From Darius To The Man of Sin

That is, the God who is outside of the time continuum. We live within the time continuum. We can only think in realms of the time continuum. I can only think in the realm of a beginning, an end, a start, a finish. But God is outside of the time continuum. And being outside of the time continuum, he can look at the entire time continuum in one glance. And thus, as he describes of himself in Isaiah 46, he said, I am God, there is none else. I am God, there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do my pleasure. And that is how God proves that he is eternal and outside of the time continuum by telling you things that have not yet happened. So that when they do happen, you will know that he knows what he was talking about because he dwells outside of the time continuum and can tell you the end from the beginning, from ancient times, he can tell you things that are going to happen. And Daniel, the 11th chapter has to be one of the classic examples of this very truth, how that the eternal God revealed unto Daniel the things that were going to happen in the future and declares them with great accuracy. So as we turn to the 11th chapter of the book of Daniel, we find the angel that came to Daniel in chapter 10 is continuing his message to Daniel. Now this took place in the third year of the reign of Cyrus over Persia. But the angel declares to Daniel, also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him. Darius was a good friend of Daniel. He believed in the God of Daniel. He told Daniel, your God will be able to deliver you from the mouth of the lions. He encouraged him. And so the angel declares that he was there to strengthen and to confirm Darius the king. And now he said, I'm going to show you the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than they all. And by his strength and through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. Cyrus was the king at that time. There are going to be three other kings that will follow him, but the fourth king will be very rich, and he'll stir up the people against Greece. The three kings that followed Cyrus were Cambyses, Pseudosmyrtas, and Darius Hestapis. And the fourth who was far richer was Xerxes, who you remember was the Ahasuerus of Scripture, the husband of Esther. He gathered a great amount of money and a huge army estimated to be upwards to a million men. And in the year 480 BC, he sent out this expedition against Greece. However, it ended not in victory, but in disaster. So write on, angel, tell us more. A mighty king that is of Grecia shall stand up and rule with great dominion and do according to his will, Alexander the Great. And when he shall stand up, that is when he is still strong, his kingdom shall be broken and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity. He will not pass his kingdom on to his sons, but it will be divided to the four winds of heaven. Nor according to his dominion which he ruled, the four kingdoms that will come out of his will not be nearly as strong as the kingdom that is ruled. For his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those. Alexander the Great began his career of conquering in the year 334 BC. In eleven years time, he conquered pretty much the known world. Conquered over Persia, went on over to India, and then he came back to Babylon where he sat down and wept because he was frustrated, nothing else to conquer. And he began to party, to drink a lot. When he was 32 years of age, he was coming home from a party totally drunk. It was raining, he was sopping wet, but he was so drunk he just went to bed without even taking off his wet clothes and as a result got pneumonia and died of pneumonia at the age of 32. His kingdom, the Grecian kingdom, was then divided to his four generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy. Now, the scripture is only going to concentrate upon the two empires of the four that came out of the empire, and that is the Egyptian under the Ptolemies and basically the Syrians in Babylon that was under Seleucus, the king of the north. And so verse 4 was fulfilled. Now in verse 5, the king of the south shall be strong and one of his princes, and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion, and his dominion shall be a great dominion. The king of the south was Ptolemy Lagus or Lag Jedi or also known as Soter, but Seleucus of the king of the north would be strong above him and have dominion, and his dominion would be a great dominion. So the Syrian powers under Seleucus became stronger than that of Ptolemy. But in the end of the years, there were the wars that went on between them, but then there was an attempt to sort of bring the powers together. And so Ptolemy Philadelphus, the king of the south, gave his daughter Berenice to be married unto Antiochus the second, the king of the north, in order to tie them together, to sort of by marriage bring peace within these warring factions. Antiochus the second put away his own wife Laodicea in order to marry Berenice. Now in a few years Ptolemy Philadelphus died, and when he did, the king of the north, Antiochus the second, put away Berenice and took back his first wife. She got even. She poisoned then her husband and had Berenice murdered so that she sort of evened the score for being scorned by her husband. So let's read what it says. And in the end of the years, they shall join themselves together for the king's daughter of the south, Berenice, shall come to the king of the north, Antiochus the second, to make this covenant agreement, but she shall not retain the power of the arms. She was actually murdered. Neither shall he stand nor his arm. He was poisoned by his wife. But she will be given up and they that brought her and he that begat her and he that strengthened her in these times. But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which will come with an army and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north and shall deal against them and shall prevail. Now Ptolemy Hergetes, her brother, which would be a branch of her roots, the brother of Berenice, came with the army against Seleucus and he conquered the northern kingdom and killed Laodicea, the one who had murdered his sister. Amazing, isn't it? How Daniel talks about all of these intrigues and gives you the things that are happening and all you have to do is lay it side by side with history and you see just how accurately God foretold these events before they ever took place. So as you move on to verse 8, And shall also carry captives into Egypt, their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and gold. And he shall continue more years than the king of the north. So when he conquered over the northern kingdom, Jerome tells us that he took back 30 or 40,000 talents of silver and 2,500 idols as he sort of sacked the treasury of the northern kingdom. And as he said, he'll take back their gods and vessels of silver and gold. So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom and shall return to his own land. But his sons shall be stirred up and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, and one shall certainly come and overflow and pass through, and then shall he return and be stirred up even to his fortress. Now he had two sons, Seleucus, Serenus, and Antiochus the Great. And after Serenus was killed, Antiochus moved against Egypt and he captured Gaza. And then in verse 11, And the king of the south shall be moved with Kohler. He came down, conquered Gaza. But then the king of the south will be moved with Kohler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north. And he shall set forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand. And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many ten thousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it. So the king of the south, Ptolemy Philopator, raised an army of 73,000 men, 5,000 cavalry, and 73 elephants. And he came with this huge army against the king of the north and defeated Antiochus the Great. He killed 10,000 of the troops of Antiochus, as it speaks here. He will cast down many ten thousands. He destroyed 300 of the cavalry units and 5 elephants, and he took 4,000 prisoners, just as the Lord said. Verse 13, For the king of the north, that is Antiochus the Great, who was defeated, shall then return and shall set forth a multitude even greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and much riches. Antiochus the Great took about 14 years, raised a lot of money, and developed a huge army, even a greater army than Ptolemy Philopator had. And when Ptolemy Philopator died, the kingdom was turned over to his five-year-old son, Ptolemy Epiphanes. So Antiochus the Great took advantage of the fact that the sun was raining, and he came with this army, and he again fought against Egypt. And in those times, verse 14, there shall many stand up against the king of the south, this young five-year-old boy. Also the robbers of the people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision, but they shall fall. So the king of the north shall come, cast up a mount, take most of the fenced cities, and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, and neither shall there be any strength to withstand. So when it was apparent that Egypt was going to fall to Antiochus the Great, there were several other nations that joined with him in this invasion of Egypt. Many of the Jews joined him in this invasion, along with a rebellion that went on even within Egypt, and many of the Egyptians turned against their new king. General Scopus was sent out to meet these forces, but he was defeated, as is told in verse 15. And in verse 16, but he that cometh against him shall do according to his will, none shall stand before him, this is of course Antiochus the Great, and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. After he conquered Egypt, he came back to Israel, to the holy city of Jerusalem, but he treated the Jews favorably because they had joined with him in the battle against Egypt. And then he thought to really sort of keep Egypt down by giving his daughter Cleopatra to be the wife of the Egyptian king. And he figured that Cleopatra would remain faithful to him. Actually, he is her father. Surely she's my daughter. She will remain faithful, and she'll, you know, choose me over her husband. And so he shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, the upright ones with him, and thus shall he do. He shall give him the daughter of women, Cleopatra, corrupting her, but she shall not stand on his side and neither before him. Cleopatra deserted the loyalty to her father and actually became loyal to her husband and to the Egyptian empire. I love it how God speaks of these things hundreds of years before they take place and just gives you step by step, you know, the intrigues and how things are going to happen, what's going to be done. And then in verse 19, then shall he turn his face toward the fort of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and not be found. So after he will turn his face to the isles and take many, but the prince of it for his own behalf, verse 18, shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease and without his own reproach, he shall come. He shall cause it to turn upon him. He'll turn his face toward the fort of his own land, stumble and fall. Antiochus the great turned his attention to the Mediterranean coastal areas and to some of the islands. And in doing this, he came into conflict with Rome in 190 B.C. and he faced Lucius Scopio, the Roman general, and then he was killed as he sought to plunder the temple of Belus in Elimaeus. So the end of Antiochus the great. And in his stead, verse 20, there shall stand up in his stead, or as they state, a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days, he shall be destroyed neither in anger nor in battle. His son, Seleucus Philippator, raised taxes to pay the huge tribute that was required by Rome. And in order to get more money to give to Rome, he sent his prime minister, Heliodorus, to seize the treasure of the temple in Jerusalem. And shortly after being sent to Jerusalem to take the treasure of the temple, it is felt the same fellow, Heliodorus, poisoned him. And so he was killed. Within a few days, he will be destroyed neither in anger nor in battle. He was poisoned under an intrigue. And so the Lord spoke with very exacting preciseness of the history of the two of the families that would rule following Alexander the Great. Why not the others? Because these had to do with Israel, and prophecy has to do with Jesus Christ and the nation of Israel. And other nations are not really brought that much into the prophetic scene unless they have a direct relation upon the people of God and upon the prophecies that do relate to Jesus. Now as we come to verse 21, we come to the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. And as we get into this man, a very vile man, as is in verse 21, in his estate shall stand up a vile person. And Antiochus Epiphanes was as vile as any person in history, a very evil man. He was so evil, so vile, that he has become a type of the Antichrist, speaking against God, blaspheming God so vile that even the Jews thought that he was that man of sin that was to come. And so he has become a strong type of the Antichrist. What you have seen him do will be duplicated by the Antichrist in the last days. And so this vile person, Antiochus Epiphanes, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. This fellow was shrewd. He was a deceiver. He came in acting like he was a friend, acting as though he was a benefactor. He was pitting, though, brother against brother, and weakening the whole position of Egypt. And with the arm of a flood shall they be overthrown from before him, and shall be broken, yea, also the prince of the covenant. The prince of the covenant, of course, is a reference to the covenant that God made with Israel, the prince being the high priest who was Onias III. And Antiochus Epiphanes deposed him. He was later murdered, and his brother Jason was made high priest by Antiochus Epiphanes. Jason sought to bring the Grecian culture to the Hebrew nation, and he was quite successful in doing it. You remember, even at the time of the New Testament, there arose a problem in the church of the Grecians, or the Hellenists, against those of the Hebrew culture. And the people who had grown up in the Hellenist culture and adopted the Hellenist culture, the Jews adopting the Hellenist culture, felt that their widows were not getting equal treatment at the church's welfare program. That they felt that those that were distributing the church's goods were sort of playing favoritism to the widows that had maintained the Hebrew culture, and those of the Grecian culture were getting shortchanged. And so that's when they got together and decided they better appoint seven men, filled with the Holy Spirit, good reputation and all, to take charge of the distribution of the church's welfare, that they might give themselves continually to the Word of God and to prayer. It is interesting that of those that they chose to distribute the church's welfare, five of them had Grecian names. It was those with the Grecian culture who were complaining about being shortchanged. So, what do you do? You turn the distribution over to those of the Grecian culture, for the most part, and it sort of stops the argument of those who came from that Grecian culture. And so, after the league made with him, well, verse 22, I guess, And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken, also the prince of the covenant. Onias the second was put to death, his brother Jason made high priest instead. After the league made with him, he shall work deceitfully, for he shall come up and shall become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably, even upon the fattest places of the province, and shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his father's fathers. He shall scatter among them the prey, the spoil, the riches. Yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds, even for a time. Coming in with flatteries, pitting brother against brothers, pretending to support the one against the other. And then he had a habit of taking the wealth and just passing it out freely, making a lot of friends. Use the money, just buy a lot of friends to get a lot of support. And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army. This is his second expedition against Egypt. And the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for they shall forecast devices against him. Yea, the feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow, and many shall fall down slain. And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table, but it shall not prosper, for yet the end shall be at a time appointed. And then shall he return to his land with great riches, and his heart shall be against the holy covenant, and he shall do exploits and return to his own land. He has a heart that is against God, the things of God, against the holy covenant. Now he begins his third invasion of Egypt in verse 29. At the time appointed he shall return and come toward the south, but it shall not be as the former or as the latter, for the ships of Chittim, or Cyprus, which was the Roman navy, shall come against him, and therefore he shall be grieved and return and have indignation against the holy covenant. What happened was on this third expedition against Egypt the Roman senate sent the Roman navy to the city of Alexandria that he had under siege, and Pope Leonidas delivered to him there at Alexandria the demand of the Roman senate that he cease this expedition and he return home with his troops. And Leonidas took and drew a circle around him in the sand, and he said, make up your mind before you leave this circle or you will face the power of Rome. He wasn't ready to face the power of Rome, and so he returned, but he was upset. He was angry, and so he took out his anger against the Jews. He came to the city of Jerusalem and he took out his indignation against the holy covenant, and so shall he do. He shall even return and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant, and arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate. He came back to the temple, and he put an image of Zeus in the holy of holies, and they began daily sacrificing pigs upon the altar, forcing the Jews to sacrifice pigs. Those that would refuse were put to death. He began to slaughter the Jews, but this profaning of the temple, the holy of holies, this abomination which brought the desolation that makes desolate, is a type of the future antichrist who will come to the temple that is to be rebuilt and stand in the holy of holies, claiming that he is God and demanding to be worshiped as God. Jesus, in speaking of the future event of the antichrist, said to his disciples in the context of the prophecies of his return, when you see the abomination of desolation that was spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, then flee to the wilderness. Don't even take the time to get your jacket out of your house. Get out of there. And we are told in Revelation that there was given to the nation of Israel wings of an eagle that she might be carried to this desert place where God will watch over and keep her for three and a half years during the time of the pouring forth of God's indignation and wrath upon the earth. But this event of the profaning of the temple by the antichrist, causing the daily sacrifices and prayers to cease, putting the image of himself in the holy of holies, demanding people to worship it, that is the final blasphemy of man that God will tolerate. This is the event that causes the cup of God's indignation and wrath to overflow. And from this event will come three and a half years of great tribulation such as the world has never seen before or will ever see again as we will get next Sunday night as we move into the 12th chapter of the book of Daniel. And we see the culmination of all of these things, the times of the Gentiles, the culmination of it all, and the beginning of the glorious eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So those that do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries. Many of the Jews will go along with Antiochus Epiphanes, the apostate Jews, which they did. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. This is a reference to Mattathias and his sons, the Maccabean boys, Judas and his brothers. His father began the revolt against, the father of Judas Maccabeus began the revolt, he began the revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes. So incensed by this profaning of the temple, righteous indignation was stirred, and he began to fight against the evil rule. His sons took up the fight. He challenged his sons to go ahead and give their lives for God, for the right causes. So as you read in the book of the Maccabees or in Josephus, Judas Maccabeus began with a small group of men, just a few thousand, poorly armed, armed with sticks, and poorly armed. And they began to go against these larger forces of the Syrians, those of the king of the north, those generals of Antiochus Epiphanes. And they began to defeat and to slaughter and to wipe out these forces one after another. They did tremendous exploits. These men challenged to just trust God, give your life for God. Don't worry about your life, you know, and let's fight against this paganism. God is with us. God will strengthen you. God will be for you. And so they did exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many. And so they were trying to bring to pass really a spiritual revival, and they cleansed the temple. They finally came to Jerusalem, drove out the garrison that was there, and they cleansed the temple. And they began again the sacrifices unto God after the cleansing of the temple. They reinstituted the temple worship. And there is where the story comes in of as they set up the temple again and purified it and went through the cleansing process. As they went to relight the menorah, the seven-branched candlestick, there was oil enough only for one day. But they lit it, and it took seven days to go through the process of preparing the oil for the lampstand. And through this whole seven-day period that it took to prepare the oil, the oil continued to burn in the lampstand until they had the new oil prepared to pour into it. And thus they developed a feast of lights, which was also called the Feast of Dedication. And it is today called Hanukkah. And the Hanukkah menorah has eight candlesticks representing the eight days. And most of the Jewish candle holders that you see are the eight of the Hanukkah rather than the seven of the temple. So that it was a celebration, and Hanukkah is the celebration, this feast of lights where God kept the lights burning while they were putting together this new oil for the candlestick. Jesus was in Jerusalem. John the 10th chapter records how that he was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication, which it says, and it was wintertime because this took place on the Feast of Dedication took place on the 25th of December, which interestingly enough coincides with our Christmas season. And so that's why when we're celebrating Christmas, the Jews are celebrating their Hanukkah. They will instruct many yet at the end of verse 33, they shall fall by the sword and by the flame and by captivity and by spoil many days. Now, when they shall fall, they shall be helped with little help, but many shall cleave to them with flatteries, and some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white even to the time of the end, because it is yet for an appointed time. So this sort of closes off, this sort of makes a break now, and this sort of closes off the history of Antiochus Epiphanes. Now we go from 36 into the Antichrist, of which Antiochus Epiphanes was a type. So the rest of this is pointing out now to the time of the end. Verse 35, the end there, you have this break where even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed, it is yet future from this particular time period. And so now we jump a period of 2,000 years as we at least, how many more we don't know, but at least 2,000 years as we move out to the time of the Antichrist. And now from verse 36 on, this is a direct reference to the future, the Antichrist that is coming. The king, the Antichrist, shall do according to his will. He will exalt himself and magnify himself above every god. As Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2, he will stand in the temple of God showing that he is God and demanding to be worshipped as God. In Revelation 13, the false prophet makes an image of the beast, sets it in the holy place, and demands that people worship it. And whoever will not worship it will be put to death, has power to put to death those that refuse to worship the beast and his image. And so the world will be required to worship this man as God. He will speak marvelous things. As I've pointed out before, all of the mentions of the Antichrist in the Bible usually make mention of his speaking great swelling words or speaking against the God of heaven, speaking blasphemies and all, so that there are many titles for him—son of perdition, the beast. One good title would be big mouth, because he is always mouthing off, you know, blasphemies against God and the exalting of himself. He'll speak marvelous things against the God of gods, blaspheming the God of heaven. And he shall prosper till the indignation, which is the tribulation period, be accomplished. He will come in with flatteries. He will actually be given the powers of Satan. Satan will give to him his powers, his authority, and he will reign and rule over the earth and will be hailed in the beginning as the Savior, as the Messiah. Many of the Jews will be deceived by this man and will acclaim him as the Messiah. He will make a covenant with the nation of Israel, and very possibly within this covenant will be the conditions whereby they can rebuild their temple. It is an interesting thing that in the heart of the Jews today there is a desire to rebuild the temple and reinstitute temple worship. There are groups of Jews in Jerusalem who have banded themselves together for the purpose of rebuilding the temple and reinstituting temple worship. The Temple Institute has already started making the priest robes. They are making the silver basins to carry the blood of the sacrifices. They have made the copper vessels for the priest to wash before they offer the sacrifices. They are making the shovels for the ashes, and they are putting together all of the instruments necessary for the reinstituting of the temple worship. In some of the schools there they are training the young men how to butcher the animals for the sacrifices, and there is a great desire among the Jews to again reinstitute the temple worship, including sacrifices. There are other Jews that are abhorred by this idea. They will tell you, We hope they don't build the temple, because then they will probably start killing animals, and they are abhorred by that thought. But there are many Jews that are really fanatically dedicated to the rebuilding of the temple. From the Scriptures it would appear that the temple will be rebuilt in that the Antichrist does come to the temple of God, and John is given a ruler and told to measure the temple during this tribulation period. So as a part of the covenant that the Antichrist makes with Israel will probably be included the privilege, the opportunity, and the means to rebuild their temple. Now the Jews today will tell you that they do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah, because He claimed to be the Son of God. And that's the big thing that they have against Jesus today, and that's the reason why the rabbis say, No, He cannot be the Messiah, because He claimed to be the Son of God. And we do not believe that the Messiah will be the Son of God. He will be a man like Moses, because Moses said, And there shall come a prophet like unto myself, and to him shall you give heed. And so they reject Jesus because of His claim of being the Son of God. However, the Jews of Jesus' day did believe that the Messiah would be the Son of God, because God said concerning the Messiah, Psalm 2, Thou art my beloved Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I'll give you the heathen for thine inheritance. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, Isaiah 9. And the Jews of Jesus' day felt that the Messiah would be the Son of God. And that is why when Jesus was being questioned by the high priest, and he said, Are you the Messiah? Jesus said, Yes. Are you then the Son of God? He said. And Jesus again affirmed it. So that they believed that the Messiah would be the Son of God. Now, it is interesting. According to the Talmud, the Jews, when they would take the goat that would disappear in the wilderness, signifying on Yom Kippur that their sins had been put away. They had two goats and cast lots. One was slain and the blood placed there on the altar for the sacrifice for sin. The other one was taken by a priest out in the wilderness and let go into the wilderness, and they had signaled back to the priest standing outside of the holy place of the temple that the goat had disappeared out into the wilderness. And then he would announce to the people, Your sins are put away. Great rejoicing and all. Traditionally, they had a piece of white wool, and when the goat disappeared, it would turn red. And that was another sign to them that the sins were gone. In the Talmud, there is an interesting account that about 40 years before the destruction of the temple, the wool did not change color, and the temple doors opened automatically of their own accord. And they interpreted that as their sins were not really forgiven. About 40 years before the destruction of the temple is when Jesus was crucified. And you'll find that right in the Jewish Talmud. Interestingly enough, God has given us so much evidence in so many places. You see, no longer did the animals atone for sin once God's provision through Jesus Christ was made. No longer would the animals cover the sin. The blood of the animals would no longer cover for sin because God had made the provision through His Son, Jesus Christ, for the atoning, the putting away completely of our sins. So, the Jews today say that they reject Jesus as the Messiah because He claimed to be the Son of God. Ask them the question, how will you know then you're Messiah? If He's a man, how will you know He's the Messiah? The answer they will give you is He will lead us in the rebuilding of our temple. Interesting. They are so ripe to accept some man to come along and to lead them in the rebuilding of the temple, they will acclaim Him as the Messiah. But unfortunately, He will be the false Messiah. Many will follow Him. Now, in describing Him, it said, neither will He regard the God of His Father. Some take this to mean that He will be a Jew. Very possibly so, but not necessarily. You can't be really rigid on that. Nor will He desire nor the desire of women. Now, some interpret that as that He would be a homosexual. But probably the desire of women in those days was that she would be the one chosen of God to bear the Messiah. And so, He would not regard the true Messiah or Jesus. Nor regard any God, for He shall magnify Himself above all. Now, Satan, you remember, in Isaiah 14, said, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend into the mount, the sides of the north. I will be like the Most High, exalting Himself above all. And so, here's the Antichrist, not honoring any God, but magnifying Himself above all the gods. But in His estate, He shall honor the God of forces. And a God whom His fathers knew not shall He honor with gold and silver, precious stones, pleasant things. And thus shall He do in the most strongholds with a strange God, whom He shall acknowledge and increase with glory. And He shall cause them to rule over many and shall divide the land for gain. Just what this refers to is probably the land would probably be the holy land and the division of the land. It is interesting right now that there are negotiations that are going on concerning the dividing of the land. And so far, they're stalemated. But it's quite possible that someone will come along and magnetic personality, charismatic kind of an individual, and will be able to get these opposing views and sides together and make the division of the land and so forth. And right now they're seeking to do that. We're so close to these things coming to pass that it just is exciting, really, on one hand, frightening if you're a sinner. And at the time of the end shall the King of the South push at Him, and the King of the North shall come against Him like a whirlwind. With chariots, which would be interpreted as tanks, and with the horsemen and with many ships, and He shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over. There will be an insurrection from the area of Egypt, and He'll come with great power and His forces. He shall enter also into the glorious land of Israel, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape out of His hands, Edom and Moab, the area of Jordan today. Now it is interesting that God gives to Israel the wings of an eagle to bear her to the wilderness place where she will be taken care of for three and a half years. And from the 16th chapter of Isaiah, the Lord tells Petra to receive His people to Jordan, Moab, stand at the river there, and receive My castaways. And it would appear that the rock city of Petra could be the place where God will preserve that remnant of Jews during this great tribulation period. When God sends those Jews down to the wilderness area, whether it be Petra or not, the Antichrist will send out an army to destroy them, but the earth will open up and swallow up the army. So Moab or Jordan will be not brought under the control or the power of the Antichrist, interesting enough. But He shall enter into the glorious land, many countries, but Edom and Moab will be saved, and the chief of the children of Ammon, capital of Jordan. He shall stretch forth His hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But He shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, over the precious things of Egypt, all of those treasures that were paraded through the United States a few years ago when they brought the tomb and treasures of that Egyptian pharaoh. And the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at His steps. That is, as He begins His invasion, He takes Egypt. He's right on the borders of Ethiopia and Libya. But then tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble Him. And therefore He shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to take away many. The river Euphrates will be dried up, we're told in Revelation, to prepare for the invasion from the kings of the east, perhaps China, Pakistan, India, great armies, multitudes, millions, hundreds of millions, coming to put down the Western powers. Now, there has come today, among, of course, the Islam nations, a great war in their minds against the West. The Western powers to them represent degradation and corruption, and probably rightfully so. They call us the great devil. They believe that we must be destroyed. There are many fanatic Muslims here in the United States, such as that cell group that blew up the World Trade Center, or put off the bomb in the World Trade Center. They are one of only hundreds of cell groups of fanatic Muslims. And here in Orange County, there are several cell groups that are planning terrorist activities within Orange County. And they plan to disrupt the Western world by their attacks. I was briefed by some of the Israeli intelligence of these groups that are right here in Orange County. And they are determined to put down the Western devil. And they are determined that Islam shall conquer the world. Now, there are some 800 million people already in the Islam religion. The Antichrist will be over, really, the Western powers. He will be the representative of this whole blasphemous Western empire. And so, as he begins to go against some of these Islamic nations, Libya, Egypt, it will be the time of the declaration of the jihad. And thus, the kings of the East, joining together with the kings of the North, coming against the powers of the West under the Antichrist. When he hears news of these armies invading, he will turn from his invasion of Africa, and they will meet in the valley of Megiddo, and there will be the great battle of Armageddon that you read about in the scriptures. And things are getting set up for this right now. God is putting the powers and the players in position. And we can see the things coming together. This gathering of the Islamic nations. Recently, in December, there was signed a treaty, an economic treaty, among ten of the Islamic nations, binding them together. Over 350 million people are bound together now in an economic treaty, much as is the European community. But he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain. He'll come back to Israel, but he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. There, in the battle of Armageddon, during the fierce slaughter at the end of the great tribulation period, Jesus Christ shall come again with his saints. He will set his foot in that day on the Mount of Olives. It will split in two between the North and the South, forming a new great valley that goes down to the area of the Jordan Valley. And he will destroy the Antichrist with the sword that goes forth out of his mouth. That is, with his word, he will destroy him. The Antichrist will be so powerful. He'll have such a tremendous power of forces, army. Well, the people will be saying, who can make war against him as they see his power? But I like that song of Martin Luther that said, the prince of darkness grim, we tremble not at him, one little word will fell him. And the Antichrist, who is able to make war against him? And just the word of Jesus, he's through. Drop dead, man, and that's all over. Now, as we get into chapter 12, we move into the timing of the culmination of all these things, as we will tie it all together next Sunday night, as we come into the final chapter of Daniel, and as the Lord here in chapter 12 just brings all the loose ends and ties the whole prophetic picture together unto the glorious eternal reign of Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you. Oh, Lord, how we thank you for your word. And how we marvel, Lord, because, Lord, we just have our finite capacity to understand and to know. And, Lord, we just marvel when we see how you have spoken of these things, how you describe with such accuracy the battles, the conflicts, the intrigues that would be going on. And, Lord, how you've even talked about things concerning the days in which we live, as we watch the whole puzzle coming together now, as you're fitting in the pieces and the picture is beginning to emerge. And we see, Lord, the alignment of the powers of the earth. And we see how there is arising now this great power of the Islamic world versus the materialism of the Western world. And, Lord, we realize that the clash could take place most any time. Oh, Lord, we're thankful that you've not appointed us unto wrath. And we pray, Lord, that we'll be accounted worthy to escape that great tribulation that will come upon the earth. Lord, we want to be standing there around the throne, singing of the worthiness of the Lamb, to take the scroll and to loose the seals, because he redeemed us by his blood. And so, Lord, help us that we might be those people who know their God and are strong and do exploits. Lord, help us to be strong in you and through the power of your Spirit, that we might be able to stand against all of those forces of darkness and evil that are prevailing in our land today. But having done all, Lord, may we stand firm against the onslaught of the enemy. And, Lord, draw us, we pray, to that place of strength in prayer, such as we have never been drawn before. Lord, may we become desperate in prayer before you for these desperate days in which we live. Lord, we ask that you would turn back this tide of evil that is engulfing our nation. And, Lord, wake us up before it is too late. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Shall we stand? Got a call from Raul Reis this afternoon, sharing with me a little bit more about these outreaches that he's having. And really, what he is reaching are the gangs, gang members. Guys are coming in, turning in their pipes. They smoke the opium in and getting saved, just stomping on their pipes. And gang leaders getting together, hugging each other and praying together. And he's just really excited. But only God can turn the tide. Let's pray for Raul and pray for the further outreaches that he's got planned for Los Angeles area among the gangs. And it's thrilling what God is doing. And God is able. If my people, Jesus, or God said, called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, I will hear, forgive their sins, heal their lands. So, let's continue in prayer. Some of you left your televisions off last week. God bless you. Spent the time in prayer. I've had many come and say, oh, what a great week. It was. I loved it. Let's do it again. Why not? Let's pray. Let's not pollute our minds with the junk and the filth of the world. But let's come in it together in prayer until we see God moving and working in an even greater and more glorious way than we've experienced up to this point. God be with you. Bless you. Keep you. Fill you with his Holy Spirit. Give you power and strength over the temptations of the enemy. And may you have a life of wonderful victory in Jesus, fellowship with God as you walk with him in the Spirit. In Jesus' name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts. As we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom. And the power. And the glory.