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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon.
Today, daniel, chapter 11, andtoday's title is God's Blueprint
of History.
God's Blueprint of History.
I almost said God's Recipe ofHistory, but that wouldn't have
made any sense.
We're going to get all that injust a moment.
But if you like what we'redoing here, make sure you get
your Bible out to Daniel,chapter 11, and make sure you
(00:22):
take just a moment to like,share and subscribe to the
YouTube channel and the podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast
and make sure you're going tothe Bible Breakdown Discussion
on Facebook.
It's an amazing group of peopledoing a wonderful job and, as
always, the more we dig, themore we find.
We're going to jump into this,but before we do, have you ever
looked at something and you werejust in awe of it?
(00:44):
And then, when you looked at it, you were like this is amazing
and all.
And then you start to realizethere was actually a blueprint,
that this person didn't justthink of it, but they actually
had a way that they wrote itdown, in a way that they could
replicate it.
Like I remember and this isgoing to be silly, but I
remember the first time I lookedat one of those like triple
tier wedding cakes and I can'tcook right.
(01:05):
I wish I could.
My wife is an amazing cook andI don't have any of that ability
right.
And the first time I saw thistriple decker, triple tier
wedding cake, I rememberthinking that is the nearest
thing to impossible.
I can imagine like, how do youdo that?
First of all, how do you cook acake?
Then how do you do it in such away that there's three levels
(01:25):
and they don't fall on eachother and it actually tastes
good and all that kind of goodstuff.
Well then, when I was talkingto somebody one day, they
started to lay out to me there'sa blueprint to this, right.
So you cook the differentlayers and then you do it like
this, you do it like that.
And it was even more impressiveto me because I was like you
mean, you can do that as manytimes as you want to.
I was just blown away thatthere was a blueprint and that
(01:49):
it made complete sense to them.
It wasn't an accident.
If I ever made a three-tiercake, it would be a one-and-done
thing and you could never askme how I did it because I
couldn't have explained it toyou.
Well, that's what we're goingto talk about today.
When it comes to God, god has ablueprint of history.
It is a mystery to us howthings are going to unfold.
It's not a mystery to God.
(02:11):
He looks at it.
And where we would look athistory, especially future
history as it unfolds and weslowly begin to see God's
handiwork in things.
And we can see that now that welook back at the past and go,
wow, you can just see thisgolden thread throughout history
as God has been orchestratingevents.
How could he do that?
(02:31):
How is that possible?
God looks at it and he's likewell, yeah, exactly how I did
that.
I got a blueprint for it, Imade this, and that's kind of
what we look at in this, but notonly the history that's gone by
, but we look at the future andwe're like God, how are you
going to do that?
And God's like, eh, I got ablueprint and we're going to
look at that, as Daniel iscontinuing to remind us that God
(02:55):
is in control.
God knows what he's doing and,if you remember, he's writing
this to the exiles who have losteverything, and it seems like
Babylon's in charge, you know,and the Medes and Persians are
in charge.
These people are in charge.
But actually God is saying oh,no, no, no, I've never once lost
my control of the world.
(03:16):
And Daniel shows this throughthe first half of the book.
He tells us the stories of allthe things that God had been
doing.
And then in the second half hesays not only is God faithful
now, he's going to be faithfulinto the future.
And then you've seen, if you'vebeen with us, how he has been
building this.
And in one chapter, daniel readthe books of Moses and he read
(03:39):
about the prophecies of Jeremiahand he began to realize why
they were in exile and all thethings that led up to it.
And so he just spends thisseason of just prayer, fasting
and mourning.
And then God is showing himthese different visions and at
one point he is just saying I'veseen these visions and they
terrify me because it looks bad,but I don't know what it means.
So he goes to another season of21 days of now what we get for
(04:01):
the Daniel fast of no meat, nosweets, no bread, drink water,
and he's just interceding beforeGod.
God, I don't know what this is,but it don't look good.
And then an angel comes to himand he says 21 days ago, when
you started praying, I startedbringing the answer.
Now, here I am.
Here's the answer to yourprayer.
This is what's going to happenin the future, and that's what
Daniel 11 and 12 is going to beabout.
(04:22):
Is, finally, god revealing theblueprint of history?
So let's read this, and thenwe're going to finish this with,
hopefully, something that willbe encouraging to you today.
So, if you're ready, daniel,chapter 11, verse 1 says this
Now, then this is the angelspeaking to Daniel.
I will reveal the truth to you.
Three more Persian kings willreign, to be succeeded by a
(04:45):
fourth, far richer than theothers.
He will use his wealth to stirup everyone to fight against the
kingdom of Greece.
Then a mighty king will rise topower who will rule with great
authority and accomplisheverything he sets out to do.
But at the height of his power,his kingdom will be broken
apart and divided into fourparts.
(05:06):
It will not be ruled by theking's descendants.
Nor will the kingdom hold theauthority it had at once, for
his empire will be uprooted andgiven to others Now pause ruled
by the king's descendants.
Nor will the kingdom hold theauthority it had at once, for
his empire will be uprooted andgiven to others.
Now pause.
Now the reason why it just blowsour minds because what we know
now is is that's what happened.
Then the kingdom of Greece cameto power through Alexander the
Great, but then, when he died,he never declared a successor,
(05:31):
and so his kingdom was brokeninto parts, and his different
generals then started to ruleover the empire that Alexander
the Great had, but it did nothave the same power because he
was now dead.
So that's already happened,which is ridiculous.
How amazing.
That is Verse 5,.
Then the king of the south willincrease in power, but one of
his own officials will becomemore powerful than he and will
(05:53):
rule his kingdom with greatstrength.
Then, some years later, analliance will be formed between
the king of the north and theking of the south.
The daughter of the king of thesouth will be given in marriage
to the king of the north tosecure the alliance, but she
will lose her influence over him, and so will her father.
She will be abandoned, alongwith her supporters, but when
(06:16):
one of her relatives becomesking of the south, he will raise
an army to enter the fortressof the king of the north and
defeat him.
When he returns to Egypt, hewill carry back their idols with
him, along with the pricelessarticles of gold and silver.
Some years afterward, he willleave the king of the north
alone.
(06:37):
Later, the king of the northwill divide the realm of the
king of the south, but will soonreturn to his own land.
However, the sons of the kingof the north will assemble a
mighty army that will advancelike a flood and carry the
battle as far as the enemy'sfortress.
Then, in a rage, the king ofthe south will rally against the
(06:57):
vast forces assembled by theking of the north and will
defeat them.
After the enemy army is sweptaway, the king of the south will
be filled with pride and willexecute many thousands of his
enemies.
But his success will beshort-lived.
A few years later, the king ofthe north will return with a
fully equipped army, far greaterthan before.
At that time, there will be ageneral up, a general uprising
(07:21):
against the king of the south.
Violent men among your ownpeople will join them in
fulfillment of this vision, butthey will not succeed.
Then the king of the north willcome and lay siege to a
fortified city and capture it.
The best troops of the southwill not be able to stand in the
face of the onslaught.
The king of the north willmarch onward unopposed.
None will be able to stop him.
(07:43):
He will pause in the gloriousland of Israel, intent on
destroying it.
He will make plans to come withmight of his entire kingdom and
will form an alliance with theking of the south.
He will give him a daughter inmarriage in order to overthrow
the kingdom from within, but hisplan will fail.
After this, he will turn hisattention to the coastland and
(08:05):
conquer many cities, but acommander from another land will
put an end to his insolence andcause him to retreat in shame.
He will take refuge in his ownfortresses, but will stumble and
fall and be seen no more.
His successor will send out atax collector to maintain the
royal splendor, but after abrief reign he will die, though
(08:27):
not from anger or in battle.
The next to come to power willbe a despicable man who is not
in line for royal succession.
He will slip in when leastexpected and take over the
kingdom by flattery and intrigue.
Before him, great armies willbe swept away, including a
covenant prince With deceitfulpromises.
(08:47):
He will make various alliances,he will become strong despite
having only a handful offollowers.
Without warning, he will enterthe richest areas of the land
and he will distribute among hisfollowers the plunder and
wealth of the rich, somethinghis predecessors had never done.
He will plot and overthrow thestrongholds, but this will last
(09:08):
only for a short while.
Then he will stir up hiscourage and raise a great and
mighty army against the king ofthe south.
The king of the south will goto battle with a mighty army,
but to no avail, for there willbe plots against him.
His own household will causehis downfall, his mighty army
will be swept away and many willbe killed, Seeking nothing but
(09:33):
each one's harm.
These kings will plot againsteach other at the conference
table, attempting to deceiveeach other.
But it will make no difference,for the end will come.
At the appointed time, the kingof the north will return home
with great riches.
On the way, he will set himselfagainst the people of the holy
covenant, doing much damagebefore continuing his journey.
Then, at the appointed time, hewill set himself against the
people of the Holy Covenant,doing much damage before
continuing his journey.
(09:54):
Then, at the appointed time, hewill once again invade the
south, but this time the resultwill be different, for warships
from the west coastlands willscare him off and will withdraw
to return home, but he will venthis anger against the people of
the Holy Covenant and rewardthose who forsake the covenant.
His army will take over thetemple fortresses, pollute the
(10:22):
sanctuary and put a stop andreward those who forsake the
covenant.
People who know their God willbe strong and will resist him.
Wise leaders will giveinstruction to many, but these
teachers will die by fire orsword or be jailed and robbed.
During these persecutions,little help will arrive and many
(10:44):
who join them will not besincere, and some of the wise
will fall victim to persecution.
In this way, they will berefined and cleansed and made
pure until the time of the end,verse 1.
Even blaspheming the God ofgods, he will succeed, but not
(11:10):
only, but only, until the timeof wrath is completed, for what
has been determined will surelytake place.
He will have no respect for thegods of his ancestors and for
the God loved by the women andfor any other God, for he will
boast that he is greater thanthem all.
Instead of these, he willworship the god of fortresses,
(11:33):
the god of his ancestors neverknew and lavish on him gold,
silver, precious stones andexpensive gifts, claiming this
foreign god's help.
He will attack the strongestfortresses.
He will honor those who submitto him, appointing them to
positions of authority anddividing the land among them as
(11:54):
their reward.
Then, at the time of the end,the king of the south will
attack the king of the north andthe king of the north will
storm out with chariots,charioteers and a vast navy.
He will invade various landsand sweep through them like a
flood.
He will enter the glorious landof Israel and many nations will
fall, but Moab, edom and thebest part of Ammon will escape.
(12:17):
He will conquer many countries.
Even Egypt will not escape.
He will gain control over gold,silver treasures of Egypt, and
the Libyans and the Ethiopianswill be his servants of Egypt,
and the Libyans and theEthiopians will be his servants.
But then the news from the eastand the north will alarm him
and he will set out in greatanger to destroy and obliterate
(12:37):
many.
He will stop between theglorious mountain and the sea
and will pitch his royal tents,but while he is there, his time
will suddenly run out and no onewill help him.
Wow, you want to talk aboutsomething specific going on,
like that's what so many, somany different prophecies in the
old testament are uh, ambiguousand and vague and we're not
(13:01):
really sure what's going on.
We just know god's faithful andit's all gonna be okay, right.
Well, in this one he's doingeverything but naming names.
He's talking about a king fromthe north and a king from the
south and all this kind of stuff.
And if you're interested insuch things, there are people
who have just devoted theirlives to trying to figure out
what this could look like andspend a lot of time debating on
(13:21):
what it means to be the king ofthe north and all this kind of
stuff.
And there's people who try tothink that all of this really
surrounds Israel, because, ifyou notice, earlier in the
chapter it says the people ofthe Holy Covenant and that would
be a clear reference to thenation of Israel, and so then
they say that South and Northand all of that.
They try to say that that isrespective to the location of
(13:42):
Israel, which is why a lot ofpeople think that the king of
the North would be someone whocomes from like Russia and stuff
like that.
So if you've ever heard of likethat kind of talk, like Russia
being the quote bear from thenorth and all of that.
A lot of that comes from thischapter right here.
And then other people will takethis and they will juxtapose it
with the book of Revelation andcreate this entire narrative and
(14:07):
there's a time and a place forthat.
I am not that guy.
I don't do that because Ireally feel like that prophecy
is one of those things that isvery interesting, but it is not
a hill I'm willing to die on andI think that a lot of times we
don't understand prophecy untilafter it's happened, because it
confirms that God knew what hewas doing, and I don't think God
tells us this so that we canfigure it out and sit back with
(14:30):
this sense of superiority, right?
I think that the whole point ofit is this.
So I know I may have justoffended a few people, because
you've got your charts and yourgraphs and that's wonderful,
that's fine.
What I'm saying is, I think ifwe get so deep in the weeds of
trying to figure out who theking of the north is and who the
king of the south is and allthis kind of stuff, we miss this
point.
Here's the point God is incontrol.
(14:51):
God has a plan.
God is so in control that hejust named things and did it.
It reminds me of and this is aterrible, a terrible example,
but it's the only one I got theysay now for you basketball fans
, you're going to love this.
They say that Larry Bird, theLarry, that he was one of the
(15:13):
best trash talkers on the court,that while he was on the court
he would sit there and just justtalk at you the whole time.
But the amazing thing is is hecould back up what he was saying
and they say that what he woulddo is, while he was dribbling
down the court, he would tellyou what he was about to do.
He would say I'm gonna dribbleover here to this side.
He would tell you what he wasabout to do.
He would say I'm going todribble over here to this side.
He would tell you where he wasgoing to be and he would say I'm
(15:34):
going to dribble three timesafter that, then I'm going to
jump and it's going to go offthe glass.
And then he would go right overthere and do it and he would
say when that would, or theywould say when that would happen
, he said.
They would say all you can dois look back and go.
That was awesome, and there'seven some moments where you can
see these replays where larrybird would, would uh, would do
these different things and thepeople against him would just be
(15:56):
shaking their head going, ohhow in the world.
And it was because he wouldliterally call a shot.
There's a story of one timethey had like three seconds to
make a game-winning shot andlarry goes over to the guy
guarding him and he tells himand the entire bench this is
what the play's going to be.
They're going to throw it to meover here.
This is what I'm going to do.
I'm going to shoot the ball andthere's nothing you can do
(16:17):
about it.
And then he went and did it andit was just like this supreme
confidence that he had.
That was just amazing.
And so, instead of having thissense of fear, a lot of his
teammates were like well, whenthe game is on the line, we need
to give the ball to the birdbecause he's going to take care
of business, right?
Well, that's what I see when Ilook at this chapter.
(16:38):
God is so in control that hehas no problem telling you this
is going to happen and this isgoing to happen.
And then here's the thing he'sgoing to look like he's winning
for a season, and then this isgoing to happen.
And hey, it's going to look badover here.
But man, I already got this,it's already going to be okay.
I got a blueprint of history sothat you can know, no matter
what happens, I win.
(16:59):
And so he's saying when youstart to see this king of the
north and all of a sudden youstart connecting the dots and
going, oh, that's who that guyis, don't be afraid, he is all
part of my plan.
Then when you see the king ofthe south come and they start
battling back and forth and youget worried.
Don't do that, Don't be afraid,he's part of my plan, I've
already got everything figuredout.
What does that have to do withus?
(17:20):
Do you know?
It's possible that sometimes inlife we can wonder God do you
have a plan?
Do you know what's going on inmy life?
Do you realize what I'm dealingwith?
Do you realize when the lightbill is going to be due?
Do you realize that I reallyneeded a job by last Thursday?
Do you realize that my kids,all this stuff.
Do you know what God would say?
He would say do you reallythink I don't see those things?
(17:41):
Do you really think I don'thave a plan and a blueprint?
I get that, it's not yours.
I get that, and God's gotendless mercy for us, but at the
same time, it is his plan andhe does have one.
And so here's my prayer for youis that when you see the world
in chaos, it won't cause you towonder where God is.
Instead, it'll make you look inwonder and go God, I can't wait
(18:07):
to see what you do with this,because you have a plan.
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much for today.
Thank you, god, that you have aplan, that you are working your
plan and you're doing amazingthings.
I pray, god, that you will helpus more every single day to
trust in your plan, to trustwhat you're doing, and, instead
of wondering why we look inwonder and say, god, I can't
(18:31):
wait to see why you did it thatway.
I'm celebrating you right nowand I pray that we will all do
the same.
In Jesus' name.
We pray Amen, but don't forget.
God's Word says in Daniel,chapter 3,.
These three Hebrew teenagerssaid to the most powerful man in
the world God is able to saveus, but even if he doesn't, we
will never serve your gods.
My prayer is that God will giveyou that kind of confidence to
(18:51):
stand for him in a world ofchaos.
I love you.
Hope to see you tomorrow forDaniel, chapter 12.
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon.
Today, daniel, chapter 11, andtoday's title is God's Blueprint
of History.
God's Blueprint of History.
I almost said God's Recipe ofHistory, but that wouldn't have
made any sense.
We're going to get all that injust a moment.
But if you like what we'redoing here, make sure you get
your Bible out to Daniel,chapter 11, and make sure you
(00:22):
take just a moment to like,share and subscribe to the
YouTube channel and the podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast
and make sure you're going tothe Bible Breakdown Discussion
on Facebook.
It's an amazing group of peopledoing a wonderful job and, as
always, the more we dig, themore we find.
We're going to jump into this,but before we do, have you ever
looked at something and you werejust in awe of it?
(00:44):
And then, when you looked at it, you were like this is amazing
and all.
And then you start to realizethere was actually a blueprint,
that this person didn't justthink of it, but they actually
had a way that they wrote itdown, in a way that they could
replicate it.
Like I remember and this isgoing to be silly, but I
remember the first time I lookedat one of those like triple
tier wedding cakes and I can'tcook right.
(01:05):
I wish I could.
My wife is an amazing cook andI don't have any of that ability
right.
And the first time I saw thistriple decker, triple tier
wedding cake, I rememberthinking that is the nearest
thing to impossible.
I can imagine like, how do youdo that?
First of all, how do you cook acake?
Then how do you do it in such away that there's three levels
(01:25):
and they don't fall on eachother and it actually tastes
good and all that kind of goodstuff.
Well then, when I was talkingto somebody one day, they
started to lay out to me there'sa blueprint to this, right.
So you cook the differentlayers and then you do it like
this, you do it like that.
And it was even more impressiveto me because I was like you
mean, you can do that as manytimes as you want to.
I was just blown away thatthere was a blueprint and that
(01:49):
it made complete sense to them.
It wasn't an accident.
If I ever made a three-tiercake, it would be a one-and-done
thing and you could never askme how I did it because I
couldn't have explained it toyou.
Well, that's what we're goingto talk about today.
When it comes to God, god has ablueprint of history.
It is a mystery to us howthings are going to unfold.
It's not a mystery to God.
(02:11):
He looks at it.
And where we would look athistory, especially future
history as it unfolds and weslowly begin to see God's
handiwork in things.
And we can see that now that welook back at the past and go,
wow, you can just see thisgolden thread throughout history
as God has been orchestratingevents.
How could he do that?
(02:31):
How is that possible?
God looks at it and he's likewell, yeah, exactly how I did
that.
I got a blueprint for it, Imade this, and that's kind of
what we look at in this, but notonly the history that's gone by
, but we look at the future andwe're like God, how are you
going to do that?
And God's like, eh, I got ablueprint and we're going to
look at that, as Daniel iscontinuing to remind us that God
(02:55):
is in control.
God knows what he's doing and,if you remember, he's writing
this to the exiles who have losteverything, and it seems like
Babylon's in charge, you know,and the Medes and Persians are
in charge.
These people are in charge.
But actually God is saying oh,no, no, no, I've never once lost
my control of the world.
(03:16):
And Daniel shows this throughthe first half of the book.
He tells us the stories of allthe things that God had been
doing.
And then in the second half hesays not only is God faithful
now, he's going to be faithfulinto the future.
And then you've seen, if you'vebeen with us, how he has been
building this.
And in one chapter, daniel readthe books of Moses and he read
(03:39):
about the prophecies of Jeremiahand he began to realize why
they were in exile and all thethings that led up to it.
And so he just spends thisseason of just prayer, fasting
and mourning.
And then God is showing himthese different visions and at
one point he is just saying I'veseen these visions and they
terrify me because it looks bad,but I don't know what it means.
So he goes to another season of21 days of now what we get for
(04:01):
the Daniel fast of no meat, nosweets, no bread, drink water,
and he's just interceding beforeGod.
God, I don't know what this is,but it don't look good.
And then an angel comes to himand he says 21 days ago, when
you started praying, I startedbringing the answer.
Now, here I am.
Here's the answer to yourprayer.
This is what's going to happenin the future, and that's what
Daniel 11 and 12 is going to beabout.
(04:22):
Is, finally, god revealing theblueprint of history?
So let's read this, and thenwe're going to finish this with,
hopefully, something that willbe encouraging to you today.
So, if you're ready, daniel,chapter 11, verse 1 says this
Now, then this is the angelspeaking to Daniel.
I will reveal the truth to you.
Three more Persian kings willreign, to be succeeded by a
(04:45):
fourth, far richer than theothers.
He will use his wealth to stirup everyone to fight against the
kingdom of Greece.
Then a mighty king will rise topower who will rule with great
authority and accomplisheverything he sets out to do.
But at the height of his power,his kingdom will be broken
apart and divided into fourparts.
(05:06):
It will not be ruled by theking's descendants.
Nor will the kingdom hold theauthority it had at once, for
his empire will be uprooted andgiven to others Now pause ruled
by the king's descendants.
Nor will the kingdom hold theauthority it had at once, for
his empire will be uprooted andgiven to others.
Now pause.
Now the reason why it just blowsour minds because what we know
now is is that's what happened.
Then the kingdom of Greece cameto power through Alexander the
Great, but then, when he died,he never declared a successor,
(05:31):
and so his kingdom was brokeninto parts, and his different
generals then started to ruleover the empire that Alexander
the Great had, but it did nothave the same power because he
was now dead.
So that's already happened,which is ridiculous.
How amazing.
That is Verse 5,.
Then the king of the south willincrease in power, but one of
his own officials will becomemore powerful than he and will
(05:53):
rule his kingdom with greatstrength.
Then, some years later, analliance will be formed between
the king of the north and theking of the south.
The daughter of the king of thesouth will be given in marriage
to the king of the north tosecure the alliance, but she
will lose her influence over him, and so will her father.
She will be abandoned, alongwith her supporters, but when
(06:16):
one of her relatives becomesking of the south, he will raise
an army to enter the fortressof the king of the north and
defeat him.
When he returns to Egypt, hewill carry back their idols with
him, along with the pricelessarticles of gold and silver.
Some years afterward, he willleave the king of the north
alone.
(06:37):
Later, the king of the northwill divide the realm of the
king of the south, but will soonreturn to his own land.
However, the sons of the kingof the north will assemble a
mighty army that will advancelike a flood and carry the
battle as far as the enemy'sfortress.
Then, in a rage, the king ofthe south will rally against the
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vast forces assembled by theking of the north and will
defeat them.
After the enemy army is sweptaway, the king of the south will
be filled with pride and willexecute many thousands of his
enemies.
But his success will beshort-lived.
A few years later, the king ofthe north will return with a
fully equipped army, far greaterthan before.
At that time, there will be ageneral up, a general uprising
(07:21):
against the king of the south.
Violent men among your ownpeople will join them in
fulfillment of this vision, butthey will not succeed.
Then the king of the north willcome and lay siege to a
fortified city and capture it.
The best troops of the southwill not be able to stand in the
face of the onslaught.
The king of the north willmarch onward unopposed.
None will be able to stop him.
(07:43):
He will pause in the gloriousland of Israel, intent on
destroying it.
He will make plans to come withmight of his entire kingdom and
will form an alliance with theking of the south.
He will give him a daughter inmarriage in order to overthrow
the kingdom from within, but hisplan will fail.
After this, he will turn hisattention to the coastland and
(08:05):
conquer many cities, but acommander from another land will
put an end to his insolence andcause him to retreat in shame.
He will take refuge in his ownfortresses, but will stumble and
fall and be seen no more.
His successor will send out atax collector to maintain the
royal splendor, but after abrief reign he will die, though
(08:27):
not from anger or in battle.
The next to come to power willbe a despicable man who is not
in line for royal succession.
He will slip in when leastexpected and take over the
kingdom by flattery and intrigue.
Before him, great armies willbe swept away, including a
covenant prince With deceitfulpromises.
(08:47):
He will make various alliances,he will become strong despite
having only a handful offollowers.
Without warning, he will enterthe richest areas of the land
and he will distribute among hisfollowers the plunder and
wealth of the rich, somethinghis predecessors had never done.
He will plot and overthrow thestrongholds, but this will last
(09:08):
only for a short while.
Then he will stir up hiscourage and raise a great and
mighty army against the king ofthe south.
The king of the south will goto battle with a mighty army,
but to no avail, for there willbe plots against him.
His own household will causehis downfall, his mighty army
will be swept away and many willbe killed, Seeking nothing but
(09:33):
each one's harm.
These kings will plot againsteach other at the conference
table, attempting to deceiveeach other.
But it will make no difference,for the end will come.
At the appointed time, the kingof the north will return home
with great riches.
On the way, he will set himselfagainst the people of the holy
covenant, doing much damagebefore continuing his journey.
Then, at the appointed time, hewill set himself against the
people of the Holy Covenant,doing much damage before
continuing his journey.
(09:54):
Then, at the appointed time, hewill once again invade the
south, but this time the resultwill be different, for warships
from the west coastlands willscare him off and will withdraw
to return home, but he will venthis anger against the people of
the Holy Covenant and rewardthose who forsake the covenant.
His army will take over thetemple fortresses, pollute the
(10:22):
sanctuary and put a stop andreward those who forsake the
covenant.
People who know their God willbe strong and will resist him.
Wise leaders will giveinstruction to many, but these
teachers will die by fire orsword or be jailed and robbed.
During these persecutions,little help will arrive and many
(10:44):
who join them will not besincere, and some of the wise
will fall victim to persecution.
In this way, they will berefined and cleansed and made
pure until the time of the end,verse 1.
Even blaspheming the God ofgods, he will succeed, but not
(11:10):
only, but only, until the timeof wrath is completed, for what
has been determined will surelytake place.
He will have no respect for thegods of his ancestors and for
the God loved by the women andfor any other God, for he will
boast that he is greater thanthem all.
Instead of these, he willworship the god of fortresses,
(11:33):
the god of his ancestors neverknew and lavish on him gold,
silver, precious stones andexpensive gifts, claiming this
foreign god's help.
He will attack the strongestfortresses.
He will honor those who submitto him, appointing them to
positions of authority anddividing the land among them as
(11:54):
their reward.
Then, at the time of the end,the king of the south will
attack the king of the north andthe king of the north will
storm out with chariots,charioteers and a vast navy.
He will invade various landsand sweep through them like a
flood.
He will enter the glorious landof Israel and many nations will
fall, but Moab, edom and thebest part of Ammon will escape.
(12:17):
He will conquer many countries.
Even Egypt will not escape.
He will gain control over gold,silver treasures of Egypt, and
the Libyans and the Ethiopianswill be his servants of Egypt,
and the Libyans and theEthiopians will be his servants.
But then the news from the eastand the north will alarm him
and he will set out in greatanger to destroy and obliterate
(12:37):
many.
He will stop between theglorious mountain and the sea
and will pitch his royal tents,but while he is there, his time
will suddenly run out and no onewill help him.
Wow, you want to talk aboutsomething specific going on,
like that's what so many, somany different prophecies in the
old testament are uh, ambiguousand and vague and we're not
(13:01):
really sure what's going on.
We just know god's faithful andit's all gonna be okay, right.
Well, in this one he's doingeverything but naming names.
He's talking about a king fromthe north and a king from the
south and all this kind of stuff.
And if you're interested insuch things, there are people
who have just devoted theirlives to trying to figure out
what this could look like andspend a lot of time debating on
(13:21):
what it means to be the king ofthe north and all this kind of
stuff.
And there's people who try tothink that all of this really
surrounds Israel, because, ifyou notice, earlier in the
chapter it says the people ofthe Holy Covenant and that would
be a clear reference to thenation of Israel, and so then
they say that South and Northand all of that.
They try to say that that isrespective to the location of
(13:42):
Israel, which is why a lot ofpeople think that the king of
the North would be someone whocomes from like Russia and stuff
like that.
So if you've ever heard of likethat kind of talk, like Russia
being the quote bear from thenorth and all of that.
A lot of that comes from thischapter right here.
And then other people will takethis and they will juxtapose it
with the book of Revelation andcreate this entire narrative and
(14:07):
there's a time and a place forthat.
I am not that guy.
I don't do that because Ireally feel like that prophecy
is one of those things that isvery interesting, but it is not
a hill I'm willing to die on andI think that a lot of times we
don't understand prophecy untilafter it's happened, because it
confirms that God knew what hewas doing, and I don't think God
tells us this so that we canfigure it out and sit back with
(14:30):
this sense of superiority, right?
I think that the whole point ofit is this.
So I know I may have justoffended a few people, because
you've got your charts and yourgraphs and that's wonderful,
that's fine.
What I'm saying is, I think ifwe get so deep in the weeds of
trying to figure out who theking of the north is and who the
king of the south is and allthis kind of stuff, we miss this
point.
Here's the point God is incontrol.
(14:51):
God has a plan.
God is so in control that hejust named things and did it.
It reminds me of and this is aterrible, a terrible example,
but it's the only one I got theysay now for you basketball fans
, you're going to love this.
They say that Larry Bird, theLarry, that he was one of the
(15:13):
best trash talkers on the court,that while he was on the court
he would sit there and just justtalk at you the whole time.
But the amazing thing is is hecould back up what he was saying
and they say that what he woulddo is, while he was dribbling
down the court, he would tellyou what he was about to do.
He would say I'm gonna dribbleover here to this side.
He would tell you what he wasabout to do.
He would say I'm going todribble over here to this side.
He would tell you where he wasgoing to be and he would say I'm
(15:34):
going to dribble three timesafter that, then I'm going to
jump and it's going to go offthe glass.
And then he would go right overthere and do it and he would
say when that would, or theywould say when that would happen
, he said.
They would say all you can dois look back and go.
That was awesome, and there'seven some moments where you can
see these replays where larrybird would, would uh, would do
these different things and thepeople against him would just be
(15:56):
shaking their head going, ohhow in the world.
And it was because he wouldliterally call a shot.
There's a story of one timethey had like three seconds to
make a game-winning shot andlarry goes over to the guy
guarding him and he tells himand the entire bench this is
what the play's going to be.
They're going to throw it to meover here.
This is what I'm going to do.
I'm going to shoot the ball andthere's nothing you can do
(16:17):
about it.
And then he went and did it andit was just like this supreme
confidence that he had.
That was just amazing.
And so, instead of having thissense of fear, a lot of his
teammates were like well, whenthe game is on the line, we need
to give the ball to the birdbecause he's going to take care
of business, right?
Well, that's what I see when Ilook at this chapter.
(16:38):
God is so in control that hehas no problem telling you this
is going to happen and this isgoing to happen.
And then here's the thing he'sgoing to look like he's winning
for a season, and then this isgoing to happen.
And hey, it's going to look badover here.
But man, I already got this,it's already going to be okay.
I got a blueprint of history sothat you can know, no matter
what happens, I win.
(16:59):
And so he's saying when youstart to see this king of the
north and all of a sudden youstart connecting the dots and
going, oh, that's who that guyis, don't be afraid, he is all
part of my plan.
Then when you see the king ofthe south come and they start
battling back and forth and youget worried.
Don't do that, Don't be afraid,he's part of my plan, I've
already got everything figuredout.
What does that have to do withus?
(17:20):
Do you know?
It's possible that sometimes inlife we can wonder God do you
have a plan?
Do you know what's going on inmy life?
Do you realize what I'm dealingwith?
Do you realize when the lightbill is going to be due?
Do you realize that I reallyneeded a job by last Thursday?
Do you realize that my kids,all this stuff.
Do you know what God would say?
He would say do you reallythink I don't see those things?
(17:41):
Do you really think I don'thave a plan and a blueprint?
I get that, it's not yours.
I get that, and God's gotendless mercy for us, but at the
same time, it is his plan andhe does have one.
And so here's my prayer for youis that when you see the world
in chaos, it won't cause you towonder where God is.
Instead, it'll make you look inwonder and go God, I can't wait
(18:07):
to see what you do with this,because you have a plan.
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much for today.
Thank you, god, that you have aplan, that you are working your
plan and you're doing amazingthings.
I pray, god, that you will helpus more every single day to
trust in your plan, to trustwhat you're doing, and, instead
of wondering why we look inwonder and say, god, I can't
(18:31):
wait to see why you did it thatway.
I'm celebrating you right nowand I pray that we will all do
the same.
In Jesus' name.
We pray Amen, but don't forget.
God's Word says in Daniel,chapter 3,.
These three Hebrew teenagerssaid to the most powerful man in
the world God is able to saveus, but even if he doesn't, we
will never serve your gods.
My prayer is that God will giveyou that kind of confidence to
(18:51):
stand for him in a world ofchaos.
I love you.
Hope to see you tomorrow forDaniel, chapter 12.
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