{"id":18428,"date":"2018-02-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-053-a-spiritual-counterfeit\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:16:40","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:16:40","slug":"daniel-053-a-spiritual-counterfeit","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-053-a-spiritual-counterfeit\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 053 – A Spiritual Counterfeit"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18428","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 053 - A Spiritual Counterfeit","sermon_date":"20180218","sermon_month":"2","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":20015,"sermon_slides":20016,"sermon_mp3":20017,"sermon_id":"21818948575","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"11:38b-41","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nA Spiritual Counterfeit\n\n2-18-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 11:38b-41\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 53\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Daniel, chapter 11 and verse 38.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is A Spiritual Counter\u00adfeit.\u00a0 As you know we\u2019re continuing to work our way through, and I appreciate everyone\u2019s perseverance in hanging with me.\u00a0 Probably one of the most difficult chapters in the whole Bible to interpret correctly is Daniel 11 which is part of his final vision that he received about 536 B.C. back in the sixth century.\u00a0 He had some information given to him about Persia, the empire that existed when he was alive (Daniel).\u00a0\u00a0 And then after his death Greece and then some more information about the Ptolemies and the Seleucids; then some information about a man named Antiochus IV who was a prefigurement of the coming antichrist.\u00a0 And right there in verse 36 we shifted into the distant future where Daniel begins to receive information about events that are yet future even from our time frame today in the 21st<\/sup> century, things that will happen in the final events prior to the return of Jesus Christ to the earth.\n\nHe begins to focus in a man named the antichrist from other verses of Scripture.\u00a0 So the prophecy is moved from the Grecian era into the distant future.\u00a0 Here\u2019s sort of an outline that we can follow related to this man, the antichrist.\u00a0 We have his self-magnification (verses 36-37), his military power (verses 38-39), his military successes (verses 40-43), and yet the Bible predicts that it will not end well for him, nor will it end well for anyone who opposes God.\u00a0 Verses 44-45 reveal that he will come to an end and there will be no one to help him.\n\nHis self-magnification we\u2019ve already talked about and we\u2019re into that section revealing his love for, affinity for, military power and wealth.\u00a0 And this is sort of the natural course of things, people that will not trust in Christ and His provision, people that don\u2019t know God have to fill the God-shaped vacuum inside of themselves with something.\u00a0 So power and wealth, power and pleasure really become the best two artificial substitutes. \u00a0That\u2019s what you see in this man, the antichrist.\n\nNotice, if you will, picking up in the middle of verse 38, it says, \u201che will honor him<\/em> with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 39, \u201cHe will take action against the strongest of fortresses\u201d watch this, \u201cwith the help of<\/em> a foreign god\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me that the antichrist has such great acumen and military genius but it\u2019s very clear here that when you look at verse 39 he doesn\u2019t have this power in and of himself; he has the assistance of somebody else, a spiritual force, a spiritual power.\u00a0 And that is really what I mean by a spiritual counterfeit.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019ve entitled this message A Spiritual Counterfeit.\n\nThere are those today that believe that all spirituality must be good; if it\u2019s spiritual it must be good.\u00a0 And we\u2019re living in sort of a culture that is moving away from atheism back to a form of mysticism and consequently spirituality is sort of the talk of the town.\u00a0 And people think if it\u2019s spiritual it must be a good thing.\u00a0 Well, here what we\u2019re discovering is the antichrist has dialed into spiritual power and yet it is not the power of God.\u00a0 Revelation 13:4, of this same antichrist, says, \u201cthey worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, \u2018Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?\u2019\u2019\u00a0 He bursts on the scene with tremendous power and acumen towards the beginning of the coming seven year tribulation period.\n\nIn fact, according to Revelation 6:2-4 he brings world peace to the earth.\u00a0 Can you imagine that, how a politician would be worshipped today if they simply brought us peace.\u00a0 This is what the antichrist does.\u00a0 [Revelation 6:2-4, \u201cI 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.\u00a0 [3] When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, \u2018Come.\u2019\u00a0 [4] And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men<\/em> would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.\u201d]\n\nRevelation 6:2 says he, \u201chad a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.\u201d\u00a0 And apparently he does a good job because by the time the second seal judgment is opened peace is taken from the earth.\u00a0 You can\u2019t take peace from the earth unless it\u2019s established upon the earth.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s the imagery that we are to think of when we think of this man coming on a white horse with a bow and a crown, \u201cconquering and to conquer.\u201d\u00a0 And yet the Bible is equally clear that He is not doing these things through his own abilities and his own power; he\u2019s dialed into the help of a foreign god (and god there, little \u201cg\u201d).\u00a0 And in fact, this is why the inhabitants of the earth worship Him, \u201cwho is able to make war with him\u201d they say, and they actually worship the dragon because the dragon gave his authority to the beast.\u00a0 Well if the beast is the antichrist who\u2019s the dragon?\u00a0 I think the dragon is the devil.\u00a0 You say how do you know that?\u00a0 Revelation 12:9 tells you that.\u00a0 So does Revelation 20:2.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s how I know.\n\n[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 Revelation 20:2, \u201cAnd he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.\u201d]\n\nThe symbols in the Book of Revelation, most of the time, are interpreted for us right there in the same book, usually in the very same context, spiritual power, the ability to do superhuman supernatural things.\u00a0 And it is interesting to me to watch our culture opening up to this.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me to watch television shows, crime investigation shows and how I\u2019ve noticed it\u2019s becoming more and more common for people to try to solve crimes by dialing into psychics.\u00a0 We\u2019re a nation today that is interested in psychics, the psychic hotlines, palm reading.\u00a0 You go right on down the board here with different things, horoscopes.\n\nWhat is all this?\u00a0 It\u2019s preparatory for what the Bible reveals about the end of the age because people in the last days will become very spiritual; it just won\u2019t be the spirituality of God!\u00a0 Because there is such a thing in the world today as a spiritual counterfeit; \u201call that glitters is not\u201d necessarily \u201cgold.\u201d\u00a0 The antichrist is going to mimic Jesus Christ in so many profound ways that when the antichrist finally shows up people by that time will be deceived into thinking this must be THE Christ, having rejected the true Christ that came 2,000 years ago.\u00a0 What happens to a mind that rejects truth?\u00a0 It becomes open to all sorts of insinuations and suggestions, open for a counterfeit, not the real thing.\u00a0 That, in essence, is who the antichrist is, a man of spirituality.\u00a0 We might say a man of religion.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me how he begins to mimic Jesus Christ.\n\nLook at the end of verse 39, \u201che will give great honor to those who acknowledge him\u201d he \u201cwill cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.\u201d\u00a0 If you\u2019re on his side he\u2019s on\u00a0 your side.\u00a0 And don\u2019t let people sell you on the idea that there\u2019s no payday to serving the devil.\u00a0 There is a payday; there is a certain amount of benefits that accrue into a person\u2019s life in terms of power, prosperity, notoriety, if they will just open their heart to the dark side.\n\nThe devil will do whatever he has to do to keep a person\u2019s eyes off Jesus Christ, including giving them a window into what they long for many times\u2026 success, power, notoriety, the ability to be famous, the ability to work through supernatural signs and wonders.\u00a0 And people are deceived into thinking that because these are spiritual experiences they have to be from God.\u00a0 Not so at all, necessarily.\u00a0 There is a spiritual counterfeit, we\u2019re reading about it right here, one of the greatest counterfeits (spiritually) yet to come on the scene is coming and the pages of your Bible warn about it as clearly as it can be warned.\n\nI like this quote from John Whitcomb; he makes this statement: \u201c\u201cThe Antichrist will lavish his vast resources upon military fortifications and programs and will encourage cooperation by distributing positions of authority and valuable property to\u201d who? \u201cto his followers.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel, <\/em>Page 155]\u00a0 That\u2019s John Whitcomb\u2019s in His Daniel commentary comment on verse 39, the verse we\u2019re looking at.\n\nAnd it pays to serve the antichrist but here is what Satan and his cohorts will never tell you; the payment is very temporary.\u00a0 The consequences that are incurred far outlive any short-lived payment.\u00a0 In fact, if I\u2019m understanding my Bible correctly that payment is going to last about (for these inhabitants of the earth at this time) about three and a half years, forty-two months, one thousand two hundred and sixty days.\u00a0 You know most people would give their soul to have their deepest longings of their human heart, whether it be fame, success, prosperity, whatever it is, if they could just have what they\u2019re craving for three and\u00a0 half years they would give it all up in an instant.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what you\u2019re getting here with the antichrist.\n\nAnd how different it is with Jesus Christ who also offers a payment.\u00a0 The payment is not necessarily instantaneous; the payment doesn\u2019t necessarily have to happen at a specific moment in time but let me tell you something.\u00a0 If\u00a0 you are aligned with Christ by way of faith a payment is coming your direction that will far outlast a mere three and a half years or forty-two months given by a spiritual counterfeit.\u00a0 The Bible in Revelation 22:5, of us, says, \u201cThey will reign forever and ever.\u00a0 [Revelation 22:5, \u201cAnd there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.\u201d]\n\nNow I may not be a mathematical genius but I can see this much: \u201cforever and ever\u201d is a lot longer than three and a half years.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot longer than forty-two months.\u00a0 And you see, this is why the Bible tells us very clearly not to become envious of the prosperity of the wicked.\u00a0 Have\u00a0 you ever gotten like that in your life; I sure have.\u00a0 You see people that hate God, reject the Bible, live life on their own terms, and\u00a0 yet things always seem to be going their direction.\u00a0 They are the ones that get the promotions.\u00a0 They\u2019re the ones that get the breaks.\u00a0 They\u2019re the ones that are financially prospering and we say to the Lord, Lord, what about me, I\u2019m serving You, I\u2019m walking with You, I have trusted in Your provision and I\u2019m not getting anything but obstacles and trials.\u00a0 And it\u2019s so easy in the heart of the child of God to become envious of the prosperity off the wicked.\n\nIn fact, there\u2019s a whole psalm in your Bible that deals with this subject.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 It\u2019s Psalm 73.\u00a0 If you find yourself in a mindset where you\u2019re envious of the prosperity of the wicked read Psalm 73.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the Psalms of Asaph.\u00a0 Let me read you just a couple of verses from that Psalm.\u00a0 [3] \u201cFor I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked.\u201d\u00a0 And he goes on, I would say about 15, 14, 13 verses just complaining, complaining about what it is I\u2019m talking about here, that the wicked are getting ahead all the time.\n\n[Psalm 73:4, \u201cFor there are no pains in their death, and their body is fat.\u00a0 [5] They are not in trouble as other<\/em> men, nor are they plagued like mankind.\u00a0 [6] Therefore pride is their necklace; the garment of violence covers them.\u00a0 [7] Their eye bulges from fatness; the imaginations of their<\/em> heart run riot.\u00a0 [8] They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; they speak from on high.\u00a0 [9] They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue parades through the earth.\u00a0 [10] Therefore his people return to this place, and waters of abundance are drunk by them.\u00a0 \u00a0[11] They say, \u2018How does God know?\u00a0 And is there knowledge with the Most High?\u2019\u00a0 [12] Behold, these are the wicked; and always at ease, they have increased in<\/em> wealth.\u00a0 [13] Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence; [14] For I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning.\u00a0 [15] If I had said, \u2018I will speak thus,\u2019 \u00a0Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.\u201d]\n\nIn the tribulation period, as we have described, the antichrist followers are prospering, they\u2019re getting ahead, they\u2019re getting a parcel of the kingdom.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting how Asaph continues complaining \u201cuntil.\u201d\u00a0 I love that word \u201cuntil\u201d in the Bible.\u00a0 It\u2019s such a hinge word.\u00a0 He\u2019s complaining \u201cuntil,\u201d verse 17, Psalm 73.\u00a0 Well what changed?\u00a0 His mindset.\u00a0 He says in Psalm verses 16-17, \u201cWhen I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight, [17] Until\u2026\u201d\u00a0 \u201cUntil I came into the sanctuary of God; Then<\/em> I perceived their end.\u201d\n\nFor whatever reason God gave Asaph a glimpse or a window into eternal things.\u00a0 Asaph could not only see the prosperity of the wicked, he could see how short-lived it was in comparison to eternity.\u00a0 And how things, when the day of the Lord comes and God sets all things right, how fast the prosperity of the wicked comes to a screeching halt.\u00a0 Something that the wicked, the Godless in our age, I can almost guarantee you, unless the Holy Spirit is at work in their life, they are not seeing what\u2019s coming.\u00a0 Asaph in this psalm sees the judgment of God coming and he says I wasn\u2019t envious of the arrogant any longer.\n\nAnd I think a lot of times that\u2019s what we need.\u00a0 We are so focused on the transitory, we are so focused on the temporal, we are so focused on the here and now and our minds are off of eternal things and the only thing we are doing is reacting to what\u2019s happening around us.\u00a0 And it\u2019s easy without the eternal point of view to become envious of the arrogant, of the wicked, and yet what you discover in the Bible is that these wicked people, they\u2019re actually people to be pitied when you think about it, because judgment is coming.\u00a0 Judgment is coming upon anyone that does not know Christ personally as Savior.\u00a0 They\u2019re blinded to this because of the prosperity that they\u2019re now in, the seeming success that they think they have.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what prosperity, many times, does.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus said on many occasions it\u2019s difficult for the rich to enter.\u00a0 I mean, the problem with being rich is you\u2019re used to buying your way out of your problems.\u00a0 \u00a0So in a certain sense not being rich is advantageous because if I can\u2019t buy my way out of my problems what do I have to trust in?\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to trust in God which is a good thing because \u201cwithout faith it is\u201d what, \u201cimpossible to please God.\u201d\n\nI could show you example after example after example in the Bible of prosperous people that could really care less about spiritual things.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s what\u2019s going on in Luke 16 with the rich man; also Luke 12, the man who said what am I going to do with all this prosperity, I\u2019ll have to tear down my barns and build bigger barns.\u00a0 Have you read Christ\u2019s response to that man?\u00a0 \u201cYou fool,\u201d you\u2019re not even thinking about the afterlife, you\u2019re not even thinking about eternity,\u00a0 you\u2019ve got your mind focused on three and a half years, you\u2019re not thinking about forever and ever.\u00a0 What a lack of foresight that man is condemned for.\n\nYou know, there are people that we have no respect for, they come right to the end of their working years and they don\u2019t have a single nickel raised up for retirement.\u00a0 And yet they\u2019ve known all along that the days of their vitality were limited but they never gave it a thought until the body started to break down and there were no resources left for retirement.\u00a0 And we look at people like that and we say what a lack of foresight.\u00a0\u00a0 What a lack of wisdom, what a lack of understanding and how life works.\u00a0 And if we look at people like that as foolish how are we supposed to look at people that don\u2019t even think about the next life.\u00a0 I mean, forget the twenty, thirty years if you\u2019re lucky, of retirement, what about the forever and ever and ever that happens after the grave?\u00a0 What about that?\n\nHow foolish it is to go through a life like this focused on what the Book of James says is like mist that appears for a little while and then it\u2019s gone.\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] How foolish it is to just focus on that without seeing against the backdrop of eternity.\u00a0 And yet these people got pulled into this blindness because they absorbed a spiritual counterfeit.\u00a0 That is what Satan\u2019s program is; it is a spiritual counterfeit.\n\n2 Thessalonians 2:9, of the antichrist says this: \u201c that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders.\u201d\u00a0 The Amplified Version and the New Living Translation, it\u2019s interesting that they chose to put the word \u201ccounterfeit\u201d into the text to describe the reality of the antichrist\u2019s miracles and programs.\u00a0 They\u2019re nothing more than an artificial substitute and yet if your mind has rejected the truth how real it all seems.\u00a0 How attractive it all seems.\n\nThere\u2019s a reason, folks, that the antichrist, 1 John 4:3, is called the antichrist.\u00a0 1 John 4:3 says, \u201cand every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the<\/u> antichrist, [of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 John, in his writings, for whatever reason uses this expression \u201cthe antichrist\u201d over and over again to describe this coming lawless one.\u00a0 You can jot down 1 John 2:18, you\u2019ll it, 1 John 2:22 you\u2019ll see it, 2 John 7 you\u2019ll see it, and of course here on the screen 1 John 4:3.\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 1 John 2:22, \u201cWho is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.\u201d\u00a0 2 John 7, \u201cFor many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do \u00a0not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.\u201d ]\n\nAntichrist,\u00a0 what does that mean?\u00a0 Antitupon<\/em>, anti-type, in the place of Christ, an artificial substitute.\u00a0 Don\u2019t ever fall for the lie that human beings aren\u2019t religious, they\u2019re all religious; we\u2019re all religious.\u00a0 Why are we religious?\u00a0 Because God has designed us with a spiritual component.\u00a0 We are designed to be in relationship with Him.\u00a0 And if I will not fill that void with truth, I\u2019ve got to fill it with something or else I\u2019d be living outside of who I am by nature, how I\u2019m designed by God.\u00a0 And believe me folks, there are plenty of artificial substitutes on the landscape today eager and willing to fill a void inside of us that only a relationship with God can do.\n\nSo the antichrist, it\u2019s interesting to me how close the antichrist\u2019s program is to God\u2019s program.\u00a0 In fact, it looks so close that if my mind was not hemmed in to biblical truth I would think it was a spiritual reality.\u00a0 It is a spiritual reality, it\u2019s just not the best reality, it\u2019s just not God.\u00a0 You know, last night I started to think about this and I started to think about how Moses and Aaron, in the Book of Exodus, would perform various signs and wonders before unbelieving Pharaoh and Pharaoh would sort of get nervous until he could see his magicians doing the exact same thing.\u00a0 You have the situation of a staff to a snake, Exodus 7:8-13, Pharaoh\u2019s magicians did the exact same thing.\n\n[Exodus 7:8-13, \u201cThe Lord said to Moses and Aaron, [9] When Pharaoh says to you, \u2018Perform a miracle,\u2019 then say to Aaron, \u2018Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,\u2019 and it will become a snake.\u201d\u00a0 [10]\u00a0 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. [11] Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: [12] Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron\u2019s staff swallowed up their staffs. [13] Yet Pharaoh\u2019s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.\u201d]\n\nThey should have known better when the snake from Moses and Aaron\u2019s staff ate up all their snakes.\u00a0 You have the situation of the Nile to blood, Exodus 7:14-22.\n\n[Exodus 7:14-22, \u201cThen the Lord said to Moses, \u201cPharaoh\u2019s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.\u00a0 [15] Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. [16] Then say to him, \u2018The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. [17] This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. [18] The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.\u2019\u202f [19] The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron, \u2018Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt\u2014over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs\u2014and they will turn to blood.\u2019 Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.\u201d\u00a0 [20] Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. [21] The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was every\u00adwhere in Egypt.\u00a0 [22] But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh\u2019s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.\u201d]\n\nThink about that.\u00a0 Think about turning the known water supply of your day into blood red, and here come Pharaoh\u2019s magicians and did the exact same thing, and Pharaoh says I\u2019m okay, this isn\u2019t God, because my magicians are doing the same thing.\u00a0 How about the multiplication of the frogs, Exodus 8:1-7.\u00a0 Think of multiplying frogs all over Egypt and here comes Pharaoh\u2019s magicians doing the same thing.\n\n[Exodus 8:1-7, \u201c1<\/strong><\/a>Then the Lord said to Moses, \u2018Go to Pharaoh and say to him, \u2018This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. [2] If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. [3] The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs.\u00a0 [4] The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.\u2019\u202f Then the Lord said to Moses, \u201cTell Aaron, \u2018Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.\u2019\u202f\u201d\u00a0 [6] So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. \u00a0[7] But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.\u201d]\n\nAnd this counterfeiting continues and continues for a while and then all of a sudden you have the multiplication of the flies and suddenly you reach a point where Pharaoh\u2019s magicians could not repeat that and they say to Pharaoh, Exodus 8:19, this is the hand of God.\u00a0 [Exodus 8:19, \u201cthe magicians said to Pharaoh, \u201cThis is the finger of God.\u201d But Pharaoh\u2019s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.\u201d]\n\nI mean only God can be doing this because we, through whatever occult psychic hotline palm reading powers that we have can\u2019t replicate this one.\u00a0 And you see, this is what happens in the counterfeit program of Satan, it delivers to a degree, (do you see that) but it ends in a dead end because Satan being just a created being can\u2019t do what the Creator Himself does and has done.\u00a0 But how real the counterfeit seems.\n\nTake a look at this chart. I stated writing down all of the similarities between Jesus and the anti\u00adchrist.\u00a0 You say oh no, a chart of ten, how long is this going to take.\u00a0 Well let me cheer you up, I\u2019ve got another chart of ten right after this chart of ten; \u00a0that makes twenty, but I\u2019ll do these fast.\u00a0 The world was prepared in advance, that happened for Jesus, right?\u00a0 Galatians 4:4.\u00a0\u00a0 [Galatians 4:4, \u201cBut when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.\u201d]\u00a0 2 Thessalonians 2:7 says that\u2019s going to happen for the antichrist coming at the proper time.\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 2:7, \u201cFor the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.\u201d]\u00a0 Revealed at the proper time, Galatians 4:4, that\u2019s going to happen with the antichrist, 2 Thessalonians 2:6.\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 2:6, \u201cAnd you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.\u201d]\n\nClaim of deity, a lot of people think Jesus never claimed to be God; I\u2019m not sure what Bible they\u2019re reading.\u00a0 Jesus in John 14:9 said to Philip, have I been with you so long and you don\u2019t understand that when you see me you see God?\u00a0 [John 14:9, \u201cJesus said to him, \u2018Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, \u2018Show us the Father '?\u201d]\u00a0 I and the Father are one, and yet the antichrist, 2 Thessalonians 2:4, will set himself up in the rebuilt Jewish temple proclaiming himself to be God.\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]\n\nDid you know that Jesus was heralded by a forerunner?\u00a0 Kind of the way Ed McMahon did for Johnny Carson.\u00a0 Jesus was heralded by a man named John the Baptist, John 1:23.\u00a0 [John 1:23,\u201d He said, \u2018I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,\u2019 as Isaiah the prophet said.\u201d] \u00a0And yet the antichrist is going to be assisted by a forerunner, the false prophet.\u00a0 Speaking of that forerunner did you know that Christ\u2019s forerunner, John the Baptist, came in the Spirit and power of Elijah, Luke 1:17.\u00a0 [Luke 1:17, \u201cIt is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that the false prophet, in the Book of Revelation, called down fire from heaven, in the full view of man.\u00a0 It kind of sounds to me like he\u2019s trying to imitate Elijah when he did that.\n\nJesus was empowered by a higher source, He was brought out of that grave by God the Father, God the Spirit and we\u2019ve already studied earlier how the antichrist will be empowered by the dragon or the devil himself.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 6:4, \u201cSo if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?\u00a0\u00a0 [Revelation 13:14, \u201cAnd he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.\u201d]\n\nDid you know that our Bible has a Trinity?\u00a0 We worship one God who has expressed Himself in three personages, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 That\u2019s just textbook theology 101.\u00a0 How interesting it is to go into the Book of Revelation and discover a Satanic trinity.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see all three characters mentioned there in Revelation 16:13, Revelation 20:10, the beast, the false prophet and the dragon, imitating how God has represented Himself in Trinitarian form.\u00a0 [Revelation 16:13, \u201cAnd I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs;\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 20:10, \u201cAnd the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that Jesus is the head of the church, Ephesians 5:23. [Ephesians 5:23, \u201cFor the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.\u201d] \u00a0Do you know the devil has his own church, called the synagogue of Satan.\u00a0 Synagogue is a religious term, Revelation 2:9.\u00a0 [Revelation 2:9, \u201c'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.\u201d]\u00a0 Did you know Jesus was a worker of miracles?\u00a0 That\u2019s how He was attested, through signs and wonders, 2 Thessalonians 2:9 says, the antichrist comes forward with counterfeit signs and wonders.\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 2:9, \u201cthat is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,\u201d]\u00a0 Did\u00a0 you know Jesus was risen from the dead?\u00a0 1 Corinthians 15:3-6.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 15:3-6, \u201cFor I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, [4] and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, [5] and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [6] After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;\u201d]\n\nWell, my goodness, you see what\u2019s going on there in the Book of Revelation 13?\u00a0 The beast who was slain by a fatal wound, a mortal wound and yet lived.\u00a0 The satanic imitation of what God has done.\u00a0 I think this much about Satan; I don\u2019t think he has a lot of original thoughts but I think his expertise is in the counterfeit, the duplication.\u00a0 In fact, he\u2019s so good at it that when you compare the phony dollar bill to the real dollar bill, unless you\u2019re really prayed up and studied up, it\u2019s almost difficult to see any real difference. \u00a0Jesus is going to rule a political kingdom, it\u2019s called the millennium, Isaiah 9:6-7. [Isaiah 9:6-7, \u201cFor a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.\u00a0 [7] There 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 to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.\u00a0 The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.\u201d]\n\nSatan is going to have his political kingdom, it\u2019s going to last forty-two months, Revelation 13:5.\u00a0 [Revelation 13:5, \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 Jesus is going to bring in world peace that\u2019s going to last for a thousand\u00a0 years.\u00a0 The rider on the white horse, the antichrist, will bring I world peace temporarily.\n\nYou know, Jesus, when He ministered on this earth spent a lot of time in the Jewish temple.\u00a0 In fact, according to Luke 2 He was brought to that temple at the age of 12 and he confounded the religious leaders in that temple with His wisdom.\u00a0 And what do we see in the antichrist?\u00a0 He goes into the Jewish rebuilt temple, temple three, yet to come, proclaiming himself to be God.\u00a0 Jesus put an end to animal sacrifices, making them unneeded, Hebrews 9:26-29.\u00a0 [Hebrews 9:26-29, \u201cFor a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.\u00a0 [7] There 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 to uphold it with justice and righteous\u00adness from then on and forevermore.\u00a0 The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.\u201d]\n\nIsn\u2019t it interesting that that\u2019s exactly what the antichrist is going to do halfway through the tribulation period.\u00a0 Daniel 9:27, go into the rebuilt Jewish temple and put an end to the animal sacrifices the Jews are offering in that temple.\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.\u2019\u201d]\n\nHow long did Jesus minister for?\u00a0 Most would say a little over three years.\u00a0 How long is the antichrist kingdom going to last for?\u00a0 A little over three years.\u00a0 Do you know that Jesus sealed people, that when a person trusts in Christ as Savior they are immediately sealed, permanently and eternally.\u00a0 And how the antichrist himself is in the sealing business with the mark of the beast.\u00a0 Once you take it you can buy and sell but you have just damned your soul.\n\nJesus presented himself to the nation of Israel as their Messiah, John 1:11, \u201cHe came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.\u201d\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that Jesus said\u00a0 you reject Me, to the Jews, but the one who comes in his own name, him you\u2019ll receive, John 5:43.\u00a0 [John 5:43, \u201cI have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.\u201d]\n\nIn Sunday School this morning we learned that God made a covenant with Israel, Genesis 15:18.\u00a0 [Genesis 15:18, \u201cOn that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, \u2018To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:\u201d\u2019]\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that interesting, how the antichrist starts the tribulation period by entering into a covenant with the nation of Israel.\u00a0 Jesus, one day, in the millennial kingdom, is going to be the focus of worldwide worship, Zechariah 14:16.\u00a0 [Zechariah 14:16, \u201cThen it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.\u201d]\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting how the antichrist, 2 Thessalonians 2:4 will go into the Jewish temple and deify himself above all that is called God.\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]\n\nJerusalem will be the center of worldwide authority under Christ\u2019s reign, Zechariah 14:17. And it\u2019s interesting to me that the whole world will know who the identity of the antichrist is by looking at his activities in the rebuilt Jewish temple in Jerusalem.\u00a0 [Zechariah 14:17, \u201cAnd it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.\u201d]\n\nAnd you guys should be thanking the Lord in prayer that I fell asleep at this point in my study because I probably could have just gone on and on and on with these comparisons (and you can too), this is just a truncated abbreviated list.\u00a0 But look at how the devil is working here; look at how real it looks and yet all that glitters is not necessarily gold.\u00a0 Why does Satan do that?\u00a0 I mean, why doesn\u2019t he just come up with something really new, something completely innovative that no one has ever heard before.\u00a0 Well, I think there is an answer to that.\u00a0 For one thing we know that in Satan\u2019s heart of hearts he\u2019s always wanted to be God.\u00a0 Isaiah 14:14 records the heart of Satan, where Satan says, \u2018\u201cI will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 If there is a passion burning with enmity in the heart of the devil, a created being, it\u2019s to replace God and be worshipped as God.\u00a0 And yet that was his undoing as we know.\n\nBut what better way to get your day in the sun, even if it\u2019s for forty-two months, but to make your program so similar to God\u2019s program that it looks almost real.\u00a0 Which raises a second reason why Satan does this.\u00a0 If he can make his spirituality look like God\u2019s spirituality your average person out there that\u2019s not into the Word of God, studying these things, won\u2019t see any real difference.\n\nAnd folks, this is exactly where American society is with its movement back into mysticism, as people are becoming spiritual, not discerning a counterfeit spirituality.\u00a0 So we can see how he comes to power so fast and exercises such military power and military authority, and that military power and military authority is followed by a list of his military successes, verses 40-43.\n\nNotice if you will verses 40-43, 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 with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through them.\u201d\u00a0 You see how fast it collapses; I mean, I thought he brought peace to the earth.\u00a0 He did but it\u2019s so different than the peace that Jesus brings, not just to us all but one day literally to planet earth; the peace that He provides is perpetual.\u00a0 The peace that He provides is eternal.\u00a0 The artificial substitute, the best it can give you is sort of that temporary temporal fix but nothing that really satisfies the deepest aches of the soul.\u00a0 You come up empty with the satanic counterfeit.\u00a0 And yet the people that are pulled into it don\u2019t see the dead end coming because they\u2019re in a state of deception.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice it says there in verse 40, \u201cAt the time of the end,\u201d now you might recall verse 35, we remember, it\u2019s about what, ten years ago, it says, \u201cuntil the time of the end,\u201d I said that\u2019s a que that we\u2019re moving into the end times with these prophecies.\u00a0 Chapter 12, verse 1, \u201cAt that time\u2026.\u201d it describes an end time event.\u00a0 So the context here is a repetition of the expression at the end, at the time of the end, it\u2019s telling us as readers that this is the part of Daniel\u2019s prophecies yet future.\n\nAnd you read all this stuff, it says \u201cthe king of the north,\u201d who is that; \u201cthe kind of the south,\u201d who is that?\u00a0 Then it\u2019s mentions \u201che,\u201d who is that?\u00a0 Well, I think the \u201che\u201d or the \u201chim\u201d is the same guy that we\u2019ve been reading about in verses 36-39, the antichrist.\u00a0 You say well who\u2019s this \u201cking of the north?\u201d\u00a0 Who\u2019s this \u201cking of the south?\u201d\u00a0 A lot of people in prophecy get really confused on this because they start to see in this the Soviet Union, they draw into this Ezekiel 38 and 39, a northern invasion, which is a very real invasion but I don\u2019t think Daniel is seeing the same things Ezekiel is seeing.\u00a0 I personally like the note of Renald Showers, he writes this.\u00a0 He says, \u201cIn as much as Christ did not tell Daniel that the king of the south and the king of the north of verse 40 are different from those of verses 2-35 it would appear that Christ intended them to be understood as being the same.\u00a0 This would mean that in verse 40 the king of the south is still Egypt and the king of the north is still Syria.\u201d\n\nNow hopefully this rings a little bit of a bell because when we were traveling ever so slowly through Daniel 11 we saw a lot of prophecy that had been fulfilled in the past from an entity called the king of the north which is Syria, and an entity called king of the south, the Ptolemy dynasty or Egypt.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m sort of the view that those same powers are in place when moved to the end time.\u00a0 It\u2019s still Syria in the north and it\u2019s still Egypt down south.\u00a0 In fact, as you travel through this passage you\u2019ll see the name Egypt mentioned verbatim, verse 43 and other places.\u00a0 So the king of the north is still Syria; the king of the south is still Egypt.\u00a0 The he or the him is still the antichrist who apparently has come to power in the west through a Revived Roman Empire that catapulted into a worldwide empire.\u00a0 We studied that in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7.\n\nSo what, then, is happening here in verse 45 as the empire of the antichrist starts to disintegrate.\u00a0 It says, \u00a0[Daniel 11:40] \u201cAt 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\u201d them.\u00a0 What is happening here?\u00a0 Egypt and Syria attack, \u00a0I would guess, Israel.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because Israel is mentioned here, it\u2019s called in verse 41 \u201cthe Beautiful Land.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 11:42, \u201cHe will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.\u201d]\u00a0 And an attack on Israel is an attack on the antichrist.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the antichrist entered into a treaty with Israel, Daniel 9:27, to start the seven year process.\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] We\u2019ve gone through that in depth.\n\nAnd so if these powers are coming against Israel then they\u2019re coming against the antichrist also who signed the false peace deal with the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And these entities, Egypt and Syria, have never liked Israel. In fact, you can read the news today and you can see on the border of the nation of Israel, you go to the north, you go into Syria and who do\u00a0 you see there?\u00a0 Not just the regime of the Egyptian king, Bahsad I think his name is.\u00a0 Who else is there?\u00a0 Iran is there, oh my goodness.\u00a0 Turkey is there, oh my goodness.\u00a0 Rosh or Russia is there, right over the border.\u00a0 And people say do you think we\u2019re living in the end times?\u00a0 Are you kidding me?\u00a0 Those are the identical three powers, Turkey, Russia, Iran that are predicted, not in Daniel\u2019s prophecy but predicted in Ezekiel\u2019s prophecy to invade Israel in the last day and there they are perched on the northern border of Israel.\n\nAnd people want me to say yeah, we\u2019ve got a lot of time left.\u00a0 No we don\u2019t!\u00a0 Folks, we\u2019re living on borrowed time.\u00a0\u00a0 You have to understand that; you have to live your life as a Christian as if we\u2019re living on borrowed time.\u00a0 If I\u2019m understanding this correctly and these are signs of the encroaching tribulation period and the rapture of the church precedes the tribulation period\u2026 you say well, I don\u2019t believe that.\u00a0 That\u2019s okay, we\u2019ll explain it to you on the way up.\u00a0 In fact, so attacked is this doctrine of the pretribulational rapture of the church that Dr. Jim McGowan and myself just completed two Facebook live broadcasts on that which you can find at the SLBC website or my personal You Tube channel, all for free, f-r-e-e!\n\nWe went into detail explaining why the rapture of the church will precede the tribulation period.\u00a0 Some people, I\u2019m convinced, are so opposed to the doctrine of pretribulationalism that when the rapture happens they\u2019re going to go up kicking and screaming.\u00a0 And yet it\u2019s a truth.\u00a0 And yet if the events of the tribulation period are that close the rapture of the church can\u2019t be far away.\u00a0 Well Andy, what if you\u2019re wrong?\u00a0 Well, I\u2019ve been wrong on a lot of things; I\u2019ll live out the rest of my life span in productivity for Christ, thinking I\u2019m living on borrowed time and look back on a life well spent.\u00a0 That\u2019s the worst that can happen to me.\n\nBut if you don\u2019t take seriously these issues of the return of Christ, the rapture, the tribulation period, you don\u2019t understand the season of time that we\u2019re living in. And if you don\u2019t understand the season of time we\u2019re living in it\u2019s wasted life, life that could have been spent for the things of God, squandered on counterfeit spirituality, the artificial prosperity, and things frankly that at the end are going to burn.\u00a0 That\u2019s what 2 Peter 3:10 says God is going to do to this whole earth; He\u2019s going to blowtorch the whole earth.\u00a0 [2 Peter 3:10, \u201cBut the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.\u201d]\n\nAnd you say well do you believe in global warming?\u00a0 I believe in 2 Peter 3:10, that this earth is going to be destroyed by fire.\u00a0 That\u2019s my global warming.\u00a0 You say well do you believe in the big bang theory?\u00a0 Yeah, I just think the big bang is at the end, not the beginning.\u00a0 The evolutionist has got the whole thing backwards.\n\nBut you see these details prophetically are not there just to fill our heads with data; they\u2019re there to motivate our lives, to get us to make safe investments. Everybody today wants safe investments.\u00a0 Folks, there aren\u2019t any safe investments except two.\u00a0 The first safe investment you can make, and by investment I mean putting your effort into something is this book right here, because the grass withers and the flower fades, the word of our God abides forever.\u00a0 [1 Peter 1:24, \u201cFor, \u2018ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,\u00a0 [25] BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.\u201d\u2019 And this is the word which was preached to you.\u201d]\n\nJesus said \u201cHeaven and earth will pass away, but My Word will never pass away.\u201d [Matthew 25:34]\u00a0 You invest into this Book, trying to understand it, trying to teach it, trying to disciple people by it, trying to live your life upon it and you\u2019ve just made an eternal investment.\u00a0 And there\u2019s only one other safe investment that I know of and that\u2019s people, the Book of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 3:11, \u201cHe has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.\u201d\n\nAnd the fact of the matter is people, they don\u2019t know this and we didn\u2019t know it before we were saved, people will live forever.\u00a0\u00a0 They will live, as the Scripture said, and we read earlier, \u201cForever and ever,\u201d that\u2019s a long time.\u00a0 And so since people live forever people matter to God.\u00a0 People to us are a nuisance many times, amen.\u00a0 Not to God!\u00a0 They matter to God because God made them and the more you pour your life into another human being, whether it be raising your own children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, whether it be discipling your spouse, whether it be evangelizing the lost, that is an investment that\u00a0 pays eternal dividends because they\u2019re going to be alive somewhere.\u00a0 A hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, a million years from now, a billion\u00a0 years from now\u2026 this idea that people just get annihilated and they cease to exist, there\u2019s not one shred of biblical evidence anywhere to support that.\u00a0 The Word of God matters, people matter, that\u2019s where you should spend your time.\n\nYou say well, I can\u2019t do that, I\u2019ve got to work at a job, I\u2019ve got to make a living.\u00a0 You know what you call that?\u00a0 A mission field!\u00a0 You\u2019ve got a built in mission field because of where God has put you in your place of employment, because there\u2019s people there that don\u2019t know anything about Jesus and probably don\u2019t care.\u00a0 But you\u2019re there because God knew they would be there at the same time you would be there so you could reach them for His glory.\u00a0 It\u2019s a different way of looking at life, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 Prophecy, the encroaching tribulation period, is a perpetual reminder of this.\n\nAnd so Egypt and Syria come against Israel, which is actually coming against the antichrist himself because these nations have never really liked Israel.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because of something called Islam.\u00a0 Islam teaches that once Islam has ruled over a territory it perpetually belongs to Allah and any nation that exists on that ground that was once ruled by Allah is automatically viewed as a usurper. So the nations are in place, the right motive for the attack is in place and I largely believe that Islam, which dominates the Middle East, is the very thing that God has allowed to come into existence to fulfill a script that God, through the prophet Daniel, predicted all the way back in the sixth century.\u00a0 And we have looked at these prophecies, haven\u2019t we, and seen how they have all came to pass in ancient history.\u00a0 Why wouldn\u2019t the ones\u00a0 yet future come to pass.\n\nAnd something else about the antichrist is he some way, somehow, I don\u2019t know how he\u2019s going to do it but I think this is what will catapult him into domination, is he\u2019s going to allow the Jews to rebuild that third temple, which they want to do and they can\u2019t do without starting World War III because if they don\u2019t like the mere existence of Israel, what are they going to think, these Muslims, when Israel rebuilds its holiest artifact, either in place of the Dome of the Rock or next to the Dome of the Rock. \u00a0I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s all going to play out but somehow the antichrist comes along the scene and brings forth the art of the deal.\u00a0 And people are amazed that he has solved this problem.\n\nAnd you know what\u2019s happening as this temple is functioning with animal sacrifices that the antichrist is going to put an end to?\u00a0 Syria hates it and Egypt hates it and quite frankly the whole Middle East hates it because of the widespread ideology and theology of Islam.\u00a0 And so they come into Israel to get rid of this nation once and for all and the antichrist, of all people, stands up for Israel because an attack against Israel is an attack against the antichrist because he is the one that\u2019s made the covenant with Israel, Daniel 9:27.\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]\n\nAnd he repels this attack.\u00a0 And not only does he repel this attack but he actually invades the nations who are the attackers.\u00a0 And this is all commensurate with various seal judgments that are happening early on in the tribulation.\u00a0 Jesus talked about this.\u00a0 He said in Matthew 24:6, \u201cYou will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars.\u201d\u00a0 Aren\u2019t we reading about those here.\u00a0 Revelation 6:4 says, \u201cAnd another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.\u201d\n\n[Daniel 11] Verse 41 gets very interesting, \u201cHe will also enter the Beautiful Land and many countries will fall,\u201d this is talking about the antichrist\u2019s successes and conquests during this early military infraction by Egypt and Syria.\u00a0 He\u2019s protecting Israel because Israel is his, at least temporarily because of the covenant he\u2019s entered into with Israel and so he not only protects Israel but he goes after Egypt and Syria.\u00a0 And it says here in verse 41, \u201cmany countries will fall.\u201d\u00a0 And then the most curious thing is mentioned there in lieu of verse 41, \u201cbut these will be rescued out of his hand,\u201d in other words the antichrist has this universal, unilateral control over the earth but there are three countries that escape his grip, and they\u2019re named right there in the Bible, \u201cbut these will be rescued out of his hand:\u201d number one, \u201cEdom,\u201d number two, \u201cMoab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.\u201d\n\nYou say well who are those names. Well, Edom came from Esau and Moab and Ammon came from Lot.\u00a0 You know Lot was a believer?\u00a0 I would never think the man was a believer if I didn\u2019t have \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02 Peter 2:7-8 in my Bible telling me he was a believer.\u00a0 He sure wasn\u2019t acting like it.\u00a0 In fact, a good sermon title I have is Are you a Lot like Lot?\u00a0 [2 Peter 2:7-8, \u201cand if<\/em> He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men [8] (for by what he saw and heard that<\/em> righteous man, while living among them, felt his<\/em> righteous soul tormented day after day by their<\/em> lawless deeds),\u201d]\n\nWe need to be living according to our position.\u00a0 And Lot is in a state of drunkenness in Genesis 19:30, 38, having incestuous relationships with his two daughters.\u00a0 [Genesis 19:30, \u201cLot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 19:38, \u201cAs for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.\u201d] And the nation that represents those people groups is the nation immediately to the west of the nation of Israel, a nation called Jordan.\n\nNow let me connect the dots here a little bit more carefully if I can.\u00a0 Jesus in Matthew 24:15-20 Jesus said this, \u201cTherefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), [16] then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. [17] Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. [18] Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. [19] But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! [20] But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.\u201d\n\nWhen the temple is desecrated the Jews are told to flee into the wilderness.\u00a0 Revelation 12:6, narrating the same event, says, \u201cThe woman\u201d that\u2019s Israel, \u201cfled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.\u201d\u00a0 Now here\u2019s the thing I went to bed thinking about last night?\u00a0 Where are they going to run to?\u00a0 I mean, if the antichrist is controlling everything and Jesus told these Jews to flee into the wilderness after the temple is desecrated, where are they going to go?\u00a0 Wallah, look at the answer here, it\u2019s right here in the Bible, it\u2019s been here the whole time.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201c\u2026these will be rescued out of his hand:\u201d antichrist\u2019s hand, \u201cEdom, Moab, and foremost the sons of Ammon.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 11:41]\u00a0 They are going to flee into Jordan and it\u2019s believed by many people, on the basis of Scripture like this, that they\u2019re going to flee to a place called Petra, a place that you can visit today in the land of Israel.\n\nAnd you say well, you know Andy, I think you\u2019re half-crazy with some of the stuff you come up with.\u00a0 Frankly I am not going to argue with you, I am a little bit crazy but I want to show you that this view that I have, that they\u2019re fleeing to Petra in Jordan for safety and security is not something that I just came up with.\u00a0 It\u2019s held by respected Bible teachers.\n\nArnold Fruchtenbaum writes this: \u201cAll of these three ancient nations,\u201d the ones we just got finished with there in verse 41, \u201ccurrently comprise the modern kingdom of Jordan, the city of Basra in Mt. Seir, is located in ancient Edom or southern Jordan.\u00a0 Since this area will escape the domination of the antichrist it\u2019s logical for the Jews to flee to this place.\u00a0 Thus, God will provide a city of refuge outside the antichrist\u2019s domain for the fleeing remnant.\u00a0 It will be very defensible in a city located in Mount Seir.\u00a0 Furthermore as they flee, while they are living there food and water will be miraculously provided.\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t provide food and water for fleeing Jews, does He?\u00a0 Of course He does, that\u2019s what the whole Book of Exodus is about.\n\nYou say well do you have some application for us today?\u00a0 This is all Jews and the future.\u00a0 What\u2019s the Bible say?\u00a0 The Lord is a strong what? Tower, those who run to Him for it are safe.\u00a0 [Proverbs 18:10, \u201cThe name of the LORD is a strong tower;\u00a0 the righteous runs into it and is safe.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s where you want to be, where you want to be in\u00a0 your life.\u00a0\u00a0 You want to be where the Lord wants\u00a0 you.\u00a0 If the Lord wants you at Sugar Land Bible Church I would suggest that\u2019s where you be.\u00a0 If the Lord doesn\u2019t want you at Sugar Land Bible Church and wants you at the church down the street, we will pray for you of course, but that\u2019s where you should be.\u00a0 If the Lord wants you in this job and not that job, that\u2019s where you should be.\n\nYou want to be exactly where God has for you in your life because when you\u2019re there you\u2019re right in the middle of His will.\u00a0 And this is what God does; He provides places of refuge for us in the midst of storm with provision.\u00a0 And you know where the safest place to be in this world that\u2019s war infested is in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 We\u2019re all worried today, is someone going to come in here and shoot us all?\u00a0 My goodness, we\u2019re having Shahram Hadian come to this church, what is our pastor thinking, are we going to turn this into a war zone.\u00a0 I mean, what\u2019s going on, we\u2019re all afraid, we\u2019re all scared.\n\nHere\u2019s the reality of the situation.\u00a0 The safest place you could be is in the will of God.\u00a0 With all of the problem breaking out all over the world there is no great place of safety and security than being in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 You say well what if they kill me?\u00a0 Guess what?\u00a0 They just did you a favor because \u201cabsent from the body\u201d is what? \u201cpresent with the Lord.\u00a0 And that\u2019s sort one of the fears that we have as leadership here, that people can come to a church like this, they can listen to the sermon, they can go through the religious motions and the rituals and yet they don\u2019t really know Christ personally.\u00a0 And that can be rectified through what we call the gospel.\u00a0 The gospel is Jesus Christ entered into human history, he paid a penalty for the sins of the world that we could never pay.\u00a0 He rose bodily from the dead to vindicate who He was.\u00a0 His final words on the cross were \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a translation of the Greek word tetelestai,<\/em> which means\u00a0 paid in full.\u00a0 And what He says to us is I did it all for you.\u00a0 I bridged the gap in your place.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to do it.\u00a0 What you need to do is you need to rest in what I\u2019ve done and that\u2019s what we call faith.\u00a0 Faith is another way of saying trust.\n\nAnd if\u00a0 you\u2019re here today or listening online, confused about your destination eternally, being sucked into all kinds of aberrant forms of spirituality, the reality of the situation is we\u2019re here to offer you very good news.\u00a0 It\u2019s not our good news, it\u2019s what Jesus did for us and commissioned the message to the church.\u00a0 It\u2019s trust in Him for your eternity; trust in Him for the safekeeping of your soul.\u00a0 Trust in Him for your safety.\u00a0 Trust in Him to move your soul from this world into the next.\u00a0 That\u2019s all He\u2019s asking, trust in My ability to forgive you and do that\u00a0 for you.\u00a0 Can you trust Me?\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to do anything, you don\u2019t have to join anything, you don\u2019t have to give money to anything, you don\u2019t have to raise a hand, you don\u2019t have to walk an aisle, you just receive it as a gift, by faith.\u00a0 And so if the Spirit of God is at work and convicting people of their need to do this our admonition is to flee to the Lord, that strong tower where they can find safety and security, which is just as real anything the nation of Israel is going to find in the tribulation period except this safety is even more profound because it\u2019s eternal security.\u00a0 If you need more thoughts or information on that I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for these ancient passages and how they reveal to us things to come, speak truth in our lives. I pray You\u2019ll continue to make us good stewards of these words as we complete this chapter, hopefully next week.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. 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