I trust that we haven't had too much of Daniel just yet. Tonight we will conclude our studies in the book of Daniel. And so if you have your copy of the scriptures, I invite you to turn to Daniel 11. We're going to read together from verse 36 through to the end of the chapter. For those of you who were not here in our adult Sunday school class this morning, we spent time working through Daniel 11, 2 to 35. If you're interested in receiving a copy of the notes of that particular class, please see me afterwards. We do have some extra copies, but tonight we're picking it up in Daniel 11 verse 36. Then the king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every God shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished. For what has been determined shall be done. He shall regard neither the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any God, for he shall magnify himself above them all. But in their place he shall honor a God of fortresses, and a God which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign God. which he shall acknowledge and advance its glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many and divide the land of Borghene. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown, But these shall escape from his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Amun. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. Also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him, Therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas of the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end and no one will help him. At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the word. and seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. Then I, Daniel, looked, and there stood two others, one on this river bank and the other on that river bank. And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be? Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when He held up His right hand and His left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time. And when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, My Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And He said, Go your way, Daniel. For the words are closed up. and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly. None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1290 days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the 1,335 days. But you, go your way till the end, for you shall rest and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days. Amen. Let us turn to God and ask for His help tonight as we come to this portion of His Word. Father, we are so thankful for the life of Daniel, And we're so thankful for the book that bears His name, and for the things that it has to teach us, as your people upon whom the ends of the age have come. But, O our God, we know that we're in the most difficult part of His book. We're in the most difficult part to understand what it is You have revealed to Him. And even His own testimony says that He did not understand all that You showed Him. And we come to You tonight, Father, humbling ourself before you, recognizing our own fallibility, recognizing our own need of your spirit to help us in this portion of your word. And even though, Father, we will not fully understand all that is in these verses, we ask you to help us to understand sufficient that which you would want us to understand at this time in our own spiritual walk, that we might live by the things that your word teaches. Give us the help of your Spirit, Lord. Write your truth upon our hearts, for Jesus' sake. Amen. The subject of prophecy is controversial. It's also very popular. It's also a subject that has been greatly abused and misused in the history of the Church. People use prophetic portions of the Word of God to make God's Word say all sorts of interesting and fanciful things. And people have acted very foolishly down through the centuries based on erroneous prophetic interpretations. It seems that in the 20th century and the early 21st century, We're not really any different from the generations that have gone before us. Perhaps we're worse, because there's no doubt that prophetic scripture has been greatly misused and abused, and some have used it to make much money. Others have used it to say things that are clearly not in consistency with the whole counsel of God. Tonight we come to a portion that is prophetic Scripture. That is to say, for Daniel, it was God showing him things yet future in his purpose. The portion that we looked at this morning in our Adult Sunday School class was prophetic Scripture for Daniel. It had not yet come to pass. He was being shown the future. God was drawing back the curtain somewhat and showing him things that were yet to come. He was doing it by way of vision. He was doing it by way of revelation to Daniel, and Daniel undoubtedly did not understand everything that God said. And that brings me comfort and help as I come to you tonight with a very difficult portion of the Word of God to explain. And right at the outset, I want to tell you that I don't understand it all. And I'm not going to pretend that I do. And I'm not going to try and make it say things that I would like it to say. just in order to impress you that I somehow or another have got some deep insights into things that really I don't have and that I would be foolish to try and pretend to have. With that introduction, however, I do want to say that I do think we can draw out from this portion of God's Word, this concluding section, the end of the book of Daniel, significant things for us as the people of God living in the 21st century. And as I then have approached this sermon tonight, I've broken it into three sections, Daniel 11, 36 through 45, Daniel 12, verses 1 through 3, and Daniel 5, 12, 5 through 13. And as we then would work our way through this passage this evening and come to understand some things and freely admit other things that are difficult we don't understand, I want then at the end to draw it together by way of some application to your heart. The first section in Daniel 11, 36-45 follows on from the section that we looked at this morning, Daniel 11, 2-35. And it's perhaps the most difficult part of the whole of the book to understand. And again, I've been greatly comforted in the fact that as one who came to his Bible this week, looking to the Spirit of God for guidance, and then turned to other men who have also studied these things, who are greater scholars in Hebrew and Aramaic than I am, I was thankful to see that they also testified to what I found out. This is hard to comprehend. This is not easy to understand. E.J. Young in his commentary on Daniel, which I believe is one of the best available, gives seven, even eight possible interpretations. that men have held down through the centuries regarding who is in the frame in Daniel 11, 36-45. For me it seems that it is not Antiochus Epiphanes IV. But I freely confess to you in saying that, it's difficult to understand the vision that God is showing Daniel here in regards to what we've already seen this morning. However, I do say it with a measure of confidence in this sense that these events do not fit the life of Antiochus Epiphanes IV. He did not conduct himself in exactly the way it's recorded here. He certainly did not die the way it's recorded here. He certainly had nothing to do with Edom, Moab, and Ammon because those nations didn't exist in his day. So for me, I'm settled on the fact that this is not Daniel seeing Antiochus IV Epiphanes going on into history. But what exactly is it that Daniel is seeing here? Well, I do believe that we need to understand a couple of things before we try to identify what's in view here. First of all, we're looking at prophecy. We're looking at apocalyptic literature. We're looking at Daniel seeing a vision of that which is yet future, and God is showing him it in terms of a, almost like a, if you imagine in modern terms, a movie kind of situation in his mind. He's seeing these things revealed to him in his mind, but he's not actually seeing them physically in life. This is a vision that God is showing him. So we have to be careful. Because when God shows us visions, when God shows his people dreams, very often there is symbolism involved. Very often certain things are representing other things. And we've got to be careful as we look at these things. And when Daniel received this vision, if we're to understand it the way that it's been historically interpreted by the church, and I freely admit to you tonight, I'm not certain that this is true. But I'm happy to put my feet here at the moment because it's the only light that I have. If we're to understand it here, what is actually happening for Daniel is this. That God is now beginning to move beyond the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. And to merge in the mind of Daniel the purpose of God not at the time when in 168 BC Antiochus IV would come up to Jerusalem and do what we saw this morning, try to crush Israel, but rather beyond that to the end of the world, to the end of time when God would again allow another to rise up, the Antichrist, to come and seek to crush the church. And it's as though, as Daniel sees this vision, he sees Antiochus as the final one at the end of 1-6-8. Crossing through that character, God now starts to reveal something further in history. He starts to show him that there's another will come. One who is beyond Antiochus. Antiochus is but a type for the people of God of that which is yet to come at the end of the age when all hell breaks loose on the people of God and seeks to crush it in the person of the Antichrist. Now if we take that position, and that's where my feet are at the moment, you're free to disagree with me, you're free to give me your interpretation, I'd love to hear it. Here's what we learn about the Antichrist that is being now revealed to Daniel towards the end of the age. And why else have I taken this position? Because of what comes in 12, 1 through 3. What is in view in 12, 1 through 3 has to be interpreted as the end of the world. Because here is the resurrection. Here is final judgment. So as God is revealing to Daniel events yet future, close and far away, he takes Antiochus, the Epiphanies, the fourth, as the prism through which Daniel's eyes go to that character, that personality who's coming at the end of the world, the end of the age, who will seek to crush the people of God and true religion once and for all, but as we'll see, will not succeed. And notice, Five things that will characterize the Antichrist, if that is who is in view here, in Daniel 11. First of all, he will set himself up in opposition to God. Verse 36, Then the king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished, for what has been determined shall be done. Antiochus Epiphanes was similar to this, but not exactly the same, but certainly was a type of this. But if we're taking this as God now beginning to show something else to Daniel by way of this man being a type, then what we see here is that the Antichrist, the one who will be the final personification of opposition to the people of God, he will set himself up in absolute direct opposition to the God of heaven. In verse 37, we also read, secondly, that he will exalt himself above all else. He shall regard neither the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any God, for he shall magnify himself above them all. Verse 39, we see that he shall also grow in his power and in his influence. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge and advance its glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain." So this personification of evil, this antichrist will come and he will grow in power and influence in the world. Verse 40 says that he will engage in conflict. And here it seems that the Lord takes up the imagery that Daniel could identify with, that he's already used earlier in the prophecy. The king of the south shall attack him. The king of the north shall come against him. There will be conflict with this particular character, this particular individual. But in verse 45, we read that there shall be defeat for this individual. I hope you managed to answer that, whoever's phone that was, by the way. Thanks for putting it off. "...and he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end and no one will help him." Now I want you to turn, with those things in mind, recognizing that this is a hard passage to understand, and with those things in mind regarding the character involved here, turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 just for a minute. 2 Thessalonians 2, I want to read to you what Paul reveals to the Christians in his day. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we also agree will come at the end of the world, will come at the day of judgment, will come at the day of resurrection, as it's described in the scriptures. We ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first. The man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, notice what Paul says, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? I've told you them already. I'm just telling you them again, because you might be forgetting them. You're being shaken by false teaching regarding the second coming. I'm just reminding you of the order of God's events, Paul says. Verse 6, And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming." And then turn across to Revelation. The book of Revelation, and to the 20th chapter, verse 7. Now in this particular vision that God is showing to John on the Isle of Patmos, He speaks to him regarding a thousand year reign. I believe that thousand year reign is a symbolic period of time that God has set. I do not believe in a literal millennium. You are at liberty to disagree with me on that. Bring your Bible and we can discuss it. Verse 7. Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. and will go out to deceive the nations which are on the four corners of the earth." Gog and Magog, that's Old Testament language for certain geographical areas. "...to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth." Now notice the language, "...and surrounded the camp of the saints." and the beloved city. I don't believe this is literally Jerusalem. I believe this is, symbolically speaking, of the Church of Christ and the evil forces of Satan and his masses coming against true and saving religion. That's my understanding. Again, you're at liberty to disagree on these matters and I don't have any problem with that. These are not easy things to understand. And fire came down from God out of the heavens and devoured them. So here is the imagery that's been given to us Back in Daniel 11, regarding this personality who's going to rise up and put himself in the place of God, who's going to rise up and exalt himself, who's going to extend his power, who's going to camp against the people of God and make it his purpose to destroy them. Here we see in 2 Thessalonians 2 the same imagery used by Paul. Here John has the same things revealed to him. That what we're seeing here, I believe, best I understand it with the light I have at the moment, that Daniel is being shown by God, not simply events up to 168 BC when Antiochus Epiphanes will come up and do some great damage to the Jews in Israel at that time, but beyond that to the final conflict, the final day, the final time when there will be an effort made to destroy again the people of God by that which is the personification of evil, otherwise known as the Antichrist. Now with that said, move secondly to consider verses 1-3 of chapter 12. At that time, at what time? At the time that the Antichrist is destroyed. At the time that God steps in to rescue his people from utter annihilation. At that time, Michael shall stand up. The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time, and at that time your people shall be delivered. At the time of the destruction of the Antichrist, there will also be the deliverance of the people of God. Everyone who is found written in the book, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. I believe that what we have here is the final day in view, the day of the Lord, the coming of the Messiah a second time to judge the nations. And there are three things to notice. First of all, it's all in God's hands. The angels are sent forth at this time. They bound the conflict. The devil and his forces can only do what God allows them to do. The angels are in control. God is working out. Michael stands up and steps in. And God steps forth in deliverance. So the final day will be in God's hands. It will be bounded by the Lord. It will be marked by tribulation. there will be terrible tribulation. The Bible says here, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. That is not a pleasant picture, but that's what the Bible says. It will be marked by tribulation and it will be marked by judgment. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Turn for a moment then to the New Testament. Marked by final glory as well. That verse 3 really marks final glory for us as the people of God. But turn for a moment to John chapter 5. Our Lord Jesus as He spoke of His coming and He spoke of the end of the age. He said this in John chapter 5 verse 20. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does. And He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son. But all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. That's a good text to use if a Jehovah's Witness comes to your door. Mark it in your Bible. John 5 verse 23. If a Jehovah's Witness comes to your door, say to them, well here's what my Bible says. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. And you don't honour the Son because you don't recognise him as God. And you need to recognise the need to repent of that and believe the Bible. It's a good text for a Mormon and a Jehovah's Witness. Just one verse. I say that just in passing. Verse 24, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Most assuredly, listen now, I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. That's spiritual resurrection. But notice, For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this! For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice, and come forth." Those who have done good, notice it's the same language as Daniel. Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life. Those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. There's only one resurrection, it's a general resurrection. It has two parts, but it only has one resurrection. But notice, that's the testimony of Jesus. Turn to the testimony of Paul. Again, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. You might wonder, where are a lot of these references in Thessalonians? Well, one of the Thessalonian problems was they were being shaken by false teaching regarding the second coming. They've got a hold of some wrong doctrine, some false doctrine. So Paul is just simply refocusing them with regards to a proper understanding of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in particular, notice in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 what the Apostle Paul says. Verse 13. The desire of every pastor for his people. I do not want you to be ignorant brethren. Notice there's a comma. He doesn't want you to be ignorant brethren. He wants you to be not ignorant forever. Concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself, now notice this, will descend from heaven with a shout But what else? With the voice of an archangel. Who? Michael. Could it be? The angels will be involved. And with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall be always with the Lord. Paul. teaches us clearly that at the end of the age, the angels will be involved in the coming of Jesus. He also teaches us that it will be marked by judgment. judgment that will bring forth those who have died in Christ to the resurrection of the just. He's dealing with that exclusively at that point, so there's no need to mention the resurrection of the wicked. His focus isn't there, so don't try and read into it something that you don't have to. He's dealing with Christians, he's dealing with a view of a Christian resurrection, the issue of the wicked and their resurrection he doesn't address because it's not in his focus at that particular point as he writes that. And so as we look at this, we see then that the end of the age will be marked by the very things that Daniel is shown in Daniel 12, 1 through 3. Turn again to the book of Revelation, so that we get a fuller picture of the whole counsel of God. Revelation chapter 20. Notice what it says. 11 Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great. How do you see the dead? Because they've been raised up, that's it. Standing before God, and books were opened. There it is, there's books going to be opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the book. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. So here we have John, and what does he see in his vision? Resurrection unto judgment, books being opened. What do we see in Daniel? The very same thing. Daniel is seeing the end of the world. The end of the age. It will be marked by the fact that it is in God's hands, that His angels will be bounding all that is happening. It will be marked by tribulation, trouble. It will be marked by judgment, but it will be marked by final glory. Notice what John says in Revelation chapter 21, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea than I, John, saw the holy city. New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. A bride adorned for her husband. One who is going to obviously be bright and beautiful. Attractive. The very imagery that Daniel uses in Daniel chapter 12. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them, and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." Brothers and sisters, God is showing Daniel the end of the world. When's that going to take place? I've got no idea. And neither do you, by the way. Jesus said, no man knows the day nor the hour. But the fact is going to happen, I'm absolutely certain of it. Because the Bible says so. And after that study this morning on the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, you can be sure as the Ptolemies and the Seleucids existed, the end of the world is coming. Absolutely certain. And so here's Daniel, this old saint, probably almost 90 years old at this point. God is revealing to him something beyond intertestamental history that we looked at this morning. He's going beyond that. He's going to the end of the world. And he's showing them something of the future beyond these things. And he comes then in verse 4. to the end of the prophecy. That's it. That's the revelation. That's the vision. But it's not the end of the interaction between Daniel and God. This is quite interesting, this little end section. What I'm calling the final things of the book. Why do I say that? Because there's so many different things here that it's impossible to break them up other than the way I've done it. There are at least seven things I want you to notice here quickly as we move through this. Notice what happens. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and sealed the book until the time of the end. It was cultural practice in those days that when someone wrote a book or someone received some kind of revelation, they would put it in scrolls, they would seal it up and at least one copy would be placed in the libraries of the time. Wonderful thing to have, especially as we come up to the Christmas period and wonder, how did the wise men end up in Jerusalem? But that's for another Sunday. But notice, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. Then I, Daniel, looked, and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank. Remember, he's at the Tigris. There's a man on this riverbank, there's a man on this riverbank. And one said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters, there's another figure in the middle of the river. He's on the water, he's above the water, supernaturally. How long shall the fulfilment of these wonders be? See, that's the question, isn't it? Everybody wants to know. When's it going to happen? Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times and half a time. And when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. Now notice, there's a directive first of all. Daniel, shut up the words of the prophecy, that's the prophecy finished. I've shown you all I'm going to show you. Record it, and keep it. But there's imagery as well, the imagery of these men in the river, in the riverbank, and this character over the river, hovering above the river. Daniel sees it in his vision, and this particular character raises up his two hands, one right hand, one left hand into the sky, And what do we know about that? We know that Old Testament imagery teaches us he has something solemn to promise. This is the imagery of a solemn oath about to be made. So there's not only directive and imagery, there's solemnity, but there's also revelation regarding when it will happen. Time, times and half a time. If anybody knows what that means, please let me know. I just simply believe it means there's a set time for it all. set time. God doesn't tell Daniel and he doesn't tell us. He just says time, times, half the time. But he also does say when the strength of the people has been completely shattered, there is my own perspective on this, my own belief on this, that it will be when evil is at its height and truth is at its lowest ebb. And I believe that's consistent with the analogy of faith right through the word of God. Times will wax worse and worse. Times will get more difficult for true believers until the coming of the Messiah. We might find that discouraging. I don't personally find it discouraging. It's just reality. The world that we live in, it ain't getting any better. The evolution is still telling us it's getting better. Man's getting better. We know man's getting worse. Man is wicked by nature. So we have then this inquiry in verse 8 as God reveals these things to Daniel as he closes the prophecy of although I heard I did not understand you see that's why I say you know what time times and time again is all about let me know because Daniel didn't understand it and God doesn't explain it to us. My Lord what shall be the end of these things? Reminded me when I looked at this of the time of the apostles when they said to the Lord, and how shall we know about the restoration of Israel? And Jesus says to them, it's not for you to know. I'm not going to tell you anymore. What does God say to Daniel? Go your way, Daniel. I'm showing you no more. For the words are closed up and sealed to the end of the time of the end. Daniel, there is finality with what I've shown you. I'm not showing you anymore. That's it, Daniel. You may want to ask. Your curiosity is undoubtedly getting the better of you. You want to inquire. Don't start speculating. That's it. What I've shown you, I've shown you. What you understand, you understand. What you don't understand, I am not going to explain any more at this time. Simply trust Me. But He does tell them they'll be purging. Many shall be purified, made white and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." Daniel, at the end of the age, there will be a purifying. There will be a separating out of the true people of God and the false. Turn for a moment to Matthew 24. In Matthew chapter 24, notice what we read here. Then if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ, or there, do not believe it, for false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. That indicates to me that it is not possible for the elect to be deceived, finally. We can be deceived for a season, but not finally. It will not be possible eventually for the elect to be deceived. But Jesus warns that there will be much attempts to deceive us, much attempts to draw us away from truth. We must beware. And there will therefore be a purifying, there will be a purging, there will be a sifting take place at the end of the age between the true elect of God, the true believers in the Gospel, and the false. And then in verses 11 and 12, I quote Stuart Elliot, I've got no idea what it means. I'm absolutely certain you don't either. And therefore, I'm not going to make any comment on it. And that's good enough for me, because I have to confess I have no idea what, at this point, Daniel's shown here. But I know this. The book closes with comfort for Daniel. But you, Daniel, go your way till the end. Press on. Persevere. In all the things I've shown you, Daniel, the things you understand, the things you don't understand, you keep trusting me, for you shall rest and will arise to your inheritance. at the end of the days. Final things of the book close with a word of comfort to the old saint never to return to Jerusalem on earth he would soon be in the heavenly Jerusalem having fought the good fight, having kept the faith, having seen things yet future that he didn't fully understand. Now what does that have to say to us tonight brothers and sisters as we look at this conclusion of the book of Daniel well two initial things I want to say first of all prophecy is not easy to understand and I have to confess to you that it disturbs me how easy some people try to make it they make it say things that are to try and fit into their system to justify their system we all have systems But we have to be honest and say that none of us have perfect systems of understanding. If you think you've got a perfect system of understanding, you are completely deceived. Daniel himself admits he didn't understand everything that God showed him. It's not foolishness to say, I don't understand. It's honesty. And prophecy is not easy to grasp. And so what I want to say to you is this. Don't speculate on the hard parts of prophecy and make it try to say things that God never intended it to say. If after 2,000 years of church history Men have come up with hundreds of different interpretations. Be very careful in the dark and difficult passages. But stick to what is clear and hold fast to what you definitely know is consistent with the analogy of faith. And the rest of it, leave it to the Lord. And humbly say, Lord, I just don't know. I don't know. It troubles me. In modern evangelicalism, in North America particularly, there are men writing books making a fortune on vain speculations about the Lord's return and I warn you as your pastor don't get sucked into that stuff it will dry your soul up like a prune and you will not function faithfully in this wicked world you'll spend your time in vain speculations wasting your time reading books that men have made up And you'll neglect the one book that will nourish your soul. You say, how do you know that? Well, I remember in my earlier days, all the issue, 1984, I remember it. There was a book came out. Barcodes on bean tins. Notice the gap? 6, 6, 6 is going to be put in there. And people got bogged down in all this stuff. And they spent time speculating on it. And books were being written. And people who were genuinely loving the Lord, they got sidetracked, up an alley as it were, and they went nowhere spiritually. Be very careful that you don't allow prophecy to absorb you and preoccupy you to the point where all you're really doing is engaging in vain speculation that does not in any way serve practical godliness in your life. It's good to know what's ahead as best God has revealed it. But we do not understand at all. You know every generation has had an antichrist. I remember reading one time that Henry Kissinger was an antichrist. Those of you will know more about his politics than I do. I just know he was your foreign secretary or something at one time and there were people going around saying that. I've read in other places Anwar Sadat was antichrist. Adolf Hitler was antichrist. Saddam Hussein was antichrist. And of course the most famous one is the Pope of Rome as the Antichrist. Most Spurgeon said, at least arrest him on suspicion. And that may well be. I'm not prepared to say he's the Antichrist. Undoubtedly he is Antichrist, but I'm not so sure about the the Antichrist, the final embodiment of this person. But what am I going to say tonight by way of closing application? Well, it's simply this, brothers and sisters, I only have one point. Are you ready for the end of the world? Are you ready for the end of the world? Now, we can look at that from two perspectives. The end of the world might be for you tonight, on the way home, in a car wreck. Your world is over. Death has come. Are you ready for death? Are you ready to face God? Are you ready to stand before the Creator? of the universe and give an account for your life. If you're not, then you should be scared. There should be fear in your heart, because when you die without Christ, you will be cast into eternal punishment. You'll be held there until the final day of resurrection, when you shall be raised up, not for the resurrection of the just, but for the resurrection of the unjust and the wicked. You'll be given a body, not to fit you for eternal heaven, but to fit you for eternal hell. Now I don't know what that body is going to be like, but the very thought of it scares me. A body that you will have to live with all the rest of existence, that will have to suffer punishment, eternal torment. That is a fearful thing. And the only way of escape that you have from that eternal destruction is the way that I preach this morning to you, that I preach again to you, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He freely offers you salvation from sin. He freely offers you redemption from sin. If you will but come to Him and trust in Him and believe in Him, you will be saved. So that if it so happens that tonight you go home, and you die in a car wreck. If your hope is found in Jesus Christ and Him crucified for you it will be absent from the body but present with the Lord. That's the great hope you see that we have. You see this world is coming to an end. We don't know when. We don't fully understand how. But we know sufficient from the word of God to know it's going to happen. It will be marked by more and more evil as we get closer to that day. There will be persecution for the people of God on a scale never seen before. But final victory will come because King Jesus will burst in through the clouds in all his glory and he'll crush his enemies once and for all. But brothers and sisters, we need to be prepared for that. We live in free America. Praise God for that. But we don't know how long we're going to have that freedom. We don't know how long we're going to be able to do what we're doing in this place the way we do it on such a regular basis. Some of us don't like change. I tell you, if that change comes, we really will know who doesn't like change. We can't even get into our building to worship God, that we worship in secret cells, in houses with locations that only we are told of. You say, oh, that seems... Go to China. Go to China. Go to Cambodia. Go to Laos. Go to North Korea. These are the kind of things that the people of God are already enduring, already suffering. It's not so long ago, a few centuries back where this was going on in Europe. Because antichrists are out there to destroy the true gospel. And there's coming a day. when there will be one final personification of all these other Antichrists in the past who will come and not understand how it's all going to happen but it's all going to happen and he's going to start to seek to stamp out systematically true Christianity I don't think it's Osama Bin Laden but he's certainly not too happy about Christianity he certainly could be seen as some kind of personification of Antichrist However it's all going to come together, I'm not prepared to speculate on it because I just simply don't know. Brothers and sisters, we need to recognize evil days are ahead for the people of God. And that means we need to be prepared for it. That means that we must be growing in grace and in our knowledge of God. I sat this week in my study as I prepared this and I thought to myself, okay, imagine someone came and took me to prison. They took away my Bible. They separated me from my family. They separated me from my church. They put me in a cell that was dark and dingy. And every so often they took me out and beat me up. And did a whole lot of more wicked things. Would my faith stand the test? And brothers and sisters, I honestly don't know. It would be arrogance for me to say, oh it will because I'm such a great believer. That thought is fearful to me. My flesh draws back. We saw William Tyndale, vividly portrayed on the Reformation night, going to the stake for the sake of Christ. Mercifully, he was strangled before he was burned. That was merciful. I don't know what it would be like to start to feel your flesh burning, start to feel your body being consumed by flames, but our forefathers did. for the sake of Christ. Brothers and sisters, we are fat, unfit, spiritual people at times. We indulge ourselves, we enjoy so many blessings, we don't know what hardship is. We talk about it, but we have no idea what it's like. I have no idea, brothers and sisters. I won't even pretend to start to pretend that I do. But I do know this. If these days are coming in our generation, we better be ready. memorizing the Word of God, because we may not have our Bible in our hand. Growing in prayer and in diligence, living perhaps with less, a lot less if we end up in jail with nothing, but able to hold our possessions loosely rather than tightly. Brothers and sisters, this is what the army of God must do in preparation for these things. We should be doing these things anyway, because this is a life of self-denial. Daniel was shown these things. Daniel knew something of them, didn't he? Because for him, the heavy good measure was the personification of Antichrist. He had witnessed at 15, the ransacking of Jerusalem, the tearing away of young men from their families, the pain of being in an exiled nation. Down through the centuries, cycle after cycle after cycle, that's the way it's been, brothers and sisters. For us, that's the way it may well be. We may get to heaven before it happens. It may be the way that takes us to heaven. We just honestly don't know. The issue is this, brothers and sisters, are you ready for that? Are you living your life in sacrifice for Christ? Or are we just simply playing at it? In all honesty, I look at my own life. A nice home, a lovely family, beautiful things. wonderful people to minister to. I think to myself, am I just playing at it? We were talking about this in the deacons meeting this afternoon. Brothers and sisters, blessing is not measured by what we have temporarily only. Primarily blessing is measured by what we are spiritually. That's how we measure blessing. And in this middle class affluent society that we live in and enjoy, we must be so careful that we don't measure spiritual blessing by what we have temporally, but that we measure it by what we are spiritually. Daniel teaches us that, does he not? All over the book of Daniel, all as we've looked at his life, what do we find? This man. He reached high places in the world. The courts of Nebuchadnezzar. High places in the courts of Babylon. But what was his primary goal? Glorify God. Stand for God in a wicked and perverse world. In Babylon, but not of Babylon. And brothers and sisters, that's the challenge to us. As we look to the end of the age, we don't know when it's going to come. We need to ask ourselves in all honesty, are we living the Christian life the way that God has called us to live it? Are we those who are prepared for days of hardship should God bring them upon us? Now don't misunderstand me. Don't anybody go away tonight and start selling all your furniture. Start selling your house. Start selling your clothes. Start selling your car. The pastor said we've got to prepare. Buy a cell. Start sleeping on the floor. Don't do anything silly like that. I'm not calling you to that. Bless God that we have what we have. But it's our hearts set on things above rather than the things below. That's the challenge. That's the challenge for me, brothers and sisters. That's the challenge for you. Because if our hearts are set on things above rather than on things below, no matter what comes at us by way of trials, afflictions, persecutions, you know what? We will be able to stand in the evil day. And so my call to you is this, brothers and sisters, like Daniel, Seek first the Kingdom of God. Make that your priority above all else. Where you need to do some adjusting, where you need to make some changes, where I need to make some changes, then try to God to give you the grace to do it. But if hardship comes, if a trial comes, if persecution comes, you're able to go through it faithfully for the glory of God. Daniel, came to the end of his days and he finished the race. The calling for us tonight is this. Will we finish the race faithfully? If trouble comes, will we be faithful to our Saviour above all else? It's a call to perseverance. It's a call to ongoing faithfulness. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone, if need be. May God help us, in the face of whatever God has in our generation, to be found faithful to Christ, faithful to the end. And on that final day, we'll hear those words, well done, good and faithful servant. Amen. Let's pray. Father, as we've trafficked in recent months through this wonderful book of Daniel, And we've looked at the life of a saint of old who speaks to us down through the centuries. Father, we thank you for his faith. We thank you for his courage. We thank you for his testimony. We thank you for the things that we have learned, O God, from the things you revealed to him regarding your purposes in the world. Surely, O God, we have beheld something of your glory and your majesty, something of your greatness and your power. And Father, tonight we pray that you would help us to be as Daniel was in his day, in the world but not of the world. Those who seek a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Father, we confess to you our spiritual flabbiness, We confess to you, Lord, our spiritual dullness and weakness. But we thank you, as we were reminded this morning, that you are able to strengthen our faith. You're able to lift our hearts and you are able to cause us to walk through the fires of affliction and trouble, as you've done with your saints of old. And if, Lord, you should bring these things upon us in our life, then, O God, we pray that you will find us faithful in our evil days. If not, Lord, if you continue to bless us with the prosperity that we enjoy, let us hold these things loosely, Lord. And let us set our hearts upon eternal things, spiritual things. That, O our God, when the final day comes for us and we leave this world, we'll be going to that place where our heart is set. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.