WEBVTT 00:00:02.029 --> 00:00:06.070 Our Bibles together to the book of Daniel and 00:00:06.070 --> 00:00:14.269 the eighth chapter You'll recall that the first 00:00:14.269 --> 00:00:17.309 six chapters of Daniel are chapters recording 00:00:17.309 --> 00:00:22.949 personal incidences from history Prophecy certainly 00:00:22.949 --> 00:00:26.190 is intertwined with that personal history, but 00:00:26.190 --> 00:00:28.250 as we come to the final check of six chapters 00:00:28.250 --> 00:00:32.990 of Daniel There are visions here that are fully 00:00:32.990 --> 00:00:37.829 loaded with prophecy. There are four prophecies 00:00:37.829 --> 00:00:41.210 recorded for us in the six chapters, Daniels 00:00:41.210 --> 00:00:47.270 7, 8, 9, and then 10, 11, and 12. Tonight we 00:00:47.270 --> 00:00:49.969 come to chapter 8, which begins by saying, In 00:00:49.969 --> 00:00:52.210 the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the 00:00:52.210 --> 00:00:56.130 king, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent 00:00:56.130 --> 00:01:00.000 to the one which appeared to me previously. Daniel, 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.240 by this, dates the vision for us. It occurred 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:09.560 in about 550 BC. It is three years after the 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:12.939 last vision that he had, between two and three 00:01:12.939 --> 00:01:17.799 years later. Daniel is, by this time, about 70 00:01:17.799 --> 00:01:21.319 years of age. So he's getting to be a senior 00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:24.439 saint. And all of his life, from those early 00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:27.629 teens, he has walked with God. He is a man that 00:01:27.629 --> 00:01:31.030 God has blessed with position and prominence 00:01:31.030 --> 00:01:35.849 in the empires of which he served in positions 00:01:35.849 --> 00:01:41.090 of importance. He tells us that he looked in 00:01:41.090 --> 00:01:44.689 the vision and it came about while I was looking, 00:01:44.689 --> 00:01:48.730 he says, that I was in the citadel of Susa, which 00:01:48.730 --> 00:01:51.989 is in the province of Elam. And I looked in the 00:01:51.989 --> 00:01:55.310 vision and I myself was beside the Uli canal. 00:01:55.849 --> 00:01:59.590 So Daniel, although he is in the city of Babylon, 00:02:00.010 --> 00:02:04.870 in the vision, sees himself some 230 miles to 00:02:04.870 --> 00:02:11.229 the east in a city called Susa. It was the capital, 00:02:11.370 --> 00:02:16.349 Susa was, of the ancient land of Elam in Abraham's 00:02:16.349 --> 00:02:22.349 day. After Daniel, it became a city of prominence 00:02:22.349 --> 00:02:26.270 again because it became the royal city of the 00:02:26.270 --> 00:02:31.849 Persians. This is where Esther lived. This is 00:02:31.849 --> 00:02:34.729 where Nehemiah was the cup bearer to the king, 00:02:35.009 --> 00:02:39.870 the city of Susa. But in 550 BC, in Daniel's 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:43.389 day, Susa was not a city of that much prominence. 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:48.039 Susa is famous in archaeological history because 00:02:48.039 --> 00:02:51.860 it was there that the code of Hammurabi was found, 00:02:52.419 --> 00:02:55.159 which some of you would be familiar with. And 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:58.039 in the city of Susa, archaeologists also have 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:02.259 uncovered the very palace in which Esther lived 00:03:02.259 --> 00:03:06.860 under the reign of Xerxes, the king of Persia. 00:03:08.349 --> 00:03:11.650 Now the Ulai Canal was mentioned here and that 00:03:11.650 --> 00:03:13.909 is a little more difficult to locate. However, 00:03:14.150 --> 00:03:17.030 it is understood to be an artificial man -made 00:03:17.030 --> 00:03:20.270 canal. Some identify it with one that is about 00:03:20.270 --> 00:03:25.310 900 feet wide and which stretches from one river 00:03:25.310 --> 00:03:28.849 to another. And it passed in that day near the 00:03:28.849 --> 00:03:32.629 city of Susa. So Daniel gives us the date, he 00:03:32.629 --> 00:03:35.110 gives us the place that he sees in the vision. 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:39.199 This vision, it seems, was received during the 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:43.500 daytime, not during the nighttime as part of 00:03:43.500 --> 00:03:47.900 his dreaming, but during the daytime he had a 00:03:47.900 --> 00:03:51.520 vision of certain beasts. And these beasts that 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:55.699 we see, namely a ram and a goat, have symbolic 00:03:55.699 --> 00:04:00.020 meaning, as we will understand. Apparently, from 00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:02.060 what he says in the chapter, there were other 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:05.689 beasts that he saw as well. And so that's the 00:04:05.689 --> 00:04:09.270 reason I named this the Gentile Zoo, this message 00:04:09.270 --> 00:04:12.090 tonight, because in this chapter, he seems to 00:04:12.090 --> 00:04:14.930 see an array of beasts. He talks mainly about 00:04:14.930 --> 00:04:19.550 two of them. Just by way of passing, let me mention 00:04:19.550 --> 00:04:22.449 that the Hebrew language is used once again, 00:04:22.470 --> 00:04:25.430 beginning with this chapter in Daniel. You remember 00:04:25.430 --> 00:04:28.750 back in chapter two, a switch to Aramaic, and 00:04:28.750 --> 00:04:32.149 then now it comes back to the Hebrew in the original 00:04:32.149 --> 00:04:37.149 copies of this. Now, this vision that we're going 00:04:37.149 --> 00:04:40.189 to look at tonight fills in some of the detail 00:04:40.189 --> 00:04:44.050 regarding the two middle kingdoms that we talked 00:04:44.050 --> 00:04:47.949 about last week in the vision of chapter 7. Those 00:04:47.949 --> 00:04:51.209 two middle kingdoms of the four empires are Medo 00:04:51.209 --> 00:04:55.069 -Persia and Greece. In this vision that came 00:04:55.069 --> 00:04:58.170 three years later, Daniel's given additional 00:04:58.170 --> 00:05:03.389 information regarding those two middle kingdoms. 00:05:04.589 --> 00:05:06.730 Let's take a look now at the vision. He says, 00:05:06.850 --> 00:05:10.050 I lifted my gaze and looked and behold a ram 00:05:10.050 --> 00:05:13.209 which had two horns was standing in front of 00:05:13.209 --> 00:05:17.050 the canal. Now the two horns were long and one 00:05:17.050 --> 00:05:19.389 was longer than the other with the longer one 00:05:19.389 --> 00:05:24.410 coming up last. I saw the ram butting westward, 00:05:24.689 --> 00:05:26.990 northward, and southward and no other beasts 00:05:26.990 --> 00:05:30.029 could stand before him. So there you get the 00:05:30.029 --> 00:05:32.689 idea there are other beasts that he sees in his 00:05:32.689 --> 00:05:36.259 vision. Nor was there anyone to rescue from his 00:05:36.259 --> 00:05:40.180 power, but he did as he pleased and magnified 00:05:40.180 --> 00:05:45.259 himself. Now normally a ram has two horns, but 00:05:45.259 --> 00:05:48.720 this obviously is a little different. The language 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:50.860 here can be understood to mean that as Daniel 00:05:50.860 --> 00:05:55.139 was watching this ram, the horns grew out. Or 00:05:55.139 --> 00:05:57.500 it may mean that one horn was in front of the 00:05:57.500 --> 00:06:00.300 other. But the idea is that the one that was 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:05.759 obviously second was larger. Now that has significance 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:10.240 because the empire of the Medo -Persians, which 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:14.339 is represented by this ram, as we'll see, the 00:06:14.339 --> 00:06:17.160 second of those nations, Persia, became the more 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:20.480 dominant of the two. That is the reason the second 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:24.560 horn is seen as being larger. This ram pushes 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:27.699 its way in three directions, westward, northward, 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:32.730 and southward. And this ram pleased himself, 00:06:32.870 --> 00:06:38.810 magnified himself, and became great. Now in verse 00:06:38.810 --> 00:06:41.509 5 it says, Well I was observing, behold a male 00:06:41.509 --> 00:06:46.149 goat was coming from the west over the surface 00:06:46.149 --> 00:06:48.389 of the whole earth without touching the ground. 00:06:49.230 --> 00:06:51.689 That is, its speed was so fast that the feet 00:06:51.689 --> 00:06:55.050 didn't even touch the ground. And the goat had 00:06:55.050 --> 00:06:58.730 a conspicuous horn between his eyes. And so now 00:06:58.730 --> 00:07:02.069 there is a male goat coming from the west over 00:07:02.069 --> 00:07:04.449 the whole earth and he comes with tremendous 00:07:04.449 --> 00:07:08.250 speed. You may recall that the third kingdom 00:07:08.250 --> 00:07:11.310 looked at last week, in fact it might be good 00:07:11.310 --> 00:07:14.209 just to go back and look at chapter 7 and verse 00:07:14.209 --> 00:07:17.910 6, the third kingdom in this vision was symbolized 00:07:17.910 --> 00:07:22.519 by a leopard and we noted the four wings. that 00:07:22.519 --> 00:07:25.879 it had on its back. Four wings of a bird, which 00:07:25.879 --> 00:07:28.879 we said last week, indicated the speed. A leopard 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:32.600 is fast anyway, but this leopard is seen with 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:36.100 wings on its back, so it's a very fast animal. 00:07:37.220 --> 00:07:39.639 Now in the vision that we see in chapter 8, we 00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:42.439 have a male goat that is moving with tremendous 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:45.800 speed across the face of the earth, and it has 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:48.899 a conspicuous horn, one that's very prominent, 00:07:49.339 --> 00:07:53.019 which represents its leader. And normally goats 00:07:53.019 --> 00:07:57.040 have two horns to them, just like rams do, and 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:00.199 so this is an anomaly. This is a strange -looking 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:03.740 ram, or goat rather, that has just one large 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:07.839 horn instead of two horns. Well, he came up to 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:11.259 the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen 00:08:11.259 --> 00:08:13.839 standing in front of the canal and rushed at 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:18.680 him in his mighty wrath. And I saw him come beside 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:23.199 the ram. And he was enraged at him. And he struck 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:26.480 the ram and shattered his two horns. And the 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:29.759 ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:32.480 him to the ground and trampled on him. And there 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:36.720 was none to rescue the ram from his power." So 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:39.919 there's a conflict that takes place. The goat 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:42.679 attacks and defeats the ram, even though the 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:47.120 goat is a smaller animal. The goat is pictured 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:52.360 as being filled with hot fury and anger, thus 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:56.899 perhaps explaining the extra strength that this 00:08:56.899 --> 00:08:59.940 goat had. The adrenaline was really flowing in 00:08:59.940 --> 00:09:03.159 this animal. And now in verse 8 it says, Then 00:09:03.159 --> 00:09:05.879 the male goat magnified himself exceedingly, 00:09:06.340 --> 00:09:09.299 but as soon as he was mighty, the large horn 00:09:09.299 --> 00:09:12.779 was broken. And in its place there came up four 00:09:12.779 --> 00:09:17.000 conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:21.480 And out of one of them came forth a rather small 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:25.600 horn which grew exceedingly great. And so you 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:28.340 understand what he's saying. This goat magnified 00:09:28.340 --> 00:09:33.000 himself and then the horn was broken. And in 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.679 the place of that horn there grew up, while Daniel 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:40.240 was watching, four horns. And then out of one 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:44.259 of those horns there came yet another A small 00:09:44.259 --> 00:09:48.740 horn, he says, which then began to grow exceedingly 00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:52.320 great. And he mentions it grows toward the south, 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:56.519 toward the east, and toward the beautiful land. 00:09:57.320 --> 00:10:00.460 A phrase that signifies Palestine or Israel. 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:04.279 And it came up to the host of heaven and caused 00:10:04.279 --> 00:10:07.039 some of the host and some of the stars to fall 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:12.289 to the earth. And it trampled them down. It even 00:10:12.289 --> 00:10:15.730 magnified itself to be equal with the commander 00:10:15.730 --> 00:10:20.789 of the host, a reference to God. And it removed 00:10:20.789 --> 00:10:25.409 the regular sacrifice from him. And the throne 00:10:25.409 --> 00:10:30.009 of his God's sanctuary was thrown down. The place 00:10:30.009 --> 00:10:33.330 of his sanctuary was thrown down. And on account 00:10:33.330 --> 00:10:36.690 of transgression, the host will be given over 00:10:36.690 --> 00:10:39.769 to the horn along with the regular sacrifice. 00:10:40.330 --> 00:10:43.269 and it will fling truth to the ground to perform 00:10:43.269 --> 00:10:47.929 its will and prosper. Then I heard a holy one 00:10:47.929 --> 00:10:50.610 speaking and another holy one said to that particular 00:10:50.610 --> 00:10:54.049 one who was speaking, how long will the vision 00:10:54.049 --> 00:10:58.470 about the regular sacrifice apply while the transgression 00:10:58.470 --> 00:11:02.009 causes horror so as to allow both the holy place 00:11:02.009 --> 00:11:05.830 and the host to be trampled? We understand the 00:11:05.830 --> 00:11:09.399 host mentioned here in this context to refer 00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:12.580 to the people of God, primarily the Jewish people. 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:18.019 And he said to me, for 2300 evenings and mornings, 00:11:18.139 --> 00:11:21.980 then the holy place will be properly restored. 00:11:22.919 --> 00:11:26.159 And so there we have the laying out of the vision. 00:11:27.620 --> 00:11:31.940 Daniel's response is interesting. It says, it 00:11:31.940 --> 00:11:34.179 came about that when he had seen the vision, 00:11:34.220 --> 00:11:36.480 he says, I sought to understand it, and behold, 00:11:36.600 --> 00:11:39.399 standing before me was one who looked like a 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:41.899 man, and I heard the voice of a man between the 00:11:41.899 --> 00:11:45.159 banks of Uli. And he called out and said, Gabriel, 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:48.620 give this man an understanding of the vision. 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:52.200 So he came near to where I was standing. So Daniel 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:54.820 was struck with a desire to understand what all 00:11:54.820 --> 00:11:58.500 of this vision was about. And as that desire 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:01.500 filled his heart, there was a voice, understood 00:12:01.500 --> 00:12:03.860 by most Bible commentators to be the voice of 00:12:03.860 --> 00:12:07.460 God, instructing the one who looked like a man 00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:11.700 nearby, whose name was Gabriel, to come and to 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:15.379 give to Daniel the interpretation of it. Now 00:12:15.379 --> 00:12:18.220 this Gabriel is the same Gabriel that announced 00:12:18.220 --> 00:12:22.080 the Lord Jesus Christ, his birth, to Joseph and 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:25.259 to Mary. He is the one who had part of the announcement 00:12:25.259 --> 00:12:29.370 of the coming of Christ. This is an angelic being, 00:12:29.889 --> 00:12:31.950 Gabriel, who is in view. And now he ministers 00:12:31.950 --> 00:12:34.970 to Daniel, giving him understanding. But Daniel 00:12:34.970 --> 00:12:37.429 was frightened by his appearance and fell on 00:12:37.429 --> 00:12:40.649 his face. But Gabriel responded by saying, son 00:12:40.649 --> 00:12:44.049 of man, understand that the vision pertains to 00:12:44.049 --> 00:12:47.610 the time of the end. Now we're going to take 00:12:47.610 --> 00:12:49.789 a look at the interpretation. But before we do 00:12:49.789 --> 00:12:51.929 that, I want you to notice that phrase here, 00:12:52.070 --> 00:12:56.610 the time of the end. We'll see something similar 00:12:56.610 --> 00:12:58.649 in just a moment. While he was talking with me, 00:12:58.809 --> 00:13:01.110 I sank into a deep sleep with my face to the 00:13:01.110 --> 00:13:04.850 ground. The idea is that he fainted, but he touched 00:13:04.850 --> 00:13:07.450 me and made me stand upright and he said, behold, 00:13:07.990 --> 00:13:11.190 I am going to let you know what will occur at 00:13:11.190 --> 00:13:16.990 the final period of the indignation for it pertains 00:13:16.990 --> 00:13:23.090 to the appointed time of the end. Now the language 00:13:23.090 --> 00:13:26.509 that Gabriel uses here indicates to us that there 00:13:26.509 --> 00:13:28.750 is something about this vision that he's about 00:13:28.750 --> 00:13:35.009 to explain that has a double fulfillment. It 00:13:35.009 --> 00:13:37.370 will have a fulfillment in the time when all 00:13:37.370 --> 00:13:40.929 of these other things happen, but there is something 00:13:40.929 --> 00:13:44.169 about the vision that also pertains to the time 00:13:44.169 --> 00:13:47.669 of the end. Of course the question is the end 00:13:47.669 --> 00:13:52.070 of what? And the best answer to that, the end 00:13:52.070 --> 00:13:56.190 of Israel's suffering, Israel's domination by 00:13:56.190 --> 00:14:00.070 the Gentile powers, which is something that's 00:14:00.070 --> 00:14:03.710 still going on in our day. And so it's yet to 00:14:03.710 --> 00:14:07.309 the future from our day. Most of the vision that 00:14:07.309 --> 00:14:10.429 we're going to see here had an historical fulfillment 00:14:10.429 --> 00:14:14.330 after the days of Daniel, some of it in his day 00:14:14.330 --> 00:14:17.259 and then afterward. But there is something about 00:14:17.259 --> 00:14:19.940 it, as we will see, that stretches all the way 00:14:19.940 --> 00:14:23.539 down to the time of the end, perhaps even the 00:14:23.539 --> 00:14:28.519 days in which you and I are living. Verse 20 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:31.419 gives us an understanding of what the ram is 00:14:31.419 --> 00:14:34.519 all about. Gabriel says, now understand God himself 00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:37.899 is speaking through Gabriel, telling us the meaning 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:41.559 of this vision. The ram which you saw with the 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:46.990 two horns represents the kings of media and Persia. 00:14:48.230 --> 00:14:51.269 Now it's interesting that this vision came in 00:14:51.269 --> 00:14:54.889 550 BC because that was almost the exact time 00:14:54.889 --> 00:14:58.610 that those two nations formed a coalition. They 00:14:58.610 --> 00:15:02.549 joined together. And so to Daniel is given the 00:15:02.549 --> 00:15:07.269 message, the ram, which corresponds now to the 00:15:07.269 --> 00:15:10.750 second kingdom that is represented by the bear 00:15:10.750 --> 00:15:17.120 in chapter 7. But this ram represents Medo -Persia. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:22.220 This empire primarily grew in three directions, 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:26.379 just as the vision had suggested it would. It 00:15:26.379 --> 00:15:30.580 grew toward the west, toward Babylonia and Syria, 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:35.639 up into Asia Minor. It grew toward the north, 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:40.320 geographically, into Armenia, what is today southern 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:45.809 Russia. up around the Caspian Sea. And it also 00:15:45.809 --> 00:15:49.129 grew and stretched itself down to the south around 00:15:49.129 --> 00:15:54.570 Israel and to Egypt and Ethiopia. If your Bible 00:15:54.570 --> 00:15:57.429 has maps in the back of it, it may be that there 00:15:57.429 --> 00:16:01.990 is a map that would give you some of this information. 00:16:02.629 --> 00:16:05.330 In the Ryrie Study Bible, which I happen to have 00:16:05.330 --> 00:16:09.429 with me tonight, map number seven outlines for 00:16:09.429 --> 00:16:15.309 you the empire of the Medes and the Persians. 00:16:20.809 --> 00:16:23.389 Your Bible may have a similar map in it. If you 00:16:23.389 --> 00:16:25.470 don't have a Bible with maps, don't feel like 00:16:25.470 --> 00:16:27.990 you're missing out. Your Bible isn't inspired 00:16:27.990 --> 00:16:31.110 or something. These are just study aids included 00:16:31.110 --> 00:16:34.889 in some Bibles to give you the helps right there. 00:16:35.529 --> 00:16:37.830 If you don't have a Bible with maps in it, you 00:16:37.830 --> 00:16:41.929 may want to get a hold of them. of a book that 00:16:41.929 --> 00:16:45.590 would help you, Unger's Bible handbook or some 00:16:45.590 --> 00:16:48.289 other Bible study aid that would give you maps 00:16:48.289 --> 00:16:52.309 so that you can visualize where these kinds of 00:16:52.309 --> 00:16:57.870 things took place. Now this nation of the Medes 00:16:57.870 --> 00:17:03.009 and the Persians became great. In about the time 00:17:03.009 --> 00:17:05.470 that Daniel got this vision there was a man who 00:17:05.470 --> 00:17:08.789 was coming forth strong on the scene in Persia. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:14.480 His name was Cyrus. Up to this point, the nation 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:19.200 of Media was the stronger of the two. In fact, 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:24.400 the Medes helped to defeat the Assyrians in 612 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:27.059 BC. They joined together with Babylonia at that 00:17:27.059 --> 00:17:31.119 time and helped defeat the Assyrians. And so, 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:33.440 the nation of the Medes was the more powerful 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:36.460 nation. But now, just about the time Daniel's 00:17:36.460 --> 00:17:39.289 getting this vision, Persia starting to come 00:17:39.289 --> 00:17:44.869 on strong under the leadership of Cyrus. The 00:17:44.869 --> 00:17:47.670 empire of the Medes and the Persians lasted on 00:17:47.670 --> 00:17:52.150 the historical scene for about 200 years before 00:17:52.150 --> 00:17:55.529 it was then replaced by another empire. And that 00:17:55.529 --> 00:17:59.029 is the next one that is mentioned here. And that 00:17:59.029 --> 00:18:03.690 is represented by the goat. Gabriel says the 00:18:03.690 --> 00:18:06.450 shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece. 00:18:07.470 --> 00:18:11.529 and the large horn that is between his eyes is 00:18:11.529 --> 00:18:16.029 the first king. Well, the first real king of 00:18:16.029 --> 00:18:19.730 Greece as an empire was Alexander the Great. 00:18:20.230 --> 00:18:23.730 Alexander was the son of a prominent man whose 00:18:23.730 --> 00:18:28.369 name was Philip of Macedon. Alexander was born 00:18:28.369 --> 00:18:33.210 almost 200 years after Daniel got this vision, 00:18:33.769 --> 00:18:41.859 356 B .C. He became ruler of Greece as it was 00:18:41.859 --> 00:18:45.779 in his time at the age of 20 when his father, 00:18:45.779 --> 00:18:50.960 Philip, was murdered. This young man, Alexander, 00:18:50.980 --> 00:18:54.140 was brilliant. He had been educated under the 00:18:54.140 --> 00:19:00.579 famous Aristotle. He was a man who is known as 00:19:00.579 --> 00:19:03.559 one of the great military strategists of all 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:08.480 the ages. He ranks up there with Napoleon as 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:10.680 being one of the great military leaders of all 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:15.680 times. One person pointed out that Alexander 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:20.180 conquered more foreign soil than any ruler in 00:19:20.180 --> 00:19:26.519 the history of the world. He attacked Persia 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:29.299 not long after he became the king just a couple 00:19:29.299 --> 00:19:32.890 of years later. Remember now, the Medes and the 00:19:32.890 --> 00:19:36.089 Persians are the major dominant force there in 00:19:36.089 --> 00:19:39.869 the Middle East. But out of the West, over in 00:19:39.869 --> 00:19:43.410 Asia Minor, Macedon, and that area, comes this 00:19:43.410 --> 00:19:47.190 Greek army under the leadership of Alexander 00:19:47.190 --> 00:19:50.589 the Great, an army of about 40 ,000 men, we are 00:19:50.589 --> 00:19:55.569 told, against a force of hundreds of thousands 00:19:55.569 --> 00:19:59.460 among the Medes and the Persians. But because 00:19:59.460 --> 00:20:03.259 Alexander was so brilliant as a military strategist, 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:06.720 he devised strategy no one had ever seen before. 00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:11.799 Because he had a small, fast -moving army, in 00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:14.359 three battles over the course of about three 00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:16.900 years, he defeated the Medes and the Persians. 00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:22.299 That was in 331. And so at that time, Medo -Persia 00:20:22.299 --> 00:20:26.859 passes off the scene. The ram has been butted 00:20:26.859 --> 00:20:30.099 against and he's down and the goat tramples him. 00:20:30.380 --> 00:20:33.500 Alexander finishes with the Medes and the Persians 00:20:33.500 --> 00:20:37.680 and marches on. He marched on eastward, all the 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:40.319 way to the Indus River, to the border of what 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:44.880 is today India, and south to the Indian Ocean. 00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:48.700 And then he turned back toward the west, having 00:20:48.700 --> 00:20:51.519 conquered everything that he knew that there 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:56.259 was to conquer. and he was only 32 years of age. 00:20:57.019 --> 00:21:00.640 Well, he got back to the city of Babylon and 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:05.980 there he was taken with malaria. He was a man 00:21:05.980 --> 00:21:10.440 who suffered from alcoholism. He was also greatly 00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:13.200 disillusioned as a brilliant young man who had 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:15.400 conquered the known world. He sat down and wept 00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:18.319 because there was no one else to fight. As far 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:21.200 as he knew, there was no more territory to conquer. 00:21:21.879 --> 00:21:25.859 And in just two days after he got malaria, he 00:21:25.859 --> 00:21:29.380 died. He was so weak after getting it that they 00:21:29.380 --> 00:21:31.359 had to prop him up in bed and they brought his 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:34.720 generals by and with just the slightest motions 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:36.700 or the nod of the head or even the blink of the 00:21:36.700 --> 00:21:39.240 eye, he acknowledged them coming by and then 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:42.059 he died. Just suddenly broken, this prominent 00:21:42.059 --> 00:21:45.400 horn on the goat, you see, was just broken away. 00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:49.660 And Alexander was dead at the age of 32. Well, 00:21:49.660 --> 00:21:52.099 they tried to hold the empire together, but they 00:21:52.099 --> 00:21:56.180 couldn't. And four of his generals finally divided 00:21:56.180 --> 00:21:59.940 up the Greek empire. And that's where the four 00:21:59.940 --> 00:22:03.299 horns come in, mentioned in 22. It says the broken 00:22:03.299 --> 00:22:07.259 horn and the four horns that arose in place represent 00:22:07.259 --> 00:22:10.759 four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, 00:22:11.180 --> 00:22:15.119 although not with his power. The four generals 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:20.339 are Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. 00:22:20.740 --> 00:22:23.180 The four of them divided up Alexander's empire. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.319 They were never as strong as he was, but they 00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:30.519 did maintain control in the area that they took 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:34.359 over. Cassander took over Macedonia and Greece 00:22:34.359 --> 00:22:38.079 back there in the west. Lysimachus took over 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:41.720 an area called Thracia and the western part of 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:45.049 Asia Minor. Again, if you have a Bible with the 00:22:45.049 --> 00:22:47.329 map in it, it may give you this information. 00:22:47.730 --> 00:22:49.609 Ptolemy, of course, if you know anything about 00:22:49.609 --> 00:22:51.930 Egyptian history, you know that there were the 00:22:51.930 --> 00:22:56.410 Ptolemy kings of Egypt, Hellenistic Greek kings 00:22:56.410 --> 00:22:59.210 down there. So Ptolemy, General Ptolemy took 00:22:59.210 --> 00:23:04.390 Egypt and developed that whole Hellenistic influence 00:23:04.390 --> 00:23:09.349 in Egypt. But the fourth one is the one that 00:23:09.349 --> 00:23:13.549 we want to focus on because Seleucus or Seleucus, 00:23:14.289 --> 00:23:18.309 took Syria and all of the empire to the east 00:23:18.309 --> 00:23:24.390 of there, and this included Palestine. Now it 00:23:24.390 --> 00:23:30.390 was from this particular horn, Seleucus, the 00:23:30.390 --> 00:23:35.109 Seleucians, that another horn eventually arose 00:23:35.109 --> 00:23:38.630 in this vision called the little horn that is 00:23:38.630 --> 00:23:44.630 now explained in from verses 23 and on. So you 00:23:44.630 --> 00:23:47.289 see, Alexander the Great Horn was broken off. 00:23:47.470 --> 00:23:49.609 There are four generals now that divide up the 00:23:49.609 --> 00:23:53.289 empire. And now out of one part of that empire, 00:23:55.369 --> 00:24:02.250 the Seleucid Reign brings forth one who was known 00:24:02.250 --> 00:24:05.049 as, in biblical prophecy, as the Little Horn. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:08.359 Now it's important to understand that this little 00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:12.400 horn in chapter 8 is not precisely the same as 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:17.660 the little horn in chapter 7. They have a relationship 00:24:17.660 --> 00:24:21.160 as we'll see, but the one in chapter 7 refers 00:24:21.160 --> 00:24:25.579 entirely to the Antichrist of the last days. 00:24:26.539 --> 00:24:32.599 This little horn in chapter 8 refers to a man 00:24:32.599 --> 00:24:38.609 who lived in the second century BC. But who in 00:24:38.609 --> 00:24:43.230 his evil foreshadows the Antichrist of the last 00:24:43.230 --> 00:24:46.809 days? Here's where the double fulfillment comes 00:24:46.809 --> 00:24:50.609 in. What is written here was partially fulfilled 00:24:50.609 --> 00:24:55.410 in a man that we'll name called Antiochus IV. 00:24:57.250 --> 00:25:00.789 But it was not entirely fulfilled in him. What 00:25:00.789 --> 00:25:04.119 is said here in these verses has yet a future 00:25:04.119 --> 00:25:07.819 fulfillment in the person of the Antichrist. 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:11.740 Well, let's go back and take a verse at a time 00:25:11.740 --> 00:25:15.140 here. It says, in the latter period of their 00:25:15.140 --> 00:25:19.440 rule, when the transgressors have run their course, 00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:25.480 a king will arise. And this king, as I have said, 00:25:25.779 --> 00:25:29.980 comes from the Seleucians. He is Antiochus IV. 00:25:30.359 --> 00:25:34.460 He adopted the nickname for himself Epiphanes, 00:25:35.180 --> 00:25:39.599 which means the illustrious. And so you get immediately 00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:43.799 what Daniel is saying here. He is insolent, proud, 00:25:44.299 --> 00:25:49.660 arrogant, and he is skilled in intrigue. He was 00:25:49.660 --> 00:25:53.900 a man who was filled with evil, who was intoxicated 00:25:53.900 --> 00:26:01.799 entirely with himself. He reigned About 150 years 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:04.660 after Alexander the Great, he came to power in 00:26:04.660 --> 00:26:11.400 175 BC and reigned for about 11 years. That was 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:14.480 the latter period of the rule of the Greek Empire. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:17.700 It was going to fall before too many more years 00:26:17.700 --> 00:26:25.519 to Rome. His character is explained to us here 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:29.519 as being insolent, fierce, vicious is the idea. 00:26:30.059 --> 00:26:34.220 He is a man who is skilled with intrigue. He 00:26:34.220 --> 00:26:36.920 was able to solve, and history bears this out, 00:26:37.259 --> 00:26:41.000 he was able to solve tough problems by the use 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:46.779 of deceit in his political maneuvering. He was 00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:51.680 a man of great might or power, but not by his 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:55.180 own power, it says in verse 24. What does that 00:26:55.180 --> 00:27:00.089 mean? Well, it means that Antiochus who is called 00:27:00.089 --> 00:27:05.529 Epiphanes, was a man who, though he was in a 00:27:05.529 --> 00:27:10.069 position of power and had the personage to fulfill 00:27:10.069 --> 00:27:13.690 some of that, was really empowered by a force 00:27:13.690 --> 00:27:17.589 beyond himself. I believe that without doubt 00:27:17.589 --> 00:27:21.109 this refers to satanic, demonic involvement in 00:27:21.109 --> 00:27:24.970 his life. He was able to fulfill what he did 00:27:24.970 --> 00:27:28.660 because he was in league with the devil. and 00:27:28.660 --> 00:27:30.960 that will be, I think, borne out by what he did. 00:27:31.380 --> 00:27:35.680 It says he will destroy to an extraordinary degree 00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:41.339 and will prosper and perform his will, at least 00:27:41.339 --> 00:27:47.240 temporarily. He will destroy mighty men and the 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:51.559 holy people and through his shrewdness he will 00:27:51.559 --> 00:27:56.380 cause deceit to succeed by his influence. This 00:27:56.380 --> 00:28:00.019 man is a politician's politician in the worst 00:28:00.019 --> 00:28:04.519 sense of that word. He will magnify himself in 00:28:04.519 --> 00:28:07.039 his heart and he will destroy many while they 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:11.799 are at ease. He will even oppose the prince of 00:28:11.799 --> 00:28:14.819 princes, we'll talk about that in a moment, but 00:28:14.819 --> 00:28:19.380 he will be broken without human agency. Well 00:28:19.380 --> 00:28:24.920 let's talk about Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus 00:28:24.920 --> 00:28:28.900 was a man who allowed the Jews to be at ease 00:28:28.900 --> 00:28:31.460 for a period of time, even though he ruled over 00:28:31.460 --> 00:28:36.000 Palestine. But as he expanded his rule, he desired 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:44.660 to consolidate and he wanted to enforce Hellenism, 00:28:45.259 --> 00:28:49.880 that is Greek culture. He wanted to unite the 00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:53.930 people under a single religion rather than having 00:28:53.930 --> 00:28:58.809 many religions. He wanted to have a test of loyalty 00:28:58.809 --> 00:29:03.130 because he was a man who feared people who might 00:29:03.130 --> 00:29:07.690 be disloyal to him. He feared plots and intrigue. 00:29:08.250 --> 00:29:10.509 And so although he allowed the Jews to carry 00:29:10.509 --> 00:29:13.710 out their religions up to a point, there came 00:29:13.710 --> 00:29:18.740 an end to it. About eight years after he came 00:29:18.740 --> 00:29:25.019 into power in the year 167, on December the 16th, 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:30.079 he ordered that the offering of the sacrifices 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:33.720 in Jerusalem, along with the other ceremonies 00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:39.579 of the temple, that those be stopped. He also 00:29:39.579 --> 00:29:42.359 ordered on that day that there be set up in the 00:29:42.359 --> 00:29:46.960 temple a statue of Zeus. from the Greek pantheon 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:50.440 of gods. And from that time forward, the Jews 00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:53.619 were no longer allowed to worship the god of 00:29:53.619 --> 00:29:56.859 their fathers, but they were to worship Zeus 00:29:56.859 --> 00:30:04.799 in the temple. Furthermore, he ordered that the 00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:10.299 Jews eat pork, the flesh of swine, which was 00:30:10.299 --> 00:30:14.859 unlawful for them to do. It was an unclean animal 00:30:14.859 --> 00:30:18.059 and God forbade them to eat pork. But he ordered 00:30:18.059 --> 00:30:22.039 them to eat pork as a test of loyalty. He ordered 00:30:22.039 --> 00:30:25.880 about this same time that none of the male babies 00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:29.339 should be circumcised. The sign of the Jewish 00:30:29.339 --> 00:30:32.140 covenant, the Abrahamic covenant. So he was a 00:30:32.140 --> 00:30:34.819 man who came full force against the religion 00:30:34.819 --> 00:30:38.000 of the Jews and these things became a test of 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:41.000 loyalty. Now, if you want to read about these 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:44.119 things and the horrible cruelties that he carried 00:30:44.119 --> 00:30:47.119 out upon those who refused to go along with him, 00:30:47.140 --> 00:30:51.660 you can read the Apocrypha, the books of 1 and 00:30:51.660 --> 00:30:55.400 2 Maccabees, because the writer of the Apocrypha 00:30:55.400 --> 00:30:59.660 records this history and goes in, in some cases, 00:30:59.819 --> 00:31:02.279 to gruesome detail as to what happened to people 00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:06.140 who refused to go along with Antiochus Epiphanes. 00:31:06.380 --> 00:31:10.440 So wicked and insane. was this man that the Jews 00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:13.200 came up for another name for him. He liked to 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:16.119 be called Epiphanes, and behind his back they 00:31:16.119 --> 00:31:19.359 called him Epimenes. You can hear the similarity. 00:31:20.019 --> 00:31:24.059 The one means Epiphanes means illustrious, Epimenes 00:31:24.059 --> 00:31:28.119 means madman. And so behind their back they called 00:31:28.119 --> 00:31:32.920 him Epimenes. This terrible persecution of the 00:31:32.920 --> 00:31:39.119 Jewish people, their death, in the case of thousands 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:43.180 of them, continued for a period of time. And 00:31:43.180 --> 00:31:45.599 we are told earlier in the vision that it would 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:50.299 be for 2300 evenings and mornings before the 00:31:50.299 --> 00:31:53.480 holy place would be properly restored. Now the 00:31:53.480 --> 00:31:57.019 question is, what does this mean, 2300 evenings 00:31:57.019 --> 00:32:00.619 and mornings? I'll tell you, there are good men 00:32:00.619 --> 00:32:02.619 on both sides of the argument here. There are 00:32:02.619 --> 00:32:05.799 two understandings of it primarily. On the one 00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:07.599 hand, there are those who take this to mean 2 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:11.859 ,300 days, evening and morning, evening and morning. 00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:15.319 That's a day. And so they say it's 2 ,300 days 00:32:15.319 --> 00:32:18.220 or just something under seven years, about six 00:32:18.220 --> 00:32:22.000 and a half years. There are others who understand 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:28.220 it to mean not days, but 2 ,300 evening and morning 00:32:28.220 --> 00:32:32.089 sacrifices would pass. before the temple could 00:32:32.089 --> 00:32:34.869 be properly restored. So if that's the case, 00:32:34.970 --> 00:32:38.589 then it's 1150 days. And people on both sides 00:32:38.589 --> 00:32:41.150 of the argument go to great detail to show why 00:32:41.150 --> 00:32:45.470 they are right. And you can trace it back to 00:32:45.470 --> 00:32:48.450 certain dates. I think that the bottom line for 00:32:48.450 --> 00:32:50.529 us here tonight is to note this, that it was 00:32:50.529 --> 00:32:58.009 in December in 165 BC that the temple was restored. 00:32:59.280 --> 00:33:04.400 This man died, and as a result of his death, 00:33:06.740 --> 00:33:10.039 the leader of the Jews, whose name was Judas 00:33:10.039 --> 00:33:15.200 Maccabeus, was able to end the persecution and 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:18.700 to cleanse the temple and to restore the temple's 00:33:18.700 --> 00:33:22.180 ceremony. And he did so. And that, by the way, 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:25.950 is the reason the Jews celebrate Hanukkah. It 00:33:25.950 --> 00:33:34.369 is in connection with that event. Now, Antiochus 00:33:34.369 --> 00:33:40.789 Epiphanes died a terrible death. He was broken, 00:33:40.910 --> 00:33:44.190 it says here in Daniel, without human agency, 00:33:45.589 --> 00:33:49.230 which means that he was not defeated by some 00:33:49.230 --> 00:33:53.410 military army and killed that way. But after 00:33:53.410 --> 00:33:56.309 he began to lose battles, he was so filled with 00:33:56.309 --> 00:33:58.769 insolence and pride, after he began to lose a 00:33:58.769 --> 00:34:02.430 battle here and there to Judas Maccabeus, he 00:34:02.430 --> 00:34:06.230 went into shock and grief. And history records 00:34:06.230 --> 00:34:11.449 that he died from his insanity. And that his 00:34:11.449 --> 00:34:14.550 insanity may well have been related to a venereal 00:34:14.550 --> 00:34:23.070 disease. Now in his action, And in his character, 00:34:24.349 --> 00:34:29.389 Antiochus Epiphanes foreshadows to us a man who 00:34:29.389 --> 00:34:34.969 will come up in the last days of this age who 00:34:34.969 --> 00:34:37.690 will also be a great persecutor of the Jews. 00:34:39.670 --> 00:34:43.030 And that man is known to us as the Antichrist. 00:34:44.289 --> 00:34:48.619 As surely as in history, Antiochus Epiphanes, 00:34:48.699 --> 00:34:52.659 the small horn, the little horn, came forth but 00:34:52.659 --> 00:34:56.820 was finally broken without human agency. So in 00:34:56.820 --> 00:35:02.159 the latter time, the time of the end, as Gabriel 00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:07.840 says it, there will come another ruler who, like 00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:11.000 Antiochus, at first will be friendly with the 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:18.199 Jews, but who will eventually establish in the 00:35:18.199 --> 00:35:21.179 temple in Jerusalem, which is yet to be rebuilt, 00:35:23.420 --> 00:35:27.820 who will establish in Jerusalem an image of himself 00:35:27.820 --> 00:35:31.719 which he will command the Jews to bow down and 00:35:31.719 --> 00:35:36.239 worship. Now I would like you to turn to the 00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:38.960 New Testament just to see this. We only have 00:35:38.960 --> 00:35:41.679 time to do it in one place and that's 2 Thessalonians 00:35:41.679 --> 00:35:48.000 chapter 2. I want you to notice the kind of language 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:51.980 that is used here by the Lord through Paul to 00:35:51.980 --> 00:36:01.860 describe this future Antiochus. In 2 Thessalonians 00:36:01.860 --> 00:36:04.800 2 verse 3 it says, Let no one in any way deceive 00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:08.400 you, for it will not come, that is the day of 00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:12.820 the Lord, unless the apostasy comes first. and 00:36:12.820 --> 00:36:16.519 the man of lawlessness. Now that is the name 00:36:16.519 --> 00:36:19.940 for Antichrist in this book. The man of lawlessness 00:36:19.940 --> 00:36:25.940 is revealed the son of destruction. Remember 00:36:25.940 --> 00:36:29.940 Antiochus was noted for destroying to an extraordinary 00:36:29.940 --> 00:36:33.400 degree. This future man will be the son of destruction 00:36:33.400 --> 00:36:38.000 who opposes and exalts himself above every so 00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:41.769 -called God or object of worship So that he takes 00:36:41.769 --> 00:36:46.289 his seat in the temple of God Displaying himself 00:36:46.289 --> 00:36:52.110 as being God It is interesting that the historical 00:36:52.110 --> 00:36:58.710 Antiochus in his reign minted a coin On which 00:36:58.710 --> 00:37:03.909 he put his inscription Or his image rather and 00:37:03.909 --> 00:37:06.849 there was an inscription underneath his image 00:37:06.849 --> 00:37:13.179 that said God manifest And you see here we have 00:37:13.179 --> 00:37:16.800 the future Antichrist with the very same kind 00:37:16.800 --> 00:37:21.880 of spirit displaying himself as being God manifest. 00:37:23.079 --> 00:37:25.059 Paul says, don't you remember I told you these 00:37:25.059 --> 00:37:27.179 things? He goes on to say, and you know what 00:37:27.179 --> 00:37:30.880 restrains him now so that in his time he may 00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:33.860 be revealed for the mystery of lawlessness is 00:37:33.860 --> 00:37:37.500 already at work. Only he who now restrains will 00:37:37.500 --> 00:37:40.880 do so until he is taken out of the way. I believe 00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:44.500 the Restrainer is the Holy Spirit of God and 00:37:44.500 --> 00:37:47.980 that He is restraining that spirit of lawlessness 00:37:47.980 --> 00:37:53.900 by the presence, His presence in the church which 00:37:53.900 --> 00:37:57.880 He indwells. But the church is going to be taken 00:37:57.880 --> 00:38:01.360 out of the way, you see. And lawlessness will 00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:04.179 then have no restraint. And it says in verse 00:38:04.179 --> 00:38:07.320 8, then that lawless one will be revealed whom 00:38:07.320 --> 00:38:10.380 the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth 00:38:10.380 --> 00:38:13.059 and bring to an end by the appearance of his 00:38:13.059 --> 00:38:17.000 coming." And so you see this future person will 00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:20.960 be broken too without human agency. God will 00:38:20.960 --> 00:38:24.619 break him. He says that is the one who's coming, 00:38:25.199 --> 00:38:29.260 is in accord with the activity of Satan. Just 00:38:29.260 --> 00:38:34.320 like Antiochus of old did not have the power 00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:37.559 in himself to pull off everything he did. but 00:38:37.559 --> 00:38:40.639 was filled with the devil. So this future man 00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:45.440 will be the same. He will have all power and 00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:48.360 signs and false wonders, it says, and with all 00:38:48.360 --> 00:38:51.480 the deception of wickedness for those who perish 00:38:51.480 --> 00:38:54.059 because they did not receive the love of the 00:38:54.059 --> 00:38:59.159 truth so as to be saved." And so Paul here gives 00:38:59.159 --> 00:39:03.400 us a very interesting paragraph regarding the 00:39:03.400 --> 00:39:11.230 future antichrist. Let me conclude by just making 00:39:11.230 --> 00:39:13.570 a couple of comments and we need to go back to 00:39:13.570 --> 00:39:18.630 Daniel so I can make the first one. I want you 00:39:18.630 --> 00:39:25.190 to notice Daniel's response to this. In verse 00:39:25.190 --> 00:39:28.949 27 it says, then I, Daniel, was exhausted and 00:39:28.949 --> 00:39:32.110 sick for days. Has going to church ever made 00:39:32.110 --> 00:39:36.530 you sick? Daniel here had a vision from God and 00:39:36.530 --> 00:39:38.989 the result of the vision was so overwhelming 00:39:39.849 --> 00:39:43.789 Daniel was exhausted and he was sick for days. 00:39:44.710 --> 00:39:47.510 He could not carry out the king's business apparently 00:39:47.510 --> 00:39:51.750 during this period of time. You know the Puritans 00:39:51.750 --> 00:39:59.929 used to call this the weight of truth. The weight 00:39:59.929 --> 00:40:06.230 of truth. When there was truth that settled upon 00:40:06.230 --> 00:40:12.300 them, They called it a weight that sobered them, 00:40:13.059 --> 00:40:18.900 that caused them to think carefully and soberly 00:40:18.900 --> 00:40:21.980 regarding what they had come to understand. This 00:40:21.980 --> 00:40:24.659 seems to be what happened to Daniel. I was talking 00:40:24.659 --> 00:40:26.639 to a pastor friend this last week who was at 00:40:26.639 --> 00:40:29.820 a conference where a man spent two hours preaching 00:40:29.820 --> 00:40:33.119 on the doctrine of hell. And he said that when 00:40:33.119 --> 00:40:36.280 this man who was eloquent and gifted as an orator 00:40:36.280 --> 00:40:38.809 was finished, that instead of getting up and 00:40:38.809 --> 00:40:40.550 leaving the church, the only thing he could do 00:40:40.550 --> 00:40:43.250 was just sit there in his chair for a period 00:40:43.250 --> 00:40:48.429 of minutes. The weight of truth. When you and 00:40:48.429 --> 00:40:55.050 I see what is coming in the future, there's a 00:40:55.050 --> 00:40:58.050 weight about that. This is not the kind of thing 00:40:58.050 --> 00:41:00.610 you hear about and you run away and say, oh, 00:41:00.610 --> 00:41:03.050 praise God, isn't it exciting? Well, there is 00:41:03.050 --> 00:41:06.530 an exciting side to it, but it's heavy stuff. 00:41:10.760 --> 00:41:13.420 As I mentioned last week, the dear Jewish people 00:41:13.420 --> 00:41:17.739 whom we love for Christ's sake, these dear people 00:41:17.739 --> 00:41:21.780 who brought the Savior, through whom the Savior 00:41:21.780 --> 00:41:26.300 came into the world, these people who today who 00:41:26.300 --> 00:41:29.699 are in blindness for the most part, people whom 00:41:29.699 --> 00:41:32.300 I hope that we love and desire to win to Christ 00:41:32.300 --> 00:41:35.699 now, but these dear people as a nation are in 00:41:35.699 --> 00:41:39.199 for some tough days ahead. I was sitting in a 00:41:39.199 --> 00:41:42.550 meeting yesterday with a man who is one of the 00:41:42.550 --> 00:41:45.090 noted biblical scholars, I think, across the 00:41:45.090 --> 00:41:47.590 country. He has preached in thousands of churches 00:41:47.590 --> 00:41:50.650 on Bible prophecy. We weren't there at the meeting 00:41:50.650 --> 00:41:53.150 to talk about prophecy, but we got to that subject. 00:41:53.989 --> 00:41:56.170 And he began to share with us some of the things 00:41:56.170 --> 00:42:00.769 that he knows and has heard. And he was reminding 00:42:00.769 --> 00:42:04.769 us of what's taking place in Russia today. That 00:42:04.769 --> 00:42:09.690 along with the glasnost and perestroika and the 00:42:09.690 --> 00:42:13.150 additional freedoms that seem to be given to 00:42:13.150 --> 00:42:16.329 the Russian people, as that is rising there is 00:42:16.329 --> 00:42:18.829 something else rising right beside it. And if 00:42:18.829 --> 00:42:21.889 you've read the paper you've seen hints of it. 00:42:22.849 --> 00:42:28.289 Beside this new sense of freedom there is anti 00:42:28.289 --> 00:42:32.309 -Semitism rising. Have you read about that? All 00:42:32.309 --> 00:42:35.369 across Russia, back in the villages, There is 00:42:35.369 --> 00:42:38.710 a tremendous hatred of the Jewish people is developing. 00:42:42.210 --> 00:42:44.650 They are blaming the Jewish people for the economic 00:42:44.650 --> 00:42:48.989 crisis in the Soviet Union. Some of them are 00:42:48.989 --> 00:42:51.130 blaming the Jews for the collapse of communism. 00:42:52.570 --> 00:42:55.489 And that is the reason that groups are desperately 00:42:55.489 --> 00:42:58.769 trying to get Jews out of Russia at this time, 00:42:58.789 --> 00:43:01.409 because they fear that if something happens to 00:43:01.409 --> 00:43:05.170 Gorbachev, The result is going to be another 00:43:05.170 --> 00:43:11.469 holocaust to the Jews in Russia today. Well the 00:43:11.469 --> 00:43:13.449 fact is that someday there is going to be another 00:43:13.449 --> 00:43:17.530 holocaust and the Jewish people are going to 00:43:17.530 --> 00:43:21.650 be terribly persecuted at the hands of the Antichrist. 00:43:22.590 --> 00:43:25.309 I notice here the inevitability of biblical prophecy. 00:43:26.769 --> 00:43:29.449 The minute detail that was revealed to Daniel. 00:43:29.929 --> 00:43:34.010 In fact the detail here is so minute that liberal 00:43:34.010 --> 00:43:38.210 scholars who deny that God could give prophecy, 00:43:38.690 --> 00:43:41.190 who deny a supernatural God say Daniel couldn't 00:43:41.190 --> 00:43:44.429 have written this book. They say somebody had 00:43:44.429 --> 00:43:47.269 to write it in Daniel's name after all these 00:43:47.269 --> 00:43:50.090 things took place. There's no way that Daniel 00:43:50.090 --> 00:43:52.510 could have been given this vision by God. But 00:43:52.510 --> 00:43:54.469 we know that God did give Daniel this vision. 00:43:55.570 --> 00:44:00.369 And over the course of about 300, 350 years, 00:44:00.909 --> 00:44:03.730 the exact detail of everything God said came 00:44:03.730 --> 00:44:07.730 to pass. Now the exciting thing that I mentioned 00:44:07.730 --> 00:44:10.469 earlier is this, that we're living in a day when 00:44:10.469 --> 00:44:13.889 God is moving. This gentleman said yesterday, 00:44:14.630 --> 00:44:18.010 none of us who have studied biblical prophecy 00:44:18.010 --> 00:44:20.750 expected to happen what has happened in Russia. 00:44:21.769 --> 00:44:24.269 And he said none of us understand it either. 00:44:25.090 --> 00:44:28.750 But he said one thing we know, God is at work 00:44:28.750 --> 00:44:33.789 in human history today to a degree that we've 00:44:33.789 --> 00:44:37.949 not seen God at work so obviously in many generations. 00:44:39.510 --> 00:44:43.690 God is moving in our world today, folks. He is 00:44:43.690 --> 00:44:49.949 stirring up the Gentile zoo. And those aspects 00:44:49.949 --> 00:44:53.090 of biblical prophecy that have not yet been fulfilled 00:44:53.090 --> 00:44:58.150 will inevitably come to pass. How wonderful to 00:44:58.150 --> 00:45:01.469 know the Lord and to walk with Him. to have His 00:45:01.469 --> 00:45:05.110 Word to guide us, and to know that we need not 00:45:05.110 --> 00:45:08.570 fear the future, but we can relax in the hand 00:45:08.570 --> 00:45:13.170 of God, knowing that God is able to care for 00:45:13.170 --> 00:45:16.690 us, whatever the future holds. Now, lest you 00:45:16.690 --> 00:45:21.570 go away fearing that the Antichrist is going 00:45:21.570 --> 00:45:25.960 to come upon you, let me just say, that I believe 00:45:25.960 --> 00:45:29.159 the Bible clearly teaches that before the Antichrist 00:45:29.159 --> 00:45:32.340 comes into prominence the church is going to 00:45:32.340 --> 00:45:35.280 be taken out of the world. I don't say that as 00:45:35.280 --> 00:45:37.739 an escape hatch to the trouble. I say it because 00:45:37.739 --> 00:45:40.500 I believe the Bible teaches that. I believe the 00:45:40.500 --> 00:45:43.139 Bible teaches that the church will not be here 00:45:43.139 --> 00:45:46.519 during the tribulation period when the Antichrist 00:45:46.519 --> 00:45:50.340 comes on so strong and powerfully. God will in 00:45:50.340 --> 00:45:52.679 that period of time be dealing with the Jewish 00:45:52.679 --> 00:45:57.539 people. once again who are set aside now. But 00:45:57.539 --> 00:46:00.260 when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, when 00:46:00.260 --> 00:46:02.860 the church is completed, the church is going 00:46:02.860 --> 00:46:05.920 to be removed and taken out and then God is going 00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:09.460 to bring to pass these things that Daniel will 00:46:09.460 --> 00:46:13.059 be talking to us about in the ninth chapter and 00:46:13.059 --> 00:46:16.719 in the twelfth chapter. So we've got some exciting 00:46:16.719 --> 00:46:18.820 things ahead in our study and we must close.