The Soldier, The Athlete, & The Farmer
2 Timothy 2:1-7
August 21, 2016

This morning we are going to take a break
From our current study of the book of Revelation.

And we are doing so because I think it is important
To commission this morning a very important type of missionary.
We tend to view missionaries generally as those
Who go and serve on foreign soil or in difficult communities,
But we understand that all of us are called as witnesses of the Lord Jesus.

And tomorrow morning many of you
Will be invading the same mission field, which is the public school.

Some teach, some are students some work in other capacities,
But regardless of your secular position,
You have all been strategically placed there by God.

And we know that as you go into the school
• You will daily rub shoulders with many who do not believe the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
• You will spend hours upon hours with teachers and students and workers who
are not interested in the truth of God, but who seek to gratify their own sinful
desires.
• You will encounter all manners of morality, belief, and peer pressure.

MAKE NO MISTAKE, THE SCHOOL IS A MISSION FIELD.
• You are to be lights in the midst of darkness
• You are to be salt to a world without flavor
• You are to be truth in a world of error
• You are to be a holy example in a world of immorality

I have become so convinced at the difficulty of this mission
That last year we started commissioning those of you
Who make this a part of your daily lives.

• It is important that you are clear about your mission.
• It is important that the church remember that you are caught in a daily struggle
and need our prayers and support.

And so this morning as we commission you
We are going to look at a very fitting letter and text.

Paul’s second letter to Timothy was the last he ever wrote.
• At this point in his life he was in the famous Mamertine prison in Rome (literally no more than a dungeon) and he is awaiting he own execution.

2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Coupled with that Paul has recently gone through
Quite an ordeal of rejection and humiliation.
Paul has now been disowned by all those he gave his life to reach.

2 Timothy 1:15 “You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.”

2 Timothy 4:16 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.”

The Asia Paul referred to was Asia-Minor where Ephesus was located.
Ephesus was a church Paul planted and the one were Timothy currently pastored.
And even all of them turned away from him.

Paul is at the end of his race alone and rejected
Having literally suffered the loss of all things for the cause of Christ.

What is ALSO APPARENT is that Paul senses that Timothy is vacillating.
Paul senses that Timothy has become intimidated.
• Maybe Timothy fears persecution from Nero
• Maybe Timothy fears association with Paul

We don’t know his motive, but the tone of Paul’s letter
Suggests that Timothy is on the verge of retreat.

This letter is a passionate request from Paul to Timothy
For him to be bold in the midst of a hostile environment.

2 Timothy 1:6-8 “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,”

It is a letter which asks Timothy to be faithful to his calling
No matter the difficulty and no matter the cost.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

And we could certainly spend more time giving context to this letter,
But hopefully you grasp it enough to move forward this morning.

The portion of the letter we are going to examine together
Are the first 7 verses of chapter 2.

And the reason is because here Paul presents Timothy with
THREE VERY HELPFUL ANALOGIES.
He reveals to him the SOLDIER, the ATHLETE, and the FARMER.

And at the end of these analogies Paul says:
(7) “Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

That statement reveals that
Paul didn’t carry these analogies as far as he would have liked,
But trusted that if Timothy would ponder on them
That the Lord would continue to give insight and application.

SO THAT IS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO THIS MORNING.
We are going to place these three analogies in your mind
(and I’m going to give you a visual reminder to take with you later)

In hopes that throughout the coming year you will “consider” them
And allow them to encourage you in your mission.

Paul begins here by saying:
(1-2) “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

We aren’t going to spend much time on these two verses
Because I want to get to the analogies,
But there are some surface points here that you really need to see.

1) Our strength is in “the grace that is in Christ Jesus” not in ourselves.
• No one is asking you to fulfill this mission in your own ability, ingenuity, strength, wisdom, or determination.

• Everything that is being asked of you inside this mission field is being asked on the basis of Christ’s strength within you.

• This implies that success depends upon your trust in Him and your commitment to lean upon on Him and run to Him for continued strength.

2) Paul told Timothy to “entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”
• The reminder to Timothy was that he was not a one-man show, and neither are you.

• You are not alone, you are part of a church, you are part of a body, and many of you will be together in this same field. Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of your fellow saints who serve with you.

3) The emphasis was on everyone teaching the things that Timothy had heard from Paul, which is of course the gospel.

• Everyone one of you in that school (teacher and student alike) have the same basic mission, which is to proclaim the gospel.

• It is not primarily a mission of kindness, though kindness is important.
• It is not primarily a mission of love, though love is necessary.
• It is not primarily a mission of scholastic success, though we hope you have it.
• It is not primarily a mission of athletic victory, though we all root for it.

Primarily your mission is the proclamation of the gospel,
And you are all in this together.

There is more that could be said there, but just grab those basics.
And then Paul lays out for Timothy three analogies for him to consider

Let’s look at them:
#1 THE SOLDIER
2 Timothy 2:3-4

In Scripture the soldier analogy is used in different ways,
But it is a rather common analogy used for the Christian.

• Both in Philippians 2:25 and in Philemon 1:2 Paul referred to other believers as “fellow soldiers”

• In 1 Corinthians 9:7 Paul used the soldier as an analogy revealing that a missionary should expect compensation for their mission. Saying, “Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?”

• The most commonly quoted analogy comes from Ephesians 6 when Paul speaks of the armor of a Christian likening it to the centurion’s armor for battle.

The soldier is used many times in Scripture,
But here Paul has a specific reason for using the soldier as an example.

Paul hits the center of it right off the bat.
“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus”

In a very basic sense when people think of serving as a soldier,
They understand that there is a general sense of suffering
That is going to accompany that.

A soldier’s life is one of hardship.
• It may be the hardship of leaving one’s family
• It may be the hardship of basic training
• It may be the hardship of the military request
• It may be the hardship of facing the enemy
• It may be the hardship of battle
• It may even be the hardship of the aftermath of the battle

Whatever the aspect a soldier should understand that
There is going to be “hardship” involved.

But even beyond that Paul seems to focus even more in verse 4
“No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”

Certainly in Paul’s mind would have been the Roman soldier here.
And we all at least have some familiarity with this Roman soldier idea.

Important to this text would be the understanding of the soldier’s oath.
• The Roman soldier took an oath referred to as the “Sacramentum” and it was
more than just an oath like one takes at a courtroom.

The soldier would quote:
“But the soldiers swear that they shall faithfully execute all that the Emperor commands, that they shall never desert the service, and that they shall not seek to avoid death for the Roman republic!” (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramentum_(oath)#cite_ref-8)

It was a total commitment to the will of the emperor or general
And any activity was considered acceptable if it came at the command.

Furthermore, to break this oath brought with it
The penalty of punishment even death.

The Roman soldier was committed as a matter of chief priority
To the command of the emperor
And nothing else came as high in importance.

The point was that the soldier must be free from distraction.
They were to SERVE WITH FOCUS

Paul said, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life”

“entangles himself” is EMPLEKO
Which means “to weave in”

It carries the idea of being ensnared
Or hooked or caught in an obligation.

The verb is in the passive voice which indicates
Something that he doesn’t allow.

He does not allow himself to be entangled.

And of course the reason is because his main obligation is to “please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”

His only job is to follow the command of the emperor,
Nothing else can ever come before or above that.
Now that was a soldier’s life.

Paul said that we are soldiers “of Christ Jesus”

Instead of taking an oath to the emperor, we are those who have taken an oath to Christ.
• It is Christ who has “enlisted” us “as a soldier”.
• It is the Lord’s army we now march in.

Allow me to remind you of the undistracted commitment Christ expects.

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

That was a call the disciples had heard before.
Mark 1:16-20 “As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.”

You can see the priority there of their lives.
Fishing nets and human relationships
Had to take back burner to the call of the Master.

Consider these men who tried to follow Jesus while remaining entangled in worldly affairs.
Luke 9:57-62 “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Those were all people who wanted to have their hand in the middle of both endeavors and Jesus said you can’t.
You either forsake all and follow Me or you don’t.

Remember this passage:
Matthew 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

Jesus was leaving absolutely no doubt there
Regarding the priority of the lives of His followers.

Or consider the weedy soil which is a picture of a divided heart and consequently a non-believer
Matthew 13:22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

There is just no notion in Scripture that says
You can be a follower of Christ
And be entangled by the world at the same time.

You cannot be a sold out servant of Jesus on Sunday
And then a sold out servant of something else during the week.
You’re either all in or all out, but you can’t walk both.

And if you are a teacher or a student who has given their life to Christ,
I just can’t see any way you can go into that school
Without your mission to Christ being your chief priority.

• As a teacher your chief priority is the service of Christ and the broadcasting of
the gospel.
• As a coach your chief priority is the service of Christ and the broadcasting of
the gospel.
• As a student your chief priority is the service of Christ and the broadcasting of
the gospel.

That is your PRIMARY job from the Lord.
Don’t get distracted.

Now, am I saying that you shouldn’t worry about teaching or coaching or making good grades?

ABSOLUTELY NOT.
• If you don’t teach well they’ll fire you and the mission will be over.
• If you don’t coach well they’ll fire you and the mission will be over.
• If you don’t study hard you’ll be a poor example to those around you.

I’m just reminding you that all of those things
ARE SECONDARY IN PRIORITY.

THEY ARE IMPORTANT ONLY AS:
• They bring glory to Christ
• And they allow you the opportunity to complete your true mission.

Paul said:
Colossians 3:17 “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

You should do the best job you can do for the one who hired you,
But you must always remember that the priority is your service for Christ.

Romans 14:7-9 “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

It is important that you grasp this because I can guarantee you that
At some point YOU WILL BE TESTED to prove which matters most.

(I see it every year. I saw it last year with our girls’ basketball coach
And I remain grateful for where his priorities surfaced)
YOU WILL GET AN OPPORTUNITY TO PROVE YOUR PRIORITY.

LET ME GIVE YOU A SIMPLE ONE
I would put out an appeal to those in the school system not to compete with the church for time.

Your part of the mission is in the school system,
Our part is to teach and train and encourage
On Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.

We should all be working for the same objective,
Yet we see it all the time where the church loses their opportunity to minister to students because teachers have scheduled over the top of us.

I would ask you as Christians to remember what really matters,
And who we are really serving and work with us for the mission of the gospel.

If you are a Christian the priority has to be Christ!
And at that moment when the secular comes up against the spiritual
It is imperative that you remember who it is you are out to please.

You certainly want to do well for those who hire you.
You certainly want to do well for the parents who entrust their kids to you.
But make no mistake, when push comes to shove, Christ matters more.

Martin Luther wrote:
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there is the loyalty of the soldier proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is more flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
(MacArthur, John; The Truth War [Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN; 2007] pg. 26)

As a soldier you must serve with focus and avoid distraction.

#2 THE ATHLETE
2 Timothy 2:5

The athlete is also a commonly used analogy in Scripture.

• Athletes remind us of endurance – like in Hebrews 12 where we are told to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

• Athletes remind us of effort – like in 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul tells us to “run in such a way” that you may win.

But here the emphasis is on obedience.
Here we are to avoid disqualification.

“Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.”

In the Greek games there were 3 conditions every athlete had to meet.
• He had to prove he was a native born Greek
• He had to take an oath before Zeus that he had trained for 10 months.
• He had to compete according to the rules of the game.

Otherwise the athlete, regardless of ability, was disqualified from competing.

We all understand that if you break the rules,
You will disqualify yourself from competition.

My degree was to be an Ag Teacher,
I still remember Johnny Johnson at Tarleton sitting us all down and saying, “Let me tell you about pretty little boys and pretty little girls.”

He gave us a speech on the dangers of teacher student relations, pointing out how quickly we could disqualify ourselves from being allowed to teach in the school if we crossed that line.

And every Christian should understand this as well.
Being the most successful teacher, coach, or student is absolutely pointless if you disqualify yourself spiritually.
• You may please the administration
• You may please the parents
• You may please the students
• You may even earn a trophy to display your success

But 100 years from now, none of that will matter.
All that will matter was the service you performed for Christ.

YOU MUST GIVE CAREFUL ATTENTION
TO NOT KILLING YOUR WITNESS

• I’m aware of what typical coach language sounds like.
• I’m aware of what typical Ag Teacher language sounds like.
• I’m aware of what typical break room gossip is like.
• I’m aware of what typical teenage morality is like.

YOU HAVE TO BE ABOVE THOSE THINGS.
BECAUSE THOSE THINGS WILL DISQUALIFY YOU.

No, you won’t lose your job or get kicked out of school,
But you’ll sure have a tough time
Preaching the gospel to someone after the fact.

And what good is it to be the most successful teacher of all time if there is no eternal reward?

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

We want “the prize”.

Later in the letter Paul will spell it out:
2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

The world may not recognize your commitment to Christ as a good thing,
But we aren’t competing for their accolade.
We are competing for the heavenly prize,
DO NOT DISQUALIFY YOURSELF FROM THAT PRIZE.

Do you want a guideline?
2 Peter 1:5-9 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. or he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”

Like a soldier you must avoid distraction and serve with focus.
Like an athlete you must avoid disqualification and run with obedience
#3 THE FARMER
2 Timothy 2:6

Farmers are also a frequent analogy in Scripture,
But almost always farmers represent the same thing: HOPE

1 Corinthians 9:10 “Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.”

James 5:7 “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.”

I certainly don’t want to belittle the hard work that farmers due even in our day and time, but you must understand that it pales in comparison to the work of a farmer in Paul’s day.

• I literally cannot imagine busting the ground behind a mule.
• I cannot imagine planting that seed by hand.
• I cannot imagine carrying buckets of water to irrigate.
• I cannot imagine harvesting by hand.

Farming is hard work now, but it was really hard work then.
It is non stop and it requires patience.

A farmer would get up and work sun up to sun down every day
And receive no reward for his labor
Because all he had to look forward to was the future crop.

THE CROP WAS THE PAYMENT.

And if you’re paying attention, this is now the third reference that has been made to reward.
• The soldier’s reward is pleasing the one who enlisted him.
• The athlete’s reward is the prize
• The farmer’s reward is the harvest

And one thing we know about the HARVEST is that it is DELICATE.
You can’t just plant it and stop and hope for the best.
Most farmers have to baby the crop.

Thanks to the curse this ground naturally produces careless weeds,
But it doesn’t naturally produce cotton.
If you want cotton you have to work at it tirelessly

THE FARMER DOES THE WORK IN HOPE THAT
THE HARVEST WILL MAKE HIS LABOR WORTHWHILE.

And that is Paul’s analogy here.
“The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.”

That is to say he always looks forward to the harvest.

Most teachers and coaches already have a pretty good handle on this.
They have learned that most results are not instant and not automatic.

• Coaches know that they have to work their teams hard to produce results and even that doesn’t come quickly.
• Teachers know they have to teach for hours and hours to get a concept across and sometimes it is slow in coming.

But this is also true regarding your spiritual service.
• Preach the gospel over and over and over.
• Leave a good example over and over and over.
• Pray over and over and over

And most of the time there are no immediate results.

That’s one of the reasons we look for fulfillment in other places.

Instead of holding out for the eternal treasure and the spiritual crop
We grow impatient and settle instead for a perishable wreath.

But don’t.
Stay the course, keep working hard, wait for the harvest.

And it will come!
Some day your labors will be worth it all.

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

TIMOTHY FACED A DIFFICULT MISSION FIELD.
• Paul told him to consider the focus of the soldier
• Paul told him to consider the obedience of the athlete
• Paul told him to consider the endurance of the farmer
• And to apply all those things to the way he served Christ.

That’s what I’m asking from each of you today
Who will enter the school system tomorrow.

Remember that
• Service to Christ and His kingdom is your main priority.
• You must walk in obedience to Christ so that you are useable
• You Christ is worth it so you must endure.

That’s the charge to you who are about to go on mission.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

TO THE CHURCH
I GIVE THE CHARGE OF SUPPORTING THEM IN PRAYER.

God’s Plan To Purify Israel – Part 2
Daniel 11:2-45 (36-35)
August 21, 2016

Tonight we get back to this very interesting chapter in the book of Daniel.

As you are aware it all started back in Daniel 9.
• Daniel was reading Jeremiah 29 and saw the need for repentance.
• Daniel began to pray and God sent Gabriel with a revelation.
• Gabriel began to reveal God’s plan of 70 weeks.

Daniel 9:24-27 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. “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.”

God has a plan that will ultimately purify Israel.
He will fully accomplish His purposes in her.

But this plan both confused and concerned Daniel.
He wanted to know more, but he couldn’t understand it.

So Gabriel was given orders to explain the vision to Daniel.
(We actually saw the behind the scenes working of this in chapter 10)

CHAPTER 11 IS THAT EXPLANATION.
• All of this chapter is future to Daniel.
• And all of this chapter is (for lack of a better term) history to God.

God is not limited by time and space.
He is the God is was and who is and who is to come.

Which means that everything we see here
Is already fully accomplished in the eyes of God.
To Him it is as though it already happened.

This is not God’s proposal
This is not just His plan
This has been decreed, it is done.
IT WILL HAPPEN JUST AS GOD SAYS.

And we are more privileged than Daniel in understanding this.

For as I said, for Daniel this entire chapter is in the future, but we have the luxury of coming at this prophecy from the middle of things.
The first 35 verses of this chapter have already been historically fulfilled.

That means we get to test the accuracy of the end of this chapter
By the accuracy of the beginning.

If the first 35 verses proved true
Then we have no reason to doubt that the last 10 will also.

Well last time we examined those first 35 verses.
#1 THE PAST HISTORY OF ISRAEL
Daniel 11:2-35

And I certainly don’t want to hash back through all of that
Except to remind you that Daniel was very specific in what he saw
And that what he saw was specifically fulfilled.

• We saw wars with predicted victors…
• We saw marriage alliances that we knew wouldn’t work…
• We saw interference of foreign armies…
• We saw the rise and fall of many rulers just as Daniel said…

Everything that Daniel saw up until verse 35 happened verbatim.

That means we have no reason to doubt that
What is recorded in verses 36 to 45 won’t also happen verbatim.

Now, We begin to talk about events that have not yet happened.
However because God decreed it just like he did verses 2-35
We have no doubt that it will happen.

So just as sure as we saw The Past History of Israel
Now let’s see:
#2 THE FUTURE HISTORY OF ISRAEL
Daniel 11:36-45

As we said, prophecy is just history that we haven’t experienced yet,
But in God’s eyes it’s already done.

Furthermore it was all future for Daniel
So he would have no reason to believe this final part
Any less than he believed the first part.

These sections are equal in accuracy
Even though we haven’t seen the end yet.

What we begin to talk about in verses 36-45 is a future king who will rule.
You and I will know him as Antichrist.
I do want to remind you again that
The purpose of all that God is revealing is for the purification of Israel.

Ultimately that means that all of these events
Are meant to drive Israel to Jesus Christ,
Who alone can fulfill that list of attributes given in Daniel 9.

It is only when Israel turns to Jesus that:
• Transgression will be finished
• An end will be made of sin
• Atonement will be made for iniquity
• Everlasting righteousness will be brought in
• Vision and prophecy will be finished
• The most holy place will be anointed

So all of these events are meant to drive Israel to Jesus
And I don’t know of one who will be more instrumental in that plan
Than this man we call Antichrist.

And make no mistake, he is promised to come.
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.”

Zechariah 11:15-17 “The LORD said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. “For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs. “Woe to the worthless shepherd Who leaves the flock! A sword will be on his arm And on his right eye! His arm will be totally withered And his right eye will be blind.”

God has appointed the rise of this man,
And Daniel does a good job of giving us a brief outline regarding him.

Now obviously since he has not yet come and has not yet performed the things mentioned here we can’t be as specific in our detail as we were in the first 35 verses.

We can however, take what Daniel says
Along with other prophecies concerning him
And gain an understanding as to who this man is and what he’ll do.

4 things here about him
1) HIS CHARACTER (36)

Verse 36 really seems to serve as a sort of a summary or overview of the life of the Antichrist.

“Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.”
Daniel mentions some specific things about this man’s character.
• We see his LIBERTY – “the king will do as he pleases”
• We see his ARROGANCE – “he will exalt and magnify himself”
• We see his BLASPHEMY – he “will speak monstrous things against the God of gods”
• We see his PROSPERITY – “he will prosper”
• We see his END – “until the indignation is finished”

We are dealing here with a man
Who is the absolute epitome of worldliness.

Everything we read through the Bible about worldly arrogant people,
Who only want the things of the world and who turn their back on God and blaspheme Him is literally summed up in this man.

HE IS WORLDLINESS PERSONIFIED.

You may remember when Asaph lamented the prosperity of the wicked:
Psalms 73:3-9 “For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth.”

That is exactly the type of man Antichrist is.
And we could give other examples of men like him throughout the course of time.

And that is part of why he will be so appealing to so many in the world.
He will be a living epitome of what sinful people want to become.

I do think it is also important to give a little understanding
To HIS RISE TO POWER.

Daniel spoke of it earlier, but not here.
Daniel 7:7-8 “After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. “While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.”

We are referring here to that “little” horn Daniel saw.
And we see him rising to power out of that fourth beast Daniel saw.

You’ll remember that fourth beast was Rome.
• Now the Roman empire fell during the 5th century.
• It did endure in a sense but as a divided and separated nation.
• It actually is now Europe.
What Daniel saw was the future rise of the Roman empire.
When the 10 kings of these 10 nations will once again
Form a sort of coalition as a revamped Roman confederation.

Out of them will come the Antichrist.
Revelation 17:9-13 “Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. “These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.”

The heads there represented the kingdoms which persecuted Israel.
• The five which have fallen – Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece
• The one which is – Rome
• The one not yet come – future Rome or kingdom of Antichrist

The ten horns he saw were the ten kings of that European confederation that gave their power to the Antichrist.

We’ll see it next week as we begin to see Jesus open the seals in our study of Revelation that this king will arise in a time of peace, and that is precisely what happened here.

He arises through intrigue much like Antiochus IV Epiphones.

But the main point Daniel reveals is that
This king who will arise is literally dripping with arrogance
And blasphemy and will ultimately fall because of it.

That is his character
2) HIS PASSION (37-40)

Probably more telling than what he loves
Is the revelation of what he doesn’t love.

He doesn’t love God.
“He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women,”

This is an important phrase.
It is a phrase that I think indicates that he must be a Jewish man.
(That seems to make sense since he is seen as the Messiah for a time)

“the gods of his fathers” was a heavily used Jewish term speaking in reference to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Antichrist won’t have any interest in serving the historical God of Israel.

“the desire of women” spoke of the Messiah. As it was a common desire for the women of Israel to be the conduit through which the Messiah would come.

Luke 11:27 “While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”

This is a Jewish man who has no interest in God or a coming Messiah,
And you’ll see why in a minute.

For that matter he isn’t interested in worshiping any other god either.
“nor will he show regard for any other god;”

And the reason is that “he will magnify himself above them all.”

He’s not interested in worshiping God or looking for Messiah,
Because he is convinced that he is both,
And will demand the worship that they alone deserve.

What he will love however is POWER
(38-39) “But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. “He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.”

His entire interest will be power.
He will love power, seek power, and honor power.

And anyone who will acknowledge his power
Will also be given honor and apparently land at a discounted rate.

You may remember how Antiochus IV Epiphenes solidified control of his kingdom by robbing the rich and distributing it to the poor.

That is a foreshadowing of the Antichrist.
He will conquer and distribute in order to obtain what he really wants which is world power.

What is important to see here is how similar (yet twisted) his work will be
To that of the genuine Messiah.

Matthew 19:27-29 “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”
Jesus promised to His followers that they would be rewarded
And given houses and lands and the right to rule and to reign.
Of course Jesus’ promise was regarding heaven and eternity, not this life.
Jesus routinely called for the sacrifice of this life.

But the Antichrist will be the same yet opposite.
He also will offer houses and lands and the right to rule and reign,
But he will offer it in this life.

Remember the offer of Satan to Jesus?
Matthew 4:8-9 “Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”

Not much has changed there has it?

As a side note maybe this helps you see why
I am so opposed to preachers of the prosperity gospel.

I’ve been mildly rebuked recently for mentioning Joel Olsteen by name and have been assured that his a man of God.

But he isn’t.
• His messages are saturated with how to get ahead in this world and in this life.
• Everything he says is about gaining this world.
• He even writes books called “Your Best Life Now”

That was, is, and will always be the message of the enemy.

It sounds very similar to the message of Jesus, with one major exception.
Jesus was talking about the next life, not this one.

Why do Satan and Antichrist and prosperity preachers offer those things?
Because it gives them what they desire which is power.

• Satan would give Jesus the whole world if Jesus would have simply worshiped him.
• Antichrist will do the same if people will acknowledge him.

It’s not hard to see the similarities.

The passion of the Antichrist is not God, it’s power.

His character, his passion
3) HIS POWER (40-43)

Here we actually get a taste of his power.
(Read 40-43)

Don’t confuse the South and the North here with the same countries we studied in the first half of this chapter.
This is no longer the Seluecids and the Ptolemies.

• The South is most likely Egypt (even called that later)
• The North is not defined. At the very least it is Syria, though many believe it to be Russia.

Either way what happens is that each of these nations will invade Israel.

Now at this point Israel is full allegiance with the Antichrist.
They’re buying what he is selling hook, line, and sinker.
They think he is their guy.

He’s brash and powerful and successful and he’s conquering the world,
And they just think he’s the bomb.

So an invasion of Israel is an attack on Antichrist.
Antichrist won’t stand for that so he will march from Europe to Israel
And literally overflow many nations on his way.

• He won’t be able to fully conquer Edom, Moab, or Ammon (which are all in modern day Jordan) but he will conquer Egypt and he will plunder her.

• His victory over Egypt and the wealth he gains will gain him even more dominion and will earn him the allegiance of Lybia and Ethiopia.

The point is that his power will be tested
And he will come out as the super victor.

He won’t have absolutely conquered every single country,
But he will be the undisputed heavy-weight power of the world.

If you are wondering where all this fits in with the
TIME FRAME OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION
It is the invasion of the North and the South
That signifies that second horseman of the apocalypse.

• Remember the first horse is peace…world peace.
• It is the second horse (the red one) which signifies war and that is what
began here.

Also at this time is when the Antichrist enters Israel to fight his battle
At this time takes his seat in the temple and magnifies himself as God.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

It think it is safe to say that it is most likely the battle he fights
Which will cause him to receive the fatal wound which is healed.

And it is this victory that goes to his head to such a degree
That he sets up that massive abomination
That Daniel and Jesus both warned about.

Revelation 13:1-8 “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”

His victory and his dominion
Will bring out a previously unseen arrogance in him.
He will declare himself to be God.
We even see later in Revelation 13 that he will have a statue of himself built which will be declared an item of worship which all the world must worship.

And we read that most of the world will worship him.
They will be enamored by his great power.
However, this event will be the light bulb moment for the Jews.
Their history under Antiochus IV Epiphones has prepared them for this very moment and when they see history repeating itself they will finally get it.

They will recognize they have been deceived
And according to Zechariah 12
They will turn to look on Him whom they had pierced.

In short, while the rest of the world is flocking to the Antichrist,
Israel will rebel against him.

This will bring about a slaughter.
He will attack and kill them continually and it will be a horrific time which will last for 42 months or for a time, times and half time.

THIS WILL BE THE HALF-WAY POINT OF THE TRIBULATION.
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.”
Jesus spoke of it:
Matthew 24:15-22 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. “Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”

It will be a horrible time of tribulation for the saints of God.

But as we already noted; it will be the work of God
To purify Israel as a nation unto Himself.

And in between verses 43 and 44 you can actually insert the final 3 ½ years otherwise known as the Great Tribulation.

AND THEN DANIEL SEES THIS MAN’S END.

His character, his passion, his power
4) HIS FALL (44-45)

He is going to be bothered by “rumors from the East and from the North”

Remember he conquered the South, but these other two nations
Which he has not yet fully conquered will bother him.

He’s going to hear rumors of rebellion which will be more than his pride can handle.
• And so he will draw a great army to himself.
• And seek to fight a mighty battle.

Revelation 16:12-14 “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.”

God will actually dry up the Euphrates river and the Antichrist will see this as his opportunity to gather the armies together for battle.

The East and the North weren’t against him, they were false rumors.
In fact they will gather with him.

What he doesn’t know is that it is a trap issued by the God of heaven.
He will gather on the plain of Meggido between the two seas.

And “he will come to his end, and no one will help him.”
What will happen?
Revelation 19:19-21 “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

God set the trap and initiated his fall.

Daniel 7:8-11 “While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. “I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire. “A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened. “Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.”

And all this is God’s plan for finally bringing about the purity in Israel that He has intended from the beginning.

And all that is fascinating information,
But it does bring about the need for some important application.

WHAT IS TO BE LEARNED FROM ALL THIS?
What should Israel learn from this?

THE MESSIAH THEY NATURALLY WANT
IS NOT THE CORRECT MESSIAH.

In fact, according to what Gabriel revealed to Daniel,
Israel will cut off the correct Messiah and then embrace the false one.

WHY?
I think Paul summed it up best.
2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 “Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”

Do you see why they didn’t love Jesus, but will love the Antichrist?
It is because they do not love the truth.
Instead they “took pleasure in wickedness.”
Is that not the danger Jesus continually warned of?
John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Loving sin and hating truth
Is a sure-fire recipe to get deceived by the enemy.
And that is precisely what is happening to Israel.

AND THE PARALLEL IS TOO REAL NOT TO SEE.

Like so many today who don’t want a savior from sin, but only want a savior from poverty and sickness and discomfort.

If that is all you want, you are in danger of finding the wrong Messiah.
There are plenty of Messiah’s offered in the world today
And all but one of them are false.

John said:
1 John 2:18-19 “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

Our world is filled with “antichrists”

Remember what Paul told the Corinthians?
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”

That isn’t just true for Corinth, it’s true for so many even in our day.
It is the danger of seeking a savior who gratifies the flesh.

Jesus did not come to gratify your flesh, He came to destroy it.
Galatians 5:24 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

The pitfall of Israel is the pitfall of the ages.
Namely that people seek a multitude of teachers to tell them what their itching ears want to hear.
AND END UP WITH THE WRONG SAVIOR
If you go down that path, you are setting yourself up for deception.

There was only one in the New Testament
Who offered this world and that was the enemy.

Be careful searching for a savior who gratifies the flesh,
All you have to do is look at what it’s costing Israel.

Let them be a forever example to you about that danger
And let their folly drive you to the real Savior.

Jesus is the One who will save you from sin
And who will give you the real kingdom, seek Him.

Worthy Is The Lamb
Revelation 5:1-14
August 7, 2016

As you know we are in the book of the Revelation
And we are currently looking at the events of the end times.

• It is the things “which must take place after these things”, that is after the church age.
• It is the events of Daniel’s 70th week that we have been discussing in the book of Daniel.
• It is the events of the end.

And this entire revelation began with John being caught up to heaven
Where he learned a very important lesson.
GOD IS ON HIS THRONE

John especially noted:
• His Glory and Wrath which was on the throne
• His Faithfulness which surrounded the throne
• His Judgment which came from the throne
• His Justice and Righteousness which was the foundation of His throne

• John was also mesmerized by the unceasing worship which was continually near the throne of God.

John was captivated by The Sovereign God of Heaven.

And as we left we sensed that the celebration in heaven
Was really about to crescendo.

The song of worship was beginning to turn toward the reality of creation.

Revelation 4:9-11 “And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

• It was heaven’s way of stating that God alone is the rightful owner and ruler
of creation.

• It was heaven’s way of declaring that all of creation should be in full
subjection to God and be giving all glory to God.

The reason this declaration is so definitively made is because
That is NOT what is currently happening.

We studied Genesis recently and we noted right off the bat that “God created the heavens and the earth.”

We noted that after 6 days God finished creating all things and He rested.
• He didn’t rest because He was tired.
• He rested because there was nothing left to do.

Creation was finished and it was perfect.
Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

God looked at creation and it was “good”, it was perfect, it was finished.
No tweaking was needed, no remodel was needed,
Nothing could be improved upon.

Creation started perfect

The obvious question to be asked when reading Genesis is:
“What happened?”

That answer is given in Genesis 3,
• The answer is that there was a Usurper.
• The serpent entered the garden and deceived the woman and threw sin into the world.

And now we live in all the muck of it.
Sickness, Death, Depravity, Immorality, Ambition, you name it.

We know that CREATION (which remembers life before the fall) absolutely HATES THIS new found state of affairs.

Romans 8:19-22 “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”

Creation remembers what life was like before the fall
And ever since creation came under new management
It has lamented the day longing to be set free.

The CHURCH represents those who have had our eyes opened to this reality, and now we WAR AGAINST this usurping regime.

Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

We battle this reality.
Like Jude said, we save some, plucking them from the fire, but as a whole we realize that this creation is just sinking deeper and deeper into the grasp of the usurper.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”

That is simply one of many passages which depict that
Things are headed down the drain.

Isaiah 24:20 “The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.”

The usurper stepped in as “the god of this world”
And has systematically ran God’s creation right into the ground.

He is like a BAD TENANT who has rented God’s house
And is trashing the place.

And the neighbors and even the house itself long for him to be evicted.

That is certainly the cry of heaven, and as we saw last week they are starting to sense that the usurper’s days are numbered.

• We saw heaven reminding God that He built the house and that the house belongs to Him and that the enemy should not be allowed to dwell there any longer.

That song actually erupts into excitement by the time we get to chapter 5
Because in chapter 5 we realize that God
Has actually pulled the rental agreement out of the filing cabinet!

(1) “I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.”

This is actually a scroll, and it is the title deed to the earth.

If you’ve read the book of Jeremiah you’ve seen this before.
• As Babylon was in the process of destroying Israel and deporting people to Babylon it is obvious that property wasn’t very valuable.
• However, in order to prove that Israel would one day return to their land God had Jeremiah actually purchase a piece of land as a visible illustration.

Jeremiah 32 tells that story.
Jeremiah 32:9-15 “I bought the field which was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle’s son, and I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. “I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. “Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy; and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle’s son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. “And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time.” ‘For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”‘
The custom of a deed was to record the details of the deed and roll it up and seal it. It could only be unrolled by the rightful heir and this protected the purity of the transaction.

Well here we find that God has pulled from the filing cabinet
The title deed to the earth.

What we are most curious about in this deed are the
“TERMS OF EVICTION”
That specify how God will go about removing a bad tenant.

For that is precisely what this scroll contains as you will see in chapter 6.

But you can imagine the excitement in heaven is now almost deafening
As heaven wants that scroll to be opened and the enemy to be evicted!

AND SO THE SEARCH IS ON!
(2) “And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?”

That is to say,
• “Who is capable of presenting the eviction notice to the enemy?”
• “Who hear can handle him?”
• “Who hear can serve him with the papers?”

Obviously it would require one who is not only stronger than the enemy,
But who also is not easily fooled by the smooth talker.

• Could you imagine what it would be like to haggle with such a deceiver?
If you weren’t careful he might actually convince you that he deserved this world and that it was all the fault of the landlord, not him.

• And even if you didn’t believe him and were still set on evicting him, who
out there is going to grab him by the shirt and put him out on the streets?

It’s going to take someone special to do it.

So the call goes out: “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?”

I imagine this to be a bitter-sweet moment for John.
For on one hand there is the excitement of waiting for one who will step forward; on the other hand there must be the remorse of knowing it can’t be him.

John would be no match for the enemy one on one.
In fact no human would be.
(at best we “resist” the devil, but Scripture never tells us to overthrow him)

Even angels aren’t in the process of rebuking the devil.
Jude 9 “But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
So as the call goes out throughout the heavens
For one to come and open the scroll,
Men and angels alike begin to examine themselves
Only to find themselves unable to do it.

(3) “And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;”

The search went out throughout heaven, earth, and all of hell,
And still no one was up to the task.
Satan was that terrible tenant that no one could evict or handle.

And the reality was more than John could bear:
(4) “Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;”

W.A. Criswell wrote:
“[John’s tears] represent the tears of all God’s people through all the centuries. Those tears of the Apostle John are the tears Adam and Eve, driven out of the Garden of Eden, as they bowed over the first grave, as they watered the dust of the ground with their tears over the silent, still form of their son, Abel. Those are the tears of the children of Israel in bondage as they cried unto God in their affliction and slavery. They are the tears of God’s elect through the centuries as they cried unto heaven. They are the sobs and tears that have been wrung from the heart and soul of God’s people as they looked on their silent dead, as they stand beside their open graves, as they experience in the trials and sufferings of life, heartaches and disappointments indescribable. Such is the curse that sin has laid upon God’s beautiful creation; and this is the damnation of the hand of him who holds it, that usurper, that interloper, that intruder, that alien, that stranger, that dragon, that serpent, that Satan-devil. “And I wept audibly,” for the failure to find a Redeemer meant that this earth in its curse is consigned forever to death. It meant that death, sin, damnation and hell should reign forever in the hands of Satan.” (sited in: MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Revelation 1-11, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1999, pg. 165)

• Ever lose a loved one and weep?
• Ever suffer a hardship and weep?
• Ever see a person fall into immorality and weep?
• Ever contemplate the future and weep?

These were the tears of John.
It doesn’t appear that things will ever change.

No one can remove the enemy from the creation he is destroying,
It will forever be ransacked with sin and the curse!

That is in fact a horrific thought.

In fact the word “weep” there is KLAIO and it means to weep bitterly.
• It is used of Peter after he denied Jesus.
• It is used of Jesus as He wept over Jerusalem

This is intense and bitter weeping by John.
Incidentally, the tears John cries in verse 4
Are the only tears ever recorded to have fallen in heaven.

And the beauty is that those tears are totally unfounded
And they are cried purely in ignorance.

(Heaven isn’t panicked or worried)

(5) “and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”

It’s almost as though one of the elders tells John to “get a grip!”
THERE IS ONE WHO CAN!

He is: “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah”

He is: “the Root of David”

He has: “overcome”

Now if you’ll notice, all of these titles and phrases
SPEAK OF THE ULTIMATE CHAMPION, THE ULTIMATE VICTOR.

“the Lion” is a reference to Jacob’s prophecy in Genesis 49:
Genesis 49:8-12 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. “Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. “He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. “His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk.”

Hopefully you’ll remember from our study of Genesis that Judah was the next Patriarch.

And as Jacob prophesied over him, he blessed him with:
Praise, Power, Preeminence, and Prosperity

Judah was a lion!
“And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?”

That is to say, who would dare mess with him?
(Satan prowls around “as” a roaring lion, but this is the REAL LION)

The elder here tells John not to weep regarding who will deal with the enemy because “the Lion” is here.

Not only that but He is “the Root of David”

Oh, it’s getting even better!
Isaiah 11:1-10 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.”

(We’ve read that verse several times because it’s the one which reveals the 7-fold fullness of the Holy Spirit. It is also the passage which reveals who will be filled with that Spirit)

This is David’s descendant, and we all remember what David was like!
“Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten-thousands!”

When my dad was in hospice:
I asked him aside from Jesus or family, who did most want to meet?
He said, “David, I love the way he smack-talked that giant!”

Don’t weep John, one like David is here!
If anyone can handle that usurper, we’d send David’s descendant in to do it.

And this is one we have found is NOT SOME UNTESTED WARRIOR with much potential, We are talking about One who “has overcome”

• He’s already fought His share of battles.
• He’s already a champion.
• John, We’re sending in the best!

WE ARE SENDING IN THE MOST WORTHY!
WE ARE SENDING IN THE ONLY WORTHY!

We’ve got the perfect One for the job.

And that is what we want to look at this morning.
What is it that makes Christ so worthy?

3 things
#1 THE DEMONSTRATION OF CHRIST’S WORTH
Revelation 5:6-7

John was just told about an overcoming lion from the line of David.
Can’t you imagine him looking for the warrior of the century?
And notice what John says:
“And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.”

Do you remember why Israel failed to recognize Jesus when He came?
Isaiah 53:1-3 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

He didn’t look kingly!
• He was a lion, but He didn’t look like one.
• He was the seed of David, but He didn’t’ look like it.
• He was an overcomer, but it didn’t appear He could.

John looks for a warrior and he sees “a Lamb”
And incidentally the Greek word used here is in the diminutive form.
It is ARNION which means “little lamb”

Let me go ahead and give you a SPOILER:
This little lamb is the absolute focus of the book of the Revelation.

• 1 time in the Old Testament is Jesus called the lamb (Isaiah 53)
• 4 times in the New Testament is He called the lamb

And yet 31 times in the book of the Revelation is He called the “Lamb”
Contrast that with the fact that He is only called a lion once.

This Lamb is the focus.

Obviously it doesn’t have to do with appearance for this Lamb even looks to be in a ROUGH CONDITION.
“a Lamb standing, as if slain”
• You can still see the battle scars.
• You can still see the wounds.

But there is more to this Lamb than meets the eye.
He also has “seven horns”
• Horns equal power, and 7 is the perfect number. This little Lamb is omnipotent, He has all power.

He has “seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God”
• We’ve read it several times in Isaiah 11 about the Spirit in His fullness. This is the One who embodies that Spirit.

• This is the deliverer mentioned in Isaiah 11 who will bring in that time of peace where the lion will once again dwell with the lamb.
We have our deliverer!
AND THIS LAMB DOES THE MOST AMAZING THING!

(7) “And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”

This is THE event!
• It’s the grand slam in the bottom of the ninth
• It’s the hail marry in overtime
• It’s the 3-pointer at the buzzer
• ONLY INFINITELY BIGGER!!!

He took the book!
Daniel 7:13-14 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”

This Lamb demonstrated His worth
By approaching the throne and taking that book!
(See David approaching the giant here!)

And that leads to the second point
#2 THE DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST’S WORTH
Revelation 5:8-10

The immediate effect is worship!
The “four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb”

They all have “a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

They hold close to them all that the church has cried out to God for.
All the prayers for relief.
All the cries for deliverance.

They’ve been waiting for this day!
And they are coming to worship.

And look at what they sing:
(9) “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals;”

YOU ARE WORTHY!

WHY?
“for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
YOU ARE WORTHY BECAUSE YOU ARE THE GREAT REDEEMER!

Who better to redeem creation from the usurper than the One who effectively redeemed humanity from him?
• Jesus was the One who died and purchased the pardon for sinners.
• Jesus was the One who set them free from sin
• Jesus was the One who made them children of God.
• Jesus was the One who took them from darkness to light.
• Jesus was the One who took them from outside the veil to inside the veil.

When He died on that cross He pulled off the greatest work of redemption the world has ever seen.

Who better to redeem this world than the greatest Redeemer of all time?
You don’t need a lion, you’ve got the Lamb!

Demonstration of Christ’s worth, Description of Christ’s worth
#3 THE DECLARATION OF CHRIST’S WORTH
Revelation 5:11-14

As we saw earlier, the worship is contagious!
The choir just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Those near the throne instantly declare Christ’s worth
And at once the angels join in!

(11-12) “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

Here we have an unnumbered choir of angels.
“myriad” was the biggest numerical word the Greeks had.

So John said it was “myriads of myriads”
It’s like if you say there was a bagillion of them.

And notice their declaration as well:
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

The elders and the creatures declared WHY He was worthy.
Now the angels declare WHAT He is worthy to receive.

Because of who He is and what He did you should give Him “power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

And it’s not just heaven that worships.
(13-14) “And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.”

Did you catch that?
“every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them”

That may seem strange given that in just a few chapters
Much of the world will be cursing Him, but it isn’t.

There is a difference between
Recognizing Christ’s worth and submitting to it.

You may remember the triumphal entry when all of Jerusalem worshiped Him.
Jesus even said if they didn’t the rocks would.

All of creation will at this point praise Jesus because He is worthy of it.

He is the only One who has the ability
To throw the usurper out of creation and set creation in order.

THE ANTICIPATION COULDN’T BE HIGHER!
• We’re about to see Jesus clean house!
• We’re about to see Jesus kick Satan out!
• We’re about to see Jesus put God’s house back in order!

So John’s vision begins with a view of heaven.
It starts with a throne, it ends up focusing on the Lamb who was slain.

SO, WHAT’S THE POINT HERE?
Namely that Jesus Christ is worthy of all!

The only victor this world will ever know is a Redeemer.
(it’s not the battle general, or the wise philosopher, it’s the sacrificial Lamb)

Every ounce of heaven’s anticipation and our hope
Rests upon Jesus’ ability to redeem.

And because He has done it and will do it again, all of heaven declares Him worthy!

They say He is worthy of:
“power” (dunamis) it speaks of His authority.
“riches” (ploutos) which speaks of abundant wealth
“wisdom” (sophia) which speaks of His understanding
“might” (ischus) which speaks of His strength
“honor” (time (timay)) which speaks of His value
“glory” (doxa) which speaks of His praise
“blessing” (eulogia) which means to speak well of

SO LET ME ASK YOU.

The angels ascribe “power” or authority to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him submission?

The angels ascribe “riches” to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him your wealth?

The angels ascribe “wisdom” to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him your obedience?

The angels ascribe “might” or ability to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him your trust?

The angels ascribe “honor” or value to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him your priority over earthly things?

The angels ascribe “glory” or doxology or praise to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him the praise of your lips?

The angels ascribe “blessing” or a eulogy to Him. That He is worthy to be spoken well of to others.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him your public testimony?

Some give Jesus those things
In hopes that He will give them something in return.

“I’ll praise Jesus if He’ll provide for me or protect me”

To do that is to ask Him to prove His worth to you again.
That is not the worship of heaven.

The worship of heaven says that Jesus is already worthy
Simply because of what He did on the cross,
Apart from any other benefit or blessing.

Heaven says the cross alone makes Christ
Worthy of every single gift that could be bestowed upon Him.

Because He died on the cross Jesus deserves
My submission, my offerings, my obedience, my trust, my priority,
My worship, and my public testimony.

Even If He never does another single good thing for me.
HE IS ALREADY WORTHY!

SO HOW’S YOUR WORSHIP?
• Does it even exist?
• Is it merely lip service?
• Is it done in order to get Him to give you more? (manipulative)

THE LAMB IS WORTHY OF ALL OF YOUR WORSHIP
And He’s the only One who is!

This morning we come to commemorate His worth
As we partake in the Lord’s Supper.

We do this to proclaim His great worth!
We do this to glory in the redemption He accomplished!

BUT BEFORE WE PARTAKE the Scripture says that we should examine ourselves to make sure that we partake in a worthy manner.

1 Corinthians 11:27-28 “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

Jesus is worthy of the best worship.
And we are warned not to worship in an unworthy manner.

Well what does that mean?

Jesus spelled it out to us.
Matthew 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

There you have it church.
We are commanded not to try to bring Christ less than He is worthy of,
And He is worthy of everything.

As you examine yourself before partaking in the Lord’s Supper
Ask the Lord to reveal to you an idols
Or any habits that are unworthy of Him.

And study His word to see what those things might be.

After all He is worthy of all power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

As Isaac Watts so eloquently put it in his hymn
“When I Survey The Wondrous Cross”

“Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

OUR SPIRITUAL HERITAGE

Wednesday Nights Beginning September 7th – 7:00pm @ FBC Spur

Many Christians know little about the history of the church. As a result, they’re missing a testament to God’s steadfastness over the centuries. In this monumental study series, Dr. W. Robert Godfrey sheds crucial light on church history, demonstrating God’s promise to build and preserve His church so that “the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). Across seventy-three messages, learn why having a working knowledge of church history remains relevant for our personal lives today, and for the church as a whole.

Each study consists of a 23 minute video lesson and comes with an accompaniment study guide to help you grasp and hold on to all the information regarding the history and formation of the church.

If you’ve ever been interested in church history, this is the course for you!!!