God’s Appointed Times
Living in Babylon: An Exposition of Daniel

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All right, good morning, church. Hey, let’s, look at the book of daniel. How about that? We’re back in the book of daniel. This is week number eleven. We’re in chapter eleven, and we’ve called this series living in babylon. And as we’ve said every week, just a reminder that that word babylon is a metaphor in the bible for the world. Just as daniel and his friends were carried off into exile king nebuchadnezzar of babylon, and they had to learn how to live in babylon. So we as christians, although we are citizens of heaven, we’re exiles in this world, exiles in babylon in babylon is a metaphor for the world’s economy, the world’s government, even the world’s religion. And so we’re learning how to live in babylon as we study the book of daniel.

So now we’re in chapter eleven, chapter eleven we last week, we found out chapter ten was just to get us ready for chapter eleven that the whole point of chapter ten was to strengthen eighty five year old daniel so he could endure the hearing of the vision. The hearing of the explanation from the gabriel from the angel gabriel and so it’s been strengthened i hope you’ve been strengthened because here we go chapter eleven is unique some have called it unpreachable that the chapter is unpreachable dr h c leopold he says it’s unpreachable he says perhaps it’s a candidate for bible study but certainly not for a sermon others have a more liberal bent say it’s inauthentic that it’s not what it claims to be according to my friend dr danny aiken he says it’s because of its detailed and accurate description of history that liberals divide so deny it’s prophetic nature arguing that it’s a second century author simply recording past history and passionate passing it off as prophecy in other words it’s too accurate it’s too accurate to be written by daniel therefore it couldn’t have been the problem is that the dead sea scrolls show that daniel was already written it it’s dated back to the second century and they already had a copy of the book of daniel it gives a problem to their theory this this was written by the daniel who was carried off into exile and he wrote it centuries before the the occurrences described in chapter eleven i believe the book is neither unpreachable although very difficult to preach i believe it’s, authentic and more than that i believe it’s, supernatural as dr d k campbell says in the first thirty five verses there are one hundred thirty five prophecies which have been literally fulfilled and can be corroborated by a study of the history of the period it’s a supernatural book and it may be difficult to preach but i believe that all scripture according to the bible is god breathed and therefore useful for correction and for teaching and preaching so that the man and woman of god may be thoroughly equipped do you believe that so get ready to hear the unpreachable sermon chapter eleven it’s about the future for daniel and everything here’s future for daniel and daniel seems to be asking this question what’s going to happen to jerusalem you said after seventy years of captivity that we get to go home but we’re not we haven’t rebuilt the temple we haven’t rebuilt the wall what’s going on when does the glory of israel return and so now god’s going to through the angel gabriel really giving some details so it’s all future for daniel and it’s mostly historical for us though because it already got fulfilled but then a part of it is future for us so this this book is amazing has both history and prophecy for us and so we’ll be looking at now when we talk about the future daniel was worried about the future and so god gave him an answer.

How about you? Are you worried about the future maybe you’ve been watching some of that twenty four hour news we got all these twenty four hour news channels when i was growing up he had to wait until six o’clock to find out what happened that day and wait for you know, one of those guys at six o’clock to give you their version of what happened that day but now boy, you can just tune in any time you can google it or check it out what you know and we call it news but it’s not new been going on and on and on for centuries ever since the fall of man there are wars being reported there’s terrorism, there’s school shootings, natural disasters and we say what’s the world coming to and it causes us to be afraid about the future, doesn’t it? And if you’re not afraid for yourself, you’re afraid for your kids what kind of future are they going to live into? So we’re afraid about our future about facing the future but what if what if god knew the future and you could put the future in his hands because you may not know the future but you know the one who holds the future? What if god were all knowing and all powerful and could take care of the future? Well that’s what he teaches daniel i think in this chapter i see the word time ten times you remember what i’ve taught you in the past if you see a recurring word that might be the key to understanding a certain passage, so we see the word time ten times verse six, fourteen, twenty three, twenty for twenty seven, twenty nine, thirty five and forty all those verses have there were time in them, and then the word appointed is in there three times with the word time verse twenty seven, twenty nine and thirty five, the appointed time, in other words god has appointed sometimes and so i’ve titled this sermon god’s appointed times.

As we look at chapter eleven, we’re going to see some of god’s appointed times that he reveals to daniel because in daniel, chapter eleven he revealed his future appointed times for his people, israel so that daniel would understand what was to come. And i believe that we can understand the times that the lord has appointed. How can we understand these times as we look at the text, i think we’ll see three ways that we can understand the appointed times of our lord, i’m gonna do something today, that’s, that’s unique because it’s a unique chapter and i’m going to be working the tech team really hard, they’ve rested up between services, and i hope they’re up to it they did a great job first service, but i’m going to just speak like after every verse for a little while, i’m going have to make some comments because there’s so much detail here, there’s no way to do it like i normally do it, so get ready, get seat belts on. We’re getting ready to do this thing.

Chapter eleven, verse one and as for me, in the first year of darius the mede, i stood up to confirm and strengthen him. Now this is a carryover from chapter ten. This is gabriel, the angel is still talking, he says. As for me as this is the angel speaking in the first year, chapter ten that visions happening in the third year. So this is he’s looking back three years he gives in the first year when when persia overthrew babylon I strengthened darius the mede because they were overthrown by the medes and the persians. I strengthen him. Why did the strength and will remember what happened in year one? Dan, you got thrown in the lion’s den and Darius didn’t want to do it, but he got tricked into it and he’s praying all night long that and so, then an angel appears. Perhaps that was either michael or gabriel because we learned about these two guys in the previous chapter. Got in there and close the mouths of the lions so that they would meet daniel and darius rejoiced and talked about that that could have been in the other thing it could have been is that he was strengthened so that he would send the jews home, because cyrus is over the persians and he’s the one in the first year of his reign, same year of first year of darius is right. He allowed the the jews to go home to israel. So that’s what’s going on in verse one

verse two Then this angel says, may i will show you the truth. We’ll show it to you behold, three more kingsl shall arise, and persia and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of greece. Now we’re going to look at a little chart i’ve put together to help us understand the verses verse two let’s, look at this who’s he talking about? He says to daniel, he says four more kings are coming after cyrus and darius the mede here’s cyrus, this is this is the time period he’s in he says there’s four more one, two, three or so, uh, cambyses, smerdis, darius hystaspis and xerses I . xerses is the one who’s the wealthiest of all the persian kings in all history if you’ve ever seen that movie three hundred he’s, that weird tall dude that they depict in that movie that comes and fights the three hundred he’s the guy who picks a fight with the greeks which is referred to in verse two he actually burns down the acropolis in athens i mean he stirs up a hornets nest he wins the battle, but man he stirs him up so that they are ready to come for him by the way xerxes this guy xerxes the first he’s the one who held actually the very first miss universe contest ever recorded. It’s in the book of esther and little jewish girl won the contest and married king xerxes that’s who that is and here’s daniel getting the low down on what’s coming in persia verse two let’s look at verse three

verse three then a mighty king shall rise who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills quickly toggling back and forth who is that we know who is that that’s alexander the great he’s still ticked off about the history of how the persians came over there and did that and he come and he comes in sweeps through the land so that’s chapter verse three verse four and as soon as he, speaking of alexander the great has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity . In other words, not as his kids get to do it, in fact, that four generals who divide up the kingdom to the four winds to the four geographic locations they kill his son and his uncle. So there’s no one from his posterity,

it says, verse four, nor according to the authority, in other words, they didn’t have the power of the level of power that alexander had with which he ruled for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides he’s. So back to the chart verse verse four right here’s my verses four kingdoms divided between seleucus, ptolemy, lysimachus and cassander, i want to pop up a map quickly to show you, because this will be important as we’re talking, that these two are less important generals as it regards israel, because they don’t have the lands we have. Cassander was over macedonia lysimachus would be over the eastern part of what will be modern day turkey he’s got this little piece right here. But so seleuchus and ptolemy where the two strong generals that took over that most of the region and in chapter eleven they’ll be referred to as the king of the north seleucus the king of the south and ptolemy and you’ll see that over and over going chapter eleven king in the north kingdom south king in the north king of south and notice that they both they in order to fight each other they have to pass through what land what’s that land right there that’s israel israel’s the pathway israel gets trampled on over and over again in the coming days so we see that seleucus was was over this kingdom which was formerly really mostly persia so we have modern day iran we have modern day iraq syria, jordan, saudi arabia and israel’s right here and then ptolemy is over what would be today egypt and part of libya and so that’s that’s what that’s how it lays out

verse 5 then the king of the south shall be strong but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and he shall rule and his authority shall be a great authority back to the chart verse five so we see that the southern kingdom will be strong it’s we know historically that that’s ptolemy the first ptolemy in the greek means savior these guys give themselves some great titles some high and holy titles he calls himself savior he’s strong but he’s not as strong as the northern kingdom. seleucus nicator he’s the victorious one he’s slightly stronger and we saw that on the map that that’s true verse six after some years they shall make an alliance. Who? The northern kingdom and the southern kingdom they’re going to make an alliance. How are they going to do it?

let’s see and the daughter of the king of the south that’s ptolemy shall come to the king of the north that’s seleucus to make an agreement but she speaking of his daughter that he sends shall not retain the strength of her arm and he and his arms shall not endure but that speaks of him in antiochus but she shall be given up in her attendance he who fathered her and he who supported her in those times. In other words, the the treaty doesn’t work out because something happens to her and something happens to him and something happens to her attendants let’s look at the historical record here we are the marriage fails so ptolemy the second philadelphus philadelphia means brotherly love he gave himself a sweet name didn’t he and antichus the second who called himself theos which is god he couldn’t think of anything higher he called himself god these guys have a great and terrible track record but the alliance fails why does it fail because this guy ptolemy the second sends his daughter to create the alliance and her name is berenice berenice goes and she bears a son to antichus the second what antiochus the second had done in order to marry her was he had divorced his wife laodice he had divorced her and she’s still around she said the divorce wife she still living over there and back side of the palace and he brings in this new wife and she and she bears him a son but laodice never forgets it and she murders berenice and her son which was antiochus’ son and poisons antiochus the second that ex wife was ticked now that’s what’s going on right there in verse six that’s what all that was about did you see it

in verse six and it all came to pass now for seven years seven let me reach seventy nine and from a branch from her roots one shall rise in his place he shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north and he shall deal with them and shall prevail he shall also carry off to egypt which is the south their gods with metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north than the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land so quickly back to the chart what’s historical background here is ptolemy the third euregetes his name benevolent one or good a good word he goes up there and he’s ticked off because it was his sister they got murdered so he goes up there and wins the battle against the north and he defeats the north and carries off all of their all of their silver and gold he carries it down to egypt.

Okay, this is a soap opera people it’s about power it’s about sex and it’s about money and they’re fighting over it back and forth and every time they fight, what territory are they passing through israel every time the armies have to travel through israel so let’s keep reading where we are we at now verse ten you’re going to read through fourteen this time his son shall wage war in a symbol a multitude of great forces which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through and again shall carry the war that overflow and pass through is a reference to back and forth back and forth through what israel okay then then the kings of the north care war as far as this fortress than the king of the south moved with rage shall come out and fight against the king of the north and he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand, and when the multitude has taken away, his heart shall be exalted, he shall cast down tens of thousand, but he shall not prevail for the king of the north shall again raising multitude greater than the first, and after some years he should come on with a great army and abundant supplies. In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision. In other words, some of daniel’s people, some of the jews, they’re getting so sick and tired of all these people trampling back and forth as they choose a side, and they think maybe we can make daniel’s vision come true, but maybe but they lose, so so they failed verse fourteen so ten thru fourteen back to the chart ten through fourteen here’s what’s going on, ptolemy the fourth whose name was philopator and that’s a great name that’s a wonderful name that means he loves his daddy they’re fighting back and forth back and forth back and forth and what this means is there were there was continual warfare this is a time of great persecution and suffering for israel they didn’t destroy the temple they didn’t destroy the the walls of jerusalem they still get the worship but man it’s hard to it’s hard to own anything it’s hard to farm because of the constant warfare they’re constantly passing back and forth back and forth

verse fifteen you still here i got new people here going where did i go to church today? What are they doing here? We’re just reading the bible people just diversity of the time trying to understand it we’re preaching the unpreachable sermon that’s what’s going on right now verse fifteen then the king of the north shall come and throw up seeds works and take a well fortified city and the forces of the south shall not stand or even his best troops for there shall be no strength to stand but he comes against him shall do is he wills, and none shall stand before him and he shall stand in the glorious land what’s the glorious land israel and it says, beautiful land glorious land talking about israel okay with destruction in his hands so let’s look at the chart again we’re talking about verses fifteen and sixteen so what we have now is antiochus the great he’s called great because he beat up on the south. He went down there and he defeated ptolemy the fifth epiphanes and he overtook him and took his stuff back. He got his silver and gold and carried that back home and on the way he took over israel back because it was like a political football whoever was in charge got israel so now the north has israel. The south had it. Now the north has it and he’s got the beautiful land he’s got he’s got the glorious land. Okay so that’s what’s going on right here so it’s read verse seventeen

verse seventeen he shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom , and he shall bring terms of agreement and performed them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. Ok, so here’s what the king of the north does? He’s just defeated the king of the south, and he wants to secure his alliance there, so he decides to give his daughter remember that didn’t work out so good if you’ll remember when the king of the south gave his daughter that she ended up getting killed by the man’s ex wife, but here the king of the north which happens to be antiochus the great he’s already won against egypt but he wants to secure it right? So they don’t come back and try to hit him again because that’s what’s been going on for centuries and so he gives his wife now what’s her name is and call her name is cleopatra the first? No, this is not the cleopatra who fell in love with richard burton it’s not that one look it up google that you’ll figure that out this is not the one who looks identical every time i say cleopatra i think it looks like elizabeth taylor don’t you but this is not that cleopatra that was a later cleopatra that was a famous name for a daughter because cleo means beautiful and patra means father glory or beauty of the father and so she you know, her father loved her and so he gave her, but before he sent her to the king of the south, he said, look, i want you to undermine his authority and every time you find out what he’s doing, i want you to whisper that to me so i can take over egypt through you that’s his plan in verse seventeen that’s what he hoped to do but he didn’t plan for the fact that cleopatra would fall in love with ptolemy and actually spy in the opposite direction and so that’s what we see in verse seventeen it shall not stand or be to his advantage cleopatra did not do what her dad told her to do

verse eighteen afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlines and shall capture many of them but a commander shall put an end to his insolence indeed he shall turn his insolence back upon him then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of this own land but he shall stumble and fall and shall not be found versus eighteen to nineteen back to the chart where did that chart go there it is verse eighteen nineteen so now he’s not fighting the south he’s left cleopatra there that didn’t work out he’s ticked off so it goes for the coast land he’s looking for some beach property now he’s going up on the the west coast and he goes out to attack some of those areas but this is where he stirs up a problem because he starts hitting some of the greek islands and some of of the the property that belonged to the greeks and they’re already coming under the power of rome we’re already seeing the ascendancy of rome and so what we have here is that when he does that he gets defeated by a general from rome who comes over there and gives him a fit and actually defeats him so he goes back home angry as he can be and he stumbles and falls now verse twenty

Verse twenty we read that one shall arise in his place another king after antiochus the third known as antiochus the great shall come and a rise in his place one who shall send an exact heir of tribute in other words a tax collector for the glory of his kingdom but within a few days he shall be broken neither in anger nor in battle so back to the chart this king who happens to be seleucus the fourth philopater he loves his daddy too he he can’t win any battles, but now he owes a debt to rome because they said no, we have we defeated you but you have to pay us for war damages and he didn’t have any place to get any money spent all of us his father spent all the money so he goes to the temple and exacts tax from them. But then someone on the inside conspires against him and poisons him to death and so he falls but not in anger nor in battle. Okay, now that got us free through verse twenty now I will preach

that was all teaching why did i do that? Why did i take the time to do that? Because i want to convince you that god is omniscient he knows all things god is omnipotent he is all powerful he is appointed certain times recognized that god has appointed a time for the rise and fall of human kingdoms recognize that understand that nothing is happening on planet earth, that god hasn’t he’s already appointed a time for it to take place, and he knows the comings and goings he knows the risings in the fallings that’s why we took time to do it i want to convince you that god’s word is true god does what he says he will do if he promises it he will keep his promise. I want you to understand that he’s both omniscient and omnipotent and here’s another thing i want to ask of the text and convince you of its reality, i’ve asked the text, what does this teach us about god? Well it teaches us that god knows future he’s able to great in great detail and here’s something else humanities a mass that’s the other thing it reveals doesn’t it humanity all the wars that are happening on planet earth from the beginning of time from the time from the garden of eden to the present have all taken place for money, power and sex or sex, money and power, or or money and sex in power, or one of those three or a combination of all three or in different orders. But it’s all peyton place it’s all soap operas it’s all just humanity that it shows the fallen nature this is the best we can do. This is the nature of human kingdoms,

jesus said. This was the mark of the last times, he says in matthew, when the disciples asked him to talk about when will this happen? He says, you’ll hear of wars and rumors of wars see that you’re not alarmed for this must take place, but the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places all these or the beginning of the birth pains . I don’t know for in the last days of labor here or if it’s what the doctors call braxton hicks pains i don’t know if this false labor or real labor, but when you turn it in on the news, you see wars and rumors of wars jesus said that would happen. Peter and john after jesus was ascended, peter and john were preaching in the temple. They had just raised a crippled man where he could walk and man’s, jumping around and praising god in the temple and attracted a great crowd. And peter and john started preaching in the name of jesus and say we healed him in the name of jesus don’t you want jesus people are coming And then the jewish leaders came and said, you need to stop preaching in the name of jesus and they threw him in jail and and they beat him with whips and they commanded him to stop preaching in the name of jesus and peter and john said, who should we obey? You are god and they released him and said, stop preaching the name of jesus we told you and so they go to a prayer meeting that we found in Acts chapter four the prayer meeting was already happening, but you’re john got there and brought the people up to date, and they praise the lord and they raise their voices and pray and here’s how the prayer goes acts four twenty four sovereign lord, they said, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the holy spirit through the mouth of your servant our father david. In other words, there we’re about we’re about to pray some of the psalms back to you god now by the way foot note, god loves it when you pray his word back to him if you want to find some really good prayers, look at the book of psalms and they quote psalms, chapter two, right here, back to the lord in a prayer, they say, why do the nations rage and the people’s plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up in the rulers band together against the lord, and against his anointed one. They’re going, hey, you know what everything that’s happened today was prophesied in the psalms. psalm chapter two, they say indeed, herod and pontius pilot met together with the gentiles. This is them praying to god and the people of israel in this city, to conspire against your holy servant jesus, whom you anointed. And they did, listening what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. No, what they just know what just occurred to them. Everything that happened, that jesus had been predicted in the old testament, that even oh, herod and pilot scripture says they were like enemies until they had the trial for jesus, and over the trial of jesus, that says they became friends after that. What a terrible way for a friendship to be formed is over the death of jesus, but it doesn’t matter. God, knew that was coming, and so now those same people are telling them to keep it quiet about jesus , and they say this they said lord, you knew that was going to happen so now verse twenty four now lord you consider their threats and enable us your servants to speak your word with great boldness stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders to the name of your holy servant jesus and after they prayed the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the holy spirit spoke the word of god boldly

friends i don’t know where you’re at today and got some things coming your way it’s too big for you quite like that pray like god you handle that threat you handle the threat that’s your world you handle that that’s too big for me you enable me to talk about jesus that’s my job you know what’s my job talk about jesus, god it’s your job to handle the worldwide stuff because you’re omnipotent you’re all powerful you are all knowing you handle that and besides, you knew this was coming anyway because you’ve appointed the times for these things nothing surprises you god, you handle this, you ever do you ever pray to god that god did you see what happened to me today? Were you watching what happened to me today? Where you here when that happened to me today don’t you don’t need to pray like that he was there he saw it here’s how they’re praying god, you knew this was gonna happen therefore handle it you work it out enable us to speak the word of god boldly what do we do in seasons like that don’t put your faith in human kingdoms they will always fail you put your faith in god he will never fail you he’s appointed the rise and fall of human kingdoms

now let’s keep reading we’ll do it in the same pattern that we have will pick it up verse twenty one verse twenty one and following in his place shall arise a contemptible person well here’s something look forward to daniel a contemptible person is going to be king to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning

verse twenty one ? Who is this? Oh, we’ve heard of him before in previous chapters isn’t this is antiochus the fourth epiphanes he’s the one who’s like the foreshadowing of the anti christ and he comes into the throne and but he has no right to it because he’s the brother of the king and his actual son is demetrius the first who’s a hostage and remember how they lost the battle to rome and they had to send hostages and antiochus through flattery takes his throne even though here’s the son the rightful heir whose a hostage to rome so that’s how he becomes king he’s not supposed to be king but he takes it anyway just as the anti christ is not supposed to be king but he takes it anyway

verse twenty one in his place shall arise a contemptible person we read that verse twenty two armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken even the prince of the covenant verse twenty two looking at that okay so he’s going to defeat ptolemy the sixth and he’s going to kill the high priest onias the third he’s deposed and assassinated and he puts his own puppet high priest in place so that’s fulfilled
ok verse twenty three you all still here still with me and from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully and he shall become strong with a small people and without warning he should come into the richest parts of the province and he shall do what neither his father’s nor his fathers fathers have done scattering among them plunder, spoil and goods he shall devise plans with strongholds but only for a time go back i can’t remember how many go back to the chart i mean, if i got to read verse twenty three through twenty eight i gotta keep reading,

okay verses twenty five and he’s shall stir up , his power, and hard against the king of the south, with a great army, and the king of the south shall wage war with an exceeding great and mighty army. 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 in many show, fall down slain . And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail. For the end is not yet to be at the time appointed, and he shall return to his land with great wealth. But his heart shall be said against the holy covenant. Take note, that just for second the holy covenant is the religion of the jews, and now he comes back so ticked off at them, that he wants to take their faith away from them to attack them, and he shall work his will, and returned to his own lands.

Look at the chart again. Okay, so we’ve been reading twenty through twenty eight. So antiochus the fourth invades and plunders egypt, even though they had a peace treaty that’s what that whole thing was about there were two kings who got together, he broke the the treaty why? Because he still owes rome and he’s still trying to get money from egypt to pay for the battles that his father actually his brother rather won against rome lost against run ok, so now what?

Verses twenty nine and thirty here’s what we’re doing we’re going through the past tense prophecies that are now history and we’re verifying them that’s what’s going on right now verse twenty nine and the time appointed he shall return and come into the south but it shall not be this time as it was before in other words, when he goes to the south this time to pick a fight then turn out so well verse thirty four here’s why ships of kittim shall come against him and he shall be afraid and withdrawal and shell turned back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant he shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant so let’s look at those couple of verses twenty nine and thirty right so now he invades egypt again but this time he gets turned back. Why? Because ships from kittim who’s that egypt has said look well come under roman rule if you will protect us from this turkey in the north and so they do and so the romans come with their fleet and they’re there waiting for antiochus when he comes down the second time and they defeat him and so a roman general defeats antiochus the fourth and humiliates him and it enrages him so on his way back home he attacks jerusalem and he kills over eighty thousand of them. Okay, so that’s what that’s what’s happening here and he goes back and he takes it says he shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake so in other words, those jews who become apostate who turned against their jewishness and embrace the helenization becoming greek he embraces those but he’s enraged against those who who won’t now

verse thirty one i mean keep reading verse thirty one just just thirty one but just read that forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress and shall take away the regular burnt offering and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. Okay, this is during that same time when he comes back to israel comes back to jerusalem he’s ticked off, he kills all those people. What else does he do? He takes away the regular offerings. Well, how does he do that? He profanes the temple so it’s unusable? How does he profane it? We’ve talked about this in previous weeks he sacrifices a pig and spreads the blood all over the holy of holies in the temple and he puts in the holy of holies the place where no one but the high priest was ever supposed to go he puts an image of zeus for them to worship. This is called the abomination of desolation. What’s the abomination, the pig’s blood in the image of zeus what’s, desolate mean, made empty in other words, he’s emptied the temple of its of its holiness and the people cannot use it. So now they cannot offer offerings to god. He has broken the jewish religion. This is this is what he’s done here.

Okay, let me read thirty two through thirty five so we can finish up with this turkey this foreshadowing of the anti christ and antiochus the fourth ephinanes verse thirty two he shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant. In other words, he’s going to be happy with the jews who will be apostate and say yes to worshipping the greek gods. He’s flatter those but the people who know their god shall stand firm and take action. So there’s some people who know god that start standing up against him. And so the macabean rebellion starts taking place. There’s a rumbling of people starting to stand verse thirty three and the wise among the people shall make many understand in other words they’re going to start preaching. Maybe they’re preaching the unpreachable chapter maybe they’re preaching chapter eleven to the other jews and saying, you know what this guy’s going to end? Because the book of daniel predicts that he won’t make it, and so maybe that’s what they’re but they’re talking to the people, though for some days they shall stumble by sword, and flame and captivity, and plunder in other words, they’re going to suffer. And when they stumble, they shall receive a little help, and many shall join themselves to them with flattery. And some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time

here’s the second way, that we can understand the appointed times of god, realize that god is appointed a time for the sanctification of his people realize that that god is appointed a time for the sanctification of this people go back to that chart one final time the previous chart
versus thirty three three thirty five so right here the maccabean rebellion takes place thirty three thru thirty five and antiochus the fourth epiphanes, while he’s on a expedition to persia, the maccabean rebellion takes place, and he loses, he loses israel, and he actually dies on that expedition, and so he’s gone now, and for the first time in centuries, israel is now under its own command. It doesn’t last long because rome is coming. But for a brief season after the maccabean rebellion there under their own command, i realized that god has appointed a time for the sanctification of his people. Here’s what i want you to think about look at verse thirty five very closely if you have your bibles that we have what’s called a purpose clause right here verse thirty five says so that this why did this happen? Why did antiochus do all these horrible things? Why have they endured such suffering? Why have they been the crossroads between this north and south fight while they’re going through all this for their sanctification look at verse thirty five so that they may be refined, purified, and made white until the time of the end hear this god cares more about your character than he does your comfort he’s making you like jesus, this is his desire for you, my christian friends, that you would become like jesus, and we become more like jesus when we go through difficult times and our faith remains, our faith is purified, it’s refined it’s made white as snow it’s cleansed, and faith is not faith until it is tested, and this is what they’re going through

notice something in verse thirty two it says there were some during this time of persecution who violated the covenant in other words they were jews in name only but they became they forsook their identity you see that’s what persecution does it separates the goats from the sheep doesn’t it it shows who really believes you know anybody anybody can believe in jesus when things were going well but who will believe in jesus when times get rough who will continue to call on this name when you go through a season of difficulty? Who those who know their god verse thirty two that what will they do? They will stand firm see that verse thirty two they’ll take action and then in verse thirty three says they’ll make many understand in other words they’ll teach the people around hey hey keep standing firm keep standing for god’s got this god’s in charge that’s what people who believe do that’s that’s what would happen

here’s what the book of james says count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking and nothing god’s making you like jesus he’s sanctifying you sanctification means to be made holy to be made a saint if you will to be made like jesus he’s doing that one of his means is to hear the preaching of the word like you are now to repent and apply it to your life through prayer there’s so many but another way that he uses is the testing of your faith the testing of your faith that’s what they’re going through billy graham once said that the same sun that melts the butter hardens the clay now what did he mean by that here’s What he’s saying when the heat comes of persecution those that believe will have tender hearts and if their hearts will melt like butter they’ll be malleable to the lord but those that don’t believe their hearts will be further hardened like clay. Let me ask you question what’s the shape of your heart when persecution comes when difficulty comes you have a tender heart you say god, i still believe in you i trust you, i know you’re you’ve never left me that you’re right here with me. You’ve got a purpose for my life because you’ve appointed times such as this and i know it if it touches me, it had to pass through your fingers to get to me you have a heart that melts like butter or do you have an old heart that when things don’t go right, you get embittered towards god in your heart pardons friends it’s a heart issue, but if you know what i’m talking about you can yield, you can yield to god when you go through difficult times and you say god, you handle that threat. That’s your business, you keep me focused on jesus and talking about jesus and teaching others about jesus will you understand this,

and then here’s the final part. Now i want you to notice in verse thirty six that we have moved the first two through thirty five was prophecy fulfilled. Now, verse thirty six we’re going to move from history to future prophecy unfulfilled thirty, sixty, forty five has not happened yet. Now everyone agrees, there’s, a new king on the scene at whether it’s, a liberal or conservative, whether it’s, someone who believes in the supernatural or attempts to explain everything through the natural, every one who is of any literary experience, looks at this and say, we have a transition here. There’s, a new king on the scene in verse thirty six to forty five i think there’s a there’s, a lot of agreement about that, but depending on how you view in times, you’ll see this in different ways, but i believe that this has not happened yet. Thirty, sixty, forty five is a description of daniel’s, seventieth, seventieth week, it’s, the seven years of tribulation being described in thirty sixty, forty five it’s a description of the anti christ, which is what john calls him in his first letter it’s a description of the beast, which is what john calls him in his book of revelation it’s a description of the little horn that daniel calls him and daniel chapter seven that’s who this is that we’re about to read about let me just read this without breaking i don’t have a chart are you all relieved or or thankful? I don’t know the reason i don’t have a chart i don’t have any history to fulfill all i have is the prophecy now and how we might think about it okay verse thirty six and the king i shall do is he wills he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god now stop right there that’s not antiochus the fourth because he put zeus he he worshipped greek gods this guy worships himself, he is a worship any god and shall speak a tonic astonishing things remember he’s the little horn with the big mouth he can speak some astonishing stuff, and he does it against the god of gods, which is yahweh, well he speaks against god, but yet he shall prosper even though he speaks against god, he shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished that word indignation means wrath anger, what who’s wrath gods because his appointed time the seventeenth week the seven years of tribulation, that’s, that’s a season of god’s wrath being poured out on planet earth, he he will prosper until the conclusion of that that’s what’s being said, you all still with me, okay, for what has decreed shall be done what god says will happen, he shall pay no attention to the gods of his father’s, or to the one beloved by women. In other words, he might have been he might have been brought up christian, but now he’s an atheist or he might have been brought up muslim, and now he’s an atheist, and and he doesn’t pay any attention to the gods beloved by women. Now some suspect that might be christianity, because the jewish women all dreamed that they might be the mother of the messiah. So some thought that was it. Others say he had no respect for marriage, and so that in his time he would not marry just as christ never married the anti christ, who is the devils false christ, he’s, he’s the devil’s, he’s, satan’s, counterfeit christ, he’s the antichrist that he won’t marry, and he will hate women and hate marriage some say that’s what it means he shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself. Above all he says, i’m god because he’s the anti christ he shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these now in other words to honor the god of war he worships war everything he gains he gains through war a god whom his father’s did not know we shall honor with golden silver with precious stones and costly gifts he’ll also honor the religion of wealth in other words he’ll be in charge of the world’s economy

the book of revelation says unless you have his number upon your head or upon your hand you will not be able to buy food he’ll be in charge of the economy verse thirty nine he shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god the king james says a strange god i believe this is satan he will be empowered by satan and will worship satan unbeknownst to the people those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor you shall make them rulers over many and he shall divide the land for a price in other words he’s going to be a world ruler at the time of the end o we’re talking about the end this is not past this is at the time of the end the king of the south shall attack him but the king of the north which is the anti christ shall rush upon him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen, and with many other ships daniel wouldn’t have understood the description of helicopters and tanks, and so it’s written in a way that daniel understand and he shall come into countries, and shall overflow and passed through in other words he’ll he’ll take over israel that’s that overflow, and passed through he’s going to get in israel, he shall come into the glorious land in case we weren’t sure that now we know he’s going to take over israel, and tens of thousands shall fall. Oh but those he will deliver out of his hand, or edom and moab the main part of the ammonites, he still stretched out his hand against the countries in the land of egypt, still not escape, he should become ruler of the treasures of gold, of silver, and all the press is things of egypt he’s in charge of the economy, he’ll take over the libyans and the kushites of the kushites, that would be modern day ethiopia, and that part of africa shall follow in history, but news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction in other words, he hears that there’s some great army, he hears word or some great army for me that’s coming from the east and the north to attack him he’s very paranoid and he sets up his palatial tents in other words he sets up his generals command where between the sea and the glorious holy mountain what’s the sea it’s it’s the mediterranean what’s the holy mountain that’s mount zion where is he going to be in a valley in a valley called armageddon yet shall he come to end with none to help him because the glorious appearing of christ will appear and he will immediately be killed

are you still with me? Are you still in the room? Here’s the third appointed time respect that god has appointed a time for his wrath to be accomplished respect that that’s still future thirty sixty forty five that hasn’t happened yet some of you went on a trip with me to israel and you stood on mount carmel where elijah called fire down from heaven and you saw the largest valley that you’ve ever seen and it’s the valley of megiddo and in the hebrew it’s armageddon in the book of revelations is that’s where the last battle will take place napoleon when he went into the land of israel and saw that valley he says it’s a valley where armies as large as man has ever understood could do war i’ve seen it it’s true this is where it will take place, but here’s what i know that the wrath of god is not like the anger of man and you know we’re egotistical and were fallen, but the wrath of god is under the control of god, and the wrath of god is based on his holiness, and that our sin has has gone against his holiness, and he has held back his anger god’s anger is a response, a right response to our sin. We don’t like to talk about sin, but we’re all sinners. But when you receive jesus, the wrath of god falls on jesus and that’s what happened at the cross, he took god’s judgment that belonged to you upon himself. He took that suffering that was to be ours. So the wrath of god was poured out on christ so that christ said, my god, my god, why have you forsaken me and those that are in christ there’s no wrath for you, but those that are not in christ the wrath of god is coming.

Look what jesus says in the book of john chapter three, verse thirty six whoever believes in the sun has eternal life who does not obey the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of god remains on him. When noah and his family went into the ark, the wrath of god fell upon the earth like rain, and it flooded the earth, and every one died that was not inside the ark jesus is our arc he took the wrath of god now this appointed time of wrath has been called by several names the name in the old testament was usually the day of the lord the yom yahweh day of the lord look what isaiah says about it behold the day of the lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger to make the land of desolation and to destroy it centers from it there’s a day of wrath coming it’s the seventieth week it’s the seven years of tribulation jesus identifies it as the great tribulation he says in matthew twenty four from then there will be a great tribulation such has not been from the beginning of the world until now no and never will be he says if the lord had not shortened its days it would have killed everyone this is a time of god’s wrath we don’t like to talk about it do we? We don’t like to think about it but the reason we preach christ is because he is the only means of escaping the wrath of god the wrath of god is appointed on to man outside of christ it is the righteous response to the wickedness of man

we see in chapter eleven the wickedness of human kingdoms and the small stature of human kingdoms and we see that god’s been holding back he’s been holding back but there’s a day coming when he’ll release it but those in christ can stand firm look what it says in first thessalonians now concerning the times and the seasons brothers you have no need to have anything written to you for you yourselves are fully aware that what the day of the lord will come like a thief in the night, while people are saying there is peace and security then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness brothers for that day to surprise you like a thief for god is not destined us for wrath. You should underline that god has not destined us for wrath but to obtain salvation through our lord jesus christ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live in him. There is no wrath for those there in christ but a day of wrath is coming now i believe that the church is not involved in the seventieth week i believe that that are in christ will be called up to meet him in the air before the time of tribulation comes
in. First thessalonians paul talks about it, he says, for the lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command with the voice of an ark angel and with sound of the trumpet of god and the dead in christ will rise first then we who are alive, who are left will be caught up called up called up the greek word is harpadzo. Oh, when it was translated into the latin vulgate, it was transferred translated raptura we get the word rapture from that phrase right there we’ll be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air. And so we will always be with the lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. Listen to me. Listen there’s, no wrath for those that are in christ but there is a day of wrath coming for those outside of christ.

I’m preaching the unpreachable chapter it preaches pretty good, doesn’t it? Do you know jesus? Listen there’s one appointment that isn’t mentioned specifically here but the author of hebrews names it. And just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes the judgment. Listen, listen, every single one of you has an appointment. I have an appointment. You have an appointment? last week i had an appointment at the eye doctor i went to see as i went to see dr aldridge who goes to our church, went to see him he’s making sure i can see you, but i’ve got a point with god but i don’t know the day he’s got it on his calendar but it’s nowhere on my calendar i don’t know the day so i got to be ready every day i’m gonna be looking for him every day i don’t know when he’s come i don’t know if he’s going to send jesus to call me home and so i get the fly up and meet him in the sky with the rest of you or i don’t know if he’s going to call me first in this old body is going to pass away i don’t know which one’s going to come first but it’s already been appointed now i know after that for those that aren’t in christ there’s the great white throne judgment and those that are in christ there’s the bema seat judgment where gives out reward which one of those do you want to go to do you realize you have an appointment? Are you ready? Do you understand? Do you recognize do you respect the appointed times of god

let’s pray Lord i know you love these people and there’s someone here right now that has not given their life to jesus holy spirit would you stir them up in their heart right now would you just interrupt their life right now? I pray for that person right now that’s far from god they came in far but they’re going to leave near is it you my friend would you pray with me right now believing in your heart? Dear lord jesus, i’m a sinner but i believe you died on the cross for my sin i believe lord jesus that that you were raised three days later and that you live today i believe that would you come into my life and forgive me of my sin? I want to be a child of god you pray that prayer believing right now jesus will save you that’s why he died that’s Why he gave us this word that you might know him others were here this morning you believe in jesus, but you’re afraid you’re there’s something threatening you right now about the future maybe it’s something the doctors told you about your body? Maybe it’s something in your marriage or your finances or something with your family or your kids or something at work? I don’t know what it is and you’re scared would you say right now just say this lord, you handle that threat that’s your job i can’t handle tomorrow, lord you tomorrow belongs to you. You take care of that and empower me to believe in you and to tell others about jesus, stretch forth your hand to heal and to touch and to make people believe in your word would you pray like that? We pray all this in jesus name amen