Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Daniel 8:9-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/12/2013 12:38 PM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Daniel 8:9-14

            Message of the verses:  “9 Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land. 10 It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down. 11 It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. 12 And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper. 13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, "How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?" 14 He said to me, "For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.’”

            “His name is pronounced ‘An-TY-i-cus E-PIPH-uh-ness.’”  (From the end Note from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on the book of Daniel.”)

            There is no way that I can do justice to this passage like Warren Wiersbe has done and so I will quote what he writes in his commentary on this important subject.

            “Antiochus gave himself the name ‘Epiphanes,’ which means ‘illustrious, manifestation,’ for he claimed to be a revelation (epiphany) of the gods.  He even had the word theos (god) put on the coins minted with his features on it, and his features on the coins came to look more and more like the Greek god Zeus.  He had a passionate desire to turn the Jews into good Greeks.  One of his first acts was to drive out the high priest Onias, an ardent Jew, and replace him with Jason, a patron of the Greeks.  But Jason was replaced by Menelaus, who actually purchased the priesthood.  Believing a rumor that the king was dead, Jason attacked Jerusalem only to learn that Antiochus was very much alive.  The angry king attacked Jerusalem and plundered the temple.  In 168 he sent an army of 20,000 men under Apollonius to level Jerusalem.  They entered the city on the Sabbath, murdered most of the men, and took the women and children as slaves.  The remaining men fled to the army of the Jewish leader Judas Maccabeus.

            “But the king wasn’t satisfied, so he issued an edict that there would be one religion in his realm and it wouldn’t be the Jewish religion.  He prohibited the Jews from honoring the Sabbath, practicing circumcision, and obeying the levitical dietary laws, and he climaxed his campaign on December 24, 268, by replacing the Jewish altar with an altar to Zeus—and sacrificing a pig on it!  Any Jew found possessing a copy of the Law of Moses was slain.  Jerusalem was eventually delivered by the courageous exploits of Judas Maccabeus and his followers, and on December 14, 165, the temple was purified, the altar of burnt offering restored, and Jewish worship once again restored.  It is this event that the Jewish people celebrate as ‘The Feast of Lights’ or Hanukkah (see John 10:22).  Antiochus went mad while in Persia, where he died in 163.

            “Knowing these facts about Antiochus helps us better understand the text of Daniel’s prophecy.  Antiochus started in a small way but gradually accumulated power as he magnified himself and dealt ruthlessly with the Jewish people.  He attacked the Jews in their ‘pleasant [beautiful]’ land and put a stop to their religious practices.  He even claimed that he was a god.  In verse 10, the Jews are described as ‘the host of heaven’ (i.e., ‘godly people’) and ‘stars’ (Gen. 15:5; 22:17).  When Antiochus stopped the daily sacrifices in the temple and substituted pagan worship, this was called ‘the abomination that makes desolate’ (‘the transgression of desolation,’ Dan. 8:13.  This concept is found in 9:27; 11:31; and 12:11, and is used by Jesus in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14.  What Antiochus did was a foreshadowing of what the Antichrist will do when he puts his image in the temple and commands the world to worship him (2 Thes. 2; Rev 13).  Daniel 8:13 and 11:31 refer to Antiochus, and the other references to Antichrist, of whom Antiochus is a picture.

            “The two angels (8:13-14; ‘saints’) spoke together about this matter and from their conversation, Daniel learned the prophetic timetable.  Between the desecration of the temple and its cleansing and restoration 2,300 days would pass.  The Hebrew text reads ‘2,300 evenings and mornings,’ because burnt offerings were sacrificed at the temple each morning and each evening of every day.  But does this mean 2,300 days or 1,150 days, 2,300 divided by two? And what date or event signals the beginning of the countdown?  Some students opt for 2,300 days, that is, about six years, if you use 360 days for the year.  Others prefer 1,500 days, which give us slightly over three years.

            “But what is the starting point for the countdown?  The six-year advocates begin with 171 B.C., when Antiochus deposed the true high priest.  Subtract six years and this takes you to 1 65 when Judas Maccabeus defeated the enemy and reconsecrated the temple.  However, the three-year advocates begin with the establishment of the pagan altar in the temple on 25 Kislev, 168, and this takes us to 165.  Either approach meets the requirements of the prophecy.

            “We’ll meet Antiochus Epiphanes again before we completed our study of the Book of Daniel.”  

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The Apostle John speaks of the “Antichrist” and then he also speaks of antichrists that will come into the world.  He also speaks of people who can have the spirit of antichrist.  I for one am not looking for the Antichrist, but am looking for the Lord Jesus Christ to come and take His bride to be with Him in heaven.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To be ready to tell others of the hope that I have, that is the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to take His bride to heaven to be with Him forever.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-7

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.  5 For this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Answer to our last Bible Question:  “Sara” (Genesis 21:10).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Where was Peter when Cornelius sent for him?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/12/2013 1:38 PM

 

Alexander the Great of Greece (Daniel 8:5-0, 21-22)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/10/2013 4:46 PM

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Alexander the Great of Greece

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Dan. 8:5-9, 21-22

            Message of the verses:  “5 While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. 6 He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath. 7 I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power. 8 Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.

            “21 “The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king. 22 “The broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power.”

            This is the third time we have seen the country or empire of Greece in the book of Daniel as we first saw it in the 2^nd chapter of Daniel in the great statute of Nebuchadnezzar, then as a leopard in Daniel chapter seven, and now we see it as a ram with a long horn which represents the first king who was Alexander the Great.  One of the things that we can see from these different empires is that the Lord was getting the world ready for the Messiah to come to the earth. Paul writes to the Galatians “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, (Gal. 4:4).”  This is what God was doing when He brought these different empires to come to fruition.  We have read in earlier SD’s that the word “history” really means “His Story.”  After the Greeks came the Romans with their roads and bridges and laws, and all of this made it possible for the Gospel to be spread throughout the known world.

            Alexander was the man who brought all of the different people’s of Greece into one nation and began a language which was called “common Greek,” and this was the language that was used in the NT times, and the language that the New Testament was written.  He took the best parts of all the different Greek dialects to make this common Greek language and the reason for this was so that he could communicate specific orders to his officers so that they would not be able to misinterpret them.  His father developed a new way of fighting which was called the Macedonian Phalanx system and he used it to conquer the known world, but after that he drank himself to death at the age of 33 in June of 323 BC in the city of Babylon.  He did have a son, but he decided to give his empire to the strong and so he broke it up into four parts giving each part to his generals.  This is exactly what was in the passage that we read in Daniel chapter eight. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that when I read about world history, a subject that I do like, that I did not think of it as being His story too much, but that is the truth, for it is His story.  We saw the empires come together just as prophesied in Daniel’s book which made it possible for the Messiah to come to earth the first time, and now we are seeing the nations align for the second coming of the Messiah just as Daniel prophesied too.  God will keep His Word and no one will stop Him from accomplishing what He desires to accomplish.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Proverbs 3:5-6.

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-7

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, but the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;  3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.  5 Now for this reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your moral excellence, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance godliness, 7 and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “The East” (Matthew 2:1).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who said ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son?’”

Answer in our next SD.

10/10/2013 5:29 PM

 

Cyrus King of Persia (Daniel 8:3-4, 20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/9/2013 10:07 AM

My Worship Time                                                                               Focus: Cyrus King of Persia

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Daniel 8:3-4, 20

            Message of the verses:  3 Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. 4  I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.  20 “The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.”

            I have just had a very frustrating experience, one that I have had before, and that is having my Spiritual Diary almost completed and then erase it by mistake, so the only thing left to do is start over and see if I can remember the things that I wrote.

            We are looking at the second empire that Daniel has spoken of before, and that is the empire of the Medes and the Persians.  The Medes and Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC as we already saw in Daniel chapter five, but we must remember that the book of Daniel is not written in chronological order, and the clue that tells when each chapter was written is to look at the first verse in most cases which tells the name of the King who is reigning and the year of his reign.  Chapter eight begins by saying that in the third year of Belshazzar.  Not all of the chapters begin with the date, but we know that this chapter was written before the events in chapter five which tells of the last day of the Babylonian Empire.

            Verse four tells of how this empire would move as it conquers different nations and it is perfectly accurate.  It finally conquers Babylon in 539 and goes on to have the largest amount of territory of all the empires listed in Daniel with the exception of the Greek empire.  The Medes and Persians went all the way to India.  In writing about this empire Daniel says that the ram has two horns with the second horn the largest, and that second horn is Persia who eventually became the only ruler as the Medes fell off latter on.  Persia is modern day Iran.

            The prophet Isaiah spoke of the ruler of this empire in chapter 45:1-4, “1 Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 2 “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. 3  "I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden wealth of secret places, So that you may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. 4 “For the sake of Jacob My servant, And Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor Though you have not known Me.”

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section by stating:  “Why did God call Cyrus?  ‘For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen’ (Isa. 45:4).  No matter how brutally the Gentile nations may treat the people of Israel, God uses the nations to accomplish His ordained purposes.  His plans for Israel will be fulfilled no matter how much the Gentile nations may oppose His chosen people.”

            I want to quote from a speech that was given at the United Nations a couple of weeks ago by the leader of Israel, and in this speech we will see an amazing thing.

            “(Washington, D.C.) -- “In our time the Biblical prophecies are being realized,” Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu declared before world leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

“As the prophet Amos said, they shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them," Netanyahu said. "They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. They shall till gardens and eat their fruit. And I will plant them upon their soil never to be uprooted again. Ladies and gentlemen, the people of Israel have come home never to be uprooted again.”

            He later mentioned Cyrus, the same Cyrus that we are talking about in this section”  “Today our hope for the future is challenged by a nuclear-armed Iran that seeks our destruction. But I want you to know, that wasn’t always the case. Some 2,500 years ago the great Persian king Cyrus ended the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people. He issued a famous edict in which he proclaimed the right of the Jews to return to the land of Israel and rebuild the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. That’s a Persian decree. And thus began an historic friendship between the Jews and the Persians that lasted until modern times.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We see in this section that God is a God who is an all knowing and an all powerful God who will keep His word for He cannot change.  I am so very thankful for the privilege of worshiping this God, the One and only true God.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As God is moving in our nation and around the world to what I believe is setting up the end times as spoken of by the Lord Jesus Christ and His prophets I must continue to trust Him not matter what happens.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-7

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.  5 For this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance godliness, 7 and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “As an angel of God even as Christ” (Galatians 4:24).

Today’s Bible Question:  “From where did the wise men come?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/9/2013 10:52 AM

 

PT-2 "Daniel the Prophet" (Daniel 8:15-19, 26-27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/8/2013 12:29 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 Daniel the Prophet

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 8:15-19, 26-27

            Message of the verses:  We continue in today’s SD to look at the eight chapter of the book of Daniel.

            Requesting the meaning of the vision (Daniel 8:15-19):  “When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one who looked like a man. 16 And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, "Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision." 17 So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened and fell on my face; but he said to me, "Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end." 18 Now while he was talking with me, I sank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me and made me stand upright. 19 He said, "Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.”

            We have seen in the past visions that Daniel had no need of a person to help explain the vision to him, but this is not the case for this vision and the ones that we will look at in the future.  We see that God has sent one of His angels to speak to Daniel and so it is a good time to talk a little bit about angels.  There are only three angels named in all of Scripture, Gabriel is the one mentioned here and he is also the one who comes to see Zechariah in order to announce the birth of John the Baptist.  We also see Gabriel come to Mary to announce the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so we can be sure that Gabriel is a very important person who works for God, as his name means “man of God.”  Michael is another angel that is named in Scripture and his name means “Who is like God.”  Michael is assigned to care for the nation of Israel and he is mentioned in Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9; and Revelations 12:7.  There is one more angel mentioned in Scripture and his name is Lucifer, and we know that this is none other than Satan.  Lucifer was his name when he was created, but after he fell he is known as Satan, the prince of darkness. 

            I want to copy a note from the John MacArthur Study Bible which I believe will help us understand more about the prophecy seen in the verses from above.  We will begin by looking at this note with the words “Frightened and fell” from verse seventeen and then look at the words “time of the end.”  “Loss of consciousness is a common reaction to heavenly visitations (cf. Ezekiel 1; Isaiah 6; Revelations 1).  Time of the end.  This term likely has a double sense of fulfillment.  First, the ‘end’ (as v. 19), or ‘latter period’ (vv. 19, 23), and ‘appointed time’ (v. 19) refer to time late in the specific span that the historical prophecy has in view.  That time is the period defined by the empires in these verses, Persia (Ram) and Greece (Goat), when the Grecian sector will be divided into 4 parts (v. 8). One of these, the Syrian under Seleucus will eventually lead to Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 BC) as the ‘little horn’ meant in v.9, who persecutes the people of Israel (v.10) and defies God (v.11).  Cf. 11:21-35.  Secondly, this ‘little horn’ in v. 9, the Antichrist in the last days at the time of the eschatological fulfillment, sees Antiochus as a pattern of the Antichrist, who in many ways will be like him, though far greater in power, and will exercise his career in the end of the age just before Christ’s return.”

            Let us look at the word “indignation” for a minute here, for that word also comes up in Daniel 11:36 ‘”Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.”  John MacArthur has the following to say about this word from his sermon on Daniel chapter eight:  “Now, indignation refers to God’s anger toward Israel God’s indignation over their sin.  God’s indignation over their disobedience.  And as a result of their disobedience and sin, God is indignant with His people.  And, as a result of His indignancy, there is a chastening periods.  In Daniel 11, look at verse 36 for a minute.  And here it refers to antichrist, called the willful king or king who shall do according to his will.  And it says in verse 36, ‘The king shall do according to his will; and shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper…the antichrist will speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper… the antichrist will flourish…till the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done.’

            “In other words, the antichrist will last until God’s indignation over his disobedient people is finally finished.  So, the angel says to Daniel, ‘Your vision is a vision of the end, and a vision of the last end of the indignation.’  Again I say that’s why I believe the vision of chapter 8 must stretch to encompass the antichrist who is involved in the last of God’s indignation against His people as He chastens and purifies them.

            “You see, beloved, it is not until the Tribulation, which is another name for the indignation, it is not until the Great Tribulation that  ‘The nation Israel will look on Him… as Zachariah says…whom they have pierced and begin to morn for Him as an only Son.’  It’s not till then.  It’s not till then Romans 11, ‘And so all Israel shall be saved will come to pass.’”

            I am not positive as to why Warren Wiersbe included verses 26-27 in this section, but I will copy and paste those two verses here:  “26  "The vision of the evenings and mornings Which has been told is true; But keep the vision secret, For it pertains to many days in the future." 27 Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up again and carried on the king’s business; but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.”  Daniel uses the term “I, Daniel” a number of times in this section and it seems like this shows his humility, for I am sure that it was hard for him to believe that the Lord would use him to receive all the visions and prophecies that he did receive.  We know that this message is true and that it will come to pass, for much of it has already come to pass.

            We will begin to look at Cyrus, King of Persia in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Reading and understanding the Word of God should be a humbling experience for all of us, for we truly have insight into the heart and mind of God, and we are also privileged into knowing what the future holds. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to give me the right words to put into my Spiritual Diaries that will bring honor and glory to Him.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-7

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, but the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His glory own and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.  5 Now for this reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in brotherly kindness, love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Their money” (Genesis 42:35).

Today’s Bible Question:  “How did the Galatians receive Paul at first?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/8/2013 1:45 PM

PT-1 "Daniel the Prophet" (Daniel 8:1-2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/7/2013 12:32 PM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  Daniel the Prophet PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Daniel 8:1-2

            Message of the verses:  We begin today looking at the 8^th chapter of the book of Daniel, as this is the chapter that we will be looking at in the month of October. 

            Just a bit of review before we begin to look at this section of Scripture, and that is that from the 2^nd chapter of Daniel and verse four all the way through chapter seven and the last verse of that chapter Daniel was written in Aramaic, the language of the Babylonians, and now in chapter eight and verse one all the way through the end of the book the language is again Hebrew. Why? Well the subject in these final five chapters is about the Gentiles and how they will affect the people of God, the Israelites.  The part written in Aramaic was about the Gentile nations, but not necessarily the way that they treated the children of Israel.  Another thing to point out is that this chapter was written before the event that took place in chapter five, which was the conquering of Babylon by the Medes and the Persians, and the reasons we stated as to why the language was Hebrew probably is the same reason as to why the order in which Daniel placed the chapters in his book.  I realize that there were no chapter and verses at the time of the writing, but the order in which it was written is the same order that those who put the chapters in found it.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes the following at the end of his introductory message on this chapter:  “In this chapter, five persons move across the great stage of prophecy and history.”

            Receiving the vision (Daniel 8:1-2):  “1 In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously. 2 I looked in the vision, and while I was looking I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal.”

            It is not known how much diplomatic things that Daniel was doing for Belshazzar, for when we look at chapter five we see that Belshazzar did not even really know Daniel, although he had heard of Him.  What he was doing at this time we have no idea, but he was still in Babylon at the time of this vision.  Daniel was probably transported in this vision to the city of Susa a city that was 200 miles southeast of Babylon, and city that became the capital of the Persian Empire as we see in Nehemiah 1:1 and also Ester 1:2.  According to John MacArthur there is still a small town today near the spot that Susa was during the time of Daniel.  Daniel mentions that there was a “Canal” that flowed through this city, and in the KJV the word is translated as river, and this is the only time that this particular word is used in the Bible.  John MacArthur states that this canal was about 900 feet wide, so it was a pretty big canal. 

            As far as Daniel being transported to this city in the vision this is not too hard for us to believe, for it has happened in other places in the Bible:  “1 It came about in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell on me there. 2 Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of a man; from His loins and downward there was the appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the appearance of glowing metal. 3 He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located (Ezekiel 8:1-4).”  “3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns (Rev. 17:3).”  “10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (Rev. 21:10).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I like the way that Daniel is written, for we can see that the Holy Spirit put the contents of this book in the order that He wanted them to be put into so that they would make the most sense to those who read and study it.  God does that in my life too as He brings things into my life at the exact time and place He wants to so that I can learn and grow from those these things.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I need to be patient in my trust for the Lord in a circumstance that I am going through, wait for the Lord.  This is not an easy thing to do.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-7

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.  5 Now for this reason also, applying all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness love.

Answer to our last Bible Question:  “The life and teaching of Jesus Christ.”

Today’s Bible Question:  “When Joseph’s brother’s returned home from Egypt the first time, what did they find in their sacks?

Answer will be in our next SD.

10/7/2013 1:20 PM

PT-2 "The Kingdom of Jesus" (Dan. 7:23-24, 27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/10/2013 10:31 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Kingdom of Jesus PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 7:23-24, 27

            Message of the verses:  We will say goodbye to the seventh chapter of Daniel in this SD and then go back to looking at Isaiah and begin to look at chapters 28-31 of that book. 

            The earthly throne of the Son of God (Daniel 7:13-24, 27):  “13  "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”

            “27  ’Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’”

            “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen (Rev. 1:7).”  This verse is similar to verse thirteen which also speaks of Christ coming with the clouds of heaven. 

“And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight (Acts 1:9).”  This verse shows when Jesus was taken up to heaven after He had completed His Work on earth that the Father had given Him to accomplish.  He and His disciples were standing on the Mount of Olives where He was taken up to heaven and the verse speaks of Him being received by a cloud.

We have already spoken about the “Son of Man” being used in this chapter along with some 82 times in the NT.  Many of those times the Lord Jesus was referring to Himself when using this term and some of those times the context of the verses speak of His second coming.  “Son of Man” is a title for the Messiah.

Let us go back to the second chapter of the book of Daniel:  “34  "You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. 35  "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

“44  "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. 45  "Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.’”

Now we will look at Revelations 5:1-7:  “1 I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. 4  Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; 5  and one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals."

    “6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”  This is also a parallel passage to the verses we are looking at in Daniel 7. 

We can look at the second psalm, which is a Messianic Psalm and it too goes along with what we are looking at this morning:  “’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.”  What we have here is the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ being told by His Father that He would give Him the nations.  In Daniel 7:13 we also see the term “Ancient of Days,” and this is the Father, and we see in that verse that The Son of Man is presented to the Father. 

When we previously looked at the other kingdoms, the four kingdoms of man, and the kingdom of Satan headed up by Antichrist we saw that they all ended, but this Kingdom of Jesus will never end.  This is the Kingdom that God was talking about when speaking to David, “"He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  "Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."’"  (2 Samuel 7:13, 16).”

This covenant that God made with David will be fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ who is the Son of David, and the Son of God.  This Kingdom will be fulfilled on earth and will last for 1000 years and then the earth will be destroyed and a new heaven and a new earth and a New Jerusalem will be created and that Kingdom will last forever.

I want to end our study of Daniel seven with a fairly long quote from Dr. Wiersbe who at the end of this quote will quote A. W. Tozer:  “In this dramatic vision, Daniel had seen the vast sweep of history, beginning with the Babylonian Kingdom and closing with the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth.  What comfort and strength it must have given to him and to his people in exile that the prophecies would one day be fulfilled and their Messiah would rein on the throne of David.  The church of Jesus Christ today looks for the Savior to return, and then we will be caught up to meet him in the air (1 Thes. 4:23-28).  We shall return with Him to earth, reign with Him, and serve Him.  ‘Even so, come, Lord Jesus’ (Rev. 22:20).

“How did Daniel respond to this great revelation?  He was deeply troubled and his face turned pale (Dan. 7:28 NIV), but he didn’t tell anyone what the Lord had shown him.  We shall learn in later chapters that after he had received a vision from the Lord, Daniel often became ill and was unable to work.  This is quite unlike some ‘prophetic students’ today who when they think they’ve discovered a great truth, go on radio or television and tell everybody what they think they know.  It’s a dangerous thing to study prophecy just to satisfy our curiosity or to give people the impression that we are ‘great Bible students.’  If divine truth doesn’t touch our own hearts and affect our conduct, then our Bible study is only an intellectual exercise to inflate our own ego.

“Said A. W. Tozer: ‘The Bible doesn’t approve of this modern curiosity that plays with the Scriptures and which seeks only to impress credulous and gullible audiences with the ‘amazing’ prophetic knowledge possessed by the brother who is preaching or teaching.’

“To this, I say a hearty ‘Amen.’”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the prophetic Word that is in the Bible for it is what the Lord Jesus Christ used to draw me to Himself in January of 1974, and it is my desire to tell others about the same thing that I learned in order for them to see their need for the Savior. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:   Be humble in all the things that the Lord teaches me so that I can pass it on to others with a gracious attitude.

Memory verses for the week:  Review of 2 Peter 1:1-3

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Joseph of Arimathea” (Matthew 27:57-60).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who said ‘"I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.’”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

9/10/2013 11:25 AM

 

           

PT-1 "The Kingdom of Christ" (Daniel 7:9-14, 27-28)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/9/2013 10:50 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Kingdom of Christ PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 7:9-14, 27-28

            Message of the verses:  Today we begin looking at the last of the three kingdoms that are described in Daniel chapter seven, and that is the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

            Introduction:  When we look at the Kingdom of Christ we will see as Dr. Wiersbe points out two aspects of it.  First we will see the spiritual reign of Christ over all who belong to Him.  He points out two different passages that confirm this, the first is John 3:1-8, “1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ’You must be born again.’ 8 "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’” Next he points out Colossians 1:13, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”  The next aspect of the Kingdom of Christ is that which will happen when Christ returns to planet earth to set up His Kingdom for 1000 years.  We see this in Matthew 16:28, “"Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.’”  We also see it in Matthew 25:34 and 26:29, “"Then the King will say to those on His right, ’Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  “"But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.’”  And one more passage, Luke 22:29, “and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you.”

            As we looked at this seventh chapter of Daniel we have seen that through Daniel’s vision the kingdom of man, and the kingdom of Satan, and now we will see the Kingdom of Christ.  One more short note on what perhaps people may believe is a difference between what Matthew writes when he speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven, and what others write when they say the Kingdom of God or Christ.  Matthew was writing to the Jews and they would not pronounce God for fear that they would blaspheme the Lord and so they were familiar with the Kingdom of Heaven.

            The heavenly throne of the Father (Daniel 7:9-12):  “9 "I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire. 10 “A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened. 11 “Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. 12 “As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.”

            It is Dr. Wiersbe’s belief that this section parallels with Revelations chapters 4-5, and thus it happens before Antichrist is destroyed.  We see in this section the “Ancient of Days,” and this is a name used for God the Father.  This name emphasizes His eternality; “He is the God who had existed from eternity past, has planned all things, and is working out His plan.”  We have spoken in earlier SD’s that the description of God must not be taken literally, and the reason is that God does not have a body and does not wear clothes, or grow white hair.  These things are symbolic of His nature and when we look at Revelations 1:12-20 we see a similar description of the risen Jesus Christ whom John saw and described.  Thus this proves that He is the eternal Son of God.

The vision of God’s throne parallels Ezekiel 1:15-21, 26-27:  “15 Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, for each of the four of them. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel were within another. 17 Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved. 18 As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about. 19 Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also. 20 Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. 21 Whenever those went, these went; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.     

“26 Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. 27 Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him.”

Dr. Wiersbe writes the following:  “The fire speaks of His holiness and judgment against sin and the wheels symbolize His providential working in the world in ways we can’t understand.  ‘Our God is a consuming fire’ (Deut. 4:24; Hebrews 12:29; see Psalm 97:1-4).  He is praised by a multitude of saints and angels (Deut. 33:2; Rev. 5:11) as the books are opened and the Lord prepares to judge evil on the earth.  No matter what Satan and the Antichrist do on earth, God is still on the throne and He executes judgment.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is a comfort to me to know that no matter what happens on this earth God is still in control, and is a part of His plan for me and for the things that will happen on this earth.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  We are learning about the prayers of Paul in our Wednesday evening prayer services and it is my desire to learn to be a better prayer warrior.

Memory verses for the week:  Review of 2 Peter 1:1-3

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

            To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “The Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the Word” (Acts 10:44).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who buried the body of Jesus?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD. 

9/9/2013 12:06 PM

 

PT-2 "The Kingdom of Satan" (Daniel 7:21-23; 25)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/8/2013 12:29 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The kingdom of Satan PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 7:21-23, 25

            Message of the verses:   We will look at the third sub-point under this second main point which is “The kingdom of Satan” in today’s SD.

            War on the saints (Daniel 7:21-23, 25):  “21  "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them 22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom. 23  "Thus he said: ’The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.  25  ’He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.”

            I am not sure why it is but whenever I pick up a magazine I look at the back of it first and then move backwards toward the front of it.  With that said let us look at verse 25 and talk about the phrase “time, times, and half a time.”  This is not the only place where this phrase is found in chapter seven and it refers in this case to the last half of the tribulation period where antichrist will go against his covenant that he made with the Jews and began to persecute them along with those who are believers during this period of time.  Let us move ahead to Daniel 12 and look at a couple of verses there it also refers to this phrase:  “11 “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!” 

            Now let us talk about verses 21-23 and in them we see the words “The saints” three times, and of course this refers to true believers in Jesus Christ, those who realized that they are sinners, and also realized that they can do nothing on their own to have a right relationship with God, but also realize that the Lord Jesus Christ died in their place and exchanged their sins for His righteousness:  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).  Now one might ask if all of the saints in the Church age are ruptured out of this world when Christ comes in the clouds before the Tribulation period begins how are their now believers during this time.  I believe that the answer to that question is that the Holy Spirit will call people during that age, the seven year period of the Tribulation period, just as he did in the Church age and they along with the Jews will be persecuted by antichrist, especially during the last three and a half years.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Three of the texts describe the saints as victorious over their enemies (Dan. 7:18, 22, 27), while two texts inform us that the Lord permits them to be defeated before their enemies (vv. 21, 25).  The saints ‘receive’ the kingdom (not ‘take’ as in v. 18), ‘possess’ the kingdom (v. 22), All of this is the work of the Most High God.  He permits Antichrist to rise to power and rule the world, and even allows him to make war on the saints and temporarily win the victory (v. 21).  The phrase wear out the saints’ (v. 25) describes Antichrist’s continual oppression of God’s people and his blasphemous words against the Lord and His people.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God sometimes takes me out of trouble and sometimes allows me to go through trouble.  I want to praise the Lord for both even though the times of trouble are not as much fun for me, but they do teach me to trust the Lord more.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember the consequences of sin as Galatians 6:7 say, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-3 (Review)

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

            To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the true knowledge of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Answer to Yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Because they had sinned against the Lord” (2Kings 17:6-7).

Today’s Bible Question:  “What happened while Peter was preaching at Cornelius’ house?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

9/8/2013 1:25 PM   

           

The Kingdom of Satan (Dan. 7:8, 11-12, 21-26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/7/2013 10:38 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  The kingdom of Satan

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Dan. 7:8, 11-12, 21-26

            Message of the verses:  “8  "While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. 

“11 “Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. 12 “As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.

“ 21  "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them 22  until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom. 23  "Thus he said: ’The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24  ’As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25  ’He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 ’But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.”

            As we look at each of these kingdoms we see from verse twelve the following:  “but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.”  As the first kingdom was destroyed some of the things that were found in it will be passed on to the next, and so on down the line.  In this section we are talking about Satan’s kingdom which will culminate in the last part of the last kingdom through the person that is known as antichrist who is described as the “little horn.”  This kingdom is described in Revelation 13-19, and will end with the second coming of our Lord to rule upon the earth after He destroys this kingdom.  This kingdom will actually fight against God and His saints, but will be destroyed.

The ten horns (Daniel 7:7-8; 24; Revelation 13:1; 17:3, 7, 12, 16):  “7  "After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8  "While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.

“24  ’As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.

“1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.

“3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 

“7 And the angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.  12  "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.

“16 “And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.”

As we look at these verses we see that in the “last days” there will arise a kingdom that will have ten nations in it and out of these ten nations will come the antichrist who will slowly take over these nations and it looks like three of them will not want to go along with him and so he will “pluck out” these three kings or leaders of this new kingdom and take over.  Many think that the E. U. is the forerunner of this, but now that there are more than ten nations in it that may not be the case, but God is actually in control of all of this and when the time is right there will be a ten nation confederacy that antichrist will emerge from.  One of my earlier Pastors use to say that we as believers are not looking for antichrist, but Christ who will return to take His bride to heaven to be with Him.

The little horn (Daniel 7:8, 11, 24-26):  “8  "While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.

“11 “Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.

“24  ’As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25  ’He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 ’But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.”

In his last sermon on Daniel chapter seven John MacArthur answers the questions that the disciples of Jesus ask Him in Acts chapter one:  “6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’”  Jesus answered “"It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.”  As far as the exact date in history when this will happens no one knows except the Father as Jesus says in verse seven of Acts chapter one, but we can know the sequence that is given in the book of Daniel and played out in the book of Revelation. The following is a quote from this sermon I am speaking about given by John MacArthur, near the end of it as he reviews some of the points he was making in the sermon:  “That leads me to the final point.  The Kingdom of Christ follows a divine judgment for the great persecution by the final ruler of the final phase of the final kingdom of the nations.  What have we said then?  First the kingdoms of the nations. Then the final form.  Then the final ruler.  Then his final persecution.  Then the final judgment.  Then the Kingdom of Christ.”  All of these things will take place before Jesus Christ sets up His Kingdom on the earth and rules from Jerusalem for 1000 years.”

Now back to the subject of the “little horn.”  Dr. Wiersbe explains that this little horn is none other than antichrist and then goes on to say:  “The Greek prefix anti can mean ‘against’ and ‘instead of.’  The final world ruler will be both a counterfeit Christ and an enemy who is against Christ.  John described the appearance of this ‘man of sin’ (2 Thess. 2:3 and in Revelation 13:1-10).” 

John MacArthur describes the antichrist in five ways:  1. He is a political genius as seen in Daniel 7:8.  2. He is an intellectual genius, he is brilliant.  Look again at verse eight and in verse twenty where we see Daniel speaks about his eyes and MacArthur says that “his eyes refers to insight.  They refer to intelligence, mental ability.”  3. He will be an oratorical genius.  As we look back at Hitler we know that people would just sit around and listen to him speak for he had this type of oratorical genius, but antichrist will have even more of it.  We have been fooled in this country by a man who reads a good speech on a teleprompter.  4. Antichrist will be a military genius as seen in verse twenty-three.  He will end up devouring the entire earth, and we can think of what Jesus said about what profit a man would have if he inherited the whole earth, but lost his soul.  This will surely be true of antichrist. 5. Antichrist is a commercial genius.  In Revelation chapter eighteen we can see the kind of economic system he set up from Babylon as all the peoples of the earth are crying at its destruction.  6. The last thing MacArthur has to say about antichrist is that he is a religious genius.  Remember we have been reading about him as having a mouth that speaks boastfully, well he will eventually destroy the religious system that is on the earth and has been on the earth since Cain brought his wrong offering to the Lord, (a man centered religion), and will make himself out to be god and all of the people of the earth will believe that he is god, except those who do not receive the mark of the beast, for they will have the mark of God.

As I conclude this section I want to quote Warren Wiersbe who writes:  “The scenario seems to look like this.  Antichrist will be leading one of the ten confederated nations in Europe.  He will overcome three other nations and, with the help of Satan, move into becoming the world dictator.  At first he will appear to be friendly to the Jews and will sign a seven-year covenant to protect them (vs. 9: 27).  The signing of that covenant is the signal for the start of the last seven years of Daniel’s seventy weeks outlined in Daniel 9:24-27.  This period is generally known as ‘the Tribulation’ and is described in Matthew 24:1-14; Mark 13:1-13; and Revelation 6-19.”

We know that after three and a half years antichrist will then break the covenant with Israel and make himself out to be god and will wage wars against the Jews and the saints of God and will then plunge the world into total war which will end at the battle of Armageddon where just before the world is totally destroyed the Lord Jesus will return to earth with His bride, the saints of the Church age and the people who are waging war against each other will turn their weapons against the Lord who will quickly end the battle as He puts His foot down on the Mount of Olives where He ascended into heaven as described in Acts one. The war will be over and Christ wills separate the sheep from the goats and put the goats into hell along with Satan, antichrist, and the false prophet, and that will be the end of antichrist forever.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is comforting to know that the Lord is in charge as I see the nation that I love begin to crumble all around us.  God has a plan for all of this and I must trust Him to work out His plan in my life along with His plan for our country.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to guide me in all of the decisions I have to make each day.

Memory verses for the week:  Review of 2 Peter 1:1-2

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

            To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace an peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question: “Theophilus.”

Today’s Bible Question:  “Why were the children of Israel taken into captivity?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

9/7/2013 11:59 AM