And as many of you may have already discovered, this is a rather lengthy chapter. I'm going to try to select various passages that capture the essence and the flow of what's going on here. So we'll be reading select verses. I am going to add one to the first section. So we'll read verses one through six. Then 15 and 16, 20 and 21, and then 29 to the end of the chapter. So let's give our attention to the word of God. Daniel chapter 11, starting with verses one through six. And 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, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth 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. then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and 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 not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these. Then the King of the South shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he, and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. After some years, they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the King of the South shall come to the King of the North to make an agreement, 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 attendance, he who fathered her and he who supported her in those times. And verses 15 and 16. Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siege works and take a well fortified city and the forces of the south shall not stand or even his best troops for there shall be no strength to stand. But he who comes against him shall do as he wills and none shall stand before him and he shall stand in the glorious land with destruction in his hand. Verse 20. Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And then beginning in verse 29, reading to the end of the chapter. At the time appointed, he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before, for ships of Kittum 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. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant. But the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 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. When they stumble, they shall receive a little help, and many shall join themselves to them with flattery, and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time. And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished for what is decreed shall be done. He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other God, for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know, he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him, he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price. At the time of the end, The King of the South shall attack him, but the King of the North shall rush upon him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen and with many ships. He shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. He shall come into the glorious land. and tens of thousands shall fall. But these shall be delivered out of his hand, Edom and Moab, and the main part of the Ammonites. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt. and the Libyans and the Kushites shall follow in his train. But news from the east and the north shall alarm him and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end and none will help him. Thus far, God's word, let's pray together. Father, we thank you that all scripture is inspired by you and is profitable for us. We pray that tonight in the midst of this somewhat difficult chapter, you would give us great wisdom and understanding and we would be able to see and to know the wonders of your mighty power and that the appointed time that which you have appointed and ordained is what will be then and now and in the future. Lord, we pray for your blessing upon us tonight that you would grant us your grace and your spirit to understand and apply your truth to our lives. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. Well, our study of the book of Daniel is drawing to a close. And as we come to this next to the last chapter, and the next to the last message on this book, you need to remember that Daniel chapter 10, 11, and 12 form a single unit. In this section and at the closing chapters of the book of Daniel, Daniel is given one final vision. It includes things that will happen in his day. It includes things that will happen for multiple generations to come. And it even includes things that are yet to come for us. Because I believe this chapter takes us to the very end of the world. And so we're going to be looking at this. Chapter 11 is the second longest chapter in the book. And for that reason, we're not going to be able to touch upon every single detail that we have recorded here, but we're going to try to summarize it and catch the high points. It's not only long, but it's quite complicated. There are a lot of kings and kingdoms, there's war, there's deceit and treachery, there's wickedness beyond conception. But my friends, with all the different kings and kingdoms and actions and betrayals that are taking place here, there's one common theme that stands out for each and every one of them. and that is their hatred of the living God. They hate God, they hate God's people, they hate God's house, they hate God's city of Jerusalem called numerous times the glorious land. Now, we have a long way to go and a short time to go to get there, so buckle up, hang on, and pay close attention to what is before us. We're gonna try to break this down to the striving of the kings of the earth as we see the kings of the north and the kings of the south, and then we're gonna see the appearance of this contemptible, this vile individual who appears in verse 21. And then we're gonna focus on the final conflict and the time of the end. So let's begin with the striving of the kings of the earth. Remember back in chapter 10 and verse 20, Daniel has this vision and he sees this heavenly visitor. And based on the description of John in Revelation 1, I don't think there's any question or reason to doubt this is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Eyes like flames of fire, appearance like lightning, and the voice of thunders, they're all almost parallel point for point. So here is this heavenly visitor who tells Daniel in verse 20 that he must return and fight with the king of Persia. He is reminding Daniel and us that there is a conflict, not just among the kingdoms of the earth, but there is a conflict going on among the rulers of darkness, among spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 6. The point is, brethren, what we see going on on earth is only a small part of the picture. That real battle, the real conflict is not here, but above. And so this heavenly visitor is engaged in this conflict in the spiritual realms. Now chapter 11 verses one through four reveal to Daniel that there are gonna be three more kings in addition to Darius the Mede. And then a fourth king is going to arise, and he is going to be more rich and more powerful than anyone has ever been before him. And because of his power, He's filled with greed, he's filled with a lust for more. He wants more honor, more money, more riches, and more power. And he is going to stir up the whole realm of Greece. So you may remember the four kingdoms that we have seen in various images throughout the book of Daniel, and that was the king of Babylon, and then the king of the Medes and the Persians, and then the kingdom of Greece, and then the kingdom of Rome. And that is what we're seeing here, is this Persian king, greedy for more, is going to stir up the realm of Greece. And so what happens is, in verse three, a mighty king arises. A king that is going to enter onto the stage of this whole unfolding drama and he's going to have great dominion. I don't think, again, that there can be questions here that when he speaks of doing according to his will, whatever he wants, he does. This is Alexander the Great. And I think it parallels exactly to what we see unfolding here. Now beginning in verse five and following, we have a long and detailed description of the kings of the north fighting with the kings of the south. I guess we could say that struggles between the north and the south have been going on a long time. Here, what we see are the kings of the north and the kings of the south. The question is, north and south of what? And the answer is in verse 16. North and south of the glorious land. The land of Israel. God's people. My friends, you need to see this picture as it unfolds because what we have here is that God and his people and his land and his purposes are at the center of all of human history. All these things are going on to the north and to the south and to the east and to the west and God is at the center. And this is all about men's hatred of the true and living God. But the mighty king comes on the scene, and then we see this fighting going on between the kings of the north and the kings of the south. Historically speaking, we could say that the kings of the north are the Seleucids of Syria and the surrounding region. The kings of the south, or the Ptolemies of Egypt. Now notice verse 6, the reason why I added verse 6 to our reading this evening was because it says that there's going to be an arrangement made. It's an arranged marriage in which the daughter of the King of the South is gonna come to the King of the North in an attempt to restore unity between the two. So what we have is a marriage between Antiochus II, King of the North, and the daughter of Ptolemy II, who his name was Berenice. The problem was, as soon as Ptolemy II died, Antiochus II divorces Berenice and goes back to his first wife, Laodice. Laodicea promptly poisons Antiochus and then she has her son kill Berenice and her son so that her son can now ascend to the throne, which was very brief because Berenice's brother, Ptolemy the third, attacks the North and executes Laodicea. So all of this, this hostility, this rivalry between the North and the South continues until we see in verse 16, where we read that he comes to do according to his will, no one shall stand against him and he shall stand in the glorious land with destruction in his power. This is Antiochus III. So this new king now rises and he gives his daughter, Cleopatra, to Ptolemy V to try and restore peace and with the hope that she will kill Ptolemy. But she decides her allegiance is gonna be to her husband and not to her father. Instead of him seeing Ptolemy killed, Antiochus III is assassinated and his son, Antiochus IV, otherwise known as Antiochus Epiphanes, he is the vile person that rises to power. And so, verses 25 through 28 describe his campaign against the south, which he goes and conquers much of the land of Egypt, and then on his way home, just for fun, he sacks Jerusalem. And he has one more campaign, his last attack against the South, recorded in verses 29 through 35. At the appointed time, he shall return and go toward the South, but it shall not be like the former. For ships from Kittim, or Cyprus, shall come against him. You may not realize it, what that means is Rome has now entered the picture and the Romans have entered into Antiochus the fourth jurisdiction and it infuriates him. And so on the way home, this interruption by the Romans on his campaign to the south, he's very troubled, he's angry, he's grieved over it. And what happens is he enters into Jerusalem pretending peace. and he parades all of his soldiers through the streets. The streets are lined with people watching what's going on, and all of a sudden, Antiochus gives the order to kill as many people as they possibly can. Tens of thousands were slaughtered in the streets of Jerusalem. And he continues, he takes away the daily sacrifices that are set up there, and he sets up a statue of Zeus in the temple of God. and he begins to sacrifice swine in the temple. This is the abomination of desolation that Daniel speaks of. One thing you can keep in mind here is this abomination of desolation is not a single event. It certainly happens in the days of Antiochus IV in 164, 165 BC. But it happens again at 70 AD. Remember how Jesus described to his disciples in Matthew 24. He says, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, flee to the mountains. And that is geographically specific. It was for the people in Jerusalem and Judea. They could flee to the mountains. As I mentioned to someone earlier about this particular event, if you lived in Kansas, you wouldn't exactly have any mountains to flee to, would you? This is specific to Jerusalem in 70 AD and what happens. But then it happens again in the end and we'll read about that in just a few moments. So all of this back and forth between kings of the north and kings of the south, this abomination of desolation is set up in Jerusalem in the temple and the sacrifices of God are taken away. Now that's a lot of information packed into a few moments time. The question is, what does it mean for us? Three things that I think can be highlighted here. Number one, note the phrase, the appointed time. We see it in verse 27. We see it again in verse 29. We see it again in verse 35. And again, something equivalent in verse 36. For what has been determined shall be done. In other words, remember the theme of this entire book. God is sovereign. God has an appointed time and all of this turmoil and all of this treachery has been appointed for a specific time for these things to take place. It's all under God's hand and God's authority. Secondly, I think it's very important, and especially for you children, listen, children, thank God tonight for all the blessings that we enjoy in our country. When you think about the relative peace and safety that you and I enjoy, we don't go to bed at night fearing that some hostile king and his ravaging troops are gonna come busting down the door and hauling us off or executing us in our beds. We enjoy peace, we enjoy safety, we enjoy freedoms to come here tonight and worship God without fear of persecution or ungodly men. Brethren, thank God. for what we have and the blessings that we enjoy, that we don't live in times like this being described in Daniel 11. And then third, realize there are people and there are places in this world that are facing times of great hardship and great persecution and pray for them. Pray that God will be gracious to our brothers and sisters struggling with hardship, with severe persecution and even death. Pray for those in China, pray for those in North Korea, pray for those in Eritrea and many other places around the world. They don't have what you and I have. and they can't freely gather together for the worship of God. Pray for them, that God would be gracious, that he would comfort them, that he would give them patience in tribulation, that he would enable them to look for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, let's look secondly at the appearance of the vile one. Up to this point, The prophecy, the vision that was given to Daniel has been quite specific, and it has referred to particular individuals, especially in verses 21 through 35, dealing with Antiochus Epiphanes, the vile one. But beginning in verse 36, an individual is being introduced here with words and actions that simply cannot apply to Antiochus IV. or to Herod as evil and wicked as that man was, or any of the Caesars, or any ruler in the world. When we look at this man who appears beginning in verse 36, my friends, he surpasses everyone who has gone before him in wickedness. We're gonna look at several areas. Number one, in verse 36, look at what it says. Then the king shall do according to his will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every god and 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. Can you comprehend that? That this man exalts himself above God, all gods. That this man speaks blasphemy against God, exalting himself above all. Now it's true that Antiochus Epiphanes did just that, but then so did every other Greek king and every other Roman ruler they all claim to be divine they claim to be worthy of worship and where that the only characteristic we might be able to say this is Antiochus but there's so much more. Remember that. Antiochus. when he is spoken of and when this vision occurs that this vision is concerning the end of time. So we're going beyond second century B.C., we're going beyond first century in our Lord's life, our first 33 years that he spent on this earth. We're going beyond that. We're going to the end of time. In light of that, it would seem that this prophecy is looking forward to the man of sin that will be revealed just before our savior returns to this earth. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians chapter two and notice the parallels here between what we're reading in Daniel 11 and what Paul says about the revelation that's coming of the man of sin. 2 Thessalonians 2, beginning in verse one. Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, 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, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition." And notice verse 4, who opposes? and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. It's exactly parallel to what we see described in Daniel 11, 36, that he exalts himself above God and is worshiped as if he is God. Secondly, he shall not regard the God of his fathers. nor the desire of women. Different ways of translating that second phrase. The first phrase, what's interesting is, is distinctively Jewish. This language, the God of his fathers, is a Jewish expression, making this a reference to a utter disdain of Jehovah, the God of their fathers. It is total disregard for the God of Scripture. This can have nothing to do with Antiochus or Herod or Caesar or any other ruler that we have seen involved in this because Jehovah was not their God and he was not the God of their fathers. They served pagan gods or themselves. The second phrase, As I look at this, the way I would interpret this is here is a reference to the most basic, most common, most ordinary and natural affection of human love. That love and desire between a man and a woman, between a husband and a wife, that this man, This man has no regard whatsoever for the God of his fathers, rejects it totally, and he has no concern, no interest in this human affection between a man and a woman. This man is interested in only one thing, himself. This man thinks of nothing, no one, except his own exaltation. He's thinking of himself, he cares for no one else except himself. And then thirdly, verse 38, he shall honor a god of fortresses. The sense of this last phrase is this, that he does not recognize any deity of the past, of his people or other people. His God at this moment is a God of war, a God of power, a God of cruelty, a God that by force brings all people to bow to Him and serve His interest. Brother, I think there's one thing we can see here very clearly and that is that you do not have to bow down to a god of stone or a god of gold to be an idolater. You can make a god of yourself. That's what this man has done. He's exalted himself. He worships himself. He lives life for his money, for his power, for his pleasure. for all the honor and possessions that he can gain. This is this vile individual who surpasses all others in wickedness and rejects God and everything that we know of God and exalts himself. Now that brings us to the final section in verses 40 through 45. The final conflict and the time of the end. So we read here in verse 40 that at the time of the end, we're looking beyond everything that has happened already, beyond anything that has happened yet. to the time of the end. And it includes one grand final conflict. But notice, unlike previous battles, this is not just involving the kingdoms of the north and the kingdoms of the south. Going beyond that, it's not just Jerusalem caught in the middle. This great conflict is no longer just between the North and the South with Jerusalem in the middle. Now Egypt is involved. Now Africa is involved. Now the mountains are involved. Now the coastlands are involved. This is figurative language to describe the whole Earth. All nations are now participating in this. The fact that this figurative language is designed here not to describe literal nations, this one, that one, that one, is shown in other ways as well. Notice the weapons of this cataclysmic battle. There are ships, there are chariots, there are horsemen, Brethren, I think we can all agree that the final battle, this great catastrophic war that's going to unfold, is not gonna be fought on horseback. It's not going to be fought with chariots or with ships. This is figurative language. We don't need to expect some great catastrophic battle to unfold on the plains of Moab. And by the way, the ones that escape, Edom and Ammon and Moab, It's not just that those particular nations are going to escape. Those nations represent what? They represent the enemies of God. And they will escape this man of sins, rebellious attacks on the people of God because they are wicked. And they represent the enemies of God. This, I believe, is a description of the end of time. This is a description of the man of sin, as Paul puts it in 2 Thessalonians in verse eight. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth. The Lord, at His appointed time, will destroy this one that no one else could possibly destroy. It's almost Amazing to read verse 45. All the power, all the authority, all the destruction that is described here in verses 40 through 45. And then in verse 45, he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountains. Somewhere between Jerusalem and the coast This man spread his war bands and his tents, and what happens? In the middle of nowhere, he dies. He comes to his end, and there's no one to help him. the Lord will bring him to his end. Now my friends, put all of this together. We've gone rapid fire through all of this and haven't dealt with the details, but put it all together and what do you see? I mean, what's the point? What's the point of this vision being revealed to Daniel and to us? What is it that God is communicating to us? Three things as we close. Number one, God wants Daniel to know that in the end, the enemies of God are going to be destroyed. and the purposes of God are going to be accomplished. I think that's the umbrella over all that we're looking at in this. From the times of Daniel to the end of the world, God is saying, Daniel, know this. You might not understand a lot of this, but know this. The enemies of God are going to be destroyed. The kings of the earth are gonna be broken like a potter's vessel and dashed in pieces. And God's purposes, and God's will, and God's plan is going to be accomplished. Secondly, God wants Daniel to know, and this is profound, God wants Daniel to know that his holy life and his faithful prayers are having a profound impact upon the unfolding of God's plans. It's because Daniel prayed that this visitor comes and makes this known. Brothers and sisters, if you miss everything, don't miss this. that when it comes to the revelation of God's will and God's word and God's plan and God's purpose, it is often in response to our prayers. Pray, pray for your brothers and sisters in this congregation that God will reveal himself to us. Yes, we have the word, but our eyes are not open and our hearts are not softened. We will not understand it and definitely won't apply it rightly. But by prayer, God speaks and God reveals and God makes himself known to us. So in the revelation of his purposes and plans for his people, listen, don't shy away. from all the details about the end times. I think sometimes we look at all of that and the different passages of scripture that deal with it and say, well, I can't understand that. There's no reason to bother. Like Paul told Timothy, study to show yourself approved, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Study, brothers. Learn, aim, to know, to understand as best you can. Pray that God will reveal himself to you and his purpose and plan. And lastly, God wants Daniel to know that the true and living God is in complete control. We read that in this last time, in this last period, there's going to be much persecution. There's going to be famine. There's going to be imprisonment. There's going to be death to the faithful. But my friends, that does not mean defeat. As a matter of fact, the Apostle Paul in Romans 8 tells us quite plainly. Listen to what he says in verse 35 of Romans 8, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Be faithful, even unto death, through whatever may come. Right now we are enjoying many freedoms, many privileges. That doesn't mean it will continue. If persecution comes, if famine, if nakedness, if peril, if sword, if flame, don't give up. know that God is in complete control. I have to wonder if when Paul wrote those words in Romans eight, he wasn't thinking about what the people were suffering in Daniel 11. We will be more than conquerors through our Redeemer. who loved us and gave himself for us and redeemed us to be his covenant people forever and ever in glory. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for these words. Difficult to follow, difficult to keep in check and understand. We pray that you would use them. Encourage our hearts to see your hand in all of human history and to see that you will win. You will prevail. by your power and grace. We ask that you would be with us this night, in Jesus' name, amen.