Mike Bickle discusses the personality and power of the Antichrist as depicted in Daniel 8:15-27, emphasizing the significance of understanding this figure in the context of end times. He highlights that the Antichrist will be a uniquely horrific leader, embodying cruelty and deception, and will rise during a time of unprecedented sin and moral decay. Bickle urges listeners to scrutinize teachings against Scripture, stressing the importance of personal conviction in understanding biblical prophecies. He also notes that the book of Daniel serves as a crucial guide for the generation facing the Antichrist, providing insights into his nature and the challenges believers will encounter. Ultimately, Bickle reassures that the Antichrist will be defeated by divine intervention, underscoring the hope found in Christ's return.

Turn to page 59, and I'm gonna have my wife come pray for me. My wife, Diane. You know, we were doing our exercise walk, and that fast walking where I'm a couple steps behind her saying, slow down, slow down, that thing. And right in the middle, I'm... She's been doing this for 35 years, like, consistently, and I sign kind of ebb and flow, which translates that I'm not entirely in the shape she's in. But anyway, so we're going hard, and she says, hey, this is about two weeks ago, she goes, tell me about that 2,300 day thing. And we're walking. I go, what? She goes, I read 2,300 days. What's that? I said, like now? She goes, yeah, tell me right now. I said, this isn't the sort of thing I can tell you every other breath. It's kind of complicated. She goes, try me. Do you know the 1290 days? She goes, sort of. I go, let me tell you later. This is, let me get a map out. She goes, I don't want a map. I just want to know what 2,300 days are. So, he split up the sidewalk as we were walking. He said, now, we're gonna start here and imagine that where this seam comes in is the 1290 days. And I'm like, I think maybe you should tell me later. Let's just keep going. So, Jesus, I thank you for this man of God, and I thank you that that we are here tonight listening to the book of Daniel, and I ask you that you would give living understanding to all of us. Give us living understanding. Give it to Mike as he as he expounds upon this book. Give it to us as we listen. Just like the angel Gabriel came to give understanding to Daniel. Here we are, God. Give us understanding. Open your scripture to our hearts and lead us into all truth in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So, thank you, Diane. So, after we get done with this, I go home, and she goes, you know that verse that says you could ask your husband at home? She goes, tell me. I go, oh, sweetheart, I'm tired. She goes, tell me what this means. Anyway, we have a lot of fun. Daniel chapter 8. We're on page 59 in the notes. Father, I thank you for the word, and I ask you to mark hearts all over this room, and those watching through the web stream, those watching on video in the days to come, mark hearts by the fire of the Holy Spirit. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Now, one thing I like to do each time we begin a new semester or a new year at our Bible school is, when I speak at the orientation, I don't do it every time, but I typically do, is that I urge the students, and I'm going to give this to the students, because I missed the orientation this time, and I'm going to give it to all of you, is that I urge them. I say, don't receive anything that you hear from this pulpit that you cannot see with your own eyes in your own Bible. It doesn't matter if your favorite teacher is teaching. It doesn't matter the one that you know the best. If you don't see it in your Bible with your eyes, don't accept it. And so I want to just extend that biblical challenge to all of you, that everything you're hearing, scrutinize it. Check it out. Match the verses. See if they match up in the way that it's being said, and don't say, Mike said, but rather say the Scripture says. And if you don't know where it says in the Scripture, then don't say it. In other words, don't quote somebody else, but do your work until you can quote yourself. I mean, quote the Word of God from your own conviction. So I just want to lay that out to you. So challenge everything you're hearing. That's healthy. You will be better, and the truth is never, ever hurt by scrutiny. The truth is only strengthened in our hearts by scrutiny. So I give that to the students, and I give that to all those that are visiting for this Daniel Intensive. Okay, let's turn to page 59. Let's look at Roman numeral 2, paragraph B. Now, this is surprising, that the most emphasized themes in the four visions of Daniel is not Jesus. It's not the Messiah. It's the Antichrist. I mean, at first, that's shocking. Here we have this one prophet that Jesus identifies, and this prophet, he calls him out by name, Daniel, and he tells us to go to Daniel and to study his ways, and this one prophet talks so much more about the Antichrist than it does the Christ. That's remarkable, and the reason why, because the Lord knows that the Antichrist is going to lead a situation that will bring millions and millions into deception. And he knows that he's going to create a situation where millions will be offended at God, believers and unbelievers alike. And so he wants the body of Christ to understand this man who is operating even under the sovereignty of God, fulfilling God's plan, but he wants us to see the fierceness of the evil that's in this man, so we're prepared for what's going to happen, and we have biblical answers for it. Now, both of these, being deceived as well as being offended, two very different things, both of them will lead to the falling away. Now, the Scripture makes it clear. I have a number of passages there that in the generation the Lord returns, there will be a falling away of people who profess the name of Jesus. Some will be deceived, and some will just get angry. If you're a God that allows this, I want nothing more to do with you. They'll get offended at him. Matter of fact, in Matthew 24, the passage that Jesus, it's his primary passage on the end times, is Matthew chapter 24. The number one issue, the negative issue that he warned us of was deception. Four times in one chapter, he says, don't be deceived. Many will be deceived. Many will be deceived in that day. And so deception, not having an understanding of what the Word says about these events will actually prepare, set people up to fall to deception. So that's why it's so important to understand this. Okay, paragraph C. One of the main points in the book of Daniel is the subject of the abomination of desolation. Obviously, he mentions it four times, and Jesus even mentions it, and Jesus even says, go to Daniel and get this. If you get this, you're going to understand a whole lot more if you get this one event and the implications that are related to it. But another point in the book of Daniel is how uniquely horrific the Antichrist is. That he is horrific in a way beyond any other picture of any evil man in history. There's no man like him in all of history, is the idea. He's incarnate evil. I like to even say he's incarnate cruelty. This man is cruel beyond anything that we could imagine. Paragraph D. The Lord raised up a man 2,500 years ago named Daniel, and he is one of the, he is a premier gift to the generation the Lord returns. I mean Daniel gave us more information about that generation. This man that God uniquely raised up actually is a tremendous premier gift for one generation of history. Now, he's been a blessing for all the generations that have read the book of Daniel. But there's one generation in particular God had in mind when he raised this man up. And he's saying in essence, here body of Christ, the book of Daniel is my gift to you to prepare you. That's why it's critical that we study this book. And besides, Jesus said go study Daniel and study the abomination of desolation and all the implications, and then you will know what this end time story, what some of the key points are involved. Paragraph E. The two most detailed prophecies of the Antichrist in the Old Testament, Daniel 8 and the second one Daniel chapter 11. So Daniel 8 and Daniel 11 give us the most detail, even more than Daniel 7 that we covered in our earlier sessions. Go to page 60. So let's jump in here. So Daniel has had the vision that 2300 days, the sanctuary is going to be cleansed, and the vision is over. Verse 15, and when I Daniel had seen the vision, I was seeking the meaning of it. I cannot emphasize the value and even how the Lord esteems the people that seek the meaning of the visions that he gives in the Word of God. Of course, that's what you're doing right here. You would not be here. Some of you went to great personal inconveniences and sacrifices to be here right now. And just the hours you're giving to this, you're seeking the meaning. And that's the spirit that Daniel operated in. He was a man who put energy and time and money to seek the meaning. I want my life to be bound up in seeking the face of God, but as a subunit of that, I want to seek the meaning of what he said about that one generation. I want to understand it. And I know many of you, you're saying yes to this, and that's the spirit that Daniel operated in. Then suddenly, in the midst of seeking, suddenly, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. He sees an angel. And I heard a man's voice. He's hearing the voice of God, either directly from heaven, or he's hearing the voice of God through the angel. One way or the other, it's the voice of God speaking. And the voice spoke between the banks of the river, and it called and said, Gabriel, Gabriel, give this man the vision. Give him the understanding of the vision. So this voice from heaven, whether it's directly from the throne or through an angel, it commissions Gabriel. That's why most think it's a voice directly from God, because most angels don't have the authority to commission Gabriel to do anything. But we don't know exactly how the hierarchy works. So Gabriel's commissioned to give this man understanding. But here's the point. He receives understanding while he's in the posture of seeking the meaning. Some people have this really wrong concept. God wants me to understand it, He'll give it to me. And God would answer very different, when you're hungry to understand, then I will give it to you. Well, God, you got my address. You want me to know the vision? Just tell me. God says, you got my Bible. If you're hungry, you study it, and in the midst of it, I will give you understanding little by little. And so that kind of wrong, passive attitude is, I'll just kind of do my own thing, and if he wants me to do it, he'll tell me to do it. He says, I wrote it in the Word by virtue of the fact it's in the Word of God, the eternal Word of God. That is my mandate for you to search out the meaning of the things I said about that generation. Particularly, if you might be living in it, or your children or grandchildren will be living in it, because the events will be very, very personal to the people that live in it. Number two, Gabriel's appearance, as we mentioned in the last session, indicates the vast importance of this vision. Now, Gabriel's mentioned four times in the Bible, and every single time that Gabriel's mentioned, he is referring, he's talking about the coming of the Messiah every single time. He has a very significant message each time he comes. He's actually known as the messenger angel, because all four times he comes, he gives a message related to the coming of the Messiah. The first coming, or the second coming, or both together. That's why when people say that Antiochus Epiphanes fulfills Daniel 8, I said, oh no, there is no way that four appearances of Gabriel, three of them, highlight Jesus, and the other one highlights Antiochus Epiphanes. It's not a chance. This is about the end time scenario to get the body prepared to be received by the Lord as a mature bride. Paragraph B, here's what Gabriel tells him. He says, son of man, I mean, verse 17, he said to me, understand, son of man, the vision refers to the time of the end. In verse 19, he said, look, I'm making known to you, what shall happen in the latter time of the indication. For at the appointed time, the end shall come. Now it says it three times here, and one more time in this passage. So four times it says, this vision is for the time of the end. So if Gabriel appears and says the vision's for the time of the end, it's for the latter time, it's for the appointed time of the end, when do you think this vision is going to have its fulfillment? At the end, in the end times. But even though Gabriel insists on this, again, many theologians through the last particular years, more and more recently, are relegating this to, you know, 2,200 years ago when Antiochus was alive on the earth, approximately 2,200 years ago, that, they relegated to that, but Gabriel said opposite. He said it's the time of the end. And so my point being, you're not, don't ever let this, this chapter go to antiquity, and it's, it's, it's something for long ago. It doesn't have anything to do with me now, because Gabriel insisted on the fact it was for the time of the end. Now, it's interesting, in verse 17, he calls him the son of man. Now, that's the very title that, that Jesus has in chapter 7, verse 13 and 14. He's called the son of man. But, but the, this title is meant to, to denote the human weakness and the human frailty. Now, later on in chapter 9, in the next vision, and then chapter 10, the vision after, the next two visions, when the angel, when Gabriel speaks to Daniel, even in Daniel 9, he doesn't call him the son of man. In other words, weak one, frail one, is what this, is what that means. He calls him, he says, do you know you're dearly beloved of the Lord? And the part that touches me is the man that's dearly beloved of the Lord. He hears that three times in chapter 9 and 10. You're dearly beloved of the Lord. I mean, could you imagine an angel appearing and telling you, oh, yeah, God wants me to know that you're dearly beloved. I mean, what a remarkable thing. But here's the point I want to draw out here. The man that is being named by his weakness, son of man, that always is an indication of human frailty and weakness. That's the man God loves. My point is, we have this idea that when we're at super saint status, finally God will enjoy us. Well, I have good news for you. While you're in the son of man, the frailty status, he still loves you and calls you his beloved. So you put those two titles together and you get the message that's meant to be communicated in it. It's off of page 61. So now Gabriel says, now let me tell you about those symbols. He goes back in verse 7 and 8. I gave you a couple, you saw a vision of a few symbols. You saw the ram and the goat. Verse 20, again, this is Gabriel talking. He goes, the ram, that's Persia. Then verse 21, he goes, the goat, that's Greece. So there's no question as to who those kingdoms are. And he says, the large horn, that's Alexander the Great. That's the first king. Now, Alexander the Great is still about 200 years away from being born. But he goes, the first king is going to be really special. And again, Alexander the Great, there was no conqueror that had the kind of success that he had in the military sense. Here's the key point, though, verse 22. As for the broken horn, that's Alexander the Great. He dies in an unseemly death at age 32 years old. Suddenly, here's the point, the four generals that follow him, that stood up in the place of Alexander, these four generals inherit the kingdom and they divide it into four. Four kingdoms shall arise out of that. Now, we have that already indicated in verse 8, but Gabriel says, let me tell you, crystal clear, there's four kingdoms. And the reason we care about those four kingdoms, because, well, there's several reasons, but one reason is that the Antichrist is going to come out of one of those subdivisions. That's the point which we know is the Seleucid Empire, with Seleucus the general. We talked about that in the last session. Okay, let's look at Roman numeral 5. Let's look at Daniel 8, verse 23. He says, in the latter time of their kingdom, now, the there, in verse 23, is talking about the four generals in verse 22. In other words, even 2,300 years after Alexander, let's just say that, that the Lord comes approximately then, it could be longer, whatever, that's not my point right here, but 2,300 plus years later, what's going to happen is that the Antichrist is going to come and the latter time of their kingdom, because the evil spirit that animated these kingdoms are going to continue to live on in those territories, and even in those peoples, generation after generation, we talked about this back in chapter 7, that the Antichrist is the composite beast. He will contain, or he will give expression to the greatest evil of all of those empires. So it's saying, even these four Greek empires, the evil that they gave expression to, they will find expression in this king, and the latter time of their kingdom, when transgressions have reached their fullness, a particular king is going to arise. Now, commentators, there's the, you know, the the division between those that believe in time prophecy, which many commentators do, many scholars believe in end-time prophecy, and many do not, but there's big debate. Who is this king? Well, I want to give you assurance. It is the Antichrist. There's no question about it, because it's it's a man that is, that warrants the appearance of Gabriel to talk about. So when Gabriel appears, something very, very important related to the first or second coming of Jesus is in the conversation, it's in the dialogue when Gabriel appears. But here's the point that I want you to see there, that when transgressions have reached their fullness, a king will arise. There is one generation of which sin will reach the heights of perversion beyond any other time in history. On a global scale, when sin reaches levels it's never reached before, that's when the Antichrist is coming. That's when the Antichrist is coming. That's when the nations, they are clamoring for a king, even like Israel was clamoring for a king, and God gave them a king, not after God's own heart, but a king after their own heart. When the nations are clamoring for sin in a way they've never done at the same intensity any time in history, they're clamoring for a king that will bring peace, and God will give them a king after their own heart, but even far more severe in sin than they are. And he's going to give them what they cry out for. And he's going to create a scenario where righteousness and sin will come to the highest point of maturity any time in history in one generation at the same time. Now this king shall have fierce features. This king will understand sinister schemes. Verse 24, his power will be mighty, but it won't be by his own power. That again, I don't know that Daniel grasped it, but he's going to be energized and animated by demonic powers, by Satan himself. He shall destroy fearfully. He shall prosper and thrive, even while he's doing wickedness, he's going to thrive. That will be a contradiction. People would say, you know, how could he be prospering and everything he touched seems to turn to gold. How could that be true if he's so evil and so demonic? That's going to be a point of confusion to many people in the earth. Well, the prophecy says it clear. He's going to thrive for a short season, that being for three and a half years. He shall destroy the mighty. He shall destroy the holy people. Verse 25, through his cunning, he shall cause deceit to prosper. And under his rule, he will exalt himself. He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule. He shall exalt himself in his heart. He will destroy many in their prosperity. He'll destroy many wealthy people. Some people in their wealth, they think that they might be able to buy him off with their vast wealth. He has, you can't buy this man off. He has no capacity for mercy. He doesn't need their wealth. He will destroy many, many prosperous people that are accustomed to their wealth giving them immunity from the problems of a nation, because they know the king, or they know the president, or they're one of the president makers, king makers of that nation. It won't be true in this case. He shall even rise against the prince of princes. That's a title for Jesus. King of kings. But, the angel Gabriel's telling Daniel, don't be overwhelmed, because Daniel's overwhelmed by this, actually. In chapter 7, he had this very negative response. He was grieved in his spirit and perplexed in his mind. In chapter 8, he's greatly pained again. He says, don't, don't draw any wrong conclusions. This man will be broken without any human means. In other words, there's not going to be an army that's going to be raised up that defeats him. Don't trust in an army. Don't trust in a political coalition. They're never going to work. Many will resist him, but they'll never overthrow him. It's far too powerful for any military alliance or political coalition. Only a power from heaven that intervenes, only that power, that man, the son of man, who's on the clouds of heaven, only he will defeat this man. That's the message there. Okay, so paragraph B. Let's look at each, most of these phrases, at least a few of the phrases. A king shall arise. Now, we know that he's going to be a political leader, because here in chapter 8, he's called a king. And also chapter 11, verse 36, he's also called a king. So twice he's called a king. He is a political leader. There is no question about that. Paragraph C. He will arise. What will be one of the signs of the times? For the, what will be happening globally just before his appearance? Sin will reach its fullness. Perversion will, sexual perversion, murder, all kinds of vices will come to an all-time high. I mean, and we just can't hardly imagine where sexual immorality is going with the internet technology. And I don't even mean 2013 technology. I'm talking about give the technology 10 or 20 more years. And we can't fathom where technology is going to empower Satanism and perversion. With the, with the development in the next 10, 20, 30 years, because they'll just keep developing more of holograms and full sensory experiences through the technology, we can't fathom where perversion is going. But it's going to go beyond any time of, any place of history. Murder will reach its all-time highs, is what it says in the book of Revelation. Top of page 62. This man will have fierce features. He will have fierce features, it says. Now, what that means, each one of these have a number of different meanings to it. I'll just give you kind of a little hint, just to kind of give you a little something to think about. He will have a bold or strong countenance. And this is actually speaking of his cruelty. He will not be a kind man. He will present himself on the front end as a man of peace. But when he pulls his mask off, and he no longer is hiding his true identity, he will be a man of fierce features. Again, this speaks of his cruelty. He'll be resolute in cruelty. He has no capacity for mercy at all. Matter of fact, the most prominent name for the Antichrist in the book of Revelation is the Beast. And the name Beast is used 36 times in the book of Revelation. It's by far the most prominent name. It's referring back to Daniel 7 and 8, no question. It's a clear reference to Daniel 7 and Daniel 8, to the little horn of Daniel 7 and Daniel 8. And John says that's the Beast. He is the Antichrist. But it also is letting us know that he will be like a wild animal on the inside, meaning it will be impossible to negotiate with him for mercy. He has no capacity for mercy, just like Satan does it. With the greatest appeal, the most sympathetic case that even the coldest hearted killer would pause and hesitate and think, well, maybe this one time he has no ability to do that. The most powerful, wealthy leaders in the earth, I mean the multi-billionaires, they can't buy him off. They won't garner any loyalty from him for their services. Even his most loyal subjects, he has no ability for loyalty at all. He is a beast in his heart. He thinks and reasons like a beast. And the reason this is so important to know, because some people, even believers, when he first appears on the world stage, and he makes that seven-year covenant and establishes world peace, it was like, hey, this is what we prayed for. What are we talking about? We say this man is a beast. When he pulls his mask off and he shows his true identity, he won't do it till he has a lot of nations already in his grasp where he has control over their governments. Then he pulls the mask off. Then they can't do anything about it. Again, an inadequate illustration, but still it's the best one I can think of, is Adolf Hitler, when he got into the position of power, where he had position of authority over the military and the police. Once he had the authority over them, then he took the authority over the press, because he had the police. It was a police state. If you have the police force and you have the army, then the press, they have to salute the flag. They have to obey you or they go to prison. And you can do anything you want once you control the army and the police. You can control the bankers. You can control the press. And once he gets in a position of power, then he'll pull the mask off and then the nation is trapped. They won't be able to escape his grasp. He is a beast. No matter how kind he looks and how warm his presentation is on the front end, John wants us to know, Daniel wants us to know, that he's truly a beast. He will understand, it says in verse 23, sinister schemes. Now, there's several levels to this. He will have a supernatural understanding of sinister schemes. And he'll, because he will be empowered by demons with supernatural understanding. He will know the manipulative plans of man, schemes against him. He will devise schemes. Not just will he see through them when they're presented to him, he will devise them. I mean schemes that are so sophisticated, even the most intelligent man or woman without demonic help could not grasp those schemes. But I think it means even more than being seen through schemes that are plotted against him. So therefore he can preempt them. He can put down the uprising or disclose the treason or the betrayal before it happens. I mean, if a man had that kind of knowledge, he could preempt many, many of his troubles. And he has the ability to establish the sinister schemes as well. He has understanding of how to manipulate at the most sophisticated level. But I think it means more. I think he will be able to solve complex problems. There will be difficult problems. Different Bible translations translate this phrase differently. He will understand problems, complexities in the natural realm. Complexities of economic problems globally. I mean, that's a big problem today. How do we make the economics work globally? He will understand the political tensions. He will understand war. You know, they call Alexander the Great the greatest strategist, war strategist. He will understand complexity of war movements. He will understand supernatural demonic schemes. He will understand secrets in the occultic realm, and he will access them. I mean, this is, that's a sinister scheme. That just gives me chills. I mean, this whole thing is like, oh, I mean, it's, it's supposed to alert us that this is no small thing that, well, we just, he's all just kind of symbolic anyway, and it's all past tense, and don't worry about it. That is the absolute worst posture the church can take. Paragraph F. He's mighty, he has mighty power. He will have, he will have, it says, his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. Meaning it will be satanic resource, a satanic source of his power. He will not be limited to human ability and human insight. He will have that whole other realm to operate in. It says, look at number two under that. The book of Revelation gives us this very chilling, I don't know if that's the right word, but this, oh, description about him two times, that when he dies of the mortal head wound, he actually, his spirit descends down to the bottomless pit. And so, you know, I'm assuming, it doesn't say how many days that he died, he's dead, but he dies of a mortal head wound, and I think the man dies. And it's also, if you read the book of Revelation, it's also that the head is the man, and the head also speaks of empires. And I don't want to break that down right now, how the mortal head wound can be empires, and it's the man himself. I want to walk into the man himself. But when he dies, my guess, this is what I think is going to be the storyline. This is just my fickle opinion, and I'll tell you when it's an opinion, so that way, you know, you can take it lightly. But I think he's going to, excuse me, he's gonna play the role, the, in the full sense of the word, of the false Christ, the Antichrist. He will get his inner core, and he might tell the nations, I don't know, but I imagine he gets his ten kings together, plus some, and he says, I'm going to die, and in three days, I'm going to come back. I've told you in advance, it's gonna happen. Well, then he dies of a mortal head wound. It says in Revelation 13, it says it several times, actually. Then he comes back, and it says the whole world marvels that a man died. It doesn't say how many days. I'm adding the three days, because I think it's an Antichrist intentional picture. And he comes back, and the whole world says, how can a man die and of his own power come back? The whole world will be amazed, and they will be awestruck, and they will worship him. I think he'll continue on the story. I think he'll say something like this. Jesus of Nazareth, nobody saw him die and raise from the dead. That's a religious fable. I told all of you publicly. I made it known, and maybe he won't make it known worldwide. I don't know. I'm just, you know, just thinking of whatever possibility. I told you in advance. I did it. I came back. I am the Messiah. I am the true one from God. He's an imposter, and when he comes to battle me, don't worry. We can defeat him, because I have power over death. But he will convince his people the same storyline we believe about the Antichrist, just reversed. And so they won't, they will be expecting a supernatural Jesus, just like we're expecting a supernatural Antichrist, and we think he can be, we know he can be defeated. Not think. We know he will be defeated. They believe he's the real deal, and they're, he's, and this is my opinion. Again, this is just a guess, that he's gonna say, didn't I tell you ahead of time this would happen? I am the one, and he will garner this incredible loyalty. But whether he dies a few hours or a few days, we don't know. But I think it's the three days, because I think the analogy is just too close. Well, in the period that he's dead, whether it's a few hours or three days, he actually descends down to the pit, to where Satan is. Now, we know Satan's in the heavenly places, and we know that Satan is, is, is the head over those that are in prison as well. He will ascend, and he will descend, and he will come back, and come to life. Now, beloved, when somebody dies, and they go down to the pit for a few hours or a few days, and they do something with demons, and come back, that's a whole nother order that we know nothing about. Well, that's what kind of man this guy, that this man will be. Paragraph G. He will destroy fearfully. In other words, he will destroy in a fearful way, on an unprecedented level. Now, the, the word to destroy fearfully is the word uniquely. It will be unique. He will devise unique ways to kill that are terrifying. He will come up with ways to kill on a scope of killing never seen before. It will terrify the nations, and they will like, their response, many will be intimidated into worshiping him. Others will be genuinely awestruck by his power, and they will worship him with full enthusiasm. Others will worship them because he has the ability to destroy, and to create terror when he destroys. Paragraph H. He will destroy the mighty. He'll not be afraid to kill the mighty. The most prominent leaders in the earth, the economic leaders, the leaders in science, just what, just whatever field that you think of, the most beloved public figures, the mighty, the prominent, the powerful in society. I mean, there's a number of categories that this could include. He won't be intimidated. I mean, a, a king would, if they're going to take a prisoner, a top public figure, they have a lot of thinking to do. Like, wow, this could create an uproar in my nation. If this doesn't go right, this could go bad. That, he won't have any fear of that whatsoever. His power will be so superior, he can kill anybody that is a renowned public figure with no fear of consequences, because nobody can stop him. He will destroy the holy people. Now, that's a reference to the Jewish people, not because they're all living holy in their character, because the word holy means they've been separated. God says, I have separated this nation as the nation that would bear my covenant and bring it to the ends of the earth. And it's also talking about the holy in terms of those are actually walking holy, which the biblical term is the saints. He will kill them. We've already established that a number of times. He, it says, paragraph J, he will destroy many in their prosperity, is what the verse actually says in verse 25. He'll destroy wealthy people. He won't be afraid to kill the rich, because he doesn't need their favor. And their wealth can't buy them any immunity from him. If they don't do what he says, their billions will not make them immune. One of the premier examples is Revelation 17. The harlot Babylon, if you read Revelation 17, is the wealthiest, you know, pleasure-induced, world-wide religious institution or alliance or something. We don't know exactly what it is, but there's a economic dimension to the harlot Babylon, and there's a religious dimension to the harlot Babylon that's global. They have so much wealth. Well, when they begin to challenge the ten kings, because they'll challenge them because they'll have such prominence, these ten kings that are loyal to the Antichrist, they will turn on the harlot Babylon. With all of her phenomenal wealth, and they will burn her and destroy her with no fear of consequences. That's how superior his power will be, that even this institution, there's none like it, the most powerful economic institution, when they're done with it, and they feel threatened or this institution's resisting them, whatever it is, we don't know what, but we know that those ten most powerful kings in alliance with the Antichrist, they will turn on this harlot Babylon and destroy it and lose all of its wealth, and it won't matter to them when they do it. Top of page 63. It talks about his cunning. He will be a man of great cunning. That will be his, I'm going to read verse 25, that through his cunning, he shall cause deceit to prosper. Through cunning, he will cause deceit to prosper. Now, cunning, I have written here in paragraph K, is the crafty use of special skill characterized by trickery. He will cause deceit to prosper, meaning it will work. He will be a master propagandist, if that is such a word. He will be a master of propaganda. Let's say it that way. He will be able to put a spin on anything. My assumption is he will be able to garner the power of art and music and storytelling and media. He will have a propaganda team that you can't imagine that will make everything he's doing evil look like it's the most dignified service to humanity. His deceitful schemes will prosper for a season. And the multitudes, millions, hundreds of millions, even billions, they will buy into it. They'll say, this is a remarkable who this man is. Paragraph M. In all of this, he will prosper and he will thrive. But it's only temporary. It's only three and a half years, maybe seven years. You know, because for seven years, he's garnering more and more authority and stature. And then the three and a half year mark, he pulls his mask off and shows his true identity. He wants to be worshipped. And if you don't worship him, he'll kill you. So it's no love relationship of worship. If you don't worship, I'll kill you. That's where it goes. And he'll thrive politically. He'll thrive militarily. He'll thrive economically. He'll thrive in terms of influence and morale in the nations. Goodwill, his ratings will be so high. His power and his wealth will continue to increase. Even while his armies are conquering more and more nations, he's slaughtering more people, but getting more popular. It doesn't make sense. How could he slaughter more people, abuse and oppress more nations, and still be more popular on the global level? And money is working. Unity is in place for a season. It will seem like he's blessed of God. And there will be many people that undoubtedly will ascribe, they'll say, hey, this man said he would die and he rose from the dead. He said it. And again, it doesn't say anywhere that he's going to say it. I'm just assuming that he's going to make full use of that remarkable sign and wonder to the nations. And I believe that many will assume this is the blessing of God. If he was doing evil, how could he be so popular? How could he be thriving? His popularity and his ratings are going higher and higher. This will give many in the nations confidence to join him. They say, hey, you know, everything he touches turns to gold. He must be right. He will seem invincible. Here it says right here in Revelation 13, they will worship him. I mean with amazement, it says in this verse as well. And they will say, who is like him? And the idea is he's invincible. Who could make war with him? Who is like him in amazing characteristics and ability? And who can make war? Who can stand against him and prosper? He will appear invincible for that three and a half years. Paragraph n, he will exalt himself. He will have an unholy boldness about him that will have no fear of consequences. Meaning when he wants to invade a nation, I mean a even a aggressive demonic king or president or emperor in history past. You know, if they're going to invade, I mean we'll take Hitler again. He's going to invade Russia. I mean he ponders over this before he invades France. He's just you know, just under great anxiety before he invades France. He's yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. The the military journals about him, their generals are saying, what is it? Is it yes or is it no? Well, that could go back on us. England might attack and they might, oh no, let's do it. Oh, no, and he said yes, no, yes, no multitudes of times. He eventually went with yes. The same thing with Russia. When he went to invade Russia in June 1941, yes, no, yes, no, yeah, let's do it. But my point is he had fear of consequences. What if it goes bad? This man will have no fear of consequences. When an idea comes to his mind, he goes, I'll invade any nation I want. I don't care what kind of coalition. I don't care how they boycott me on the global level. It doesn't matter. I have more power than all their unified efforts against me. That's what it means. That's part of he will exalt himself. He will be absolutely unstoppable even in his confidence. Paragraph oh, he will rise against Jesus himself. It says in verse 11, he rises against the prince of the host. That's Jesus again. Chapter 11, 36, he'll rise against the God of Israel, etc. It goes on and on. Page 64. He will be broken without any human means. It won't be a coalition so we don't need to get a bunch of armies. That's not going to work. There is no group of armies with all the nations. Some men will try it. It's not going to work. There is no way besides one man coming to the planet. But we know in Daniel chapter 7, the ancient of days is issuing decrees for the demise of this man. And he's going to entrust the son of man on the cloud to come back in the clouds to take care of business. And he does just that. Okay, let's look at paragraph. I got a bit more on that. Paragraph r. I got I have the summary. He will be a military genius, an oratory genius, political, commercial, religious, intellectual, occultic. He will have abilities. You could probably put five more categories there. He will be a genius on so many levels. It's just hard to imagine how invincible this man will be. Well, Daniel sees that he comes to an end, that there is an intervention. Daniel doesn't see the intervention. He's like, okay, who's going to intervene? How's this going to happen? I mean, the the angels tell Daniel in all four visions, you know, it's going to end well, but Daniel doesn't get the details of how it ends. But he says that's good enough, Daniel. You'll serve that end time generation well. I mean, 2,500 years ago, God raised this man up to be a gift for the generation the Lord returns. Now, yes, he's blessed 2,500 years of of redemptive history as well. He's been a blessing through the generations, but he will have a particular blessing for one generation of time. Let's look at page 65. Now it's a it's his personal response. So Gabriel says to him in verse 26, he goes, Daniel, I want you to know the vision of the evening and the mornings. That's the 2,300 day vision. That's back in verse 13 and 14. He goes, the vision of the of the evenings and the mornings, that's Gabriel's name of the 2,300 day vision, the vision of the evenings and the mornings. He goes, I want you to know something, that 2,300 day thing, you can count on it. Thus says the Lord, I'm Gabriel. That will come to pass. Just like I said it, you count 2,300 days from the end backwards and something very, very important will happen and you will, and you will understand it. The people of God will, I mean in that day, he says, but here's what I want you to do. I want you to seal up the vision. Now to seal up the vision I have down in paragraph D, doesn't mean to hide it because seal up sometimes mean hide, but seal up in other times means to authenticate to seal up in this occasion means to preserve. He's telling Daniel, I want you to write this down. I want you to write it down because it's for a generation at the end of the age. It's for a generation at the end of the age. Now, it's, I'm going to throw in one little kind of random thought here. People talk about, I'm using the phrase the end of the age, people talk about the end of the world and I, you know, sometimes people will ask me questions or I'll talk to some media person and they want to interview me and ask something. They go, now you really believe in the end of the world. I go, no, not at all. They go, well, it says here on your website that you do. You know, we got you. We got you in print. You believe in the end of the world. I go, no, no, I believe at the end of the age. They go, isn't that the same? I go, no, not at all. The world's never going to end. At the end of the millennial kingdom, there'll be a new heaven and the new earth and the earth will go on forever and forever. I said, you know, the world would never end, ever. I go, really? I go, the age is going to end. The age that we're living in now is the government of the nations has demonic influence. That age is going to end. I don't believe in the end of the world. I believe in the end of the age and those are radically different ideas. I don't believe of the end of history. I believe at the end of natural history when the Lord returns and then history picks up at a whole nother level and goes on for billions and billions and billions of years. So I just kind of throw that in for no extra charge. Okay. So Gabriel says, I want you to know this vision, it refers to many days in the future. It's not going to be fulfilled in Antiochus completely, a little bit, but no, this is about the the end of natural history, the end of the age, the transition of the earth to the age to come. Verse 27, I Daniel fainted. I mean the power of this vision, just like in chapter 7, he is so sick at heart that he's actually physically sick for days. I mean, I can't imagine what kind of how graphic what he saw was that made him physically sick for days. It's the strangest ending and I arose, you know, after a few days, took a few days sick leave. I went back to the king's business. I mean here the guy is, you know, in his 70s. He goes, okay, I overcame it, took a few days off. I went back to work. That's a, that's just, I want to know why he put that in there. I know there's got to be a big reason that that strikes me as strange to add right there. And he says, but I know that I'm missing a couple points, but I'm looking, I go what? And I was astonished by the vision. But now I'm adding in Mike Bickle Extra here. But when I went to work and told people, nobody understood the vision. Nobody got it. Now, I think it's remarkable that nobody understood the vision. And so Daniel, I mean, Gabriel was sent to make Daniel understand it. I mean, if you got Gabriel appearing, that's a good teacher, right? Would you say Gabriel's a good teacher? So he gives Daniel the one, two, three, four. Okay, Daniel's okay. Got it. Got it. He goes and tells his comrades, whoever they are. I don't know if it's the people he works with, but he tells them, none of them get it. They go, you know, Daniel, we lost you at that 2,300 day thing. We don't even know what you're talking about. And Daniel says, nobody got it. So when I read that verse and I thought of teaching this chapter, I thought, well, I feel a little bit challenged here, man. If Daniel taught it and nobody got it. Well, anyway, praise the Lord. Let's stand. Let's just end with that. Holy Spirit, teach us this vision. Teach us this vision. We want to understand it. We want to have a little bit of time of worship. I know that, you know, we're going long yesterday, all day today, all day tomorrow. So please feel free to slip out. But for those that would like