Daniel 8 | The Little Horn | 9.1.2021

[Music] we're going to be looking at chapter 8 chapter 8 is a chapter here in the book of daniel that gives to us a prophetic view of one who is yet to come we'll be seeing that in a moment he's referred to in a variety of ways in scripture in this particular portion of scripture he will be referred to as the little horn and so we're looking at at the conclusion of the study we'll be looking at some of the things related to the one who is referred to as little horn also known as the antichrist and so i'll begin reading here in chapter eight at verse one i'll read daniel chapter eight verse one two verse 4 and we'll get into our study daniel chapter 8 beginning at verse 1. reading to verse 4. in the third year of the reign of king baal shasta a vision appeared to me to me daniel after the one that appeared to me the first time i saw in the vision and it so happened while i was looking that i was in shushan the citadel which is in the province of elum and i saw in the vision that i was by the river alive then i lifted my eyes and saw and there standing beside the river was a ram which had two horns and the two horns were high but one was higher than the other and the higher one came up last i saw the ram pushing westward northward and southward so that no animal could withstand him nor was there any that could deliver from his hand but he did according to his will and became great and so as we've seen already daniel received a vision covering his time until jesus sets up his kingdom we saw that in chapter seven and that vision included the revelation of four great world empires the babylonian the medo-persian the greek as well as the roman empire now we know that this roman empire the fourth beast that he spoke of in chapter seven this roman empire continues in some form until the tribulation and then it's going to reform it can be seen today actually in its um in its uh basic i think i don't know how to put this properly we can see that there is something somewhat akin to what would have been this roman empire we can see this in in today's european common market the european economic community is is actually territorially uh the former roman empire now today there are some 27 nations within this this community but in its final form it's going to consist of a 10-nation confederacy and it's going to have a leader and the leader is the antichrist so in the end after a brief world domination antichrist kingdom will come to an end daniel 7 26 tells us that his dominion is stripped away and his kingdom will be destroyed forever and then in verse 27 of chapter 7 it says when it comes to the end jesus's kingdom will be established and his kingdom is everlasting now over time there have been attempts to unify this empire and they have failed you can look in your history and i'm not encouraging you to do that at this moment but if you look at history you'll see that in 800 uh charlemagne tried to unify the empire and uh in 17 uh rather in napoleon in around the 18th century into the early 19th century he tried to do so but he failed even in in more current history not necessarily that close to where we are now but even in recent years more recent history hitler tried to uh bring this about again when he had the third reich but he failed so there's been in other words there's been since over the years many attempts to unify and once again resurrect what was known as the roman empire well they have failed up to this point but there is still one on the horizon and there's going to be a leader who will not fail in reviving the roman empire he will become the leader of a ten nation confederacy and he's known by many names you can see him as the willful king you'll see him referred to as the man of sin he's referred to as the son of tradition the lawless one we know him as the beast we know him as the antichrist in this chapter here he's going to be referred to as the little horn he's going to be spoken of again in chapters 9 and 11. now just to set the stage for our study the world as we know it today is looking for a world leader that can bring peace and unify that's not a new desire this desire for someone who could step in and fill the void of leadership has been for many years i was reading about former belgian prime minister a fellow by the name of ph spock and he was the prime minister of belgium in 1938 and 1939 and prime minister spock said this what we need is a man someone of the highest order of great experience of great authority of wide influence of great energy let him come and let him come quickly either a civilian or a military man no matter what his nationality who will cut all the red tape shove out of the way all the committees wake up all the people and galvanize all governments into action let him come quickly this man we need and for whom we wait will take charge of the defense of the west so this is a desire that people have had for many many years and so this desire will one day be fulfilled it will be fulfilled in a person scripture refers to as antichrist we know him as the beast in this particular chapter he's spoken of as the little horn and so as we begin i'm going to give to you as i normally do a lot of information to develop it but we're going to see that in chapter 8 it's actually there going to be two applications to this one referred to as a little horn one is going to be an application that refers to somebody who already existed and i'll show you that in just a moment as we go through this and then the secondary is going to be the one who is yet to come who is going to be the final antichrist we'll see that as we go through this together so beginning at verse 1 and trying to give you a bible study giving you information and all we begin at verse one when he says in the third year of the reign of king baal shasta a vision appeared to me to me daniel after the one that appeared to me the first time and so as we begin um basically what has happened and i introduced this to you as we began our study um daniel has the book of daniel has been in a language called aramaic up to this point and now we return to hebrew aramaic had been used from chapter 2 verse 4 and then aramaic was used up to chapter 7 verse 28 but now daniel is resuming writing in hebrew and he's speaking about some events that are actually that actually transpired two years after those that had been spoken of in chapter 7 and daniel speaks of a vision this is a vision that appeared to him now a vision for those of you who might wonder what that is when you read in scripture that person is a is a vision no actually that's not what you read you just think of that about your girlfriend when you read in the bible vision the word vision speaks of what we would call today a waking dream um and this particular vision this waking dream if you will relates to the events that occur in both the second and third empires the middle persian and greek empires and the vision we'll see also relates prophetically we're going to see that when we get to verse 19. but he speaks of this and he says in verse 2 i saw in the vision and it so happened while i was looking i was in shushan so this divine communication from god has come to daniel and daniel by vision not physically is transported to the capital city of persia and in this vision he's given a glimpse into the coming medo-persian empire he's taken notice to the capital to shushan shushan is the residence of the persian kings it's actually what would be called a citadel and if you were in the the city of babylon you would be going 200 miles north and you would go to shushan so he's finding himself he's just giving us the geography he finds himself by the river oulai which was a artificial canal that connected two rivers and while there he says in verse three i i lifted my eyes and saw and there standing beside the river was a ram which had two horns and the two horns were high but one was higher than the other and the higher one came up last i saw the ram pushing westward northward and southward so that no animal could withstand him nor was there any that could deliver from his hand but he did according to his will and became great so this ram he sees notice it has two horns well the ram later on is going to be identified for us in verse 20 it says the ram which you saw having two horns these are the kings of media and persia and so that is interpreted for us it represents the medo-persian empire it's interesting that instead of crowns a persian king when leading an army would wear a ram's head and so that's the picture now the higher one is the persian the dominant portion of the empire because that rose later the medes and persians dominated the world for almost 200 years and so he's got this vision and he's seen something verse four i saw the ram pushing eastward northward southward no animal could withstand him nor was there any that could deliver from his hand he did according to his will and became great so this this empire is going to expand he says to the east its principle rather to the to the west north and south it did expand to the east but its principle conquests were west north and south again this is the medo-persian empire so he's beginning to just give us some insight into the expansion of the medo persians and then he goes on and he says in verse 5 and i was considering suddenly a male goat came from the west across the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground the goat had a notable horn between his eyes then he came to the ram that had two horns which i had seen standing beside the river and ran at him with furious power and i saw him confronting the ram he was moved with rage against him attacked the ram broke his two horns there was no power in the ram to withstand him but he cast him down to the ground trampled him there was no one that could deliver the ram up deliver the ram from his hand and therefore the male goat grew very great but when he became strong the large horn was broken and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven so he's given us once again a description of what is taking place now notice again he sees this ram pushing and all going and conquering and all and now what we have here is a male goat from the west what he's speaking of now is the grecian empire we'll see that in verses 21 and 22. greece comes from the west rapidly moving to the east in conquest there's an author by the name of larkin and he wrote concerning this so i'm just going to read a bit of a quote from him this is speaking of greece and larkin wrote alexander the great 326-323 bc became king of greece when he was 20 years of age in bc 336 two years later 334 in goat-like fashion he leaped the hellespot with an army of 30 000 infantry and 5 000 cavalry he defeated a persian force on the banks of the granicus by a swift advance eastward he in the following year 333 defeated at isis a persian army of 600 000 men commanded by king darius after minor conquests in phoenicia and egypt he returned to syria where on the banks of the tigris river he defeated an enormous army led by darius this is known as the battle of arbela 331 bc from 330 to 327 bc alexander was engaged in subjugating the outlying provinces of the persian empire later he returned to babylon where at the climax of his glory he died of marsh fever and intemperance in june of 23 when he was 33 years of age so notice in verse 8 how it says when he became strong the large horn was broken alexander died in the prime of his life somebody said this notice i just mentioned that he died of marsh fever and in temperance intemperance is a is a large word that speaks about being somebody who was a drunk he drank and they used to refer to that as intemperance but alexander somebody said conquered the world but he could not conquer himself when an interesting thing to say he conquered the world but he could not conquer himself and historians differ on this to be honest with you i read various things related to this today some would differ with this but the majority did not the majority said he died while he had been drinking and well the bible in proverbs 20 verse 1 you might want to mark this is it like this wine is a mocker strong drink is a brawler whoever is led astray by it is not wise in proverbs 31 verse 4 it is not for kings to drink wine nor for prince's intoxicating drink and in the new testament ephesians 5 verse 18 do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation but be filled with the spirit we don't use the word dissipation right the word dissipation speaks of a lack of self-control when you're when you are um dissipated it means you're just out of control so drinking wine paul said when you get drunk with wine he said there's a lack of self-control during the time that paul was writing related to drinking and all of that there was a time when there was a greek mythology a mythological god called bacchus and bacchus was the god of partying basically he was the wine god and they would have what they would call bacchanalian feasts festivals where the people would get very drunk now as they got drunk they were coming under the influence of bacchus so they no longer had self-control and that was what paul was referring to when these people were engaged in back in alien feasts and revelry it's also referred to and he was saying that because these people were saying they were under control of bacchus the god of wine he said it's not for a christian to yield themselves over to this spirit not so much back as himself but through the the mythology related to the lack of self-control that comes because when you're drunk you're normally not the most controlled person the more you drink the more out of control you are and so he is saying rather than yielding yourself to the flesh and lack of control yield yourself to the holy spirit be not drunk with wine wherein is excess wherein is dissipation but rather be ye filled with the holy spirit why because one of the fruit of the spirit is self-control and so a person who is yielding themselves to drinking and they're losing control and doing the opposite of what a believer is to do and so this man alexander the greatest general who had ever lived this is a man who conquered the known world and it is said anecdotally that he finally upon his last conquest just cried because there's nothing else to conquer i mean this is this is the greatest warrior and all well this man could not did not practice self-control at the end and he actually died in again he may have conquered the world but he couldn't conquer himself as a believer we need to make sure that we don't yield ourselves to anything that causes us to be out of control what we yield ourselves to is the power of the holy spirit who actually produces self-control for us and so in place of this one this male goat and all in place of this one notice there are four there are four that come up it says they came up uh toward the four winds of heaven now verse 22 will make it clear to us and it says as for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation but not not with its power and so what happened is uh after considerable turmoil once alex alexander died the uh the empire that he at one time commanded was actually divided into four parts um one of my one of my commentators said that there was a great amount of infighting it lasted 22 years after alexander had died and so the empire that he at one time unified under his leadership was divided between four generals one general was named cassander the other was the symmachus the other was seleucis and then there was ptolemy four of his generals and so in verse 9-12 it says out of out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south toward the east and toward the glorious land and it grew up to the hosts of heaven and it cast down some of the hosts and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them he even exalted himself as high as the prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down because of transgression an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices and he cast truth down to the ground he did all this and prospered and so this is where the little horn is introduced as i was mentioning the little horn that title has two applications one is going to be applying to a ruler that already exists his name antiochus epiphanes the second and we'll see that later on when we get to verse 23 is applying prophetically to the antichrist so first we're going to look at antiochus and you're going to find some of this very interesting i hope because as we look at it you're going to see some jewish history and all and what happened and so he speaks of verse 9 again out of one of them coming this little horn when it says out of one of them that speaks of solutions now he ruled over syria kuwait turkmenistan persia and afghanistan interesting rule lasted from 312 and and his empire lasted from 312 to 63 bc and so out of his line came a man named antiochus epiphanes he is what is called the eighth king of the syrian dynasty he is a type of the antichrist now in verse nine it speaks of this horn the horn was small in its beginning but it grew it says it grew great in three directions the south the east and noticed the glorious land the term glorious land speaks of israel the glorious land in in the old testament is israel ezekiel chapter 20 verse 6. on that day i raised my hand in an oath to them to bring them out of the land of egypt into a land that i had searched out for them flowing with milk and honey the glory of all lands so this is the title for israel so it tells us that he's going to come against the nation of israel notice verse 10 it grew up to the host of heaven it cast down some of the hosts and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them antiochus epiphanes is being spoken of here antiochus ruled from 175 to 164 bc and he conducted warfare against the jews his treatment of the jews can rightly be classified as a religious cleansing it was a persecution and so it speaks concerning that and it speaks of how he he he came against the stars notice verse 10 it grew up to the host of heaven and cast down some of the hosts and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them the stars represent the jewish nation represents jews because when god was speaking to abraham god said this in genesis 15 verse 5 it says that he he brought god brought him outside and said look down toward heaven count the stars if you're able to number them he said so shall your descendants be so the stars are representing jews in daniel 12 3 it says those who are why shall shine like the brightness of the firmament those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever and so this represents god's promises to abraham and the stars that are are treated in this fashion represent the jews it says in verse 11 he exalted himself as high as the prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away in the place of his sanctuary cast down because of transgression an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices he cast truth down to the ground he did all this and he prospered antiochus this is this is uh hopefully i can help you to see how interesting this actually is antiochus was firmly greek greek in his culture especially and when antiochus began to dominate israel antiochus is the one who tried to the word is hellenized he tried to grecianize he tried to make the jews into cultural greeks and so he began to do that by bringing in his culture and being bringing in his language and he brought in the religion of the greeks and he appointed a greek high priest his name was jason and this is what he did now this i found interesting as i was preparing this study he built an athletic stadium antioch is built in athletic stadium outside of the temple mount by the holy of holies and he encouraged the jews to become involved in the athletic games and and the physical exercise and things like that that came along with the greeks and somebody says to themselves what's the problem with that working out is a pretty good thing isn't it is there something wrong with working out the answer to that is no there's nothing wrong with working out if you want to hurt yourself go right ahead it's fine with me if you enjoy the pain that's up to you no but here's the thing and i want to make sure i follow my notes properly so i can make this as as clear as i can one of the things that was so wrong with the greeks and the exercise and all is when they exercised and they competed they did so without any clothes on they would do it naked and what they would do is they would just put oil on their body and so eventually the jewish priests who could look out and see what was taking place because it was right below where they were there was a stadium there eventually the priests began to look become intrigued want to work out and they began to join with the greeks who were down there running around naked and the jews began to do the same thing they began to participate in the same games and they began to do so naked and this was highly offensive because the religious jews knew that god had covered adam and eve's nakedness and yet here they are exposing themselves now the reason they were concerned about this is because they also knew that this was going to produce lust and so they were concerned for that again the stadium was in plain view of the temple and there were those who were going to worship who could actually see what was taking place and it began to stumble everybody now here's something else that may not seem significant but it is jewish males were circumcised and greeks were not and so when the jews began to note that they were different because of their circumcision which according to the law was a covenant between them and their god when the jewish males began to notice that they were being mocked by the greeks who were uncircumcised they started to neglect circumcision and so through the through the introduction of what some would say it's harmless their religious faith was being undermined by the bringing in of of grecian culture the religious faith of the jews was being watered down by bringing in the culture and language of the greeks the jewish religious language and identity that is found in language began to be transformed and it's and it i'll say this quickly i didn't add this in my notes but i'll say it quickly when you read in the new testament that um there was a a problem between religious groups remember those two groups that we best we know best the pharisees and what's the other group sadducees the pharisees and the sadducees the word pharisees speaks of separated ones that's what the word pharisee means the separated ones but why would they refer to or be referred to as separated ones they were separated from the stain of the world because the sadducees during the grecianizing of israel had begun begun to water down their religious faith so the pharisees rose up against the sadducees when you read of the beliefs of the sadducees the sadducees didn't didn't believe in angels or spirits and they didn't believe in the resurrection and they had been watered down because they began to take into their philosophy of of life the grecianized way of thinking so just in a simple thing like introducing the greek athletics to israel outside of the temple antiochus was able to water down the faith of the priests themselves and the priests themselves began to compromise and circumcision began to be neglected and a variety of things began to happen all through those kinds of things and so what happens is the greek culture and morals began to infect and impact the jews it says in verse 10 it grew up to the host of heaven it cast down sun the host and some of the stars to the ground the stars were representing jews to the ground and trampled them when uh antiochus came into israel and began to dominate he dominated and actually massacred many of the jews he took their valuables there were those when he started to work against them and all there were those who began to escape they went to the wilderness and because he was trying to wipe out the jewish faith history records that that they put to death women women that had caused their children to be circumcised and this is what they did they hanged the babies around their mother's necks they plundered their houses and slew those who had performed the circumcision what he would do is this when he found when the soldiers found a mother who circumcised her son he slew the baby he tied the baby around the mother's neck he marched her right through the middle of town to the edge of town and he threw her over a cliff that she would die that's what he did that's how he trampled them it says in verse 11 he exalted himself as high as the prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down so the morning and the evening offerings were no longer allowed while he ruled over israel now unbelieving jews began to follow his commands they began to forsake the jewish faith they started to build altars in groves they began to sacrifice pigs flesh they stopped circumcising their sons and they began living immoral lives and forgot god's word and what he was trying to do antiochus as the type of the antichrist is who is trying to abolish the jewish faith by force there's a book it's called uh maccabees it's a it's what is called an apocryphal book the word apocryphal is defined as hidden it's a hidden book the apocryphal books are regarded as not inspired by the holy spirit you will find apocryphal books in some some bibles the the catholic bible for example contains what is called the apocrypha they are not regarded as inspired and that's why you won't find these books in your new testament or old testament they are they were books that were written between uh 400 when when malachi was closed in and the and the new testament and they were books that were found in that time so they were never regarded as being inspired but have been made useful for the uh recording of history and so in first maccabees which is looking at it from a historic perspective chapter 1 verses 44 through 49 it says this it says the king sent letters by messengers to jerusalem and the cities of judah he directed them to follow customs strange to the land to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary to profane sabbaths and feasts to defile the sanctuary and the priests to build altars in sacred precincts and shrines for idols to sacrifice swine and unclean animals and to leave their sons uncircumcised they were to make themselves abominable to everything unclean and profane so that they should forget the law and change all the ordinances and whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die and so that's what took place notice in verse 11 how it says the place of his sanctuary was cast down after antiochus had been defeated and he died the jews tore down the altar they replaced it as well as the interior of the temple and so in verse 12 because of transgression an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices and he cast truth down to the ground he did all this and prospered and so notice it says because of transgression an army was given over to the horn to to antiochus who was this army the army consisted of unfaithful and unbelieving jews and these joined him in the slaughter of their own people because israel had not been faithful god gave them over to the hand of this king it really is god who brought judgment in jeremiah 12 7 he said i have forsaken my house i have left my heritage i have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies in ezekiel 5 11 therefore as i live saith the lord god surely because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations therefore i will also diminish you my i will not spare nor will i have pity god gave them over and the judgment came on these who had re rejected him and so it says in verse 13 i heard a holy one speaking and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking how long will the vision be concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgressions of desolation the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot and he said to me for 2 300 days then the sanctuary shall be cleansed it's generally believed that these 2 300 days are fulfilled from the period of 171 to 164 bc that would be the time when the jewish religion was eroding and that's when uh his his his uh life would end now there's a a a man by the name of john walvoord and uh he's a great it was it was a great uh bible teacher and and he said this he said anyas the third the legitimate jewish high priest was murdered in 171 bc and from then a pseudo line of priests assumed power approximately 2300 days after this antiochus died on a military campaign in media and so when he died that opened the door for the cleansing and rededication of the temple the temple was rededicated because antiochus had sacked jerusalem listen to this he had killed 80 000 jews he plundered the temple dedicating it to his idols antiochus killed a pig on the altar and spread the fluids that gushed out all through the temple that's what he did uh it has been referred to as the abomination of desolation and so this is what antiochus said this is how much he hated the jews and the jewish god and this is why he is a a picture of the coming antichrist so with that verse 15 then it happened when i daniel had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning that suddenly there stood before me when having the appearance of a man and i heard a man's voice between the banks that they were lie who called and said gabriel make this man understand the vision so he came near where i stood and when he came i was afraid and fell on my face and broke my nose no he fell on my face but he said to me understand son of man that the vision refers to the time of the end now i was speaking now as he was speaking with me i was in deep sleep with my face to the ground but he touched me stood me upright he said look i am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation for at the appointed time the end shall be and so we're now introduced to gabriel the name gabriel speaks of a warrior of god this is the first time an angel is mentioned by name and daniel has given insight he says the ram in verse 20 following the ram which you saw having two horns they're the kings of media and persia so this is what is called the dual fulfillment it's historical and prophetic the prophecy fulfills shadows fulfilled shadows future events that are yet to be fulfilled but he's speaking of verse 23 the latter time of the kingdom so this latter time of the kingdom represents the fourth kingdom that would be rome this is the prophecy of the coming antichrist in the latter time of their kingdom a king shall arise now we get to see the picture of this verse 23. i'll read it verse 23 to verse 26 in the latter time of their kingdom when the transgressors have reached their fullness a king shall arise having fierce features who understand sinister schemes his power shall be mighty but not by his own power he shall destroy fearfully and shall prosper and thrive he shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule he shall exalt himself in his heart he shall destroy many in their prosperity he shall even rise against the prince of princes but he shall be broken without human means and the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true therefore seal up the vision notice for it refers to many days in the future so the first portion that we saw with the little horn that was something that was the near future that was going to be fulfilled by antiochus epiphanes what we're looking at now is the little horn as it represents the antichrist and we are seeing various things about him that are being described to us notice in verse 23 how it says he has fierce features when it says he has fierce features it says it's saying he has a strong a confident a bold appearance the antichrist is not going to be he's not going to be a person that you won't notice he's going to be the guy who walks into a room that everybody notices he's going to be that magnetic personality that when you look at him were you to see him he's going to just wreak confidence he's going to be the guy that that that that women will oh boy this guy's a hunk and the the men the men are going to admire the men are going to say now that's a guy i can line up behind there are there are men and i'll speak as a man and and to the men right now you'll understand what i'm saying there there are guys that are leaders that they're called leader they're called the captain of the team or maybe they were appointed to it but if you're one of the players on the team you don't necessarily line up behind his leadership why because you don't think he's really strong gifted he just doesn't have that confidence about him sometimes they're appointed because the coaches is as this leader's father and he says i think my son should be you know the captain of the team and then there are other guys that are are there amongst the group then they just stand out there's just something about them they have a confidence about them they're good at what they do they they carry themselves in a certain way that causes another man to immediately respect him and there are guys that i've encountered in my life that i could say i'll follow that one i'd follow that one i go into battle with that one i trust him there are guys like that ken graves is that way ken graves just has that strength about him chuck smith had that it's it's not just a power that you have either it's a confidence it's an awareness of who you are it's it's a knowledge of what you're going to do and what you can do and and and men can pick that up with other men and you can say that's somebody that that i trust that's somebody else i'll follow the antichrist is that guy he's that guy who walks in and the room gets quiet because this man carries himself he has fierce features he's he is strong he is confident notice it says he understands sinister schemes what does that mean he's very intelligent he's really on the genius level he's an intellectual the antichrist is going to have a confidence about him and he's going to be respected for his intellect he's not some guy who's just going to walk in going he's going to be a guy that you will say i can follow this guy verse 24 his power shall be mighty both militarily and spiritually it says his power shall be mighty but not by his own power he shall destroy fearfully shall prosper and thrive he shall destroy the mighty also the holy people so he's going to have a military strength but he's also got a spiritual strength he's going to establish a system of military alliances but he's going to be demonically empowered notice in verse 24 it says but not by his own power it is not a natural gifting he has according to revelation chapter 13 verse 2 the dragon gave him his power so he is going to be satanically energized it's not his own power in verse 24 he shall destroy fearfully he is going to be a conqueror he's a military genius the scripture says then the whole world will wonder at the beast they will say who can make war with him he's a military genius and they will wonder after him in revelation 13 7-8 it says it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them authority was given him over every tribe tongue and nation all who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world he will have that magnetic draw power and people will follow him wandering after him because he is satanically energized he's not a human being with natural gifts he's a a man with demonic power it says in verse 24 he shall prosper and thrive when it says he shall prosper and thrive he's going to be rich and he's going to be powerful in daniel we'll see this in chapter 11 verse 36 it says he's also called the willful king the king shall do according to his own will he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god and and shall speak blasphemies against the god of gods and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished for what has been determined shall be done he's going to do according to his own will and he is going to prosper in verse 24 he shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people he's a man who makes war and destruction follows at his heels in revelation 17 verse 6 i saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints with the blood of the martyrs of jesus in verse 25 it says through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule he shall exalt himself in his heart he shall destroy many in their prosperity he shall even rise against the prince of princes but he shall be broken without human means and so through his cunning he will he will he will deceive it's a constant and consistent scheming he is a liar and his lies are believed by those who follow him there will be a lack of discernment a worldwide blindness those who are not belonging to god and followers of the lord are going to be deceived i i have to be careful i don't have that much time and i have a few more scriptures to give to you but i used to wonder how would that be possible i don't anymore do you how would that be possible how would that be possible because whatever appeals to me i want to believe and if something is said to me that pretty much i'm in agreement with already i just needed somebody to say it i have a tendency of following that that's human nature because god has given to us the word of god and because god is given to us of his holy spirit we have a discernment and an ability to to know be what is true and what is not true and what is not true is simply that which doesn't line up with what the word of god teaches that's why we labor through the word of god the way that we do so that we can go line upon line and see god's full counsel that's how that works because we are open to deception i i've said this before i'll say it again and move on just so that you'll see where i'm coming from it's interesting many years ago when i was beginning to study the word of god i noticed something that i found interesting and and that is this is that the word deceived deception in the greek language can also be translated the same greek word that is translated deceived can also be translated seduce isn't that interesting deceive can be translated seduce and i and i i researched that looked into that why is that so well here it is i'll just make it practical we used to talk about seduction as if it was wrong it is but sometimes people think it's just normal now so a guy is on the job and i'll use the mail image the guy is on a job he sees a young woman he's attracted to he talks to her as he's talking to her you know at first he's kind of just formal acting as if it's just the job requirement for him to talk to her but now he's getting to know her so he begins to ask her questions how old are you you know things that are not bad but he's gathering information on her because he's a hunter she just doesn't know it so he finds out that she's unhappily married eventually he finds out what a complaint is well my husband never says i look good or my husband doesn't compliment me about my cooking whatever whatever she starts to give little things and then one day he walks in and he says you know what i just have to tell you something i don't want to be coming on kind of weird but have you lost some weight or did you just get your hair done different it's just different i i don't want to be too forward with you what is he doing he's saying things she wants to hear she's already told them my husband doesn't compliment me she's already told him he now knows her vulnerability he has gotten her confidence and now he's telling her what she wants to hear that's what he's doing what do we call that seduction that's called seduction seduction is simply finding the need and meeting it and then encouraging a behavior that satisfies you the antichrist is giving a message that people want to hear the message of the gospel isn't always a message people want to hear why well to get right with god you have to do something called repenting what do you mean repent you have to turn from your wicked ways what do you mean wicked i'm not wicked i'm a good man right you know i only beat my wife my wife twice a week there are others who do it three times you know i'm a good person because sin is an offense and i don't want to be called a sinner and if you even make me feel bad you're the one who's bad you see that's what's happened today is that we don't want to hear truth because truth sometimes hurts because it means that my life isn't as good as i'm trying to make it or we have this thing now you just don't know what i've gone through so i actually deserve being angry i should get even or whatever and so what happens is messages that undermine that have a tendency of being rejected and so the antichrist is going to make people feel welcome as they are as long as they follow him and that is going to be something that appeals to them he's going to seduce them now that's his cunning that's his line people believe him he's going to have a false prophet the the false prophet encourages deception revelation 13 11-13 i saw another beast coming out of the earth he had two horns like a lamb spoke like a dragon he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven and the earth in the sight of man notice verse 25 he shall magnify himself in his heart meaning that he is self-promoting and self-exalting he's going to promote himself second thessalonians 2 verse 4 says he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god or that is worshipped so that he sits as god in the temple of god showing himself that he is god in verse 25 he shall destroy many in their prosperity in other words they will have a false peace under his reign and they're going to end up destroyed in 1st thessalonians 5 3 it says when they say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman they shall not escape and then again in verse 25 he shall even rise against the prince of princes he's going to oppose jesus himself he shall speak pompous words daniel 7 25 says against the most high and he shall persecute the saints of the most high he's going to speak against christ himself but verse 25 he shall be broken with our human hand jesus is going to destroy him at his second coming in revelation 19 19-21 i saw the beasts and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army the beast was captured and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf with these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshipped its image the two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur the rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse and all the birds gorge themselves on their flesh the lord will take vengeance on him and then finally we'll close when he says verse 26 the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true therefore seal up the vision for it refers to many days in the future i daniel fainted was sick for many days afterward i rose and went about the king's business i was astonished by the vision no one understood it one last thought this is for the future it says it refers to many days in the future this is the future this is the time that we're living in moving in right now but as he sees this notice his response it devastates him one last thought and this is this is where i think that we need to really be when it comes to bible prophecy and of course i'm not giving you the most thorough studies that you're ever going to have in that i'm just going through the book and trying to make it practical but i was sick for many days i fainted here's here's your application we'll close with people are going to suffer terribly and it broke his loving heart when i first got saved we started talking about the return of jesus christ that's when i first began to hear of the second coming and and everything like that and there was a bumper sticker there you know what is used there used to be a lot of bumper stickers people would just put their faith on their piece of paper on their on the car bumper stickers right the and and one of them was the rapture i'll never forget it it said the rapture the great escape the great escape i was 21 years old 20 years old 20 years old at that time when i saw that and even then i thought there's something wrong with that the rapture isn't the great escape i'm not afraid i haven't lived in fear of my eternity since the day gave my heart to christ i don't want to escape i'm not that guy i i'm not the guy who's going to run i'm just not that guy i do you mind if i'm just real with you as i close this is what i'm i'm this is what i'm feeling about this and i'm going to close like this and forgive me if it doesn't come off right because i didn't prepare this i'm just sharing my heart i'm the guy who plants his feet and says i'm not going to move i'm just not i'm not you're not going to move me from jesus christ i don't care what you say what you do how you feel i don't care how you act towards me jesus christ is my lord and i'm going to preach his gospel and you're not going to tell me not to i will find a way too because that i have been commanded to do and so no man and no woman is going to tell me when i can talk about my king and my savior see that's just me and i think all of us in this room probably agree with that principle now i'm not stupid i'm not going to go out and cause problems blah blah blah i try to be wise in that but in your heart there's a strength that you have that comes from jesus christ what he's done and what he will do and i am armed with the reality of fact that we are in him more than conquerors we have a place that is set aside for us in in the kingdom of god we will one day hear well done my good my faithful servant and we have been blessed above all people to be able to worship jesus christ and so that's what we do and the antichrist is attempting to undermine the the the will of of of the body of christ and the body of christ has got to wake up right now we've got to realize that this is what spiritual warfare is and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal they are mighty in god to the pulling down of strongholds and we have to understand that it's the word of god the power of the holy spirit it is the weapons of our warfare it's the determination of our faith and it's the reality of our victory that motivates us and moves us into the future and so the antichrist is coming that's true but i'm waiting for the real christ who will one day come to take me to be with him and that's called christianity that's what it is and so we have an opportunity here to look at to look at the antichrist and all of that and we should be aware of these things and as we look around we can see how the table is being set we can see that but look up for your redemption drasti father we ask that you would work within us to that end lord i i i know that in you we are more than conquerors i i know and so lord i lift up right now to you the church the body of christ throughout the world obviously caring for those who are right now undergoing extreme persecution that none of us can understand especially the believers right now in afghanistan and surrounding areas lord where believing in you is is causing their heads to be taken from their body but lord jesus we we california christians lord we need a wake-up call we we need to wake up lord and i pray that you will ignite that fire within us for lord the times are perilous and the days are short and we just got a photograph of what's going to happen in the future and this antichrist does appear and how he does win the hearts of people so may we go forth with your message or gospel and may we speak truth and see captive set free may the church be ignited the heart of evangelism lord to speak to the lost we lift up our family our friends those we work with our neighbors and lord we ask that if given opportunity we might be faithful witnesses to them and even as our eyes are closed our heads are bowed perhaps there's some right now we need to get right with the lord and i want to pray for you if you're watching online or wherever you are in this room if you need prayer i would ask you to allow me to pray for you and if you need to get right with the lord right now would you raise your hand let me pray for you right where you're at father you see these hands you know the reason why they're being raised to you and i'm asking lord that by almighty holy spirit you would reach down and touch them lord if there are things within them that they need to empty themselves of i pray that right now they are the confessing and releasing them to you and i pray also that your holy spirit would work in them that you would just fall upon them in a powerful way and that lord from this point on they will be more faithful witnesses than ever before and if they're yielding and saying god i need you to forgive me and they're saying that for the first time i pray that you would just enter in lord by your spirit and dwell within them and make them brand new so we lift ourselves to you lord we receive from you and we give you give you praise thank you lord you can put your hands down and jesus i ask that you would move in all of us to your glory in your name amen you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Chino Valley

Views: 379

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Pastor David Rosales, cccv, Church, Teaching, Worship, God, Christians, Bible Study, Jesus, A Jesus People Community, Calvary Chapel Chino Valley, David Rosales, Pastor, Calvary Chapel, Holy Spirit, Gods Word, Chuck Smith, Teacher, Pastor David, End Times, Rapture, Trinity, Antichrist, A Sure Foundation, Prayer, Pray

Id: a-_bMu-1xGM

Length: 61min 38sec (3698 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 02 2021