Will you take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter 11. As we continue to make our way through this amazing Old Testament book, we're going to be looking at verses two through 35. Quite a large chunk, lots of ancient Near East history--I have given you a handout with the outline that will help you perhaps navigate that a little bit. There's lots of hard to pronounce names and lots of things you probably maybe have never even been aware of. And so I thought, rather than you burning up ink and trying to frantically write all these things, I'd give you at least a general outline. So I hope you will have that. But here in these verses, there are 135, approximately, detailed prophecies that were fulfilled, absolutely astounding. Dear Christian, never underestimate the treasure that we have in the Word of God.

Now, let me give you a little background, you will recall in Chapter 10, we had an introduction here, an introduction to Daniel's fourth and final vision that's going to be revealed now in chapters 11 and 12. And there we witnessed not only the preincarnate glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus his sovereign rule over his created universe, but also God's plan for the ages, especially with respect to his covenant people Israel. Chapter 10 provides great insight into Yahweh's permissive will to allow Satan to rule this world temporarily, the systems of this world. We saw examples of how he ruled nations back then. And certainly he continues to do the same thing today, as he, in many ways, rules our nation, which explains the moral freefall, and just the mass deceptions that we are experiencing from our government, from the media, from educators, from churches, from culture in general.

Now, beginning in chapter 11, through chapter 12, the angelic messenger sent to Daniel, who we believe is probably Gabriel, proceeds with predictive revelation pertaining to Israel's future, especially as it relates to the Gentiles dominance over Israel until the return of the Messiah. And I might say that the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 was a mild preview of what is going to happen in the future with Israel and in the world, in what's called Daniel's 70th week; the pre kingdom judgments just before Christ returns. In fact, Jesus spoke of this in Luke 21 and verse, verse 24, where he said, "they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive unto all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." And certainly that happened in AD 70. And it will continue to happen, especially, as I say, during Daniel's 70th week, and from the era of Israel's captivity and 586 BC to Babylon, until her restoration in the Messianic Kingdom that you can read about, for example, in Revelation 20, the first six verses--God has allowed Gentiles to dominate and to threaten Jerusalem, and Israel. And all through the book of Daniel, we have seen how this has played out. We've seen how this has been fulfilled already, historically, and are waiting to be fulfilled prophetically.

And here in Daniel 11, God has revealed to us some astounding, detailed prophecies. In fact, this is one of the most astounding passages in all of Scripture. It is so historically accurate, that the third century AD pagan philosopher, Porphyry, considered it forgery. He argued that some other author wrote these events that occurred some time previously, a guy that wrote it sometime in the second century, and many liberal scholars believe that to this day that this is so historically accurate, that there is no way that this could have been predicted. So some clown wrote it in the second century and just recorded history and pretended like it was prophecy. By the way, that attack was refuted by one of the early church fathers. Jerome, who lived in the fourth century. He defended Daniel's authorship in a commentary based upon the original Hebrew text.

So I must say that in a world that is filled with lies, don't you get tired of it? I mean you will see one thing on television, you can see it with your own eyes, and you hear somebody telling you that that's not what you see. I just get so tired of it. But isn't it great to be able to come together and to look at truth? The truth of the Word of God. And these prophecies demonstrate that indeed, God is omniscient about the future, because he is sovereign over the future. It is his future. And with respect to Christ, it is history, his story. Furthermore, the book of Daniel demonstrates the divine inspiration of Scripture. This is an unequaled treasure that we have in our hands.

Now, before we embark upon this journey here in Daniel 11, this morning, and look at these prophecies, let's take a moment and ask, I think, a very appropriate question. Why would God reveal these things to Daniel? I mean why such detailed precision regarding the Gentile domination of the covenant people? Daniel would never live to see these things. He's receiving these prophecies at about 85 years old, right? So why give all of this to him? Many of those who read his prophecies would never live to see them come to fulfillment either. What possible benefit could that have been to him? To them? Or to us today? Well, I would submit to you that there are six reasons. And when I thought these through and wrote them down, I realized that this is a whole sermon in and of itself, but I'm just going to give you the points and move on. All right, six reasons.

First of all, these prophecies were given to demonstrate number one, the sovereignty of God, that indeed, God is in charge of his creation. He has ordained the end from the beginning. Secondly, to demonstrate the veracity or the truthfulness of Scripture, there is no other religious book ever in the history of the world that contains prophecies, especially fulfilled prophecies. Thirdly, to demonstrate the horrors of sin, because, dear friends, if you do not see the horror of sin, you will never see the glory of the cross and you will never seek forgiveness. And also to demonstrate the rule of Satan in the affairs of men, and how he is constantly doing everything he can with his minions, to thwart the purposes of God. Number five, to demonstrate God's faithfulness to his covenant promises; even as I have just read recently, just a few minutes ago, in Romans 11, God is faithful to his covenant promises with respect to Israel, with respect to even we Gentiles, who are the wild olive branches grafted in to the root of Abrahamic blessing. And then, finally, and this is the real censure, isn't it, to anticipate the glory of Christ's avenging justice. To anticipate the glory of Christ's avenging justice. The Father has given him all authority to execute judgment. Someday every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And it's great to know where the story is moving.

So let's look closely at Daniel's prophetic vision. And please understand while the details are accurate, they are also selective. And this is true of all Bible prophecy. In other words, it's not going to include every king, every battle, everything that happened. And I might also add, what I address will be a selective as well. There's literally hundreds of other events and stories that could be included in this discussion. Not all of the rulers, not all of the events of this era were discussed or recorded. However, I will also add that later on, there will be great detail given to Antiochus Epiphanes more than any other ruler. And the reason for that is the specific impact his wickedness had on Israel and the similarities of his actions with the coming Antichrist who he typifies. So you have an outline and again, I've added notes, due to the complexity of ancient Near East history. It's funny, as I was thinking this through again, this week, some of the ancient ways of remembering these things, when I was in seminary, began to come back to me just a little bit. You know how you come up with silly little sentences and things to remember people's names and everything. And some, I was laughing about that, some of it was coming back, but not enough for me to remember all of it. So I have to write it down as well. I'm not going to read all of these-- let me give you the four main points. We're going to look at, first of all, the kings of Persia in verse two, and then the kings of Greece in verses three and four. And then the prophecy will move to the kings of the south and the north, the south being a reference to Egypt, the North to Syria, that will be in verses five through 20. And then, fourthly, look at Antiochus, the fourth, Epiphanes in verses 21 through 36. And actually, we won't get to that today we'll look at the first three, primarily.

So let's look at the kings of Persia. Remember now, Daniel has asked, Gabriel has come, God has sent him. He wants to know what's going to happen. He's burdened for his people. And here's what the angelic messenger tells him beginning in verse two of Daniel 11. "'And now I will tell you the truth, behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of Greece." Now, since the fourth king mentioned is obviously Xerxes, the other three had to have been his predecessors who would have been Cambyses, Pseudo-Smerdis, Darius and then of course, Xerxes. And that reign of Xerxes would have included--some of you are familiar with the 300 Spartans that held off the Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC--hat's kind of when all of that happened. So he's telling him here, here's what's going to happen. Now, there were other kings who ruled in Persia, but these three kings ruled immediately prior to Xerxes, who indeed, attacked Greece and set up a counter attack by Alexander the Great, as we will see.

Now, let me give you a little background. Xerxes father, Darius Hystaspes, tried to conquer Greece in 490 BC, but he was soundly defeated. So when Xerxes comes to the throne, he wants revenge. He doesn't like his father being humiliated. And as stated in verse two, Xerxes was fabulously wealthy, he had conquered Lydia, all of Babylonia and Egypt and like his predecessors, he taxed the people heavily to gain his power, his influence, and to fulfill all of his pressures, which politicians love to do at our expense. So nothing has ever changed, right? In fact, his 180-day feast, described in Esther chapter one attests to his wealth. And that, by the way, was done at the culmination of a four-year period of preparation to go in and conquer Greece. He had many 1000s of troops. It is believed that he had amassed the largest army in the history of the ancient world. So Xerxes and his massive army, as well as navy, set out to avenge his father's humiliating defeat at the hands of the Greeks.

And this moves us to point two: the kings of Greece beginning of verse three. Look what the messenger tells Daniel, "'And the mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.'" This is a reference to Alexander the Great. Let tell you what happened in the story. Xerxes attacks Greece, and he was not only defeated, but the Greeks seized his entire Persian kingdom, a region far greater than the Persians ever ruled. In fact, with around 40,000 men, Alexander the Great, annihilated the Persians. He took all of Asia Minor, he took all of Northern Syria. He took the island fortress of Tyre down to Egypt, Mesopotamia, all the way over to what is modern Afghanistan, to the very borders of India. You may recall, his final victory was with King Porus and his war elephants in the Battle of Jhelum, in 326 BC. So Alexander the Great beats Xerxes, and he carves out a vast kingdom for himself of about 1.5 million square miles. And he did this in 10 years. By the way, I detail a lot of the brilliant strategies and weaponry of Alexander the Great and his forces in my exposition of Daniel two if you want to go back and look at that.

Verse four, "But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to others be besides them." And this is exactly what happened. Alexander the Great died at the young age of 32. And his vast kingdom, as the prophecy says, was broken up and parceled out to four of his generals. Macedon and Greece went to Cassander. Thrace and Asia Minor went to Lysimachus. Syria and Babylon went to Seleucus and Judah and Egypt went to Ptolemy.

Gabriel continues now in his predictive revelation, point number three: the kings of the south, referring to Egypt, and north, referring to Syria. Notice verse five, "'Then the king of the South will grow strong." This is a reference now to Ptolemy the first Sotar of Judah and Egypt, he reigned from 304 to 283 BCE. "'The king of the south will grow strong, along with one of his princes.'" And this historically refers to Seleucus I of Nicator, "'who gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion; his dominion will be a great dominion indeed.'" So in other words, Seleucus would become stronger than Ptolemy with respect to the extent of his dominion. And that's exactly what happened, as prophesied. Seleucus I Nicator, ruled over Syria and Babylonia in 321 BC until another general Antigonus Babylon and forced him to flee. But later Antigonus was defeated at Gaza in 312 BC, allowing Seleucus to regain his territory, plus the entire region of Midia, thus fulfilling verse five. Astounding.

Verse six, "'After some years, they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the North to carry out a peaceful arrangement.'" And history affirms that this did happen. Egypt and Syria did make an alliance with one another in 250 BCE, some 50 years after both Ptolemy, and Seleucus proclaimed themselves to be king. Let me give you a little background here. It's really interesting. Ptolemy and Seleucus both died soon thereafter. And the son of Ptolemy, whose name was Ptolemy II Philadelphus, assumed the throne in Egypt. And the grandson of Seleucus whose name was Antiochus II Theos assumed the throne in Syria. By the way, aren't you glad you've got these notes so you don't have to write all this down?

Now, the plot thickens, as they say. In order to form an alliance, as the prophecy says must happen. Ptolemy II Philadelphus of the South sent his daughter Berenice to marry Antiochus II Theos. Who, by the way, was forced to divorce his wife Laodice. It was a forced marriage with Berenice. And he had to divorce his wife Laodice. Look at verse six again, "'But she will not retain her position of power, nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up along with those who brought her in, and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.'" It's exactly what happened. History tells us that two years after the forced marriage between Antiochus and Berenice, her father, Berenice's father, Ptolemy II died. At that point, Antiochus decided he's going to take back his previous wife, Laodice. All right? Having been forced to divorce her. But Laodice wasn't too happy with what he had done so she had him poisoned. I hate that when that happens, right? Moreover, she developed a plot to kill her rival, Berenice, and all her attendants and her one infant son, by Antiochus, upon their arrival. Exactly what verse six tells us. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned right? Or as we would say, down here, mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. And so this is what happened.

Verse seven, "'But one of the descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display great strength. Also their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, he will take into captivity to Egypt.'" This is what happened. Berenice's brother, Ptolemy III Euergetes reigned from 246 to 221 BC, defeated Seleucus II Callinicus, and returned to Egypt with all of the spoil. And according to Jerome, the ancient church father, Ptolemy confiscated quote, "40,000 talents of silver," now let me stop there. A talent is 75 pounds, take 40,000 time, 75 pounds, you get 3 million pounds of silver. Get an idea? That's 1500 tons, according to my calculations. I mean, that's over a trillion dollars. I mean, that's the type of stuff our government would love to get a hold of, right? Jerome said that, "Ptolemy confiscated 40,000 talents of silver, and 2500 precious vessels and images of the gods among them, those which candidacies had taken to Persia when he conquered Egypt." By the way, this would have required massive caravans, several years just to move all of this.

Back to verse eight at the end, "'and he on his part, will refrain from attacking the king of the north for some years.'" And indeed, from 241 to 223 BC, the two nations remained at peace with one another. So everything that was prophesied in verses seven and eight, were fulfilled precisely. By the way, what we're talking about here happened 300 years after Daniel died.

Verse nine, "'Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.'" And indeed, Seleucus Callinicus, succeeded in regaining his position in Syria. After Ptolemy's victory over his realm, but in 240 BC, he unsuccessfully attacked Ptolemy and Egypt and as the text says, "returned to his own land" in defeat.

Verse 10, "'His sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through, that he may again wage war up to his very fortress.'" It's interesting verse 10 here, "his sons," The younger son was Seleucus III Seronis and the older son was Antiochus III the Great. I love it when they put the great on there, you know, Jake Hutchison the Great, you know, whatever. That's what these guys used to do back then. And the younger was killed on a campaign in Asia Minor and just like the prophet prophesied Antiochus the Great became the king at the young age of 18.

Verse 10 again, "'His sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through that he may again wage war up to his very fortress.'" And as predicted, Antiochus III, the Great, recaptured territory in Phoenicia from Ptolemy IV Philopater. And his forces, like the prophet says, "overflowed and passed through" all of the Egyptian territory that included the land of Palestine. But it goes on. Verse 11, "'The king of the South,'" who is Ptolemy okay? "will be enraged and go forth and fight with the king of the North,'" who is Antiochus, "'Then the latter will raise a great multitude.'" All right, and according to Polybius, who was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period, he lived to, like 200 BC, up to about 100 BC or so. Polybius says this, quote "Ptolemy had amassed 70,000 infantry, 5000 cavalry and 73 elephants." Quite an army. And he says, "Antiochus had," quote "a multitude consisting of 62,000 infantry, 6000 cavalry, and 102 elephants." But Antiochus, we know, was given into Ptolemy's hand, exactly as it says at the end of verse 11, "'But that multitude will be given into the hand of the former.'" Amazing, isn't it? You can see why the liberals say there's just no way that anybody could predict this type of detail of history.

Verse 12, "'When the multitude is carried away, his heart will be lifted up, and he will cause 10s of 1000s to fall, and yet he will not prevail.'" So Ptolemy IV defeated Antiochus forces at the Battle of Raphia in 217 BC. And according to Polybius, the historian, Antiochus lost nearly 10,000 footmen and another 4000 were captured. But notice the end of verse 12. "'Yet he,' Ptolemy IV, "will not prevail.'"

Verse 13, "'For the king of the North will,’” again Antiochus the Great, "'will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and after an interval of some years, he will press on with a great army and much equipment.'" We know that's exactly what happened in 203 BC. Ptolemy Philopater and his wife died in Egypt, and their four-year-old son ascended the throne. His name was Ptolemy V Epiphanes. Well, this was the perfect opportunity for Antiochus the Great to launch a second invasion into the coastal region of Syria, which he did. And as prophesied, he had, quote, "a great army and much equipment." And he had acquired this from his other campaigns that he had been doing in the intervening years in the eastern regions of his domain as far as the Caspian Sea, even to the border of India. So now with an even greater army, and even more equipment than before he launches his attack.

Verse 14, "'Now in those times, many will rise up against the king of the South,'" referring to Ptolemy. And he says, "'The violent ones among your people,'" speaking to Daniel now, I mean, the violent ones among the Jews "'will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down.'" And we know historically that some of the pro Seleucid Jews who were tired of being subjugated by Egypt by the Ptolemies, join forces with Antiochus, to fight against Egypt. Plus, they were tired of being in this No Man's Land in Israel. That's where all these battles are fought, right? They're tired of everybody from the north and the south, they come along, and where did they fight? Right there in their land. They were tired of all that. So they decided to throw in with Antiochus. But it says in verse 14, "they will fall," down literally, in the Hebrew, but they shall stumble, probably a reference to the Jews who were not able to rid themselves of these warring kingdoms, or free themselves from their tyranny, because all of this just continued to go on. And interestingly enough, in many ways, it's still happening today.

Verse 15, "'Then the king of the North,'" who was Antiochus, "'will come, cast up a siege ramp will capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops.'" Now bear in mind, siege warfare was common in those days, you can go to the Near East today, in Israel, for example, and you can see remnants of siege warfare, the enemy would come in, they would build rather large wall around the whole perimeter of the city, while everybody's watching, in a way to communicate to the people that there is no escape. And they would do this with rocks. And then they would find the best place to begin to build a mound, little by little to go up until they could finally breach the walls. And this might take a couple of years. But when you have 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of troops, like little ants, they keep doing that until finally they conquer the city. That's what happened. Now, he speaks here of capturing this "well-fortified city and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops.'" And this is interesting. This is a reference to three prominent Egyptian generals, Eropus, Menocles, and Damoxenus,who were sent by Egypt to relieve Sidon and hopefully free them from this siege that was about to destroy them. But it says "'for they will be no strength to make a stand.'" And as predicted Antiochus soundly defeated Ptolemy V at the Battle of Panium near Mount Hermon and captured the city of Sidon.

So now with Syria in his control, this put an end to the Ptolemaic rule in Palestine. Verse 16, "'But he who comes against him will do as he pleases.'" Again, Antiochus was able to do anything he wanted to impose his will upon the Egyptians and their territories, including Palestine. And it says, "'and no one will be able to withstand him, he will also stay for a time in the Beautiful Land,'" referring to the promised land, the land of of Israel, "'with destruction in his hand.'" And indeed in 198, BC, Antiochus ruled over the promised land. But notice what the angelic messenger goes on to predict.

Verse 17, "'He,'" Antiochus, "'will set his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace which he will put into effect, he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it.'" You see Antiochus, we know historically, wanted to control all of Egypt, but not through a military invasion, and through military force. And now that he had all the control of Palestine and other eastern territories, he was in a great position to negotiate from a position of strength with Egypt. Furthermore, Antiochus, we know, was planning at that time on attacking Rome. And the last thing he needed is to have the Egyptians rise up and cause trouble. So he's got to do something to kind of calm things down and make sure that his rule was being affected there. So he sent his daughter, Cleopatra I, to marry Ptolemy V in 197 BC, as part of this peace treaty with Egypt. Now there was a bit of a problem here in 197 BC, Ptolemy was only 10 years old. So the marriage did not take place until 193 BC. I mean, let's wait till he's 14 right? And then then you can get married. However, Antiochus had another motive for sending his daughter and that was to get her in the family so that she could spy and help promote Syrian interests in the Ptolemaic family. But notice verse 17, there at the end, "'but she will not take a stand for him or be on his side.'" Indeed, she did not go along with the plan, she actually assimilated very well into the family even assisted them. In fact, Egypt even ended up assisting the Romans when Antiochus fought against them.

Verse 18, "'Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many.'" And we know that happened, Antiochus launched a successful campaign in the Aegean region, which would have been the countries on the Mediterranean Sea, including the islands there. He conquered all of them, a substantial portion of Asia Minor, and Greece. "'But a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him.'" Moreover, "'he will repay him for his scorn.'" And this commander was the Roman General Lucius Cornelius Scipio. He was commissioned by Rome to stop Antiochus, which he did. Antiochus had bragged about how he was going to conquer all of Greece. But in 191 BC, he was driven from his stronghold in Thermopylae, and the next year, he was defeated at Magnesia and Lydia of Asia Minor. And finally in 188 BC, in utter humiliation, he was forced into a peace treaty with Rome. And he had to relinquish all of his territory in Asia Minor and give it to the Romans.

Verse 19, "'So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more.'" That's exactly what happened. He returned to his own land having lost all that he had gained. However, his own land included all of Syria, all of Palestine, all of Mesopotamia, all of Babylon, all of what is around the middle Persian realm, and we know that he was killed while seeking to rob the Temple of Bel in Elam, Persia. So much for Antiochus III the Great.

Verse 20, "'Then in his place one will arise who will send an oppressor.'" The Hebrew concept of that word oppressor, refers to one who forces others to do something, especially pay taxes. "'Than in his place one will arise who will send an oppressor through the Jewel of his kingdom,'" referring to Palestine, "'yet within a few days, he will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.'" Now, this is a reference to Seleucus IV Philopater, son and successor of Antiochus the Great. Here's what went on then, because his father had drained all of the treasury to do all of these wars and because he owed Rome annual payment of 1000 talents, he had to get money from somewhere. So he sends a guy named Heliodorus, to seize the funds of the temple in Jerusalem. That's a great place to go get money. And according to Second Maccabees three, Maccabees or non-canonical Jewish writings detailing Jewish history. According to the Second Maccabees three, this attempt was thwarted by the appearance at the temple of a divine apparition. Let me read you some of that old ancient history to give you a sense of what happened according to the historians. "When he had arrived at Jerusalem and had been kindly welcomed by the high priest of the city, he told about the disclosure that had been made and stated why he had come, and he inquired whether this really was the situation. The high priest explained that there were some deposits belonging to widows and orphans, and also some money of Heranicus, a son of Tobias, a man of very prominent position, and that it totaled in all 400 talents of silver and 200 of gold. To such an extent the pious Simon had misrepresented the facts. And he said that it was utterly impossible that wrong should be done to those people who had trusted in the holiness of the place, and in the sanctity and inviolability of the temple that is honored throughout the whole world. But Heliodorus, because of the orders he had from the king said that this money must in any case be confiscated for the king's treasury. So he set a day and went in to direct the inspection of these funds. There was no little distress throughout the whole city. The priests prostrated themselves before the altar in their priestly vestments and called toward heaven upon him who had given the law about deposits, that he should keep them safe for those who had deposited them. To see the appearance of the high priest was to be wounded at heart for his face and the change in his color, disclosed the anguish of his soul, for terror and bodily trembling had come over the man which plainly showed to those who looked at him, the pain lodged in his heart. People also hurried out of their houses in crowds to make a general supplication because the Holy Place was about to be brought into dishonor. Women girded with sackcloth, under their breasts thronged the streets, some of the young men who were kept indoors ran together to the gates and some to the walls, while others peered out of windows, and holding up their hands to heaven, they all made supplication. There was something pitiable in the prostration of the whole populace and the anxiety of the high priest in his great anguish. While they were calling upon the Almighty Lord, that he would keep what he what had been entrusted safe and secure, for those who had entrusted it, Heliodorus went on with what had been decided. But when he arrived at the Treasury with his bodyguard, then and there, the sovereign of spirits, and of all authority, caused so great a manifestation that all who had been so bold as to accompany him, were astounded by the power of God and became faint with terror. For there appeared to them a magnificently caparisoned horse." Caparisoned is an old word, it means equipped, it means decked out with rich ornamentation and decoration and that type of thing. "With a rider of frightening mean, and it rushed furiously at Heliodorus and struck him with its fernet hooves. Its rider was seen to have armor and weapons of gold. Two young men also appeared to him remarkably strong, glorious, beautiful and splendidly dressed, who stood on either side of him and flogged him continuously, inflicting many blows on him. When he suddenly fell to the ground and deep darkness came over him, his men took him up, put him on a stretcher, and carried him away. This man who had just entered the aforesaid treasury, with a great retinue, and all his bodyguard was now unable to help himself, they recognize clearly the sovereign power of God." End quote. Now, it's all that true? We're not sure, this is what the historians tell us. But something happened and we know that Heliodorus returned home empty handed, and later on, we know that he assassinated Seleucus Philopater, as prophesied.

Notice verse 20. "Yet within a few days, he,'" Seleucus Philopater, "'will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.'" So after a short 11 year reign, Seleucus died mysteriously, apparently through poisoning. Another historian tells us that his son, Demetrius Sotar, had been taken hostage to Rome, when Heliodorus, his Prime Minister, evidently sought the throne for himself and committed this act.

But notice verse 21, "In his place,'" referring to Seleucus Philopater, "'a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come at a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.'" And folks, this leads us to our fourth point in the little outline that referring to Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

Let me just introduce this briefly in closing this morning. Following the death of Seleucus IV, his brother, Antiochus IV seizes the throne illegally, from the son of his murdered brother, this Demetrius Soter, who was still held hostage by the Romans and the new king adopted the name Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 175 BC. Epiphanes means glorious. He had to have his own name. Though he was a relatively obscure monarch in the ancient Near East, who, by the way, only ruled for nine years in the days and the decline of the Syrian power and the rise of Rome in the West. He was certainly Satan's emissary. Commissioned to inflict enormous casualties on God's covenant people. And his bitter persecution of the Jews ended up fueling the Maccabean Revolt resulting in heavy Jewish casualties, resulting in the defilement of the temple and the altar. And he therefore typifies the coming Antichrist whose diabolical reign and ruin are described later on in verses 36 and following. In fact, folks and Daniel 11:31, as well as 12:11, Daniel mentions the, quote, "abomination of desolation." Persecution of Israel committed by Antiochus Epiphanes. And we'll get into that the next time we get together on this. But likewise, Jesus referred to this important event. First spoken of in Daniel, Jesus speaks of this in his Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 15, we read, "'Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, that those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.'" Later on in verses 21 through 22, he warns of this coming period, as "Great Tribulation upon Israel upon the world." This is what's coming. It is a time of tribulation without parallel in human history. He went on there to say, "'For then, there will be great tribulation, such has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.'" Hope you understand Jesus expects a literal fulfillment of this prophecy, consistent with the literal fulfillment of Daniel's prophecies, concerning the abomination of desolation committed by Antiochus Epiphanes.

I might add that I believe with all my heart, Jesus expects a literal fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies. So because of the unique parallels, beginning in verse 21, the rise of Antiochus IV Epiphanes occupies a lot of space in this chapter. In fact, it is a major section in this entire prophetic revelation which we will examine in our next exposition of this passage.

Well, friends, I hope you are awestruck by the accuracy of God's word. I hope that if nothing else, you will be further committed to study the Word, to see its absolute power, that a sovereign God has given this to us. Again, 135 detailed prophetic statements that were fulfilled literally. And why would he give all of this to Daniel, and ultimately to us? To demonstrate the sovereignty of God, the veracity of Scripture, the horrors of sin, the rule of Satan; to demonstrate God's faithfulness to his covenant promises and to help us anticipate the glory of Christ's avenging justice. So given all this, dear friends, may I ask you, what is your attitude towards God? Towards his word, towards his Son, our Savior and King, the Lord Jesus Christ? What is your attitude? Is he the sovereign creator? Sustainer, Redeemer concentrator of all things? Or is he just a myth? Is he some smiley face Santa Claus that is kind of stingy, but you can learn how to manipulate him so he will hand out the goodies? Is that who he is? Friends, I hope you can see from the Word of God that he is indeed our Creator, our sovereign God. And that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, all sufficient Word of the living God. It is not a book of myths. I hope it's your spiritual authority because if it's not, what is? Is it culture, is it your own ideas? Is it the foolishness of man or the wisdom of God? Well, I hope it's the latter and not the former. Because someday, all of us will see him face to face. And as I say, you will either see him in terror or in triumph. Remember that. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for your Word that speaks so powerfully to all of us who have been given the ears to hear. And we know, as always, that your Word will either harden or soften hearts. Lord, I beg you that it will be the latter and not the former. You've told us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. And certainly we've been given much of that here today. I pray that you will help us to grab hold of the great truths that you have given us with respect to your sovereignty, your holiness, and to your ultimate plan of redemption. That we might live consistently with these truths, and that others might see Christ in us, the hope of glory. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.