I'll turn to the book of Daniel
and the eighth chapter, Daniel chapter 8. And we'll continue
with this series. We've had six chapters of history
and some of the best Bible stories, best known Bible stories in the
Bible. And now we come to chapters 7
to 12, which are these visions. We saw one vision last week,
the vision of horns and of powers and of beasts, and we saw what
it meant about world history. And we come now to another vision.
This was two years later, in the third year of the reign of
King Belshazzar. And it seems that this was given
to Daniel in the year 553 BC. 553 BC. Give or take a few months.
553. Most historians agree that that's when this vision
was given, apart from the secular historians, of course, who claim
that it couldn't possibly have been given then, and we'll say
why in a minute. So it's the third year of Belshazzar's
reign, 553 years before the birth of Christ, 2,550, 2,560-odd years
ago, if calendar reckonings are exactly right. I think everybody agrees they're
pretty right. They might disagree about a few years here and there,
but more or less. 2,560 years ago, this vision
was given. And it's a vision that covers
the period from the Medo-Persian empire of Darius and Cyrus and
those that followed them, down to the end of a man who you've
heard me mention before. A man called Antiochus Epiphanes. Now, there's quite a bit about
him in the Bible. You think, why this one man? It's because
of the way that he's singled out for attention, because of
what he did, what he did to the worship in Jerusalem, particularly.
And that's what we have here. This is a period of about 390
years that this vision covers. From the start of the Medo-Persian
Empire, because this is still the reign of Belshazzar and Daniels
under the Babylonian Empire, and the Medes and the Persians
haven't come yet. But this vision covers the period from when the
Medes and Persians come to the end of this man Antiochus Epiphanes
in 164 BC. So that's a period of almost
390 years. 390 years. You know I used to hate history
when I was at school because they just taught us to remember
dates. I hope it doesn't seem like that. Now the more I look
at it the more utterly fascinated I am with it. Absolutely fascinated
with it. 390 years. Now you think, you
know we read last week about the spirit of Antichrist would
come and change times and laws. There it is in verse 25 of the
previous chapter. And think to change times and
laws. And now, you look in the media and the only thing that
ever seems to be spoken about history, apart from very recent
history, is about millions and billions of years. That's the
only thing that we ever seem to get, is a sort of a change
of times and laws. And so you tend to think that
390 years is just insignificant. It isn't, you know. You think
about our Think about the last 390 years of our history. Go
back 390 years. Oliver Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell.
The Stuarts and Oliver Cromwell. Charles I, Charles II. That's
the period that we're talking about. Now, an awful lot has
happened in 390 years, hasn't it? I mean, an entire nation,
the richest nation on Earth, actually started during that
time. There have been world wars that are remembered today on
this Remembr... Incredible things have happened in 390 years. This
was a period of 390 years that Daniel saw. And the detail and
the accuracy of it are such that it can't possibly be a lucky
guess. You know, they come out every
year with... What's his name? Old Somebody's
Almanac. comes out and it's it's a load
of superstitious witchcraft nonsense about what's going to happen
politically in the next year and some people read it and you
know they say oh look he's right because such and such a thing
happened we did have a nice summer this year and old somebody's
almanac said it was going to be well you think well it was
just a lucky guess you can put it all down to lucky guesses
you can't put this down to a lucky guess there's too much detail
you know get one thing right okay lucky guess get two things
right wow three things right Boy, that's amazing. Get a whole
string of things. The odds are just such that it
cannot just be a lucky guess. And so it's such that the historians,
the secular historians say it must have been written in about
150 BC. They say it's too accurate. It
can't possibly have been written when it was. But there are believing
historians, people like E.J. Young who wrote a book some time
ago which proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that unless you are
just deliberately, spitefully sceptical about these things,
it was written in 553 BC. That's when Daniel wrote it down.
God revealed it to Daniel before it happened. Why did he do that?
Why did God reveal history before it happened? Was it just to prove
that he can do magic tricks? Was it just to prove, hey, look
at this, you better believe me? Was that what it was all for?
No, it's to show that it's the God of the universe who is in
control. That's not just a glib statement.
It's the God of the universe who's in control. If you're His
child, you're in His hands, and as random, and as uncertain,
and as terrifying as everything seems to be, you're God. You're Heavenly Father. He's
ordering all things according to the counsel of His own will.
For the good of His people, all things working together for good,
for His people. He's doing all of these things.
This is why He shows us what's going to happen. And we have
it here recorded. It was given to one of His servants
before it happened and then it was fulfilled exactly as He'd
written it down. Why? Because the God of the universe,
I don't understand how, I don't know how, but the God of the
universe sees the end from the beginning. He orders all things. He makes them happen. He does
things. He raises up kings. He brings
kings down. He raises up political systems.
He brings them down. All these things are in his hands.
And what was the result of it for Daniel? Look at verse 27
at the end of the chapter. When he'd seen this vision, you
might think, well, surely wouldn't he be encouraged like I've just
been trying to encourage you with these words. And he says,
And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick certain days. Afterward,
I rose up and did the king's business, and I was astonished
at the vision, but none understood it. This so powerfully affected
him that this diligent servant of the Babylonian Empire, because
he worked extremely hard, and he was promoted to the highest
office in the land, and he was regarded as very, very capable,
but this man who would not shirk for one moment, this vision so
overwhelmed him But he was sick. He was unwell. He was unable
to work for several days. It really disturbed him greatly.
But the fact is, it's intended for our comfort. Let's have a
look at what the vision was. As I said, it's the Babylonian
kingdom, and there he is in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar.
a vision appeared to him, and he says in verse 1, it appeared
unto me, and just in case you're wondering who it was, he said,
no really, even unto me, Daniel, it really was Daniel that this
vision appeared to, and after that which appeared unto me at
the first, the one that we saw in chapter 7, and I saw in a
vision and it came to pass when I saw that I was at Shushan in
the palace, which is in the province of Elam, this hadn't arisen yet,
this wasn't there yet, Shushan was the palace in the Persian,
the Medo-Persian Empire. This was the palace of Cyrus,
and he was taken forward. He wasn't there literally, physically.
It was in a vision. He was taken forward to the time
of the Medes and the Persians, which is in the province of Elam.
And he lifted up his eyes, and he saw this vision, verse 3,
of a ram which had two horns. Two straight, high horns, it
says. Two horns. We know there are two, even though
two's in italics, because it talks about one being higher
than the other later in the verse. And what it means is that the
two horns, one of them comes up first, higher than the other,
but the shorter one outgrows the other one. And so it was.
The Medes came up first, and the Persians came up and overtook
them. Although it was a united kingdom,
although it was a shared monarchy, Darius and Cyrus, the original
Darius and Cyrus reigned at the same time, it was a shared monarchy,
but the power fluctuated. And the Medes were dominant to
start with, but the Persians were dominant later. And there
it was, this ram, and he was in the east, in the east, that's
where his kingdom was, but he was pushing, verse 4, westward
and northward and southward. He was conquering that Middle
Eastern Mediterranean world of Iraq and Syria and the Mediterranean
countries that we now know. And this is what this ram was
doing. And as he was considering, a he-goat came. A he-goat came. So, we'll consider the goat in
a moment. What about this ram? What about
this ram? The two horns. Well, a ram, you
say, surely we saw in the previous chapter the idea of a bear being
the Medes and the Persians. A fierce bear. I mean, no question
about it. You might see television programs
where naturalists get very close to bears and prove that they're
not so fierce and aggressive. There was one I saw just the
other week in a film made in Canada of a guy who gets very,
very close to black bears there. Very, very fascinating. you wouldn't
want to get close to a polar bear, would you? I mean, it's
a terrifying thing. Very, very dangerous animals.
But a ram? I mean, I used to, when I was
a kid, I used to work on the farms near where I lived, and
there were rams and there were sheep, and yeah, you didn't want
to get the wrong side of a ram, but boy, they weren't gonna tear
you limb from limb like a lion would. You know, they ate grass.
They were a bit stubborn, and they were strong, and they were
stocky, and they had horns, As I said, you didn't want to get
the wrong side of them, but they weren't. So Daniel is wondering. He's in verse 5. I was considering.
He's puzzled by this. What is it about this? You see,
it says that none could deliver out of his hand in verse 4. He
did according to his will and became great. He was a very strong
ram. Why was it he was so strong when
he was just a ram? You see, it says that there's
a lot of correlation with secular history books that back all of
this up, that confirm all of these things. You've heard of
Croesus, the richest man that ever was in the world. Croesus,
who was the king of a country, Lydia, you'll be pleased with
this, the country was called Lydia. He was the king of Lydia.
Croesus was the king of Lydia and he was the richest man that
ever was. And Croesus tried to use his wealth to bolster Babylon
so that the Babylonian Empire would be able to stand against
the rising up of the Medes and the Persians. But he couldn't.
All of his riches couldn't stand against it. He did all according
to his will and became great. This ram, which represents the
Medes and the Persians. Now you say, you're jumping ahead,
aren't you? How do you know it's the Medes and the Persians? Aren't
you fitting things together? Well, no. Look at verse 20. You
see, the angel Gabriel came to Daniel to make him know the meaning
of this vision. And the ram, you see, I'm not
speculating, am I? The ram which you saw having
two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. Very, very clear. No speculation involved at all.
There it is, Media and Persia. And then look at verses 6 and
7. So this he-goat arises in the west. Remember? The ram was
pushing from the east to the west, the north and the south,
and then this he-goat arises in the west on the face of all
the earth. And he's so swift, it's as if
his feet don't touch. You know, like a cartoon character
that runs without his feet touching the ground. And the goat had
a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram which
had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and
ran into him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close
unto the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and smoked
the ram and break his two horns. And there was no power in the
ram, to stand before him, but he cast him down and stamped
upon him, and there was none that could deliver the ram out
of his hand." The ram's strong, and then this he-goat comes and
utterly destroys him. With his one horn in the middle,
he utterly destroys him. This male goat, this he-goat
that destroyed the ram. And verse 21 tells us what he
was. The rough goat is the king of Grisha, and the great horn
that is between his eyes is the first king. Powerful king. A notable king. the king of Grisha. We know him as Alexander the
Great. This is who it was. He conquered
the world with such speed and agility, nothing had ever been
seen quite like it before. His power to go and to do, and
this horn, this horn of great power was in the center between
his eyes, it says. Speaking of the wisdom that came
from that culture, his father was Philip, who was nothing like
in power to what Alexander became. That's why he's known as the
first king. He's really the establishment of the Greek Empire. But he comes
from a situation of great wisdom and learning there in that Greek
culture. Alexander the Great. And he went
and he conquered, from the West, all the world. And it's said,
again I refer to secular history, and if you want to look it up
on e-books online, you've got there the full commentary of
John Gill, and go and look it up in John Gill, there's masses
and masses of fascinating information that we haven't got time to go
into at all. But it's said, of this Alexander
the Great, it's said that when he'd finished conquering, because
he went right as far as India and beyond that, mountains and
rivers didn't stand in his way. You know, if you've seen, if
you've ever been up in the fells and you've seen a mountain goat
leaping and jumping around, You know, mountains don't get in
their way. They just go, and they just go where they want.
And that's why this picture is here. And it said that when Alexander
had finished conquering the then known world, he wept. This great
man of strength. Do you know why he wept? Because
there wasn't another world to conquer. He was so good at it,
there wasn't another world to conquer. That's what they said.
Now isn't it interesting, the attestation of other things,
that the symbol of Macedonian Greece is a goat. A goat. And you know there's a sea between
Greece and Turkey which is called the Aegean Sea, A-E-G-E-N-C,
and that's the Greek word goat. It's the sea goat. That's the
sea named after the sea goat. The Aegean Sea is the sea goat
sea. This goat symbolism here of Greece
is in all sorts of other aspects of Greek history. But this man,
Alexander the Great, was so great that everything just fell before
him. And he whacked, verse eight,
therefore the he-goat waxed very great. And when he was strong,
the great horn was broken, and for it came up four notable ones
towards the four winds. You see, when he was at the height
of his strength and his power, when he was 33 years old, we
know this exactly, there's no argument about the history of
this. This is absolutely right. When Alexander the Great was
33 years old, at the height of his strength and of his conquests,
It is said that in a moment of intemperance, whether it was
drunkenness or whatever else it was, in a moment of intemperance,
there was a terrible accident and he was killed. And that great
horn was snapped off. But the Grecian Empire continued,
but now not under one dominating king, but four horns. And again,
we know from secular history that these four horns were the
ancient kingdoms, not the pharaoh kingdom of Egypt, but in this
particular period. of 500 BC and up to the time
of Christ, the kingdom of Egypt, the kingdom of Greece, of Asia,
and of Syria. These are the four horns. Now
look, I want you to look, because we don't want to spend all our
time on this, because when we get down to verse 8, we see in
place of Alexander came up four notable horns toward the four
winds of heaven. These horns are powers, Egypt,
Greece, Asia, and Syria. And out of one of them came forth
a little horn, which waxed exceeding great." The one that he came
out of was Syria, where modern-day Syria is, north of Israel, south
of Turkey, northwest of Iraq, that sort of region. He came
out of there, this little horn, insignificant in his origins,
insignificant. And he waxed exceeding great
toward the south. He did terrible things to Egypt.
and toward the east and toward the pleasant land." The pleasant
land? Israel, Jerusalem, Judah. That
land. The land surrounding Jerusalem. Toward the pleasant land. And
it waxed great, this horn, even to the host of heaven. It did
things to the people of God. And it cast down some of the
host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them.
The people of God, the servants of God, the redeemed of the Lord,
was severely persecuted by this little horn. And he magnified
himself even to the prince of the host. He strutted around
in all of his pomp and majesty. And by him the daily sacrifice
was taken away, verse 11. And the place of his sanctuary
was cast down. He did violence. He did desecration
to the temple in Jerusalem and to the daily sacrifice. And a
host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of
transgression. and it cast down the truth to
the ground and it practiced and it prospered. This little horn
did terrible things. This little horn was Antiochus
Epiphanes. This is who it was, this man
in history. He was actually a prisoner and
he took away the power of his nephew. I might be slightly wrong
in the details there, just trying to remember what I've read about
him. But he didn't become this horn by right. by the succession
of kings. He didn't become this horn in
the normal way that rulers became rulers in those days. He usurped
the power of somebody else. He was a little horn. He came
from insignificant background, but he exercised his power with
ruthless brutality. Absolutely dreadful things that
he did. And in this vision, verse 13, one saint speaks to another
saint and asks, how long is this going to go on? This sounds dreadful. This sounds shocking. There's
no daily sacrifice. Everything to do with the things
of redemption is taken away. How long is it going to go on?
And in verse 14, the answer is given. 2,300 days. Then shall the sanctuary
be cleansed. 2,300 days. Six years and three
months. Some biblical numbers are meant
to be taken symbolically. They represent things. I've told
you about the time and times and half a time, the three and
a half years, the twelve hundred and sixty days. We'll see a lot
more of it before we get to the end of the book of Daniel. But
this two thousand and three hundred days, secular history confirms,
was absolutely, literally fulfilled. Absolutely, exactly, two thousand
and three hundred days, this terrible reign continued until
one day, all of a sudden, at the height of his strength, Antiochus
Epiphanes was broken without hand. Verse 25, right at the
end of it. But he shall be broken without
hand. Broken without hand. He's the
spirit of Antichrist. We saw the spirit of Antichrist
in chapter 7. Look back at chapter 7 and look
at verse 8. I considered the horns and behold
there came up among them another little horn. Here he is again.
This is the spirit of Antichrist, before whom there were three
of the first horns plucked up by the roots. Then look down
to verse 20 of chapter 7. And of the ten horns that were
in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom
three fell, even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that
spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his
fellows. It's the spirit of Antichrist. In amongst the kingdoms that
came up from the Roman Empire. And then in verse 24, and the
ten horns out of this kingdom are the ten kings that shall
arise and another shall rise after them and he shall be diverse
from the first and he shall subdue three kings and verse 25 and
he shall speak great words against the most high and shall wear
out the saints of the most high and think to change times and
laws and they shall be given into his hand that's the spirit
of Antichrist and this Antiochus Epiphanes was one very very prominent
example of that spirit of Antichrist. He was one very prominent individual
example of that spirit of Antichrist. You see, the spirit of Antichrist
is in the world all of the time. Ever since the time of Christ,
the spirit of Antichrist has been there. He's very much rampant
in these days, the spirit of Antichrist. That which is against
the gospel of Christ. But occasionally, real embodiments
of that spirit come to the fore in history. In this Antiochus
Epiphanes, was one of them but in verse 25 he was broken he
was broken without hand in 164 BC just when the people the saints
in Jerusalem because of all that you read about how bad and how
wayward was Jerusalem and the temple sacrifice and the corruption
of the priests you know in the time when Christ came the the
the self-righteousness of the Pharisees yet there were always
the saints of God There were people like Simeon in the temple
waiting and watching and studying and praying and reading the words
of the book and thinking it must be about now. God always had
his people. They were the stars of heaven
as they're called in these verses 9 to 12. They were there. And
they must have been thinking, how much longer can this persecution
go on? They were being killed. Their
sacrifices were taken away from them. Their temple was taken
away from them. It was desecrated. Violence was
done to them. And right when he was at the
height of his venom and his power, he was broken without hand. You see, Antiochus Epiphanes,
the name means Antiochus Manifest God Epiphanes. He called himself,
I'm as good as God. Who is God? You know like, do
you remember John Lennon said many years ago, the Beatles were
bigger than Jesus Christ, he said. Blasphemous statement.
The Beatles are bigger than Jesus Christ. Well, that's a trivial
example of what this man said. He put himself in the place of
God. Just as it said in chapter 7. He'll put himself in the place
of God, and sit in the temple of God, making himself out to
be God. That's what it says in 1 Thessalonians,
or is it 2 Thessalonians? 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. He
puts himself in the place of God, in the temple of God. He
does all of those things, but at the height of his powers,
in the eternal purposes of God, to fulfill the purposes of God,
he's broken, without a hand. It wasn't another king that came
and took his kingdom away from him. History books tell us what
happened to Antiochus Epiphanes. He got a sudden and absolutely
dreadful disease. He was eaten by worms from the
inside out. Apparently, and I hope this doesn't
put you off your lunch, apparently the disease was so revolting
that his army, his soldiers around him, couldn't stand the stink
of the man when he had this disease, and he died very, very quickly.
It was a dreadful, dreadful thing that in a moment came upon him. Just when he seemed he couldn't
get any more powerful, he was broken without hand. Just like
Herod. Do you remember that Herod? Not
the first Herod of in the days of when Jesus was born in Bethlehem,
but the Herod that came later, Herod the Tetrarch, and in the
days of the Acts of the Apostles. And, you know, they got together
and they had a great feast and they were proclaiming how great
was Herod and he gave a speech that elevated himself and the
people said these are not the words of a man but the words
of a God. It's in Acts chapter 12 verses 21 to 23. You can read it there for yourself.
And in the moment when they said this and he took their praise
and he acknowledged their praise and their worship of him as if
he was a God. Do you remember what it says
in Acts there? That Herod was consumed by worms from within.
And God cut him down in the moment of his arrogance and his blasphemy
and of his standing in the place that belongs to God and Him alone.
So there's the vision. So what, you might say. Interesting
history lesson. Write it down in a novel and
we'll read it for entertainment. You know, you might think that.
So what? What has it got to do with us?
Well, here are three things that I believe it has everything to
do with us. Three things. First of all, the
book that you have in your hands, this Bible that you have in your
hands, this Word of God that you have in your hands, this
is history written before it happened. The God of the universe
inspired his servants to write history before it happened. Look
at Isaiah. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 46,
the verses that we read right at the start this morning. Isaiah
chapter 46 and verse 9 where here God speaks through
Isaiah he says remember the former things of old verse 9 of Isaiah
46 for I am God and there is none else I am God and there
is none like me none of these polytheistic gods none of these
false gods, none of these idols of man, there is none like Me.
How do you know He is God? He declares, verse 10, the end
from the beginning. Before it's ever happened, He
declares the end, what will happen at the end. From ancient times,
the things that are not yet done. So when He declares in the book
of Revelation how things are going to finish up, we can be
confident that they are because we've seen how He's declared
the end from the beginning. We can see how he's declared
it before it was done, and it was done. He says, my counsel
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous
bird from the east. This is another way of saying
raising up the ram that was the Medes and the Persians to come
from the east. And the man that executeth my
counsel from a far country. There's a great example coming
up soon where in the book of Isaiah, where is it? I can't
find it right at this minute, but it's around these chapters
somewhere. He's actually named Cyrus of
the Persians, who is going to be raised up to end the exile
and to send the people back to Jerusalem to do his pleasure. It's all to do God's pleasure.
He calls a ravenous bird from the east, this Cyrus who didn't
know God, who didn't worship God, but he called him, this
man, to execute his counsel from a far country. for His eternal
purposes. Now, what are His purposes? You see, there are a lot of people
that would say, yes, there is a God who is sovereign. Yes,
there is a God who sits on the throne of the universe. There
is a God who does all His will and they bow down before their
God, but it's not the true God, you know. There's only one way
you know the true God. The true God is the God of salvation
of His people. The true God is the God of election
of His people. The true God is the God who saves
His people to the uttermost in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And all other gods, if they feign to be able to do these things,
they're not the true God. The true God of the Scriptures
is the God of sovereign grace and particular redemption. And
His purposes in the whole of history are to save a people
for His glory. I'll remind you of John chapter
6. John chapter 6 and verse 39. You probably know these words
extremely well. But in John chapter 6 and verse
39, well, He's talked about all the Father gives Him shall come
to Him. This is Jesus speaking. And Him that comes I will know,
no wise cast out. And He's come down from heaven,
not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him, the
will of the Father, the will of God, who we've just read in
Isaiah, does all His will. And so what is this will? What
is this will? To order history. to make kings... no look verse 39 this is the
will of God for which he orders all history this is the father's
will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me
all the people given by the father to the son from before the beginning
of time I should lose nothing he'll save every single one of
them and shall raise it up at the last day every single one
of them That's his eternal purpose. That's how and why he orders
history as he does. And so we can have confidence.
When we read those words, that he causes all things, for all
things work together for good to those who love God, who are
the called according to his purpose, all things, terrible disease,
all things for his good. all things. Those whom He's called
according to His purpose, He orders all things for our good.
Oh, that He'd give us the faith to see that and to rest happy
and confidently in that. You know, you read the Psalms
in a new light. Read Psalm 23 in a new light. You know, it's so well known
you hardly need to turn to it. Let me just read some verses
to you. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. Why? Because He's this God who
orders all things according to the counsel of His own will.
And what is His will? To save me from my sins, to take
me to be with Him in glory. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. I won't be found lacking. In the day of judgment I won't
be found lacking, for the Lord is my shepherd. He makes me to
lie down in green pastures, even though all this turmoil of world
history is going on around me. not only world political history,
but events in my life. He makes me to lie down in green
pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your
staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies. You anoint my head with oil.
My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever." That's not just the naive optimism of
somebody who doesn't face reality. That's the faith of the child
of God who knows that God is the one on the throne of the
universe, who decrees it and brings it to pass, and his purpose? To save his people for his own
glory. This is history written down
before the event to show us and we can be confident that he does
all these things because we can look back he said it and it happened
just as Isaiah said he said it and it happened secondly there's
something here in the sickness of Daniel you see I'm being very
encouraging and I'm sure that the purpose of this is to encourage
us so why if Daniel was God's servant and he had this vision
and he wrote this down why was Daniel so sick that he couldn't
work for several days at the end of this why was he so shaken
and horrified by it well look at verse eleven speaking of Antiochus
Epiphanes speaking of what was going to happen three hundred
and so many years after this vision yea he magnified himself
even to the prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifice
was taken away and the place of his sanctuary cast down and
a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason
of transgression and it cast down the truth to the ground
and it practiced its evil schemes and it prospered. He's seeing
something which is absolutely awful. Daniel knew the reality
of the 70 years of exile. During the 70 years of exile
all temple worship and the daily sacrifice ceased and it was for
transgressions and God had threatened it and had promised it and the
people continued in their sin and idolatry and in their worship
of false gods and he enacted by the words of Jeremiah he enacted
exactly what it said and the exile in Babylon was to be 70
years and Daniel knew this he had the books he knew what it
said they were to be taken away captive for 70 years but he knew
it would be restored we'll see next week it's not restored without
prayer he knew it would be restored but here he sees something else
he sees that this taking away of the daily sacrifice is going
to happen again. It's going to happen again and
even though it's for a short period, it's going to happen
again and it horrifies him. Why does it horrify him? It horrified
Daniel in the same way that if you suddenly discovered there
was no salvation in Jesus Christ, it should horrify you as a child
of God. As the children of God, what
is our hope? What is the basis of our hope? What is the basis
of our confidence? It's that Christ has lived and
died for me. It's that Christ has saved me
from my sins. It's that Christ has redeemed
His people. It's that He will take a multitude
to glory, the multitude that the Father gave to Him from before
the beginning of time. But if there's no sacrifice,
that cannot happen. If there's no daily sacrifice
which symbolized everything that Christ did on the cross of Calvary,
then there's no hope. We're without hope and without
God in this world. There's no hope. We're of all
men most miserable, as Paul says. Do you remember when Peter, in
Matthew 16, gave that profound statement, Who do men say that
I am? And Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And then the Catholics make a great thing that he became
the first pope, because all sorts of things were given to him.
You read on a few verses. You read on three or four verses
after that. where the Catholics say he was declared to be the
Pope, the first of the Popes and he's given the keys of heaven
and so now a man can sit in Rome and can declare somebody what,
a saint and somebody else not a saint. Absolute lies, because
you read on a few verses. He started to talk about his
death and about the sacrifice and about everything that had
been happening and how he must fulfill it. And Peter said to
him, oh no, not you Lord, no way, this isn't going to happen
to you. And Jesus said to this man, Peter, whom he loved, Get
thee behind me, Satan, for you savour not the things of God,
but the things of man." Get behind me, Satan. Without that sacrifice,
there is nothing other than satanic scheming. That sacrifice is essential
to eternal life. The Old Testament saints looked
for it. They looked for it to be fulfilled.
I already mentioned Simeon. Read about him in Luke chapter
2 when you have time. Verse 25. Simeon was waiting. What was he waiting for? He was
waiting for the one who would come, the promised one, the Messiah,
who would come and fulfill all those types and sacrifices. The
prospect that this might be taken away again, even for a while,
shattered Daniel. And so, it says to us how central
is this to everything that we believe and everything that is
the basis of our hope. But then finally, I've virtually
run out of time. I'll have to say this very quickly.
This is very important. Thirdly, God always gets the
victory. God always gets the victory.
You couldn't imagine it getting any worse. This man, Antiochus
Epiphanes, was a dreadful man. And there's a city that was named
after him in Syria. A city was named after him. Antioch. And less than 200 years after
he did these things and after he died less than 200 years after
that in Antioch you read about it in Acts chapter 11 verse 26
in the place that was named after this dreadful man the believers
were first called Christians there and in that place as we
read at the end of chapter 12 and the start of chapter 13 of
Acts in that place God raised up prophets Paul and Barnabas
and several others, I can't remember their names right now, but the
Word of God was having free course and prospering there, in that
place, in Antioch, which took its name from this dreadful man,
the spirit of Antichrist. And from there, the mission of
the gospel of grace to the rest of the world went out from Antioch.
The missionary journeys of Paul and Barnabas started from there,
and Paul and Silas, and look where it went from there, and
on, and on, and on. and it filled the whole world
and so now everywhere I said the free grace radio report for
October you look down the list I couldn't think of a country
in the world to which somebody hadn't downloaded at least one
message and it's covering the world with this message of grace
and so in our day the true gospel appears as though it's almost
wiped out of the established churches certainly in this country
of ours you go the length and the breadth of the land you might
find a good sermon occasionally but honestly I just lament the
dreadful state of it I really do but the ministry of the free
sovereign grace of God and his particular redemption in Christ
is prospering in ways that man could have never imagined so
we need to praise him for it and we need to be confident and
we need not to despair