In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the book of Daniel, specifically chapter 11. He mentions that this chapter is long and difficult, but he is determined to address the difficulties and provide understanding. The preacher believes that the first 20 verses of this chapter are historical and can be proven as such. He also mentions that the chapter contains detailed information about historical figures like Cleopatra.

786 please, 786, Lord speak to me that I may speak, in living echoes of thy tone, as thou hast sought, so let me seek thy erring children, lost and lone. And listen for the tune please. 786 Lord speak to me that I may speak, in living echoes of thy tone, as thou hast sought, so let me seek thy erring children, lost and lone. Lord speak to me that I may speak, in living echoes of thy tone, as thou hast sought, so let me seek thy erring children, lost and lone. 786 Lord speak to me that I may speak, in living echoes of thy tone, as thou hast sought, so let me seek thy erring children, lost and lone. 786 Lord speak to me that I may speak, in living echoes of thy tone, as thou hast sought, so let me seek thy erring children, lost and lone. Lord speak to me that I may speak, in living echoes of thy tone, as thou hast sought, so let me seek thy erring children, lost and lone. The Book of Daniel And we're at chapter 11, and you can see that it's a very long chapter this evening. There are 45 verses in the chapter, and so we're not taking the whole chapter into mind. But this chapter is not only a long chapter, I confess to you that it's a very difficult chapter. There are difficulties here, and as usual in the class, we shall not pass by one of the difficulties. We believe in facing things in this class. Sometimes when I go to some of the great so-called great commentaries, and I'm looking for something, the thing that I can see clearly and that any kid could see clearly, they've written pages about it. And then the thing that I'm stuck with, they must have been stuck with too, for they never say a word about it. And I find out that the commentary is not so wonderful at all, so that I need to get on my knees and take time and let the Holy Ghost talk to me. Yes, it's a long chapter, it's a difficult chapter, it's a prophetic chapter. I want to explain that, I want to say that it's not a vision that Daniel had. You know, we have been looking at visions before this. You remember that Nebuchadnezzar had that great vision of this great image with the head of gold and so on. And then you remember that Daniel himself had the vision of the four beasts. You remember that he had another one, and saw the ram and the eagle, and we looked at these great visions and we got light and we got help and inspiration from them. But this is something that the angel is saying to Daniel. You remember where we were last week, see verse 18 of chapter 10. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and dispensed of me. And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not. Peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak, for thou hast strengthened me. Then said he, knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? And in verse 21 he gives the answer, but I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. And it's a pity that the chapter division comes in there, because this first verse belongs to the saying. Also I, it's the angel you know, in the first year of God is the meat, even I stood to confirm and strengthen him. And now will I show thee the truth. So this is this great angel that came to give Daniel understanding and knowledge. He's now going to show Daniel something that must be noted in the scriptures of truth. And he's bringing him truth. Truth of course that concerns him and concerns his nation, the people of Israel. And when this was given by the shining angel to Daniel, remember it was all prophecy. At that moment, it was all in the future. Yes, but as we started tonight, a great part of it is history now. And that's where the argument ranges. Just where are we in the chapter? How much has been fulfilled? How much is past and is history now? That was prophecy then. Where does the history stop in the chapter? Where does the prophecy that's still future begin? And the scholars are having trouble getting it settled. Some of the great Bible prophetic teachers, such as Newton and Pregelius, and many of the other famous men that one has enjoyed and has been enriched from, they believe that only the first five verses, only the first five, are history now. And then you go on from there. Now there's another school, and they believe that the first 20 verses are history now. Dr. Ironside, Dr. Schaefer, G. H. Lanyon, many others. Now that's the place that I take. I think that I can prove that the first 20 verses here tonight, they're history now. Now I want to say to the class that while it's a long chapter and a difficult chapter and a prophetic chapter, it's a very detailed chapter. It gives us little details. There are details even about Cleopatra in this chapter that might amaze you. You know she's not a great personage of history. I know that the historians here know about her. And she's not very important to Bible scholars. I suppose film goers who saw Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor playing in Cleopatra, you didn't think I knew that, but I do, I suppose you know something of the story of this young woman. Well, we'll get down to it when you see it in the scriptures. It looks much better here. But there are details just like that in the chapter that makes it a very detailed chapter of prophecy. Now we're not dealing with the whole chapter. We're only dealing, as you can see, we're dealing with the historical bit now that's past. It's past history. But I want you to remember that it was prophecy then. In fact, you know, when you get down to it and see how very wonderfully the angel outlined the details of coming history for Daniel, some of the modernists, they say it's too exact. It's too detailed. It must have been written afterwards. Now that's a very subtle way out of it, isn't it? One of them said to me, you know, the details are too good. They're too good for God. He said, you know, there are so many details about history in this chapter that it couldn't possibly be done the way back then. Because that's one of those characters that doesn't know his God. He's just limiting God. You would never limit God, I hope. I said, would you like to tell me when it was written? Well, you know so much about it. He said it must have been written away in the time of the Maccabees just before Christ was born. And all that's in the first 20 verses were really fulfilled just at that point. He knew when it was all right. He said after it was fulfilled, they must have written it down. Well, I can tell you this, I said to them, that about 130 years after the Maccabees, our Lord Jesus Christ came on the scene. And one day, talking to his own, he said to them, when thou seest the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, when you see it come to pass. So he didn't think it was all fulfilled. He believed there was a great part yet future. Now, I don't think that it's even fair for modernists to take this subtle slant of doing the devil's work. I think that we'll see all right, that God, through the angel, was given Daniel a very detailed, prophetic picture of the days that lay just ahead of Daniel. And so you can see that we're going to look at it this evening. Under these five headings. We're going to look first of all at the potentates of Persia. Because the angel begins with Persia. Persia was reigning then. And he gives all the details that lies ahead for the Persian nations. And then, after the Persians were overthrown, of course, by Alexander the Great, then comes in the greatness of Greece. And although Greece wasn't even thought about in Daniel's day, yet the details are here, and they fulfill the history of Greece all right. And then, of course, we come to the end of the great reign of Alexander the Great, and you know from history, and there are historians around me, you know that I have to be very careful. You historians know at least that his great world empire was divided into four, towards the four winds of heaven. There was a kingdom on the north and the south, and one all the way out on the west, and one out on the east. And, of course, these details are given here before the Persian empire had come to an end at all, or Alexander or Greece was ever thought about. And you can see that the greatness of Greece and how it was broken. Then we come to look tonight at the energy of Egypt. Because Egypt was one of those four kingdoms, it was actually the one on the south. And then we come not only to look at the energy of Egypt, but the strength of Syria. For Syria was the one on the north. And so we're looking down this twenty verses, this paragraph, at the potentates of Persia and the greatness of Greece and the energy of Egypt and the strength of Syria. And then I shall bring in some of these very precise details of prophecy, and that's the preciseness of prophecy. So you know where we're going and what we're doing. The first verse of the chapter is a parenthetical one. In the Companion Bible, and in many others, there are parenthetical marks at this first verse. It's actually a parenthesis. It's the angel who was talking in chapter ten, going on talking, saying, also I, in the first year of Darius the Medieval I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. And the first verse doesn't matter. But he comes to the now. Of now will I shall be the truth. So you can almost see Daniel sitting at the angel's feet, and the angel who knew the truth to be noted in the scripture of truth, is telling Daniel now some of the details that will take place in this great Persian Empire. Do you remember that last week in chapter ten, that the chapter began like this. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia. So let me set the date for you. We're in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia. That's where Daniel was just then. And so the angel is saying to him, verse two, Behold there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia. It will be three more kings. And I put the names on you notes for you. Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, and another Darius. There's Darius I and II, and that's something we must keep in mind. And then he says, behold there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than they all, and by his strength through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. So you can see that the four kings of Persia, and this is a fact of history. In fact all you need to do to find out this, is to get the Encyclopedia Britannica. You just get it. And get Cyrus. And get the year that he was there, and see how many kings of Persia are behind him, and see who the fourth one was, and it's Artaxerxes, and he's the great and rich one, and he's the man who went to make trouble with Greece. Now that's where the kingdom of Persia ended. Let's remember that when you flash across a verse like that, and take a few words in, and a few phrases, remember that you're sweeping over about 40. Try to get the time factor in. Yes, one, two, three kings go by, just like a flash. It doesn't happen day after day, you know, they all reign a little bit. And then the fourth fellow, and that's where the kingdom of Persia ended. You see, when he went to stir up trouble with Greece, a great general there took command of the Grecian army, and he was called Alexander, and he was Alexander the Great, and he overthrew the Persians, and he ruled the world. And so we don't need to linger too long this evening with these potentates of Persia. But let's see this, the greatness of Greece. You see, verse three, And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And then he shall stand up, just when he's at the peak of his power, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven. And because we've seen this already, haven't we? This has already been told to us in this book. Let's go back to Daniel 8, just for a moment. And this is the chapter where Daniel got the vision of the ram and the he-goat. And just in case anyone would think that we gave a wrong interpretation to the ram or the he-goat, read verse 20. Because this is where the angel's interpreting it for Daniel. We're at Daniel 8, verse 20. The ram, which doth host, having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia. And the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king, who is Alexander. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation. And of course this is exactly what happened. Alexander overthrew the Persians. He conquered the world in no time at all. It is said somewhere in history that he sat down and cried because there were no more worlds to conquer. And when he was 33 years of age, just at the peak of his power, he died. So this all looks a great book, you know. This is all prophecy to Daniel, you know. It's all history now. But you can see that these things have been fulfilled. You can see in chapter 11 again, it says, verse 4, When he shall stand up his kingdom shall be broken and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven. Now here's a bit of detailed prophecy, not to his prosperity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up even for others beside those. You see, when Alexander the Great died, and this is just plain history, the great Grecian empire was divided into four, and the four portions of that great empire were toward the four winds. There was a kingdom on the north, and a kingdom in the south, a kingdom in the east, a kingdom in the west. Now up in the north, one of his generals took over, a man called Seleucius, and he became the king of Syria. Down in the south, there was another general in the army called Ptolemy, and he took command of the south, and he became the king of Egypt. Now I know who took over the west, it was called Macedon, and I know who took over the east, which was called Thrace. But scripture here in this chapter doesn't take the west or the east in anymore. The angel just went on to show Daniel what the king of the south and the king of the north would do to each other. That's why I say that the boys that stop at chapter 5 are stopping far too quick. Because these things went on. In fact I believe this, that the reason why the angel gave Daniel this detailed prophetic outline of history, I believe it was to let him see the sorrows that would come upon his people. You see if you get Alexander the Great dying at 33 and his kingdom is divided into four, if you get Syria up in the north, if you get Egypt down in the south, you know what lies in between Syria and Egypt. It is Palestine that captures Syria there, Palestine that captures Egypt there. And then the king of the north and the king of the south went to war. These were the wars of the middle east at that time. Well the battleground was Palestine. And it was Daniel's people that got amused. And the angel's actually giving Daniel a detailed prophetic vision of what lies ahead, that he might know the sorrows that his people will pass through. And so this chapter takes up from verse 5 down to verse 20 these wars between the king of the south which is Egypt and the king of the north which is Syria. When we use the word south, what do we mean? You need to have some sort of direction. Well it's the land south of Palestine. That is Egypt. When we use the king of the north, why do we say north? Because it's the land directly north of Palestine and that is Syria. And the battleground, Palestine, was in between. Well this is a very detailed prophetic paragraph now from verse 5 right down to verse 20. And that brings us to look at the energy of Egypt. Look at verse 5. And the king of the south this is one of these generals of Alexander's taken over this great kingdom in the south and the king of the south shall be strong and one of his princes and he shall be strong above him and have dominion. And this is perfectly true in history that the most prolific did take the kingdom. There was one of his princes who became greater even than himself and have dominion and his dominion shall be a great dominion. How detailed the thing is. And in the end of years they shall join themselves together. Now I think that we want to stop and think there just for a moment because if the king of the south made himself so strong and became such a mighty dominion then there must have been wars and battles somewhere. And I think that they battled with the king of the north. And I think I'm going to prove that just now. Because when these two get together and have this amalgamation and have their differences settled it says and in the end of years and again mark the time flying past and in the end of years they shall join themselves together for the king's daughter of the south. And her name was Berenice. Berenice. And all the historians know the story of Berenice because the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north. You know this is exactly what the king of the south did. You know after he got this great dominion and had this amalgamation with this other prince then he sent his daughter Berenice to the king of the north. And it was Antiochus who was the king up in Syria just then and he divorced his own wife and disinherited his own son and married Berenice and then wickedly murdered her. Now that's all history. But there were details given here in Daniel that's amazing and would amaze the historians. In fact so amazes them that they think it was written afterwards rather than before. But we're not just stopping with the details because they don't matter too much to a class like this. We're putting them in as they go quickly. Verse 6 And in the end of years they shall join themselves together for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement but she shall not retain the power of the arm neither shall he stand on his arm but she shall be given up and they that brought her and he that begat her and he that strengthened her in these times Now watch this but but these buts are very carefully put in but out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate Now that's very interesting because she had a brother back there she had a brother called Ptolemy too who became Ptolemy the second and watch this out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate and shall come with an army and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north and shall deal against them and shall prevail So I hope you're watching this because I'm not wanting to linger on the details nor do I want to pretend to be a historian because while history interests quite a few of you in this meeting it certainly doesn't interest me I just happen to have to know and put my nose in the history book to learn but I detest it I would rather stick to the old book I'm just a bible preacher but in occasions like this I just have to know what the history is all about and the bible amazes me and it's this end that I want to get over that the book we hold is the word of God it must be because the details are amazing and this fellow Ptolemy the second or the third maybe he was he went up now and he prevailed against the king of the north see verse 8 that is he shall continue more years as conqueror than the king of the north now while these wars were going on in the middle east at that time Daniel's people and Daniel's country was having a hard time first it was the king of the south going north then it was the king of the north coming south and these battles continued for quite a number of years you see for you younger students in the class tonight let me say this try and remember this that when the last dot of your old testament is placed there at Malachi it is Persia that is in command of the world don't forget that and all the details are given in Daniel yet Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggad, Zechariah, Malachi are all under Persia now between the last dot in Persia and the first word in Matthew's gospel there are 400 silent years we call them 400 of them now it is in those silent years that Alexander comes up and overthrows the last Persian king and it is just a few years after he exerts his strength and shows his power that he suddenly dies at the age of 33 that his kingdom is divided into four and there is one part in the north and one part in the south and it is the way there in those years coming up to 100 years before Christ was born that these wars take place well you know where we are and Daniel's people was getting no word from their God for God was silent the Maccabees come in there and they did make a stand there is no question but you can see that these wars must have been given Daniel's people a terrible time you see what I am edging round to and what I will edge round to why did God allow it we just take your time because we will meditate in later this evening when north and south goes to war but let's get the thing done a bit more properly we are way down at verse 9 now after carrying the captives and the gold and the silver back to his own country it says verse 9 so the king of the south shall come into his kingdom and shall return into his own land now we are at verse 10 and his son now you could go wrong here if you didn't take your time because after talking so much about the king of the south doing so many wonderful exploits as you may be allowed to say that you might think that it's talking about his sons but it's not it's talking about the sons of the king of the north and I'll explain that to you just as we read but his sons shall be stirred up and you know this is the most interesting thing because these two sons are mentioned in the Encyclopedia Britannica if you have it at home it is volume 24 it is page 604 so I can't go close unless I've got all the books with me but you'll find the two sons mentioned there and they're the two sons of the king of the north but you'll get it clearer in scripture but his sons shall be stirred up and shall assemble a multitude of great forces and one shall certainly come and that is very wonderfully put because Encyclopedia Britannica says that these two boys who set up this great force preparing for battle one fell off the horse and broke his neck and there's only one comes of course this book's a great book that you're reading out of don't you ever think that I'm quoting Encyclopedia Britannica to hold up this book that I'm quoting this book to show that they must have done their homework in Britannica the Bible's right now watch this one shall certainly come and overflow and pass through then shall he return and be stirred up even to his fortress and the king of this house shall be moved with colour and the word means anger and shall come forth and fight with him even with the king of the north that's why I knew the two boys were the sons of the king of the north because the king of the south going to meet him even with the king of the north and he now watch it again because you can go wrong if you don't watch and he that is the king of the north shall set forth a great multitude but the multitude shall be given into his hands and that is the king of the south the fellow that came out with anger really stopped him now how am I sure just watch me now and when he hath taken away the multitude and I say it's the king of the south his heart shall be lifted up and he shall cast down many persons but he shall not be strengthened by it winning that battle didn't help him for the king of the north shall return didn't I tell you it was the king of the south because the king of the north is going to return now I'm not doing that to let you know that I just know exactly every detail that's there I'm doing this that you might realise what happened in the land of Palestine now first it's the king of the north then it's the king of the south then it's the king of the north then it's the king of the south and these middle east wars battles, raids for years and years and years and Daniel's heart must be sore looking on at this see verse 13 for the king of the north shall return and set forth a multitude greater than the former and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches and in those times there shall be many stand up against the king of the south king of the north had a great army and a lot of other boys joined in too also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves now that's a wee bit you must get in you know when war is wretched even tonight when we're at sixes and sevens here in our province and we might see it just like this it's like a battle from the king of the north and the king of the south you know there are a lot of boys running about and they would tell their grandmother to make money just at this time and they're the robbers of thy people they're the robbers a fellow was telling me that the man was shot the other day just the other week or two back two doors from me he says I says poor creature poor creature nothing at it he says he's been selling guns to the IRA and then selling them to the UDA and he's been working both ways and you get into trouble if you do that sort of thing you're asking for trouble and in this land you'll get it he's one of the robbers of thy people and you know friends this is what was happening in these wars there were jews who were prepared to stand in with the king of the south when he came up with a big army and they were prepared to stand in with the king of the north when he came down with a bigger one it's a great book you're reading out of, maybe this chapter would be so difficult for you you'd give it up and throw it down but if you get it put out piecemeal it's wonderful you know not so difficult at all it's all there and it stares at you clear and clean let me get this over because this is what I must get over friend from this day forward you remember that the book you hold in your hand is God's word that's what I want this class to get that's what I'm responsible for we treasure that this book must not be thrown around this is God's holy word and there are wonderful things in it but let's get on with this verse 14 and in those times there shall stand up many against the king of the south you know we've come quite a long way because this king of the south at this particular verse he is Ptolemy V we began with Seleucius and then Ptolemy V and then we have Ptolemy V now the historians here know this when he came to the throne he was only 12 years of age so this wee fella got a very unhappy throne and no wonder the king of the north is giving him a lacing just now and no wonder the robbers of Daniel's people old Jews that were out to make money no wonder they were standing in with the king of the north it says and in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south also the robbers of thy people shall exhaust themselves to establish the vision because they pretended that they were standing up for prophecy but they shall fall they made the biggest mistake of their lives because the man they were standing with was Antiochus the great and he destroyed the temple eventually but let's take our time verse 15 so the king of the north shall come and cast up a mountain take the most fenced cities and the arms of the south shall not withstand neither his chosen people neither shall there be any strength to withstand but he that cometh against him that's the king of the north coming against this shall do according to his own will and none shall stand before him and he shall stand in the glorious land that must have touched Daniel's heart because that's what God wanted to do God wanted Daniel to see what his people were going to pass through in the years that lay immediately ahead and the glorious land is the land of Palestine which by his hand shall be consumed they really went through terrible times he the king of the north shall also set his fist to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom and upright ones wisdom when we get that sort of phrase it just means that he's bringing counsellors to try to get an upright agreement thus shall he do and he shall give him that is he shall give this wee fellow the daughter of woman corrupting her now that's where Cleopatra comes in because those of you who used to go to the pictures and you know something about the story you know that Ptolemy the fifth was just twelve years old on the throne of Egypt and you know that the king of the north gave him his daughter Cleopatra and she was only twelve do you remember the story because I can tell you that while I hold no votes for Elizabeth Taylor or Richard Burton they did it pretty well let me tell you that because I had to look through the book of the film once just to see for my own information I've got to look at things I wouldn't advise you to do and it was pretty well done and the pictures that were there amazed me that this young king on the throne was given to this young girl at eleven years of age and her father instructed her that she would really overthrow the kingdom of the south but it turned out different she fell in love with a wee fella and she overthrew her father she went against him I can tell you this the angel told it to Daniel long before Richard Burton was ever dreamed about I can tell you that here it is right in the book it's very thrilling to me you know watch it in the middle of verse seventeen life shall he do and he shall give him the daughter of woman corrupting her wee girl of eleven being married to a fellow of twelve but she shall not stand on his side that is on her father's side neither before him she turned against him that's what the whole theme of the film is about if you remember now we're at verse eighteen after this shall he that is the king of the north turn his feet onto the isles you know he's turning away from Egypt he can beat Ptolemy he's only a kid he's overrun Palestine till he's fed up he's turning outside now going towards the isles going towards Mastodon yes that's the blunder he made and he shall turn his face onto the isles and shall take many but a prince did you get that? that was pretty well put now that's a very interesting one because that's a Greek that's a Hebrew word that's there for prince it's the word Kuzin K-U-Z-I-N and let me tell you it's only once in the Bible so you haven't divulged it I know that we get the word prince many times it talks about Messiah the prince but it was a different word at least it's very filling to me I'm not a Hebrew scholar nor do I pretend to be and I have to learn at their feet but there's a man called Wigdom who is probably in my humble estimation the greatest Hebrew scholar that ever lived and we have a man in the meeting now who knows a lot about Hebrew and Greek and I think he would know this that the word Kuzin it means general it's not proper translated prince now this is the first time and the only time in the Bible when you get this word for general and once we get this general coming into this this is the beginning of the Roman Empire and this fella turned his face away out from the eyes he was one of the Roman generals I can give you his name all right and it doesn't matter he met him face to face this was the beginning of the end of both the king of the north and the king of the south because Rome was going to take over because you would know this wouldn't you? you young people ought to know this that the last dot in Malachi it is perisher that's reigning 400 silent years then comes Alexander the Great and that's Greece he dies at 33 then his kingdom is divided into four and we get the king of the north and the king of the south in these Middle East battles but then your new testament opens it is Rome that is ruling the world because the day that Jesus Christ was about to be born it was Caesar Augustus that commanded the whole world to protect what he taught them about he was just the boss so that Rome is in charge when your new testament opens and this is the first glimmer of it it's very interesting isn't it? you see this but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him then that's the king of the north then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land but he shall stumble and fall not the sound he was overthrown then shall stand up in his estate, in his place in the place of the king of the north another king a raider of Texas this fellow is going to work it another way in the glory of the kingdom of course he is going to get money so that he can pay all these boys that might come against him as one way of keeping the enemy at bay it never pays it says then shall stand up in his estate a raider of Texas in the glory of the kingdom but within few days he shall be destroyed neither in anger nor in battle isn't that wonderful details because he wasn't killed in a fight he wasn't killed in a war, he wasn't killed in a battle, he was poisoned how accurate is this book my dear friends we've got to the end of the 20th verse now I've got to start next week, now hold on don't be rushing take your time the car will be there when you do a hope I've got to show you why that that part of the chapter is the historic part and ends there and I believe from 21 to the end we're going to look at a bit that is not fulfilled but will soon be fulfilled there's a vile person going to arise in this world and I think he's going to arise out of the United States of Europe and I think that Britain's going in and even if Norway stays out it may be all the worse you know, because Spain may go in, it's a Roman Catholic country and we'll not go into that for much I've got to tackle this next week and show you but wait a minute let me ask the question over again why did God permit, why does God permit bloodshed and war and murder in a land surely that's a question that we need to face you know God has a permissive will he has a directive will he directs some folks he permits some folks to do things you know that if you were going down a country road you could get over a gate and enter a field and you could cross that field and the farmer standing in the farmyard might see you and he might permit you to do so that's quite different from him coming onto the road to direct you to do so there is what we call God's permissive will, he allows things to happen now he's not directing the things that happen he's just permitting them now what we want to try to discover is why he allows things to happen you know Joseph was a great character he was one of the characters of the old testament against whom we can find no fault when he was seventeen his brethren were envious of him and took him in wickedness and threw him into the pit I've called that long before this night the bitterness of brethren and you young preachers will find out a whole lot about it because if you're going to be any use you know there's a whole lot of old preachers who would like you and all the young folks around here know that I'm on their side I had two young men here on Sunday and God blessed both of them and I shall always help the young preachers but don't be alarmed if you find some of the older brethren thrown into the pit and God may well alert and of course he was thrown down into Egypt and there was a woman told a lie on him, she said a sexual thing about him it was a lie it's what you call the wickedness of the world and if the devil can't get at you one way they'll get at you another and sometimes the devil uses believers to do it some of you have used your mouth for the devil before now you know once Peter spake and the Lord told him like a fly to get him behind me said he oh the devil was talking through him and if you're going to live down here you know you'll get the bitterness of brethren and the wickedness of the world and he went down into the prison and made a friend of the butler and the baker and he told them their dreams and he told the butler you'll be reinstated and when you get into the king's palace and you give him all that he needs will you speak for me and get me out of here and this book says the butler forgot Joseph that's what you call the forgetfulness of friends, sometimes you defend somebody you do them good a woman passed me on the street the other day as I was talking to Cecil Docherty, he's here tonight my ears is here going past me things are throaty things are feet but she just owes me about 40 quid that's all I have a good notion of calling her back and asking her what she oh I defended her alright she wouldn't owe me nothing she's probably one of the ones that helps the devil yes but you don't worry about the forgetfulness of friends you see God allows this to happen why did he allow it I'll tell you this he wanted to bless Joseph and sometimes the pathway to blessing is through the pits and through the prison and through all the trouble God lets you go because that's the way to the soul he was allowing the wicked man and the wicked woman oh but he was directing Joseph that's quite good isn't it only God can do the like of that he just allowed them you know once the Lord allowed the devil to touch Job he gave him permission go ahead and in one day 24 hours Job lost 5000 sheep my I can tell you there is not a man in the north of Ireland who owns 5000 sheep not a man and I'll tell you if any sheep farm were one or two here tonight if you lost a dozen of sheep in one day you would nearly die 5000 comes to be a bold mark I can tell you but he not only lost 5000 sheep he lost 7 sons and 3 daughters take the stark truth of your actions why did God allow the devil how God wanted to bless Job and I'll tell you that God blessed them double at the end you'll find when you count the sheep at the end he's got 10,000 sheep and 7 sons and 3 daughters again somebody said to me once why didn't he have 14 sons and 6 daughters I said why why did you think the other 7 and 3 would be a ruffle the other 7 and 3 were in heaven and he only needs 7 and 3 to have double doesn't he they're not blotted out they are too small when God was going to bless them sometimes God allows because he wants to bless sometimes God allows things to happen because he wants to chastise I wonder is God wanting to bless the church in Ulster or is he chastising it he's allowing things to happen anyway I know that there's blood in our streets there's desolation and death at every corner is God going to bless us with the great revival or is God trying to put us on our knees honestly before him you know God allowed those old wicked Jews to stone even to death he allowed it he stood back while he stoned this man of God you see sometimes God allows things to happen because he's going to bless because he's going to chastise because he's going to try faith sometimes God wants men to die for him God allowed these things to happen that he might bring a remnant out of Israel who would be ready and waiting for his son it was coming up to the time when his son would come and I'll tell you this when his son came there was an old woman Anna the prophetess she was waiting for the Lord to come there was Simon and he held Christ in his arms he said the Lord told me I wouldn't die till I would see the Lord's Christ God had brought a remnant out of this terrible time of trouble who were ready to follow his son. May God bring us out into the open true to his son it's a great part of the chapter it's a difficult one but it's a good one now we'll follow it on next week and it's better next week because it's there you see the people that do know their God who shall be strong and do exploits 258 please 258 this is a great hymn I don't think we often sing this father of mercies in thy word what endless glory shines forever be thy name adored for these celestial lines here may the wretched sons of want exhaustless riches find riches above what earth can grant and lust too of the mind 258 and we're singing the first or we'll sing it all it'll be short 258 listen for the tune O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O Amen Thank you