SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/6/2014 8:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Prophecies about Antiochus Epiphanes & Syria
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel 11:21-35
Message of the verses: 21 "In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue. 22 “The overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant. 23 “After an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people. 24 "In a time of tranquility he will enter the richest parts of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors; he will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time. 25 “He will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South with a large army; so the king of the South will mobilize an extremely large and mighty army for war; but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him. 26 “Those who eat his choice food will destroy him, and his army will overflow, but many will fall down slain. 27 "As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, and they will speak lies to each other at the same table; but it will not succeed, for the end is still to come at the appointed time. 28 “Then he will return to his land with much plunder; but his heart will be set against the holy covenant, and he will take action and then return to his own land. 29 "At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before. 30 "For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. 32 “By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. 33 “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. 34 “Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy. 35 “Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.”
We have meet this awful man in Daniel 8:9-14, and this man is a picture of the Antichrist who is to come as many of the awful traits that he displayed will be displayed by Antichrist during the tribulation period that is to come. Antiochus Epiphanes is so much like Antichrist that the next section we study in Daniel 11:35-12:13 goes right into speaking of Antichrist, and of course this is yet in the future.
Dr. Wiersbe points out that Antiochus “gave himself the name ‘Epiphanes’ which means ‘glorious one,’ but Gabriel calls him ‘a vile [contemptible] person.’” This section of Scripture says that Antiochus was not the true ruler of Syria, but that he deceived people to get the position. “The true heir was Demetrius Soter, who was very young, so Antiochus claimed to be his lawful protector and seized the throne.”
In verses 25-28 we learn of his successful military actions against Egypt, and he goes against them two times. In verse 27 we learn that he will deceive the king of the South at the table, which speaks of making a peace treaty. When we think about peace treaties we could ask how many peace treaties have been broken throughout history, and the answer is probably all of them, for at sometime in the future the peace treaties that were made will be broken. There was deception on both sides of these peace treaty talks, but as Dr. Wiersbe writes “He (God) has His appointed times and He is always on time.”
In 170 Antiochus returns to Israel and turns his attention to the wealth that is in the Jewish temple as seen in verse 28. He will plunder the temple and will abolish the daily sacrifices, and those who try to worship will be killed, and a great many Jewish people will be killed by him. Now two years later in 168 he will return to Egypt to attack it again, but as verse 30 says there will be ships there to confront him, and those ships are Roman ships and he will not do as well as the first time. In his anger he returns to Israel to take it out on the Jews, and it is at this time that some of the Jews were helping him as they forsook their own covenant to support him. Antiochus promised to reward them.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “On December 14, 168, Antiochus desecrated the temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and by offering a pig as a sacrifice. Gabriel calls this ‘the abomination that maketh desolate’ (v. 31). The future Antichrist will put his own image in the Jewish temple when he breaks his covenant with the Jews in the middle of the seven-year tribulation period, Daniel’s seventieth week (9:27; 11:31; 12:11 Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14). Antiochus was doing his best not only to exterminate the Jewish people but also to eliminate their religion from the earth. He promised to reward the Jews who followed his orders, and there were those who forsook their holy covenant to obey him. This was a time of testing and refining for the Jewish people, when they had to decide to obey the God of their fathers and possibly be slain, or submit to the pagan Syrian leaders and live as traitors to their faith (Daniel 11:34-45).”
In verses 33-35 we see a rebellion from the Jews and the key person who led this revolt against Antiochus was Judas Maccabeus and although many Jews lost their lives they finally prevailed and on December 14, 165 the temple was purified and the altar dedicated. The holiday that the Jews call Hanukkah or the feast of the lights is now celebrated each year by the Jewish people. The story is told in the book of Maccabeus this is in some Bibles although it is not truly a part of the true Cannon of Scripture. In 163 Epiphanes died in Persia and was judged insane and then the name “Antiochus Epimanes—Antiochus the madman” was given to him.
Let us look again at verse 35 “35 “Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.” Gabriel closes this section with these words which is a reminder to Daniel that these things that he has relayed to Daniel have implications about the end time.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section by writing “Having mentioned ‘the time of the end,’ Gabriel will now speak about the future Antichrist and the terrible time of Jacob’s trouble (11:36-12:13).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Dr. Wiersbe mentions the following at the end of his book that I want to use as my Spiritual meaning for my life today, “One of Mr. Moody’s associates, musician Philip P. Bliss, expressed this truth I a song that’s not used much today, but the message is certainly needed. The chorus says:
“Dare to be a Daniel! Dare to stand alone! Dare to have a purpose firm! Dare to make it known!” He writes that at the end of his book on Daniel, “Be Resolute” but the meaning of this song is something that I need to keep in mind each day.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Dare to be a Daniel!
Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question: “Into a herd of swine” (Luke 8:29-32).
Today’s Bible Question: “Who said, ‘Lord save me’?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/6/2014 10:00 AM
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