{"id":18426,"date":"2018-01-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-28T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-051-not-my-will-but-his\/"},"modified":"2018-01-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-28T06:00:00","slug":"daniel-051-not-my-will-but-his","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-051-not-my-will-but-his\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 051 – Not My Will But His"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18426","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 051 - Not My Will But His","sermon_date":"20180128","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5373,"sermon_slides":5372,"sermon_mp3":5375,"sermon_id":"128181151380","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"11:36-37a","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nNot My Will But His Will\n\n1-28-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 11:36-37a\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 51\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles, if we could, and open them to the Book of Daniel, Daniel 11:36.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is Not My Will But His will.\u00a0 And as you\u00a0 know we\u2019ve been inching our way through the Book of Daniel. Daniel is having his final vision which is recorded in chapters 10-12.\u00a0 The year, as we have talked about, is about 536 B.C.\u00a0 The vision really begins in chapter 11, verse 2 and goes all the way to the end of chapter 12.\u00a0 This is his final and probably his greatest vision.\u00a0 So it\u2019s interesting in Daniel\u2019s life and in so many of our lives God saves the best for last.\n\nDaniel is in his 80\u2019s and he is about to receive, and is receiving and is recording for us his greatest and final vision or revelation.\u00a0 The vision started with information about Persia that Daniel saw, an empire that existed in his own lifetime, and we\u2019ve talked about that.\u00a0 And then he had a lot of information about Greece under Alexander the Great, verses 3-4, and we\u2019ve spoken about that.\n\nAnd then he saw two of Alexander\u2019s generals and their respective dynasties going to war with each other for about 150 years and that\u2019s the content of verses 5-20.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve traced all of that information and the Holy Spirit says watch\u00a0 one ruler in particular coming from the Seleucids, a man named Antiochus IV, Antiochus Epiphanes, and he becomes the big deal in verses 21-35 because he is used as a prefigurement of the coming antichrist.\n\nAnd speaking of the coming antichrist, we\u2019ve talked all about Antiochus, but speaking of the coming antichrist the coming antichrist now becomes the subject of Daniel\u2019s prophecies in verses 36-45.\u00a0 So what is happening is Daniel, back in the 6th<\/sup> century is seeing a mountaintop in prophecy, information about the Greeks and Antiochus IV and from that position he leaps forward and he begins to see information about the distant future, still future from our time period, information about the coming antichrist.\n\nNow you might be saying why can\u2019t we have a normal pastor, I mean, why does it have to jump over 2000 years or more in between verse 35 and verse 36, because that\u2019s what I think is happening here.\u00a0 I think we are living in between verses 35 and 36.\u00a0 And you might be saying that is a very odd or a strange way of interpreting the Bible.\u00a0 And let me give you at least seven reasons, I can do this I think fairly fast, of course when I say that I\u2019m never able to deliver, at least on the fast part.\u00a0 But why would we, as Bible readers, skip 2,000 years between verse 35 and verse 36?\n\nThe first reason is when you get to verse 36 and following the information really does not fit the known facts of history.\u00a0 It talks, for example, about a man taking Egypt and that really doesn\u2019t fit what Antiochus did late in his career.\u00a0 It talks about the place of the death of an individual and that really doesn\u2019t fit the way Antiochus died or where he died.\u00a0 This section of Scripture also talks about this coming one being worshipped and demanding worship above everything that is called God.\u00a0 That really also does not fit Antiochus IV because Antiochus set up, as we have studied, a temple of Jupiter; some would say Zeus, in the temple of the Jews.\u00a0 And the antichrist will not do that; he will set up a statue of himself in the Jewish temple.\n\nSo Antiochus, for whatever reason, really didn\u2019t demand worship above all that is called God.\u00a0 But the man that\u2019s described in verse 36-45 is doing that.\n\n[Daniel 11:36-45, \u201cThen the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. [37] He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other<\/em> god; for he will magnify himself above them<\/em> all. [38] But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him<\/em> with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. [39] He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of<\/em> a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him<\/em> and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.\u00a0 [40] At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them<\/em> and pass through. [41] He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries<\/em> will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. [42] Then he will stretch out his hand against other<\/em> countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. [43] But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow<\/em> at his heels. [44] But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. [45] He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.\u201d]\n\nMany, many commentators have recognized that once you get beyond verse 35 into verse 36 to the end of the chapter it gets harder and harder and harder to anchor these details, and we know God is very detailed, to anchor these details in the past.\u00a0 And the murkier they get the more it adds to the idea of a future ruler that\u2019s being described here.\n\nA second reason that we would jump at least 2,000 years or more in between those verses is these verses begin to talk about a king that is at war with both the north and the south.\u00a0 In fact, if you look just for a minute at chapter 11 and verse 40, it says, \u201cAt the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him\u2026\u201d this man is at war with the north and the south.\u00a0 That really does not fit Antiochus\u00a0 IV who represented the north.\u00a0 He was always at war with the south, not the north and the south.\n\nA third reason that we would make this leap into the distant future is because the prophecies, although they are not consistent with Antiochus IV they are very consistent with other passages \u00a0that speak of a coming antichrist.\u00a0 For example, the prophecy that he will demand worship above \u00a0all that is called God, as I\u2019ll be showing you today, fits very nicely with 2 Thessalonians 2:4 about the coming antichrist.\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 2:4, \u201cwho opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.\u201d]\u00a0 It fits very nicely with Revelation 13.\u00a0 It fits very nicely with Revelation 17, etc.\n\nA fourth reason we would make this leap is because Daniel, earlier in his prophecies, already told us of a coming antichrist.\u00a0 You might recall that was in Daniel 7.\u00a0 And I made a joke at the conference that I\u2019ve been teaching Daniel\u2019s seventy weeks longer than Daniel was in those seventy weeks.\u00a0 So you might not remember Daniel 7 but towards the end of Daniel 7 it talks about a little horn, an antichrist that\u2019s coming from a ten king or ten nation confederacy.\u00a0 So we already have hints of a coming antichrist earlier and so we would expect, would we not, the antichrist to show up elsewhere in Daniel\u2019s prophecies.\n\nA fifth reason we would make this leap is prophetic gaps, and we have tried to explain this, are very common in Scripture.\u00a0 In fact we\u2019ve already looked at, in our study in the Book of Daniel, several prophetic gaps.\u00a0 We believe that there is a prophetic gap in between Daniel 9:26 and verse 27.\u00a0 We believe that there is a prophetic gap in between Daniel 2:40 and verse 41.\u00a0 We believe that there is a prophetic gap right in the middle of Daniel 7:7.\u00a0 And you say well, this is a very strange way of interpreting the Bible but what I would like to expose you to is that these prophetic gaps are very common in the Bible.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot like somebody looking at two mountains in the distance; they see the second mountain raised a little bit above the first mountain and they can see those two mountains, one a near mountain, another a further mountain.\u00a0 And yet from the vantage point of the observer what can they not see?\u00a0 They can\u2019t see the valley between the mountains.\n\nThis is very common amongst the prophets; they saw these two things, they saw something near and they saw something far and they never really saw the valley between those two mountains.\u00a0 Well guess who that valley is?\u00a0 That\u2019s us!\u00a0 That\u2019s the church, something that the prophets of the Old Testament did not see.\n\nLet me give you just a few examples of this and in fact as we review some of these prophecies you\u2019ll say of course, this is very common.\u00a0 But we all quote, do we not, Zechariah 9:9, particularly on Palm Sunday, written 500 years before Jesus was born, \u201cBehold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a\u201d what? \u201ca donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.\u201d\u00a0 Most of us stop quoting there and we say that was fulfilled in the triumphal entry, Palm Sunday.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet what about verse 10, what does verse 10 say, one verse later?\u00a0 \u201cHe will speak peace to the nations; and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.\u201d\u00a0 Now is that happening today?\u00a0 Obviously not, the nations are at war with each other.\u00a0 We do not see the kingdom of God present the way it\u2019s spoken of here.\n\nSo you see what the prophet has done, the prophet Zechariah, he\u2019s gravitated towards one point in history and without even telling you he skipped at least 2,000 years or more into the distant future and not revealing the expanse between those two mountains.\u00a0 You see how common this is?\n\nOr how about this one; this is on all of our Christmas cards, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 We all love Isaiah 9:6, \u201cFor a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us,\u201d then the card stops quoting the passage.\u00a0 And we see that, of course, as a prophecy about the birth of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 But what does the rest of the verse say, \u201cand the government will rest upon His shoulders.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, I wish that was the case here in the United States that the government were on the shoulders of Christ.\u00a0 And then verse 7 goes on and it says, \u201cThere will be no end to the increase of His<\/em> government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on forevermore.\u201d\n\nWe look at a world today filled with injustice, not the justice that\u2019s described here.\u00a0 So what has happened is we have one mountaintop, the first advent of Christ, and then Isaiah, right in the middle of the verse and in the subsequent verse skips, without even telling you he\u2019s doing this, to the next mountain top about the second coming of Christ and he didn\u2019t reveal the valley, did he, between the mountains?\u00a0 This is a very common method that the Holy Spirit has given to these Old Testament prophecies.\n\nHow about this one here, Isaiah 61:1-2, \u201cThe Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; [2] to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; and to comfort all who mourn.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s very interesting that Jesus Christ, very early in His ministry, went into a synagogue in Nazareth; he opened the scroll containing the words of Isaiah and you have to understand that this was in a day when we didn\u2019t have chapter divisions and verse divisions.\u00a0 He knew Isaiah so well that He could go to the exact part of the scroll that pertained to His ministry then and there.\u00a0 And He opened it up and He started to read.\n\nIt says this in Luke 4:16-21, \u201cAnd He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. [17] And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,\u201d He didn\u2019t have Bible tabs, He didn\u2019t have an index, He didn\u2019t have chapter divisions, didn\u2019t have verse divisions, He was so familiar with the Book of Isaiah that He could open the scroll, go to the exact part of it that was pertinent.\u00a0 \u2018He opened the book and found the place where it was written,\u2019 and He begins to quote what I just read from the prophet Isaiah.\u00a0 [18] \u201cTHE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.\u00a0 HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, [19] TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 He stops quoting Isaiah, and then Luke tells us, [20] \u201cAnd He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. [21 ]And He began to say to them, \u2018Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.\u201d\u2019\n\nHe says I read that part of Isaiah because it\u2019s being fulfilled right now as I\u2019m speaking.\u00a0 It was written 700 years ago and now it\u2019s being fulfilled in me, the person of Christ, Jesus says.\u00a0 Now as we read that quote of Isaiah did you notice the part that Jesus did not read?\u00a0 He quotes verse 2, \u201cto proclaim the favorable year of the LORD,\u201d and the citation as I indicated before, stops right there.\u00a0 He does not quote this last clause, \u201cand the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn.\u201d\u00a0 Why did He stop right in the middle?\u00a0 Because He understood the concept of the prophetic gap.\u00a0 He understood that Isaiah 61:1 related to Him and the first part of verse 2 related to Him but that last clause, \u201cthe day of vengeance of our God\u201d speaking of God\u2019s coming judgment upon the earth in the future was just that\u2014yet future!\n\nAnd He recognized what I am trying to communicate here that Isaiah conflates the two concepts in terms of these two mountain peaks but He does not reveal the expanse between the mountain peaks.\u00a0 Jesus recognized that there was a mountain peak and He recognized that there was a valley and He understood what part of the Bible related to the first mountain top and what part of the Bible related to the second part of the mountain top and He only quotes the part of it that relates to His First Coming, deliberately omitting the part of it that relates to His Second Coming.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t this fascinating?\n\nThere is a giant gap, as we have studied, right there in Daniel\u2019s prophecy of the giant statue, in between the ankles and the feet with ten toes.\u00a0 In between those ankles and those feet with ten toes exists well over 2,000 years; 2,600 years or even more, I mean, we\u2019re still waiting for those ten toes to come into existence.\u00a0 There\u2019s rumblings in the world today that maybe there are coming into existence, the Club of Rome, a one-world organization, and I should have brought the map in to show you, already has the world divided up into ten regions, not eleven regions, not nine regions, ten regions.\u00a0 I would say that the rumblings are in place for that ten toed, ten king, ten nation confederacy to come into existence yet it is\u00a0 yet future.\u00a0 It was future from Daniel\u2019s time.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a prophetic gap that exists between ancient Rome, the two legs of iron\u2026 remember that ancient Rome had a division between east and west.\u00a0 Two legs of iron and those feet with ten toes, the future kingdom of the antichrist that we\u2019re going to begin studying here beginning in verse 36.\n\nPut yourself in the position of the prophets receiving this information.\u00a0 Daniel himself was frustrated by his own prophecies.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 There are many times in the book where we\u2019re going to see, two times here at the end of chapter 12, when we get to chapter 12, assuming we get there before the rapture, where he says I heard and I saw but I didn\u2019t understand and there\u2019s no one to explain it to me.\u00a0 The reason Daniel is frustrated and the reason Isaiah is frustrated and the reason Zechariah is frustrated is because they received one vision about a suffering Messiah.\u00a0 And then suddenly the Holy Spirit reveals a second vision about a Messiah that\u2019s ruling and reigning.\n\nSo the prophet says to himself, Lord, which is it, is Messiah going to suffer or is the Messiah going to rule and reign.\u00a0 Now hindsight is 20\/20, right?\u00a0 We can look back through the vantage point of history and say well, the Messiah\u2019s suffering is the first coming of Christ; the Messiah ruling and reigning is the second coming of Christ, but the prophets had no such vantage point of history; they just had two mountain peaks without the Holy Spirit revealing the valley.\n\nAnd consequently many, within Old Testament Judaism speculated there\u2019s got to be two Messiahs, the first one they called Messiah Ben Joseph, and the second one they called Messiah Ben (which means son of), Ben David.\u00a0\u00a0 The first one would be like Joseph who would suffer; the second one would be like David who would rule and reign.\u00a0 Now we can\u2019t fault him for that too much, they\u2019re functioning on limited information.\u00a0 They can\u2019t look back the way we can and see how the first coming is the suffering Messiah and the second coming is the ruling and reigning Messiah.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit didn\u2019t lay it out like that.\n\nIt just absolutely fascinates me that we, living in the year 2018, the twenty-first century, can look back and understand Isaiah\u2019s prophecies better than Isaiah.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that amazing?\u00a0 We can look back and understand Zechariah\u2019s prophecies better than Zechariah.\u00a0 We can look back and understand Daniel\u2019s prophecies better than Daniel himself.\u00a0 In fact, if you were to lead a Bible study with the knowledge that you have about Isaiah and Daniel and Zechariah, if those three prophets were alive they would attend your Bible study and want to know what you were talking about.\u00a0 That\u2019s how blessed we are today.\u00a0 That\u2019s the vantage point that God has put us in.\n\nI hope we understand our privileges in God; we have many privileges but we are privileged just because of the time period that we\u2019re living in.\u00a0 And yet many of us are so busy with things we don\u2019t investigate the Bible and we don\u2019t understand our privileged position.\n\nThe apostle Peter describes the frustration of the Old Testament prophets.\u00a0 It says, [1 Peter 1:10-11] \u201cAs to this salvation, the prophets<\/u> who prophesied of the grace that would come<\/em> to you\u201d watch this, \u201cmade careful searches and inquiries<\/u>,\u201d they didn\u2019t know what was happening.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t have a timeline, they couldn\u2019t piece it together.\u00a0 They\u2019re scratching their heads, what does all of this mean? [11] \u00a0\u201c<\/sup>seeking\u201d they were seeking, they were confused, \u201cseeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow<\/u>.\u201d]\u00a0 Lord, I just don\u2019t understand, You told me two seconds ago the Messiah is going to suffer, now you just give me a vision that He\u2019s going to rule and reign; which is it?\u00a0 So they began to speculate, there\u2019s got to be two Messiah, Ben Joseph and Ben David.\n\nSo they were frustrated, and yet history leaves us in an un-frustrated state because we can look back and look forward and kind of \u201csort the mail.\u201d\u00a0 They had no similar luxury.\u00a0 What is my point?\u00a0 My point is this prophetic gap that I\u2019m trying to argue to argue here between verses 35 and verse 36 is not some odd strange interpretation.\u00a0 In fact if you\u2019re sensitive to prophetic material you\u2019ll see it all of the time.\n\nA sixth reason why I think there is a prophetic gap here is if you believe there\u2019s a prophetic gap here you\u2019re in good company.\u00a0 A lot of heavy weights from the past, including people like Jerome, and even Martin Luther did not see verses 35 through the end of the chapter as relating to Antiochus IV; they saw it as relating to something yet future, a coming antichrist.\n\nAnd then finally, my seventh reason why I believe there\u2019s a prophetic gap here is there\u2019s a lot of contextual indicators.\u00a0 For example, if you look at chapter 12 and verse 1, notice what it says:\u00a0 \u201cNow at that time,\u201d and then the chapter goes on and it describes end time events, a time of unparalleled distress,\u00a0 unequalled from the beginning of the world.\u00a0 Verse 2 describes the two resurrections, the resurrection unto life and the resurrection unto damnation.\u00a0 It goes on and it describes the establishment of the kingdom upon the earth, that we all agree those are yet future.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0And yet that chapter begins with \u201cNow at that time.\u201d\n\nWhat time?\u00a0 The rest of the futuristic stuff, in verses 36-45 of the prior chapter.\u00a0 This really shouldn\u2019t shock us too much because when Gabriel, the angel, gave this vision to Daniel he told him very clearly in chapter 10 and verse 14, \u201cNow I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days,\u201d you see that? \u201cfor the vision pertains to the days yet future.\u201d\u00a0 Gabriel will explain to Daniel that a lot of this stuff is going to concern the end, the end end.\u00a0 And if you look, for example, and Daniel 11:40 what does it say there?\u00a0 It says, \u201cAt the time of the end,\u201d or as the NASB puts it, \u201cAt the end time\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 When you look back at chapter 11 and\u00a0 you look at verse 36, it talks about a period of indignation, \u201cand he will prosper\u201d verse 36 says toward the end of the verse, \u201cuntil the indignation is finished.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 11:36, \u201c\"Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.\u201d]\n\nDo a study sometime on indignation; it typically refers to the future tribulation period of distress that the nation of Israel will enter into.\u00a0 Isaiah 26:20 says, \u201cCome, my people, enter into your rooms and close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while Until indignation runs its course,\u201d speaking of the protection of Israel during the time of tribulation.\u00a0 So if we just spend a little time to look at the context we would see that there are clues that the Spirit of God has given us that this is yet future.\n\nSo you put these seven things together, I believe you have a very strong case that verses 36-45 are\u00a0 yet to come.\u00a0 Having said that, I believe that verses 36-45 is an explanation of the coming career of the antichrist who had been prefigured by Antiochus IV.\u00a0 In other words, the coming antichrist will be similar to Antiochus IV but he will be of a different character and personage than Antiochus IV.\u00a0 In fact, he will live in a totally different time than Antiochus IV lived.\n\nSo how would we outline this material if it\u2019s yet future.\u00a0 It\u2019s got basically four parts to it revealing the coming antichrist.\u00a0 Number 1 is antichrist\u2019s self magnification, verses 36-37.\u00a0 Number 2, his military power, verses 38-39.\u00a0 Number 3, his military successes, verses 40-43.\u00a0 And I like this last part here, his military defeat, verses 44-45, which provides a nice balance to all of this because when we study the progress of evil we can become very despondent.\u00a0 And yet the Bible is reminding us that yeah, evil gets its day in the sun but it\u2019s on a leash by God; it\u2019s only allowed to go so far.\u00a0 God has it under control and will bring it to an orchestrated conclusion.\n\nDo you see your life in that light?\u00a0 Have you become so focused on your trials and your problems that you\u2019ve lost sight of the big picture?\u00a0 Lost sight of the sovereignty of God?\u00a0 Lost sight of the providence of God?\u00a0 I tell you, I\u2019ve fallen for that trap all of the time, I get so overwhelmed with something that all I can see is the waves and the wind.\u00a0 I lose sight very quickly of Jesus who beckons\u00a0 us to come walking out on the water because Jesus has the whole thing under control.\n\nThat\u2019s what the study of prophecy does.\u00a0 It\u2019s a reminder that God has not lost control of a world that seems out of control and yet if your mind is shut to prophetic things all you can really see is the progress of evil.\u00a0 And that\u2019s really what caused that generation that came out of Egypt, the first generation out of Egypt, that\u2019s what caused them to lose Canaan, which they could have had.\u00a0 The Bible is very clear, in the Book of Numbers, chapter 13, that they became like grasshoppers in their own eyes.\u00a0 [Numbers 13:33, \u201cThere also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.\u201d]\u00a0 They stopped looking at challenges through a divine lens and started analyzing it through the weight and the magnitude of the problem.\n\nThink about this, how easy it would it have been for them to enter Canaan and take Canaan?\u00a0 Hadn\u2019t God just brought them out of the Egyptian bondage?\u00a0 Hadn\u2019t He demonstrated who He was through the ten plagues?\u00a0\u00a0 Hadn\u2019t He closed the Red Sea on the Egyptian pursuers?\u00a0 Hadn\u2019t He brought them with provision through manna for a two month period, all the way from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai?\u00a0 Hadn\u2019t He given them a Law?\n\nAnd you know what, it\u2019s very interesting, you study the distance from Sinai into Canaan and you know how long of a distance that is?\u00a0 Eleven days!\u00a0 I just brought you out of 400 years of bondage, trust Me for eleven days and you\u2019re in.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find that eleven day figure in Deuteronomy 1:2; you\u2019ll see it.\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 1:2, \u201cIt is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.\u201d]\n\nAnd they got to the border of Canaan and what did they see in the land?\u00a0 They saw giants in the land and they became like grasshoppers in their own eyes. \u00a0[Numbers 13:33, \u201cThere also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.\u201d]\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 They took their eyes off God; they forgot what He did and was doing for them.\u00a0 What\u2019s a few giants, they should have said.\u00a0 Joshua and Caleb said that, the rest of them went into unbelief and because of that sin of unbelief, and the greatest sin\u00a0 you can commit against God is unbelief.\u00a0 In fact, the only sin that will send a person into hell itself is dying never having trusted in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 People want to know what the unpardonable sin is; that\u2019s the only unpardonable sin that I know of.\u00a0 Everything else is forgivable; that one isn\u2019t forgivable.\n\nAnd just because we\u2019re saved, in the New Testament sense of the word, doesn\u2019t mean that we don\u2019t have the propensity to lapse into unbelief when the trial hits.\u00a0 These people were redeemed; these people were the ones that put the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorpost.\u00a0 They\u2019re in the hall of faith, Hebrews 11, they\u2019re all in heaven.\u00a0 But they\u2019ve forfeited a golden opportunity which they could have possessed and relinquished and banished themselves to forty years (that\u2019s a long time) of wilderness wanderings until God just let them walk around until they all dropped dead.\u00a0 He said I\u2019ll work with your kids.\n\nNow Joshua and Caleb, we\u2019ll let you come too because you\u2019re the only ones that believed Me, we\u2019ll bring you as seasoned citizens, no longer in their forties but now in their eighties.\u00a0 Every one of you is just going to die out here.\u00a0 And people say well, they went to hell.\u00a0 They did NOT go to hell, I know that because Moses himself was in that crowd.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, Moses saw Canaan from a distance, from Mount Nebo wasn\u2019t it, and yet died not having entered Canaan.\u00a0 And yet Moses is there on the Mount of Transfiguration with Christ in the New Testament.\u00a0 Moses was saved.\u00a0 All these people were saved. What did they forfeit?\u00a0 A blessing.\u00a0 Why did they forfeit a blessing?\u00a0 Because they went into unbelief.\u00a0 Why did they go into unbelief?\u00a0 Because they got their eyes off God and onto their problems.\n\nWhat is going to keep you in your life from getting\u00a0 your eyes off God unto your problems is the study of prophecy because the study of prophecy, the more you give your mind to it, the more you give your heart to it, the more\u00a0 you give your soul to it is a perpetual reminder that this life, although it can get rough, is under the control of God.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t anything that\u2019s happening to you right now in your life that has suddenly shaken God up.\u00a0 I mean, do you think God is up there in heaven with sweaty hands and palms and worried and saying man, I don\u2019t know how I\u2019m going to pull this one off?\u00a0 We think God is like that because that\u2019s how we are.\u00a0 And we get like that very fast when we get away from the prophetic word and lose the reminder of the sovereignty of God.\n\nAnd so the antichrist will meet his military defeat prophetically, just like he meets his military success early on.\u00a0 And that was my introduction.\n\nSo let\u2019s begin here with verses 36 and 37, let\u2019s look at the self-magnification of the antichrist.\u00a0 Notice verse 36, \u201cThen the king will do as he pleases,\u201d in fact, when you study verses 36 and 37 it says that about the antichrist probably close to 12 times, roughly.\u00a0 It says it over and over again, he will do what he wants to do.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I\u2019ve entitled this message Not My Will But His Will.\n\nWhat is Satan all about?\u00a0 Satan is all about his will; did you know that?\u00a0 In the Book of Isaiah, chapter 14:12-15 it describes Lucifer\u2019s fall. Lucifer had a bad case of the \u201cI\u2019s\u201d and the \u201cmy\u2019s\u201d.\u00a0 It says, \u201cHow you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn!\u00a0 You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!\u00a0 [13] You said in your heart, \u2018I will<\/u>\u201d there\u2019s the problem, \u201cascend to the heavens; I will<\/u>\u201d problem 2, \u201craise my throne above the stars of God;\u201d and here it comes again, \u201cI will<\/u> sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north.\u00a0 [14] I will<\/u> ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will<\/u> make myself like the Most High.\u201d\u00a0 [15] Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.\u201d\n\nWhat is the antichrist, who is being influenced by Satan himself saying, at least twelve times here in these verses, roughly twelve times?\u00a0 He will, I will, the king will.\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t see anything here about seeking God\u2019s will.\u00a0 This reminds me of a lot of our lives; we have our goals, we have our plans, we have our day timers and our calendars and we\u2019ve got it all plotted out.\u00a0 And what does James say?\u00a0 Your life is like mist, don\u2019t you understand that you\u2019re here today and gone tomorrow.\u00a0\u00a0 [James 4:14, \u201cYet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.\u201d]\n\nWe camp so frequently on what we want to do; that\u2019s called humanism; man is the center of all things.\u00a0 How many of us are on our knees daily, seeking the will of God, not just for life but for the next 24 hours, let\u2019s make it the next 12 hours, let\u2019s make it the next 5 minutes.\u00a0 You know, Jesus Christ, when you compare Jesus Christ and His life, what did He say in John 6:38?\u00a0 The exact opposite of what we\u2019re reading about here.\u00a0 John 6:38, Jesus, God incarnate, said, \u201cFor I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will,\u201d Wow! \u201cbut the will of Him who sent Me.\u201d\u00a0 Which of these describes your life?\u00a0 Which one most characterizes us moment by moment? Is it us, is it our agenda, or is it the will of God.\u00a0 We fit into one of two patterns\u2014the antichrist or Jesus Christ.\n\nThe King will come and will do as He pleases, initially there will be almost nothing that will stop Him; no hindrance at all.\u00a0 The restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit will be removed by this point in time, 2 Thessalonians 2:5-7 talks about the removal of the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit, the church will be gone because the Holy Spirit lives permanently where?\u00a0 In the child of God.\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 2:5-7, \u201cDo you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? [6] And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. [7] For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so<\/em> until he is taken out of the way.\u201d]\n\nThere isn\u2019t anything that can stop him initially, to hinder him, so he brings forth a rule over the masses which knows no boundaries to the point where no one can buy or sell unless they worship at his feet and his alter.\n\nWe continue on here with verse 36 and it says, \u201cThe king will do as he pleases.\u201d Look what it says, \u201cHe will exalt and magnify himself above\u201d 90% of the gods, it doesn\u2019t say that, does it? \u201cHe will exalt and magnify himself above every god,\u201d that\u2019s a tremendous description of the way the apostle Paul described the antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2:4, \u201cwho opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.\u201d\u00a0 This is why this doesn\u2019t fit Antiochus IV, who had reverence at least for Jupiter or Zeus, setting up an image of those deities in the second Jewish temple.\u00a0 The antichrist, as I mentioned before, will set up an image of himself in that temple.\u00a0 You can read about that in Revelation 13:15.\u00a0 [Revelation 13:15, \u201cAnd it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.\u201d]\n\nThis becomes a very important prophecy because what\u2019s popular today in prophecy circles and conferences and books is the Islamic theory of the antichrist.\u00a0 Now that Islam appears to be gaining ascendency, suddenly all of the prophecies that people used to aim at the Roman Catholic Church or the Soviet Union are not people are arguing they\u2019re being fulfilled or going to be fulfilled by Muslims, the Muslim theory of the antichrist.\u00a0 Big names believe this: Joel Rosenberg, Joel Richardson, Perry Stone, a number of people I can call your attention to are out there teaching that the antichrist is going to be Muslim.\n\nYou say well, Andy, you believe that, don\u2019t you?\u00a0 I mean, you believe that Islam plays a role in the end times?\u00a0 Well, that part I do agree with, I even wrote a book called The Middle East Meltdown; The Coming Islamic Invasion of Israel<\/em>.\u00a0 So obviously that subtitle communicates that I believe Islam has some kind of role to play in the end times.\u00a0 But I do not believe that the anti-Christ will be a Muslim, primarily because of this verse right here.\u00a0 \u201cHe will exalt himself above everything that is called God.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Can you imagine a fundamentalist or a consistent Muslim promoting himself over Allah?\u00a0 It just doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u00a0 Islam will be there, Islam will be a player but you see, the tapestry of the one-world system and one-world religion that the antichrist is going to bring in, Islam is part of that equation but it\u2019s not the only player.\u00a0 He is elevating \u201chimself above everything that is called God.\u201d\n\nAnd as you continue on with verse 36 it starts to talk about his mouth again.\u00a0 We call him, other Bible teachers, have called him Mr. Big Mouth.\u00a0 Look at verse 36, \u201cand will speak monstrous things against the God of gods,\u201d it is so fascinating to me to study how frequently the Holy Spirit directs our attention to what the antichrist says.\u00a0 [Daniel 11:36, NASB, \u201cand will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.\u201d \u201c\n\nWe\u2019ve already seen that in the Book of Daniel, haven\u2019t we.\u00a0 Daniel 7:8, \u201ca mouth uttering great boasts.\u201d \u00a0[Daniel 7:8, \u201cWhile I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.\u201d]\n\nDaniel 7:11, \u201c\u2026the sound of the boastful words which the little horn was speaking\u2026.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Daniel 7:11, \u201cThen I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire]\n\nDaniel 7:25, \u201cHe,\u201d little horn, antichrist, \u201c' will speak out against the Most High [and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.]\u201d\n\nRevelation 13:5-6, the beast, who is also a description of the antichrist, it says, \u201cThere was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, [and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.\u201d]\u00a0 Verse 6 says, \u201cAnd he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is,<\/em> those who dwell in heaven.\u201d\u00a0 Why would he be maligning people in heaven?\u00a0 I think one possibility is he\u2019s maligning people in heaven, i.e. the church, because the church has escaped his wrath via the rapture.\u00a0 So he\u2019s maligning everything that\u2019s good, maligning God, speaking horrific things.\n\nAnd we start to understand this and we begin to understand why the Bible, to the New Testament church, places such an emphasis on what we say.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that interesting.\u00a0 Jesus, in Matthew 12:34 says, \u201cYou brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.\u201d\u00a0 As Adrian Rogers put it, what comes up in the bucket was down in the well.\u00a0 The mouth, what is it really?\u00a0 The tongue, in and of itself isn\u2019t evil, it\u2019s the heart.\u00a0 The mouth is just a window, if you will, to the heart.\n\nRead the Book of James sometime, if you get brave read James 3.\u00a0 Oh my goodness, taming the tongue!\u00a0 What does James say about the tongue?\u00a0 So many things, but he analogizes it to water in a well and it\u2019s sort of this idea that what comes up in the bucket was down in the well.\u00a0 Look at our speech, look at the things we say and you can use that as a barometer to the kind of things that are really happening in our heart.\u00a0 If sarcasm, bitterness, fear, anxiety, are these things constantly coming out of our mouths?\u00a0 Then that\u2019s what\u2019s happening in our hearts.\u00a0 Is praise, is optimism, is purity coming out of our mouth?\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s in our heart.\n\nThat\u2019s why the antichrist can\u2019t do anything but speak evil because his heart is wicked to the core.\u00a0 The Book of Ephesians, chapter 4 and verse 29 says, \u201cLet no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.\u201d\u00a0 The reality of the situation is life and death, the Book of Proverbs tells us, is in the tongue.\u00a0\u00a0 [Proverbs 18:21, \u201cDeath and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.\u201d]\n\nYou can annihilate, you can destroy so much with harsh or lack of care in terms of our vocabulary and isn\u2019t it great to be around people, and I gravitate towards people like this, that know how to use the mouth or the tongue that God gave them to edify, to comfort, to build up.\u00a0 There\u2019s people, and you have them in your life too, I just avoid them.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because I know that what will come out of their mouth nine times out of ten will be some kind of derisive unedifying statement.\u00a0 And then there are others that I just gravitate to, I love being around them because their track record is in a speech that builds and edifies and comforts.\u00a0 And we ought to all be people who watch very carefully the things that people say because of the emphasis the Spirit of God is placing upon the mouth right down to identifying over and over again the things that are coming out of the antichrist\u2019s mouth.\n\nHe\u2019s going to speak monstrous things against the God of Gods.\u00a0 Now watch this, end of verse 36, \u201cand he will prosper until,\u201d look at that, \u00a0\u201che will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 11:36]\u00a0 In other words, don\u2019t sweat it too much, he\u2019s going to get a measure of success; wickedness is going to have its day in the sun but under the decree of God\u00a0 it\u2019s under control.\u00a0 Evil is finite.\n\nYou look at a man like Adolf Hitler and you think about the incredible evil that that man perpetrated upon the human race.\u00a0 And then you look at how his life ended, allegedly through a suicide and how the Third Reich that was supposed to last a thousand years didn\u2019t get near that duration.\u00a0 And how the agenda of Hitler for the conquest of the world was cut short through the Allies in World War II and so forth.\u00a0 And I think when we look at the story of Hitler we should look at the whole story.\u00a0 Look at his ascent to power, but look at his demise.\u00a0 If I could ask him a question I would just say this: was it worth it?\u00a0 I think the answer is no because at the end of the day nobody is getting away with anything.\u00a0 God has everything under control!\u00a0 Evil is on a leash.\n\nYou know what\u2019s normal in our world?\u00a0 Not our world, our world is not normal.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 You know what\u2019s normal?\u00a0 Genesis 1 and 2 is normal, before sin entered the picture.\u00a0 You know what else is normal?\u00a0 Revelation 21 and 22 is normal, after evil leaves the picture.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s normal; everything else in between is just a bunch of dysfunctional abnormality.\u00a0 Amen!\n\nAnd yet, because we\u2019re not looking at Genesis 1 and 2 or Revelation 21 and 22, we\u2019ve cut out the past and we\u2019ve cut out the future because we\u2019re not looking at the Bible, what are we stuck with?\u00a0 The nasty now and now.\u00a0 And what leaves the picture when you\u2019re stuck only with the nasty now and now?\u00a0 Hope disappears.\u00a0 This is what the study of prophecy does, is it gives us hope in a hopeless age.\n\nTake a look at verse 37, \u201cHe will show no regard for the gods of his fathers\u201d now some of you might be reading from the King James Bible and the verse reads this way: \u201cNeither shall he regard the God of his fathers,\u201d\u00a0 and many, many commentators, great names, Arno C. Gaebelein<\/em>, <\/strong>others from the King James Version have speculated that the antichrist has to be Jewish.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the King James says \u201che will show no regard for the god\u201d singular, \u201cof his fathers,\u201d God is a Jewish name, he is obviously Jewish, Judaism is monotheistic and because he rejects the God of his fathers, the God of His father\u2019s being the Jews, and the Jews are his fathers he must be a Jew himself.\n\nOther people have kind of built on that and they say well, if he\u2019s called the antichrist, and he\u2019s called that in 1 John 2:18, 1 John 2:22, 1 John 4:3, 2 John 7.\n\n[1 John 2:18, \u201cChildren, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01 John 2:22, \u201cWho is the liar, except the one<\/em> denying that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one<\/em> denying the Father and the Son.\u201d \u00a0\u00a01 John 4:3, \u201cbut every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.\u00a0 2 John 7, \u201cFor many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as<\/em> coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.\u201d]\n\nJohn uses this designation \u201cantichrist,\u201d that means he\u2019s got to be posing as Christ and because he\u2019s posing as Christ, Jesus was Jewish, the antichrist has to be Jewish as well. And part of the thinking of this belief is that only the Jews would ever accept a peace treaty from another Jew.\u00a0 The event which starts the seven year tribulation period is a peace treaty between the antichrist and Israel.\u00a0 The Jews would only trust a Jew with that peace treaty.\u00a0 So you kind of wind this together and there\u2019s a long standing belief that the antichrist has to be Jewish.\n\nBut I want you to understand that the King James says what it says but the New American Standard Bible says something entirely different; it says, \u201cHe will show no regard for the gods,\u201d not God, \u201cgods of his fathers.\u201d\u00a0 The Hebrew word that\u2019s used here is plurality, Elohim<\/em>.\u00a0 Now as you move to the next verses in Hebrew it\u2019s singular again; it talks about God, God, God, God, God, God in different contexts, but there in verse 37 it\u2019s very clear that it\u2019s gods.\u00a0 So the King James Bible, I think, has it wrong and the New American Standard Bible, at least on this point, has it correct.\n\nLet me quote somebody that\u2019s far better suited to deal with these kinds of arguments than myself.\u00a0 Arnold Fruchtenbaum and let me just very fast quote what he says here about this verse.\u00a0 He says, \u201cThe whole context, Daniel 11:36-39, the term \u2018God\u2019 is used a total of eight times in the Hebrew texts; six of these times it is in the singular and twice it is in the plural, one of which is the phrase in verse 37\u201d that we\u2019re on right here.\u00a0 \u201cThe very fact that the plural form of the word God is used in a context where the singular is found in the majority of cases makes this a reference to heathen deities and not a reference to the God of Israel.\u00a0 When it says, \u201cHe will show no regard for the gods of his fathers it is not talking about his Jewish lineage, it is talking about the fact that the man is totally irreligious.\u00a0 Remember, He\u2019s the one that\u2019s going to be worshipped above all that is called God for a season.\u00a0 So that would include a rejection of the true God, it would include a rejection of the Israeli God, the biblical God, but any other god out there he elevates himself above them as well.\u00a0 And this phrase \u2018antichrist\u2019 is better understood \u201cin the place of.\u201d\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t have to correspond with Jesus Christ on every point; this term anti doesn\u2019t necessarily mean Jesus was Jewish so the antichrist must be Jewish.\u00a0 He is someone that replaces God, in the place of God eclipses God.\n\nNotice this quote here from Westcott, Westcott of course being an excellent scholar.\u00a0 He says, \u201cThe word \u2018anti\u2019 means far more than simply an adversary of Christ.\u00a0 As far as the from is concerned it may describe one who takes the place of Christ or one who under the same character opposes Christ.\u00a0 People get carried away with the word anti, trying to make him parallel Jesus at every single point.\u00a0 There are some very interesting parallels but I think the word anti is pushed too far.\u201d\n\nAnd by the way, this idea that the Jews would only accept a covenant with another Jew overlooks a very simple and important point.\u00a0 The Jews, when they enter that covenant will be in unbelief.\u00a0 They\u2019re not concerned about Torah and Law and all of the things God is concerned about.\u00a0 All they care about is their survival.\n\nPaul Benware puts it this way:\u00a0 \u201cSome have observed that Israel would not accept as a Messiah\u00a0 a figure anyone than he who is Jewish.\u00a0 But that is not necessarily the case.\u00a0 It must be remembered that when the nation of Israel enters into the seven year covenant relationship with the antichrist that she is in deep apostasy.\u00a0 Would she really care at that point?\u00a0 It would seem that\u00a0 unbelieving Israel\u2019s only real concern is her safety in a hostile world and she will jump at the chance to have that safety guaranteed regardless of the racial identity of the one who they are entering into the agreement with. So the point that Israel would only accept a deliverer if He was Jewish may not be that strong an argument.\n\nBeyond that we\u2019re dealing with a time period which is the end of the times of the Gentiles.\u00a0 The times of the Gentiles, as we have studied, starts in 586 B.C. and stretches all the way through the tribulation period to the second advent of Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s a time period when Israel has no Davidic king reigning on David\u2019s throne. She\u2019s being trampled down by the various Gentile powers, whether it be Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, all Gentiles.\u00a0 So why wouldn\u2019t we under\u00adstand the conclusion of that time period also to be a Gentile ruler, just as Gentile as the Romans or the Greeks or the Persians or the Babylonians trampling down Israel.\n\nRemember, the antichrist and his system is that ten toes, which is part of that statue.\u00a0 In fact, those ten toes seem to arise out of the cultural inheritance of ancient Rome.\u00a0 Daniel 7:19-20, it says, \u201cThen I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which<\/em> devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, [20] and the meaning<\/em> of the ten horns that were<\/em> on its head and the other horn<\/em> which came up, and before which three of them<\/em> fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts<\/em> and which was larger in appearance than its associates.\u201d\n\nThe antichrist\u2019s empire is connected to ancient Rome; it rises out of those two legs of iron.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 Each leg has a foot, ten toes total, connected in Rome.\u00a0 Rome was as Gentile as it got.\u00a0 The antichrist\u2019s empire of the future will be Gentile as well.\n\nAnd something else, I\u2019m probably a lot more interested in this than some of you, but Revelation 13:1 describes the antichrist or the beast as coming out of the sea.\u00a0 Revelation 13:1 says, \u201cAnd the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. [Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.\u201d]\u00a0 Now the Book of Revelation tells you what the sea is.\u00a0 Revelation 17:15 says this: \u201cAnd he said to me, \u2018The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 The sea is not Israel; the sea is the mass of humanity.\u00a0 And the antichrist or the beast is portrayed as coming out of that great mass of humanity.\n\nNow he\u2019s going to have a sidekick, a henchman, named the false prophet.\u00a0 Revelation 13:11 tells us that the false prophet will come out of the land.\u00a0 [Revelation 13:11, \u201cThen I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.\u201d]\u00a0 The Greek word there translated land, sometimes translated earth, is used over and over again to describe the land of Israel.\u00a0 The same word is\u00a0 used in Matthew 2:6 to describe the land of Israel.\u00a0 [Matthew 2:6, \u201c'AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.\u2019\u201d]\n\nSo if I were a betting man I would say this: the coming antichrist will be Gentile.\u00a0 The coming false prophet that will assist him will be Jewish.\u00a0 In fact, it might even be the false prophet that talks Israel into aligning themselves with the beast.\n\nBy the way, have we not seen several forerunners of the antichrist?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t Antiochus a forerunner of the antichrist, that we talked about.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t Titus of Rome, as we have talked about in Daniel 9, a forerunner of the antichrist?\u00a0 Well guess what?\u00a0 Antiochus and Titus were Gentiles so the prefigurement the Spirit of God has given us seem to indicate that the antichrist, like his fore-runners will be Gentile as well.\n\nI\u2019ll be happy to be wrong in all of this and I\u2019ll have the best seat in the house to correct it, so I don\u2019t know if I would go out and start a new church on this topic specifically but I think what the Scripture is revealing is the antichrist will be Gentile but I\u2019m open to the possibility of the false prophet being Jewish.\u00a0 This is actually a big deal because anti-Semitism is alive and well, even within Christian circles.\u00a0 Anti-Semitism has been, and reigned, and continues to be alive and well in the last 2,000 years of church history and one of the arguments that anti-Smites give against the nation of Israel is the nation of Israel is filled with Christ killers.\u00a0 If you want to know who the Christ killers are look in the mirror.\u00a0 \u201cFor God so loved the world,\u201d we\u2019re all Christ killers, He died for all of us.\u00a0 And part of the impetus of antisemitism is this idea that the coming antichrist, we know he\u2019s going to be Jewish also; that seals it.\n\nSo when you look at a few passages you can correct a bad attitude in is by showing us that may not be the case at all.\u00a0 We may have cherry-picked the Bible so fuel some sort of anti-Semitic motivation that\u2019s simmering in our hearts.\u00a0 And at this time I\u00a0 praise the Lord we\u2019re out of time because the next clause says, \u201cnor will he have the desire of women,\u201d oh my goodness.\u00a0 That\u2019s going right from the frying pan into the fire, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 So we\u2019re going to pick it up there at the end of verse 37.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we are grateful for today, grateful for Your prophetic Word, grateful for the perspective that it gives us.\u00a0 Help us to handle it accurately and correctly as we go through this very, very important material that hardly gets spoken of in most local churches.\u00a0 I do ask, Father, that if anybody is here or listening online and has never trusted in the provision of Your Son, I ask, Father, that as I speak the Holy Spirit would convict them, the Holy Spirit would do the job on people\u2019s hearts that He has promised to convict the world of its sin, righteousness and judgment.\u00a0 I pray, Father, that they would come under that conviction and see their need to trust Christ for salvation.\u00a0 I do ask, Father, that if anybody is under that conviction that they would respond the best they know how, in the quietness of their own mind, in the quietness of their own heart to the gospel, understanding that the reception of the gospel is completely on the basis of faith alone, receiving a free gift, not based on what we do but what He has done in our place.\u00a0 Make that presentation, Father, of the gospel so real that somebody listening, either in this room or listening online or later on a recording or wherever would feel so strongly that tugging of the Spirit that they would respond to the offer of the gospel by faith alone, and might become, as a result a regenerated new person.\u00a0 Only You can do that work, Father, and we ask that You will do that as we speak.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, 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