of the temple treasures.
[01:40:49;30 - 01:40:50;17]
I'm telling you folks,
[01:40:52;15 - 01:40:55;29]
this guy was a mess.
[01:40:56;36 - 01:40:57;32]
He was a mess.
[01:40:59;09 - 01:41:03;07]
He abolished the daily sacrifice. He plundered and burned the city.
[01:41:04;45 - 01:41:12;58]
He erected an altar to Zeus on the altar of burn offering on December the 16th, 167 DC.
[01:41:16;48 - 01:41:19;02]
Now, before we go any further,
[01:41:20;42 - 01:41:24;26]
I wanna make sure I wanna bring you back to what we talked about earlier.
[01:41:26;46 - 01:41:29;41]
An angelic messenger came to Daniel
[01:41:31;29 - 01:41:37;36]
and revealed these things that wanna happen prophetically hundreds of years before they actually happened.
[01:41:39;41 - 01:41:44;11]
Daniel wrote them down just as the angelic messenger gave them to him.
[01:41:46;43 - 01:41:52;28]
And we're reading something that was very precise,
[01:41:53;50 - 01:41:58;29]
very precise prophecies. And we're reading about the fulfillment of those prophecies.
[01:41:59;49 - 01:42:01;58]
And if you walk out of here tonight
[01:42:03;41 - 01:42:06;16]
and you are not absolutely overwhelmed
[01:42:07;38 - 01:42:17;34]
with the sovereignty of God, if you're not overwhelmed with the beauty of the word of God, the truthfulness of the word of God,
[01:42:19;02 - 01:42:25;34]
the sacredness of the word of God, man, you need to check what you're eating. You're not eating the right stuff.
[01:42:26;35 - 01:42:27;12]
I'm serious.
[01:42:28;33 - 01:42:30;07]
I'm blown away by this.
[01:42:32;28 - 01:42:32;40]
Now,
[01:42:39;24 - 01:42:42;00]
Antiochus promised apostate Jews.
[01:42:43;37 - 01:42:45;08]
Look at verse 30.
[01:42:46;08 - 01:43:00;15]
"For ships of Kiddom will come against him, "therefore he will be disheartened, "will return, become and raise the Holy covenant, "take action, so he will come back "and show regard for those who," what? "Forsake the Holy covenant." We're talking about Jewish people.
[01:43:03;11 - 01:43:10;58]
"He offered apostate Jews great reward "if they would set aside the God of Israel "and worship Zeus."
[01:43:13;17 - 01:43:17;00]
Now, let me ask you, what's Antichrist gonna do at the end of time?
[01:43:18;15 - 01:43:18;52]
What's he gonna do?
[01:43:20;56 - 01:43:24;22]
He's gonna, there's gonna be another abomination of desolation.
[01:43:26;44 - 01:43:30;03]
There's gonna be another, there's gonna be the third Jewish temple.
[01:43:32;01 - 01:43:40;22]
And the Antichrist is going to create another abomination of desolation, gonna set up a false God, an idol,
[01:43:41;22 - 01:43:52;49]
and he's even gonna demand that he be worshiped. Many in Israel were persuaded by his promises
[01:43:54;19 - 01:43:57;31]
and they worshiped the false God Zeus.
[01:43:58;36 - 01:44:03;39]
Now, look at verse 31.
[01:44:04;44 - 01:44:13;54]
"Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary, "do away with the regular sacrifice, "they will set up abomination of desolation." Verse 32, "By smooth words,
[01:44:16;03 - 01:44:24;07]
"he will turn to God." By the way, can I tell you? That the Antichrist is gonna have smooth words,
[01:44:27;08 - 01:44:28;39]
just like Antiochus Epiphanes.
[01:44:29;49 - 01:44:35;43]
It's amazing how God brought this man into the world to give us a picture of the Antichrist.
[01:44:37;21 - 01:44:46;04]
And you're gonna see that more next Wednesday, I promise you. By smooth words, he will turn to godlessness, those who act wickedly toward the covenant.
[01:44:47;48 - 01:44:49;01]
I love the last part.
[01:44:50;02 - 01:44:53;41]
Look at this. But the people who know their God
[01:44:54;57 - 01:44:57;40]
will display strength and take action.
[01:44:59;13 - 01:44:59;55]
I like that.
[01:45:01;33 - 01:45:03;16]
The people who know their God
[01:45:05;14 - 01:45:10;18]
will display strength and take action.
[01:45:12;30 - 01:45:12;42]
Man.
[01:45:18;51 - 01:45:23;42]
Look at verses 33 to 35. "Those who have insight among the people
[01:45:25;00 - 01:45:28;13]
"will give understanding to the many." Who has insight among the people?
[01:45:29;18 - 01:45:32;15]
"Those who know their God, "displace strength and take action."
[01:45:34;02 - 01:45:37;25]
And they helped a lot of people, okay?
[01:45:38;47 - 01:45:46;17]
They'll give understanding to the many, yet they will fall by the sword, by flame, by captivity, by plunder for many days.
[01:45:48;17 - 01:45:51;52]
An incredible persecution of Jewish people.
[01:45:53;51 - 01:45:55;43]
The ones who knew their God,
[01:45:57;32 - 01:46:03;22]
the ones who displayed strength and took action
[01:46:04;27 - 01:46:08;27]
they were horribly, horribly tortured and persecuted.
[01:46:10;23 - 01:46:11;29]
Look at verse 33.
[01:46:13;20 - 01:46:24;58]
"Those who have insight among the people "will give understanding to the many, "yet they will fall by the sword, by the flame, "by captivity." Verse 34. "Now when they fall, they will be granted a little help,
[01:46:26;15 - 01:46:28;19]
"and many will join with them in hypocrisy.
[01:46:29;29 - 01:46:40;04]
"Some of those who have insight will fall "in order to refine." In other words, look at this. Some of those who have insight will be persecuted. That's what it means.
[01:46:41;22 - 01:46:45;18]
In order to refine, purge, and make them pure until the end time,
[01:46:46;33 - 01:46:53;14]
because it is still to come at the appointed time. There's that at the appointed time again. You all don't underline that and put a star by it.
[01:46:54;43 - 01:46:57;11]
Now, let me tell you what happened.
[01:46:59;44 - 01:47:08;32]
Mattathias was a Jewish priest during this time, when Antiochus Epiphanes was doing all this horrible stuff.
[01:47:09;58 - 01:47:11;20]
He had five sons.
[01:47:12;26 - 01:47:13;29]
He had five sons.
[01:47:14;40 - 01:47:21;06]
In 166 BC, Mattathias refused to submit
[01:47:22;11 - 01:47:24;55]
to this false system of worship
[01:47:25;55 - 01:47:32;56]
that Antiochus Epiphanes had set up. He and his sons fled from Jerusalem to the mountains,
[01:47:34;08 - 01:47:36;36]
and they began the Maccabean Revolt.
[01:47:38;41 - 01:47:42;13]
One of his sons was named Judas Maccabees,
[01:47:43;32 - 01:47:52;14]
and he became the leader of the revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes. He was known, quote, as the hammer.
[01:47:53;46 - 01:47:54;44]
He was known as a hammer.
[01:47:55;52 - 01:47:56;46]
He was a good hammer.
[01:47:58;22 - 01:48:15;22]
He defeated the enemy like guerrilla warfare. They defeated Antiochus and Antiochus' army. And in 164 BC, in December 164 BC,
[01:48:17;07 - 01:48:20;41]
Judas Maccabees cleansed and restored the temple
[01:48:21;42 - 01:48:23;18]
and made it ready for worship again.
[01:48:25;32 - 01:48:39;56]
You know, that's why the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah. Hanukkah is a celebration of the cleansing and the restoration of the Jewish temple by Judas Maccabees, the hammer.
[01:48:45;29 - 01:48:47;52]
I got to thinking about this, a couple of things here.
[01:48:49;42 - 01:48:52;43]
The suffering of the Jewish people in persecution
[01:48:54;26 - 01:48:57;43]
was designed to refine them and purify them.
[01:48:59;33 - 01:49:06;09]
There's nothing that will cause the sheep and the goat to identify themselves more than persecution.
[01:49:08;32 - 01:49:15;13]
I believe with all my heart, and listen to me, with all my heart, I believe that's coming
[01:49:16;17 - 01:49:18;15]
to the New Testament church in our day.
[01:49:20;05 - 01:49:26;26]
And trust me, Jesus said, he prophesied. Do you believe Jesus prophecies?
[01:49:27;51 - 01:49:40;34]
Do you believe Daniel's prophecies? I believe everyone of them. Jesus said that he was persecuted and that we will be persecuted. He said that he was hated and we will be hated.
[01:49:41;57 - 01:49:53;29]
I'm telling you, we see it more and more every single day. I read today that the city church there in Minneapolis, you know what happened that Sunday?
[01:49:54;31 - 01:49:57;44]
Well, every Sunday since then,
[01:49:59;04 - 01:50:06;05]
these believers going to church, going into church are being harassed, being harassed.
[01:50:07;42 - 01:50:10;55]
It's gonna come here. It's gonna come to carnival one day.
[01:50:12;01 - 01:50:13;36]
He said, I'll never have meal. Oh, yeah, it will.
[01:50:15;16 - 01:50:16;19]
And you know what it's gonna do?
[01:50:17;35 - 01:50:20;43]
It's gonna separate the wheat from the tares,
[01:50:21;57 - 01:50:23;07]
the sheep from the goat.
[01:50:24;40 - 01:50:31;45]
And it's gonna cause those, it's gonna cause those, I love this part now. It's gonna cause those who know their God
[01:50:33;43 - 01:50:37;25]
to display strength and to take action
[01:50:38;47 - 01:51:00;16]
for the glory of God, just like Judas Maccabeus. I hope and pray that when that day comes, there are many hammers that God has prepared right here in this body to protect and to honor the name of God when everybody else is trashing it. Amen.
[01:51:02;36 - 01:51:18;21]
Well, next week, we go from Antiochus Epiphanes. We start in verse 36, and we go all the way to chapter 12, verse three, dealing with the Antichrist.
[01:51:19;35 - 01:51:26;30]
We go from the picture, the preview of Antichrist to the reality of Antichrist next week.
[01:51:27;33 - 01:51:43;15]
And I want you to remember now, I want you to be able to go back and think through as we do it next week, the similarities between these two characters. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much
[01:51:45;31 - 01:52:01;38]
for giving us the Word of God. Thank you for these amazing prophecies. Thank you for the precise way that you have fulfilled precise prophecies. And I thank you, Lord, that has given us great assurance that the Word of God is true.
[01:52:03;10 - 01:52:20;15]
And Lord, I pray that when the day comes, when we're called to stand up for you, Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus that we would know you, we would display strength, and we would take action for your glory. In Christ's name, amen. Thank you.