Turn with me now, if you would,
to Daniel 11. Daniel chapter 11. It's page
1122 in my Bible. I'm going to open this Bible
study in a way that I've never opened a Bible study or a message
before. I'm going to read this chapter
to you. And then I'll show you what the Lord impressed on me
to say from it. But before I do, I want to acknowledge
the fact that this is God's word. That's just what I want to say
to us. This is God's word. I very much thought about not
reading this chapter to you. I kept going back and forth on
whether or not I should read this chapter to you. I thought
about just skimming a few verses. But it was laid heavy on my heart
that God chose for these words to take up space in the volume
of his book. We've been going through the
book of Daniel. And I told you when we got to
the end, there would be things that are hard for us to understand. And these are holy words. They're worthy to be read. They're
worthy to be believed. And my prayer is that the Lord
will send a blessing to us from it. I pray he will. But this
is gonna take just a minute, okay? This is gonna take just
a minute. So let's begin in verse one. It says, also I, in the
first year of Darius the Mede, this is Daniel speaking, even
I stood to confirm to strengthen him. And now will I show thee
the truth. Behold, there shall stand up
yet three kings in Persia, And the fourth shall be far richer
than they all. And by his strength, through
his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. And a mighty king shall stand
up that shall rule with great dominion and do according to
his will. And when he shall stand up, his
kingdom shall be broken and shall be divided toward the four winds
of heaven. and not to his posterity, nor
according to his dominion which he ruled. For his kingdom shall
be plucked up even from others beside those. And the king of
the south shall be strong and one of his princes, and he shall
be strong above him and have dominion. His dominion shall
be a great dominion. and in the end of years they
shall join themselves together. For the king's daughter of the
south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement,
but she shall not retain the power of the arm. Neither shall
he stand nor his arm, but shall be given up in they that brought
her and he that begat her and he that strengthened her in these
times. But out of a branch of her roots
shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army,
and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and
shall deal against them, and shall prevail, and shall also
carry captives into Egypt their gods. with their princes and
with their precious vessels of silver and of gold, and he shall
continue more years than the king of the north. So the king
of the south shall come into his kingdom and shall return
into his own land. But his sons shall be stirred
up and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, and one shall
certainly come and overflow and pass through Then shall he return
and be stirred up even to his fortress. And the king of the
south shall be moved with choler, with fierce anger, and shall
come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north.
And he shall set forth a great multitude, but the multitude
shall be given into his hand. And when he hath taken away the
multitude, his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast
down many ten thousands, but he shall not be strengthened
by it. For the king of the north shall
return and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and
shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with
much riches, And in those times there shall many stand up against
the king of the south. Also the robbers of thy people
shall exalt themselves to establish the vision, but they shall fall. So the king of the north shall
come and cast up a mount and take the most fenced cities and
the arms of the south shall not withstand neither his chosen
people Neither shall there be any strength to withstand. But
he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will,
and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious
land, which by his hand shall be consumed. He shall also set
his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom and upright
ones with him. Thus shall he do, and he shall
give him the daughter of women, corrupting her, but she shall
not stand on his side, neither be for him. After this shall
he turn his face unto the isles and shall take many, but a prince
for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to
cease. Without his own reproach, he
shall cause it to turn upon him. Then he shall turn his face toward
the fort of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and
not be found. Then shall stand up in his estate
a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom. But within few
days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle. And in
his estate shall stand up a vile person to whom they shall not
give the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably
and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood
shall they be overthrown from before him and shall be broken,
yea, also the prince of the covenant. And after the league made with
him, he shall work deceitfully, for he shall come up and shall
become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably even
upon the fattest places of the province, and he shall do that
which his fathers have not done, nor his father's fathers. He
shall scatter among them the prey and spoil and riches, yea,
and he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds even
for a time. And he shall stir up his power
and his courage against the King of the South with a great army.
And the King of the South shall be stirred up to battle with
a very great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for they
shall forecast devices against him. Yea, they that feed of the
portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow,
and many shall fall down slain. And both these kings' hearts
shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one
table. But it shall not prosper, for
yet the end shall be at the time appointed. Then shall he return
into his land with great riches, and his heart shall be against
the holy covenant, and he shall do exploits and return to his
own land. At the time appointed, he shall
return and come toward the south, but it shall not be as the former
or as the latter. For the ships of Chittim shall
come against him. Therefore, he shall be grieved
and return and have indignation against the holy covenant. So
shall he do. He shall even return and have
intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. and arms shall
stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength,
and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place
the abomination that maketh desolate, and such as do wickedly against
the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries. But the people
that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. and
they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet
they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and
by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall, they
shall be hopin' or helped with a little help, but many shall
cleave to them with flatteries, and some of them of understanding
shall fall to try them. and to purge and to make them
white even to the time of the end because it is yet for a time
appointed. And the king shall do according
to his will and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above
every God and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods
and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished for that that
is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God
of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any God,
for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate
shall he honor the God of forces, and a God whom his fathers knew
not shall he honor with gold and silver and with precious
stones and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most
strongholds with a strange God, whom he shall acknowledge and
increase with glory. And he shall cause them to rule
over many and shall divide the land for gain. And at the time
of the end shall the King of the South push at him, and the
King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind
with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships, and he shall
enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the
glorious land and many countries shall be overthrown, but these
shall escape out of his hand, even Edom and Moab and the chief
of the children of Adam. He shall stretch forth his hand
also upon the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
But he shall have power over the treasure of gold and of silver
and over all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and
the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. But tidings out of the
east and out of the north shall trouble him. Therefore he shall
go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many. and he shall plant the tabernacles
of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain,
yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him. We hadn't been here in a little
while. You can see why. One word in that. stands out to me 135 times. That word is, shall. 135 times,
the Lord God inspired Daniel to say, this shall come to pass. The headings at the top of my
pages here say this is talking about the overflow of Persia,
leagues and conflicts between the kings of south and north. And it says it's talking about
the invasion and impious tyranny of the Romans. And these translators
were smart men and I'm sure that they know what they're talking
about. When he started mentioning the abomination of desolation,
you probably recognized that one part. That most definitely
is talking about Rome, you know, entering in, invading, destroying
Jerusalem in an idolatry setup. And we've looked at that, and
what stood out to me about all of this time is God said, it
shall happen, and it happened. Everything in this chapter that
he said would happen, happened or shall happen. The announcement
of God is, I will and you shall. That's how it is with God. The
announcement of God's predestinated providence. That's what we just
read. Predetermined providence. The announcement of that is,
I will and you shall. The announcement of salvation
is, I will and you shall. That is the declaration of God. That is the declaration of God's
word. I will. You shall. Daniel 11 declares
the sovereignty of God in ordering and reigning and ruling over
all of humanity. All of humanity. Kings, people,
nations, throughout every generation of time. What we just read covered
a large span of time. The God of heaven and earth is
the one seated on the throne. And everything that is and everyone
that is follows his direct order of command. From the top of the
ranks to the bottom of the ranks. Put a marker here in Daniel and
go with me to Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21. Verse 1 says, the king's heart, lowercase k,
the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of
water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. Which king is he talking
about? Every king on this earth. Daniel
11 said, this king is going to do this and that king is going
to do that. And that's exactly what this king did and that king
did. And it is still just like that
to this day. It is still just like that to
this day. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord as the rivers of water, he turneth it, whithersoever
he will. Look at Psalm 115. Psalm 115
verse 3 says, but our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. That's what Daniel 11 declares
to us. Why does Daniel 11 say what Daniel
11 says? It's because that's what pleased
God. That's what pleased the Lord. Look at Psalm 135. Verse six says, whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas
and all deep places, whatever the Lord pleased. That's what
he did. What did it please the Lord to do? First Samuel 12 says
it pleased the Lord to make a bunch of centers to be his people.
So that's what he did. Isaiah 53 says, it pleased the
Lord to bruise Christ on the cross of Calvary to make those
sinners to be his people. That's what he did. He said,
I will redeem you and you shall be my people. And that's exactly
what happened. Go back to Daniel this time,
go to chapter four. Daniel 4 verse 34, it says, And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding
returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High,
and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion. And his kingdom is from generation
to generation. That's what Daniel 11 was telling
us. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? That's what Daniel 11 was telling
us. He does with everybody what He wants to do with everybody.
Verse 37 right here says, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and
extol and honor the King of Heaven, capital K, King of Kings, all
whose works are truth and His ways judgment and those that
walk in pride, He is able to abase. He says it and that's
how it's done. Look back a few pages to Ezekiel
36. Ezekiel 36, verse nine, it says. For behold, I am for you, and I will turn
unto you, and you shall be tilled and sown. I will, you shall. Verse 11, and I will multiply
upon you man and beast, and they shall increase and bring fruit,
and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better
unto you than at your beginnings and you shall know that I am
the Lord. I will and you shall. Verse 25, then will I, I will sprinkle
clean water upon you and you shall be clean. From all your
filthiness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. A new heart also I will give
you and a new spirit I will put within you. and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart
of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk
in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them.
And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers,
and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all
your uncleanness and I will call for the corn and will increase
it and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit
of the tree and the increase of the field that you shall receive
no more reproach of famine among the heathen. I will, you shall. It's that dogmatic, isn't it? That is the gospel of our salvation.
That's the gospel of our salvation. I will, you shall. Go to Ephesians
1. I'm closing here. Go to Ephesians
1. Ephesians 1 verse 6, you know
verse 3 to verse 5 very well. He chose us in Christ and predestinated
us and adopted us. And verse 6 says, it's all to
the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us
accepted in the Beloved in Christ. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will
according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will." That's what Daniel 11 is all about. He made known
unto us the mystery of his will. And we could take a month and
break down who all of those kings were and what all of those countries
were and how all of those wars went. But we don't need to dwell on
any other name but one. And it all comes down to this.
He said, I will, and you shall. That's the heart of it all. That's
the root of it all. He said, this is the mystery
of my will. This is what I have purposed
to be done, and it shall be done. It shall be done. And all of
that, that abomination of desolation, all of that, everything that
we read, he said, this is the mystery and purpose of my will
in bringing Christ to you. in bringing redemption to you.
Every means leading up to his good end for his people. And
Daniel 11 proves to us his ability to carry out his purpose. That's
what it is. It's proof of his ability to
accomplish all of his will and purpose concerning us. And it
shall be done. And it carries over to this,
okay? Last Tuesday or whenever it was,
I wore a sticker for a little while that said, I voted. I did. I'm going to do it again. I'm
going to tell you how all this is going to go. And it shall be done. And then
the end will come. And we will say amen. Amen. All right, you're dismissed.