Now, if you would, let's open
our Bibles back to Daniel chapter 11. Daniel chapter 11. Now, I've entitled this series
of messages through this chapter, and it's a long chapter, 45 verses. Actually, the first Three or
four verses in chapter 12 should be read with it. So that gives
you an idea of how long this chapter is. Concerning prophecy,
Daniel's vision. And this series of messages,
I've entitled this series, this whole series, Rising Above It
All in Christ. Rising Above It All in Christ. Because what Daniel has seen
here, as the Lord has revealed to him this great vision, it's
called the vision of the kings. The whole vision goes through
chapter 12 to the end of the book of Daniel, but as I said,
the first three or four verses of Daniel 12 should read with
this section. But what you have here is a revelation
that God gave Daniel of the struggle and the wars that go on between
nations, not just all nations, but particular nations here,
in the time period between the Testaments, between the Old Testament
and the New Testament, Malachi to Matthew. And he mentions mainly
two areas. He mentions the nation of the
North, the kings of the North, and that would be Syria. We know
that from history. Again, as I always caution us,
let's not interpret the Bible by looking at history, but let's
interpret history by going through the Bible, and that's what we're
gonna do. And so we speak of Syria. We've read a lot about
Syria in the world today, haven't we, on the news, you know, some
of these Arab nations overthrowing their governments. And then the
south, the king of the south was Egypt. And as you know, Egypt
had a particular influence in the history of Israel. That's
where they first came out of bondage. They were in bondage
to Egypt and Moses. God sent Moses down. And Daniel
sees this vision of the struggle of these nations, the kings of
the north and the kings of the south, and the people of God
under the old covenant, Israel, they're caught in the middle
of this. That's what's happening here.
Continually going back and forth. And this struggle between the
North and the South here, in this mid-eastern area during
that period between the Testaments, continues on until the Roman
Empire arrives. And it's all, what we see here
is this, it's all God's providential sovereign working in history
to make way for the arrival of the Messiah. the coming of Christ. That's what it's all about, really.
And whenever you study passages like this, I know they're not
exciting. There's a lot of history here. Anytime you get into the
historical books, it's not going to tug at your heartstrings like
reading the 23rd Psalm and things like that. But you have to remember
that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and profitable
for the man of God. Paul wrote that these things
are written for our learning. There's things here we can learn,
lessons we already know that we learn again and again. And
I want to emphasize, it's not important that we be able to
identify and agree upon the identification of all these kings and all these
characters. It does, I'll tell you what,
it really does enforce the fact of the great truth of the accuracy
of God's Word and prophecy. And mainly it all enforces that
Jesus of Nazareth, that babe born in a manger, Mary's son,
that one who come out of Nazareth, that he is the Christ. He is the way of salvation. by God's grace, that our justification
before God and our right standing, our forgiveness is totally the
way of Christ on that cross, the Christ of the cross that
you sang about. And what's important that we
know and agree on in these matters is that we know our God, the
true and living God, and that we know his Christ. When you
read about the history of nations, what you're seeing is just another
example of the reality of sin, the ruination of this world in
Adam, the total depravity of man, right here in vivid technicolor. Man trying to get gain, man trying
to work his way here and work his way there. and failing on
every account. Man's way is the way of the sword. And that's why we have wars and
rumors of wars and conflicts and murders and blood guiltiness,
all of that. Man's way is a way of flawed
human wisdom. And even the best of man, man's
way of religion will not save us from sin. Self-righteous works
religion will not do it. But the reason that the Lord
shows us the reality of these things is to show us that this,
we who are in Christ now, we who are sinners saved by the
grace of God, who stand before God in Christ, washed in his
blood and clothed in his righteousness, that all this is going on and
we're in it, just like Israel was in it, But we're not of it. You're in the world, but you're
not of the world. We rise above it. Now, how do we rise above
it? It's not because that we're better
people. Because we're not. By nature,
we're sinners who deserve damnation and condemnation and every curse
that God could give. That's what we've deserved and
what we've earned. But we can rise above it in two
ways. The first way, I want you to
look at Psalm 113 that Brother Ron read. And it says it here in verse
four. That's why I had him read this Psalm. Now remember what we're seeing
in Daniel 11. Nation against nation. And that little nation
called the glorious lamb, we'll see in just a moment, is stuck
in the middle. But don't ever think that they're
innocent victims. You know, Israel always made
a choice of who she was going to decide with, and it was just
about always the wrong choice. They'd choose to side with the
North, and then the North would get defeated. Then they'd choose
to side with the South, and then the South would get defeated.
What's the lesson there? Don't trust in the arm of the
flesh. That's right. And I'll show you
something about that in a minute. But how do we rise above it? Well, look at verse four. The
Lord is high above all nations. That's how we rise above it,
in our Lord. That's Jehovah God. That's the
God of salvation. That's the God of all grace.
So whatever's going on here on this earth back then or today,
now listen to me, today, and we're interested, aren't we?
Whatever's going on today, and however you may view it, in your
eschatological view or whatever, however you may view it now,
there's only one way to rise above it. The Lord is high above
all nations. And His glory above the heavens.
Seek His glory. That's how you rise above it. He says, who is like unto the
Lord our God that dwelleth on, who dwelleth on high? Look high. Paul said, I'm striving for the
mark of the high calling. And he says in verse six, this
God who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven
and earth, he raiseth up the poor out of the dust. We've got
to be raised up out of the dust by the grace of God in Christ.
And lifteth the needy out of the dunghill that he may set
him with princes, Israel, spiritual Israel, even with the princes
of his people. That's how. And then, another
way, it's really the same way, it's not another way, but it's
put this way in Colossians 3, that's what I read last time.
That's what this means. How you gonna rise above all
this? You wanna be part of it? I don't. I wanna rise above it. I don't
wanna be consumed with this world. But this is what he says, if
you then be risen with Christ, if he died for you, buried for
you, rose again for you. Seek those things which are above
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. That's the right
hand of power. That's the right hand of acceptance. That's Christ
our advocate and our mediator pleading the merits of His blood
and righteousness on our behalf. So that whatever comes against
us, we know this, that Satan cannot, sin cannot condemn us,
and Satan, even though he accuses, his accusations will not stick.
He says, set your affection on things above, not on things of
the earth. And that word affection there
is mind. And listen, that's not excluding
the heart, mind, affections, and will, but I believe what
he's saying here is don't let your mind be consumed with the
things of this world, let your mind be consumed with things
that are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
the Father. That's what should consume our minds and our affections. I'm not saying that we're to
go around with blinders on now. I mean, we know what's going
on, we read the news, we listen and all that, but our minds are
to be consumed with Christ. who's in heaven ever living to
make intercession. That's how we rise above it. You can get down there and wallow
in it if you want to, but what good will that do you? And he says, for you're dead,
that is, you're justified in Christ. You realize we have a
righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and justice
and it will not change, it's eternal, and your life is hid
hid from all harm, hid under, somebody said, under the shadow
of his wing with Christ in God. When Christ, now listen to how
he puts it in verse four, when Christ who is our life, this
world is not our life, Christ is our life. That's what he's
saying. Let your mind and your things
be consumed with the things of this world and this world's your
life. All you'll get is depressed and
mad Isn't that right? And you won't change an inkling. As one old writer said, you won't
even put a wrinkle in God's universe, in the fabric of God's universe.
But Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you
also appear with him in glory. Now, as Daniel back here is receiving
this vision, that's the lesson that God has for the people of
his nation. That's why he's showing Daniel
these things, understand these things, because all of this is
not an ending of itself, whatever happens, whatever happens. This is all to pave the way for
the coming of Christ into the world, his first coming, mind
you. Now, there are implications all
the way to the end of his second, up to his second coming. There
are implications there, because you're going to see the spirit
of Antichrist here. embodied in these kings and these
ungodly kings and ungodly nations. And we have that spirit prevalent
today, the spirit of anti-Christ, anti-Christian government, anti-Christian
religion. It's here. Now, if you're saying,
well, it's coming, well, it's coming, but it's here too. That's
what John said in 1 John 2. Now, I'm just telling you what
the scripture says. He says, you've heard that it
shall come? He said, well, there are many antichrists here, 1
John 2, 18 and 19. Well, you have it here too now. But in all of this, what is really
important is that we see the reality of the Lord who's high
above all nations and his mercy and his grace, that Christ is
in control of all nations. Several times in this vision. He talks about how one nation
came against another nation and how it was given to that nation
to defeat this nation. Who gave that? God did. It was
God who gave that. And even when Israel went under
judgment, which they're under judgment now and they're going
to continue to be under judgment through that intertestamental
period between And even when the time of our Lord, they were
at their lowest state when our Lord came the first time. It
speaks of this in Daniel 11. What's the lesson here? That
we're to trust in the Lord and not in ourselves. not in nations,
not in governments, not in countries. We're to trust in the Lord and
lean not to the arm of the Lord. Trust Christ. Live our lives
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Look
here in verse 15 of Daniel 11. It talks about the king of the
north. So the king of the north, that's Syria. You know, this
came out of that division of Alexander's empire divided into
four sections, north, south, east, west. It doesn't say much
about the east and the west here in this vision because they didn't
really figure in prominently at this time. Now, later on we'll
see some things. They didn't really figure in
prominently at this time with the nation Israel and that prophecy
and God's purpose to bring the Messiah through. But here's this
nation in the north, that's Syria. You may have, if you've studied
history, you may have heard of the Seleucids. That was the dynasty
of kings that ruled Syria and the north. There were several
of them who were named Antiochus or Antiochus, the city of Antioch
and Syria was named after them. And the king of the north, he
shall come and he'll cast up a mound and he'll take the most
fenced cities. He's going to war here, that's
what he's saying. And who's he going to war with? Well, he's
going to war against the south. He said, and the arms of the
south, that's Egypt, Syria against Egypt, Israel in the middle. You see the picture there? And
the south shall not withstand. So the north won this battle. The northern kings won over Egypt.
And in the process, what happened? It says, neither his chosen people,
neither shall there be any strength to withstand. Even Israel fell
in this conquering, and they fell to the northern kingdom.
What's going on here? Well, we see Israel at a very
low estate. We see Israel almost destitute. The glory of the Lord has departed. Remember the prophets always
talked about that. The glory of the Lord has departed.
And you know what I see there is a grand picture of what is
commonly called the Christian church today, which is Christian
commonly now, which is Christian in name only, but where's Christ? Where's the gospel of God's grace? Where's the Christ of the cross,
James? Where's the preaching of the
blood? Where's the preaching of God's free and sovereign grace? What is it? It's mostly free
willism, it's mostly works religion, it's mostly entertainment, keeping
up with current events, providing social programs. That's what
it's all about today. The glory of the Lord has departed. Where's the place where Christ
is wrung forth from the pulpits in his redemptive glory? That's
what Israel was like in these days. They were still religious. But they'd lost the meaning of
these things. They'd lost the truth of everything
that God had given them. Like Paul said in Romans chapter
9, they had every advantage. They had the prophets. They had
the law. They had the promises. They had
the heritage of the fathers. But they treated it with contempt. They didn't value that gospel
message that should have consumed their lives. and their minds. And so God brought
judgment down upon them. The glory had departed. Look
at verse 16, he says, but that cometh against him shall do according
to his own will. What he's saying is here, what
the Lord is saying here in this vision, the one who comes against
Israel, God's gonna let that one have his way, gonna let him
do what he wants to do. What does he wanna do? He wants
to conquer, he wants to plunder. That's what he wants. He's like
a false preacher, he's in it for gain. It may be the gain
of filthy lucre, it may be the gain of preeminence, or the gain
of following, whatever. But God's going to let him have
his own way. Remember, I told you when we opened up our study
on this about when you see those earthly kings, a lot of times,
back up there in verse three, it said he talked about Alexander
there. That's Alexander the Great. God
let him do what he wanted to do for a while. Well, I'm going
to tell you something. He didn't want to glorify God.
He didn't want to seek the Lord. He didn't want to bow to King
Jesus. He wanted to make himself king. He wanted to bring riches and
glory and honor and power to himself. The worst thing that
God could do for any of us, any individual among this fallen
human race, is to let us have our own way and our own will. That's why Paul wrote in Romans
chapter nine, it's not of him that willeth, it's not of him
that runneth, it's of God that showeth mercy. Salvation is not
by the will of man, it's by the will of the Lord. You say, well, I'm a better man
than Alexander. You might think you are, but
you're not. By nature, we're all sinners. And look, he says in verse 16,
he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will
and none shall stand before him. In other words, he's going to...
God's going to allow him to conquer and he shall stand in the glorious
land. That's the goodly land. That's
the land of God. That's the land God promised
to Abraham and his descendants. The glorious land by which his
hand shall be consumed. He's going to let this ungodly
king consume the glorious land. That's judgment. And why was that? It's because
Israel didn't trust in the Lord. You know, in the history of Israel,
it's always seen that in various times in their history, they
trust, they turn to Egypt. Now here they turn to the north,
but later on they turn to the south. They go back and forth,
you know. They're good politicians. That's what we are. We're all
good politicians. They want to be on the winning
side. But a lot of times they turn to Egypt. Well, you know
that's their heritage. You know Israel, think about
this. Israel as a nation now had its native existence in Egypt.
That's where they were when God sent Moses down. And you remember
back over here in Exodus 14? You remember when Moses led them
out and they were on the shore of the Red Sea and they didn't
know how they were going to cross? And it says, they look back and
Pharaoh was right behind them. And it talks about how when Pharaoh
drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold,
the Egyptians marched after them and they were sore afraid. They
had seen all those plagues in Egypt, they'd seen the power
of God, but they were so afraid. And you remember when God raised
up a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day
to protect them, they saw that. But here's what they said to
Moses, they got mad at Moses and they said, because there
were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in
the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word
that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone, that we
may serve the Egyptians? That's their heritage. Well,
I want to tell you something. You know, by nature, it's our
heritage too, because you know, if God doesn't keep us and preserve
us, and guide us in His sovereign power and grace in Christ by
the Holy Spirit. You know what we'll always do?
We'll always turn to the flesh, won't we? That's us. We're a
pitiful lot. We'll always turn to the flesh.
We'll always, in essence, want to go back to Egypt for our help
and our aid. You remember what Moses said,
he stood there, he's getting ready to divide the Red Sea by
the power of God, and he said, fear you not, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Stand still and look to Christ. That's how you rise above it.
He said, these Egyptians that are fought, you'll see them no
more forever. He said, for they'll be defeated, the Lord will fight
for you. Let me tell you something, folks,
the Lord has already fought for us. on the cross of Calvary when
he put away our sin and put down Satan. When he died, I died. When he
was buried, I was buried. When he arose again, I arose
again. How about you? And he's still fighting for us,
isn't he? He's our advocate. Well, that's Israel in that time. Look at verse 17. Now what you're
going to see here in this chapter is there's a lot of conniving,
there's a lot of maneuvering. It's like politics has never
changed. One king defeats another country
and in order to gain and win the favor of the people, he gives
his daughter to the foreign king and then there's some conniving
there, put a little poison in the wine, somebody dies, it doesn't
work out, politics go shebang. That's what you're seeing here.
It's a mess. Somebody talked about naming
a sermon on this chapter said, the world's a mess. Well, it
is. He talks about here verse 70,
he shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his
own kingdom and upright ones with him. Now, what he's talking
about there, I believe is that certain of the Jews who turned
traitor upon their own people went with him. Thus shall he
do, and he shall give him the daughter of women." Most commentators
will say that that's a woman whose name was Cleopatra. She
was a daughter of one of the first Seleucid kings. Not the
one you're thinking of, though. This was Cleopatra I. She was
the daughter of one of the northern kings. One we mainly know is
Cleopatra IV. She was born in Egypt down through
that line. But this was a daughter that he gave to the king of Egypt.
And it says, corrupting her, Most people think that means
that that had something to do with her character. But she shall
not stand on his side, neither be for him. In other words, her
husband. She's going to turn against her
husband. It's not going to work out. And after this, he shall
turn his face to the isles. In other words, what the northern
king wanted to do in giving his daughter to the southern king
didn't work out for him, so he turned another way. Most people
think this means Greece to the isles. And he'll take many, he'll
have many wars in Greece and that area and he'll win. But
a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by
him to cease. Now there's another prince that's
coming along that's gonna cause this northern king who turns
his eyes to Greece to stop. And most people believe, and
I agree with them, that that's talking about the presence of
the Roman Empire is coming into play here. And that all came
about. There's another ungodly nation.
There's another embodiment of that anti-Christ government,
you see. Fighting. All of this. And it says, "...without his
own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him." And then look
at verse 9. So here you have it. See, all
of these factions fighting. Israel's in the middle of it
all. The glory of the Lord has departed. What are they going
to do? Well, look at verse 19, it says,
Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land, but
he shall stumble and fall and not be found. What that means
is this northern king who came against Egypt, he died, he fell,
he turned back to his own home and he fell. Some believe his
own son had him killed. You know why? He wanted the throne.
Isn't that man by nature ambitious, murderous in that sense? Verse
20, it says, then shall stand up in his estate or in his place. Listen to this. Boy, we can identify
with this one, can't we? A raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom.
But within a few days, he shall be destroyed neither in anger
nor in battle. What he's probably speaking of there is his successor
was his son. He only reigned 12 years. He
died without a battle, but he raised taxes upon all the people
to send money to Rome. That's what he was doing. Now
this raiser of taxes, you know, it sort of speaks prophetically,
doesn't it, of the coming of our Savior. You remember in Luke
chapter 2, when in Luke's account of the birth of Christ, the first
thing he says in the days of Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor,
he decreed that a tax should be sent out upon all the world.
You know what, this kind of tax here, now you may say the kind
of taxes we pay today, I'm not gonna argue with you about that,
that's okay. But you know this kind of tax
here, you know what it represents? It represents the spirit of Antichrist
that reigns by and rules by oppression. Oppression. Taking from the people. You see, that's not the way of
the Lord. That's not the way of grace. Christ rules and reigns
over his people not by oppression or taking from them, but by giving
to them. all spiritual blessedness in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You see the difference? False
religion taxes people. Send your seed money and God
will bless you with more money. And if you don't send it, he'll
carry it out the back of the door in a pine box. Pay your
tax. Whether it's your money, your
works, your efforts, your time, give to gain. You see, that's
what that kind of oppression is. That's not the obedience
and service of a willing, loving bond slave who serves his master
because he loves him. It's like the gospel of works,
which says do and live, as opposed to the gospel of grace, which
says live and do. Paul said, the love of Christ
constrains me. It's gratitude, you see. I'm
not serving God in order to be made holy. I'm serving God because
he's already made me holy in Christ. I'm not serving God to
try to become righteous or make myself righteous by my works.
They can't do that. They're not good enough. I'm
serving the Lord because I'm already righteous in his son. But you see, this kind of raiser
of taxes, that's part of that ungodly government, that ungodly
way. Now from verse 21 all the way
down to verse 35, it goes to another one of the northern kings.
We've already seen him back over in Daniel chapter 8. He was the
little horn that come out of Greece. His name is Antiochus. He called himself Epiphanes,
which means manifest God, or glory, it's like glory incarnate. You know, all of these ungodly
kings, these anti-Christ governments, they all claim in some way, some
form, to some degree to be God. Caesar of Rome claimed to be
God. They're all uplifted with their
own pride and their own power. And from verse 21, it starts
with this. It says, and in his estate, in
the place of this one king who died, shall stand up a vile person. Now, there are some commentaries
who say, well, that's the Antichrist of the future. Others say that
comes later. Let me tell you something. I
believe this is talking about a king during that time period now he
does embody anti-christian spirit i'll show you that look here
he says he says he he shall stand up a vile person to whom they
shall not give the honor of the kingdom what that means he was
not in the kingly line he took it he usurped it he was a brother
he was in that line but his his nephew was one who was in line
to be king of the north but he took it and his nephew was an
infant And it said, he shall come in peaceably and attain
the kingdom by flatteries. Isn't that the way of Antichrist?
Isn't that the way of false religion? What does it mean by flatteries?
Well, we think, well, what does false religion do for people? Tells them how good they are.
What they can do for God. How much God needs them. That's
flattering to the flesh, you see. And that's the way he obtained
the kingdom. Talks about how much you've done. Put your name on a plaque and
name the building after you. All of that. You see, that's
flattery. Well, this is how this man obtained the throne of the
north. And it says in verse 22, "...and
with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before
him, and shall be broken, yea, also the prince of the covenant."
Now, Antiochus Epiphanes, when he came to power, he came against
Jerusalem and the Jewish religion, the old covenant religion, more
than... he came against it with a wrath
and a hatred like no other king before him. And the first thing
he did is he had the high priest of Israel murdered. And that's
who that's talking about right there. Had him murdered. Which shows this, just like anti-Christ
religion, they have no regard for the glory of the Lord. They have no regard for the way
of salvation. What did that high priest of
Israel represent? He was a type of Christ. He was
a type of our representative who went into the holiest of
all one time a year with the blood of the Lamb. That's Christ.
That's my hope. That's my life. That's my way
of salvation. That's what we say. Look on things
above, not on things of the earth. This fella had no... He was spiritually
dead. He's like all of us by nature.
But his hatred intensified as he went on. Look at verse 23. He said, And after the league
made with him, He shall work deceitfully, he made a league
with the king of the south, for he shall come up and shall become
strong with a small people." Didn't have a big army, that's
what he's saying there. He was a vile person. He had
all of those things going for him, you see, in the realm of
human nature. He says here, he says that with
a small people, verse 24, He shall enter peaceably even upon
the fattest places of the province, and there he plundered the best
places, took them for himself. He shall do that which his fathers
have not done, nor his father's fathers." In other words, he
worked with more fervent ardor against Israel and the people
of the covenant than any of his fathers. They were all against
God. They were all against Christ,
but he more so than any of the others. He was a vile person. And it says, "...he shall scatter
among them the prey and spoil riches, yea, he shall forecast
his devices against the strongholds even for a time." He crowed about
it loudly, he spread the wealth to his friends, and he plundered
his enemies. Verse 25, "...he shall stir up
his power and his courage against the king of the south." He went
on a campaign against Egypt again with a great army, his army had
grown. The King of the South shall be stirred up to battle
with a very great mighty army, but he shall not stand, for they
shall forecast devices against him. This is all prophetic, you
see. Here's his campaign against Egypt. Verse 26, he says, "'Yea, they
that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him. The very
ones that follow him shall turn on him.'" You remember in the
book of Revelation when it talks about the final defeat of Babylon,
how those that followed Babylon will turn on Babylon and rejoice
at her fall? This is prophetic of that. It
actually happened. Said his army shall overflow
and many shall fall down slain. Verse 27, and both these kings'
hearts shall do mischief. The king of the north and the
king of the south, which he made an alliance with. Both of them
are set to do mischief. They'll speak lies at one table.
They'll sit down at the table to negotiate a treaty, but they'll
both be lying to one another. Have things changed much? But it shall not prosper, for
yet the end shall be at the time appointed." Now, what's he talking
about there? He's talking about the end of
the nation, Israel. But look at verse 28, he says, "...then
shall he return into his land with great riches, and his heart
shall be against the holy covenant." What it is, he turned against
the covenant of God with the people of Israel, his hatred,
His whole mindset was against that people, that nation, and
it said, and he shall do exploits, that's works, and return to his
own land. He's going to plunder it, destroy
it, and return to his own land. Verse 29, at the time appointed,
he shall return and come toward the south. Then he went back
towards Egypt. This is all historical. I tell you what, the biblical
accuracy of this history is awesome. This all happened. This Antiochus
Epiphanes, he invaded Egypt, then he went back and he turned
against Israel, and then he turned against Egypt again, but look
here, verse 29, but it shall not be as the former or as the
latter. His first campaign against Egypt,
he was successful, but now here he's second. It's not gonna be
the same. What happens, verse 30, for the ships of Chittim,
that's the western coast, shall come against him. Who is that?
That's Rome. Rome stopped him. and therefore
he shall be grieved and return and have indignation against
the Holy Covenant." Now what happened? Well it's said in history
that Antiochus took his army to Egypt and he got stopped by
Rome and the tale got told and got back to Jerusalem that Antiochus
had been killed, that he had been defeated and he had been
killed and they decided to have a big party Problem was, Antiochus
hadn't been killed and he come back and he caught them having
their big party. And he wreaked havoc upon that
city. What did he do? Well, look at
it, verse 30. It says he'd have indignation,
that's hatred, against the Holy Covenant. That's hatred. What
is that Holy Covenant? What does that Holy Covenant represent?
The gospel of God's grace in Christ, to put it simply. You know, there's nobody that
hates the gospel of God's free grace like false, self-righteous
works religion. Haven't we seen that all through
the history of mankind, beginning with Cain and Abel? Nobody hates
it like false, self-righteous works religion. because it exposes
that darkness, that light that men by nature hate exposes their
darkness, their false refuge of religion without Christ. It
tells them, no, that all of your works and all of your decisions
and all of your religion will not make you righteous before
God, will not forgive and wash away one sin. It takes the blood
of Christ alone to do that. And that's what's represented
here in this history. It says here in verse 30, "...he
shall even return and have intelligence with them that forsake the Holy
Covenant." There are going to be some traitors among the Jewish
people. Covert intelligence. Covert operations. Who will turn against their own
people and go and forsake the Holy Covenant. They'll forsake
Christ. They'll forsake the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
They'll forsake the gospel. That's representative of false
professors, like John dealt with in his day. They went out from
us, but they were not of us, for had they been of us, they
would no doubt have remained with us, continued with us, but
they went out so that it might be made manifest. In verse 31,
"...and arms shall stand on his part..." In other words, he's
going to have a great army. "...and they shall pollute the sanctuary
of strength..." That's the temple. That's what Antiochus did. We
read about that in Daniel chapter 8. It says, "...and shall take
away the daily sacrifice." The daily sacrifice. He had no regard
for an atonement. He didn't see himself as a sinner
in need of mercy like that old publican, God be merciful to
me, the sinner. Don't need that blood, don't
need that sacrifice, don't need that representative, that mercy
from God, he took it away. And he outlawed it, it's what
he did. And he says, and they shall place the abomination that
maketh desolate. That's Daniel's abomination of
desolation. There are many abominations of
desolation. The final one in AD 70 in Jerusalem
when the temple was destroyed. But here's another example of
it, verse 32, and such as do wickedly against the covenant
shall be corrupt by flatteries. There it is again. That's how
you do it. That's how false preachers do it. Just pump them up, build
them up. Years ago, I think, in a message,
I read a quote somewhere where a fellow was talking about human
beings. And he called us the human animal. We're not animals.
But we're made in the image of God. But he said, human beings
are funny animals. He said, the only animal, if
you pat them on the back, their head blows up. And that's the way it is. Flattery.
Remember, they talked about, and the prophets talked about,
the people have itching ears. They want to hear good things,
pleasant things. They want to hear about sin and
a need of mercy. Well, that's what he's doing,
and it says, but now listen to this. Now, who's going to be
delivered from this? Let me conclude with this, and we'll pick back
up here next time. He says, but the people that
do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. Now, who is
that? Well, back in the history of it, there was a family named
the Maccabees, and they came against Antiochus and eventually
defeated him, but what do they represent? They represent believers,
sinners saved by the grace of God. Who's the people that know
their God? It's the ones who know Christ.
This is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. That's what it is
to know God. It's to know Christ. Because
in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're
complete in Him. You don't know God without knowing
Christ. You can't get to God without
coming through Christ. You can't be saved, blessed,
accepted, justified, sanctified, preserved, or glorified by God
without Christ. That's the people who know their
God. If you don't know Christ, you might know a God, but you
don't know the God. The way to God is through Christ
and Him crucified. That's right, it's the way of
the cross, it's the way of the blood, it's the way of righteousness.
In verse 33, and they that understand among the people shall instruct
many. What's that talking about? Preaching the gospel. We're gonna
point sinners to Christ, and yet they shall fall by the sword
and by flame and by captivity and by spoil many days. They're
gonna be killed, martyred for the faith. There's many who have
been, haven't there? That's talking about martyrs.
Next time when we start out here, I'll turn you over to Revelation
where it talks about those martyrs. They are those who are arrayed
in white robes, and who are they? Those who had their robes washed
in the blood of the Lamb. That's what he's talking about. And he says, now when they shall
fall, they shall be hoping or helped with a little help, but
many shall cleave to them with flatteries. There's going to
be sinners saved by the grace of God and it says with a little
help. Well, what's that talking about?
Well, the help of a few. I'll tell you what I believe
it's alluding to. It's alluding to Christ in a
spiritual way who is our help. And it may seem like a few to
the world because He's only one. He's only one. And he only gave
one life, didn't he? As an offering for sin. But the
book of Hebrews chapter 10 says, by one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. One man, one God-man, one offering. Seems so insignificant, Sophie,
but oh, how powerful. Oh, how great is his blood. the precious incorruptible blood
of Christ. His righteousness everlasting, unchangeable. And he says in
verse 35, 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. He's talking
about the coming of Christ into the world to put away our sins.
And what he's saying is that this is going to reveal a lot
about people. There's going to be some who will go with anti-Christ,
that false religion by flatteries. Some who claim to be the people
of God. But there's going to be some who are going to be tried
and tested in the fire of God's chastisements, and it will be
revealed that they're in Christ, washed in His blood and clothed
in His righteousness alone. Okay. Let's close by singing
a few verses of hymn number 517 on Jordan's stormy banks. 517.