Daniel 8 January 15, 2020

Daniel chapter 8 I really have had a chance to look much aside from that Putin has made a proclamation that he's had Medvedev his Prime Minister I guess yeah he's president he's is he president mr. Hains yes he's president thank you keep track of that but his Prime Minister and the cabinet have resigned and they're gonna do some changes to the Constitution and personally we were chatting in the back there I think he's envious of Gesu men over in China that he wants unlimited rule to I mean why not right so funny how things can change very quickly see where it goes not that we have to worry about Russia prophetically right so we'll just Oh father we come before you and we thank you for your word and forgive us Lord because sometimes we see prophecy and as we look at it we think no way but really it only takes one day for suddenly everything to change and so we pray as we open your word tonight's chapter we look at things that have already come to pass and yet have some foreshadowing of things yet to come that it would help to encourage us Lord as we see how much you can predict the end from the beginning and the middle that our faith might be stirred in these interesting days to truly be looking up to hope for our Redemption that is just definitely drawing near the question is when help us Lord to be living in such a way that no matter when you should appear for your church we have nothing to be ashamed of we are ready and as we wait lord help us to be bold to tell people the hope and the good news that God has come down so he could be just in forgiving sinners thank you for these wonderful truths may they open to our heart this evening in your word we pray in Jesus name Amen Daniel chapter 8 we had seen in chapter 7 in the first year of the reign of Belshazzar that was the king who had the drunken feast in Chapter five who had the handwriting on the wall whose life would be taken that very Eve whose knees smote together the joints of his loins were loosed and now we have in chapter 8 verse 1 the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar what's puts us plus or minus 12 years from when Babylon will fall so at least 12 years before Babylon goes down so here we are in 2020 12 years ago was 2008 kind of puts things in perspective over yeah we had lost 8 million jobs and the subprime market fell apart it almost took the banking system down with it and those are interesting times think of some of the things that are happening today like for example if someone in 2008 had told you the Eagles would win a Super Bowl you would have said right yeah within 12 years roughly of this chapter Babylon is going to fall to the medo-persians and tonight as Daniel is receiving this information from the Lord he's going to tell him the next two kingdoms by name so we had in Chapter 2 where he interpreted the dream for Nebuchadnezzar as well as gave him the dream the head of gold which was Babylon the silver which we find out again now in chapter 8 are the medo-persians and then the bronze which we find out tonight again being told to Daniel almost 300 years roughly 200 plus before it comes to past the name of the next Empire that would replace them and then we'll get into some more as we work through the book so in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision what a vision appeared unto me even unto me Daniel after that which had appeared unto me at the first which was two years previous and the first year of King reign of King Belshazzar so now this is following on the first one showed him four empires again really reiterating again Jeff chapter two the four different types of metal the four different empires again that would come through Nebuchadnezzar's dream chapter 7 gave him a different perspective and some more information now chapter 8 zooms in on basically two of those precious metals or two of those beasts and so now we're at the arms and the middle section the bronze as he's looking ahead I saw on the vision and it came to pass I saw that I was at Shushan so guys in the back if we could put on our projector let's give you a little of that now tonight if you're saying geography and history very boring just hang so once again we have the Babylonian Empire everybody with me Suzanne or Susa Shushan is down here if you can see hopefully in the the white letters really in what is the area on the edge of what is on the edge of Iran today but getting a little further his Babylon Seuss over here or Shushan everybody see it right side above the body you know no okay lost some of you here are some of the ruins let me see this little white steeple thing here well here again this idea the ruins of this area of Shushan and interestingly enough in this territory even today as what they claim to be the tomb of daniel now it's you know the 1100 sit was found or at least reported and brought out to the rest of the world in 1100 claiming they've been built somewhere some say in the 600's well know for sure one day and we get to heaven but and of course this isn't the only town that tries to claim this but this is one that has this this whatever you want to call it for for the tomb of daniel interesting you can go back and look at again you can just go to a tomb of daniel look up Wiki Wikipedia there they'll give you some things about it interesting traditions about his remains being moved around and all that but this is still there today so we're under the Persian Empire Daniel's seeing a vision comes to pass that I was in the vision when I saw verse 2 that I was at Shushan so you now know roughly where it is and you have an idea a little of the topography so in the vision I was at Shushan in the palace which is in the province of Elam and I saw in a vision and I was by the river you lie which you see back here a few pictures by working their way through and then you see it here and on and on you can go actually look at these things the old days used to be hard now you go home look these things up you can read about some of the battles about and get your own additional information or the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say and so I saw in a vision and I was by the river you lie verse three and then I lifted up my eyes and saw and behold there stood before the river of RAM which had two horns what did the statue have two arms what was the bear doing in the last chapter leaning up on one side speaking of one being stronger than the other now we have a ram and interestingly enough the king of Persia they say had a jeweled Rams head of gold that he would wear instead of a diadem and some other objects like this according to those in history so it's a symbol they would use a saw ram which had two horns and the two horns were high but the one was higher than the other and the higher came up last the Medes were really formed and strengthened and in you know and basically established the Persians will come up as a power behind them but Cyrus and the Persians would come up and Eclipse them in that power over time so they came up second so to speak and they became greater or higher than the Medes they were the bigger base of power so to speak in the whole thing well I saw the RAM pushing westward now look at the map up on the screen here they are which ways did they push westward they went into Lydda you see there in the top and the brown the light brown westward and southward and northward as well so we saw the RAM pushing westward northward and southward so that no beast might stand before him neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand and so the medo-persian Empire took over these three again the three ribs in the mouth of the bear lit a Babylon Egypt fine are we going next yeah we'll keep that for later guys can you brighten the lights up a little for me up here appreciate it and so I saw the RAM pushing westward northward and southward so that no beast might stand before him neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand but he did according to his will and he became medo-persians and as I was considering behold the he-goat came from the West on the face of the whole earth gee who were these people well verse 21 will tell you Greece so the Grecians came as I was considering behold a he-goat came from the West interestingly enough Carnot Coronis the first King of Macedonia they claimed was led by a goat or led by goats to where he would establish his kingdom that's at least some tradition that's out there so interesting a goat representing it so I was considering an a he goat came from the West on the face of the whole earth and touched not the ground and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes and he came to the RAM that had two horns which I had seen standing before the river and ran unto him in the fury of his power and I saw him come close unto the RAM and he was moved with colour with anger against him and he smote the RAM well that's clear isn't it so he's in the palace of Shushan in this vision looking out over the river sees first this RAM that is the medo-persian empire pushing its different directions no one can stand before them and as he's seeing this then suddenly a goat comes from the West moving so fast it doesn't even touch the earth the idea just bounding and leaping you know when you go down the road and squirrels until the road and it goes like this and then it just goes through the side you ever notice like wow little guys got some long strides he's just a right because he's moving well here moving so fast it's not even touching the ground and it came from the West and it had a notable horn between his eyes that will be Alexander the Great and he came to the RAM that had two horns which I had seen standing before the river he ran unto Him in the fury of his power he came close and he was moving with anger against him why anger well first of all the great horn is Alexander the Great he is the son of philip ii of macedon philip ii of macedon had planned to attack persia why well because the persians had defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon how many of heard of that one if you can't know you haven't go look it up anybody want to know why you run a marathon go look it up that old marathon that defeat happened in 490 the Persians coming after the Greeks again some difficult battles they have another one at Salamis and 481 where the Persians fought the Greeks and they were very near Athens and so these attacks against the Greeks had gotten the Grecians very angry got tired of the Persians trying to push their way even further West and so Philip had begun to make plans to push them back and to come after them unfortunately he was murdered which gets in the way of his plans and so a son Alexander at the age of 20 takes over for his dad philip ii of macedon Alexander interesting enough see if any of these names ring any bells he was tutored by Aristotle I refer to him like Wow Aristotle was in a sense tutored at discipled was a student of Plato not Plato at kindergarten Plato the philosophers in Plato's Republic so Plato invests in Aristotle who invests in Alexander the Great at the ripe age of 20 has his father murdered picks up that charge of his father taking over as the king of the Greeks and begins to move his campaign going eastward to push back the meat of Persians and to expand the Asian eat the Grecian Empire he will basically take over within 12 years he's gonna roll through so fast his conquest happened so fast that he actually had basically gone through with 30,000 foot soldiers according to accounts five thousand horsemen conquered his known world in 12 years in his last battle the feeding according to records and again we'll know for sure in heaven 600,000 killed alone in his last battle in Arbella against Darius the Mede he just blew through quickly now when Daniel sees this those details are still hundred plus two almost 200 years in advance 490 the Persians are pushing in against the Greeks Alexander the Great comes back and defeats the Persians in three major battles one Granicus and 334 BC Daniel is prophesying in 539 actually 549 because we're 12 years almost before the kingdom falls 334 BC the first battle that the Persians will lose against Alexander's Granicus the second one is at Issus and May of 333 BC third one is Arbella which is also known as gargamel WA which I'll stick with Arbella it's easier that happening in 331 he totally routed the medo-persians and then continued to push even further taking over Syria taking over tyre taking over moving all way to here's his empire India in 12 years no airplanes no trains planes automobiles good old-fashioned sandals and horses change his known world brought the Grecian language interesting movement so as I was considering a he coat came from the West on the face of whole earth touched not the ground the goat had a notable horn between his eyes Alexander he came to the RAM that had two horns which I had seen standing before the river and ran into him in the fury of his power I saw him come close into the RAM and he was moved with anger Koller against them and he smote the RAM and break his two horns again in three battles and there was no power in the RAM to stand before him but he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon them and there was none that could deliver the RAM out of his hand therefore the he-goat waxed very great so great that he began to take over as you can see quite a bit of territory all the way down to Egypt all the way through the Middle East which brings some interesting discussions now if he took tyre and sidon and Syria and Egypt who also would be in that path it's on the map it's an open book test here's Egypt tyre sidon Syria who's in that area so what happened to them would you like a little tradition in history all right I'm reading to you from Paul L Mayer Josephus the essentials because it takes a book that's this wide this big four columns and tiny print and brings it down to this so if you want to know some juicy ffice it's a good place to start Paul L mayor reading to you from page 197 of his book on Alexander the Great he said after defeating the Persians Darius had fled back into Persia Alexander marched into Syria taking Damascus in Sidon and then besieged Tyre from there he sent a letter to the high priests of the Jews again according to Josephus and some Jewish tradition asking the high priest for supplies and requesting that he transfer his allegiance and tribute from Darius to Alexander the high priest answered that he had promised Darius not to bear arms against him that he would keepeth Oh keep his oath as long as Darius lived Alexander was very angry and he threatened that as soon as he had taken tyre he would march against the Jewish High Priest his example would teach all men to whom they must keep their oaths well when sanballat not the one you're thinking of from Nehemiah when sanballat heard that Darius had been defeated he decided to join Alexander with 8,000 Samaritans some other accounts say 7,000 this kind reception at Alexander gave him encouraged Sam Bala to ask permission to divide the Jews by building a temple in Samaria and permission was granted which by the way brings the question from the woman at the well to Jesus our fathers say we should worship in this mountain you Jews say we should worship in Jerusalem and his answer was woman there's a day coming when you'll worship neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem but those who worship the Lord will worship Him in spirit and in truth well this is an outcropping of these Arrangements where the the Samaritans began to have their own system of worship well the permission was granted so the new temple was built Manasseh was made high priest but before it was finished Sanballat died meanwhile Alexander had conquered Tyre following a seven-month siege now that may not impress you until you know that the Assyrians had a five-year siege against them at one point the Babylonians Nebuchadnezzar had a 13-year siege and finally took down old tyre and raised it down to ruins down to the ground and left the the basically the the remains of it and eventually would move through and take over the rest of Israel and all that with the first deportation these guys did it in seven months I should give you some history how many of heard of Zechariah wonderful in Zechariah chapter 9 verses 1 through 8 there is echo I the Prophet is talking about Alexander the Great and when they destroyed old tyre on the mainland that Iranians had actually moved a half mile off the coast into the sea to a citadel a fortress that they had walled up and built and basically turned that into their town and so they lived about a half-mile in the sea and they were merchants and seamen's so they could just bring the boats to and from his merchants and no problem that's great for them just to dock against their their town in the water so they lost the one in the in the mainland but they had now the one that was a fortress in the ocean there about a half mile off and so when Alexander came through tradition says he came to the Tyree nians and he said to them I would like to worship at the temple of hercules and they sent a golden crown to him and said you're welcome to do that you'll find his temple in the ruins on the mainland in other words it's nice to meet you now go away he didn't like that answer Alexander was so angry he scraped the ruins of old tyre into the sea build a causeway almost that half mile distance out laid siege to the city took it historians tell us he killed some 8,000 took thirteen thousand of slaves James and fosston Brown said crucifying or impaling in some fashion 2,000 out of that town wiped them out however in wiping them out he also fulfilled the zekiel 26 12 we're told tyre that there dust and their stones and their timbers were going to be dragged into the sea as part of the judgment against them so you have Alexander the Great fulfilling Zechariah chapter 9 verses 1 through 8 and bringing the destruction against tyre you have it fulfilling some prophecies in Isaiah as well as his prophecy very important in Ezekiel 26 12 that God told them exactly how they would be taken out if they were listening now here you're sitting a half my on the sea thinking you're you know safest can be only to watch him drag all the remains of the first town into the ocean and take your whole kingdom out here's what really gets me how many have heard behold Jerusalem your King comes unto you shout daughter of Zion for your king comes you meek and lowly having salvation riding upon a donkey the colt the foal of a donkey how many of heard that Scripture that's in zechariah 9:9 so the Lord shows zechariah chapter 9 verses 1 through 8 and here comes this great king Alexander the Great from man's perspective wise shrewd cunning and then God says do you want to see a really impressive King verse 9 he will come to you meek lowly humble riding on a donkey the ultimate king God's ways are not our ways are they many prophecies fulfilled in these things but back to tyre falling it took seven months after two more months he had taken the city of Gaza also which now heading down toward southern Israel on the coast then he hurried to go up to Jerusalem remember what about the Jews when jdoah the high priest heard that Alexander the Great was coming he was terrified and ordered his people to join him in sacrifice and prayer to God appearing to him in a dream God told him to take courage and decorate the city with wreaths people were to clothe themselves in white and the priests with the robes of their order then they were to march out of the gates to meet the Macedonians for they would not be harmed jdoah awoke rejoicing and announced the revelation to all and when he learned that Alexander was not far from the city he went out in procession with the priests and the people Alexander saw the procession coming towards him the priests were clothed in linen the high priest in a robe of blue and gold and on his hay at head was the mitre that golden plate with a golden plate on which God's name was inscribed approaching alone Alexander prospered himself before the name the name of God and greeted the high priest as the Jews welcomed Alexander with one voice and encircle and his officers wondered if he had suddenly become insane one of them from a nail went up to Alexander and asked him to explain he replied listen to this when I was at diem and Macedonia considering how I could become master of Asia I saw this very person in my sleep dressed as he is now he urged me not to delay but to cross over confidently and take dominion over the Persians in other words I've seen this guy in a dream Alexander was X corded into Jerusalem by the high priest and his attendants he went up into the temple where he sacrificed to God according to the high priest directions and when the Book of Daniel was shown to him what book are you in book of Daniel if this tradition is true they have a copy in 332 330 whatever he rolled through in the late 300s he or early 300 has a copy of the Book of Daniel so how if they could show him the Book of Daniel could the liberal scholars say it was written than another 150 years after this how many are following me see there are those who tried to deny God can tell us the end from the beginning and here we have the prophecies from 539 but the liberal scholars say what must been written in like the one 60s around the Maccabee in revolt because no way could Daniel possibly know the future like he predicts true there is no way Daniel could know but God can tell them so here they show him the Book of Daniel which by the way is why it is my contention when Cyrus entered into Babylon Daniel showed him the Book of Isaiah and that's why he made his decree to let the Jews return after the Babylonian captivity when the Book of Daniel was shown to him which predicted that one of the Greeks would destroy the Persian Empire chapter 8 were in he thought himself to be the one so designated I'd say the fact he's gotten as far as a good sign when he offered the Jews whatever they desired the high priest that they asked that they might observe their own laws and be exempt from the tribute every seventh year because the land was to rest now Alexander granted the requests they further ask the Jews in Babylon and Medea would be allowed their own laws and he also agreed because of course he's going to take those territories and finally he told the people that if any of them wanted to enlist in his army he would allow them to continue their own customs and many joined his army there's an asterisk from the author and it says the historicity of Alexander's contact with the Jews on this occasion is quite doubtful course by those who don't want accept it however no surviving non-jewish source mentions this episode although rabbinical traditions rabbis commentaries contain a similar story the Jews have maintained the story happened but thus the only source we have is Josephus and Jewish tradition that Alexander passed by and left them unharmed ok so I saw him come close to the RAM verse 7 he was moved against him with anger Koller and he smote the RAM and break his two horns Muta Persians are defeated there was no power in the RAM to stand before him he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him and there was none that could deliver the RAM out of his hand therefore the he-goat which is Greece and Alexander the Great waxed very great and when he was strong great horn was broken having gone all the way to India he returned to Babylon there are a number of theories as to what happened one he had malaria to some sort of a fever or other sickness three partly involved with drinking heavy drinking in the combination of those four heavy drinking the combination of those and someone poisoned him but he dies in basically 323 BC at about 32 years of age he's just getting started I know what you're thinking can you please move on nobody cares about this anymore you're wrong this coming from January 5th let's see when was this written oh yeah January 15th is today I put it out what is the date I think I actually I got this in 20 17 I think this came out but all I can get it oh no wait I'm sorry January 23rd 2019 a year ago wonderful Alexander the Great how many have heard of him she'd be the whole room now Alexander the Great died mysteriously at 32 now we may know why so you thought nobody cared by Sarah Pruitt this is coming from history calm when Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 BC that would be when the great horn waxed powerful it was broken his body didn't begin to show signs of decomposition for a full six days according to historical accounts wonder why well to the ancient Greeks this confirmed that they what they all thought about the young Macedonian King and what Alexander believed about himself that he was not an ordinary man but a God just 32 years old he had conquered an empire stretching from the Balkans to modern Pakistan and was poised on the edge of another invasion let me translate and when the heave goat waxed very great and when he was strong then the great horn was broken how many now see the prophecy none of you all right he was poised on the edge of another invasion when he fell ill and he died after 12 days of excruciating suffering since then historians have debated his cause of death proposing everything from malaria typhoid and alcohol poisoning to assassination by one of his rivals but in a bombshell new theory and by the way it's a theory a scholar and practicing clinician suggests that Alexander may have suffered from the neurological disorder guillain-barre guillain-barre syndrome we've had several people in the church get guillain-barre and what happens is your nerves begin to basically fight against so shut down to where they eventually have to put you on respirator so that when your lungs don't want to work they can keep your breathing and if you can ride that out usually it'll pass and then you'll recover but it's like recovering in some ways from from a full stroke it's pretty pretty sad to watch and we've seen it happen to two people over the last 20 years and it's quite debilitating if you find you have it you want to go get help fast so they think perhaps I might have been give me and bear syndrome or GBS which caused his death she also argues that people might not have noticed any immediate signs of decomposition on the body for one simple reason because Alexander wasn't dead yet as dr. and Catherine halls senior lecturer the do Indian School of Medicine at the University of Otago New Zealand writes in an article published in the ancient history bulletin most of the theories of what kill Alexander have focused on the agonizing fever and abdominal pain he suffered in the days before he died in fact she points out he was also known to have developed a progressive symmetrical ascending paralysis which is how often Gillian Bar worked comes up from your extremities and goes up into the critical areas so symmetrical ascending paralysis during his illness and although he was very sick he remained copass mentis fully in control of his mental faculties until just before his death hell or halt argues that GBS a rare but serious autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the healthy cells in the nervous system can explain this combination of symptoms better than other theories advanced for Alexander's death she believes that he may have contracted the disorder from an infection of camp Philo bacter pylori I won't try it again a common bacterium at that time according the hall Alexander likely got a variant of GBS that produced paralysis without causing confusion or unconsciousness by the way we observed that and one of the two people had given me bear very much there until suddenly we got into the danger zone while speculation over what exactly killed Alexander is far from newhall throws in a curveball by suggesting he might not have even died when people thought that he did she argues that the increasing paralysis Alexander suffered as well as the fact that his body needed less oxygen as it shut down would have meant that his breathing was less visible because in ancient times doctors relied on the presence or absence of breath think the book of Acts rather than a pulse to determine whether a patient was alive or dead Hall believes Alexander might have been falsely declared dead before he actually died I wanted to stimulate new debate discussion and possibly rewrite the history books by arguing Alexander's real death was six days later than previously accepted Hall said in a statement from the University of Otago his death may be the most famous case of pseudo Thanatos which is a false diagnosis of death ever recorded so here you are 2020 thinking why are we bothering and Alexander the Great is still in the news trying to figure out what exactly kill them so back to our Bible therefore the he-goat waxed very great in babylon ready to start a whole new campaign when he was strong the great horn was broken again dying in 323 BC in the month of June now we're not sure what day thanks to this new contestant and for it for his kingdom came up four notable ones that his horns toward the four winds of heaven remember we had the four heads on the leopard with the four wings last week none of you oh well well we had four heads and four wings on the the leopard there last week the Grecian Empire again being depicted with great speed and it divides into four regions and Tom here they are again Cassander lysimachus Seleucus and told me taking these different territories breaking it up as you can see the different breakdowns here Cassander went to the western area of Macedonia the Simic is going to the area around Turkey to us today roughly so Lucas taking Persia and Babylon Syria told me taking Egypt and the rest of Africa there was a fifth general Antigonus who held territory and what is Turkey to us today but he was defeated in 301 so for a period of about 22 years after Alexander suddenly dies his generals are trying to figure out who's going to control what five of them started for them finished and divided into these different territories now I know what you're thinking this is great hold on a second chapter 11 is gonna be all about the kingdom of the silicates coming down against the Tommies and it's gonna get really detailed so detailed that scholars say there is no way Daniel could possibly know these things before they happened but why is God giving us all this detail and why is he now giving us the benefit of history to prove these things were done with great specificity about this is exactly what needs to happen so that when we look toward the end and we see prophecies that really just challenged us to how could this happen and how could you take the United States out of you know the top dog or pole position and turn it into ten other Kings that three of them get deposed and just what is that territory and how are they going to force upon the world some form of a system where if you don't take a mark you're excluded from it to buy and sell and all that and it just seems so otherworldly and yet overnight or perhaps over a period of 12 days while he was succumbing to guillain-barre God can suddenly overthrow government change everything and divide up an empire in other words just because we don't know how he's going to do it doesn't mean that God can't do it well out of this came four horns toward the four winds of heaven as you can see again there slide north east south west okay fellas I think that'll do it for slides keep going here and so out of them came forth four horns four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven and out of one of them came forth a little horn oh no another little horn a pastor Chris we had a little horn last week yes we did but that little horn when he begins to speak blasphemies against the God of gods the end of that little horns reign of terror for lack of a better way to put it and blasphemy is that the Ancient of Days sat on his throne the son of man came to him and the son of man is now given a kingdom that has dominion over all the world and that Dominion will never end so the end of the little horn in Chapter seven was the return of God to establish his kingdom that rock up without human hands of chapter 2 that will take over the whole world and that kingdom will have no way and that is the return of Jesus Christ to defeat the Antichrist to establish the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven this little horn is a different character who is known as Antiochus Epiphanes or Antiochus the fourth he's gonna come out of the area this Luke kids they're going toward and going south towards dealing with the Egyptians and the Tommies and we're gonna learn about him quite a bit in chapter 11 and so I'm gonna give you just a high view of it tonight and we get in chapter 11 we're gonna learn a lot more detail about him but out of this came one little horn out of the area of the Salukis one little horn which waxed exceeding great toward the south toward the east and toward the pleasant land toward the area of the Jews and it waxed great even to the hosts of heaven and that cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground you remember when Abraham was there and the Lord said Abraham come on out and look at the Stars number them if you can how many remember that Genesis 15 and he said so shall your descendants be had an 80s ring to it those would you like to play again yes so here this appears to be his attack against the Jews that's going to come through anticipation is he cast down some of the host of the Stars to the ground he is going to horribly persecute the Jews as we will learn and he stamped upon them in fact he will go in and he will slaughter a pig on the altar defiling it he will set up images defiling the temple to Zeus and to other the greco-roman God's he'll set up a number of these as well as two following Jerusalem it will begin to persecute the Jews people for example who seek to circumcise their children have their children killed and hung around their neck he does horrible and again just look up Antiochus Epiphanes guys you can get a lot of the back story now for yourself and take a look if you have read first Maccabees you can get some of the account there from again Maccabees you can go through this as you read about the Maccabee and revolt we'll get into a little bit of it tonight so there comes this little horn out of one of these four generals and he's gonna attack down towards Egypt and he's gonna deal with the pleasant land of Israel he's gonna wax great and he's gonna cast down again the people of God the stars to the ground and stamp upon them verse eleven yay he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host he would depose and put down the high priest and shut this system down and basically forced them to stop and buy him the daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of God his sanctuary was cast down defiled and shut down from worship and a host was given against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression again punishing the Jews some of them actually cited with Antiochus which is mind-blowing but he would put down again the faithful who stood against him and cast down the truth to the ground again seeking to snuff out the worship of God seeking to destroy copies of the scrolls of the book of the Bible he did everything he could essentially exterminate and to shut down the worship of God now you might say well it sounds like the Antichrist yes but no and the reason I can say that to you is because we're gonna learn in verse 25 he's destroyed or broken without hand and then we hear nothing of the return of the kingdom of God we hear nothing about the Ancient of Days giving to the son of man the rule and reigning over all the earth he simply has just removed from the scene and then we're gonna move to chapter 9 this is Antiochus Epiphanes now he has been described as the Antichrist of the Old Testament and we're gonna see him in chapter 11 and he is gonna be mentioned all the way up to verse 35 but when we get into verse 36 the things that are mentioned by that leader who's going to arise Antiochus Epiphanes never did and so he is a foreshadowing he is a type but he does not go all the way to what the Antichrist is going to do so some of the characteristics we observe in Antiochus we are going to see repeated in the Antichrist does everybody get this okay and what's really important is how do we know there's still an antichrist to come and that this guy in basically 174 to 167 or so BC antiochus that this guy didn't fulfill it simple because Jesus comes as you know about 30 AD and when they Sabbath on the Mount of Olives they said when will be the sign of your coming the end of the age when will these things be when one stone is not left in the buildings upon another and he told them he said when you see future the abomination of desolation stand in the Holy Place as mentioned by Daniel the prophet let the reader understand get out of town now this work of Antiochus happens about a hundred and seventy hundred and ninety years before Christ so this is after this guy desecrates the temple that Jesus is telling us there is another desecration coming but there are gonna be things that are similar to what daniel has shown us everybody do with me all right that's fine I'm gonna call it good so he magnifies verse 11 himself against the Prince of the host against the priesthood the high priest as well by him the daily sacrifice is taken away happened again under Antiochus Epiphanes the sanctuary was cast down defiled and used for idols a host was given against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression it cast down the truth of the ground again punishing those who sought to worship God and the practice and it prospered this obviously quite terrifying to Daniel verse 13 he said then I heard one Saint speaking and another Saints and to that certain Saint which spake how long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot of this oppressors the idea and he said unto me unto two thousand and three hundred days then shall the sanctuary be cleansed okay there was a priest Matthias or matheus it's late matheus you know cuz you'll say I'll get an email it's matheus not Mathias Mathias is an axe chapter 1 I know I know matheus and he has a son Judas Maccabi how many of you've read the Apocrypha how many of you went through the none of you ok it's good - matheus seen the oppression rises up against antiochus's forces kills some individuals in that right uprising calls out to the people and says who is essentially on the side of the Lord come with me they flee into the hills they begin to go after Antiochus Epiphanes and his soldiers they begin to start having some victories matheus dies he puts his son judas in presenting in place under the military leadership he makes him the leader militarily Judas Maccabee Simon his brother is an advisor there are also some other brothers there's John there's Eleazar and Jonathan all brothers all sons of Mathias and these Maccabees in the sense that Matt could be in revolt and they rise up and over the course of a couple of years they fight and they deal with these issues and finally they get control again of the temple and when they get control of the temple they go in as Desa fire the filed and desecrated and they begin to go through and they get into the holy place and they begin to cleanse it from the inside out and as they get there they have enough oil to light the lamp stand for one day it takes seven days to consecrate the oil so they can be used in the temple well that one day of oil they continue to pour and that oil lasts for eight days and allows the light to continue to burn until they could consecrate new oil to continue the supply and keep that lamp constantly lit as was charged to Moses there by the Lord as he was giving to him the tabernacle so that one day of oil lasted for eight days you know that as the feast of Hanukkah and the day that it was considered cleansed according to historians is December 25th 165 BC so that's why you'll see a normal menorah has how many branches seven for the seven days of creation wonderful the Hanukkah has or Hanukkah has a plus depending on where they put it either in the middle a little appendage or on the edge a ninth device which is for the oil so it remember it commemorates the oil and the eight days so Hanukkah comes from the result of this warning given in Daniel 8 that was the Maccabees rising up driving out Antiochus Epiphanes taking back control of the temple and God begins to again move among his people letting him know that he is with them and then about 160 years after this the Messiah is born of a virgin thirty years after that he starts his ministry and he rides in on a donkey bearing a new covenant as promised throughout the Old Testament that's the time period between Malachi and Matthew that is unfolding here prophetically now you can go home you can google these things you can learn quite a bit you don't have to have a whole big commentary set go back and read this time between Malachi to Matthew and you'll learn a whole lot and you see God was being faithful to his people even though they weren't receiving any revelation at that time they had Malachi that was the last thing they had from about the 400s late for hundreds and then they heard nothing just like we had the book of Revelation and we've heard nothing for a long time but that doesn't mean God's not gonna finish his plan or be faithful to his prophecies it simply means it's not time yet so here we have this rededicating of the sanctuary December 25th 165 through Judas Maccabee and the others who dedicated after cleansing it and if you want to go back their attempts to figure out exactly the date of the 2300 days but the fact is after that long period of being desecrated they consecrated it and these things are now history Josephus talks about it Maccabees talks about it and some other records have it as well this is known from history so how's your head does it hurt try studying it so verse 15 and it came to pass when I even I Daniel had seen the vision the things we've been talking about and sought for the mean we have the benefit of history he hasn't seen this before he's watching these you know the goat hitting the RAM in the everything happening in the horns coming up and then seeing in this vision the people of God being persecuted and then seeing these men take back over the temple and the the lamp and these different things he's trying to take it in we can look back I sought for the meaning well then behold there stood before me as the appearance of a man so he's not sure he's a man but he looks like a man and I heard a man's voice please see this carefully between you lied the translators help us out between the banks of the Uline nose it's a trick question I'll choose my Bible as the example if this is one bank and that's another Bank and he's standing between the banks of the you lie where is he he's on the water who do we know who walks on water isn't that interesting we're gonna see that again later I heard a man's voice between the banks of the you lie which called and said Gabriel make this man to understand the vision interestingly enough this is the first mention of a good angel Gabriel in Chapter 12 we will get another mention of a good or holy angel Michael in Isaiah chapter 7 there's ya know Isaiah chapter 14 we get the mention of an angel named Lucifer who falls and becomes what we know is the devil that old dragon and Satan not many angels mentioned in Revelation will get a baton or apollyon but not many given to us as names and really the only ones we have that are holy angels we have mentioned to us are Gabriel first mentioned we believe here and then we have Michael interesting Gabriel by the way who came to marry Gabriel what was he telling her about the coming Messiah in Chapter 9 as we again go through this coming Messiah who's telling him Gabriel when Gabriel shows up it's about the things of the Messiah interesting so gay we'll make this man to understand the vision so he came near where I stood and when he came I was afraid for 17 and I fell upon my face but he said unto me understand o son of man 4 at the time of the end of these things that are shown shall be the vision for as he was speaking with me I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground and you're saying well big wonder I'm doing the same thing now you're boring me to death of all his history well hang in there as he was speaking I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground but he touched me and he set me up right and he said behold i will make thee to know what shall be in the last end of the indignation this judgment coming for at the time appointed the end shall be so the ram which thou sawest twelve years before Babylon Falls for us that's the OE crash twelve years no way could they have known twelve years before it happens the RAM which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of media and Persia twelve years roughly before he's called into that drunken feast where he sees the writing on the wall and can go it's the medo-persians you've been weighed you're toast how many begin to put it together Daniel had some warning and then the event happens in Chapter five God has already been showing him for 14 and then twelve years before it happened what was coming you see if you study the Word of God you shouldn't be surprised by the things that are going to happen you should be able to know what is coming and most importantly you should be able to know what happens when you die and you should be able to know where you can spend eternity with God having asked his forgiveness through his son or if you have no heart no room in your heart for his son and first forgiveness then you're going to spend eternity away from God there is no mystery Jesus told us there is a life that is to come he also warned us there's a place where the worm does not die the flame does not go out there was weeping and gnashing of teeth he has not hidden any of these things from us he in many ways speaks more about judgment and death and hell in a sense than he gives us really of understanding of what's coming in heaven we get more about being warned about being in a place of gnashing of teeth and not letting things pull us into that place to exhort us that we might turn from our sin warns us over and over again if you know these things you should never be surprised you might go why I thought it would come that way but you should know what's coming interesting and so medo-persia verse 21 the fourth or the rough code is the king of grisha the Grecians this is about Oh 207 years before it happens and they show the scroll to Alexander in the temple don't try to tell me it was written after the fact the rough he goat is the king of Grisha and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king again not the first king of the whole kingdom but it's Alexander this first king who comes over toward the holy land now that being broken whereas for stood up for it four kingdoms shall stand out of this nation out of Alexander and out of the Greeks but not in his power again takes about 22 years to sift it out and in the latter time note this very carefully in verse 23 and the latter time of their kingdom that horn so again not the last days to us today the latter time of their Kingdom as it's coming to an end when the transgressors are come to the full a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up this is Antiochus Epiphanes he's strong he has good strategy he's able to untwist twisted things and he's able to basically decode things that are quite involved he is shrewd not only does it speak of him but it most likely speaks also of the Antichrist why because the Antichrist is empowered by Satan himself again the world has never seen that combination but it's coming his power shall be mighty but montt but not by his own power they might say well what does that mean well let me tell you history Antiochus Epiphanes gained the throne through murdering his brother the former King Seleucus Philip otter so he had Seleucus killed who's the king and then Demetrius his son who's supposed to reign after him he had held hostage and Rome to protect him so he gets the heir to be locked up in Rome or held hostage he comes back and takes over and says hey I'm reigning on behalf of the heir basically you know served as a stewardship over it because he's not able to come right now and he took over the kingdom and the way he took over the kingdom was essentially through flattery and bribery through his conquests but we'll get more of that in chapter 11 so he will come his power shall be mighty but not by his own power he's gonna use deception and he shall destroy wonderfully now it's the word used to describe it doesn't mean it's a great thing it just means he's gonna go for it and shall prosper and practice and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people who are they the Jews and through his policy also he shall cause craft or lies and deceit to prosper we will see a closed snapshot of that in chapter 11 where he is lying at the bargaining table it actually prophesized that and he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand he shall magnify himself in his heart that's why he uses the term epiphanies which means the illustrious one anyhow cuz the fourth wasn't good enough he added to himself the title the illustrious one I know you're thinking you work with one of those at work but he will magnify himself in his heart and by peace shall destroy many he would often offer to you friendship and peace and then as soon as he was able he would betray you an attack that was part of his MO he shall stand up against the Prince of princes God's people God's high priest basically God's rule over them but he shall be broken interesting with out hand Antiochus dies a horrible death from worms and ulcers anybody wants some he was planning to return to Judea and he was attending to take vengeance on the armies of judas maccabees who had had victories and again reclaimed the temple and he was on his way back to come deal with it and suddenly he essentially dies some of these worms and ulcers in his gut and you may not appreciate this but whether or not you like your local water municipality the fact is often when they would find bodies or find you know mummified bodies and other things that people from the Middle East in this period they would find many times of worms and their entrails because they would get parasites from the water supply so you basically see you know in trousers packed and eventually it kills you your water supply is actually quite important and so here he ended up with worms and ulcers that would kill him without hand and notice please after verse 25 no mention of the Messiah no mentioned the Messianic kingdom no mention of any of this he simply is broken without hand and then we'll learn more in chapter 11 and the vision of the evening in the morning which was told is true Daniels saying I didn't just make this up God showed it to me and I'm still trying to figure it out which is told is true wherefore shut thy up the vision for it shall be from many days in the future in fact some of it not fulfilled for 400 years 400 what's gonna be happening in 400 years what was 400 years ago 1620 what were they doing in 1620 there's a little history for us it's amazing with 400 joules to do wouldn't it you think in 1620 if they told them you could have an iPhone they think you're nuts you could get a little prick in your arm from a little silver thing with a little bit of water behind it and not get sick from certain vacuuming of bacteria and you could take pills to get rid of things that kill people around them you'd be healed yeah I thought that's a miracle 400 years before it happens dan you'll be shown how these kingdoms are going to turn over and who are some of the principal players it should be for many days 400 years ultimately for some of the final predictions and really in many ways some of the last predictions he receives have yet to be fulfilled which puts that at about 2600 years since they happened or since they were prophesied well you feel probably the same by now verse 27 i Daniel fainted and I was sick certain days and afterward I rose up and did the King's business and I was astonished at the vision so what's new well I mean a person's are gonna take us down how do you tell people that after them the Greeks who are the Greeks for certain days that rose up I did the King's business I was astonished at the vision but none understood it we have been given the benefit of more information than Daniel know again thirty thousand foot view chapter seven four kingdoms going to the end of the age chapter eight focusing down what about Babylon what about God's people the medo-persians and the Greeks chapter nine I haven't forgotten you the Jews chapter ten it's more information chapter 11 picking up where he left off in chapter eight all the way to chapter 12 the resurrection what kind of man was this guy Daniel that God could give him all that information trust him to write it down accurately and not lose his mind I'm looking forward to medium we're out of time let's stand let's pray read ahead father we thank you for your word you know the end from the beginning you know everyone in this room would be here tonight or listening on the radio or live-streaming Lord maybe we've lost a whole bunch of people in the details here with the particulars but what's important is you have foretold these things before they came to pass to prove that you are God and there is no other no idol no block of wood no astrologer no prognosticator no so-called guru or prophet has even been able to do what you have done consistently repeatedly throughout your word you make predictions in the short term the long term and the eternal realm and we have watched many of them come to pass and they are so specific that there is no way someone could have guessed it you have done these things so that for those who are here tonight or those who are listening in the future who are struggling with how can I trust this book how can I trust that Jesus can save me how can I know I found the true God you have done these things to authenticate that you are God and there is no other you are the only Savior and that you are the way the truth and the life and no man will come to the Father but through faith in Jesus Christ fulfilling over 300 plus prophecies himself to die rise again pay for our sins thank you Lord for a wonderful book thank you Lord when the Smithsonian wants to know where to find something that's in the Middle East they look at the Bible they're not dumb they know which record is accurate and thank you Lord that you've preserved and given these things to us that we might enjoy them even in these interesting days in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Chapel Chester Springs Media Ministry

Views: 324

Rating: 4.5555553 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary Chapel Chester Springs, Pastor Chris Swansen, Chris Swansen

Id: 1gagVpaWdME

Length: 61min 9sec (3669 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 15 2020