A Blossom Bible Podcast
A Blossom Bible Podcast
Daniel 11:1-32
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Study given Wednesday March 6, 2024
Daniel chapter 11 is. You know, skeptics Bible skeptics would would have a problem with pretty much every chapter of the Bible. But Daniel, chapter 11, is a special problem for skeptics. And the problem really is that the prophecies here in chapter 11 are so detailed things that would have been considered the future for Daniel that the skeptic would say there's just no way that somebody in Daniel's time and in Daniel's place could have known the things that that are written in chapter 11. That's a silly problem for us because we understand that God is the one that inspired Daniel to write what he did. Now they'll explain it that it was written by somebody who went by the name Daniel hundreds of years later. But we don't have that problem because we know God is eternal. God is outside of time and for God to predict the future is no big deal because God knows the future. God knows the future just like he knows the past, and the present time is kind of irrelevant for an eternal God. But we also know that Scripture is by nature. It is inspired by God.
Speaker 1:Second Timothy 3, 16 good verse to have down. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and that word inspiration means it's God breathed. So that's a good way to look at this book that it's not just a book. It's. It's something that was breathed by God. Peter says it a different way there, in 2nd Peter 1 in verse 20, knowing this verse that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. In verse 21 he says this about the Bible, where prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So we put these things together and we understand that Daniel wrote what he wrote because God moved him by his spirit. Daniel didn't have a clue what all these things meant. He really didn't understand it. But we do, because it happened just the way God said it would happen. So it really is a good encouragement when we come to all the prophecy in the Bible, just to remember that. It proves to us that this book is not just history and it's not just philosophy, it's not just poems or anything like that. It really is God's word, and so when God speaks through his word, he speaks to our hearts. He knows where we're at. That's why the Bible can speak to you, even personally in your life. You can read something in the morning and you go wow, that's exactly where I'm at. Maybe you hear it throughout your day because it really is God's word. It's not just some literature and it's important for us to realize that and have that confidence as we look at the Bible, that it's not just a book. We're not just a literary club meeting. Here we're really considering what God says to us and we can do that here. We can do that at home in the mornings or at night. You can do that at school, still here in Texas, you can. You can do it wherever and whenever you're at, whatever that meant. You know what I mean. You can do that. You can hear from God.
Speaker 1:So chapter 11 it deals with what was most definitely future for Daniel and you know I've really kind of been nervous about this chapter, not because it's not a good chapter, but because if we were to read through this chapter 11, it would just be a history book. You probably wouldn't be that you know impressed with it because it's so detailed. So-and-so went here and so-and-so will. You know, the king of the north will go here and attack and whatnot. We go. That's a history book. I've heard history. But we just need to realize this is a prophecy for Daniel and it's again to show us that God is eternal and that God can speak to us. We'll just cover a little bit. We won't cover everything because, again, I think it would actually be difficult to go through every verse and explain how it applies to history. But let's look at verse one Also.
Speaker 1:In the first year of Darius the Mead, I, even I, stood up to confirm and strengthen him. And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth will be far richer than the mall. By his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. So here we remember Daniel's writing in that early part of the Medo-Persian Empire. He's about 90 years old by this point. He's been through Babylon, he's been through a small part of the Persian Empire. But Daniel writes here that three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth king. So if you were to take from Daniel's time four Persian kings out, you would come to a king history knows as Xerxes the fourth king.
Speaker 1:Xerxes ruled 485 to 465 BC and you're amazed by those numbers. I know you are. Xerxes was a very rich king. In the Bible he goes by a different name, it's a Hashuaris. So the book of Esther deals with this king Xerxes, aka Hashuaris, and we find that he was very rich. Let me just read you a little bit of the book of Esther, chapter one, verse three. In the third year of his reign he made a feast for his officials and his servants, the powers of Persia and media, the nobles, the princes, the provinces being before him. Then he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days, 180 days in all. So this king Xerxes in the book of Esther, you know the story he throws a party just to show off how rich he is, which is exactly what God predicts that this fourth king shall be far richer than all by his strength through his riches there and here he throws a party for 180 days. I mean, that kind of says it all. Who in the world can throw a party for 180 days? Just a full-on rager there, you know, and that's how just at ease and how rich he was. He throws his party and the rest of the book of Esther of course details at a time in that history. But here God says count three kings there in Persia and then count the fourth king and hit me far richer. Through his riches he shall stir up against the realm of Greece. So Persia.
Speaker 1:As time goes on and we're a little bit away from where Daniel is at there at the beginning of the Persian Empire. We're toward the end at this point. But he starts to have issue with the kingdom of Greece and he stirs up against him. Now he raises a huge army. Persian history says it was two million men strong. It could be an exaggeration because the Persians did have a tendency to exaggerate a little bit, but it was a big army and they trained for years for this invasion of Greece and they actually did a lot of damage. But they really lost the battle. They came back kind of wounded from that and didn't look so good as they messed with Greece there. The Greece is injured by it as well. But this is kind of the start of what happens next.
Speaker 1:We already know, because we've been talking in the book of Daniel, that the next kingdom to come will be the Grecian Empire. But this is kind of all where it started, as Xerxes just kind of messes with them and says you know what, you're a threat, I'm going to take over you as well. It doesn't go well for them and they come back rather Rather wounded, but they inspire the Greeks that this kind of thing isn't going to happen forever. It's kind of that thing that makes the Greeks stand up and say we don't want to live like this forever, attacked by these Persians who had all the money and all the power. But we're just kind of. They were oversized. In so many ways it really inspired what later happened there, as in Mass Macedon, alexander. He raises up and he begins to conquer and take over the Persians. It really didn't take that much. He took over the Persians and then just started going after the whole world there. And we know that this is something that Daniel has talked about Over the time.
Speaker 1:There in chapter 2, nebuchadnezzar's dream shows After the Persians comes the Greek Empire, there the bronze. In chapter 7, daniel has a vision of this Leopard with wings represents the Greeks. And then in chapter 8 you'll remember, rocket goat comes on the scene right, that goat that flies across the face of the earth without even touching the ground. It's Alexander the Great, it's the Greeks. And here Again after Daniel's time, but here in verse 4 no, I'm sorry, verse 3 then a mighty king shall arise, alexander the Great right, who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will, and when he has Arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity, nor according to his dominion, with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be uprooted even for others besides these. So See how quickly it happens here.
Speaker 1:In verse 3 and 4, alexander the Great is this mighty king that arises, and when he has arisen his kingdom is broken up. Right only three years really. Alexander did his thing and then he dies, dies rather quickly and abruptly, and you'll remember he had a child that was born after he died, but obviously the little guy was a little too young to take Alexander's place. His kingdom is split up amongst his generals and so very quickly here, verse 3 and 4, we see the rise of Alexander and the fall of Alexander, the, the Greek Empire, and then it's splitting up. It's divided here, and it's divided four ways. So Daniel kind of lists all these things and how quickly this all is going to happen.
Speaker 1:But then, verse 5, we kind of shift gears in. Alexander is off the scene and we have a pretty decent space of time here in chapter 11. We're not going to cover all of it because it would just be a little too much, I think. But we we see these battles that go on for the next few hundred years and notice it says verse 5 also the king of the south shall become strong and and in verse 6 we read about a king of the north. So the north and the south become the big players in these generals. And Verses 5 through around verse 36 talks about these battles that are going to happen Between the north and the south. So picture it if you want.
Speaker 1:The north we're talking about Syria, that kind of area we would call Syria the northern general. There he also controls Israel Most of the time. And then the south we're looking at Egypt. There called the Seleucids and the Ptolemies with a P right Ptolemies, and, and those are the big players there. In the next little bit of history, the north and the south, and in verse 5 through 35 includes many generations of these rulers or kings. That word king could be king or kingdom and it reads like a history book. But look at verse 25 will kind of speed up into the the history of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids.
Speaker 1:There, verse 25, we zero in on one of these kings in the north. His name is Antiochus and he he went by the, the, the I Don't know what you call it nickname, epiphanies, right, and, and. In verse 25 we're reading about him. Now the time is 170 BC, so 170 years before Christ. We read here in verse 25, now look at verse 28,. So what happened here is this Antiochus? He went to the south as kind of just their way of living together north attack south and south attack north. He went to the south and he didn't really succeed there in verse 28. Things didn't go as he hoped. They had some treaties, they ate some dinner together, they lied to each other and he didn't quite get what he wanted. He returns home to the north, there in Syria, and on his way home he stops by Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:Now, jerusalem by this point is not the Jerusalem that Daniel left. You remember when Nebuchadnezzar came through? He destroyed the temple and the city. But then, as time went on, cyrus the Great, he says you know what? This is my policy Go back and you just rebuild your homeland, worship your God, I'll give you some money for it. And Cyrus did that, and people like Zerubbabel there in the book of Ezra, and then later Ezra, they rebuilt the temple and they established worship there. So life is kind of going on. Nehemiah comes back a little later and rebuilds the wall and the city is kind of a place of worship again.
Speaker 1:Antiochus, on his way home, a little upset that things didn't go quite how he wanted, he stops by Jerusalem. Now, jerusalem too was always known as a place of kind of standing up against the king. They had a lot of rebellion. That would go on, and so while he passes through there in verse 28, he does damage and returns to his own land. He starts to lay down the law in this visit. He lays down the law and says you know, you Jews, you worship your own God and you do your own things. You're separate. You don't eat the things that everybody else eats. You don't. You know, live life the way everybody else lives. We're not going to do this, not to the extreme that you want to do it. And he starts to oppose things in the Mosaic law there, not totally, but it's. It's a beginning point. Now look at verse 29.
Speaker 1:At the appointed time he shall return and go toward the south. So he's headed again towards Egypt to try to get what he wants. But it shall not be like the former or the later, for ships from Cyprus Very detailed here, for ships from Cyprus shall come against him. Therefore, he shall be grieved and return in rage against the Holy Covenant and do damage. He shall return and show regard for those who forsake the Holy Covenant, and forces shall be mustered by him and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress and they shall take away the daily sacrifices and shall place there the abomination of desolation. Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery, but the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits.
Speaker 1:So two years later, in 168 BC, antiochus once again goes towards Egypt, and in this time it wasn't the Ptolemy's that gave him problems, it was Rome. Rome was just starting to become a world power. They were working on their navy, wouldn't you know it? And there in Cyprus they had built up a pretty good navy that they wanted to show off a little bit. Now they had their plans. It was getting there right. They had plans for Egypt, and so they went to Egypt before Antiochus got there and basically said I know you like Egypt, but don't do it, don't mess with it. This is our part of the world.
Speaker 1:Now the story goes this is the legend, right. The story goes that the Roman representative, poplius Lanius remember that name? No, don't worry about it. He was sent with a letter that basically said that don't mess with Egypt. And they said though, you know, you can have some time to think about it. Now, legend has it as they told Antiochus, think about it, think about what you're going to do here in Egypt. They drew a circle around him the legend goes right. And they said but don't leave that circle until you decide. So here's this guy who's coming to cause some damage, right, he's wanting to kind of expand his horizons. And Rome says look, step out of that circle with the wrong intentions and you're dead. And so, with his tail between his legs, so to speak, antiochus says Got it. He goes back home. Well, once again he stops by Jerusalem, because when you got aggression, you might as well stop by Jerusalem. I guess is the way it was going.
Speaker 1:And here we see that this time he takes action in verse 31. They shall defile the sanctuary fortress. Now it's important, I think, to realize that if Antiochus is going to defile the sanctuary, there has to be a sanctuary. When Daniel's writing this, there was no temple. It hadn't been rebuilt. So that's pretty important.
Speaker 1:As Daniel is writing this down, he really doesn't exactly understand what he's writing. That's a lot of times the way it goes, I think, when God tells us something, time goes on and we understand it a little better, but we don't always understand everything when he first tells us. But here he goes and he defiles the sanctuary. He takes away the daily sacrifices. He says no more sacrificing lambs.
Speaker 1:And notice it says in place there the abomination of desolation. Abomination is something that makes you want to throw up. Desolation means you know what desolation means. And what he did was he took away the sacrifices and he sacrificed a pig on the altar. Now you understand that pigs are not kosher food. They defiled they were an abomination to the Jews. It would make them want to throw up, kind of thing. He sacrifices a pig on the altar and defiles it. That's what this abomination desolation kind of refers to. But not only that. He also sets up an idol there in the temple and he tells the priests drink the blood of the pig, worship this idol, if not your dead meat, and basically begins to just slaughter people in Jerusalem. Good Wednesday night, talk. Sorry, but that's what he does, and that's what this abomination, desolation would bring to mind as time would go on.
Speaker 1:Now in time, the Jews stand up against Antiochus, a group of a family known as the Maccabees. They stand up against Antiochus and they fight against Antiochus and they restore eventually worship there in the temple, the feast that celebrates that is known as the Feast of Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, and so they restore worship and they purify what was defiled there. But here again, daniel's writing these things down with such detail and he really doesn't understand it. But Jesus, trusting God, he's learned to trust what God says. He writes it down, he listens and it's there. It's distinct prophecy.
Speaker 1:Now, from around here on to the end of the chapter, things change a little bit. It's not quite as easy to look at history and say, ah, this is how this applies and there's a lot of thought that really at this point the calendar kind of changes there Right around verse 36, that middle part there is really about the Maccabees and such. But verse 36, then the king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every God. He shall speak blasphemies against the God of God, and so prosper till the wrath has been accomplished, for what has been determined shall be done. Pause there for a second. It does seem as if things change as far as what we're talking about. Is it stuff in the Greek Empire? Is it something else? And I actually think Jesus helps us in this. It's always great to say Jesus helps us in this, because it's true.
Speaker 1:Matthew 24. Let's turn there really quickly, matthew 24. It's a talk there that Jesus has with his disciples. As they're coming out of the temple there in Jesus' day, the disciples there begin to show them the buildings and how wonderful they were. In verse 2, matthew 24, jesus said to them Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, no stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. So Jesus begins to talk about the future here with his disciples. We could cover the whole thing, but let's look on and see what he says here in verse. Well, let's try verse 4. We'll just read a little bit here.
Speaker 1:And Jesus answered and said to them Take heed, no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and will deceive many, and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There shall be famines, pestilence, earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows or birth pangs. Some versions say. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another and will hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many, and because of lawlessness and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved and the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads let him understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the house stop, not go down and take anything out of his house, and let him who is in the field not go back and get his clothes. And we could read on. But Jesus here begins to talk about some last days things.
Speaker 1:Now there is debate. Some would say that this passage here, that Jesus, the things that Jesus is talking about, were fulfilled in 8070, just like 40 years after the time of Jesus there, when the Romans came and put down a rebellion and destroyed the temple. The only thing I'd say that perhaps that's not the case, and I don't think it's the case, is verse 14, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. That definitely hadn't happened by that point. The gospel had not been preached in all the world, and so it doesn't seem like that was a fulfillment of this whole chapter. Now, maybe there were. Jesus says in verse two, not maybe. Yes, definitely in verse two, where he says not one stone will be left upon another. That happened in 8070. But all the stuff that we read about a little later here didn't exactly happen at that point.
Speaker 1:But Jesus here mentions and the reason why we're here quickly is verse 15.
Speaker 1:He says when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel, the prophet, standing in the holy place, and then Matthew adds this whoever reads, let him understand.
Speaker 1:So Matthew here tells us you've got to look back at the book of Daniel, chapter 11, and understand what it is that we're talking about here the abomination of desolation. I believe in this Jesus kind of starts things up again for us. He clarifies maybe a time frame on some of the things that were going to happen there in the book of Daniel. Kind of like if you were to, if I were to say, hey guys, tomorrow six o'clock, I am going to give whoever comes to me first a new car, right, because you know, I'm just so benevolent, you know, and you say, well, okay, so just be there at six o'clock and you might say six in the morning, six at night. Now, once I say PM because I'm not meeting anybody at six AM, because that would be ridiculous Once I say PM, then you got it clarified and I really think Jesus is clarifying some time here.
Speaker 1:Because Jesus says you're going to see the abomination that causes desolation, standing where it's not supposed to, the one spoken by Daniel the Prophet. Well, jesus says you're going to see it. So there's something about that Daniel chapter 11 that wasn't complete. Because Jesus says when you see it now, jesus was almost 200 years after Antiochus, but he was telling his disciples you haven't seen it yet. It hasn't totally happened yet. Now, what Antiochus did was pretty bad and it was an abomination that causes desolation. But Jesus is pointing to something that was still future and is still future for us. Hopefully that makes sense. And he goes on to explain there, standing where it shouldn't be. Let him who is in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who's on the house top not go back and get anything out of his house. So Jesus goes on to explain this is going to be a really bad time.
Speaker 1:I think we can always go back to Daniel, chapter 11, next week, and we'll look at this next week because you know we've got enough Antichrist already here going in our talk for a Wednesday night. We have way too much of that, and the point of all this so I think, is really to take comfort in this fact not that there's gonna be an Antichrist, not that the world is gonna. That's not the good news, right that the world is gonna fall apart. We can be aware of that and honestly, I'm very confident that we're not gonna see it as believers. Daniel's writing to a Jewish audience.
Speaker 1:Jesus talking to his Jewish disciples I don't think these words of warning are for us so much. I don't think we'll see it, and we've talked about that a little bit, but the good news is that everything that God says is gonna happen is gonna happen. Prophecy for us is not surprising, and we can remind ourselves of this a lot. Right, we should remind ourselves that God is eternal, he knows the future, he knows our future and he knows what the rest of our week is gonna look like. He knows what we need before we even ask. And and the things that God says are gonna happen are going to happen.
Speaker 1:And I think the big reminder that I always like to come back to here in Daniel is chapter two. Man, there's world empires that are gonna come, rise and fall. It's gonna happen, just the way chapter 11 points out, and it did right. But the end result is that that stone remember there in chapter two, that stone. After all, these world empires have had their time, even this end times world empire where the Antichrist and all sorts of junk, the stone Jesus, is gonna hit that image on its feet and it's gonna crumble and it's gonna blow away like dust. The crazy thing is, as much as I love history, there's gonna come a point where it's not gonna mean anything anymore. It's just gonna blow away. All the glories of Rome and Greece and even America are just gonna crumble and turn to dust and blow away. But God's kingdom will be forever and that's not just something we say to make ourselves feel better about the future. That's the truth. Just like everything here in chapter 11 happened and makes the skeptics go couldn't be Daniel. Everything that God has said is gonna happen just the way he said it would, and we take much hope in that.
Speaker 1:So let's, let's, thank God. God, thank you so much. I just get it is tiring in some ways just talking about kingdoms and Antichrist and these things. But, god, you warn us. You don't want us to be a part of that, but I think you encourage us to God that your kingdom will be forever. God, we we take a lot of hope in that. God, as bad as this life can be, we know that you're still there and you're still in control.
Speaker 1:God, thank you so much for that truth. Just give us that confidence, even as we read your word, that it's not just ideas of man, but it really is true. God, the promises you make, you're with us always, even till the end of the age. God, you never leave us or forsake us. God that whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life. God's some wonderful truths and we just thank you for those. Tonight gotta pray with my friends and just be with them this week, the rest of this week. Give them strength, not just to get through a list, but but to know you better and to represent you in their world. For all of us, in Jesus name, we pray amen, you.