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On May 18, 2011: Daniel 11 North Vs South · Teachings On This Day On FerventWord

• 00:00 You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011. Persia at this time. Now I want to show you a couple maps just to give you an idea about, and I forgot my laser pointer, so you'll just have to imagine with me, but this is a map of the Persian Empire. You'll see right there kind of in the middle is 00:30 The Mediterranean Sea there on the left and then Jerusalem there, that's the land of Israel. The Persian Empire was pretty massive. It expanded a great bit of territory. They conquered Babylon and took over all of Babylon's territory, but then expanded it even further. 00:46 And so this is the Persian Empire where Daniel is right now. He's actually over in the region of Persia, over near the Euphrates River. And there he's received this vision or this angel has come to him to give him this prophecy. 01:04 Well, if you remember back a few chapters in Daniel chapter 2 and Daniel chapter 7, we saw God announce ahead of time the different kingdoms that would be coming. And the first was the Babylonian kingdom, which was conquered then by the Persian empire. And then the Persian empire was conquered by, anybody remember? The Greek empire. 01:25 The Greek Empire, Alexander the Great conquers Persia as well as a bunch of other areas. And so this is what the Greek Empire looks like. Now it's different colors because after Alexander the Great died, the kingdom was split up between his generals. 01:43 He didn't have a son to pass on the kingdom to, to, you know, take the throne. His son was born after he had already died. And so it was split up into these different kingdoms. Now this is important for tonight because the majority of chapter 11 is dealing with these different kingdoms that were split up there within the Greek empire. And specifically we're looking at 02:07 The part on the right side here, which would be the Seleucian kingdom. And then the part on the left where it's covering Egypt. And that would be the... Oh, thanks, George. George to the rescue. All right, yeah. All right, so let me go back real quick. So here... Give you guys a shot to look. So here you have Jerusalem. This is, of course, the capital of Israel. 02:41 This is the region of Egypt. Persia's over here. Daniel's in this region by the Tigris River. We saw that last week. And so this is the whole nation of Persia. Now, going forward, here's the Greek Empire, which basically took over, you know, all that Persia owned. And so the Greek Empire, though, is based over here. Here's Greece. But they conquered all this region here. 03:05 This southern part is known as, or it was ruled by the Ptolemies. It's going to be a struggle to pronounce that all evening, but we're going to be talking about that. It's referred to in chapter 11 as the kings of the south. And so every time you see king of the south in chapter 11, it's dealing with the king over this region of the Greek empire after it had been split up. This region here was ruled by another king, 03:35 And this is referred to, I'm going to butcher this name as well, but the Seleucians. So the Seleucians ruled over in this area, which was, and it's referred to in chapter 11 as the Northern King. 03:51 Now, the borders and boundaries shifted quite a bit over this time frame, but that's kind of a rough idea of where they were. And then there's some battles that go on. So, as you can imagine, when a kingdom is divided and split up between a bunch of generals, they're all going to be fighting one another and trying to get more control. And so that's what's happening. And so what we're reading about in chapter 11 is what happens in the Greek Empire, specifically between Persia. 04:19 the northern kingdom, this area here, and then the southern kingdom. And so just to give you a little bit of a visual about what we're going to be talking about, because there's quite a bit of back and forth. They go after each other and then the other one goes after them and then they get revenge on the other one and they just go back and forth throughout the whole chapter. And so that's what we're going to be digging into. Now again, for us, this is history. And you can go back and you can look at the history books and you can read about these things. But 04:46 But for Daniel, it was prophetic. They hadn't happened yet. And in fact, the things that Daniel will talk about will take place over the next 400 years of his life. Now, there's a few things at the end of the chapter that are prophetic even for us this day. They have not yet been fulfilled. They are going to be fulfilled in the last days. And so we'll deal with that as we get to it. 05:13 So let's jump into Daniel chapter 11, starting at verse 2. We finished up with chapter 11 verse 1 last week, and so starting in verse 2, we continue on. The angel is revealing to Daniel the things that are going to take place, and it says this. 05:29 And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all. By his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. So the angel is telling him about the things that are to come. And he starts by dealing with the kings of Persia. Now, 05:54 Daniel is in Persia right now. Cyrus is the king of Persia. And the angel says there will be three more kings. 06:04 Hopefully you were given this evening as you came in a handout on a timeline of Daniel chapter 11. And so some of the details that I'm not going to get into are there and you can check it out and marvel over the accuracy of God in this chapter. But there's exactly what the angel declared is what took place. Three more kings were there in Persia and then there was a fourth king. 06:30 Fourth king was named Xerxes or Artaxerxes. Now you might be familiar with him because he is the king that's referred to in the book of Esther. You know, the king that Esther was married to, that's Xerxes, the fourth king. He was the richest of the Persian kings to that point. And what he does is described here in verse 2 is he sets out on a campaign to go and conquer Greece. 06:57 And so he was king over all of Persia and he thought, you know, I want to reach a little bit farther and conquer the region of Greece. And so he takes his army, he takes a massive army actually into Greece to try to overrun the country, but he is defeated. Now the Greeks are really offended and they're upset about this attempt to 07:19 at conquering and so for the next few years they're going to be seeking revenge and they will find it through the man known as Alexander the Great. But so this happens Xerxes tries to invade Greece at about 480 BC. 07:38 Now, just to kind of keep us understanding of where we're at on the timeline, Daniel is receiving this prophecy at about 536 BC. And remember, the accounting of years... 07:53 In the BC era are backwards. And so from 536 to 480 BC, 56 years have gone by. And so Daniel's receiving this. He's writing this. He's already 85 years old. But 56 years later, verse 2 is fulfilled and Xerxes attempts to invade Greece. 08:15 And we're going to be seeing all of these little details that are mentioned here that are fulfilled. It's quite amazing. And it's proof, it's evidence. God always uses these types of things to prove that He really is the eternal God. That He really is outside of time and in control of all things. And so here in verse 2 we see the Persian kings are referred to and they're fulfilled exactly the way that God said. 08:45 Now as we move on to verse 3 and 4, we'll begin to deal with the Greek Empire. Verse 3 says, "...then a mighty king shall arise who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will. And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled. For his kingdom shall be uprooted even for others besides these." 09:15 And so now as we look at verse 3 and 4, we're beginning to look at the Greek Empire. It says, a mighty king will arise. Now we call Alexander, Alexander the Great, because he was a mighty king. He was a very successful conqueror and he conquered the world in a very short period of time. We talked about this and dealt with this in previous chapters in Daniel, so I'm not going to get into that too much. 09:45 But here the prophecy is given that His kingdom, when He dies, will be given not to His posterity or not to His Son or an heir of His. 09:57 And that is actually what happened. There was two possibilities as far as an heir was concerned. He had a half-brother, but that half-brother was mentally deficient, so he was not able to rule the empire. He also had a son, but Alexander the Great died at a very young age. He died at about 33 years old, and so he had just... 10:24 And basically his wife had just gotten pregnant and so she had not given birth yet. And after he died, then she gave birth. And so of course the baby is not fit to rule the kingdom either. And so these generals take over the kingdom and begin to have control of the Greek empire. 10:46 Now this is exactly what God is describing here. And again, you look at the history books and you find that's exactly what happened. In 336 BC, Alexander the Great takes the throne. And so, 536 BC, Daniel receives the prophecy that we're reading. In 480 BC, Xerxes invades Greece. 11:10 And is defeated there by the Greeks, but they're offended at his attempt. And then in 336 BC, so 200 years after Daniel is writing these things, Alexander the Great takes the throne. Now, to put this in perspective, the United States of America has only existed for a little more than 230 years. 11:35 Think about that for a second. We've only existed for 230 years. So for Daniel to prophesy about these things that take place 200 years later, that's pretty astounding. It would be as if George Washington... 11:50 made some announcements, wrote down some prophecies about things that would be happening today, right now. About perhaps Osama Bin Laden being put to death or nations at war with one another or different regions of the world that the United States would have their military or things like that. Those details which are not predictable and impossible to know in advance, a year in advance, much less 200 years in advance. 12:19 But that's what's happening here. And so what we have is God proving that He really is God, writing these things out, displaying them hundreds of years in advance. And so 200 years after this, Alexander the Great takes the throne. 12:37 It's not too long after that, 323 BC, that Alexander the Great dies and then the Greek Empire is divided just exactly as is described there in verse 4. We continue on now in verse 5. It says, Also the king of the south shall become strong as well as one of his princes and he shall gain power over him and have dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion. 13:05 Here in verse 5, now we see the beginning of the battles between the northern king and the southern king. The northern king and the southern king go back and forth. Now, I'm going to back up just a little bit, just so I can show you something real quick. So, the land of Israel is right here. 13:27 Here's the northern king, and he actually takes over the region of Syria. And then here's the king of Egypt, the southern king. Now, if they're going to battle, where are they going to meet? Right here in the middle where Israel is. Now, that's why God is recording these things. The other kingdoms, the other divisions of the kingdom of Greece... 13:46 They also have some activity and they're fighting and stuff, but the Bible is not really talking about that. God's not prophesying about it because he's concerned with the things that are happening in Israel. And so he's describing these things and telling these things in advance because they concern the people of God, the nation of Israel. And so all the back and forth that these two nations are doing is 14:07 affect Israel because most of the battles are right there around Israel. And with each battle, and as each one is victorious, then they claim the rights to the land of Israel. And so first, you know, it's the northern kingdom, then it's the southern kingdom, and they're changing hands back and forth overruling the land of Israel and conquering one another. So what we have is 14:32 God describing these things well in advance, hundreds of years before they take place. And now in verse 5, what we have is the king of the south becoming strong. So the king that's over the region of Egypt, he becomes strong. Now this is Ptolemy I. 14:51 And you can see that there on the handout. The dates, I apologize, there when it referenced to Daniel 11.5, it says Ptolemy, the first rules in Egypt. The dates, I didn't correct those dates. And so those are not the correct dates. The rest should be correct, but those two dates are not correct. But then Ptolemy, the first had a son. His name was Seleucus. And Seleucus... 15:15 moved up to the region of Syria and he begins to rule the northern kingdom. And what it's declaring here is that the prince will gain power and will have dominion and it will be a greater dominion than his father. And that's what happened. Seleucus heads up, he's there in Syria, he's ruling over the northern kingdom, he's the north king at that point. 15:40 And he becomes greater, he has more control, and he's more powerful than his father, Ptolemy I, who is there ruling in Egypt. And so again, what we see declared here in verse 5 is what we see fulfilled as we look at the history books. And again, this is 200 years after the fact that this is going on. Verse 6. 16:04 At the end of some years they shall join forces, for the daughter of the king of the south shall go to the king of the north to make an agreement, but she shall not retain the power of her authority, and neither he nor his authority shall stand. But she shall be given up with those who brought her, and with him who begot her, and with him who strengthened her in those times." 16:27 Now I want you to consider, as we look at verse 6 and the rest of the chapter, the details that are here. The details that God is giving. He's not just predicting that there will be some kind of conflict. He's giving specific step-by-step, play-by-play descriptions of the things that will be going on. And so in verse 6 we have a marriage that takes place. 16:54 These two nations that are warring against one another, they decide, hey, let's try to get some peace. And one way to try to get peace is to exchange wives or exchange in marriage. 17:12 Because if my daughter is there in your kingdom, well, I'm less likely to attack. And so it's kind of a peace treaty. Here, I'll give you my daughter as kind of proof that I'm not going to attack you. Let's call a treaty. Let's call a truce and stop fighting one another. And so that's what happens here in verse 6. This is Ptolemy II and he's making peace with Antiochus II. 17:41 And so it started out with Ptolemy I. Now all the kings of the south are named Ptolemy. And it's just the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth. So it's pretty easy to keep track of. Now the kings of the north, most of them are named Antiochus, but some of them are named Seleucid or Seleucus. And so you'll have to go back and forth and try to remember which one's which. But here Ptolemy II... 18:10 decides, hey, I'm going to make peace with my arch enemy, the kingdom that's been fighting against us and we've been fighting against them. And so Seleucus has died and now Antiochus II is on the throne there in the northern kingdom. And he decides, okay, I'm going to give you my daughter. And so Ptolemy makes peace by giving his daughter named Berenice in marriage to Antiochus II. Okay. 18:36 Now here's the problem with that. Antiochus II was already married. So how would you wives feel if I said, hey, I'm going to make truce or treaty with your husband and I'm going to give you my daughter and you're out of here. Well, that's what happened. Antiochus II put away his wife that he had at the time and then got married to Berenice who was being given to him from this southern kingdom. 19:03 But he was never happy with the marriage. And so when Ptolemy II died, then he reversed it. He put Berenice away and took back his original wife, but she wasn't too happy. And so she poisoned him. 19:18 And he died. And then she had the girl put to death and also the newborn child that she had given birth to. And so she gets rid of him and the competition. And then that brings on the next king, which we'll deal with in a moment. So, 19:38 He does this to make peace, but then when he dies, Antiochus II says, okay, well, he's dead, so it doesn't matter. I'm going to switch back to my original wife. But that didn't work out so well for him. Verse 7. Verse 7. 19:50 Now again, consider the detail there. The exchanging of this wife and the things that will be going on. It says that she will be given up there in verse 6 with those who brought her, with him who begot her, and with him who strengthened her in those times. He's already declaring in advance she's not going to last and the peace isn't going to last. It's not going to be successful. And we see in history that that is what happened. Verse 7. 20:16 But from a branch of her roots one shall arise in his place who shall come with an army, enter the fortress of the king of the north and deal with them and prevail. And he shall also carry their gods captive to Egypt with their princes and their precious articles of silver and gold. He shall continue more years than the king of the north. 20:37 Alright, so now in verse 7 and 8, we're continuing the story. Right? So, here she is. She's been given to Antiochus II as a wife. Then her father dies. And Antiochus decides, okay, I'm going back to my original wife. The original wife puts them all to death. So now, her brother, back in the southern kingdom, Ptolemy III is her brother. Right? 21:04 he hears about what's happened. He hears about his sister that was given in marriage and now she's been put to death. And so he says, well, I'm going to go and bring vengeance upon them because they killed my sister. And so now Ptolemy III launches an army, launches a war against them. And he goes up to Syria and he defeats the next northern king. Now his name is Seleucus II. 21:34 Like I said, it gets a little bit confusing. By the way, that's why I have the handout, so you can kind of work through these things and try to stay on track. So Ptolemy III defeats Seleucus II. He's Berenice's brother, and he's out to avenge her death. And this happens around 246 B.C. 21:57 Now, 246 BC is about 290 years after Daniel is receiving this prophecy. And so again, you have this great detail that God is giving well in advance. Now, scholars and critics and liberals who don't believe that the Bible is really the Bible, they have a hard time with this chapter. And so what they've come up with is they declare that this book of Daniel must be 22:26 have been written after all these things took place. There's just no way that it's possible that someone could write these details ahead of time. There's no way anybody could know 290 years in advance these details that would be going on. And so they just decide, well, it must have been written after the fact. 22:50 But Jesus, of course, declares that Daniel is the author of this book. And so, if you're smarter than Jesus, you're in trouble because, of course, Jesus is God. And so, we understand, we believe that these things are given prophetically to Daniel and God is demonstrating through Daniel that he really is God by proving it with all of these details. It's history written in advance. 23:17 And all of these details are given prophetically to Daniel the prophet. Well, continuing on in verse 9, it says, Also the king of the north shall come to the kingdom of the king of the south, but shall return to his own land. However, his son shall stir up strife and assemble a multitude of great forces, and one shall certainly come and overwhelm and pass through. Then he shall return to his fortress and stir up strife. 23:43 Verse 11, And the king of the south shall be moved with rage and go out and fight with him. And the king of the north who shall muster a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into the hand of his enemy. When he has taken away the multitude, his heart will be lifted up and he will cast down tens of thousands, but he will not prevail. 24:02 Now here in verses 9 through 12, we see the retaliation back against Ptolemy III for his invasion and bringing vengeance for his sister who was killed. And so what we have now, remember Ptolemy III, he conquered Seleucus II. And Seleucus II had two sons. He had Seleucus III and Antiochus III, just to confuse you, okay? 24:31 So, Luke is the third. He was killed in battle. 24:34 And so he didn't last very long. But Antiochus III, he is the one that's being talked about here that is having some successful conquests. And so you see there in verse 10, it says, however, his sons shall stir up strife. Verse 9 is talking about Seleucus II. He's not successful in his attempt to retaliate against the southern kingdom. And so his sons step in where he left off. 25:03 Now again, Seleucus III, he didn't last very long. He was killed in battle. But Antiochus III goes in and it says that he will come and overwhelm and pass through 25:14 and stir up strife, and that's what Antiochus III does. He is successful, he is out conquering, and he actually gains control of the region of Israel. Now again, Israel was right in the middle of where these two nations would meet, and so the land of Israel is going back and forth, and here Antiochus III is able to regain the land of Israel for the northern kingdom. 25:42 So he takes control of Israel, but not for long. It was a couple years later, in fact in 217 BC, the Battle of Raphia, that Ptolemy IV is able to take Israel back from Antiochus III. Confused yet? 26:04 Alright, so here on the thing, in 219 BC, Antiochus gains control of Israel. Then 217 BC, Antiochus loses control of Israel. Look at verse 11. It says, The king of the south... 26:20 Now at this point, that's Ptolemy IV. The king of the south shall be moved with rage because he came and conquered and got Israel back. And he'll go out and fight with him. And the king of the north will muster a great multitude, but the multitude will be given into the hand of the many. I'm sorry, the hand of his enemy. 26:42 So what happens? So Antiochus III goes down, conquers Israel. All right, we got control. And then the king of the south, Ptolemy IV, he's like, hey, what are you doing? You're messing with my territory. And so he comes back and Antiochus raises a great army, but he's defeated. He loses. And Israel is back under the control of Ptolemy IV. Now again, this is written here in Daniel chapter 11. And we look at the history books. 27:13 The succession of events is exact. It's the way that God declared. And now we're talking about 300 years in the future. At 219 BC, that's about 317 years after Daniel's received this prophecy. And again, let me remind you, the United States has only been in existence for about 230 years. 27:37 And so could you imagine George Washington prophesying about events that will take place 70 years from today? 27:47 You know, maybe you could liken it to the Republicans and the Democrats, right? The Northern and Southern Kingdoms. And they're going back and forth to get into the White House. And there's this conspiracy. And then there's that scandal. And what if he was able to declare and talk about Watergate in advance? What if he was able to declare and talk about, you know, the hope and change that Obama promised? Or what if he was able to give those kinds of details... 28:12 and even extending out for the next 70 years of the elections. Listen, we can't even predict or have a good thought about the things that will be happening for the next election, the one that's coming up next year. I mean, there's so much uncertainty and things are changing constantly. We could not declare with accuracy those things that would happen a year from now. But God is declaring things that happened 300 years later. 28:41 And he's giving this level of detail. Again, it's not just vague, you know, there's going to be some skirmishes. But he's going to come. He's going to regain Israel. Then the other king is going to get mad. He's going to take it back. And Antiochus III is going to raise a great army, but he's going to fall to the enemy. That's pretty amazing as you understand that God is declaring these things so far in advance. Verse 13. 29:07 For the king of the north will return. Now again, this is Antiochus III. And muster a multitude greater than the former and shall certainly come at the end of some years with a great army and much equipment. Now in those times many shall rise up against the king of the south. Also violent men, notice, of your people, shall exalt themselves in fulfillment of the vision, but they shall fall. 29:30 So the king of the north shall come and build a siege mound and take a fortified city and the forces of the south shall not withstand him. Even his choice troops shall have no strength to resist. But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will and no one shall stand against him. He shall stand in the glorious land with destruction in his power. So now it's payback once again. So Antiochus takes Israel and 30:00 Ptolemy takes it back and now here's Antiochus III once again. He's still upset. He goes home. He regathers the troops and now he's on a mission again to go back and to pay back Ptolemy IV and I think it's actually at this point Ptolemy V to get control of the land of Israel. 30:26 Now verse 14 is interesting because it says, in those times many shall rise up against the king of the south. And yeah, that's Ptolemy V at this point. But it says, and violent men of your people. Now who are the your people? Well, the angel's talking to Daniel. And so what the angel is declaring to Daniel is, Daniel, some of your people, that is the Jewish people, they will join Antiochus III in his fight against Ptolemy V. 30:56 It's a pretty interesting detail because as we look historically, this is exactly what happened. Now again, this is 300 and we're looking at 335 years in advance because in 201 BC, Antiochus III regains control of Israel, defeating the troops of Ptolemy V. So 300, almost 300 years 31:26 50 years in advance, God says, there's going to be a battle. The north is going to fight against the south and the Jewish people are going to join with the north in order to defeat the south and release them from their rule. And historically you look and that is exactly what happened. Verse 17. Verse 17. 31:49 He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom and the upright ones with him. Thus shall he do. And he shall give him the daughter of women to destroy it, but she shall not stand with him or before him. 32:04 After this, he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall take many, but a ruler shall bring the reproach against them to an end. And with the reproach removed, he shall turn back on him. Then he shall turn his face toward the fortress of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and not be found. So here in verse 17 through 19, we have another attempt at peace. 32:30 quote unquote, because it's not really an attempt at peace. It's a deceitful plot. So the king of the north decides, I know what I'm going to do. All these battles going back and forth. We've been fighting these guys for hundreds of years now. Here's what I'll do. I'll give Cleopatra to be married to the king of the south. Now, he was only seven years old at this point, but Cleopatra 33:05 He was seeking to make a deal. I'll give Cleopatra to you. When he's old enough, then they can get married. And Antiochus' plan was, Cleopatra will be faithful to me. She'll be like a spy in their realm and she'll be able to help me overcome and conquer the southern kingdom. So he was manipulating. He was planning and plotting and trying to implant a spy but under the guise of peace. Let's make peace together. 33:35 Here's my daughter Cleopatra and now we'll be at peace with one another, all the while planning to overthrow the southern kingdom. But it didn't work. Cleopatra remained faithful to the husband that she was given to. When he was old enough, they got married. She actually, turns out, liked him. And so she was faithful and she didn't join with her father to try to throw the... 34:04 throw down the Petolian kingdom. So Antiochus III... 34:12 Had this plot, had this plan, and it wasn't successful. Now, Cleopatra you've probably heard of. This is not the famous Cleopatra. It's her ancestor. So there's Cleopatra I, Cleopatra II, Cleopatra III, just like there's Antiochus I, II, III, Ptolemy I, II, III, IV, V, VI, you know, on and on it goes. They really liked naming their children after themselves and they didn't like to be creative like we are today. But, 34:39 So Cleopatra doesn't give in. She's faithful to her husband. And so now what Antiochus III does is he tries to go to Greece and conquer Greece. But as he's on his way to Greece, Rome, the Roman Empire is beginning to grow at this point, become strong. And so Rome now opposes Antiochus. 35:02 Antiochus III, and defeats him. And so he's not able to go into Greece and conquer Greece the way that he wanted to. In verse... Where are we? Verse 18... 35:18 It says there, right in the middle of the verse, but a ruler shall bring the reproach against them to an end, and with the reproach removed, he shall turn back on him. This is reference to the Roman ruler, the Roman prince, who will come and defeat Antiochus III and send him back. Then in verse 19, it's very interesting, it says, he shall turn his face toward the fortress of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and not be found. 35:43 And so history tells us what happened to Antiochus III is he goes back home, but he's defeated, he's broken, he's poor. And so he robs a Babylonian temple and the locals are so upset about it that they actually put him to death right there on the spot. And so just like the scripture describes, he just, he stumbles, he falls, and then he's never heard from again. Verse 20. 36:11 So here this one verse describes the next king. After Antiochus III, there's this next guy. Antiochus III... 36:35 is followed by Seleucus IV. Don't get confused, okay? Seleucus IV comes to the throne. He decides, you know what? We need to earn some money. My dad got killed because he was robbing a temple because he was broke. So let's raise taxes. And we're told specifically that raising of taxes includes the land of Israel. Which remember, they have control of the land of Israel at this point. And so he raises the taxes and 37:03 But it's not long after that, that he is killed. But not in anger, nor in battle. And so there's not like a fight that breaks out and then he's killed. He's not out on some campaign somewhere and then he's killed. He is killed some other way. And that's what we find actually happens. He raised taxes and then he dies. 37:26 Now, they suspect that he was assassinated. They suspect it was by poison, but it was never proven. It was never for sure. And so, it's mysterious. Not sure exactly what happened, but not long after he began to reign, he is now dead. Now, Rome defeats Antiochus III in 190 BC. That's the one where he was trying to go to Greece. 37:51 Then 175 BC, Seleucus IV is assassinated. That's what we are looking at in verse 20. And again, these are incredible details. It's talking about the succession of kings. And so it's declaring ahead of time, again, picture George Washington declaring, okay, Obama is going to be in the White House and then this is what he's going to do. This is the relationship with taxes that he's going to have. This is how he will be, you know, 38:19 taken out of the White House or removed from power and giving all of those details and the succession of events, the succession of kings and the things that are going on. This is really astounding and incredible that you look and you see, so 175 BC, this is 361 years after Daniel has received this prophecy. Well in advance, God is declaring these things here. 38:46 With great detail. Now, if God knows all this detail about all of these events in history, you can rest assured that He knows all of the details about your life as well. And that's something that I think is important for us to consider. Because as we look at these things, it's not just about, okay, well, great, it already happened, it was already done, so what do I care? But as we see these things, it's the demonstration of God saying, look, I really am God. I really do know the number of hairs on your head. 39:15 And for a couple of us, that's pretty easy. That's not a difficult thing. But for some of you, that's a big task. God knows the numbers of hairs on your head. Not only does He know the numbers of hairs on your head, but He knows tomorrow what the number of hairs on your head will be. And then the next day. And then the next day. He knows all of the details. He knows what's around the corner for us. He knows what's coming up in our lives. He knows the end from the beginning. That's why He is... 39:46 God to be worshipped and served. That's why we need to be faithful to him no matter what happens in our life. Because God knows. It doesn't take him by surprise. He knows what's going on. Well, going on in verse 21 through 27, we're going to hit some bigger portions of verses now because we're dealing with primarily a guy named Antiochus IV. Or you may have heard it referred to him as Antiochus Epiphanes. Verse 21, it says... 40:18 And in his place shall arise a vile person to whom they will not give the honor of royalty, but he shall come in peaceably and seize the kingdom by intrigue. With the force of a flood, they shall be swept away from before him and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant. And after the league is made with him, he shall act deceitfully, for he shall come up and become strong with a small number of people. 40:45 He says, 41:01 He shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army. But he shall not stand for they shall devise plans against him. 41:15 Yes, those who eat of the portion of his delicacies shall destroy him. His army shall be swept away and many shall fall down slain. Verse 27, both these kings' hearts shall be bent on evil and they shall speak lies at the same table, but it shall not prosper for the end will still be at the appointed time. 41:35 So here in verses 21 through 27, we're looking at now the reign of Antiochus IV, or he titled himself Antiochus Epiphanes. It means the glorious one or the illustrious one. And so he is proclaiming himself to be God, which we'll see in just a moment. Now God tells us here in verse 21 and the following verses that he gains the kingdom by intrigue. 42:03 Now remember, Antiochus III, I'm sorry, not Antiochus III, Seleucus IV was the king before him. He died mysteriously. And so it's suspected, strongly suspected, that Antiochus IV poisoned Seleucus IV in order to get the throne. Now Antiochus IV was not the actual heir to the throne. 42:27 So, Lucas IV had a son, but he was too young to have the kingdom. And so, Antiochus IV said, hey, I'm his caretaker, so I'm going to take the throne on his behalf until he's old enough. But then, 42:42 As he gets the kingdom, he gets it by intrigue. And so he's convincing people, he's talking to people, he's flattering people, he's making agreements with the leaders in Pergamos, in Rome, in Syria. He's gathering their support and they're all acknowledging him to be the rightful ruler there. And so once that's settled and established, then the actual heir is put to death. And it makes reference to that 43:07 In verse 22, it says the prince of the covenant will be swept away and broken. And so the prince of the covenant, the one who is heir to the throne, he's taken off, he's taken out, so he's not a threat anymore. And so now Antiochus IV is reigning this northern kingdom. And he, let's see. Oh, so now him and the southern kingdom begin to do battle. 43:35 Again, these nations have been going back and forth now for a couple hundred years. So now it's Antiochus IV and Ptolemy VI. 43:45 And they're negotiating, they're sitting at a table of scribes, and they're negotiating, and they're telling each other things, but they're lies, right? That's no surprise there. So they're saying, oh yeah, we're going to have peace, but they're planning war, and they're going back and forth. They're both meaning evil intent, and then they fight. And then they'll negotiate a little bit more, and then they'll fight. And they negotiate a little bit more, and then they fight. And that's how these two kept going throughout their reigns. 44:10 And so God declares that all in advance here in verses 21 through 27. Verse 28. 44:20 Verse 1. 44:46 So here in verses 28 through 32, we have the continuing reign of Antiochus IV. And he says, 45:13 And again, he's going back and forth and he comes back from fighting the king of the south one time and decides, you know what, I'm going to go back. And so he goes back to fight against the king of the south, but it's not like previous times. Why? Because now the king of the south has some support. Rome has now come to aid Rome. 45:35 the region of Egypt, because Rome was importing grain and other things from Egypt, and so they decided it's in their best interest to help them in this fight. And so Antiochus IV comes against Egypt, but Rome steps in. And so Rome's navy comes in, and they meet to make arrangements, to make a deal. And the Roman general goes out, and him and Antiochus IV meet in the middle of the field. 46:08 And this is where we get, you ever heard the phrase, you know, to draw a line in the sand? This is where that comes from. Because the Roman general comes to Antiochus IV and says, all right, we're here to do battle on behalf of them. And so we need to know, what are you going to do? Are you going to fight or are you going to surrender? And Antiochus says, well, let me think about it. Let me talk to my generals. Let me consider it. And then the general, the Roman general, draws a circle around 46:38 around Antiochus IV, and he says, before you leave that circle, you have to give me your answer. And so if he left the circle without giving the answer, that would mean that he was declaring war. And so there Antiochus IV surrenders, basically, and says, okay, I'm not going to fight against you, I won't come against Egypt. And he now comes under the dominion of Roman rule. So he's furious. He's really upset at this point. 47:08 Because he's been defeated. He had to surrender. He was forced into a situation that he really hated. And so he gave the decision. He said, I surrender. But he makes his way back to his land. But remember, what's in between the southern kingdom and the northern kingdom? Israel. And so on the way back, he goes to Israel. And he's still furious. He's still upset. 47:30 And here he commits what is known as the abomination of desolation. He goes into Jerusalem, he goes into the temple and he sets up an image of the God Zeus there in the temple. And he is forcing people to worship the God Zeus there in the temple. 47:50 Then he defiles the altar and the temple by sacrificing pigs upon the altar, which of course was unclean and not to be done. And so the sacrifices are now stopped. Those who are faithful to the Lord, they're not going to go and worship at the temple because now Zeus is set up there. The altar has been defiled and so they're not able to continue on worshiping and he's forcing those who will do so to worship 48:18 Worship the God, Zeus. And so verse 32, it says, Those who do wickedly against the covenant shall be corrupt with flattery. And so he's going to tell them, hey, you know, you need to worship and the wicked will worship. They will participate. But notice at the end of verse 32, But the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. Now this is a reference to what's known as the Maccabean revolts. 48:46 And so they're forced to worship these false gods. But there's this one family, they're referred to as the Maccabees because it means the hammers. And so they fought back hard. They fought back strong. They gathered up a little bit of an army. They did some guerrilla warfare. 49:05 And after a few years, they were able to take back the temple, purify it, and rededicate it to the Lord. Now that's something, again, that we can look back in history and see that it happened, and we can even see it to this day, because when the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah, that's what they're celebrating. They're celebrating the rededication of the temple after this Maccabean revolt. 49:29 It took place in December when the temple was defiled. And then when they regained control and were able to rededicate it to the Lord, then that was also in December of 165 BC. So I think I have that date on here too. So 168, Antiochus IV. Apologize. Go, go, go, go. I went too far again. All right. 50:04 Now it's catching up. So Antiochus IV is defeated by the Roman army. He surrenders and then he goes back. He defiles the temple. He's upset. Then verse 33. 50:15 And those of the people who understand shall instruct many, yet for many days they shall fall by the sword and flame by captivity and plundering. Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help, but many shall join them by intrigue. And some of those of understanding shall fall to refine them, purify them, and make them white until the time of the end, because it is still for the appointed time." 50:38 And so this is describing the time as Antiochus IV is reigning. He does terrible things against the Jews. There's great trials that are going on. 80,000 are said to have been put to death. 40,000 he took as prisoners and another 40,000 he sold into slavery. He plundered the temple and stole, it's estimated, about a billion dollars worth of gold and stuff from the temple. 51:01 And again, at this time as well, there's this revolt going on. And so there's many casualties as a result of that as well. Verse 36. Now, as we head on into verse 36, we're switching gears. Up to this point, it's all been fulfilled historically. 36 through the rest of the chapter is all prophetic, still unfulfilled. And it's in regards to the Antichrist who will come. Verse 36 says, 51:31 Then the king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, 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 shall regard neither the god of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall exalt himself above them all. 51:52 And so here... 52:17 It's continuing on as if it's Antiochus IV, which is common in prophecy. You see the dual fulfillments. And Antiochus IV, we find, is a very good preview of what the Antichrist will be like. Because how the Antichrist 52:34 Antiochus IV defiled the temple is the same way that the Antichrist will defile the temple in that he will put an image of himself there in the temple. He will proclaim himself to be God, which is what it's talking about here. And he will demand and require all of the world to worship him as God. 52:53 And so the things that Antiochus IV did parallel or preview for us the things that the Antichrist will do. And so it kind of merges into or morphs into something that's already been fulfilled, but also a foreshadowing of things that are yet to come that will be fulfilled with the Antichrist 53:13 during the last seven years or the 70th week of Daniel as we talked about in chapter 9. That tribulation period that is coming upon the earth. And so now we're looking at the Antichrist. And you can see this in Matthew chapter 24 verse 15 because Jesus there makes reference to the abomination of desolation. Now in Jesus' day, Antiochus IV had already come and gone. 53:44 But Jesus says that the abomination of desolation is yet future. And so it happened with Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV, but it also is ultimately fulfilled through the Antichrist. And we saw that in Revelation chapter 13 when we were studying that on Sunday mornings. And so you can check it out there and see the ultimate fulfillment of these things. Verse 40 says, 54:11 At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen and the many ships and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them and pass through. He shall also enter the glorious land, that's Israel, and many countries shall be overthrown but these shall escape from his hand, Edom, Moab and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 54:40 He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt. Also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him. Therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end and no one will help him. 55:08 So here, as we conclude the chapter, again, we're looking forward at the reign of the Antichrist. And God is declaring here that the reign of the Antichrist is going to be fulfilled with battles. And we saw that in the book of Revelation, these different battles that are going on. And so it's not going to be, you know, just all easy and fine and easy. 55:32 Most of the world will follow him, but also there will be those who oppose him. And so there's these different battles that will go on. And then ultimately there in verse 45, it tells us that the Antichrist will be destroyed and no one will be able to help him because Jesus Christ is the one who destroys him. 55:49 And so what we have here, again, is something that's yet future that will be fulfilled by the Antichrist as we studied in the book of Revelation. So I'm not going into great detail here. 56:03 But as we look here at chapter 11, we have some amazing details, some amazing things that God said would happen, and they happened. Daniel received the prophecy in 536 BC. And then the next bunch of things that are described here happened over the next 400 years, and yet the order is right. 56:25 You know, you don't have to like rearrange the verses or rearrange history in order to make it match the order. As you read it, here is the order of how it took place historically. Not only that, but the details that I mentioned. You don't have to kind of just like gloss over and think, well... 56:43 Okay, yeah, he didn't really send a girl over there to be married to him, but we'll just say it happened and it just wasn't recorded, you know? No, these things are recorded. It's detailed for us. It was history written in advance. You don't have to mess with it or, you know, play with the information or the data to try to make it fit. It just works. It just fits. Why? Because God knows everything. He really is God. 57:16 I'd like to close with a portion of scripture out of Isaiah chapter 46. You don't have to turn there, but I'll read it to you. In Isaiah 46 verses 9 through 11, God says, For I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Call 57:43 Calling a bird of prey from the east. The man who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I also will do it. God declares there. Listen, I'm giving you prophecy so that you can know that I am God and there is no other. There's no one like our God who can declare prophecy. 58:11 What will take place with 100% accuracy, with complete certainty, hundreds of years before it happens. Declaring, he says, the end from the beginning. From ancient times, he declared the things that are not yet done. And yet, as they are fulfilled, it's exactly the way that God said it would be fulfilled. 58:35 He says, look, I call this bird of prey. I call this man to accomplish my purposes. I'm the one who said it was going to happen. And I'm the one who allows it and makes it and causes it to happen. I've purposed it, God says. I will do it. There's no other God like Him. Which means He's worthy of our praise. He's worthy of our devotion. He's worthy of everything we are because He really is God. 59:07 This isn't just a religion. It's not just something that makes us feel good. He really is God. And He really did send His Son to die upon the cross for our sins. He really does call us to walk in relationship with Him. He really does have for us the promise and the hope of eternity. As you can see these prophetic things fulfilled, you can also rest assured the promises and the prophecies that are given to us as believers, they will be fulfilled. Sometimes it's hard to see that. 59:35 Sometimes it's hard to see how all things work together for good. But as we see chapter 11, we can rest assured God will be faithful. He said it, He will do it. He purposed it, it will be accomplished because He really is God and He reigns on high. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank You, Lord, for this tremendous example that we have here in chapter 11 of faith. 60:05 How you really are God. And Lord, we can trust in you and know that you really do know the beginning from the end. And Lord, we don't know why we're in the midst of the things that we're in the midst of. We don't understand why we face the difficulties and trials. We don't know what's around the corner for us and the things that will happen tomorrow. But Lord, we know that you do. And Lord, as we have placed ourselves in your hands... 60:36 Lord, you are on the throne. Your watchful eye is looking out and you're paying attention. And you're arranging things, you're purposing things, you're accomplishing things to bring forth good. And Lord, we can't see it because we're stuck here and stuck in this time. And we can't understand what tomorrow holds. We can barely remember yesterday. But Lord, you see it all. And you know how it all works. And you're arranging it for the good of those who love you. 61:16 So God, we just take this time to remember that you are God, there's no one other. And to say to you, God, we love you. We thank you for caring enough for us, for seeing our situation, for seeing our need, and providing for us a Savior, your own Son, to die upon the cross for our sins. We thank you for your love towards us and that you continue to minister to us, to lead us and guide us. Help us not to doubt you. Lord, help us not to 61:51 Be angry at the things that we face, but because we can see here that you know it all in advance and you're working it together for our good. Help us to trust you in that. Help us to make you our solid foundation, a solid rock, so that no matter what storms may come, we will stand because we've grasped hold of you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 62:39 We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.