{"id":18422,"date":"2017-12-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-31T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-047-what-has-been-will-be-again\/"},"modified":"2017-12-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-31T06:00:00","slug":"daniel-047-what-has-been-will-be-again","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-047-what-has-been-will-be-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 047 – What Has Been Will Be Again"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18422","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-daniel","series_event-daniel","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Daniel 047 - What Has Been Will Be Again","sermon_date":"20171231","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5277,"sermon_slides":5285,"sermon_mp3":5284,"sermon_id":"1231171018291","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"11:21-24","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nWhat Has Been Will Be Again\n\n12-31-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 11:21-24 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 47\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Happy almost New Year; I guess when the service is over I can say see you next year.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Daniel, chapter 11 and verse 21.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is What Has Been Will Be Again.\u00a0 You say where are you getting that title from?\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ll find it in the Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 1 and verse 9 where Solomon says something very similar there, what has been will be again.\u00a0 [Ecclesiastes 1:9, \u201cThat which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s the book where Solomon says \u201cthere is nothing new under the\u201d what? \u201cthe sun.\u201d\u00a0 And the reason I have chosen that as a title is because we\u2019re entering a section of Scripture that the Holy Spirit has specifically given us to show us that in God history is cyclical; history recycles.\u00a0 And we\u2019re about to read about a man, one of the great villains of the nation of Israel, who did some terrible things to Israel during a time period that we call the intertestamental time period between the two testaments.\u00a0 And yet the way the Holy Spirit has unfolded this individual he is used as a type if you will, a prefigurement if you will, for the coming antichrist.\u00a0 Everything that the coming antichrist will do, in fact, already has been done in miniature form through the man we\u2019re going to begin reading about this morning in verses 21-35.\n\nAnd the reason I think this is so instructive to us is it shows us that God has history under control.\u00a0 If God can set up a type or a prefigurement in the form of a dress rehearsal and then say get ready for the final act later, obviously we worship a God and serve a God that has not lost control of this universe at all.\u00a0 In fact, everything is moving, even man in his rebellion and Satan in his rebellion and the fallen angelic kingdom in their rebellion, everything is moving according to preordained determined plan.\u00a0 And so it is always to me a staggering thing to look at the rebellion of God\u2019s creatures and see how God is actually using that rebellion to orchestrate His final end of things historically.\n\nThis is important because it\u2019s easy to think, when you go through some difficulties and trials and tribulations as a Christian that somehow things have gotten outside of God\u2019s purview; God no longer has control over things.\u00a0 And many, many people today are filled with a state of anxiety as they look at the next year, 2018.\u00a0 The great question is what does the future hold?\u00a0 Is it going to be peace and prosperity, as many, many people say, or is recession, depression, are war clouds looming on the horizon as other people say?\u00a0 And the reality of the situation is you may not know what tomorrow holds but you know as a Christian who holds tomorrow.\u00a0 God knows exactly what\u2019s going to happen; He\u2019s knows exactly what\u2019s going to happen this coming year.\u00a0 And to kind of build our confidence in it He\u2019s given us a prefigurement; what has been will be again.\n\nSo we are in that section of the Book of Daniel that we call the final vision, chapters 10-12.\u00a0 We saw the setting which is 536 B.C.\u00a0\u00a0 And once again I said you ought to remember that date and memorize it, and that holds true even\u00a0 more as we\u2019re going to look at a series of prophecies beginning this morning of things that happened about 400 years after Daniel received this information.\u00a0 Daniel is receiving this information in 536 B.C.\u00a0 These prophecies that we\u2019re looking at start to unfold about 175-164 B.C.\u00a0 That\u2019s roughly 400 years in advance.\u00a0 God is revealing history 400 years before it happens; 400 years is a long time, as I like to say, America has only been in existence for just a little over 200 years.\u00a0 Think of a two times the United States of America in terms of longevity and that\u2019s what Daniel is receiving here from the Lord.\n\nA heavenly messenger, as we have studied, chapter 10, is dispatched from heaven to give Daniel this very important information.\u00a0 The angel himself has to explain why he came and what was the reason for his twenty-one day, or three week delay.\u00a0 And then finally you move to chapter 11, verse 2 through the end of the book and you have the final vision itself.\n\nThe vision begins, as we have talked about, with information concerning Persia, which was the kingdom which was in existence when Daniel was on the earth.\u00a0 And we saw in verse 2 some very interesting information about Persia.\u00a0 And then we moved, in verses 3-4, through the kingdom of Greece, and probably the key thing to understand here is Daniel, in advance, sees the rise of Alexander the Great, the soon death (at a very young age) of Alexander the Great, and the division of Alexander the Great\u2019s kingdom into four parts.\n\nThat\u2019s what it looks like on a map and of course the two most important generals where this partitioning happened are the Seleucid dynasty in Syria up north, and the Ptolemy dynasty in Egypt down south.\u00a0 Now up to this point in time I\u2019ve been pronouncing Ptolemy as Pit-ol-omy and my wife the other day says you know that the \u201cP\u201d is silent there and so I said well you tell me this now after I\u2019ve been mispronouncing it for a month.\u00a0 But I think it\u2019s pronounced Tol-omy.\n\nSo Seleucid, or the Seleucid dynasty is up north in Syria; the Ptolemy dynasty is down south in Egypt.\u00a0 And so they become the two most important players in Daniel\u2019s subsequent prophecies.\u00a0 And so what we have emerged from, verses 5-20, is a couple of sermons on the warfare that took place between those two dynasties from about 323-175 B.C.\u00a0 So these two dynasties, basically, go to war with each other for a period of,\u00a0 I don\u2019t know, 150 or so years.\u00a0 And in the midst of their warfare they traipse back and forth over the land of Israel over and over again.\n\nAnd what that section of Scripture has been driving us towards is 198 BC; 198 BC is when the northern kingdom got the upper hand and actually around that time took jurisdiction over the land of Israel.\u00a0 And there is a list of the various kings that we\u2019ve talked about there in verses 5-20.\u00a0 There are in this section of the Bible, if you start in Daniel 11:2 and go all the way to verse 35 what you\u2019re going to discover is there is about 125 prophecies there and we\u2019ve only covered 3 of them\u2026 I\u2019m just kidding.\u00a0 But there\u2019s a lot of prophetic information here.\u00a0 What we have been trying to prove, and I think what has been proved is that all 125 of these prophecies have been fulfilled very literally.\n\nAnd if that\u2019s true, then the prophecies yet future, which we haven\u2019t gotten to, beginning in chapter 11, verse 36, unless the Holy Spirit changes horses in mid-stream, which I don\u2019t think He will do, consistency dictates that everything yet to come will be literally construed as well.\u00a0 So the focus beginning around 198 B.C. becomes the Seleucid dynasty in Syria as they took jurisdiction over the land of Israel.\u00a0 And what begins to be traced are these various Seleucid rulers, ultimately coming from Seleucus, the general that started that particular dynasty.\n\nAnd so you see a long list of kings;\u00a0 you see a long list of rulers and the text has been driving us to the very bottom of the screen, a man named Antiochus IV (Epiphanes).\n\n[Seleucus I (Nicator) 312-281. Antiochus I (Soter) 281-261).\u00a0 Antiochus Theos, 261-246.\u00a0 Seleucus Callinicus, 246-226.\u00a0 Seleucus III, 226-223.\u00a0 Antiochus III (Great) 223-187.\u00a0 Seleucus IV (Philopater) 186-175.\u00a0 Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) 175-164.]\n\nOnce we get his lineage and his name and his kingdom and his rulership the Holy Spirit focuses in on this man like a laser beam and he gets extended treatment.\u00a0 The reason he gets extended treatment is because he, probably more than anybody else I can think of in the entire Bible, is a prefigurement of the coming antichrist.\n\nAnd there are a lot of people today that are talking about an antichrist; the subject is sort of a hot topic and what I\u2019ve discovered is a lot of people assemble their doctrine of the antichrist without fully understanding the types that the Holy Spirit has given us of the coming antichrist.\u00a0 If you want to understand who the coming antichrist is, how he will operate, what his motives are, what his agenda will be you cannot skip this man, Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) because he is the one that the Holy Spirit draws our attention to concerning the antichrist of the future.\u00a0 He is a prefigurement of the coming antichrist.\n\nThe only other person I can think of in the entire Bible that personifies the antichrist in this way is Nimrod.\u00a0 Nimrod, of course, you\u2019ll see his name in Genesis 10:8-10.\u00a0 [Genesis 10:8-10, \u201cNow Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. [9] He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, \u2018Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.\u2019\u00a0 \u00a0[10] The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.\u201d]\n\nHe was the architect of the tower of Babel, as you know, which was man\u2019s first attempt at one-world government, that God disrupted.\u00a0 Other than Nimrod himself the first prefigurement of the antichrist, perhaps in the whole Bible, Antiochus IV Epiphanes reveals more information about the coming antichrist than any other single figure I can think of in the entire Scripture.\n\nAnd so by the time we move out of verses 5-20 and the perpetual warfare between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, verses 5-20, now the focus is on this man, Antiochus IV and he is the topic in verses 21-35.\u00a0 Obviously we can\u2019t cover everything about him today but that\u2019s the direction that we\u2019re moving in over the course of the next several Sundays.\n\nLet me give you a little bit of an overview on this section of Scripture and this man, Antiochus IV, if I could.\u00a0 Antiochus IV at this point in Daniel\u2019s prophecy moves into center stage.\u00a0 Antiochus IV is going to reign for about a decade over the Syrian dynasty and over the land of Israel and he will be in power from about 175-164 B.C.\u00a0 Now remember the date when Daniel saw these things?\u00a0 536 B.C.\u00a0 So Daniel is seeing something that would happen long after Daniel left the scene.\u00a0 So Daniel saw these things in 536 B.C. and you say well this guy, Antiochus, haven\u2019t we studied him already?\u00a0 And the answer is yes, he was the subject of some of Daniels prophecies in Daniel 8.\n\nIn Daniel 8:9-14 and Daniel 8:23-25 the great vision of the ram and the goat, the Persian and the Grecian kingdom, Antiochus IV was very prominent in those prophecies as well.\u00a0 And so what I want you to see is there are two chapters in the Book of Daniel where the Holy Spirit is saying pay attention to this.\u00a0 I mean, if God say something once that should be enough.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 But what you\u2019re discovering in Daniel is the Holy Spirit has surfaced this whole issue twice.\u00a0 So this might be a kind of sermon that you\u2019re not interested in; this might be a kind of sermon that you\u2019re bored with.\u00a0 This might be a kind of sermon where you think it\u2019s not optimistic enough because there\u2019s too much doom and gloom in here.\n\nWell, the Holy Spirit, I think, would disagree with you.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit two times in Daniel\u2019s prophecies, in Daniel\u2019s book, calls our attention to this man, Antiochus IV.\u00a0 And in the process I don\u2019t think the Holy Spirit just wants us to pay attention to Antiochus IV; what is going to be achieved here is a great victory done under God.\u00a0 The antichrist himself has to be studied in light of who?\u00a0 Jesus Christ.\u00a0 So sometimes in prophecy we can get so myopic and focused on what\u2019s wrong or what\u2019s evil and really what the Holy Spirit wants us to recognize is the evil is not the issue.\u00a0 The evil can be very, very bad; the issue is God\u2019s victory over the evil.\u00a0 And yet we can\u2019t appreciate the victory of God over evil unless we understand the depravity and the depths of it of evil itself.\u00a0 So don\u2019t lose God, don\u2019t lose Jesus, don\u2019t lose the sovereignty of God as we start working our way through these prophecies this morning.\n\nThe goal of Antiochus IV was something called Hellenization. It\u2019s something that he picked up from Alexander the Great.\u00a0 He wanted to bring in a monolithic Greek culture.\u00a0 He wanted to build what I would call a new world order.\u00a0 He wanted everybody to think the same way, to be inculcated into the same paganism that dominated the Greek Empire.\u00a0 And what was standing in his way was the tiny nation of Israel.\u00a0 Israel had its own language; Israel had its own culture.\u00a0 Israel had its own religious system and so they were looked at as being the obstacles of the progress of the new world order called Hellenization or Hellenism, which Antiochus IV was seeking to bring in.\u00a0 And as Solomon says, there\u2019s nothing new under the what?\u00a0 Under the sun.\u00a0 [Ecclesiastes 1:9, \u201cThat which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happening today.\u00a0 Today the forces of darkness, I\u2019m convinced, are trying to bring in a one world government, a new world order.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want dissenters, they don\u2019t want people that think independently, they don\u2019t want people to think outside the box.\u00a0 And consequently Christianity is purged from the public schools; Christianity is purged from the market place of ideas because the architects of new world order look at this Book, the Bible that you\u2019re holding, as an obstacle.\n\nAnd\u00a0 you have to understand this as you go about your life as a Christian.\u00a0 You, in Satan\u2019s kingdom, are viewed as a hindrance; you\u2019re viewed as an obstacle.\u00a0 And praise the Lord for that because what are we to be in Satan\u2019s world?\u00a0 Salt and light.\u00a0 And so Israel, in the days of Antiochus, Israel today, evangelical Bible based Christianity today is looked at as a hindrance towards this coming new world order, this coming monolithic culture.\u00a0 And this is what Antiochus IV was trying to bring in.\u00a0 this is why he hated the nation of Israel.\u00a0 That\u2019s why people that think the way he thinks, Antiochus, always hate the Jews because the Jews have their own way of doing things\u00a0 under God.\u00a0 So what Antiochus is going to do, and you\u2019re going to reach the climax when we get to verse 31, which we won\u2019t be getting to today, but he is going to go into the Jewish temple and do something horrific in the temple called the desecration of the temple.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll be talking about that in depth, and that that means.\n\nAnd we have, that comes to our historical assistance, two books; they\u2019re not found in the Protestant Bible, they\u2019re called First Maccabees and Second Maccabees.\u00a0 They\u2019re what\u2019s called the Apocrypha.\u00a0 And the reason we don\u2019t have them in our Bible is because we, as Protestants\u2026 now Roman Catholics think very differently about this, but we as Protestants don\u2019t accept those books as inspired by God.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because they teaching things like salvation by works, which the Bible blatantly contradicts.\u00a0 They teach things like praying for the dead, which the Bible blatantly contradicts, the Bible says it\u2019s appointed unto a man to die once and then to face the judgment.\u00a0 [Hebrews 9:27, \u201cAnd inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,\u201d]\u00a0 Praying for the deceased is of no value once a person crosses the eternal realm.\n\nAnd you say well, pastor, if these books teach such false doctrines then why are we bringing them up here?\u00a0 Because we accept them as recording valid history; they are valid historical sources, just like Herodotus is a valid historical source even though Herodotus is not an inspired writer of the Bible.\u00a0 Just like Josephus, the great first century Jewish historian is a valid historical source although we don\u2019t accept Josephus as an inspired writer.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the Books of I and II Maccabees provide for us.\u00a0 They are not inspired by God but we recognize them as accurate history in many ways, showing us how literally and how accurately Daniel\u2019s prophecy, given 400 years in advance, were fulfilled.\u00a0\u00a0 And as you\u2019re thinking about this man Antiochus IV, as I mentioned before, he is a prefigurement, he is a type of the coming antichrist.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit deliberately uses him as a type of things to come.\u00a0 And so what has been will be again.\n\nSo as we look at this man, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, say that five times fast, we have an extended amount of information concerning him, verse 21-35, and how would we break down this mass volume of material.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a five point outline that I\u2019m going to be using.\n\nNumber 1, we have his rise to power, how he came to power over Syria is specifically prophesied by Daniel, verse 21.\u00a0 [Daniel 11:21, \u201cIn his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.\u201d]\n\nNumber 2, we have his general military successes.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit doesn\u2019t give us too many specifics here but He speaks in general terms over the military successes this man, Antiochus IV had when he first launched his authority and his reign.\u00a0 That\u2019s in verse 22-24.\u00a0 [Daniel 11:22-24, \u201cThe overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant. \u00a0[23] After an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of<\/em> people. [24] In a time of tranquility he will enter the richest parts<\/em> of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors; he will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only<\/em> for a time.\u201d]\n\nAnd then going down to verses 25-28 you start getting more specifics; you get Antiochus\u2019 IV\u2019s first military activities concerning first of all the Ptolemies in Egypt and secondly, Israel. And it is interesting that Daniel predicts that Antiochus IV is going to be largely successful in these initial military activities.\u00a0 [Daniel 11:25-28, \u201cHe will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South with a large army; so the king of the South will mobilize an extremely large and mighty army for war; but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him. [26] Those who eat his choice food will destroy him, and his army will overflow, but many will fall down slain. [27] As for both kings, their hearts will be intent<\/em> on evil, and they will speak lies to each other<\/em> at the same table; but it will not succeed, for the end is still to come<\/em> at the appointed time. [28] Then he will return to his land with much plunder; but his heart will be set<\/em> against the holy covenant, and he will take action and then<\/em> return to his own<\/em> land.\u201d\n\nBut then everything begins to change in verses 29-31, where he is going to go into the Jewish temple and desecrate that temple.\u00a0 And he and his activities in the Jewish temple, as I\u2019ve mentioned before, is a prefigurement of what the coming antichrist will do. \u00a0[29 \u201cAt the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before. [30] For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. [31] Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.\u201d]\n\nBut there\u2019s a happy ending to the whole thing.\u00a0 The happy ending to the whole thing is found in verse 32 which Ed Jones read just a little earlier.\u00a0 Did you notice what verse 32 said?\u00a0 \u201cbut the people who know their God will display strength and take action.\u201d\u00a0 And what starts to get recorded in Daniel\u2019s prophecies, verses 32-35 is the reaction of the faithful within Israel to what Antiochus was doing.\u00a0 They resisted his desecration of the temple; they resisted the process of Hellenization and in the wake of it they won a victory that they shouldn\u2019t have won.\u00a0 They defeated Antiochus against all odds, liberated the temple from Seleucid rule and rededicated the temple to God\u2019s service.\u00a0 [Verses 32-35, \u201cBy smooth words<\/em> he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. [33] Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many<\/em> days. [34] Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy. [35]Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is<\/em> still to come<\/em> at the appointed time.\u201d]\n\nAnd this shows us that what is necessary for victory and what is necessary for success is having God on your side, or better said, you being on God\u2019s side.\u00a0 See, all of us are faced in life with circumstances that are beyond our ability to cope with\u2026 amen!\u00a0 And God, I believe intentionally places us into those circumstances so he can show great strength on our behalf.\u00a0 I mean, how would we ever learn about the greatness of God and the faithfulness of God and the power of God and the might of God unless you were in some kind of circumstance, relationally, physically, financially, emotionally, whatever it is you\u2019re going through, unless you were in a circumstance beyond your\u00adself, beyond\u00a0 your human abilities where the only person, the only being you could trust in is God.\n\nAnd I believe God Himself will put us into those circumstances.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because God wants to reveal His attributes to use beyond a book knowledge understanding.\u00a0 A lot of us are very orthodox in the way we think about God.\u00a0 If were to give a test, is God all powerful, does God know everything, is God present everywhere at once, and I were to give sort of a true and false test I think everybody in this room, in this church, would pass the test with flying colors.\u00a0 And that\u2019s good, that\u2019s a first step.\n\nBut now God says I\u2019ll tell you what, I\u2019m going to take that book knowledge that you have of Me and I\u2019m going to flush it out in daily life.\u00a0 So in 2018 you have a financial downturn or you have a mortgage payment that you can\u2019t make, or the doctor says there\u2019s something on your report that I want to talk to you about.\u00a0 And then the Holy Spirit says to us, do you still believe I\u2019m omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.\u00a0 I mean, you have it good at the Sunday School level but let\u2019s see if your beliefs work their way out in daily life.\n\nAnd you see, unless the Lord had put the tiny nation of Israel against this bully, Antiochus IV, unless God had put Israel into a place where she had no one to trust in but God Himself we would have and they would have no record in daily life of how God rescued Israel.\u00a0 And this is the pattern of God and this is what God is doing with Israel in intertestamental times.\u00a0 It\u2019s what God is doing, I believe, with Israel today.\u00a0 And I believe if you\u2019re honest with yourself it\u2019s the exact pattern of God in your life and it\u2019s the exact pattern of God in my life as well.\n\nAnd so I think God wants to get us to a point where we come into a crisis and we just instinctively turn it over to the Lord and we say to the Lord, You\u2019ve come through so many times in my past, I\u2019m just sort of eager on how You\u2019re going to pull this off this time Lord, because what I\u2019ve discovered in my own life, when God rescues me, He never uses the same strategy twice.\u00a0 He\u2019ll use one tactic one way, a different tactic a different way.\u00a0 And you see, God\u2019s hands are not bound the way man\u2019s hands are bound.\u00a0 We think God has to work the exact same way every single time but that\u2019s not how God functions.\n\nAnd so He puts us into these circumstances where He just wants us to trust Him and we say to the Lord, Lord, I don\u2019t know how You\u2019re going to pull this off but I can\u2019t wait to see what\u2019s going to happen.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t want us to move into fear; He doesn\u2019t want us to move into anxiety the moment a problem hits.\u00a0 And he is in this process preparing us for a walk of faith that He has for us.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what God is doing here with Israel.\u00a0 And so what you have there in Roman numeral V is the reaction of Israel to the temple desecration.\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t compromise and God showed up in a big way and Daniel gives us all of this history in advance.\u00a0 So let\u2019s see how far we can get this morning in this outline; that was just my introduction.\n\nWe have, number 1, the \u00a0rise to power of Antiochus IV.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verse 21,\u00a0 how did this man, Antiochus IV, actually gain ascendency over the northern kingdom.\u00a0 It says in verse 21, \u201cIn His place a despicable person will arise on whom the honor of the kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 11:21]\u00a0 Now for each of these verses I have the historical points regarding how Daniel\u2019s prophecy was fulfilled.\n\nSo Seleucus IV, in the northern kingdom, has phased off the scene and in his place comes this man, Antiochus IV Epiphanes who, as I said before, is going to rule for about 10-11 years.\u00a0 So you have the death of Seleucus IV, his predecessor, and here\u2019s the thing that\u2019s very interesting to keep in mind here.\u00a0 The heir apparent to the northern kingdom was not Antiochus IV; the heir apparent was supposed to go to a man named Demetrius.\u00a0 And essentially what happened is Antiochus IV seized the throne through a series of events by which he seized the throne illegitimately.\u00a0 The heir apparent was sent to Rome and while he was away in Rome, Antiochus IV saw it as an opportunity to gain ascendency over the northern kingdom.\n\nThat\u2019s what is meant here in verse 21 by the fact that he is \u201ca despicable person,\u201d he \u201cwill arise,\u201d verse 21, and it specifically says \u201con whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, he seizes power illegitimately.\u00a0 Now I want you to compare that to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 \u00a0There\u2019s a reason the antichrist is called the antichrist; may people believe that means the in place of Christ, perhaps the opposite of Christ.\u00a0 When Christ showed up on planet earth and presented His legal and Messianic credentials to the nation of Israel He was a completely legitimate heir to the throne of David.\u00a0 That is the significance, if you will, of the genealogies, such as in Luke 3 and Matthew 1.\u00a0 The writers of the Gospels, the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Luke, carefully document, carefully credential exactly who Jesus was.\u00a0 He was exactly who He claimed to be.\u00a0 He had every right (had the nation received Him) to take His seat on David\u2019s throne and begin reigning.\n\nNot so this man Antiochus IV, who begins to seize power illegitimately.\u00a0 He was not the heir apparent; the heir apparent was instead an individual named Demetrius and that\u2019s why in verse 21 he is called \u201ca despicable person.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, the name Antiochus IV Epiphanes means God manifest.\u00a0 What kind of name is that?\u00a0 That\u2019s a person that\u2019s trying to call attention to them\u00adselves.\u00a0 That\u2019s a person that is essentially holding themselves out to the human race as some sort of godlike creature.\u00a0 And how different the man, Jesus Christ, is.\u00a0 Jesus Himself, did He not say over and over again, the Son of Man has not come in the world to be served but rather to what?\u00a0 To serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.\u00a0 [Matthew 20:28, \u201cjust as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.\u201d]\n\nSo He was not a God-like creature, this man, Antiochus IV, even though he promoted himself that way.\u00a0 Verse 21 is very clear that he is what we would call \u201ca despicable person.\u201d\u00a0 And he seizes the throne through intrigue and he also seizes the throne without honor.\u00a0\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because he was an illegitimate heir who took the throne secretly and outside of the legal procedure and outside of the legal process.\u00a0 This is who this Antiochus IV is.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice also the word \u201ctranquility,\u201d he came in a time of tranquility.\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0\u00a0 He came at a time when everybody thought everything is working out fine.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t come, necessarily at a time of warfare.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t come at a time of crisis.\u00a0 He came at a time of tranquility; some of the things that He was doing sort of slipped under the radar screen and he got control of things while most people were probably asleep at the switch (asleep spiritually).\n\nAnd as we move down to verses 22-24 we start to get a window, if you will, an insight into his general military successes early on.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verse 22, it says, \u201cThe overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant.\u201d\u00a0 So he is someone that comes in during a time of tranquility and yet his power is so great that it\u2019s described here in verse 22 as \u201coverflowing forces.\u201d\u00a0 He is a person of such charisma and such capability that he just seems to do away with his enemies; he seems to come in very rapidly and begin to solve problems.\n\nBut it\u2019s interesting, as you go towards the end of verse 22 it says he is going to shatter \u201cthe prince of the covenant.\u201d\u00a0 Now who is \u201cthe prince of the covenant\u201d?\u00a0 I believe that \u201cthe prince of the covenant\u201d is an individual named Onanias III.\u00a0 He was the reigning high priest over the nation of Israel and Onanias III, who is given this designation, \u201cprince of the covenant,\u201d he is sort of the\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0de facto<\/em> head, if you will, of the Israeli theocracy at this time.\u00a0 This man, Onanias III was hated intensely by Antiochus IV.\u00a0 Now why is that?\u00a0 Well because he didn\u2019t do what Antiochus IV wanted; he was a man that took a political position, not with the Seleucids and the Syrians but with the Ptolemies.\u00a0 Onanias III wanted to preserve the Jewish heritage and the Jewish culture and so he would not cooperate with Antiochus IV who wanted to bring in Hellenization.\n\nAnd another problem with Onanias III, at least as far as Antiochus IV is concerned is he didn\u2019t give enough tax money.\u00a0 So I\u2019m not getting enough tax money from this guy, he doesn\u2019t support my policies of Hellenization, and he, by the way, is not siding with my kingdom in the north, he\u2019s not siding with the Ptolemies, I don\u2019t like this guy.\u00a0 So what happened is Antiochus IV applied pressure over the land of Israel; remember the Syrian kingdom was ruling over the land of Israel at this time, and had this man, Onanias III, deposed and replaced with another man, interestingly, is Onanias\u2019 brother, Jason.\u00a0 So let\u2019s get rid of Onanias III as the high priest of the nation of Israel and let\u2019s put into place a puppet. \u00a0And I think that\u2019s what\u2019s being described here in verse 22, towards the end of the verse when it makes a prophecy concerning Antiochus IV that he will actually shatter the prince of the holy covenant.\n\nSo with a little bit of political pressure now Antiochus IV had exactly what he wanted in place, a puppet high priest.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t mean to go off too far on this but I can\u2019t tell you how many churches out there are really not interested in a shepherd as a leader; they\u2019re really interested in a puppet.\u00a0 They\u2019re interested in someone that will sort of keep the Lawrence Welk music playing, will kind of keep juggling and keep the balls in the air but the moment that individual begins to guide a church (which is what a shepherd is supposed to do) is the moment the hierarchy of that church starts to push back against the shepherd.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t hire you to change things; what we hired you to do is to be what Jesus called a hireling.\u00a0 That\u2019s who Jason was; he was, in essence, a hireling.\n\nAnd one of the things that appreciate about my time here at Sugar Land Bible Church is the leadership here has not looked at me as a hireling; they have actually looked to me as a shepherd.\u00a0 I don\u2019t control completely the direction of this church because we have elders consisting of the number seven, but I am a voting member on the elder board and the things that I say, the other elders, my fellow elders look at with something to pray about, something that they have respect for because this church, the moment they hired me just wasn\u2019t interested in a hireling; they were interested in a shepherd.\n\nA shepherd is not somebody who takes orders from the sheep.\u00a0 The shepherd is somebody who guides the sheep; that\u2019s the function of a shepherd.\u00a0 And I can\u2019t tell you how many churches I\u2019m aware of where they really don\u2019t have a shepherd; they have a hireling, someone like Jason, someone who\u2019s sort of like a puppet, someone who keeps the balls juggling in the air, someone who keeps the Lawrence Welk music playing just to keep everybody happy, and let\u2019s see if I can hold on long enough until I retire.\u00a0 That\u2019s what you call a hireling.\u00a0 And that\u2019s not the kind of church you want to go to.\u00a0 You want to go to a church where there\u2019s an actual shepherd there that God has called to be a shepherd and that the leadership of the church recognizes as this is our shepherd.\u00a0 This is the God ordained model of church leadership.\u00a0 Onanias III was more of a shepherd than a hireling and so he was quickly replaced by Jason, who was more of a hireling than a shepherd.\n\nAnd as we move into verse 23 it says this: \u201cAfter an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of<\/em> people.\u201d\u00a0 So you\u2019ll notice this expression here, verse 23, \u201cAfter an alliance is made with him,\u201d what alliance is he talking about? The alliance that Antiochus IV just posed.\u00a0 How did he pose this alliance?\u00a0 He got rid of the high priest that he didn\u2019t like and replaced him with more of a puppet, named Jason, and consequently Daniel, 400 years in advance predicts this alliance coming together with Antiochus IV, the king of the north, and the nation of Israel.\n\nYou continue on into verse 23 and you get more information about this man, Antiochus IV.\u00a0 Notice what it says, \u201che\u201d Antiochus IV, \u201cwill practice deception.\u201d\u00a0 Now notice that it doesn\u2019t just say he is a deceiving person, he deceives people, but his modus operandi is deception.\u00a0 Some commentators refer to Antiochus IV as almost like a serpentine preacher.\u00a0 I was reading one commentator and he said he is not the kind of person that you want to live next door to.\u00a0 And we would expect such a man to be that way because that\u2019s the nature of Satan, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 What did Jesus say about Satan in John 8:44, He says, \u201cYou are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.\u201d\n\nHow do you know that Satan is lying? It\u2019s very simple\u2014his lips are moving.\u00a0 Every time his lips are moving some kind of lie is coming out of his mouth.\u00a0 And many times the lies of Satan are sort of synthesized with the truth.\u00a0 I mean, if Satan comes out and gives us a complete lie we would recognize it as such.\u00a0 So his habit, the devil, is to sort of mix truth and error.\u00a0 He is a practitioner, if you will, of deception.\u00a0 This is what Daniel predicts about this man, Antiochus IV.\n\nAnd I think we have completely underestimated the power of the devil to deceive.\u00a0 Did you know that according to Revelation 12:9 that Satan is a deceiver of the whole world.\u00a0 [Revelation 12:9, \u201cAnd the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s quite an accomplishment, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 I mean, think of \u201cthe whole world\u201d\u00a0 under a state of deception and that\u2019s what the Bible, your Bible, reveals about Satan and those that he energizes.\n\nThink about this for a minute; if Satan can deceive Adam and Eve before sin entered the world, when they were standing I the presence of God in a perfect relationship with God, if Satan can deceive our forbearers in that state, what do you think he could do to you?\u00a0\u00a0 I mean, you are a sinner by nature already; you are born, we are all born into the world separated from God.\u00a0 If Satan can deceive our forbearers who didn\u2019t have those disabilities, didn\u2019t have those inadequacies originally, didn\u2019t have those weaknesses, what do you think he can do in your mind?\u00a0 What do you think he can do in\u00a0 your life?\n\nAnd this is why the armor of God, Ephesians 6, putting on, for example, \u201cthe belt of truth, the helmet of salvation, etc. is so critical to the life of the child of God. \u00a0[Ephesians 6:17, \u201cAnd take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.\u201d]\u00a0 And yet if Satan can sort of convince us that maybe he\u2019s not as deceptive as we think, he\u2019s already won the battle.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He can put lie after lie after lie into your mind, making you think that it\u2019s your thoughts or God\u2019s thoughts instead of the devil\u2019s thoughts\u2026 the capacity for deception.\u00a0 Revelation 12:9, \u201cdeceives the whole world.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 12:9, \u201cAnd the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.\u201d]\u00a0 So this is something that\u2019s very, very interesting about Satan.\n\nThink about this for a minute; Satan deceived a third of the angels into falling with him.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find that figure in Revelation 12:3-4 and 7-8.\u00a0 [Revelation 12:3-4, \u201cThen another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were<\/em> seven diadems. [4] And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.\u00a0 Revelation 12:7-8, \u201cAnd there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, [8] and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s how we know a third of the angels originally fell.\u00a0 Think of the angels who stand in the very presence of God to say over and over again, \u201cHoly, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 4:8, \u201cAnd the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, \u2018HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.\u201d ]\n\nSatan was so good in his original deception that he even deceived a third of the angels in that state into rebelling with him against God.\u00a0 He deceived our forbearers in Eden before the limitations of sin even entered the picture.\u00a0 I mean, if the devil can deceive the angels, if the devil can deceive Adam and Even in Eden, what more could he do in my life?\u00a0 And I think we\u2019ve under estimated his deceptive capabilities.\u00a0 We really haven\u2019t given mind to the Scripture that he deceived the whole world.\u00a0 We\u2019re told over and over and over again to guard the mind, to renew the mind, to protect the mind.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting to me that Satan doesn\u2019t have to take control of every area of\u00a0 your being; all he has to do is to plant a few lies into your mind and he can basically through that dictate the course of your life even as a child of God.\u00a0 The 9\/11 hijackers, think about this for a minute, they didn\u2019t have to take over the whole airplane; all they had to take over was the cockpit or where the pilot sits and directs the plane.\u00a0 If\u00a0 you control that you control the airplane.\u00a0 And this is what the Bible tells us over and over again, that Satan has targeted the mind of the Christian.\u00a0 That\u2019s why there is so much information, if you will, on the mind and protecting our minds, and to putting on the belt of truth, and to putting on the helmet of salvation, and to screening everything we hear and see through the lens of God\u2019s Word.\n\nThis is why the Book of Philippians, for example, chapter 4 and verse 8 places such a high premium, if you will, on the mind of the Christian.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cFinally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,\u201d notice this, \u201cdwell\u201d that\u2019s mental, isn\u2019t it, \u201cdwell on these things.\u201d\n\nAs one person said, you can\u2019t stop the birds from flying over your head, we all have bad thoughts don\u2019t we?\u00a0 But you sure can stop them from building a nest in your hair.\u00a0 I mean, our minds are always under assault by the devil, over and over and over again and that\u2019s never going to change.\u00a0 The thoughts are going to come.\u00a0 What I can do though is push those thoughts out of my mind under the authority of God\u2019s Word and I can choose what I want to dwell on.\u00a0 \u201cDwell\u201d is sort of a lifelong habit.\u00a0 What should I dwell on?\u00a0 It\u2019s got to meet a test: number 1, it\u2019s got to be true.\u00a0 Number 2, it\u2019s got to be honorable.\u00a0 Number 3, it\u2019s got to be right.\u00a0 Number 4, it\u2019s got to be pure.\u00a0 Number 5, it\u2019s got to be lovely.\u00a0 Number 6 it\u2019s got to be of good repute.\u00a0 Number 7, it\u2019s got to be excellent.\u00a0 And number 8, it\u2019s got to be worthy of praise. \u00a0[Philippians 4:8, \u201cFinally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s a pretty high list, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 And yet if we, as Christians, are not screening our thought life regularly we become victims, if you will, for the deceptive capacities and the deceptive abilities of Satan, which we grossly underestimate since Satan himself deceives the whole world.\u00a0 So Daniel here is predicting that this man, Antiochus, who prefigured the antichrist, is going to be a practitioner of deception.\n\nNow notice this also, it\u2019s very interesting, at the end of verse 23, \u201cand he will go up and gain power with a small force of<\/em> people.\u201d\u00a0 What does it really take to topple a country?\u00a0 What does it take to topple a civilization?\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to get the majority of the people on\u00a0 your side.\u00a0 What you have to do is you have to influence the influences; you have to influence the decision makers, you have to influence the people with influence and the people that can influence others.\u00a0 When you study, for example, communist doctrine, Marxist doctrine, the writings of Karl Marx, Saul Alinski, and others, they say this over and over again\u2014don\u2019t waste\u00a0 your time with the rank and file.\u00a0 What you need to do is\u00a0 you need to infiltrate the centers of power, whether it be politics, media, education, business, you get a handful of people on your side, in fact there\u2019s a name for this, it\u2019s called an oligarchy, a rule through a small amount of people, and once you influence the influencers you can take a civilization and you can take a culture.\n\nThis is exactly what Antiochus did.\u00a0 He came to power, he didn\u2019t necessarily slay the masses but he came to power, the prophecies of Daniel are very specific, he gained power with a small force of people.\u00a0 I mean, that\u2019s right out of the Marxist playbook: influence the influencers and you can topple a civilization, you can control the direction that that civilization headed.\n\nMoving into verse 24 of Daniel 11, notice what it says: \u201cIn a time of tranquility he will enter the richest parts<\/em> of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors; he will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only<\/em> for a time.\u201d\u00a0 Now this is the second reference that we\u2019ve been given here that Antiochus did these things during a time of tranquility.\u00a0 We saw that referenced back in verse 21, he comes during a time of tranquility or peace.\u00a0 You see that also right at the beginning of Daniel 11 and verse 24.\u00a0 He comes during a time of tranquility.\n\nThat\u2019s exactly what the antichrist is going to do.\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, you might recall in our studies of Daniel 9:27 what inaugurates the seven year tribulation period will not be a war but it will be a peace treaty or a peace deal between the antichrist and unsuspecting, unbelieving Israel.\u00a0 [Daniel 9:27, \u201cAnd he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.\u201d]\u00a0 And the moment that peace treaty is entered into, the prophet Isaiah, chapter 28, tells the Israelis of that time period that they\u2019ve just entered into a treaty with Sheol.\u00a0 Sheol is death or hell.\u00a0 You\u2019ve just entered into a treaty with death itself.\u00a0 And yet it doesn\u2019t masquerade itself as death.\u00a0 Satan comes as an angel of light; it appears so attractive and so they reach out for this treaty, not recognizing that they\u2019ve just gotten in bed with the devil.\n\n[Isaiah 28:15, \u201cBecause you have said, \u2018We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.\u201d\u00a0 Isaiah 28:28, \u201cYour covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place.\u201d]\n\nIn fact, in the Book of Revelation, chapter 6, verses 1-2, it describes this man, the antichrist, as he comes on the scene, which is prefigured by Antiochus.\u00a0 Revelation 6:1-2 says, \u201cThen I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, \u2018Come.\u2019 [21] I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.\u201d\n\nThe next seal judgment talks about how once that first seal is opened peace will be taken from the earth.\u00a0 So the antichrist shows up like a rider on a white horse; that kind of sounds like who?\u00a0 Jesus, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Revelation 19, who\u2019s coming back on a horse. Yet this man here in Revelation 6 is not Jesus Christ; Jesus is in heaven opening this seven sealed scroll.\u00a0 And in fact, when Jesus comes back and establishes His peace on the earth it will be permanent; this is, Revelation 6:1-2, a pseudo peace or a false peace.\u00a0 And yet the whole thing looks so attractive, it looks so appealing.\u00a0 And this is what Antiochus did, he came during a time of tranquility; he looked almost like a god even though the Bible says he was not a God.\u00a0 His name referred to himself as God but he is actually, as we saw earlier, a despicable person.\n\n1 Thessalonians 5:3 says this: \u201cWhile they are saying\u201d what? \u201c\u2018Peace and safety!\u2019 then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.\u201d\u00a0 Interesting the things we can learn about the coming antichrist simply by studying this man, Antiochus IV.\n\nBut notice what he does.\u00a0 Did you catch the part of the prophecy that I read a little earlier?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 he will enter the richest parts of the realm,\u201d what\u2019s he doing here?\u00a0 He\u2019s declaring war on the rich, \u201cand he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors; he will\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cdistribute plunder, booty and possessions among them,\u201d doesn\u2019t that sound like redistributing the wealth a little bit to you, that\u2019s the way it reads to me.\u00a0 He\u2019s invading the rich and distributing the work of the rich to others, \u201che will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 11:24]\n\nSee, this is why I\u2019ve entitled this sermon What Has Been Will Be Again.\u00a0 The strategy of targeting the rich, the strategy of demonizing the rich is as old as Antiochus IV, and basically the way it works is you come into a culture and you place the achievers in that culture as villains.\u00a0 And you try to get the masses to believe that the reason the rich are the rich is they stole it from you.\u00a0 Then they come in and they might even rewrite your own history books and say you know, your own country is stolen from you.\u00a0 And you get one group of people angry at another group of people, this is Karl Marx, class warfare, Saul Alinski, and what you do is you take the bounty of the rich and you redistribute it to the underclasses who think that that wealth has been stolen from them to begin with.\u00a0 After all, the rich never got that money through ingenuity, hard work, industry, creativity, those are foreign concepts.\u00a0 You make people believe that they got that wealth by stealing it.\u00a0 You take what the rich have produced, in other words, you kill the goose that lays the golden egg, in a sense, you target people that provide products and services and jobs and a tax base and you take what they have produced and you redistribute it to people that never earned it at all.\u00a0 And the people that never earned it at all think they\u2019re entitled to it because after all, the money was stolen from us to begin with.\n\nAnd by doing this strategy you can buy off an entire segment of society.\u00a0 And you can do it under the name of compassion.\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly what Antiochus IV did here.\u00a0 I want you to understand something, I\u2019m completely in favor of helping the poor any way possible.\u00a0 But the reality of the situation is people who use the word compassion and wanting to help the poor, oftentimes helping the poor are the furthest things from their minds.\u00a0 What they\u2019re trying to do is to buy off a segment of society.\n\nJohn 12:3-6, of Judas Iscariot, says this: \u201cMary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. [4] But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, [5] \u2018Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?<\/em>\u201d\u2019 I mean, Judas made that statement, it probably looked very altruistic, it looked like he was really concerned about the poor, but it goes on in verse 6, \u201cNow he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.\u201d\n\nSee, he used compassion for the poor as an excuse but the reality of the situation is he hated worship and adoration in such an expensive way going to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And beyond that he was in charge of the money box or the money bag and the more money that was in the money bag is the more money he could pilfer and he could steal.\u00a0 But you see, his whole agenda, his whole motivation was masquerading as some sort of compassion for the poor.\u00a0 That\u2019s what you have in Marxist doctrine.\u00a0 The poor\u2026 the Marxist could care less about the poor; what they\u2019re concerned about is power.\u00a0 What they\u2019re concerned about is giving things to people, whether it be food stamps, health care, welfare payments, whatever benefit or goodie it is, you give enough things to people and you know what those people will do?\u00a0 They will vote over and over again for the candidate who promises to give them more in the next election cycle.\u00a0 And what you have done is you have bought off an entire class of people; redistribution of the wealth.\n\nAnd that, basically, is what Antiochus did, he went to war against the rich, he demonized the rich, he took the things from the rich and in sort of a Robin Hood fashion gave it to people that never earned those things.\u00a0\u00a0 And consequently Antiochus bought off an entire segment of society; he bought off an entire section of society under the guise of wanting to help the poor when his mindset was never to help the poor to begin with; it was power!\n\nIs that not a perfect description of the coming antichrist?\u00a0 I mean, this is exactly what the coming antichrist is going to do.\u00a0 Revelation 13:16-18 of the antichrist says, \u201cAnd he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, [17] and he provides<\/em> that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either<\/em> the name of the beast or the number of his name. [18] Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.\u201d\n\nWhat is the end game here?\u00a0 It is the enslavement of the world\u2019s population under government.\u00a0 Once a person goes under the subsidies that government provides is the moment they become a slave to their benefactor.\u00a0 They will give obeisance and worship and support to whoever comes along with the gift of gab that promises to give them more\u2026 redistribution of the wealth, buying off an entire class of people under the guise of compassion.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the antichrist will do and I think that is what is pictured here in verse 24, through this man Antiochus, who will demonize the producers, demonize the wealthy, and in the process use what they have produced to help other people.\n\nThere\u2019s a solution to poverty biblically; the solution is this: if a man will not work, 2 Thessalonians 3:10, neither shall he eat.\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 3:10, \u201cFor even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.\u201d KJV]\u00a0 The solution to poverty is not to give a man a fish, but to what?\u00a0 Teach a man to fish.\u00a0 You give a man a fish you can feed him for 24 hours; you teach a man to fish you can feed him for his entire lifetime.\u00a0 And yet the name of the game for the architects of new world order is not independence, it\u2019s not self-sufficiency, it is dependency and it is slavery and it outside the plan and the providence of God\u2019s dealings and yet this is the end game.\u00a0 This is the type of world that will exist before Jesus Christ comes back.\u00a0 I believe that it\u2019s personified here in Daniel 11:24.\n\nAnd let me conclude with the end of verse 24, and don\u2019t worry, I recognize that it\u2019s 11:30, some of you are saying oh my gosh, Andy started at 10:30, he thinks he can go till 12:30 [laughter] because those of you that walked in late we started our service a little early so don\u2019t panic, I\u2019m aware of the time, I know I\u2019ve been talking for over an hour.\u00a0 But I want to finish with verse 24.\u00a0 Look at the very end of the verse, I love what it says here.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026but only for a time.\u201d\u00a0 One of the things I love about the Bible is I love the fact that it tells us very clearly of the rise of evil.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we\u2019re\u00a0 seeing here in these verses.\n\nBut it also tells us that while evil will rise and evil will have its heyday, evil will have its pinnacle, evil will have its zenith just for a season.\u00a0 We look at the direction of our world and we\u00a0 can get very troubled by it, but the reality of the situation is when you analyze world events from the perspective of the Word of God what you discover is evil gets its day in the sun but it\u2019s quite limited.\u00a0 It\u2019s only for a time.\n\nThe antichrist\u2019s kingdom, if I\u2019m understanding my Bible correctly, is only going to last 43 months; Revelation 13:5; it\u2019s only going to last for 1,260 days, Revelation 12:6 and Daniel, earlier in his prophecies has told us that it will last for a time,\u00a0 Daniel 7:25, Revelation 12:14, a time, times and a half a time, which adds up to three and a half years.\n\nGod has evil on a leash. It\u2019s sort of like what Satan said to God.\u00a0 Do you recall that?\u00a0 God said to Satan, \u201cHave you considered my servant, Job,\u201d and Satan says skin for skin.\u201d\u00a0 The reason he worships You, the reason Job serves You is because You blessed his life; he\u2019s got a hedge of protection around his life, but lower that hedge of protection and let me get at him for a while and he will curse you to your face.\u00a0 And God says go for it, BUT\u2026 remember what God said?\u00a0 You can\u2019t kill him.\u00a0 In other words, I am unleashing the leash, I\u2019m letting out the leash, I\u2019m letting evil have a certain perceived victory in Job\u2019s life but it\u2019s limited.\u00a0 And the beginning of the Book of Job is tragic; the end of the Book of Job is phenomenal when God not only pulled that leash in but He restored everything Job had lost.\u00a0 You know the story, Job 42, several times over.\n\nThat\u2019s the right perspective on evil as we look at Antiochus and this doctrine of the antichrist.\u00a0 We need to understand that the Bible is telling us, through this prefigurement, that evil is going to have its day in the sun.\u00a0 We need to be realistic about that but at the same time we need to understand that evil in God is always finite, it\u2019s always bound and it\u2019s always limited.\u00a0 And so we\u2019ll be picking up the story here of Antiochus next week, beginning in verse 25 as we\u2019ll look at his military activities concerning Egypt and Israel.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for today, we\u2019re grateful for a new year, we are grateful for ancient prophecies that give us a clear portrait or picture of things that are coming.\u00a0 What has been will again be, but at the same time Father we\u2019re grateful for the end of verse 24 which says but only for a time.\u00a0 And while we can leave here today realistic about the direction of our world we can leave as flaming optimists knowing that You have evil under your sovereign control.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible, Lord, someone could be here today and they don\u2019t know You personally.\u00a0 Coming to church may be because of a New Year\u2019s resolution but You require, for a relationship with Yourself, more than simple church attendance.\u00a0 You require faith in Your provision and You\u2019ve given us provision through the death of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 He did everything that could be done to bridge the gap between fallen humanity and a holy God.\u00a0 And You\u2019ve asked us to do a very simple thing, is to not save ourselves, to not try harder through good works, for that is the wrong path; that is the path of religion.\u00a0 You\u2019ve called us to the path of grace, unmerited favor, where we trust exclusively in what You have done for us 2,000 years ago on the cross, and we trust in that transaction and that provision for the safekeeping or our souls.\n\nAnd if anybody is here today, Father, that has never done that, I just ask now, even in the privacy of their own mind and heart, with our eyes closed, that You would work in such a way in that person\u2019s heart, even as I\u2019m talking, where\u00a0 You through conviction would make Yourself so real to that person, even people listening online, I just pray right now as I\u2019m talking that Your Spirit would make\u00a0 Yourself so real and they would enter 2018 no longer trusting in themselves or their good works or their religiosity or their denomination, no longer looking to themselves as their own savior but looking to You by way of faith.\u00a0 I ask that You\u2019ll do that work now as I\u2019m talking and that there be many, many responses.\n\nI also ask that people that have responded to the light of Your gospel during this brief moment of silence, would let others aware of the decision that they have made, whether it\u2019s people in this building, I pray that they would come and either talk to myself or church leadership after the service or people listening online, I just pray that they would e-mail us or message us and let us know that they have made a decision to trust in Christ.\u00a0\u00a0 And so we can really celebrate with them as they enter 2018 as newly born children of God.\u00a0 We ask that You\u2019ll do this work.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name,\u00a0 and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t