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Well, good morning.
If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join us in Daniel chapter 11.
If you're a first-time guest, we're excited that you're here.
We love that you're here.
We're honored that you're here.
At the end of the service, I'll be back here at our connections table.
We'd love to be able to speak with you.
We'd love to be able to shake your hand, answer any questions that you may have about our church,
so please stop by there.
We'd love nothing more than to be able to speak with you.
A lot of things going on around the life of our church.
Our men's ministry gathered a couple weeks ago.
Our women's ministry gathered this past Friday night.
Wonderful events, great times of fellowship, and there's even more that's coming up.
So I want to make sure that you get involved and get connected.
And then please, if you can, just fill out one of these cards.
It's a great way for us, if we need to be able to get in touch with you, to be able to
connect with you, to be able to pray for you, to be able to answer questions that you may
have to fill this out.
Then as you leave, this is for everybody.
Drop it off in the basket underneath that exit sign.
I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving.
I was telling a couple this morning that I got to experience first Thanksgiving yesterday.
I get to experience second Thanksgiving today.
And then I will get to experience third Thanksgiving on Thursday, which means that next Saturday,
there's probably a fourth Thanksgiving that's going to happen.
So if I show up next week in my sweatpants, just give me some grace.
All right.
But good time.
I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and your friends of who God's
got in your life.
And so this is all I'm going to say about what this week is.
Okay.
All right.
If you're, if you're, if you're from the state of South Carolina, this week probably means
a little something to you.
See, see, Michelle, Michelle goes against everything that I was going to say.
All right.
So I've heard it classified that this week is, is hate week between South Carolina and Clemson.
That, that in an ungodly manner, ungodly, you and I are to hate one another.
If you're a Tiger fan or if you're a Gamecock fan, right?
We're to hate one another.
And I think that this week of all weeks, we don't need to experience hate.
We need to experience unity, unity.
Because we're both at the bottom, right?
And in bottom, we're both, the boat is going down.
And we'll tread water and you'll tread water and Jesus loves you.
Let's get the band to come back up on stage.
No, have fun this week.
Have fun this week.
Carolina fans, love your Clemson friends and Clemson family.
Clemson people love us, all right?
We're hurting.
It's tough.
But it's been years of struggle, you know?
And if you're here today, I just want to say, if you're here today and you do not care anything about that game, let me just say, good for you.
Good for you.
And that is where I long to be, all right?
I want to do something a little different this morning.
I was riding into the office.
Normally, this is the part during the message where I read a passage of Scripture and then we pray as we prepare to go into the sermon.
But I was listening to one of my favorite worship leaders, this guy by the name of Shane Bernard.
And he does a thing where he sings a lot of the psalms.
He puts them to music and he sings them.
And as I was coming down two-notch, a song came on my playlist and it was Psalm 143.
And I tell you guys, like, I'm not a great singer if my bad singing, if bad singing distracts you from worship, don't sit around me.
But typically, like, when I'm in my car, like, I'm loud.
I'm loud with the singing if I'm by myself.
And this morning, it was just as I listened to the words, it was just a moment for me not even to sing, but to just listen to the heart of David, found in Psalm 143.
And to allow the truth of that to be spoken over me.
So here's what I would like to do as we go into our time in God's Word.
I'd like for you to bow your heads and close your eyes.
And I would like to read over you the prayer of David, found in Psalm 143.
Hear my prayer, O Lord.
Give ear to my pleas for mercy.
In your faithfulness, answer me.
In your righteousness, enter not.
Into judgment with your servant.
For no one living is righteous before you.
For the enemy has pursued my soul.
He has crushed my life to the ground.
He has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
Therefore, my spirit faints within me.
My heart within me is appalled.
I remember the days of old.
I meditate on all that you have done.
I ponder the work of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you.
My soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Answer me quickly, O Lord.
My spirit fails.
Hide not your face from me.
Lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love.
For in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go.
For to you I lift up my soul.
Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord.
I have fled to you for refuge.
Teach me to do your will.
For you are my God.
Let your good spirit lead me on level ground.
For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life.
In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble.
And in your steadfast love, you will cut off my enemies.
And you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul.
For I am your servant.
God, we speak your word to you in prayer.
Revive us, O God.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Fifteen weeks ago, we started in our journey in Daniel.
And this week is our next to last.
Next week we will conclude.
And then we will go into our Christmas series.
And if you've been with us and you've been journeying with us each and every week,
you know that we saw in the first six chapters of Daniel is the historical account of the man Daniel
and what God was doing in Daniel's life and those around him.
And then as we enter into chapter seven, what we begin to see is the prophetic piece of Daniel,
which is very interesting because what we find in the first six chapters of Daniel
are Daniel's ability to interpret dreams.
But then as we move forward, we see Daniel as the prophet that God has equipped him and called him to be.
And over the last several weeks, just being frank with you,
if I felt like anytime you study God's word, right, yes and amen,
it is a wonderful exercise that God takes us through,
a wonderful exercise of growing us and strengthening us and studying his word.
And even though that now at this point in time, it's hard to believe,
but I've been preaching God's word now for 23 years.
Every time I open his word, it is a wonderful exercise.
And God grows me in only the way that God can in spite of me and in spite of myself or who I am.
But I'm going to be honest with you guys, these last several chapters feels like God's taken me out on an ultra marathon.
And the deepness and complexity of the beauty of his word has been absolutely difficult and wonderful
at the same time to get in and study.
As we get into Daniel 11 this morning, I don't want to try to hide this from you.
Daniel 11 is an extremely complicated passage of scripture.
In fact, one of the authors that I read this week said, and I quote,
Daniel 11 is unpreachable.
So here's been my prayer for you guys all week,
that you do not agree with him at the end of this message.
Daniel 10 through 12 is a unit.
And this is what it gives us.
It gives us that there's roughly 400 years of history
between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament,
which is known as the silent years.
Daniel 10 through 12 and a lot of the prophecy that is there gives us certain events that will take place during that time.
And what is remarkable is that this passage actually contains the most fulfilled prophecies,
historically speaking, that have already happened in the course of our world.
So that what we can do, and it's what we are going to do to some degree,
is look at what God reveals to Daniel, the prophetic word that he gives him,
and that you and I can look back into the pages of history and see,
oh yeah, this absolutely did take place.
This isn't speculation.
This isn't the what ifs.
That what God said would happen is what happened,
and Daniel was faithful to record it.
And so this is what we'll look at and see for most of chapter 11,
and then at the very end, there'll be some five application points or questions
to kind of drive home for us.
So last week when we found Daniel in chapter 10,
he's frustrated and he's defeated.
He's had enough.
He's sick and tired.
He's at a spot of his relationship with God is as strong as Daniel's relationship with God,
but yet Daniel is at a point of frustration with his people, with God's people.
You see, because Daniel was reading in the book of Jeremiah,
and he saw where God's people who were in Babylonian captivity
would be kept for their land for 70 years,
but that 70 years has come to an end.
In fact, we see that in the first year of Darius,
that the announcement has made that the Jewish people can return to their land.
And if you're thinking, well, both, that should make Daniel excited.
But the problem with that making Daniel excited is only about 4% returned.
The rest had settled into their new pagan life, their new pagan lifestyle.
And Daniel, who's roughly about 85, 86, 87 years old, during this time,
it is broken for the people's disobedience.
And he's been pleading with God to forgive them and to restore them.
And God is extending his grace upon grace upon grace.
And the people are ignoring and ignoring and ignoring.
And this has been the battle that we see all the way back to in Deuteronomy,
where God tells his people, right, you are my people.
But if there's this disobedience that's there,
if there's this disobedience for me,
then I'm going to work and I'm going to allow and I'm going to cause
and I'm going to create these difficulties for you
so that you'll return to me, that you'll repent to me.
But as hard-headed as they are, they're not getting it.
And so what God is going to give for Daniel in this is a prophetic vision
about how God is going to keep his people under conflict,
that God's going to keep his people scattered
with a hope of bringing them back to repentance.
Bringing them back to repentance.
Folks, one of the largest misunderstandings that you and I have about repentance
is that repentance is the punishment.
Folks, repentance isn't the punishment.
Repentance is the healing.
As we take all that is broken, all that is messed up,
and we bring it before a holy God
who our sin is repulsive to him.
Every bit of it.
He is perfect and holy and good and righteous
and we are none of those things.
But in repentance, we can come to him.
And in forgiveness, we experience his grace and his mercy.
But they won't listen.
So God gives Daniel this vision.
So if you would join me, we're going to read the first four verses of Daniel chapter 11.
It says,
And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede,
I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.
And now I will show you the truth.
Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia,
and the fourth shall be far richer than all of them.
And when he has become strong through his riches,
he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece.
Then a mighty king shall arise,
who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills.
And as soon as he has arisen,
his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven,
but not to his posterity nor according to the authority with which he ruled,
for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.
So if you'll pause with me,
let me explain to you of what we're seeing in the prophecy that is given to Daniel.
What's given to Daniel is the prophecy of two kingdoms.
These kingdoms have been referred to previously.
Off the top of my head, I believe this is what was mentioned there in Daniel chapter 7.
And what we see is following Darius, historically speaking and prophetically speaking as well,
that there'll be three more kings and that a fourth will arise.
And guess what?
History confirms that.
That when we look at the pages of history in the Medo-Persian empire,
we see that following Darius, there was the first that ruled from 530 to 522 BC.
We see that the second ruled in 522 BC and that year alone.
And then the third ruled from 522 to 486 BC.
And then the fourth comes.
The fourth of the greatest of all the Medo-Persian kings that will come to rule.
And his name is Xerxes.
And he becomes more powerful.
And his powerful status creates within him goals that previous kings had set their eyes on
but would never accomplish.
But he decides within himself that he is going to go after Greece.
That he is going to go after Greece.
And then in 480 BC, he will attempt to invade Greece, but he's defeated.
And in that, his empire will come to an end.
And what we find between verses 2 and 3 is a gap.
That God's word doesn't give us everything,
but that what God's word does give us speaks to what is true.
There's a gap.
There's about a 150-year gap between verse 2 and verse 3.
And verse 3 describes the mighty king of Greece that we would come to know as Alexander the Great.
He would conquer, if you know your history, you know that Alexander the Great,
through his military might and his cunning ways, would conquer the known world.
He would conquer from Greece to India, from north to south into Egypt.
And this is exactly what takes place.
But at 39 years old, he dies.
And what happens during this, due to death and murders and the things that happen and take place,
whenever there's a void of power within these kingdoms,
that there would be no one from his lineage to take the throne.
And so as God's word says that his kingdom would be divided by the winds of heaven,
north, south, east, and west.
And we see that from history confirms that.
In the west, we have the Greek.
In the east, we have Asia Minor.
In the north, we have Syria.
And in the south, we'll have Egypt.
And then what God is going to do and work is that God is going to use this kingdom
as God divided the kingdom.
And he's going to use the kingdom over the next 15 verses to work in the life of Israel.
To work in the nation of Israel amongst God's people
as God works and moves in the way that only God can.
So over these next 15 verses, let me give you kind of a sneak peek into some of this.
That when it talks about the kingdom of the north, that's Syria.
And when it talks about the kingdom of the south, that is Egypt.
And we will see how they begin to play out.
So read with me verses 5 through verses 20.
Then the king of the south shall be strong.
But one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule.
And his authority shall be great authority.
After some years, they shall make an alliance.
And the daughter of the king of the south should come to the king of the north to make an agreement.
But she shall not retain the strength of her arm.
And he and his arm shall not endure.
But she shall be given up.
And her attendants, he who fathered her and he who supported her in those times.
And from a branch from her roots, one shall arise in his place.
He shall come against the army and enter the forces of the king of the north.
And he shall deal with them and shall prevail.
He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods and their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold.
For some years, he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north.
Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land.
His son shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through and shall carry the water as far as his fortress.
Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north.
And he shall raise a great multitude but it shall be given into his hand.
And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted.
And he shall cast down tens of thousands but he shall not prevail.
For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude greater than the first.
And after some years, he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies.
In those times, many shall rise against the king of the south.
And the violent among your people, your own people, shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision.
But they shall fail.
Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siege works and take a well-fortified city.
And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops.
For there shall be no strength to stand.
But he who comes against him shall do as he wills.
And none shall stand before him.
And he shall stand in the glorious land with destruction in his hand.
He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom.
And they shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them.
He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage.
Afterwards, he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them.
But a commander shall put an end to his insolence.
Instead, he shall turn his insolence back upon him.
Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortress of his own land.
But he shall stumble and fall and shall not be found.
Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom.
But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle.
So during this period of time that's discussed, Rome is the global power.
The Roman Empire is on the scene.
They are the empire of great influence in the world.
But this passage will largely focus in on the conflict dealing between Egypt and Syria.
God gives us this due to their relationship with Israel.
Now, I listened to a guy this past week who walks through verses 5 through 20 and explains every little battle and detail that's there.
And it took him three hours in order to get through all of that.
And so prayerfully, I made the decision this week for you and I to not walk through three hours of this together.
For time's sake, we can't explain every detail.
But I want to give you a glimpse of what is happening because it's extremely important.
Wars are happening.
People are trying to amass more.
Greed is dominating.
I need more land.
I need more power.
I need more people.
I need more money.
Here's something that is very interesting when we see this in the course of history.
Look back at verse 6.
After some years, this is one generation removed from Alexander the Great.
They've been divided.
After some years they shall make an alliance and the daughter of the king of the south from Egypt shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement.
But she shall not retain the strength of her arm and he and his arm shall not endure but she shall be given up in her attendance.
He who fathered her and he supported her in those times.
Here is what we see that happens in the course of history.
The leader of the section of the world that is Egypt, this king, this prince during this,
decides in order to make a peace treaty, in order to gain power, to gain influence,
that he is going to send his daughter to the north to marry the king.
But unfortunately, he was already married.
And in the conflict of what would happen, where it says right in through here, right,
to make an agreement that she shall not retain the strength of her arm, of her marriage,
she won't be given that.
That instead, he and his arm, his wife.
So his wife comes and says,
Nuh-uh, not my man, right?
Ends up killing her.
And this is what we see.
Here's the pattern that we see.
Egypt attacks Syria.
Syria attacks Egypt.
Rinse and repeat.
And for the first half of the time period, what we'll largely see is Egypt will win most of the battles.
But then on verse 12, there's a shift in their global power for a time where they're battling,
and Syria will win the battles.
And during this time, Israelites will partner with the Syrians to battle the Egyptians.
Well, in 198 B.C., 198 B.C., promise not much more history after this.
In 198 B.C., the Egyptians suffered a massive loss to the Syrians.
And as a result, Palestine would come under control of the Syrian empire.
And during that time, there would be a Syrian king who would rule named Antichus Epiphanes.
Antichus Epiphanes, who had an evil reign of terror.
In fact, in the prophecy of Daniel 11, there's a pre-prophecy in verses 18 and 19, if you'll look at those with me, concerning his defeat.
That we'll read about later on.
Afterwards, he shall turn his face to the coastlands.
This will be important.
I promise we'll read.
We'll see this in the next part.
After this, he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture them.
But a commander, that's important, a commander shall put an end to his insolence.
Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him.
And then he shall turn his face back toward the fortress of his own land.
He'll flee.
But he shall stumble and fall and shall not be found.
And so it speaks to this once powerful, that Rome will send a general as he looks to attack the coastland of the Mediterranean.
And in that, he is defeated.
And in that, he is sent back.
And it's where we begin to see, over and over again, the imagery of God's word playing true in history.
And folks, this is important.
And then what we'll find in verses, as we go through 11, 21 through 35,
we'll give a description of the depravity of this epiphanies, of Antioch's epiphanies.
And we'll see his depravity, but here we see his defeat.
So we're going to read the rest of Daniel 11 here in just a moment.
And it's broken up again in two sections.
And I apologize for the seminary history lesson.
But section 1, Daniel 11, 21 through 25, will deal with epiphanies.
And I'm going to say this, and catch this with me, okay?
And he is to serve as a type, a type of Antichrist.
We'll see a depth of depravity that is within him that will play out into the imagery of the coming Antichrist.
And then in verses 36 through 45, we will get a description of the eschatological Antichrist
referred to in Daniel 7, Daniel 9, 2 Thessalonians, and Revelation 13.
So let's read verses 21 through 25, and we'll begin to understand who this monster is.
In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given.
He shall come in without warnings and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant.
And from the time that an alliance is made with him, he shall act deceitfully,
and he shall become strong with the small people.
Without warning, he shall come into the richest parts of the providence.
And he shall do whatever his, he shall do neither his fathers nor his father's fathers have done,
scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods.
He shall divide plans against strongholds, but only for a time.
And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army.
And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army,
but he shall not stand, for plots have been devised against him.
Even those who eat his food shall break him.
His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain.
And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil.
They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail.
For the end is yet to be at the time appointed.
And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant.
And he shall work his will and return to his own land.
At the time appointed, he shall return and come into the south.
But it shall not be at this time as it was before.
For the ships of Ketem shall come against him.
And he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant.
He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant.
Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress,
and shall take away the regular burnt offering,
and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.
He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant,
but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.
The wise among the people shall make many understand,
though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame by captivity and plunder.
When they stumble, they shall receive a little help,
and they shall join themselves to them with flattery.
And some of the wise should stumble,
so that they may be refined, purified, and made white until the time of the end,
for it still awaits the appointed time.
Antichius Epiphanes is a monster.
He's an absolute monster.
He comes to power, not through election,
not through family lineage,
but as is spoken about in the prophetic word,
which is spoken about in the course of history,
he comes to power through smooth talking.
He comes to power through lies and deceit.
He comes to power by betraying himself to be something that he's not,
and even early on throughout his reign,
will gain land and treaty as a result of this.
In 169 B.C.,
he returned back to Syria following a war,
and he found that there had been a Jewish insurrection
that had been taking place.
He didn't capture those who were involved.
He didn't capture the group that was trying to rebel against him.
Instead, he ended up killing 80,000,
80,000 men, women, and children
to punish the nation
for the insurrection that had taken place.
And this would speak to
how he would handle any threat of defeat
that he would face.
So in Daniel 1130
speaks of a specific time
where he was defeated.
This is the part that connects us
back with what we had just read
at the end there in verse 18.
Here's what happened.
Antiochus decided once again
to attack Egypt
as he set his eyes
on the coastland
of the Mediterranean.
And here's what happened.
Once he decided to attack Egypt,
Rome,
the power of Rome,
decided to help the Egyptians.
Go back and read verse 30 again with me.
For the ships of Ketem
shall come against him
and he shall be afraid
and withdraw
and turn back
and be enraged
and take action
against the Holy Covenant.
Here's what history tells us.
That when Rome has the appeal
from Egypt
that this is what's going to happen,
Rome sends a general,
remember earlier in verse 18
it says a commander,
that's known as the fleet
of Ketem
and they go there
and they defeat him
and they humiliate him
and he's forced to set his eyes
back on his homeland
and he's forced to return back.
Well, here's the thing.
He's not willing to say,
you know what?
I took my shot
and I missed.
He's not willing to say,
you know what?
They had more than I had
and I need to learn my lesson
and go back to where I came from.
These aren't things
that encapture his mind
and instead he decides,
even though there's not
a single person of Israel
who is fighting with him,
that he will take out his anger.
He will take out his defeat
and instead he will punish
the Jewish people.
So here's a glimpse
into what this man does.
He sent mercenaries
to Jerusalem
who come waving the banner
of peace
only to attack on the Sabbath,
their day of rest,
their day of worship,
and killed many
and then looted the city,
looted the temple.
He then lied
to the Jewish people,
deceived the Jewish people,
and convinced many
to abandon their faith
and follow him.
He made all Jewish practices illegal.
He made offering sacrifices,
offerings,
worship in the temple,
prayer,
reading of Scripture illegal.
and if you were caught
doing that,
you were punished
by death.
Since they couldn't worship
their God,
he placed himself
as God
for them to worship him.
He went into the temple
and erected
a statue
of Zeus
in ways
to destroy
the holiness.
He sacrificed
the pig
on the altar,
desecrating
the altar,
and forced
the priest
to eat
the unclean
meat.
In the course
of his tenure,
he murdered
tens of thousands
of Jewish people.
Praise God,
there were those
who stood against him.
In 163 B.C.,
he dies.
And he serves
what God
is using him as,
is he serves
as a picture
of what to come.
We can look
through the course
of history
and we can glance
and we can see
while we have not seen
the Antichrist.
We have seen
those like
an Antichrist.
We see the power
that they exude,
the characteristics
that they're
desperate for
and that fill
within them.
We see this
with Epiphanes.
We see this
with Nero.
In a lot of ways,
we see this
with Adolf Hitler.
The depravity
of the heart
of man.
And now,
as we close
verses 36-45,
we'll see
the prophecy
that comes
for the
Antichrist.
it says,
and the king
shall do
as he wills.
He shall
exalt himself
and magnify
himself
above every
god
and shall
speak
astonishing
things
against the
god of
gods.
He shall
prosper
until the
indignation
is accomplished.
For what is
decreed
shall be
done.
He shall
pay no
attention
to the
god
of his
fathers
which is
the one
beloved
by women.
He shall
not pay
attention
to any
other god
for he
shall
magnify
himself
above all.
He shall
honor the
god
of
fortresses
instead
of these.
Of
god
of whom
his
fathers
did not
know
he shall
honor
with
gold
and
silver
and
precious
stones
and
costly
gifts.
He
shall
deal
with
the
strongest
fortresses
with
the
help
of a
foreign
god.
Those
who
acknowledge
him
shall
load
with
honor.
He
shall
make
them
rulers
over
many
and
shall
divide
the
land
for
a
price.
At
the
time
of the
end
the
king
of the
south
shall
attack
him.
But
the
king
of the
north
shall
rush
upon
him
like
a
whirlwind
with
chariots
and
horsemen
with
many
ships
and
he
shall
come
into
countries
and
shall
overflow
and
pass
through.
He
shall
come
into
the
glorious
land.
Folks,
this is
Israel.
And
tens
of
thousands
shall
fall
but
these
shall
be
delivered
out
of
his
hand.
Edom
and
Moab
and
the
main
parts
of
the
Ammonites.
He
shall
stretch
out
his
hand
against
the
countries
and
the
land
of
Egypt
shall
not
escape.
He
shall
become
the
ruler
of
the
treasures
of
gold
and
of
silver
and
of
the
precious
things
of
Egypt.
And
the
Libyans
and
the
Cushites
shall
follow
in
his
train.
But
news
from
the
east
and
the
north
shall
alarm
him.
He
shall
go out
with a
great
fury
to
destroy
and
devote
many
to
destruction.
And
he
shall
pitch
his
palatial
tents
between
the
sea
and
the
glorious
holy
mountain.
Yet
he
shall
come
to
his
end
with
none
to
help
him.
We
get a
description
of the
Antichrist.
And
folks,
I'll
be
honest
with
you.
While
I'm
not
trying
to
stand
here
and
I'm
not
giving
a
prophetic
word,
it's
not
that
I'm
not
trying
to,
I'm
saying
I'm
not
doing
that,
but
when
we
look
into
the
ungodly
into
the
world,
when
we
look
into
the
ungodly
of
the
leadership
of
the
world,
folks,
these
descriptions
don't
just
limit
themselves
to
biblical
times.
We
see
that
he
is
self-willed
and
he
will
do
whatever
he
pleases.
There
is no
submission
to
others
much
less
submission
to
God.
He
exalts
himself.
He
doesn't
just
see
himself
as
God-like,
he
sees
himself
as
a
God.
He
will
blaspheme
and say
outrageous
things
about
God,
but
in
this
all,
he
will
be
applauded,
he
will
be
looked
at
with
praise.
Why?
Because
he
will
be
successful.
He
will
attack
others
and
sweep
into
their
country.
He
will
invade
Israel
and
kill
many.
He
will
have
a
global
rule
for
a
while,
but
praise
God,
he
will
meet
his
end.
Very
end of
verse
45.
Yet
he
shall
come
to
his
end.
in
preaching,
what you
have to
have is
explanation
and
application.
You see,
if it's
just
explanation,
it's
just a
teachable
lesson that
we gain
knowledge
and go
from.
But
God's
word
causes us
to take
his
word
and to
apply
his
word
and the
truth
of what
God
has
for us.
Multiple
times this
week,
I thought
this,
God,
why
did
you
give
us
this
passage?
Why
did
you
give
us
this,
that
we
would
have
this
today?
Well,
here's
some
application
that I
have
for you
in
closing.
What
does God
have
for us?
Number
one,
God
writes
history
before
it's
history.
God
writes
history
before
it's
history.
depending
on your
theological
view
when it
comes
to
history,
God
either
ordained
it
or
allowed
it.
But let
me say
based off
of what
the Bible
teaches
us is
either way
you look
at it,
God's
in
control.
God's
in
control
through
Alexander
the
Great.
God's
in
control
through
Xerxes.
God's
in
control
through
the
Babylonian
captivity.
That
what
we
see
all
throughout
in
the
book
of
Daniel,
what
we
see
all
throughout
the
course
of
what
God
brings
us
in
his
word
is
that
God
is
in
control
and
that
it
can
be
fearful
that
when
we
look
at
the
depth
of
depravity
that
is
in
the
world
around
us
and
we
can
be
succumbed
to
the
emotion
of
fear
that
is
there
instead
of
the
truth
that
we
have
that
God
is
in
control
and
God
doesn't
wait
to
think
about
what
history
will
be
that
God
sets
the
story
of
this
world
and
the
beauty
of
that
if
God
sets
the
story
of
this
world
then
praise
God
that
he's
got
a
story
for
me
and
praise
God
that
he
has
a
story
for
you
the
question
that
I
have
for
you
this
morning
is
this
whose
story
are
you
going
after
whose
story
are
you
going
after
Daniel
didn't
go
after
his
own
story
Daniel
went
after
the
story
of
God
of
what
God
had
for
him
of
what
God
desired
for
him
you
see
Daniel
could
have
counted
himself
as
much
but
Daniel
humbled
himself
before
the
Lord
Daniel
could
have
leveraged
himself
for
rule
but
instead
Daniel
wanted
to be
obedient
to
what
God
had
for
him
you
see
Daniel
could
have
promoted
himself
and
disobeyed
God
but
Daniel
said
I
don't
care
if
it
cost
me
my
life
you
will
not
take
away
my
obedience
before
a
holy
God
who
writes
your
story
number
two
that
mankind
all
of
us
left
to
his
own
heart
his
own
will
his
own
way
simply
put
will
do
as
he
wills
the
way
that
we
see
in
the
antichrist
the
way
that
we
see
in
Alexander
the
great
the
way
we
see
in
epiphanies
is
that
every
single
time
in
their
choice
of
the
world
they
will
choose
the
lesser
they
will
choose
what
their
heart
sinfully
desires
you know
for
Daniel
it
was
the
true
count
the
cost
in
order
to
follow
God
my
question
for
you
and
I
today
will
your
heart
be
like
the
heart
of
Alexander
the
great
will
your
heart
be
like
the
heart
of
epiphanies
will
your
heart
be
like
the
heart
of
the
antichrist
and
simply
I
am
the
God
of
my
life
and
I
will
do
as
I
will
God
or
today
will
you
make
the
choice
in
the
sacrifice
today
will
you
make
the
choice
in
the
struggle
today
will
you
make
the
choice
to
choose
Jesus
and
to see
his
goodness
and
his
faithfulness
number
three
kingdoms
will
come
and
go
but
only
the
kingdom
of
Christ
will
stand
turn
back
with
me
a few
pages
in
Daniel
chapter
7
verses
13
and
14
it's a
prophecy
about the
son of
man
this is
a
prophecy
about
Jesus
this is
a
prophecy
about
Christ
and
he
says
and
I
saw
in
the
night
visions
and
behold
with
the
clouds
of
heaven
there
came
one
like
a
son
of
man
this
is
Jesus
and
he
came
to
the
ancient
of
days
and
was
presented
before
him
and
to
him
was
given
dominion
and
glory
and
a
kingdom
that
all
peoples
nations
and
languages
should
serve
him
and
here's
the
beautiful
part
about
this
kingdom
the
kingdom
that
I'm
in
because
Jesus
has
saved
me
the
kingdom
that
you
can
be
in
because
of
the
gift
of
God
in
Christ
that
he
paid
on
the
cross
here's
the
beautiful
part
of
that
his
dominion
is
an
everlasting
dominion
which
shall
not
pass
away
that
is
the
things
of
this
world
fade
his
will
stand
and
his
kingdom
one
that
shall
not
be
destroyed
are
you
a
part
of
God's
kingdom
entry
into
God's
kingdom
is
not
found
in
your
ability
or
in
mine
but
it's
found
in
response
of
faith
in
Jesus
Christ
as
Lord
and
Savior
fourth
praise
God
history
allows
us
to
learn
from
the
sins
of
others
and
instead
look
to
Jesus
folks
may
today
may
we
look
to
Jesus
as
our
means
and
may
we
look
to
Jesus
as
our
model
yes
Jesus
is
our
means
of
salvation
Jesus
is
the
only
one
who
can
save
us
but
the
truth
of
God's
word
is
it's
not
check
a
box
and
move
on
from
there
that
Jesus
is
our
means
of
salvation
and
he
is
our
model
of
obedience
may
we
stop
asking
ourselves
how
would
others
handle
this
how
would
others
respond
to
this
and
may
we
start
looking
at
the
boldness
of
love
that
exudes
from
Christ
may
we
serve
others
the
way
that
he
served
may
we
love
others
the
way
that
he
loved
not
out
of
selfish
game
but
out
of
obedience
to
God
and
lastly
and
lastly
God
wins
God
wins
I'd like
to invite
the worship
team to
go ahead
and come
back
on stage
in
the
nine
o'clock
hour
I'm
teaching
through
eschatology
and
I
appreciate
those
faithful
ones
that
have
really
hung
in
with
me
because
there's
a lot
of
what
ifs
and
I
think
so's
and
all
this
as we
look
through
and try
to
understand
in
times
and
how
it
plays
out
and
Johnny
Cobb
and I
were
talking
about
it
Johnny's
one
of
our
great
Bible
teachers
here
at
our
church
and
Johnny
and I
were
talking
about
it
afterwards
and
just
how
it
and
the
beauty
and
in
the
midst
of
how
confusing
it
can
be
isn't
it
very
encouraging
and
awesome
to
know
that
God
wins
that
God
wins
you see
folks
that
this
world
is
tough
and
it's
getting
tougher
folks
this
world
is
evil
and
it's
getting
more
and
more
evil
this
world
is
wicked
and
it's
getting
even
more
and
more
wicked
but
yet
we're
told
that
there's
coming
a
time
that
an
antichrist
will
come
and
he'll
rule
and
he'll
reign
and
his
rule
and
his
reign
will
be
a
global
rule
and
a
global
reign
but
praise
God
it's
going
to
come
to
an
end
you
know
when we
read
apocalyptic
literature
it can
sound a
little
scary
there's
wars
there's
battles
there's
blood
there's
dragons
there's
demons
there's
beasts
there's
creatures
that you
and I
cannot
begin to
fathom
or
understand
but you
know that
when we
read
literature
like this
in God's
word
that it's
not meant
to
frighten
us
but it's
meant to
encourage
us
it's
meant to
remind
us
it's
to
bring us
joy
and happiness
that
as we
face
the
difficulties
of
this
world
that
two
word
statement
was
true
in
Daniel
and
it
was
true
in
Revelation
and
it
was
true
in
the
Gospels
and
it's
true
today
that
God
wins
that
God
wins
and
God
well
I don't
know
why
I
know
why
God
doesn't
make
everything
clear
to
us
because
he
doesn't
have
to
he
doesn't
owe
that
to
me
he
doesn't
owe
that
to
you
but
what
he
makes
clear
is
his
victory
that
he's
done
for
you
the
victory
that
he's
done
for
me
that
he
overcame
the
one
thing
that
you
and
I
can't
overcome
he
overcame
our
sin
and in
that
he
defeated
our
sin
and gave
us
life
and gave
us
hope
and gave
us
a
future
folks
God
wins
in
Revelation
19
I
want to
close with
a
prophecy
then I
saw
heaven
opened
and
behold
a
white
horse
and
the
one
sitting
on
it
called
faithful
and
true
and
in
righteousness
he
judges
and
makes
war
his
eyes
are
like
a
flame
of
fire
and
on
his
head
are
many
diadems
and
he
has
a
name
written
that
no
one
knows
but
himself
he
is
clothed
in
a
robe
dipped
in
blood
and
the
name
by
which
he
is
called
is
the
word
of
God
in
the
army
of
heaven
in
the
armies
of
heaven
arrayed
in
fine
linen
white
and
pure
were
falling
along
him
on
white
horses
and
from
his
mouth
comes
a
sharp
sword
with
which
to
strike
down
the
nations
and
rule
them
with
an
iron
rod
he
will
tread
the
winepress
of
the
fury
of
the
wrath
of
God
the
almighty
and
on
his
robe
and
on
his
thigh
he
has
a
name
written
king
of
kings
and
lord
of
lords
God
wins
God
wins
if you're
here
today
and
Jesus
Christ
is
not
your
lord
and
savior
you
have
not
surrendered
your
life
to
him
can
I
tell
you
today
stop
fighting
stop
fighting
a
battle
that
you
cannot
win
and
surrender
to
him
today
receive
him
as
lord
and
savior
allow
as
he
as
he
works
and
moves
to
pay
the
price
of
your
sins
with
the
work
he
did
on
the
cross
of
Calvary
and
allow
him
to
make
you
new
to
make
you
whole
to
make
you
clean
for
all
of
eternity
god
wins
lord
we
thank
you
that
the
battle
that
rages
on
lord
is
a
battle
that
you
fight
that
you've
won
and
we
thank
you
lord
for
being
sufficient
in
all
we
thank
you
for
saving
us
for
today
for
tomorrow
for
all
of
eternity
lord
if
there's
anyone
here
who
does
not
know
jesus
christ
as
their
lord
and
savior
i
pray
that
today
would
be
the
day
of
their
salvation
and
it's
in
jesus
name
we
pray
amen
that's
it
for
this
week's
message
be
sure
to
check
back
next
week
for
a
new
episode
and
in
the
meantime
you
can
visit
us
online
at
willowridgechurch.org
or by
searching for
Willow Ridge Church
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and YouTube
thanks again
for listening