God’s Plan to Purify Israel – Part 1
Daniel 11:2-35
August 7, 2016
We had a week off from our study of Daniel last Sunday night,
As we fellowshipped as a church body,
But tonight we desire to dive back into our study.
IF YOU’LL REMEMBER
• Daniel had been reading Jeremiah 29 and learned that God had decreed 70 years of captivity in Babylon in order to cause Israel to once again seek Him.
• Daniel read that and realized that they were 67 years into the captivity and had still yet to seek God the way He intended so that is precisely what Daniel set out to do.
• Daniel 9 records this prayer of seeking and repentance from Daniel and it was a thing of beauty.
• At the end of Daniel 9 we find that God desired to give a little more insight to Daniel regarding the things he sought, so God sent Gabriel to Daniel with a sobering message.
And it was basically this:
While 70 years will be enough to cause Israel to become monotheistic and once again seek God, it will not be enough to fully accomplish God’s total purpose for them.
God’s total desire for Israel is 6 fold.
According to Daniel 9:24 His desire is to:
• “finish the transgression”
• “make an end of sin”
• “make atonement for iniquity”
• “bring in everlasting righteousness”
• “seal up vision and prophecy”
• “anoint the most holy place”
If you will remember it will take more than 70 years to bring that about.
It will in fact take 70 – 7’s or 70 weeks (490 years)
• And God revealed to Daniel how from the time that a decree would be issued to rebuild Jerusalem it would be 483 years until the Messiah would be cut off, and we saw how it was to the day.
• And then God told Daniel that 7 more years were needed to complete the process.
During this final week God spoke of coming ruler who will deceive Israel.
Daniel 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
And we know that Daniel had set his heart to try and understand all these things, but on his own he could not.
That led us to chapter 10 where we learned all that must take place for us to understand the great plan of God.
We saw Gabriel’s explanation as to what it took for this vision to get to Daniel.
• How Daniel was incapable on his own.
• How even when the revelation came Daniel couldn’t handle it.
• How Gabriel literally had to fight through the enemy to get the revelation here.
• And how Daniel didn’t feel worthy to proclaim such a thing.
But now we actually get to the vision itself.
This is God’s explanation to Daniel about what things are coming.
Now, I want us to stretch our brains here for a second
And realize something.
1) FOR DANIEL ALL OF THESE EVENTS ARE IN THE FUTURE
For us, many of them are in the past, but they are all future for Daniel.
2) FOR GOD ALL OF THESE EVENTS ARE IN THE PAST
That’s probably not the best way to say it,
But I simply want you to understand that
God sees the end from the beginning.
God is not confined by time as we are.
He does not see things in the scope of past, present, and future.
God simply sees all things.
To Him all these things are completed, done, finished.
That is one of the reasons we focus so much on the sovereignty of God and reject so forcefully these notions of free will.
It is NOT as though God is watching from heaven
Just waiting to see how everything will play out.
God has already decreed how things are going to play out.
He already knows, He has already set it.
As far as He is concerned, it is already done.
There is no alternate ending here that might be produced
If people don’t follow His plan.
FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE IT’S ALL DONE.
And it helps us to understand that
When studying prophetic things like this chapter.
Perhaps you remember that famous passage from Isaiah 9.
Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”
We’ve talked about that and likened it to looking at a mountain range.
Isaiah could see all the peaks,
But he had difficulty seeing the valleys that separated them.
In fact Peter wrote:
1 Peter 1:10-11 “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”
They just couldn’t figure it all out.
• To Isaiah the coming of the child and the reign of the child were both certain,
even though they are happening at least 2,000 years apart.
• But the God who revealed that truth was just as certain about the first as He
was the second.
To God, the reign of Christ is just as sure as the birth of Christ.
They are both a done deal,
God sees them both as decreed and completed.
WHAT AM I GETTING AT?
Everything Daniel here sees is future,
So he has to choose whether or not to believe any of it.
But to us, most of what we are about to read is history,
It already happened.
So our tendency is to agree with the history and then wonder about the prophecy as if to say, “Will this happen?”
But the God who gave the revelation saw it all as completed.
That means that just as the first events of this chapter occurred,
It is just as certain that the last events of this chapter will occur.
For the God who revealed them
Is not in the middle of them still trying to work them out.
From His perspective it’s all history, even that which hasn’t been written.
So when we read chapters like this,
Let them be set in your mind that these events will occur.
In this chapter God is giving us a history lesson.
Some of it has been written, some of it hasn’t, but it is all decreed.
It is certain.
You will see that for those events that have already occurred
There is such a precise accuracy regarding them that skeptics have said
There is no way Daniel could have written this.
That accuracy only strengthens our resolve that
The events that are still future to us will occur
With the exact same precise accuracy.
Two main points.
#1 THE PAST HISTORY OF ISRAEL
Daniel 11:2-35
Now I remind you that all this occurred after Daniel’s time.
He’s just recording a revelation.
But for us this is all now past history.
What I want to do is give you the names and events that actually occurred alongside Daniel’s vision of what will occur and show you how accurate all these things were.
It stands to reveal to us that God is not predicting future events.
God is revealing events that to Him already are.
And let me show you how good God is at it.
It all begins here in verse 2.
(2) “And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of Greece.”
• Daniel saw three more kings arising and then a fourth which would spread his wings farther than the previous 3 and who ultimately be the one to provoke the nation of Greece.
• As Daniel wrote this Cyrus was on the throne of Persia.
• In 530BC – Cyrus’s son Cambyses would reign.
• In 522 BC – Pseudo-Smerdis would reign.
• In 521 BC – Darius I Hystaspes would reign.
• The 4th king would be Xerxes (Ahasuerus to Esther) who would reign in 485BC and would go to war with Greece.
It all happened.
(3) “And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.”
• This mighty king would be from Greece and his name was Alexander the Great.
• From 334-330BC Alexander conquered Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Persia
• He did whatever he wanted
(4) “But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to others besides them.”
Daniel saw this great king at the height of his power falling and having his kingdom split up 4 ways and not to his own descendants.
• Alexander died of Malaria in 323BC at the age of 32.
• His kingdom was divided among 4 generals.
• Seleucus would reign in the North (Syria & Mesopotamia)
• Ptolemy would reign in the South (Egypt, also Israel)
• Lysimacus would reign in the East (Thrace & Asia Minor)
• Cassander would reign in the West (Macedonia & Greece)
(5) “Then the king of the South will grow strong, along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion; his domain will be a great dominion indeed.”
The “king of the South” here was Ptolemy I Soter who controlled Egypt
“one of his princes” (referring to Alexander) was the king of the North Seleucus I Nicater
• So the focus of Daniel is on the Seleucid and Ptolemy empires who were the King of the South (Ptolemies) and the King of the North (Seleucids).
• Daniel isn’t so focused on the East and the West.
(6) “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. 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.”
We first read “After some years”, and that is true.
• Ptolemy I Soter died in 285BC and his son Ptolemy II Philadelphias would reign as the new King of the South.
• Seleucus I Nicator was murdered in 281BC and His son Antiochus I Soter reigned for a while and eventually his son Antiochus II Theos took the throne in the North.
So now in the South (Egypt) we have Ptolemy II
And in the North (Syria) we have Antiochus II
And these two men were bitter enemies.
Daniel saw that these two kingdoms would try to form and alliance through marriage.
• He saw that “the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North…but she will not retain her position of power”
• In order to forge peace Ptolemy II offered his daughter Berenice to Antiochus II and he accepted.
• The only problem was Antiochus II was already married to a woman named Laodice, but he divorced her so that he might marry Berenice and thus forge peace.
• But Daniel saw that “she will not retain her position of power”. That is to say the alliance wouldn’t work.
• Laodice proved to be a scorned wife who had Berenice killed.
• Laodice then returned to Antiochus II, but she poisoned him.
• Laodice then put her son Seleucus II Callinicus on the throne of the kingdom of the North.
So the peace talks didn’t work
And now public relations are worse than ever.
The daughter of the king of the South has been murdered
And her murderer’s son is now sitting on the throne.
You can feel the hostility building.
(7-8) “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.”
“But one of the descendants of her line (Berenice) will arise in his place, and he will come against their army”
• Eventually Berenice’s brother took the throne in the South. His name was Ptolemy III Eueregetes became king.
• He set out to avenge his sister’s murder and invade the North.
• He won the battle, killed Laodice, looted Syria, and returned to Egypt with great spoil.
• After this, he considered the score settled and refrained “from attacking the king of the North for some years.”
But you know that the king of the North might see things differently
Since it his mother who has just been killed.
(9) “Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.”
• So Seleucus II decided to invade the South to avenge his mother, but he fell off of his horse and died and thus was returned to his own land.
So the matter is still unresolved.
And you can guess what his sons would decide to do.
(10) “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.”
• Selecus II (North) had two sons.
• The first was Seleucus III and he left the king of the South alone. He sought to enlarge his kingdom by attacking Asia Minor (East), but he was killed by conspirators in Asia.
• His brother then became king who was Antiochus III and he hadn’t gotten over the death of his grandmother Laodice so he attacked the South once again.
• Antiochus III was victorious and he drove the king of the South back all the way to the southern border of Israel.
• That means that the land of Israel now dwells inside the border of the Northern Kingdom of the Seleucids. What is more Israel is really the strategic battle ground.
The South (Egypt, Ptolemies) had it and lost it and wants it back.
The North (Syria, Seleucids) just conquered and wish to keep it.
So, you guessed it, there is a battle coming.
(11-13) “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. “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.”
• The king of the South is now Ptolemy IV and went back to war with Antiocus III.
• And Ptolemy IV puts up a good fight and holds off Antiochus III for quite a while killing “tens of thousands”.
• But ultimately Antiochus III will raise another great army and win the battle.
• It was a strategic victory for Antiochus III and throws all the momentum to his side.
Now Israel sensed what was happening,
And all the while wanted independence.
• And their thought was to help Antiochus III overthrow Ptolemy IV and then claim their freedom.
(14) “Now in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down.”
• Israel joined with Antiochus III hoping to gain freedom, but that plan didn’t work.
• Instead of giving Israel autonomy they became under the rule of Antiochus III.
Antiochus III saw the addition of Israel to his forces as making him that much stronger and did not want to give them up.
(15-16) “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 choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. “But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.”
• Antiochus III attacked and defeated Sidon which was a “well-fortified city”
• He established himself as ruler in Israel and did “as he pleases”
• Antiochus III (North) now saw a chance to conquer all the three other kingdoms and once again unite the old empire that was last ruled by Alexander the Great.
• With the king of the South now crippled Antiochus hatched a plan to take the south by intrigue and then seek to conquer the East and the West.
His plan was once again an alliance of marriage.
(17) “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. But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side.”
• Antiochus III’s plan was to give his daughter to Ptolemy V.
• This was supposed to be an alliance of peace, but the plan was for his daughter to betray Ptolemy V to her father.
• But you know how daughters can be. Instead she fell in love in Ptolemy V and chose “not to take a stand for [her father] or be on his side.”
• Antiochus III’s plan to take the south was thwarted.
• Scorned by this Antiochus turned his face to attack the other two kingdoms in the East and the West. (He still plans to reunite Alexander’s former kingdom)
(18-19) “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.”
• Antiochus III attacked Asian Minor and Greece, but there was a problem.
• There was a new world empire emerging called Rome and Greece and Rome had become allies.
• When Antiochus III attacked Greece, they called for Rome and Cornelius Scipio of Rome came and fought off Antiochus III.
• Antiochus III returned home without fulfilling his dream and ultimately died in his home land being killed by some of his own subjects after raiding a local temple to Jupiter.
So now Antiochus III is dead
And all his war efforts had thrown his kingdom into recession.
His son Seleucus IV Philopater became king.
(20) “Then in his place one will arise who will send an oppressor through the Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.”
• Seleucus IV sought to restore financial stability to his kingdom by (among other things) looting the temple at Jerusalem.
• But with money in hand Seleucus was poisoned by his treasurer who apparently saw the opportunity for riches.
Now the throne in the north was once again vacant
(21-22) “In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue. “The overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant.”
• Next in line for the throne should have been Seleucus IV’s son, but another king wormed his way in.
• Antiochus IV (you know him as Antiochus Epiphenes) turned an invading army away in battle and rode that fame all the way to the throne. Thus he seized “the kingdom by intrigue”
• One of his first acts was to depose Onias III who was high priest in Israel thus he “shattered…the prince of the covenant.”
Antiochus Epiphenes was a horrific ruler as it related to Israel.
(23-24) “After an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people. “In a time of tranquility 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.”
• Antiochus IV (Epihanes) ascended to great power through a tactic you and I know as socialism.
• He literally robbed the rich and distributed it to the poor and won himself great fame and popularity in his kingdom.
He took this new found power
And once again decided to go to war with the South.
(25-27) “He will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South with a large army; so the king of the South will mobilize an extremely large and mighty army for war; but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him. “Those who eat his choice food will destroy him, and his army will overflow, but many will fall down slain. “As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, and they will speak lies to each other at the same table; but it will not succeed, for the end is still to come at the appointed time.”
• Antiochus IV defeated the south, but only because the King of the South was betrayed in battle by men who had been bought off by Antiochus Epiphanes.
• With the battle over both kings sat down for peace talks and treaty talks but both were lying and neither honored their promises.
But Antiochus would return home rich and arrogant.
(28) “Then he will return to his land with much plunder; but his heart will be set against the holy covenant, and he will take action and then return to his own land.”
• Rich after the battle and feeling his oats, Antiochus returned home and even slapped around Israel on his way.
• He didn’t like the welcome he received from Israel as he passed through.
(29) “At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before.”
• 2 years later Antiochus IV decided to invade the South again, expecting this time to conquer them.
• But this time it didn’t work like before.
(30) “For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant.”
• Remembering how Rome had helped against his father, the Jews reached out to Rome again who this time came and stopped Antiochus IV from invading the South.
• It is said that Popillius Laenus the Roman general told Antiochus to stop what he was doing.
• Antiochus asked for time to make a decision.
• Laenus drew a circle around Antiochus in the sand with his sword and told him to make a decision before he left the circle.
• Antiochus had no choice but to consent or go to war with Rome.
• He was defeated, humiliated, and enraged at the Jews.
• Furthermore he caught wind that the Jews had celebrated his supposed death in battle, and he was ready to repay them.
(31-32) “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. “By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.”
• Antiochus IV Epiphanes came back to Israel and unleashed fury.
• He killed men, women, and children.
• He desecrated the temple
• He erected and altar of Zeus
• And he commanded that on the 25th of every month a pig had to be sacrificed on the altar in honor of his birthday.
• He also rewarded Jews who forsook the covenant and worshiped Zeus (and many apostate Jews did)
This was a dark time for Israel which Daniel said would occur.
Daniel 8:13-14 “Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, “How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?” He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.”
Daniel 8:23-25 “In the latter period of their rule, When the transgressors have run their course, A king will arise, Insolent and skilled in intrigue. “His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree And prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. “And through his shrewdness He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency.”
It was a dark time.
(33-35) “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. “Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy. “Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.”
• Many did indeed “fall by the sword and by flame”
This however did lead to a revolt.
• Mattathias was a priest in Israel who had 5 sons.
• He revolted and fled with his sons to the mountains.
• One of his sons was named Judas Maccabeaus (Maccabean Revolt) and he would later refurbish the temple.
• Antiochus IV would die in 163 BC from a bowel disease and in utter insanity.
• But during this dark period many would die although “granted a little help”.
• That is what we call “dying grace”
• Some would “join with them in hypocrisy”, that is they fought for the Maccabease, but they weren’t loyal to God.
• The entire purpose was to “refine, purge and make them pure until the end time.”
God would use this period as a great time of refining for Israel.
This was a horrific time of desolation and hardship for Israel,
But it did purify them in their worship.
Incidentally that helps you understand some of what you see taking place in New Testament times.
Ever hear of a group of people called The Pharisees?
• They were the blue collar patriots who arose out of this time.
• They didn’t necessarily love God, but they certainly became passionate about Israel.
Beyond that, do you remember even as the church began how there were native Hebrew Jews and then Hellenistic Jews?
Remember how some of the widows were being overlooked?
There was a division there because the native Hebrews had stood against the Greek influence from men like Antiochus IV and the Hellenistic Jews had adopted much of this Greek culture.
Can you see now why there was such a division between the two?
One pictured the other as traitors and not pure Israelite loyalists.
Perhaps you better understand that time now.
BUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO GRASP IS THIS:
• To Daniel this was all in the future.
• To God this was all decreed.
And it all happened with absolute accuracy.
