Well, we are continuing our study of the book of Daniel this morning, and we find ourselves in the midst of the last section of this book, the last vision. Chapters 10 to 12 give us the last vision of this great record of the life and times of Daniel the prophet, and we began our study, sort of preparation of the vision, last week in chapter 10, and we saw that this vision concerns Israel and what would come to pass after this, even to the end, in the last days, it says. 

You'll remember that Daniel was discouraged. He had learned from his studies that the end of the captivity of Israel and Babylon was at hand, that the 70 years were nearly finished, the decree to go back and rebuild had been issued by Cyrus, Zerubbabel had begun to lead some of the people back to clean up the temple ruins and begin to rebuild, but things were not going well, and very few of the Jews wanted to go back. Most were content to stay and live their lives in pagan Babylon, and there was resistance in the holy land to the rebuilding of the temple, and there was very little progress. In fact, at this point, the work had ground to a stop. 

So we saw that Daniel was discouraged, and he began to pray, and he prayed and fasted for three weeks, right through the celebration of Passover in the month of Nisan, and an angel came to him, and this angel reveals not only the vision we're about to study in chapter 11 concerning what would come for Israel, but also some fascinating insights into the spiritual battle behind the nations concerning the affairs of men. From the text, we learn that there are demonic forces working behind the scenes to influence kings and leaders and nations of men and all the interactions going on on the earth, and the holy angels fight against these demonic forces in the will of God. 

We don't understand many details about this hidden world, but it is certain that it is very real and going on not only in the political world, but as we saw so clearly in the New Testament, behind the world of the religions of men as well. The vision, the revelation given to Daniel in chapter 11 that we're about to study, concerns these nations and the wars and conflicts that they would engage in for hundreds of years in and around the glorious land of Israel. 

And like the prophets of the Old Testament and the visions of the book of Daniel so far that we've looked at, we see that there's a near fulfillment of this prophecy and a far fulfillment culminating in the consummation of the kingdom of God on earth and the salvation of Israel and fulfillment of the promises made to the fathers in the new covenant. We're going to look at the first 35 verses this morning which cover the kings of Persia and Greece, the coming kingdom, and all the events that would involve Israel concerning the king of the north and the king of the south in the near fulfillment of this vision. 

And then next week we will look ahead into the future of what is yet to come concerning these kings and the little horn, the willful king, the Antichrist, and what God will do in the end times. If you look at verse 35 and 36 with me, we can see this clear transition. Daniel 11.35, it says, and some of those of understanding shall fall to refine them, purify them and make them white until the time of the end because it is still for the appointed time. 

And then verse 36 says, then the king shall do according to his own will. So this phrase, until the time of the end because the appointed time is still yet to come, this phrase moves us through the centuries to a time yet future when God will consummate his will and his purpose for his people, his nation, for his glory, and the willful king will come and quickly come to his end when Jesus appears in glory and sets up his kingdom which fills the whole earth. 

So we've seen this consistently through the visions of Daniel through the whole book all the way back to chapter 2. The first 35 verses before us have been fulfilled in history to every detail, every jot and tittle. There are over 100 prophecies in these 35 verses that were yet future to Daniel. Some near in the remaining kings of Persia and others a couple hundred years off concerning Greece and the kings of the north, even Antiochus Epiphanes, as we'll see, who would cause so much harm in Israel and to the Jews. 

But this section, my friends, is absolutely unbelievable as to its detail and fulfillment of future events. This section is why the liberal scholars have concluded that the book of Daniel had to be written after these events happened because no one could predict with such precise detail so many future events. But they make the assumption that God did not write this book. And we know and understand and believe that our God knows the end from the beginning. It's no problem for him to give such vivid and perfect revelation about the future. 

And this text, though complicated and filled with many details, for the student of Scripture and of history, this text gives us tremendous confidence that our faith is in the proper place concerning the proper person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said that Daniel was a prophet and that we should look to the book of Daniel for understanding. 

So the take-home message this morning from all of this is that God speaks the truth, that we can trust his word, that God is sovereign and in control, and we can trust that what he tells us in his word will come to pass. We can be certain of this very thing from Genesis to Revelation. 

Let's look at our text together, Daniel 11 at verse 1. I'm just going to read a few verses to get started here. So in the first year of Darius the Mede, I, even I, stood up to confirm and strengthen him. Now this is the angel giving the prophecy to Daniel and refers us back to the time before I think Gabriel came to him. 

And now I will tell you the truth. He says, what I'm going to tell you is true. Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all. By his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will. And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled.

For his kingdom shall be uprooted even for others besides these. And then what we see as we go down through most of the rest of this, down to verse 21 anyway, is this back and forth between the kings of the north and the kings of the south. So we're going to explore that until we get to verse 21. 

And in verse 21 it says, and in his place shall arise a vile person to whom they will not give the honor of royalty, but he shall come impeacably and seize the kingdom by intrigue. With the force of a flood they shall be swept away before him and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant. So this is Antiochus' epiphanies we will see when we get to verse 21 and all of the exploits that he carries on all the way down through verse 35. So we're going to work through those verses to the best of our ability. 

So I've given you five points on your outline. First context, second geography, third the strivings of men, fourth the purpose of God, and fifth the promise to come. 

Well first we should set the context for this vision of chapter 11 as we discussed in our introduction that Daniel is seeking to find out what's going to happen to his people and his city in light of all that he has come to understand. Daniel thought that a great time for Israel was coming. The captivity was over and the temple and the city would be rebuilt and his people would come back to God and establish worship and so forth and so on, a great time in Israel, sort of a revival I think is what Daniel was expecting. 

But this was not the case. And Daniel was sad and perplexed. It's a sad thing when God's people have no passion for the things of God. And that's what Daniel is experiencing here. He was born there, he was raised there, remember taken away as a youth, but he understood the importance of the temple and the worship and the glory of the land and of Israel and how important that was to God. 

But the people who maybe were born in Babylon or had been there a long time or had been kind of drawn into the world, they didn't have any desire, only 42,000 went back. So he's sad, he's perplexed, God gives him a vision. At the beginning of chapter 10 before the vision is given we read this, it says the message was true but the appointed time was long and he understood the message and had understanding of the vision. 

So this phrase, the appointed time was long, you'll remember literally has to do with much war and conflict over a long period of time. This vision speaks of a long ongoing conflict which largely takes place in and through Israel. So you have the king of the north, the king of the south, Israel in between, and what we're reading about is all the battles of history that went on between the king of the north and the king of the south. 

So God is telling Daniel that the kingdom and the ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom and the promises is a long way off in the future, many days until the time of the end, it says. And in the meantime, during the times of the Gentiles, there would be great conflicts and wars in and around the land of Israel. We see this play out in amazing detail over and over in the next couple hundred years in our text up to verse 36, and of course this has been the state of Israel, this is the condition of Israel today. 

I was thinking about years ago I was watching a news story and they showed a kindergarten teacher in Jerusalem, and the kindergarten teacher had all the kids out for recess and she had an AK-47 strapped to her back. That's life in Israel. And that's how it's been from Daniel's time and will be through what Jesus called the times of the Gentiles. 

So we see this play out in amazing detail through these verses. Let's work through the verses before us and see the future history of Israel unfold. And this is in the time of the Medo-Persian and Greek empires up to the time of the domination of Rome. 

Verse 2, And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all. By his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. So God's going to move rapidly through time here as he reveals the details that are crucial from his perspective concerning Israel. 

And this is something I think we should think about because it's our tendency to get all caught up in the details and powers and militaries and governments and politics of men. But this chapter shows us that God is sitting over all these things. Kingdoms rise, kingdoms fall. Men who seem to be great and powerful, who rule the whole world, die at the age of 32 in drunkenness and debauchery. 

Men come and go, but God rules and reigns over all, working out his salvation plan and his purposes in the affairs of men. So when we move 150 years over all the events and battles and gains and losses of fortunes and power in a couple of verses, this just shows us that we are but a vapor, but a spot in time. But God's will and kingdom are coming in his time. 

It may seem a very long time for us, it may seem a very long time for Israel or for Daniel looking forward, but God is not concerned. He sits above it all, and all will come to pass in his time. So we need to keep that in mind. 

Verse 2 again, there are three more kings that will arise in Persia, a fourth richer than them all will stir up everyone against Greece. So three more kings will arise. We're presently under the reign of Cyrus in Daniel chapter 11 at the time of the vision, but God's going to tell us in detail what is coming over the next many years. 

The next king of Persia would be Cambyses in 530, and he would reign till 522. Then Smyrdes, who reigned just in the year 522. Then Darius Histospes, who was king from 521 all the way to 496. And then the fourth king, the fourth king highlighted here is one familiar to us, anybody have an idea who that is? Xerxes, Ahasuerus. He's also called Artaxerxes, the king that married Esther, and it's chronicled in the book of Esther. 

So this fourth king, as we go back and look at history, was exactly as God predicted, an extremely wealthy king with great power. His father Darius I had attacked Greece in 490 BC, and this was the Battle of Marathon.

The battle occurred during the first Persian invasion of Greece under King Darius I, who sought to punish Athens for supporting the Ionian Revolt against Persian rule in Asia Minor. You read all these things, you think about it, it's like World War I or World War II, these are big deals, right? And you've got a war in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. If you're living through these things, if you're in this time, it's a really big deal. I mean, it's a really big deal that Hitler's trying to take over the world. 

But this is all happening over and over and over and over again through the course of history in the nations of men. And we just read over this Great Battle of Marathon, Darius, I mean, these battles took years sometimes. They built islands and bridges and sieges to try this, so people lived through these things. But from God's perspective, it's just a blip in history. Artaxerxes' father Darius I suffered a great defeat at the hand of Greece in Marathon, and so the deal was, it's kind of like a George Bush Sr., George Bush Jr. thing going on here. 

Artaxerxes planned for a long time to avenge his father and conquer Greece. So he compiled riches upon riches and ships and armies and planned to invade Greece. And we see in Esther 1 at verse 2. Verse 4, that all this planning culminated in a 180-day feast and meeting of the leaders of Persia as Artaxerxes planned for the invasion. So we see verse 2 fulfilled in this king, he stirred up all against the realm of Greece. 

And then when you go to verse 3, we skip 150 years in history. Daniel 11.3, then a mighty king shall arise. So Artaxerxes did well in his time of rule, but later, a mighty king arises who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will. And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity nor according to his dominion with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be uprooted even for others besides these." 

Who's this guy? Alexander the Great. So perhaps one of the greatest rulers, warmongers of all time, Alexander the Great, who conquered the whole world at the age of 32 all the way to India. We've seen this king in the book of Daniel already, the king of Greece, the leopard with wings who conquered so mightily with great swiftness. Here he gets two verses in Daniel 11 for all his exploits. 

But notice the details. When he has arisen, and this indicates a very short reign, when he has come to power, he dies just short of 33 years old. When he has no heir, his kingdom is broken up, divided to the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity nor according to his dominion with which he ruled. His four generals divided the kingdom and never had the power that he did. And this was all predicted 150 years before he was born in Daniel 11. 

Again we saw in chapter 10 that for Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, and the other Medo-Persian kings, as well as Alexander to come, there were demonic forces working through these men in the kingdoms of men and the wars and fighting that would continue throughout their rule and reign. Verse 20 of chapter 10 says, Behold, the prince of Greece is about to come. That was the heavenly, angelic perspective. Cyrus the Persian, the prince of Persia, I was just fighting with, but I've got to get back and fight with him because the prince of Greece is ready to come in 150 years. 

So God gives us the spiritual perspective from heaven that we need to understand in order to understand the visible events of history in our world. Alexander is dead in 323 BC. Now remember this is in the intertestamental period as well. God's revelation has ended and we're in this time period before the coming of Christ. So Alexander's dead in 323 BC and his kingdom is split among his four generals. That's Seleucus, Nicator, Ptolemy, Soter, Cassander, and Lysimachus. 

The two that become prominent and concern this vision in the end times as well, this is kind of the important part, are the king of the north, the Seleucus kings in the land of Syria, and then Ptolemy, the king of the south, in Egypt. So you have Syria, kings of the north, you have Egypt, kings of the south, and right in between you have the land of Israel. It is the king of the north and the king of the south that battle in the land of Israel all these years and form the foundation for the final fulfillment in the last days in the time of Antichrist. 

We're going to see this third king sort of introduced when we get to verse 36. So these two kings, though the names change through time, these two kings do battle for the next couple hundred years until the coming of Antiochus Epiphanes, who becomes a central character of this vision. He's going to persecute the people of God, desecrate the temple, Antiochus serves as a type of the one who is to come in verse 36. 

So the first 20 verses of our text cover this 150 years of various battles between the kings of the north and the kings of the south, and it reads like a great drama, a soap opera of the rise and fall of men and wars and battles for the benefit of men and their ambitions and rule and riches that continues in our day, my friends, in these times of the Gentiles. The salient point is that Israel is caught in the middle. 

It's a fascinating study to go back and see all the details of history fulfilled in the words of our text, but suffice to say, God is 100% accurate in all of these things. Verses 10 to 19 lead up to the rule of Antiochus the Great, and this is Antiochus Epiphanes' father. So Antiochus the Great, and he wins the battle at Raphia in 217 BC, so now we're in 217, defeating Egypt, conquering the glorious land, but he meets his demise at the hands of the rising Roman Empire. His son is taken hostage, Jerome, and he dies at Elemaeus. 

All details of history, predicted hundreds of years before they came to pass. And in verse 21, we see a transition to a very prominent person in the history of Israel, Antiochus IV, Epiphanes, he called himself Epiphanes, the people called him Epimenes, which means madman. He reigned from 175 to 64 BC, so now we're getting closer to the time of Christ. His importance in prophetic scripture is great, he gained eternal notoriety through his attacks upon the people of God and their system of worship, and he prefigures the Antichrist to come, he exploits, his exploits fill the remainder of our text here. 

So Antiochus was not in the royal line.

In other words, he had no right to the throne. But he murdered the guy that did, and he lied and connived his way into rule, and so it says in verse 21, and in his place shall arise a vile person to whom they will not give the honor of royalty, but he shall come in peaceably and seize the kingdom by intrigue. 

So he's lying, conniving, deceiving, he works his way into the kingdom. He did have many military victories, as we see in verse 22, with the force of a flood, they shall be swept away from before him and be broken, and also the Prince of the Covenant. The Prince of the Covenant here refers to the high priest of Israel, who he also kills, sets his own guy up there. 

We see that this despicable man will wage war by intrigue and deceit, he will even get some of the Jewish zealots to join with him, apostate Jews. And there's much politics, there's trading of daughters, there's paying off of those who help, corruption, lies, bribery, all kinds of things going on, like when I used to work at Madison County Highway in Indiana, it goes on everywhere, right? It's common to men. 

He will defeat Egypt with a mighty army, but also with spies and deception as those who eat at the King of Egypt's table will turn against him. It's typical of men of rulers and kings and politicians, intrigue, deceit, war, and battle. This is man, the nature of man. 

Look at verse 23, it says, and after the league is made with him, he shall act deceitfully, for he shall come up and become strong with a small number of people. He shall enter peaceably even into the richest places of the province, and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers. He shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches, he's going to pay off those who help him. We don't see that today. 

And he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time. He shall stir up his power and his courage against the King of the South with a great army, and the King of the South shall be stirred up to battle with a very great army, a mighty army, but he shall not stand, for they shall devise plans against him. 

So again, spies, intrigue, they're plotting against him, his own people turn on the King of Egypt. Yes, those who eat of the portion of his delicacy shall destroy him, his army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. Both these kings' hearts shall be bent on evil, and they shall speak lies at the same table. 

But it shall not prosper, for the end will still be at the appointed time. It doesn't matter how men can dive and plot and scheme, the power they gain, the riches they gain, what they do to people, the end will still be at the appointed time. 

And next we see what makes Antiochus Epiphanes famous, his great persecution of Israel and the desecration of the temple, verse 28, while returning to this land with great riches, his heart shall be moved against the Holy Covenant so he shall do damage and return to his own land. 

And this short verse describes a time of heavy persecution in Israel. Not the heaviest that he will mete out, as we see in verse 29. He says at the appointed time he shall return and go toward the south, so he comes and persecutes in Israel and kills tens of thousands of Jews and does all these things, then he goes home and then a little while later decides I'm going to go down there and attack Egypt again. 

So he goes to the south and he has a plan, he's going to take over everything, and then it says, it shall not be like his former successes, for ships from Cyprus shall come against him, therefore he shall be grieved. The ships from Cyprus are Rome, Rome is entering the picture, and return and rage against the Holy Covenant and do damage so he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the Holy Covenant and forces shall be mustered by him and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress and then they shall take away the daily sacrifices and place there the abomination of desolation. 

Those who do wickedly against the Covenant he shall corrupt with flattery, but the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. And these verses speak of the time of the Maccabees and their revolt and cleansing of the Temple Antiochus, the king of the north goes back down to Egypt to conquer them, gaining power and forces, even apostate Jews on his side, but Rome enters the scene and puts a stop to his exploits in Egypt. 

In 168 BC, the very time of our verses here, Antiochus was invading Egypt, he was almost Alexandria, ready to take Egypt. But the Roman leader Popilius Gaius Lanus confronted him with the Roman army. And this is the famous story of the circle in the sand, have you heard of that story? 

What happened was, Antiochus was marching on Alexandria, here comes the Roman emperor, Antiochus asked for time to consult with his advisors, Popilius drew a circle in the earth around him with his walking stick and he ordered him not to leave the circle until he gave a firm answer. He had to withdraw or face war with Egypt and Rome, which he could not win because you see, Rome wanted peace, they didn't want to have all this going on anymore. 

And this would be an end to the battles of the king of the north, the king of the south in that time, as Rome rises to power. So at this point, Antiochus is enraged, he's embarrassed, he's pushed back, he has to go home. Well to go home, where does he have to go? He has to go through Israel. 

So therefore he shall be grieved, it says, and return in rage against the holy covenant and do damage. So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant and forces shall be mustered by him and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress and then they shall take away the daily sacrifices and place there an abomination of desolation. 

Antiochus forbade Jewish worship, he forbade circumcision, he burned the holy scriptures, he ended the sacrifice, he took a hog into the holy of holies and sacrificed it on the altar and set up an image of Zeus to be worshipped. He killed tens of thousands of Jews. 

He's a picture of the final Antichrist, a type of the one who is to come, and we're going to see this in our study next week. So this vision is setting all that up.

Verse 32, those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery, but the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall instruct many, yet for many days they shall fall by the sword and flame by captivity and plundering. Now when they fall they shall be aided with a little help, but many shall join them by intrigue. 

So these verses again speak of the revolt and the amazing cleansing of the temple by Judas Maccabeus, the celebration we now call Hanukkah. Israel gained independence from Antiochus and worshipped God in faithfulness for a time. The problem was there were these zealots, just like there were in Christ's time. Remember the Jewish zealots who carried the daggers and they would kill the Roman officials and just kind of cause trouble? They had those in this time as well, and Antiochus employed them on his side, and what happened was when the Maccabees gained independence from Antiochus and cleansed the temple, a couple of those guys were part of that force because they jumped in when they saw the Maccabees going to win. 

And then after Judas dies and that kind of fades away, although they worshipped in faithfulness for his time, these guys took over and then it kind of falls apart again, which is so typical, right? So in verse 35 we see the purpose of God in all of this for Israel. Let's look at Daniel 11, 35. Some of those of understanding shall fall. Why? Why is all this going on? To refine them, purify them, make them white, until the time of the end, because it is still for the appointed time. The appointed time is yet to come, it says. Until the time of the end, the appointed time is yet to come. 

These words tell us the purpose of the times of the Gentiles, where Israel is in subjugation to Gentile kings and rulers until Jesus comes and wipes out all of these kingdoms and sets up His kingdom which fills the whole earth. To refine them, purify them, make them white, until the time of the end. This is the appointed time yet to come and the time of the end. We're going to consider in verses 36 to 45 next week. 

So what do we do with all this? These great details from God predicted and which came to pass. What was the point of this for Daniel, for Israel? What principles can we take for ourselves from such an amazing text? Well, Daniel said that he understood the vision, which is more than I can say for myself, right? I mean, we have to do a lot of study of history and make some charts and graphs. And Bobby could draw some pictures before I could really start to understand. But Daniel says he understood the vision. 

And it was important for Israel because they lived through all of these events. Imagine being a faithful Jew and having the book of Daniel and just kind of watching all these things come to pass. I even read one commentary that said some of the people that lived in those times were trying to assist in these things coming to pass because they were reading it and looking for it. So they lived through all these events and they were caught in the middle of some horrible circumstances, persecutions, subjugations. They couldn't practice their religion. I mean, he did horrible things to them. 

They needed to understand God's purpose to refine them, to purify them, to bring them ultimately to faith in him. But they also could see the words of Daniel 11 coming to life through their history. And this must have encouraged them that God was indeed in control and working out his will in his time. And certainly, we too can be encouraged by the knowledge, the wisdom, the understanding of our God as well as his sovereignty over the affairs of men and his working toward his ultimate plan and purpose regardless of our present circumstances. 

Just like we read in Romans 8, the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. So knowing all these things and seeing God's word come to pass, think about a passage like in Timothy, evil men will wax worse and worse. They'll be lovers of selves, lovers of pleasure rather than love. Have you seen anything like that? We see the word of God prove true every day in our lives. We know that what he says is true. And that's why this matters. 

But I think the most encouraging thing we can take from the text is this, these events of history, all these details, is the trustworthiness of the word of God. The angel told Daniel twice, this is truth. What I'm going to tell you is truth. Jesus said, your word is truth. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. We can know and believe that what God tells us is true and will come to pass. And we can depend on and look forward to anticipate with eagerness and perseverance his promises, his glory, his kingdom, and his will done on the earth. 

So this was encouragement for Israel. And my friends, it's encouragement for us as well. Let's pray. 

Father, we thank you. We thank you for your word, even some parts that are difficult and complicated and hard to understand. I feel like Peter, who said some of Paul's writings are hard to understand. But it's important, and it's true. And we can just get a glimpse with our ignorance of history and this time, but to go back and look at Alexander the Great or Antiochus Epiphanes and see that all these things came to pass in detail. 

And just as much, we can trust what your word says about those things that are yet to come. And particularly for us, the promise of Jesus that he will come for us. We don't need to be troubled in heart. We need to trust you, believe you, and know that you have all these things under your power and control. In Jesus' name, amen.