We're nearing the end of our study in the prophecy of Daniel. God has used this study week after week to keep anchoring the storm-tossed ship of our lives in the rock of his sovereignty. Trials beat us, and God keeps saying, I'm in control, I'm in control, take heart. We've learned, as Will just prayed, that God is over the most powerful government on earth, that God puts down and raises up leaders. God knows the future. He's leading the future to his goal, and God is with his people through every trial we experience between now and then. Daniel is just hammering over and over those truths like nails into the frame of our lives. God's in control. He knows the future, and he's with you through every trial. and we're gonna get it again this morning. Last week, we interrupted our study just a bit to go back to a very difficult passage, Daniel 9, the last four verses of that chapter. This week, we're gonna come back now and pick up where we left off, and we're gonna study the first 35 verses of Daniel 11. If you're using the hardcover Bibles that are provided at different points in the building, our scripture reading begins on page 701. The verses we look at today are unusual. They're difficult in a different sense than what we looked at last week. Here's how it's not difficult. Okay, Daniel 11 is not difficult in this way. Daniel is not difficult in that there's not tons of debate over what the 35 verses we look at today mean. Here's one way it is difficult. Unless you're really familiar with the history of ancient Greece, especially between the years 350 BC and 150 BC, which I'd guess is like less than 1% of us here, unless you're really familiar with that ancient history, this passage is gonna seem really complex, okay? That's one way it's complicated. But if you have A history textbook on ancient Greece, or if you have a study Bible that has notes at the bottom, it's not really complicated, okay? Here's the way Daniel 11 is most difficult for us to read and interpret. It's really hard to believe that this is prophecy. From our perspective, the prophecy is so detailed and so specific and so extensive, and it has been so perfectly fulfilled that many people, I would say most people, upon first reading of Daniel 11 say, there's no way that that could have been written before all of it happened. Let me give an illustration. Imagine if there was a news report today and someone said, there's a centuries-old document that's been discovered. It seems to have been written and it claims to have been written in 1600. And the document actually predicts that there's gonna be a few ships that cross an ocean westward. And settlers over there are going to form small but really strong alliances, and then they're actually going to end up fighting against their king and their homeland that's way east of that pond that they crossed. And then those small communities are going to form strong alliances, but they're going to be really strange because they're going to have a kingless government, and they're going to have constantly rotating leaders. And those allied communities over there out west are going to experience horrific civil war becoming the world's superpower. But that will only happen after two world wars. If you read a document like that today, that claimed to have been written in 1600, and the news is saying, there's a prophecy, what are all of us going to say as a knee-jerk? It's a forgery. It's a fake. It may be a really good fake. Most of us are going to assume it's a fake. The portion of God's Word that we're reading this morning, that we're mining for its treasure this morning, is the most extensive, detailed prophecy in the Old Testament that has been perfectly fulfilled. There is no other chapter like Daniel 11. It's so perfect in its prophecy that most people assume it must have been written after the events. But I wanna point out, just before we read it, that you have to remember the whole point of the prophecy of Daniel. The whole point of the prophecy of Daniel, including this chapter, is this. God claims to know history. He claims to know the end of history from the beginning of history. He claims to know the future, to control the future, and he is going to lead it to his intended conclusion. In other words, the whole prophecy of Daniel is intended to teach our God is sovereign. Daniel 11 kind of fits pretty perfectly and convincingly into that kind of message. Let's now read it. As I read, as I often do, I'm gonna make some brief explanatory comments regarding the history that's being described. You just need to get ready to hear lots and lots of strange names that you've never heard of and probably will never wanna hear of again. All right, the angel from chapter 10 is now speaking to Daniel and he's recounting what he was told a few years earlier. He says, as for me in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him, and now I will show you the truth. Behold, Daniel, three more kings shall arise in Persia. Those three kings, most people agree, are Cambyses, Pseudosmyrtas, and Darius I, all right? That happens within about 35 years of this message unfolding. I'm sorry, not 35 years, about 50 years. And then he says, middle of verse two, and a fourth shall be far richer, a fourth king of Persia shall be far richer than all of them, and when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. That is Persian king Xerxes I, also known as Ahasuerus, that Esther ends up marrying. Verse three, then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with a great dominion and will do as he wills. And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven. But it won't be to his children, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these. Now I'm gonna pick up with visuals here, and I am going to say, everyone agrees that verse three is describing Alexander the Great. He's one of the great military generals of human history. He was educated by Aristotle, became king when he was 20, basically conquered the entire world by the time he was 30, within 10 years. But then he suddenly, at age 32, prematurely died of some sickness. and his children didn't inherit his kingdom. Instead, his kingdom was broken up between his four military generals. The focus of this chapter is going to zero in on the two I've put at the center in blue and red. the kingdom of the South, which is especially focused in Egypt, and the kingdom of the North, which is especially focused in Syria. And the reason that these two are the focus is because Israel is smack dab in the middle of them. Israel becomes trampled between the militaries of the North and South kingdoms in the Grecian Empire. Verse five. then the king of the south shall be strong." That refers to Alexander's military general Ptolemy. But one of his princes, that's Alexander's general Seleucus, one of his generals, who's going to be referred to as the king of the north, will be stronger than he and will rule. and his authority shall be a great authority. And after some years, they'll make an alliance. And the daughter of the king of the South shall come to the king of the North to make an agreement. That's describing the marriage alliance between the North and South. In the North, that's gonna be Antiochus II. In the South, it's gonna be Ptolemy II. And the woman that's being talked about is Berenice. It happened just as predicted, a marriage alliance was formed in 252. So now we're about 200 years after Daniel. Okay, 250 years after Daniel. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure. But she shall be given up and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times. That seems a little bit general, but here's what that's describing. At the time of the marriage alliance, the king of the north was already married to a woman named Laodice. Laodice. The king of the south forced their divorce because he wanted to form this marriage alliance. But that king died soon after, the one who forced the marriage. And then Laodice went back to her former husband and remarried Antiochus, but out of revenge, she killed the new wife and a new son. The new son that was between them was assassinated, and she and her former husband, Antiochus, I'm sorry, her former husband died, and most people suspect that Laodice poisoned him because of what he had done. So she gets forced in a marriage to another person, the one who forced it dies. She goes back to the old one and basically gets rid of the other wife and the son and gets rid of the husband. Wow, that's being described in Daniel 11. And from a branch from her roots, one shall arise in his place. That's describing Ptolemy III. He shall come against the northern army, who's under Seleucus II, and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and prevail. He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold. Egypt's king, Ptolemy III, basically conquered and plundered Egypt that was under the rule of Seleucus II. Syria, he plundered Syria. See, I'm getting confused. And for some years, he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south, but return to his own land. Syria eventually tried to retaliate, but eventually gave up. All right, so we're in verse 10. His sons, that is the sons of the Syrian king up north, those two are Seleucus III and Antiochus III. Antiochus III is gonna be known as Antiochus the Great. These sons will wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress. Then the king of the south, that's Ptolemy IV in Egypt, will be moved with rage and shall come out and fight against the king of the north. The king of the north, Sirius Antiochus, shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. And when the multitude from Sirius' army is taken away, Ptolemy, his heart will be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, and yet he shall not prevail. Because, verse 13, the king of the north, that is Antiochus III, shall raise a multitude, He'll raise a multitude greater than the first, and after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies. What this is describing is that eventually the southern kingdom down there in Egypt is going to weaken, and the northern kingdom there in Syria is going to become dominant. Verse 14, in those times, many shall rise against the king of the south, that's in Egypt, and the violent among your own people, that is the Jews, shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fail. And then the king of the north, that's Antiochus the Great, shall come and throw up siege works and take a well-fortified city. I think that's describing Antiochus's defeat of Egypt. The year there is 198 BC. And the forces of the south in Egypt will not stand, they'll be conquered. Even his best troops, there will be no strength to stand. But he, I think talking about Antiochus the great, who comes against him will do as he wills and no one will be able to stand before him. And he will stand in the glorious land. That's a reference to Israel, the land of the Jews. with destruction in his hand. He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and shall perform them. And he shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. Antiochus tried to use his daughter Cleopatra. This is not the famous Cleopatra in movies. He tried to give his daughter Cleopatra to marry Ptolemy V. So there's trying to be another alliance between these two larger Greco-Grecian kingdoms. So he gives his daughter Cleopatra to Mary Ptolemy V in order to try to ruin him, the passage says. But what ends up happening is Cleopatra ends up loving her new husband and siding with him against her old father on the other side. So verse 18, afterward, he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander, this is now referring to a commander of the Roman army, shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him, then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and shall not be found. Ultimately, Rome is going to start defeating Antiochus III, Antiochus the Great. Verse 20, hang in there, we're over halfway through the reading. Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute, that is taxation, for the glory of the kingdom, but within a few days he'll be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. That's describing Seleucus IV. who inflicted heavy taxes on the people in order that he could pay tribute to the oppressor. And then he's going to die soon after, maybe by poison of one of the lead men who's inflicting taxes on the people. Verse 21, in his place, in Seleucus's place, shall arise a contemptible, that means despicable, person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries. That basically means he paid off important people. The entire chapter has been building to this very point, and it focuses now, and through at least verse 35, on Antiochus IV. As the passage we just read says, Antiochus was not the rightful heir to the throne, but he came to the throne when his brother Seleucus IV died. Verse 22 says, I think that's probably referring to the ruling high priest in Jerusalem. Verse 23, and from the time that an alliance is made with him, he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. Without warning, he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his father's fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south. That is against Ptolemy the sixth. His heart will be against the king of the south with a great army. And the King of the South shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. Even those who eat his food shall break him. It seems to indicate that there was division within Ptolemy VI's reign, and they couldn't hold the kingdom together with a unified power. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. That is Antiochus' first campaign against Egypt, against Ptolemy VI, was successful. Verse 27, and as for those two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They'll speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. In other words, these two kings are gonna sit at the same table and they're gonna promise to make treaties with each other, but then they're gonna break them, they're gonna deceive each other. Verse 28, and he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant, and he shall work his will and return to his own land. When it says there that his heart will be set against the holy covenant, it means he hates the Jews. Antiochus IV hates the Jews. Just like Hitler a generation ago, Antiochus tried to obliterate every trace of the Jewish religion, as one Hebrew historian puts it. Antiochus tried to obliterate every trace of the Jewish religion. The reason so much space is given to Antiochus IV is because he is the historical preview of Antichrist. The ruler in the final years of human history who's going to embody the culmination of anti-God civilization and government. He is gonna be the ruler who hates Jesus and who hates God's people. Antiochus is the focus because he is the preview, just as he was in chapter eight. Verse 29, at the time appointed, He shall return and come into the South, but it shall not be this time as it was before. In other words, the second military campaign of Antiochus against Egypt won't be successful. For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the Holy Covenant, that is the people with whom God is in covenant. and he shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. That is, he's gonna start forming relationships with disobedient rebel Jews. Forces from him, verse 31, shall appear and profane the temple and the fortress and shall take away the regular burnt offering and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. What's described there as the abomination that makes desolate has its background in the background of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, or the Feast of Dedication as Jesus celebrated it in John 10. What was Antiochus IV's abomination? On December 16th, 167 BC, Antiochus went into the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. He turned the altar into an altar of the Olympic god Zeus. He built an altar to Zeus on top of it, and he did the most horrific thing an Old Testament Jew could think of. He offered a pig in sacrifice on the altar in honor of Zeus. Verse 32, Antiochus shall seduce with flattery those Jews who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. What an epic statement. The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. For what it's worth, that's the introductory verse that J.I. Packer comments on in why knowing God is important. If you've ever read his book, Knowing God, it begins right here in Daniel 11. knowing God gives strength. This phrase, the people who know their God and shall stand firm and take action, is an overview of the heroic response of the Maccabees. If you've never read 1 and 2 Maccabees, I'd encourage you to read it. It gives more detail on the heroic action of the Maccabees to take back the temple in Jerusalem when Antiochus IV had desecrated it. The courage of the Maccabees in rededicating the temple to the Lord is what the holiday of Hanukkah is all about. Verse 33, and the wise among the people shall make many understand. Though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. This is basically saying there's gonna be a lot of people who fear God in Israel who are going to lead others to resist Antiochus and the pressure he's putting on them, even though they'll face persecution for it. Verse 34, when they stumble, they'll receive a little help. I think that's describing the Maccabean alliances that are formed. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery. I think that's saying many of those disobedient Jews to save their necks are gonna come back. And some of the wise shall stumble so that they may be refined and purified and made white until the time of the end for it still awaits the appointed time. Now I'm guessing you have a better idea of what I mean when I say it's kind of not a difficult passage, but it is a difficult passage. It's not difficult to understand if you have an accurate knowledge of ancient Greece. But the prophecy is so specific, it raises this natural question, was this really written centuries before it happened? Is this chapter really prophecy? Most people throughout the world read this chapter and assume that the book of Daniel is a fake. You can see this in the popular writings of Isaac Asimov or the Berkeley scholar Robert Alter, the Hebrew professor. It's all over Wikipedia if you read Wikipedia articles. All of these follow the suggestion that I think began about 1700 years ago by a Roman philosopher named Porphyry. Porphyry thought, I'm quoting him, quoting, the book of Daniel is a second century BC pseudograph. That means the Book of Daniel was written after Antiochus, maybe around 150 BC. It was written after Antiochus, and it's a pseudograph. That means it's a false writing. In other words, it was attributed to Daniel 400 years earlier, but it wasn't actually written by Daniel. Instead, Porphyry said it's written by an unknown Jew, and therefore it's susceptible to all sorts of historical blunders. Read Wikipedia and you'll see that sort of thing repeated hundreds of times in comments on Daniel and Babylonian history and so forth. For those who approach Daniel with an assumption that either there is no God or there might be a God but he's not as active in the world as scripture might say, Porphyry's view makes total sense. But I wanna say, even though such a view is popular today, it's wrong. There are several historical facts about Daniel that substantiate its authenticity. In other words, that substantiate that Daniel wrote it, that someone in the Babylonian kingdom actually wrote it. It's not a pseudograph, a false writing. Here's a survey of a few of the reasons. We're gonna work through these very quickly. Daniel is in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. There's no way that it gets into a collection of sacred writings and then translated within 10 years of it happening. It is already considered sacred. There's no way that Daniel could have been written in 150. It had to have been written long before to have already been collected as one of the sacred writings. Secondly, Aramaic linguists, I am not one of these, say that Aramaic in Daniel 2 through 7, which is one of the few Aramaic portions of the Old Testament, is centuries older Aramaic than 150. I'm just reporting what I've read. Basically, they say it's like if you read English today, you could kind of discern based on the quality of the English whether it was written around 1500 or 1700 or 2000, because English develops over time. Third, several historicals in Daniel point to an eyewitness knowledge of Babylon. and suggest that this was written by someone who knew Babylon really well. These include that Belshazzar offered to Daniel third place in the kingdom. Someone accurately knew that there was a difference between the methods of capital punishment between the Babylonians and the Persians. Someone knew that the Babylonian calendar differed in how it counted time in relation to the king's accessions to the throne. It's different than the way the Jews did it. This is clearly not written in the way that Jews kept track of time. After Babylon fell to Persia, these sorts of details were buried for millennia in the earth until archaeologists recently rediscovered them and say, oh, that's why there's differences between the way Daniel dates things and the way Jeremiah dates things. Finally, and really the only reason we need, the Lord Jesus referred to Daniel as a prophet. By the way, so did Ezekiel. He implied it in basically saying Daniel is a wise man of powerful prayer. But Jesus believed Daniel to be a prophet. For us on this side of the incarnation of God become man, who died and then rose again and ascended into heaven, this is really the only argument we need. The Lord Jesus, who is God become man, who died and rose again, knew that Daniel was a prophet. Case closed. I've done a whirlwind tour of some of the arguments. There are many more that substantiate the Babylonian roots or the roots of Daniel from the Babylonian period. I've taken you through Daniel 11, one through 35. That involved a lot of Greek history that you probably want to forget. And I've taken you through a few of the many reasons to bolster your confidence that Daniel is authentic. Again, you might go out of here saying, I could have gone my whole life without needing to understand the viewpoint of Aramaic linguists. What in the world are you talking about? But having laid that foundation now, I want to move toward application. Daniel 11 gives a detailed prophecy, a very detailed prophecy of what will happen to Israel in the four centuries after Daniel. What will happen? Well, if you just remember, basically what happens is there are two militaries, one from Egypt in the south and one from Syria in the north. and they trample Israel. The militaries keep crossing Israel back and forth. Israel is kind of caught in the middle of two of the outcroppings of the Grecian Empire. Those centuries are going to be marked by the coming and going of more than a dozen rulers. Those rulers are going to keep trying every year during those centuries to gain the upper hand of military power They're not gonna care about God's people at all. In fact, some of them are gonna hate God's people. And after 10 or 20 or 30 years, each one of those leaders, both from the North and from the South, are gonna die. That's what's going on in Daniel 11. So what's the main point? I'd put it like this. God knows the future, including every year and every century that his people are trampled by terrible enemies. God knows the future, and that includes every year and every century that his people are trampled by terrible enemies. The history of Daniel is often called, what's recorded in Daniel 11, is often called the intertestamental history. That means it's the four centuries between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Sometimes these 400 years are called the silent years. because from Matthew to the arrival of King Jesus, God seems to be silent. It's hard to trust that God's in control when he seems silent. God, why don't you just reveal yourself? Why do you let centuries go by But Daniel 11 should speak profound comfort to us. Tri County, he's not unaware of our trials. He's not unaware of the trials of our persecuted brothers and sisters on different continents. In fact, Daniel 11 says he's planned them all. And he's gonna bring us through all of them. Even though God is silent, he's in total control during these centuries. And I say it again, even though God is silent, he's in total control during these centuries. The fundamental truth about God that this passage screams is that he knows the future in detail and he's controlled as good and bad things in the future unfold. I conclude with this. Are you convinced, are you convinced from the scriptures that God knows the future? Many people are not. If someone were to just put you on the spot and say, how do you know that God knows the future? Why do you believe something like that? Could you point them to scripture? Could you defend your conviction? One way to defend it is by going to Daniel 11. But I want to conclude with three, kind of stepping back from Scripture as a whole, more broadly, Scriptural questions. These are questions that come right out of Scripture that we should ask ourselves when we're trying to defend this conviction, that God knows the future and controls it, and when we're struggling with doubt and we need to preach it to ourselves. There are three questions that confront our doubts, or another doubter might be asking us. Three questions that confront our doubts that God knows and controls the future. The first question is this. What has God written in his book? I'm quoting here from Psalm 139. David wrote it about 500 years before Daniel. I think David was probably in a cave running from the militaries of his son Absalom as Absalom was trying to overthrow his father's reign. And there in that moment that was full of fear, full of anxiety and stress, David in Psalm 139 reflects on very, very simple, basic, fundamental truths about God. He basically says, God, you know me completely. God, I can't go anywhere on earth where I could escape from your presence. You're present everywhere. And then David says, God, you have been fully attentive to me since I was conceived in my mother's womb. That's Psalm 139 in a nutshell. Psalm 139, 16 is one of my favorite verses in all the Bible. There, by the Spirit, King David sings to God, You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. God's sovereignty over our lives is meticulous. Every single day. Now that means that as I look back, I can truly say to God, every single one of my victories and every single one of my failures, every single one of my joys and every single one of my griefs, it was recorded in that book. You knew what was gonna happen day by day in my life before I ever lived one day. I've taught this in the past. I'll say it again. It's loosely based on a thought of Spurgeon on the sovereignty of God. History and our lives run, as it were, like a train. History is like a train running on two tracks, and the one is God's predetermined plan, and the other is my personal responsibility for every decision I make. and the two tracks have wood slats between them. We know that they connect, but it's all covered in snow. I have no clue how this track and this track relate, but scripture says both of them are true. God is in total control over every victory and failure of my life, and I am responsible for every decision I make. It's not either or, it's both and. Look down at those tracks and we see the two lines and the snow covers what's in between. One of the things that we need to do is we need to ask ourselves, what has God written in his book? Every detail of my life. Meticulous sovereignty, secondly. Ask yourself, or ask another person who may be questioning you, what does it mean to be God? Three centuries before Daniel, God declared through Isaiah his ability to know and control the future. One of the clearest statements is Isaiah 46, verses 9, 10 and 11. Isaiah 46, starting in verse nine. God says, I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times, things not yet done. Saying, from all the way back there, my counsel will stand and I will accomplish everything I purpose. I've spoken, I'm gonna bring it to pass. I've purposed, I'll do it. That's what it means to be God. There's no one like him. He knows and controls the future. His purposes will be worked out as day after day unfolds. Determining the future Being able to know the future ahead of time and reveal it as he wants to is an essential aspect of what it means to be God. The third and final question, whose decisions determined that Jesus would be put to death? Jesus was crucified 500 years after Daniel. There are numerous prophecies of it, including some in Daniel. One of the most compelling statements about the crucifixion is what the early church, when they were being persecuted, what they took comfort in. When the early church in Jerusalem, just days after Pentecost, was being persecuted, when people were being thrown in prison, what comforted them in their suffering? This is what they prayed in Acts chapter four, verses 27 and 28. They say, Lord, truly in this city, Jerusalem, there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, your servant whom you appointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, look at this, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Were Herod and Pilate wicked? Abominably so. They're wicked. Were the people who shouted crucify him, were the disciples who abandoned him, were they sinners? All of them. Whose decision determined that Jesus would be crucified. Do you see the two tracks? Scripture says that Jesus actually fulfilled a plan that God had made before creation. And that kind of control over the future and knowledge of the future should lead us to bow and worship. There is no one like God. If you have never bowed before God and admitted that you are a rebel who naturally lives for yourself in disobedience to him, you want your own things, and you just wanna use him, maybe, if you will, to get what you want. If you've never admitted, God, I'm a rebel, I'm going my own way, And if you've never called on Jesus to save you, to cleanse you of your sin, to control your life, and you said, Jesus, I wanna follow you. I call you to do it today. Turn and trust. Jesus will save all who call on him. Christian, you who've called on Jesus, every one of us Christians needs to know that our God is in control of the future. He knows what's gonna happen. He controls what happens, good and bad. And he's in control when governments deceive each other and governments go to war with each other. He's in control as governments rise and fall, and he's going to see to it that his government, the government of his Messiah, is going to rule on Earth forever in the end. So let's be faithful, let's endure suffering, and let's never lose hope. God, I pray that we would now command our souls, be still my soul, be still because you're God and you're my God.