Daniel Ch. 11:21-35 | Men's Bible Study by Rick Burgess

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into the Wednesday Bible Study. We are so glad
that you are back. My name is Rick Burgess, host
of The Rick Burgess Show and director of the Manchurch
dot Com. The Manchurch dot Com is our sponsor that
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(00:43):
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(02:10):
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the information about the conferences there. So let's open in
a word of prayer. Today. We will continue in chapter

(02:32):
eleven of the Powerful Book of Daniel. We'll start in
verse twenty one. Lord, thank you for today. Thank you
for the opportunity to be in the room with men
unpacking your Holy Word, while at the same time, through
the miracle of technology, also teaching the Bible with thousands
of people everywhere, and so we welcome all of them

(02:55):
as well, either live with us, are watching this, or
listening to this on their own time. May we be
forever change. May we glean what you intend from your
powerful word today and the glorious name of Jesus. We
pray Amen. All right, So we when when I know
last week was was was a history lesson today will
be similar. Uh where we're moving through because this is

(03:18):
all prophecy. In Daniel eleven, it isn't anything but prophecy.
So uh, he is seeing the world events, He's seeing
things that are going to happen that haven't happened yet.
Remember a lot of this we look back at, Daniel
is looking forward, uh, and and God is showing himself.
Our takeaway last week, what the God that can see

(03:40):
the future in such great detail world history, Uh before
it ever takes place, when it was futuristic, that same
God can see your entire life from beginning to end. Uh.
And you should we should rest in that. So we're
going to pick up now. We went through various king
and I'm not going to unpack every single detail. Uh.
There were some cool things that I didn't cover as

(04:02):
far as world history. I'm trying to give you an overlays,
so we don't bog down too much on that because
I want us to get the big spiritual takeaways for
ourselves other than the fact that God is able to
see the future. But they'll be much to learn here
because remember what troubled Daniel is part of him seeing
the future. The one thing that troubled him the most

(04:25):
is what he saw is that his people, the Hebrews,
they were going to suffer greatly at the hand of
the Gentiles. And he sees one suffering after another, suffering
after another, suffering he's going to see one today that
is very, very troubling. We're gonna run into a really
wicked guy today. But we know that really this wicked

(04:45):
person ultimately is being run by what a demon. And
we know that we found that out in Daniel chapter ten,
that though we may see a human being, these evil
human beings throughout history, this is all demonic. They have
demons assigned to them, and they're operating under the authority
of demons. And we're going to see another one of those,
called Anticus the God. Now that's never that's always a

(05:08):
red flag. If someone takes the nickname God, that's always
a red flag. So there's been a number of Antichuses
throughout history as they come on down the tubes. But
we're going to see another one. And this king can
be divided really into five parts. You're going to see
that he here's the part that's going to trouble Daniel.

(05:28):
Throughout history, we know, right because we're way down the road,
we ourselves have seen some major persecutors of the Hebrews.
Some of us. May you may be old enough that
Hitler was something that was happening while you were alive,
but you certainly are old enough to remember it happening,
and all of us in here know the history of Hitler.

(05:49):
He would be a demonic persecutor of the Hebrews that
we're more familiar with than our timeframe. But so here
comes another one, and this antichost Anti the God. He
is a persecutor of the Jewish people. You're going to
see that a lot. So first of all, in verse
twenty one, we're going to find out about his personality,

(06:11):
and his contemptibility is right out of the gate. So
Daniel now sees coming in verse twenty one, we were
worn last week then and twenty then shall arise in
his place, talking about what had just happened, one who
shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of
the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken,

(06:32):
neither in anger nor in battle. We'll see what that
means here in a moment twenty one in his place
here he comes shall arise a contemptible person to whom
royal majesty has not yet been given. He shall come
in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. So

(06:53):
that we're learning about Antichus the God that he's conniving.
He's he he has, he'll do anything to get his way.
And you're not going to see him actually be some
sort of Alexander the Great. You're not going to see that.
He's not gonna be some conqueror that overwhelms you with
the military power. What you're going to see is a

(07:14):
deceitful person that connives to get his way, and and
that that's that's in his personality. So what happened is
he he's coming to power. We find him here in
Syria where his brother had put him. Uh, but we
find out that uh, he loaded us. If you remember
that the one who was who went into the temple,

(07:37):
the second person that was supernaturally stopped that went in
to try to rob from the treasury, and you remember
he poisoned the king that sent him, which of course
was Antichust, the God's brother. So so right now, uh,
this this this evil person who poisoned the king. His
brother has now declared himself the king of his brother's empire.

(08:01):
And he finds this out on the way. And if
you remember who this guy was, heliodor Us, our Heliodorus,
he was a tax collector. Remember that he was going
to steal from the treasury and he got stopped. Supernaturally,
he went back and poisoned the king and now has
declared himself king. Now this is Antiicus the God's brother. Okay.

(08:22):
So this claim was also contested by another fellow that
we've been dealing with, and that is oh Ptolemy Ptolemy
Philo Meteor. This is one of the Ptolemies. Okay. He's
now king of Egypt. Now he's claiming that Syria should
be his. The tax collector has set him self up

(08:43):
as running Syria, and he says it really should be mine, okay,
because I do this on the ground that my mother, Cleopatra,
was the sister of the now dead brother of Antichus
the God. So he says, we're all in this together,
we're all family here. I think it should be mine.

(09:05):
Antichus the God is going to find out the tax
collector has declared himself emperor. He's going to try to
take it, but so is the other fella, and he's
going to say it's rightfully mine because Cleopatra was actually
my sister, and she's the one that was the sister
of the now dead brother, and I'm kin to her too.

(09:27):
No surprise that Antichus the God disregards that and sought
to take the throne for himself. Now, various historians agree
that the young Anticus, that's Antichus the God, was indeed vile.
You'll find him in history, contemptible, as the Bible says, eccentric.
Always watch he's eccentric. People. You ever notice that they're

(09:48):
a little bit odd. They don't seem to have a
grasp on any value of human life. And whoever they
need to kill, and whatever way they need to get
power or money they will a lot of time. People
say he was probably likely mad, He probably had some
psychological problems. He wouldn't he wasn't all with us. He
was incredibly cruel, savage temper. Uh. And he had does

(10:14):
anybody remember the Garth Brooks song, I have friends in
low places, low places. Antichus the God had a lot
of friends and a lot of low places, okay, And
and they would he would pay them off to do
all kinds of things. Uh. He was He could be
a ratic at time, at times to a high degree,

(10:34):
very unpredictable. But but he was cunning. And I will
say this what makes him dangerous too, is that he
was not devoid of courage. He could be quite courageous
on the things he would try to do. So what
you have here is a person who's eccentric, who is
likely mad, he is has a savage temper, he's very cruel,

(10:57):
has no regard for human life, uh, and also is
well connected in the low places. It's a dangerous guy, okay,
and we've seen him throughout history, have it when you
could put a lot of names on this guy, a
lot of people just like him. So what he wanted
to do is he he took advantage of the fact
that if you really got down to it, the rightful
heir to this Syrian throne when his brother was killed

(11:21):
was not Tomally and it wasn't him. The rightful heir
was Demetrius, who you find in history. Because what the
brother who died, this is his son. So Demetrius should
go right in is now the new emperor of Syria,
and Anticus the God his uncle knows this, but he
wants He's been sent to Rome in place of Anticus

(11:46):
the God. That's where Antichus was. They wanted him to
come back because he's so cunning. His brother thought he
could help him with the Romans. To get a better
relationship with them, and that he could flatter the people.
Went over the Romans to his brother. So that's why
we see that he came peacefully to the throne. Is

(12:09):
that Demetrius the true Heir goes to Rome to replace
Anticus the God because his brother wants him back in
Syria to help flatter the Romans for them to kind
of stand together with Syria against Egypt. But what happened
was on the way back. Now Demetrius didn't know what's happened.
He's in Rome. So now his dad he's been killed.

(12:31):
He really should take the throne. But Anticus the God
finds out that there's some tax collector that's made himself
the emperor and that his brother's dead. Ain't not gonna
let Demetrius know about that. He's just going to ease
in there and try to take that for himself. So
look at verse twenty two. In verse twenty two, armies
shall be utterly swept away before him and broken even

(12:55):
the Prince of the Covenant. Now what does this mean.
What it means is he took control of the priesthood armies.
Uh they were there normally to protect the temple. Remember
what happened at the temple. So you've you've now got
this this tax collector that now is taken over the
priesthood armies. Uh. But they were swept away, and many

(13:18):
historians think that they were the armies that once belonged
to the tax collector because he took them after he
poisoned the king. He also took them when they were
guarding the temple and won them over to himself. But
what happens is when Anticus the god gets there, he
is going to take those armies that were loyal to

(13:40):
this tax collector, and he's going to use them to
turn on the tax collector by doing what remember, he's cunning,
reminding them they should be loyal to Demetrius. This guy's
not he this is the guy shouldn't have this place.
He's dupe yob. Well he's not gonna he's gonna do
Demetrius wrong too. But what right now, Demetrius served a purpose.

(14:01):
So these these these military guys are like, he's right,
Demetrius is the is the rightful heir. So he lets
them turn on the tax collector and wipe him out
for them. Uh. But uh, there is some historians disagree
with that some say they think it was the Egyptian army. Uh.
But uh, but most people think it was the the

(14:23):
the army or the military that was supposed to guard
the temple that were more. They had become more Greek
than they were Jewish at this point, and he was
able to win them over. Now, what does it mean
when it says the Prince of the Covenant. Many think
this is oneas the third the Jewish high Priest. He actually,
if you can keep up with me, he actually supports

(14:46):
Ptolemy's claim to the throne. So he's loyal to him. Well,
Antichus the God can't have that. Uh. If you're not
loyal to him, you don't have very long. So when
he says that Antichus the God, the armies will be
swept away before him, he has found a way to

(15:08):
fool them. And it says and he broke even the
Prince of the Covenant. What happens is we find out
in history that Antiochus the God murders oneas the Jewish
high Priest. So he's out. Okay now twenty three and
twenty four, And that's what the Bible means by the
Prince of the Covenant and from the time that an
alliance has made with him, he shall act deceitfully, and

(15:31):
he shall become strong with a small people, going on
without warning. He shall come into the richest parts of
the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers
nor his father's fathers have done, scattering among them, plunder,
spoil and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but

(15:54):
only for a time. Now we're talking about his craftiness.
He's about to do something that to all the ones
before him couldn't do. He's crafty in all of his dealings.
And so he's going to sign a treaty with Rome.
He's not going to stick to it, but he's going
to sign a treaty which he'll break. What does it
mean by strong with small people? Now, remember he reappeared

(16:17):
in Rome after being held hostage at Rome. So I
want you to understand these are those stories you got
to watch out for. Think about all the evil empires
you've thought about. There's nothing quite as intriguing to the
common people, the working people, than what one of their
own rising to power. So what happened was Anticus, the

(16:40):
god at one time was taken hostage by the Romans
into Rome as one of their prisoners, and now he's
come all the way from Rome into the emperor of Syria. Well,
the common everyday people they dig that. It's almost like
what he beat the man. Well, he uses that to
his favor because now he's got the common working people.

(17:03):
They like his rise to the throne, they think, Okay,
so he he has now become Uh, he's gone from
nobody to the reigning king, and the hard working folks
love that story. Okay, So that's what it means that
he and he also convinced uh a relatively small army.

(17:27):
And what he did is he he made deals secretly,
you know, breaking them all along the way. But but
he he would, he would, he would take hisself all
the way to being master of Egypt. Yes, I mean
with a relatively small army, which is what the prophecy's
talking about. He's gonna distribute his riches to influential people

(17:50):
to protect himself. Okay, so what does he do. I
don't have a big enough army to do this. So
if you don't have enough army, what would help him
enough money? You just start buying the people off that
you need to. Now you're not gonna buy just anybody off.
But what you do is you go, like you see
this all the time, Like I've done some mission work.

(18:10):
You ever done mission work in third world countries? And
you know what chaos they are the governments in these places.
But like in Nicaragua, what would happen there is you know,
you would have the ruling class and anytime they'd be
a little bit of an uprising of people demanding, we're
being treated like animals. We all got nothing, we're all

(18:32):
in poverty. You live this life. What do they do?
They go over to these henchmen and they say, now,
if you'll keep these people off of us, you'll eat
what we eat and you'll be paid handsomely. So what
happens now they're untouchable because the people that you think, well,
they're one of us, suddenly they're not one of you anymore.

(18:52):
They're getting paid by the ruling class. So now they
become henchmen for the ruling class. And let me tell you, Anticus,
the god was a master of this. He knew who
to pay, he knew who to put on the payroll.
And if you get enough influential people, you don't need
a big army and he goes to where his father's
and father's fathers never got. They never got to taking

(19:16):
over Egypt, but he did. He now becomes the master
of Egypt. Now here's a part I don't want you
to miss. Here comes a big spiritual takeaway. Okay, don't
miss the very last words of verse twenty four, because
they're very important. He shall devise plans against strongholds. And
here's the words I want you to underline. But only

(19:36):
for a time. Why is that in there? God's deciding
what he can and can do? He thinks he's doing this,
but God is a lady. It's like you see, which
I'm strongly considering, by the way, to be our next study.
I've got a lot of people talking about it. I'm
thinking about it, I'm praying about it. I'm thinking about
doing the the Book of Job. Let's jump into Job

(19:59):
and let's really wall around in this because what you
find is something and I'm going to tell you this
is something I have found that people don't like about God.
It's one of their bone of contentions with God. A
lot of people don't like. And we'll jump into it
in Job next. But it's happening right here too. They
do not like that Satan is on a chain that

(20:21):
God's controlling. They don't like it. They want to think
that Satan is running around doing whatever he wants to
do and he's causing all this trouble and God's not
involved in this at all. That's just not true. Because
we see, which we'll study if y'all want to, in job,
and we're seeing it right now. We see Daniel being
told in this prophecy, this guy is going to do

(20:42):
these things for a time who decided the time? God
did so anticus the God may be doing the damage,
but right holding him by a chain like a man
with a wild dog, that if I release enough chain,
he can bite you. But if I don't release enough chain,
he can't. Who's in control ultimately, the dog or me?

(21:06):
I'm in control. I release how much chain the dog
needs to bite. Now he may bite you. I didn't
bite you, but he couldn't bite you if I didn't
let him. And see I can tell even in the
room some of y'all don't like that, but it's absolutely true.
You don't like that the problems in your life that
God's allowed it. You don't like that at all. What

(21:29):
I do is quit worrying about that and be mad
at God, and I'd figure out why He's allowing it.
That's what I do. So anyway, So only for a time.
There's God's signature there. Now, lets get into his conquest
because we've got some meaty stuff coming up today, okay.
And he shall this is twenty five through twenty seven.
And he shall stir up his power and his heart

(21:51):
against the King of the South with a great army.
And the King of the South shall wage war with
an exceedingly great and mighty arm me. But he shall
not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. Even
those who eat his food shall break him. His army
shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain.

(22:14):
And as for the two kings, their heart shall be
bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the
same table, but to no avail, for the end is
yet to be at the time appointed. Who appointed the time?
That's right. You got to rest in that though. You

(22:36):
got to rest in that, all right. So he now
enters the Egyptian Kingdom. He has a new mobilized, large
army now and he's marching against his rival Tomally. But
Tomally was aware of the danger that was coming his way.
He found out about it, and Antichus the God was

(22:59):
hoping he could surprised him, and it didn't happen. Somebody tattled. Okay,
so now Tomally knows. Now what does he do? He
quickly mobilizes a military to match the power of Antichus
the God. But Anticus the God was too much, and
Tomally's woes resulted from some treachery of some of his

(23:20):
own trusted advisors. That's what this prophecy is saying. Scripture
says this. They were plots devised against him, and he
was betrayed, and now he's been delivered into the hands
of Antichus the God. He thought he had enough army
to match him, and he would have. But what happened treachery?
Who do you think was in You think Anticus the

(23:40):
God wouldn't have had an at them jecks, And somebody
turned on Tomally, and so Anticus the God got the
upper hand Verse twenty seven. And for the two kings,
their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall
speak lies at the same table, but to no avail.
What is this? Well? Uh, the Egyptian king Uh was

(24:05):
was getting entertained because Antichus had took most of the cities,
but there's one place he couldn't quite get, and that
was Alexandria. He got everything, but that so he returned
back to Memphis in Egypt, and he sat down with
Tomally's brother. Okay, he beat Tomally, but he can't he
can't get the brother, and the brother is running Alexandria.

(24:27):
So they sit down and uh and and what looked
like a trusted allegiance. He was saying, listen, you and
I needed, well, let's get together and we'll go back
and we'll wipe your brother. I got him, but I
can't take it all. Why don't we just share and
we'll kind of be co in charge. I can't beat Alexandria,
I know it. I still want to have a role
in it. Why don't we do this together, and let's

(24:49):
let's have an allegiance. So it appears to strengthen his
hold on the throne. Uh, you know, but of course,
keep keep in mind, he's now Tomally. Remember they're all
they're all from the same family. And now you find
Antichus the god. He's defeated his brother, the other brother.

(25:11):
But this is that brother's son. So his uncle is
Antichus the God, so he pretty crafty too. So this
whole family is pretty crafty. So what doesn't have Antichus
doesn't know is he's getting played right now by his nephew.
So he pretended to go along with the plan, hoping

(25:31):
that his uncle Antichus the God would leave and return
to Syria. They spoke at the table here it is
in prophecy. God wasn't with either one of them. So
although the nephew formed another alliance and formed a proclamation
against Antichus the God, God ultimately was in control. I
love this and the prophecy when you study it. Really,

(25:51):
what Daniel's being shown is these people are just pawns
in God's plan. They can't be trusted. They're both evil.
God didn't like either one of them. They're lying to
each other, They're gonna try to turn on each other.
They're all just part of the plan. They'll ultimately destroy
each other. Because God is ultimately in charge of this
whole thing. They're not in control. He is, And as

(26:13):
the text declares, the end of the wars aren't done yet.
Why why aren't the wars over? That's always the question
isn't it. Well, God, why are you allowing this to
go on? Now? See, we foolishly think Daniel knew better.
We foolishly think this is all about a bunch of Greeks.
This is about this fragmented of Alexander the Great's kingdoms

(26:38):
and all these guys grabbing for power on what Alexander
left behind. But it's not about that at all. They're
just pawns in God's plan, as are the enemies of
Israel today, all just pawns. Okay, Well, who he's dealing
with in all this is Judea. He's dealing with his people,

(26:59):
And the reason why the wars are not going to
stop is that Judea has yet to repent. They haven't
learned their lesson yet. And so God is allowing this
to go on because we see that they are sitting
as a buffer between Egypt and Syria. So God's not

(27:23):
going to allow peace come to Syria and Egypt. Why,
because they're going to discipline that little country that's in
between them, Judea. The reason why that they can't get
peace and they're still caught in the crossfire of these
two kingdoms is they have not learned their lesson, So

(27:43):
remain as a buffer between two warring countries. And the
reason why I'm stuck between these two evil countries and
they're firing across us, and they keep coming through here
and wreaking. Have it the reason why God has not
protected from these enemies. As we won't repent, we haven't

(28:04):
learned our lesson. Hello, there's a takeaway, learn the lesson.
I say this all the time when people talk about,
you know, the calamities that I've been through in my life,
and all of us have been through them. And anytime
somebody starts that garbage about whoa, how do you feel

(28:24):
about God? And only? I just get so sick of that.
I just get so sick of that. Every time those
kind of people come into my life, I go, well,
here's somebody else that's never read the Bible, And what
good are they to me? If you don't know the
word of God, you're not any good to me. Whatever
you're telling me is flawed. You don't know what you're
talking about. It's imperfect. It's just your opinion. It may

(28:46):
even be your feelings. Okay, But what I know is
this the reason why I have been allowed to suffer.
It's because God loves me enough to know this what's required.
I'm not mad at him, I'm mad at me. Why

(29:07):
have I got to be so sinful that this is
what it takes. And that's the same thing with his people.
He's doing it because he loves them. He's given them
everything he can to make them turn to him. And
he did it over and over and over. And what
did calamity always do for the Hebrews? And it always

(29:28):
does for us? It works? It works. Anybody remember trying
to get us seat in the church after nine to eleven?
Ain't no seats? Right? Where do all these people come from?
They're afraid? You remember thinking on that day, America, because
that's probably the only thing most of us did together.

(29:50):
Do you remember wondering if how many more are things
we're going to be attacked? We couldn't believe that we
had in our lifetime there was a war going going
inside our country. That wasn't the Civil War, it wasn't
the revolutionary war. We had ever since the Civil War,
we had been fighting somewhere else. And now somebody has

(30:12):
found a way what we thought very arrogantly just like
just like, just like the Babylonians, we thought our country
couldn't be attacked. We think it was possible, and we
had a false sense of security. And when those planes
started dropping out of the skies and we didn't know
how many planes were going to drop, we didn't know

(30:33):
how many terrorist attacks were going to happen. There was
a time there where everybody was afraid. And then even
after we got under control, we're like, well, surely there's
more to come. And then what did that do? That
drove everybody into the house of God, didn't it. But
as soon as we gained control of the situation, as
soon as peace returned to the country, those pews that

(30:57):
weren't available suddenly were available again because nobody was scared anymore,
and we went back to our biggest problem, self reliance.
So this is what this is all about. Why are
they in trouble? Look at twenty eight. And he shall
return to his land with great wealth, but his heart

(31:20):
shall be set against the Holy Covenant, and he shall
work his will and return to his own land. Really,
this is bad, bad, bad, Okay. So now the scripture
is going to focus on the cruelty of Anticus, the
god many Jewish people talking about verse twenty eight. Now
now had become apostates from Judaism, they didn't practice any

(31:44):
of it anymore. Okay, rationalizing what their beliefs, they begin
to adapt the Greek way of life. Anticus love this,
he loves seeing the Hebrews embracing paganism, embracing the greed
way of life and in the Greeks ways. But then

(32:06):
after he was returning to Syria, he's got to go
through Judea. Now, now, remember we already have that he's
been duped by his nephew. The nephew, as you're going
to see here in a minute, cuts a deal. Okay,

(32:30):
that gets the Romans to side with him, and that's
going to be the end for Antichus the God as
far as his pursuit of Egypt. So anyway, he's he's
returning home and he got the news that a rumor
had run through Palestine all of Judea that he actually

(32:51):
had been killed in this attempt to conquest to take
over Egypt and Alexandria. And he finds out that they're celebrating,
they're glad he's dead. Can I give you heads up
if you're under the rule of an evil dictator, make
sure he's dead before you start celebrating his death, because

(33:15):
it's not good if he finds out you're celebrating his
death and he's not dead. Okay. So so here's some
other things that that are going on at this time.
So you're you're going to see that we're gonna have
a Hellenist who's Jewish. You know, these are the those

(33:37):
that that are Jewish people who are Greek. That Jason
at one time was the high priest. Now he was
there as as you know, because he has enough Greek
that Antichus said, I want him to be in charge
and be the high priest there in Judea. He placed

(33:59):
him there. Well, there was an overthrow by a guy
named Minilus Minilaus uh. And what and what he did
is is he went in and uh and and he
he kind of got I'm sorry Jason was in charge.
And then this guy took a bribe uh but from
Antichus to go in overthrow Jason. I have that backwards.

(34:22):
So so now many Minilaus comes in and overthrows Jason,
who was a hell Hellenist Jewish high priest. And Jason
didn't like that, so he mobilized a thousand mercenaries and
marched on Jerusalem and forced the Anticus appointed Minilaus forced

(34:44):
him out. Now Antichus, the God doesn't know this, and
pushed him all the way back to the castle. Anticus
took this as a revolt. You removed my guy. You
are celebrating my what you think death, And he says,
I tell you what I'm gonna teach you Jewish people
a lesson that you'll never forget. So his heart was
against the Holy Covenant. That's what this first means, the

(35:07):
Holy Land and all it stood for. He fell on
Jerusalem with seasoned veterans, killed forty thousand of its inhabitants,
sold another forty thousand into slavery. He plundered the temple,
carried off the treasure valued Now you're not gonna believe
how much treasure was in the Jewish temple. You're not

(35:30):
gonna believe the number. They believe the number, and it
was somewhere about somewhere around eighteen hundred talents. Now let
me tell you how much money that is by today's standard.
I've seen different commentaries on it. The lowest, the lowest
it would be for eight for a talent. The lowest

(35:52):
number a talent represents is half a million dollars. That's
the lowest. The highest is around a million. There's that much.
There's that much difference. So he's taking away Antichust the
god with all his mercenaries and with all his seasoned
military people. He kills forty thousand Jewish people, sells another
forty thousand into slavery, takes the treasury away. They think

(36:16):
by today's money, what he took away was between one
and two billion dollars, so that's a lot of money.
So then he's not done. And you remember this guy
in history, and this is probably make you remember him
because you probably ever read this before. He sacrificed a
female pig on the brazen altar in the temple square.

(36:37):
So he takes a big old pig and sacrifices it
on the brazen altar. Then he makes a broth out
of the swine's flesh and begins to sprinkle it all
over the temple. This is why we call him a
type of Antichrist. He is blaspheming the temple. Okay, in

(36:59):
his crimes will now be next twenty nine through thirty
five at the time appointed underline that he shall return
and come into the south. But it shall not be.
It shall not be this time as it was before.
For the ships of it's actually pronounced Chittam. Here it's

(37:20):
Kiddom that one different translations call that different. It shall
come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw,
and turn back, and be enrage and take action against
the Holy Covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention
to those who forsake the Holy Covenant, for forces from
him shall appear and profane the temple here it all

(37:43):
is and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering,
and they shall set up the abomination that makes it desolate.
He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant.
But the people who know their God shall stand firm
and take action. And the wise among the people shall

(38:04):
make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble
by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. When they stumble,
they shall receive little help, and many shall join themselves
to them with flattery. And some of the wives shall stumble,
so that they may be refined, purified, and made white
until the time of the end, for it still awaits

(38:27):
the appointed time. This is everything I just told you about,
so Anticus took up this second campaign against Egypt, but
it's not recorded here. It's almost like Gabriel is like, Okay,
he's going to try the second time. It's so insignificant
and not im going to cover that, so he jumps
right to the third time that he tries it. It overshadows.

(38:51):
It's overshadowed by the third. Now this is the final campaign.
We're about to be done with Antichus because it's going
to have dire consequences for Syria and Judea. So after
the second campaign, the Pharaohs had enough of suffering and
the oppression of Anticus. They really got tired of him
showing up trying to fight all the time, and they've

(39:11):
had enough, Okay, so they go and get Greek mercenaries
to strengthen their own forces and sent an embassy to
Rome to appeal to them for help, and Rome agrees.
We think it's spring of one hundred and sixty eight BC.
Anticus was ready demanding immediate surrender of Cyprus, Pelusium, and

(39:33):
other territories. No one could stop him. Memphis fell. Anticus
thinks he is on the way again, and he appears
before once again the city of Alexandria. But as the
text tells us, what are these ships, he sees, really,
what this word means is Cyprus, but here it represents

(39:54):
the Romans. He sees the Roman ships are all in
the harbor there at Egypt, and he's like, uh oh,
they got the Romans. The Romans beat him there. The
Romans had come and the Romans were done with mister
Antika Antioch Antichus the god. He had met his match.

(40:15):
The Romans now controlled Alexandria, and Antiicus public humiliation and
his need need to save face took out his frustrations
on tiny little Judea. He had to do something. He
was angry, he got embarrassed. If you look at history,
they say that he tried one of his little cunning

(40:36):
moves again. Hey I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna surrender again,
And they said the Romans, and you can find this
in history, went to him, and one of the commanders
walked out and took his sword and drew a circle
around Anticus the god in the sand, and said no, no, no,
you step outside this circle. We're gonna kill you right now.

(40:56):
You better you better commit right now that we see
you leaving and going back to where you came from.
There'll be no more of this shucking in jib than
we're done. And he embarrassingly tail between his legs, is
going back humiliated, and that's when he finds out they
overthrew the guy he put in charges high priest. They're

(41:19):
all laughing and celebrating because they think the Romans killed him.
And then he just brings down fury on Judea. So
he has friends and accomplices in Judea, meaning some of
those sided with him. He invades Judea, he attacks them.
If you look in history on the Sabbath, troops ravished

(41:40):
the city, tearing down buildings, spreading terror. They took over
the citadel that overlooks the temple. They're going to take
away the sacrificial rituals system completely. They're going to replace
it with worship of Antichust, the god. He will be
worshiped the Greek religion will be embraced, or you will

(42:01):
be killed. The temples we know was consecrated to Jupiter
and also uh there they erected. There's two thoughts. They
put an ashrath pole there, which is a sexual connotation
in the paganism, or others say no, they actually erected
a monument to Zeus slash Antichus the God. It's like

(42:24):
he was like, you're gonna worship Zeus and me. That's
where he gets the nickname. He must be worshiped as well.
Jewish sacrifices would cease immediately. They destroyed copies of the scripture.
He stopped all the feast and replaced them with pagan feast.
And then the worst when, of course we talked about

(42:47):
he desecrated the temple. He built an idol over the
brazen altar. That's the one. They don't know whether it's
an ashrapole or or Zeus above it. He wrote, See
if this doesn't sound like a type of Antichrist above
whatever it was he put there. We do know that
he wrote this, the abomination that maketh desolate. This was

(43:10):
said to represent Zeus. That's why most people think it
was something to do with Zeus. Think about that, the
abomination that maketh desolate? What is Antichrist called the abomination
of desolation? Whatever it was, it was an abomination. And
to disobey anything that Antichus the God laid down was death. Okay,

(43:37):
So again here's God working and suffering. So what happened well,
to a lot of the Jewish people, Antichus the God
had gone too far? Enough was enough? There's always a remnant, Okay,
So what you have is some gave him a massive

(43:58):
resistance to the oppression, but not everyone. Look at look
at thirty two A look at look at verse thirty
two A. He shall seduce with flattery those who violate
the covenant. So what always happens when there's some false
religion or somebody blaspheming God. There's always people who claim

(44:18):
to be with God that ultimately go with them. And
why did they go with them? Flattery? He found a
way to win them over by saying, I'll take care
of you. And here's the thing, this is one of
the takeaways for us, what is the flattery? These people
that left worship of God came to the conclusion that

(44:39):
being liked by Anticust the God and being safe with
him and all the wealth and all the riches, that
was more desirable than sacrificing being killed and being right
with God. We got to make the decision, what do

(44:59):
we just just want comfort? Are we willing to say
to the world if you just won't bother me and
I just won't have to suffer. I'll blaspheme God for comfort,
for protection, for security. But let me tell you something, brothers,
there's no more dangerous place to be, and sisters that
are watching, there's no more dangerous place to be than

(45:22):
opposing God. And there's no more secure place to be
than to be right with God. And this is what
we see even today. But then we see in thirty
two A that those who went with him, they went
right along with the false gods. That's fine, Hey, we

(45:46):
left devotion to God a long time ago, so this
is not even hard for us. They were doing fine.
They didn't want to make trouble, and they were forced
to decide, and they decided. They picked. You have to
decide all the time. Don't others think about how many
things that are blaspheming the one and only living God
in our country right now. And it's allowed to go

(46:08):
on because no one will stand up. Everybody says I
don't want to make trouble. I got news for you.
I'm not saying it's a wonderful thing to do. I
don't like I don't like suffering. I don't I don't
like to have people after me I don't have people
threatening me. I don't enjoy that at all. But I'm
willing because if you're gonna blasphem God, and if that's

(46:32):
going to bring discomfort to me, if I won't, then
I'll just have to. I'll just have to do it,
because even if you kill me at that point, I'm
gonna face the ultimate judge, and I wanna hear from
him well done, good and faithful servant. If I look
for a well done, good than faithful servant from the world,
well how long is that gonna last? Well until the

(46:53):
next evil person takes over, and then I'm gonna get
in trouble for being devoted to that person. Better be
devoted to the one we know we're never wrong to
be devoted to, and that's the one and only living God,
the King of Kings, the Lord of lords, the one
that takes these people that think they're so important and
to him, he wipes them out like they're nothing. As

(47:13):
the Great Steve Ferar said, please stop worshiping and fearing
people that God has to allow to breathe. But then
you have those who defied Anticus. That's who we need
to be. There's always a remnant you know. That's the thing.
How many times do we see scripture when somebody we think,

(47:34):
poor poor Piti for me, nobody else is devoted to
God but me, And then you find out, now there's
I've got a remnant. I've always got a remnant. You're
not the only one. You're not alone. That may not
be many of you, but you always got others. There's
always a remnant. Some took a brave stand for God
against the wickedness of Antichus, the God. This is going

(47:57):
to last, by the way, for three years. Don't think
that Anticus came in there and he was destroyed quickly.
They had to go through three years of this. Do
you notice the symbolism for the tribulation here? Three years
of Antichus just wreaking habit. Many paid the price, But

(48:17):
I love this. They would not blaspheme God. Can you
make that commitment today? Can you honestly say that, no
matter what threat is made against us, we will not
blaspheme God. We won't. I mean, I watch this blasphemy

(48:40):
as some sort of prayer service yesterday as part of
the new administration taking over in our country. And why
in the world somebody didn't stand up in that service
and say enough enough, this blasphemy will not continue. But
you know, I understand everybody said, well, that's rude, sit
and be nice. But I just hope there's not a
day that these people that were sitting in that room. Now,

(49:03):
some of them said something after it was over, But
that God is going to look down and say, when
when the woman was up there running me down, why
didn't you say anything, Why don't you just stand up
right then and say this stops. This stops. Well, Rick,

(49:24):
that would be rude. That wouldn't be very nice. It's
not very civil. Well yeah, I mean, but there comes
a time. All I can hear is Jesus and Matthew
ten saying, anyone that will not acknowledge me before men,
I will not acknowledge before the father. Anyone who denies

(49:46):
me before men, I will deny before the father. There
is a time sometimes to stand up and point to
heresy and say no more. Either leave the room or
just stand up and say this must stop. I know
I have a brother that went to something that was
supposed to be something about the faith, and he was

(50:10):
standing there and they let this guy get up and talk,
and it was supposed to be a faith based I
won't to get into all the details. The guy starts
using foul language. He starts using sexual innuendo when talking
about Bible study. And he said, I just stood up
and looked around everybody, and I walked out. I was like,
I can't. I'm not going to stand here and listen

(50:30):
to this. There comes a time we have to stand
up and say, you will not blaspheme, the one and
only living God, not why I'm here. And so then
we go on to see more of the suffering and
the wise among the people. This is verse thirty three.
Now shall make many understand, though for some days they

(50:52):
shall stumble by sword and flame, captivity and plunder. Who
are these people? They're the ones wouldn't take it? And
what did they say? I love this? I love this
line here and the wise among the people. So what
tells you about their wisdom? What makes them wise? They
fear God. They don't fear Antichus anymore. They fear God,

(51:14):
So they're wise. So the Bible tells us fear of
God is the beginning of all wisdom. So the wise
among the people shall make many understand, so they win
some over. But look what happens, though for some days
they shall stumble by sword, they're getting killed and flame.
They roasted them by cactive captivity. I'm in jail. And
then some that he just took everything they have, burned

(51:36):
their property down. Yeah, when you go and look at
the history of this, Antichus would roast some of the
Hebrews like they were food. That would that defied them.
But they would rather be roasted alive by an evil
dictator than to blaspheme, the one and only living God.

(51:59):
And they're called wise. Here comes God's purpose explained. Hang on,
when they stumble, they shall receive little help, and many
shall join themselves to them with flattery. So some are
going to just go along, and they're gonna stumble and
reject God. But look at thirty five, and some of

(52:23):
the wise shall stumble, meaning some of the ones that
even know better and are doing the world, they're not
going to do it perfectly. They're going to make a mistake.
Here come suffering, you ready, so that they may be refined,
they may be purified and made white until the time
of the end, For it still awaits the appointed time.

(52:50):
Do you hear that? Don't leave here? So many people
start saying, why does God allow suffering? Where is God
in all this? Of course you've heard me say many times.
My wife makes this point in her book about this,
where God said through her, if you want to know
where God is, He's right in the middle of it.

(53:11):
God's purpose is explained. I'm doing this to purify the
nation from its apostasies, and it's sin. That's why I'm
doing it. And when you look at any country, when
you look at any church and you see it turning

(53:36):
into an apostate, and you see it turning to paganism
and embracing and justifying sin, God is on record that
he will not tolerate it forever. And there will come
a time that who will bring down fury by his

(53:57):
own hand or by using pagan and wicked people who
are under demonic force, He will use them. If he
has to to purify you as an individual, me as
an individual, or to purify a church, or to purify
a nation, he will do it. He has done it,

(54:22):
and he continues to do it because it works. So
what our job is to do is to be assessing
ourselves and our individual rejection of God, but also being
those that are crying out to the nation, to the church.

(54:45):
This is the wrong road, be part of the wise.
We got to change. God's wrath is coming, his refinement
is coming. He's not going to continue to tolerate this.
And if somebody says, how do you know that, you
can say, because He's given me a history of his
character and how he sees this, and I believe it

(55:09):
because I've seen him do it time and time again.
So why it's difficulty allowed for our own good? For
our own good? So what I would do I just
heed the warning. I wouldn't say to God, I'm not

(55:31):
going to turn unless you do something that forces me
to turn. I just turn. I just acknowledge him for
who he is now. And see Daniel is watching all this,
and he sees what his people are going to have
to go through, and this is why he's so distraught.
But God keeps telling him, I'm doing it to refine them.

(55:53):
And you know what, while we're alive right now, this
is still going on. He's still refining them. But he's
also going to refine his church, because what does he say,
I don't stay married to an unfaithful bride. Let's pray Lord,
thank you for today. Thank you for our time together.

(56:15):
Thank you for this difficult but clear message. May you
be glorified. Lord, forgive us of our sins, forgive us
of our apostasy, forgive us of our heresy, and Lord, really,
forgive us of our passiveness when heresy and apostasy is
all around us. May we stop being so tolerant of

(56:40):
people and be more afraid of You and your holy name.
We pray, Amen, Thank you for being with us.