Daniel 8:15-27, Conversations With Angels

turn in your Bibles to the Book of Daniel we're in Daniel chapter 8 at the end of the chapter and the chapters in Daniel are amazing this morning I'm in titling the message conversations with angels again I could just as easily have entitled it peaks and valleys but it's great to know that there's God's comfort and mercy that's available to us when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances turn in your Bibles to Daniel chapter 8 again we're going to be looking at verses 15 through 27 let me pray for you Heavenly Father I pray for these men and women I pray for their families I pray for their circumstances I pray Lord for their future Lord I pray that for the person who's experiencing profound grief for suffering or pain lord I pray that your presence would be with them that you would strengthen them that you would comfort them and walk with them and Heavenly Father for that person who is wildly healthy full of joy Lord I pray that as they anticipate the future but Lord you will open their eyes and give them a glimpse of how you want to use them for your glory and for their good in Jesus name Amen beginning in verse 15 then it happened when Daniel had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man and I heard a man's voice between the banks of the ulay I 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 but he said to me understand son of man that the vision refers to the time of the end now as he was speaking with me I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground but he touched me and stood me up right and 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 the RAM which you saw having the two horns they are the kings of media and Persia and the male goat is the kingdom of Greece the large horn that is between its eyes is the first king as for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation but not with its power and in the latter time of their Kingdom when the transgressors have reached their fullness a king shall arise having fierce features who understands 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 and II 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 visions of the evenings and mornings which was told is true therefore seal up the vision for it refers to many days in the future and I Daniel fainted and was sick for days afterward I arose and went about the King's business I was astonished by the vision but no one understood it in Chapter seven and eight Daniel receives two separate visions at two separate times the first vision in Chapter seven remember included bizarre animals a lion-like creature with wings in Chapter seven verses one through four a bear like beasts with bloody ribs in verse five a leopard like an animal with four heads in great authority in verse six finally a ten horned beast dreadful terrifying a single horn grows out of its head three of the horns are literally ripped out by the roots a little horn takes its place the interpretation is given in chapter 7 verses 15 through 28 and of course if you've missed any of these you should go to the media room or go online and catch up in these visions Daniel sees the unfolding of the Gentile world powers he sees their relationship to the plan that God has for Israel and Israel's unfolding future and the Jewish people in chapter 8 Daniel receives a second vision and in this second vision it is this the first vision is amplified and then explained in detail it's going to focus on two kingdoms the medo-persian kingdom and the Greek Kingdom which is part of Israel's immediate future and the question in chapter 8 and verse 13 was how long will it take for Daniels vision to be fulfilled how long will the defile the Jewish temple take to be purified how long will it take for the daily sacrifices to resume and the answer was given in verse 14 morning evening 2300 days now the dialogue is extremely important Daniel reports he heard a saint that means a holy one some sort of creature by holy it means set apart from sin and set away towards God and and it says this holy one who is next reference as that certain holy one or Saint which spake the Hebrew expression means the number of Secrets or that wonderful number that which this mysterious being was speaking isn't recorded by the Prophet it seems obvious that some comment about this desecration of the holy temple by the little horn is being spoken of in verses 11 and 12 now again I want you to just pause for a moment and think about what we've read and what Daniel experienced when Daniel receives the vision in Chapter 7 and then later he receives the vision in Chapter 8 the temple is in ruins it was destroyed earlier by the armies of Babylon the siege took place between 55 89 and 587 BC in other words the temple that had been built by Solomon and ravaged by the Babylonian armies the temple itself was a wreck and a ruin Daniel knows this and so as he's thinking about this vision and he's thinking about what he understands and he thinks about what has happened remember this loss of the temple for the Jewish people was unimaginable there were two events in Jewish history that shook the Jewish people to their core number one was when the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines remember the Ark of the Covenant represented the very presence of God the power of God and the presence of God with the destruction of the temple came this idea we'll wait a minute how will we experience God how will our sins be forgiven how is this even possible and sometimes when we experience loss when we find ourselves in circumstances that we never would have imagined sometimes people think the unthinkable that God really doesn't know what he's doing that God can't manage that he won't prevail that he isn't strong enough he he can't cope or he doesn't care and some people think of God as weak or absent or incapable and then we remember we remember the cross we remember the theology of the cross how is it possible that with loss can come gain how is it even possible that when pain can come some sort of renewal how is it possible that when things that we thought were important disappear from our lives that God becomes ever more important the Lord we understand from the psalmist is near to the brokenhearted he is close to those who are crushed in spirit it says in Psalm 34:18 and so the Temple of the Lord required ritual purity now again there's this theme we're the Temple of the Lord for Daniel personal purity was a priority in his life and again you ought to your attention that as you read the Book of Daniel and you see how it opens up with personal purity that it's his personal purity that allows even for the possibility of prophecy what does purity have to do with prophecy it's going to be almost impossible for you to hear from God unless you're separated from sin and you're separated to the Lord and so again the theme of purity is going to come up over and over again and I'm going to remind you that this theme of purity precedes the prophecy informs the prophecy and gives us the ability to somewhat manage and understand the prophecy so this section finds Daniel curious he's not just simply curious about the meaning of everything that he is seen he is curious about its meaning in light of everything that he knows just like you you process the information based on what you know we're not given a complete picture of the prophecy but part of the meaning must include that God's in control of the future that the Lord is present with us in suffering and sometimes believers experience deep moments of pain and suffering and setback we experienced what I call trough periods we're in the valley we can no longer see the mountain I want you when you leave the church today when you walk outside and you go to the parking lot and you look West what do you see you see the foothills but you know what you can't see you can't see the 14,000 foot peak just behind those foothills do you know why because we're in a depression in this place not a spiritual depression or a metaphorical depression we're at an actual depression we're in a valley right at this very moment in order to get you to see the mountains that are just west of us I would have to take all of you and we would have to drive east and the further we drove east all of a sudden the 14,000 feet foot Peaks would begin to emerge and you would begin to see them and you would begin to see them and that's exactly what Daniels prophecies are doing in Chapter one and two and three and four and five and six and seven from the peak you can see all the way back to creation and you can see all the way forward to the cross but sometimes when you're in the valley you can see neither you have no idea where you came from and you have no idea where you're going and so part of my job is to take you by the metaphorical hand and lead you away from the trough and lead you away from the depression so that you can see what you couldn't see before we're going to have to go up higher so that you can see further and now we begin to understand at least in part the meaning of the prophecies look at verse 15 then it happened the Angels identity when I Dan had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man the prophet finds himself either in person or in the spirit in the citadel of suit of Shushan that was the fortress in the province of alam which is the future capital of Persia the future home of Queen Esther in verse 2 he sees the vision that we've talked about in verses 3 through 14 how was Daniel seeking the meaning look at the text again I Daniel saw the vision look what it says I was seeking the meaning how do you suppose he was doing that how do you do it how do you seek understanding when you're confused or unclear about what it is that you see hopefully you engage your brain you begin to think you're thinking about things but if you're smart not only will you think about things you'll begin to pray about things you don't necessarily have to fold your hands or close your eyes but you begin to pray and you go Lord what does this mean what does this mean how can I understand what it is that I am seeing I'm gonna suggest you that this is exactly what Daniel does and make no mistake about it Daniel was smart he's way smarter than me a lot smarter and he prays and he's thinking and as he's praying and thinking a being appears the being looks like a human being only later do we discover that it's an angelic being in verse 16 it says and I heard a man's voice but between the banks of all AI this is a canal this is a man-made that was dug in that area in order to provide water to those people the image is that he hears a voice coming from between the banks I want you to understand that in the Hebrew language the picture is that he hears like a speaker coming from between the banks as if the voice is hovering on this not on the surface of the water but above the water in other words this is a celestial being who is speaking and it gives us the idea that it is a celestial being and then we are given the angels name Gabriel we're also given the Angels task make this man understand the vision and Gabriel's name is very very interesting different people have interpreted it in different ways but the Hebrew seems to indicate in its most fundamental meaning the man who looks like God Gabriel were given the mention of his name and this is the first mention not just of Gabriel by name but it's the first mention of an angelic being with a given name he seems to stand with Michael in some sort of special relationship to Israel in the Bible angels often appear they look like human beings the writer of Hebrews appeals to this very notion in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 2 when he says do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unaware I don't know if you've ever met someone and you thought I wonder if God sent this person into my life I wonder if he or she is a supernatural creature I wonder if God has sent them here to test me I've had it happen a couple of times in my life we're all of a sudden a person showed up and they needed something and for whatever reason in my mind I'm thinking what if it's an angel and God's gonna judge me and test me based on how I treat this person and the moment I did that I just said tell me what it is that you want or that you need well I need a ride to go to this particular place or that particular place or I need money to get from this place to that place and rather than give them money I would just say get in my car we're gonna go well it's an hour away I don't care just think of me as a supernatural uber we're gonna drive in verse 17 it says so he came near where I stood and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face but he said to me understand Son of Man that the vision refers to the time of the end [Music] now again when we see that expression the time of the end immediately our thoughts are the end of human history is that the meaning here it might be what's the context the context seems to be the meaning of what's going to happen to Israel the time of the end is it the time of the end of the Israeli captivity or is it a future more distant time of the end in verse 18 it says now as he was speaking with me I was in a deep sleep with my face on the ground but he touched me and stood me up right and he said look I am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation so now we have another clue it is an end it seems to be an end of this indignation whatever that is and then the angel says for at the appointed time that means the time that has been set aside there is a time that has been specifically set aside for the time of the appointed time the end shall be so again we ask the text question who came near in the passage there are three characters there's Daniel there's Gabriel and there's this voice an unidentified voice I'm convinced that this voice that Daniel heard is Israel's Messiah this is the Messiah that's been promised to Israel this is the voice that speaks with the authority of God I think the reason why I draw that conclusion is because human beings never ever never ever ever ever boss around divine beings human beings do not boss around divine beings if you are a person who tells angels what to do you're sorely mistaken angels don't answer to you they answer to God angels do what God asks them to do which leads me to believe since divine beings receive their instructions from God than whoever this voices almost certainly is the voice of God the voice that he hears is the voice of the Lord and the angels tasked with helping Daniel understand the vision in verses 16 and 17 it's repeated for emphasis I heard the man's voice who called look what it says Gabriel make this man understand and then in verse 17 the first word out of his mouth understand think about it God said make them understand and the angel goes I'm gonna do what God is a asked me to do I'm gonna help you understand and so that's what he's tasked with and that's what he does and so this same Gabriel will later returned and reprise his role as the one who gives revelation to the people that that's been tasked by God later Gabriel will appear to Zechariah and receive and reveal the birth of John the Baptist to his mom and dad in Luke chapter one verses five through 25 Gabriel will then appear to a young virgin named Mary in Luke chapter 1 verses 26 through 38 so this is one of the reasons why we now that we are on a mountain peak there is a valley that they're in but there's peaks in Jewish history that began with creation and continued with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob that continued with the sojourn into Egypt and Moses and the release of the Jewish people the giving of the law the establishment of the kingdom the division of the kingdom the destruction of the temple the isolation of the Jewish people and what is the first thing that Daniel is tasked in his understanding of the vision what's number one on the angels list it's the timing look what it says in verse 17 the vision refers to the time of the end this vision seems to reference minimum one of two things number one the end if the context means anything the end of the two comes with a particular emphasis on the end of Greek power and hegemony over Israel there are the Medes and the Persians who will expand their empire they will go north south east and west they will create a kingdom that will last for hundreds of years a Greek Kingdom will then emerge and it also will last over a great period of time but then Greek power and control will begin to disintegrate but there seems to be another end that the circumstances of history do not completely explain a far future end the vision seems to push past the Persian Empire and the Greek Empire and even the Roman Empire the vision extends to that I'm gonna suggest to you final time when God's dealings with Israel and the nations will come to a final consummation is it possible that this vision gives us clues about Israel's immediate future and Israel's far future I think so Paul and James and Peter and Jude all make reference to this interesting expression the time of the end Paul speaks about it in first Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 and then again in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verses verse 1 all the way to chapter 4 verse 5 James speaks about it in James chapter 5 verse 3 Peter speaks about it in 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 3 Jude talks about it in Jude 18 that's 1:18 there's only a single chapter so Paul James Peter and Jude speak about it I don't have time to go over each and every one of those passages of Scripture but I want to bring it to your attention for those of you who love this kind of stuff and want to dive a little bit deeper just in brief Paul speaks of a time of satanic deception where some depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons he describes a time when truth is under assault consciences are seared marriage is under attack the apostasy is described in terms of gross self-love lovers of money disobedient to parents unthankful unloving unforgiving without self-control brutal people who despise what is good people who love pleasure rather than love James adds people heaping up treasures but refuse to value what has eternal and lasting value Peter describes this generation as marked by extreme skepticism bitter cynicism he calls them scoffers who walk according to their own desires meaning passion or lust and what's the target of their ridicule the target of the ridicule in this final generation is where is he where's Jesus he came one time but I doubt that he's going to ever come again where's the promise of his coming for since the father's fell asleep all things continue as they were since the beginning of creation in 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 3 this generation affirms a beginning but even denies a creation have we even pushed further than a generation that says look I'm willing to concede that maybe there was a creation but on the revelation of the Bible speaks you look back and you see the mountain called creation and then the fall you look forward to another mountain and that's the promise of the coming of Christ and then you look into the far future and you see Jesus coming again now again this has prompted many Bible scholars and teachers to conclude that the prophecy has a dual fulfillment some people like John Walvoord and other people look at this passage they see a near and afar fulfillment near as it pertains to Antiochus Epiphanes the 8th ruler of the Seleucid Empire who I've talked about in the past and I'll talk about presently in just a moment but also to a future Antichrist creature who exists in the last day others insist that the prophetic passage has a singular prophetic meaning whether it does or whether it doesn't were left with the impression that daniel is weak as a result of this supernatural encounter the angel touches him and strengthens him in verse 18 this should remind us again of one of the many ministries of angelic creatures and angelic beings it's to provide comfort and strength and time of severe testing and catastrophic weakness in Psalm 91 verses 11 and 12 promises that God's angels will bear you up Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane struggles under the enormous pressure that he's going to bear the sin of the world he prays to the Father he prays once and then he prays again and then he prays a third time and according to the Bible an angel appeared from heaven and strengthened him in Luke chapter 22 verse 43 so whether we believe in a singular meaning of this or a dual meaning what we can definitely take away from the passage is that there are supernatural beings that they reveal secrets and they provide strength to people who are in desperate circumstances and look look what it says the angel speaks Daniel tells us he's in a deep sleep with a space to the ground sometimes I feel like the people that I'm talking to are in a deep sleep with their faces to the ground Oh what what it's time to wake up Gino has something important to say I'm hoping it's important he touches him he stands him up right the angel says look I make known to you what shall happen in the latter time and again we're given a clue the end of the indignation the challenge that we have is are there two indignation for some of you are going what in the world is an indignation I'm going to suggest you that I think it's a reference to the blasphemy that takes place as the temple is defiled that's the indignation now this is interesting because remember when Daniel receives this vision there is no temple all there is is there's a ruined temple when Jesus repeats an indignation that will take place in Daniel chapter 24 he isn't referring to an indignation that takes place in the past he refers to an indignation that takes place in the future at the appointed time it says the end shall be verse 19 and if the indignation is a reference to the defilement of the temple and then the future restoration of the temple we have to ask an answer the question is there historical reference that takes place at the end of a Greek Empire where a Greek King arrives on the scene and punishes and persecutes the Jewish people and defiles their temple which ultimately results in a cleansing of the temple the answer is yes it's Antiochus Epiphanes and the events are recorded in first and second Maccabees and it takes place over a period of 2,300 days sounds pretty stinking accurate to me so whenever and whatever this is we learn a couple of things that it's according to God's divine plan that it's going to happen it's telling us something about the sovereignty of God it's telling us something about what God wants Daniel to know about the reconstruction and the possible persecution and then the subsequent cleansing of the temple the angels information is given to us in verses 20 through 22 the RAM which you saw the angel tells us having the two horns they are the kings plural of media and Persia so the horns are the Medes and the Persians the singular Ram is probably a reference to Cyrus who is spoken of in the Bible as God's servant so we know that this RAM and the vision that's given earlier in the text are the kings of the Medes and the Persians and he tells us flat-out in verse 21 and the male goat is the kingdom of Greece the large horn that is between its eyes is the first king in what sense there was a king of Macedon named Philip Philip had a father and his father had a father as a matter of fact Alexander the Great is in technically in history Alex the fourth so what in the world and why in the world does the angel say the male goat is Greece because it is the large horn that's between the eyes is the first king and what and what since the first king that matters in relationship to what the people of Israel why does this King matter because Alexander the Great we'll cross the Hellespont he will subdue that northern part of Anatolia he will march down to tyre and sidon where he will lay siege to the city for 18 months he will send word to Jerusalem to send him reinforcements and they will decline and he will get angry and the more angry he gets he purposes in his heart that's he's going to destroy Jerusalem and as he's anticipating after he's captured tyre and he marches towards Jerusalem the high priest of Jerusalem comes out with the scroll of Daniel opens it up to this 8th chapter and then points to this verse and says Alexander this is about you and Alexander reads it and he's astonished and he spares the city he makes it possible for the Jewish people who want to go with him to go to Egypt and capture that and the ones who want to go with him to go to the eastern part of the Empire and they do and then they go back to Babylon where he dies of pneumonia complicated by drinking in verse 22 it says as for the broken horn this is his sudden death he says the large horn that is between eyes is the first king as for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place for Kingdom shall arise out of the nation but not with its power in other words it won't have same strength the same Authority and the same reach but this gives us clues did God have a plan and a purpose for allowing the Greeks to take over that part of the world that Greek culture and Greek language would become the thing in the Middle East to prepare for the coming of the Messiah we do know again from history that as I already relate to you that the four generals are called the diadochi in history that's a term that means the successors the four generals Cassander occupies Macedonia and Greece Lysimachus Thrace Asia Minor parts of Lydia Phrygian Bithynia Seleucus Syria Babylonia the Euphrates to the Indus River and from time to time the little land bridge that connects that's Lebanon and what later would be called Palestine but which we refer to as Israel that connects the two continents it would go back and forth between the Seleucid emperors and the Ptolemaic emperors to the south which is Egypt Cyrene the Levant which is the land bridge chapter 11 is going to deal in detail with the king of the north Syria the king of the south Egypt these two ambitious kingdoms are going to be constantly fighting for control of this little strip of land why why because God has revealed that in this little strip of land the fate of the world is going to take place something is going to happen in that place that's going to change everyone forever and that's part of the message of the Bible part of the message of the Bible is God has known all along that he's going to save people and sea now again remember the valleys and the peaks that I've already told you about some times when you find yourself in the valley of despair it makes good sense to go back to the peak of creation you see the fall you're given the promise you understand the coming of Jesus and the second coming of Jesus and so we see the Angels revelation look what it says and in the latter time of their Kingdom when the transgressors have reached their fullness a king shall arise having fierce countenance or fierce features who understands sinister schemes that word is an idiomatic expression in the Hebrew language which means riddles things that are difficult to understand some of you have heard of the expression why that's a riddle wrapped up in an enigma what does that mean it means exactly that that it's hard to discern the meaning it was seen as an attribute of leadership to be able to understand things that are difficult to understand and untie the knot so you have two kinds of leaders leaders who make it their ambition to untie the knot the story is told that when Alexander came across the Hellespont there was a knot called the Gordian knot and that whoever whoever untied this knot would be the ruler of the world and people had tried just like Arthur and Excalibur and the sword and the stone to remove this the this sword from the stone and people tried generation after generation to untie the knot Alexander shows up he takes his sword and he slices the knot in half and it completely unravels sometimes people do things subtly and sometimes people do things a little less subtle in verses 23 through 25 Gabriel gives the interpretation and the explanation of all of the verses from 9 to 14 the little horn remember is the main character in the vision this king of fierce countenance that could be translated bold it could also be translated shameless it's the same word that's used to describe in the book of Proverbs the young man who is seduced by the woman she has bold shameless features she is unconcerned about the consequences of her behavior and that's the idea this person is center stage and so in the interpretation it makes perfect sense that they they have to be the same person or that they're somehow related to the same situation the abomination which makes desolate the indignation and who are the transgressors in the broadest terms possible it means anyone and everyone who resists and rebels against God and His plans in a more narrow sense it probably means the Kings in the visions and then the subsequent closing or the termination of those kingdoms in other words I'm gonna suggest to you it means the kings of media and Persia and the kings of Greece and then the subsequent breaking up of the kingdom into four parts the emergence of Seleucid and then the eighth person in that dynastic reign Antiochus Epiphanes shows up and he hates the Jews he hates them he hates Jews and he hates Judaism and he wants to make them suffer there's a little well may be known to you it's a it's a just a fact of history that that Antiochus Epiphanes will go to Egypt because he wants to ultimately defeat ptolemy and ptolemies armies are reinforced by the people of rome and because they're reinforced by Rome's antiochus epiphanes is unable to secure that Kingdom and in rage and fury he decides he's going to pick on somebody that he can defeat the Jewish people he slaughters a hundred thousand people and in slaves fifty thousand more and makes Zeus worship prevalent in Jerusalem he sacrifices a pig on the holy altar and completely defiles the temple it lasts 2300 days the judas maccabees rises up defeats Antiochus Epiphanes goes in restores the temple cleanses the temple and so the Jews to this very day celebrate Hanukkah and the restoration of the temple so when it says that the transgressors have reached their limit this reminds us that when a person or a nation reaches the limit God takes action in genesis 15 16 the Lord says he wouldn't judge the Amorite Samee D Utley it says the iniquity of the amorite says not yet complete first Peter 3:20 reveals that the global flood of the wicked these people who did not obey when God's patience waded in the days of Noah that's what Peter says God's wisdom is infinite God's power is infinite God's knowledge is infinite God's patience is not infinite that should startle you you should be surprised you mean there's an end there comes a moment when God is fed up with people and places and Nations apparently the answer is yes in Revelation chapter 2 verse 21 we even read the words of Jesus I gave her time to repent but she refused to repent of her sexual immorality for many of you God has been very very patient he's been very very patient he's waited for you to turn from your sin and to turn to the Savior he is waited patiently and he continues to wait patiently but there is a time there's a time when judgment comes and so some scholars maintain that this description given by Gabriel concerns Antiochus Epiphanes of history from one about 168 BC the description is of a blasphemous despicable egotistical ruthless leader who neither fears God or man it's a it's a description of a person who'll use any and all means diplomacy deceit trickery misdirection he'll do whatever it takes war to destroy opposition and most certainly Jewish opposition and so the interpretation and the revelation given by the angel Gabriel is a reference to Daniels vision of verses 9 through 14 the big question is is this a reference to the immediate future of Antiochus in our past or to an antichrist in the some time future remember what I told you there's an Antichrist in Chapter 7 who grows out of a revived Roman Empire this little horn comes out of the Greek Empire in Daniel chapter 8 verse 9 but I think that there's a prophecy in Ezekiel chapter 28 which gives us a clue in Ezekiel 28 it describes the Prince of Tyre he's proud he's rich he's impressed with his own wisdom he's consumed with his own ambition the Prince of Tyre himself a god immortal worthy of divine adoration and ambition the Prince of Tyre imagines himself some sort of supernatural creature this is a human he's the visible ruler of Tyre but then we see the lamentation in the middle of the chapter between verses 12 and 19 which couldn't possibly apply to any human being he is Satan anointed cherub full of wisdom perfect and beauty until iniquity was found in the creature what do these two passages that begin with a human and end with a satanic creature have in common with our passage I'm going to suggest to you that there's the strong possibility that the description that is given to us in the passage is yet another description of this far future Antichrist this malevolent being because in Ezekiel 28 no doubt the Prince of Tyre is energized informed by this malevolent being who seems to literally possess this person is it possible that Satan has set aside people in every generation as he tries to hinder pose the wart the plans of God in the book of Ephesians it's a reference to the principalities and the and the rulers of powers and darkness in another passage he's called the god of this world and the Prince of the power of the air and so we discover that Satan inspires informed and empowers beings and he inspires informed and empowers this little horn to resist and repel and then reduce God's people to ashes so the latter time of their Kingdom has been interpreted in a number of different ways the first and most obvious is the closing moments of Greek Greece's control of the glorious land in that vision Daniel sees the king arise Daniel gets a glimpse of his face Anna glimpse of his heart in history Antiochus Epiphanes almost universally fits the bill of this description of deceit and guile and the description is breathtaking in its depth and scope his power shall be mighty but not by his own power how is that apparently he's energized by a supernatural being he shall destroy fearfully he shall prosper and thrive he'd shout destroy the mighty and also the holy people in what way will this power be mighty what's the source of his power again were repeatedly told in the scriptures that God is sovereign over the world he controls civilization he controls nation's leaders kings and kingdoms Psalm 113 verse 4 the Lord is high above the nation's on 2228 kingship belongs to the Lord he rules over the nation's job 12:23 he makes nations great he destroys them he enlarges them he leads them away and I think what that means as he leads them away to judgment and captivity from time to time Jehoshaphat says in your hand our power and might so that none is able to withstand you so which is it is it God or is it Satan there seems to be an element of both why would God do such a thing why would God allow the likes of Antiochus to come and hurt people and persecute people and destroy people and make them suffer why would he allow Hitler to do the same thing why would he allow Pol Pot to do the same thing why would he allow Stalin to kill tens of millions of his own people why does he allow the evil dictator of North Korea to punish his own people and grind them into the dirt the psalmist wrote in Psalm 73 3 I saw the prosperity of the wicked they are not in trouble as others are they are not stricken like the rest of mankind they're for pride as their necklace they set their mouth against the heavens if we just read that we would be misled because that's not the end of the story temporary my temporary persecution temporary prosperity temporary success isn't the end of the story the wicked shall fall in the end that's what Psalm 73 18 and 19 says you make them fall into ruin how they are destroyed in a moment swept away utterly by terrors the king of Tyre swept away Antiochus Epiphanes he is going to die diseased Herod he is going to die herod agrippa he is going to die this future Antichrist creature he is going to be bound and he along with the false prophet and the beast that's mentioned in the book of Revelation are the first occupants of Hell Hotel it doesn't make your suffering go away it doesn't make your pain go away and even for Daniel the temple is still destroyed and even for Daniel he knows that God has a plan and a purpose for his people but how will it unfold how will it unfold the same God who allows the rise of power and the exercise of that power confronts them eventually destroys them in verse 25 through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule he shall exalt himself in his he shall destroy many in their prosperity he shall even rise against the Prince of princes like the Prince of Tyre this is not what seems to have happened with Antiochus Epiphanes some people will argue well yes he rose against the high priest of Jerusalem but he shall be broken without human means yes that Antichrist is broken not through war but through illness but a profile begins to emerge Antiochus in the future Antichrist exercised cunning there's a dark side of prudence and wisdom they both seem to be evil genius and so when a person says to me I think so-and-so is the Antichrist I say to them no I don't think that person's smart enough to be the Antichrist according to the Bible the Antichrist is an evil genius the the future Antichrist has unbelievable oratorical skills this one can manipulate people at a moment's notice his success means the failure for many he sees himself as great I already told you that on the coins of Antiochus are written thais Epiphone s God manifest or the one who represents God on the earth both Antiochus in the future Antichrist hate the Jews they hate Jerusalem they hate God's plans and purposes and the vision of the evenings in the mornings which was told is true therefore seal up the vision for it refers to many days in the future what does that mean remember he's doing this in the 5th century BC Antiochus Epiphanes is going to appear on the scene from 171 BC to 165 BC the temple will be rededicated in 164 BC by judas maccabees does that mean that because this event is still in the far future that daniel is supposed to pay no attention some bible teachers believe that Antiochus Epiphanes again the type and the shadow of this far future Antichrist what is a biblical type a type is an Old Testament institution event person object ceremony that reality and purpose in biblical history but also by divine design for shadows something that is yet to be revealed so what does it mean to seal up the vision it could be that Daniels instructed not to disclose the vision until after Belshazzar's reign ends because he could be accused of treason or insurrection others believe it means put it away for safekeeping for future generations some believe that it means keep the vision confidential for now because it pertains to the distant future it doesn't have relevance for now other people think it just means conclude the vision the result i Daniel fainted and was sick for days afterwards I arose and went about the King's business I was astonished by the vision but no one understood it here's what I'm thinking when he says no one understood it he must have told someone I wonder if he told his friends Shadrach Meshach and Abednego hey I had this crazy vision what do you think I have no idea for Daniel part of the vision was explained part of it remained unexplained Daniel's is astonished by it again I would encourage you to reread Matthew chapter 24 where Jesus gives a sneak peak of the future to his disciples and he talks in verse 15 about this indignation that takes place in the time of Daniel he says whoever reads let him understand than those who are in Judea flee to the mountains let him who is on the housetop not take anything from the house here's what we know there's going to be pain and suffering for the Jews in the near future in a further future and then in the farthest future and when you combine the information from Daniel and the other biblical references describing the future that unfolds that's what we're going to talk about in the rest of our study of the Book of Daniel I'm going to drag you to the top of the prophetic mountain and then we're going to go back into the valley and sometimes in those valleys you're going to experience pain and suffering disappointment and even confusion and then I'm going to invite you to come out of the valley and for us to go up higher so that we can see clearer about what the future holds isn't this interesting let me pray for you Heavenly Father Lord there's so much so many verses Lord in so little time so much to say lord I pray that you will help me say it with clarity that whatever else this means you're in charge of the future whatever else it means that you have a plan and a purpose whatever else it means that the same Jesus who has come will come again whatever it means it must mean that if we are in a difficult place that one day we're going to be taken out of that place and we're gonna have our feet set on a rock and we are going to be able to rejoice with the Saints concerning the revelation that there is a God in heaven who's in charge of the past and the present and the future in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary South Denver

Views: 1,742

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Gino Geraci, Christianity, Bible Study, Daniel, Biblical Prophecy

Id: QhG6sLn0KLU

Length: 64min 4sec (3844 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 02 2019