Prophecies About Antiochus Epiphanes and Syria (Dan. 11:21-35)

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

             

The kings of the North and South (Dan. 11:10-19)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/5/2014 8:38 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  The kings of the North & South PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Daniel 11:10-19

            Message of the verses:  We will pick up from where we left off yesterday from the 11^th chapter of Daniel.

            Ptolemy IV Philopater and Antiochus III the Great (Daniel 11:10-19):  “10  "His sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through, that he may again wage war up to his very fortress. 11 “The king of the South will be enraged and go forth and fight with the king of the North. Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be given into the hand of the former. 12 “When the multitude is carried away, his heart will be lifted up, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall; yet he will not prevail. 13 “For the king of the North will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and after an interval of some years he will press on with a great army and much equipment. 14  "Now in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down. 15 "Then the king of the North will come, cast up a siege ramp and capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. 16  "But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand. 17  "He will set his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it. But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side. 18 “Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many. But a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him; moreover, he will repay him for his scorn. 19 “So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more. 20  "Then in his place one will arise who will send an oppressor through the Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.”

            I have to admit that the 11^th chapter of Daniel, at least the first part of it has been a mystery to me.  This portion has already been fulfilled and so all we have to do is to look into the history books to see that what Daniel wrote in these verses, (actually it was Gabriel who told Daniel what to write), and we will see the fulfillment of these verses. With this said I think the best thing for me to do is to quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s book in order to get the most out of this text.

            “The sons of Seleucus II were Seleucus III, who was a successful general but was killed in battle, and Antiochus III the Great, who carried out the Syrian military program with great skill.  He regained lost territory from Egypt, but in 217 the Egyptian army defeated the Syrians.  This didn’t stop Antiochus, for he took his army east and got as far as India.

            “In 201, Antiochus mustered another large army, joined forces with Philip V of Macedon, and headed for Egypt (vs. 13-16), where he won a great victory against Ptolemy V Epiphanes.  Contrary to God’s law, but in fulfillment of the prophecies (vision), some of the Jews in Palestine joined with Antiochus, hoping to break free of Egyptian control; but their revolt was crushed (v. 14).  Antiochus not only conquered Egypt and Sidon (v. 15), but also ‘the glorious land’ of Palestine (v. 16).

            “Once again marriage enters the scene.  Antiochus offered to negotiate with the Egyptian leaders to marry his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy V, who was seven years old at the time!  He hoped that his daughter would undermine the Egyptian government from within and use her position to help him take over.  However, Cleopatra was loyal to her husband, so the marriage stratagem didn’t succeed.

            “Antiochus decided to attack Greece but was defeated at Thermopylae (191) and Magnesia (189).  The ‘prince of his own behalf’ (v.18) was the Roman consul and general Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiatieus who led the Roman and Greek forces to victory over Antiochus.  At an earlier meeting, Antiochus had insulged the Roman general, but the Romans had the last word.  The Syrian leader died in 187 and his successor was his son Seleucus IV Philopator, who oppressed the Jewish people by raising taxes so he could pay tribute to Rome.  Shortly after he sent his treasurer Heliodorus to plunder the Jewish temple, Seleucus Philopator suddenly died (probably poisoned), thus fulfilling verse 20.  This opened the way for the wicked Antiochus Epiphanes to seize the throne.

            “As you review the history of the relationship between Egypt and Syria, and the family relationships among the Seleucids, you can’t help but realize that human nature hasn’t changed over these thousands of years.  The ancient world had its share of intrigue, political deception, violence, greed, and war.  The lust for power and wealth drove men and women to violate human rights and break divine laws, to go to any length to get what they wanted.  The slaughtered thousands of innocent people, plundered the helpless, and even killed their own relatives, just to wear a crown or sit on a throne.

            “While God is not responsible for the evil that men and women have done in the name of government and religion, He is still the Lord of history and continues to work out His plans for mankind.  Studying the evil deeds of past rulers could make us cynical, but we must remember that one day ‘the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.’ (Hab. 2:14)”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  People have a difficult time in understanding why evil happens on this earth.  While reading a book on the Attributes of God the author makes a statement that when you learn one of the attributes of God as it is presented in Scripture you have to accept it, for it is the Word of God.  Accepting that God is love is not as difficult as accepting that another of God’s attributes is wrath and another is justice, and these are more difficult to accept, but just as true.  God is the God who controls history, but He never promotes evil, for God is good.  Man is the one who has fallen into sin as we see in the 3^rd chapter of Genesis, so it is man who promotes evil.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “He was stoned and left for dead” (Acts 14:19).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Where did the evil spirits go that Jesus cast out of a man?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/5/2014 9:20 AM

           

PT-1 The Kings of the North and South (Dan. 11:5-9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/4/2014 9:03 PM

My Worship Time                                              Focus:  The Kings of the North & the South PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Daniel 11:5-9

            Message of the verses:  We will begin looking at this rather difficult section from the 11^th chapter of Daniel, but we will take our time as we go through it.

            Now remember that Alexander the Great died when he was thirty-three years old and he really didn’t have a child worthy of leaving his empire to, although he did have a child and some other relatives.  There were four generals who took over this very large kingdom, a kingdom that did not take too long for Alexander to take over.  He died at the age of 33 in the city of Babylon, and I think that he drank himself to death because there were no more territories to conquer.  Now we will look at what happened after his death in this section of Daniel 11 that was written before his birth.

            The kingdom of the North was Syria and the kingdom of the South was Egypt, and Israel was right in the middle of the fighting that would go on between these two powers.  The rulers of these kingdoms would change regularly and at times quickly.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “All of these people and events may not be interesting to you, but the prophecies Daniel recorded tally with the record of history, thus proving that God’s Word can be trusted.  The Ptolemy line provided the rulers in Egypt, and the Seleucid line the rulers in the north (Syria).  These paragraphs are merely summary statements, but if you read them in the light of the related verses, you will see how Daniel’s prophecies were fulfilled.”

            Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus I Nicator (Daniel 11:5):  “5 "Then the king of the South will grow strong, along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion; his domain will be a great dominion indeed.”    

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “Seleucus was the stronger of the two and ruled over a large empire, but it was his alliance with Ptolemy that enabled him to seize the throne of Syria.”  John MacArthur writes “King of the South represents the Ptolomies, the leaders of Egypt, contrasted often in vv. 5ff, with the king of the North, the Seleucids, and leaders of Syria (v-6).  South and North are in relation to Palestine, for which the angel Gabriel, speaking in this passage, is so concerned.  Verses 5-20 cover almost 200 years of wars between these bordering powers.”

            Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Antiochus II Theos (Daniel 11:6):  “6  "After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to carry out a peaceful arrangement. But she will not retain her position of power, nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.”

            Here is the story of verse six in a brief way.  We know that back in the times of the Monarchies that there would often be marriages between two different kingdoms for political reasons.  Solomon was an example of doing this when he reigned in Israel.  And so we see that Ptolemy demanded that Antiochus divorce his wife in order to marry his daughter Berenice.  The problem is that in two years Ptolemy would die and so Antiochus remarried his former wife who was so upset that she killed him and also Berenice.  Daniel wrote “She will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last.”  After the wife poisoned Berenice and her husband she also poisoned their son a baby boy.  She then brought her son, Selecus II Calinicus, to the throne.

            Ptolemy III Euergetes and Selecus II Callinicus (Daniel 11:7-9):  “7 “But one of the descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display great strength. 8  "Also their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold he will take into captivity to Egypt, and he on his part will refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years. 9 “Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land. 10  "His sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through, that he may again wage war up to his very fortress.”

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The new king of Egypt was the brother of Berenice, and he was intent on defending his sister’s honor and avenging her death.  He attacked the northern power, won the victory, and collected a great deal of wealth.  Then the two kings ignored each other for some years until Seleucus attacked Egypt in 240, was defeated, and had to return home in shame.  He was killed by a fall from his horse and his son Seleucus III Soter took the throne, only to be assassinated four years later.  Antiochus III the Great, who ruled from 223 to 187, succeeded him.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God writes all of this many years before it took place and it took place exactly how God wrote it through the prophet Daniel.  God is in control of His History and so this means to me that I can trust Him with the things that are going on in our world today even with its modern weapons and technology God is still on His throne ruling from heaven.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Angels” (Genesis 28:12).

Today’s Bible Question:  “What happened to Paul at Lystra after the people had thought he was a God?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/4/2014 9:55 PM

Prophecies about Greece (Dan. 3-4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/3/2014 10:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Prophecies about Greece

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Daniel 11:3-4

            Message of the verses:  There is a very interesting chart in Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this section that we will look at to better help us understand this section. 

            “3 “Then a mighty king will rise to power who will rule with great authority and accomplish everything he sets out to do. 4 But at the height of his power, his kingdom will be broken apart and divided into four parts. It will not be ruled by the king’s descendants, nor will the kingdom hold the authority it once had. For his empire will be uprooted and given to others.”

            When I was preparing to do these Spiritual Diaries for the eleventh chapter of Daniel I listened to a message by John MacArthur who has two lessons on the eleventh chapter of Daniel, and he stated that he had trouble finding an outline for this chapter until he broke the chapter up with names of the different prominent kings that would come out of this chapter, and all of these kings began with the letter “A.”  Of course there is no debate about who the king is in these two verses, for it is Alexander the Great. 

            I remember when I first looked at this chapter right after I got saved in Jan. of 1974 and I was listening to a sermon on tape by Hal Lindsey on this section.  He made a statement in his sermon that I still remember to this day and the statement had to do with a Jewish Priest and Alexander the Great.  Lindsey said that the priest had told Alexander that what he was accomplishing was prophesied by Daniel many years earlier and showed him from a scroll of Daniel and it was said that Alexander the Great prostrated himself before the priest after reading about himself in the scroll of Daniel.  We will now take a look at the chart from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary.

“From the previous visions, Daniel already knew the sequence of the great empires.

The image                                                      Vision                                      Vision

(Chapter 2)                                                    (Chapter 7)                            (Chapter 8)

Babylon—head of Gold                                  lion

Medo-Persia arms & chest of silver               bear                                         lion

Greece-Belt & thigh of bronze                        leopard                                                goat

Rome—legs of iron, feet of clay                     terrible beast”

We already learned in our SD that King Xerxes invaded Greece, but failed to conquer it, and this made the young Alexander upset so he decided to fight against the Persian Empire.  We see from the chart that the Greek Empire was seen as a leopard, and leopards mover very fast, and Alexander moved very fast with his new military way of fighting called the phalanx system.  I remember another part of the sermon by Hal Lindsey from 1974 and he said that it was Alexander the Great who took the best parts of all of the different Greek dialogues and made them into one language which is called “Common Greek.”  The reason was so that when he gave orders to his generals that there was no way that they could misunderstand what he was saying.  Common Greek is the language that the New Testament was written in and is not spoken any longer. 

“Philip II spent much of his youth as a hostage at Thebes, where he studied under the renowned general Epaminondas, whose reforms were the basis for the phalanx. Phalangites were professional soldiers, and were among the first troops ever to be drilled; thereby allowing them to execute complex maneuvers well beyond the reach of most other armies. They fought packed in a close rectangular formation, typically eight men deep, with a leader at the head of each column and a secondary leader in the middle, so that the back rows could move off to the sides if more frontage was needed.”  (From Wikipedia)  (Philip II was Alexander’s father)

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary with the following:  “Once again, Alexander’s incredible conquests were part of the sovereign plan of God.  The spread of the Greek language and Greek culture assisted the eventual spread of the Gospel and the Greek New Testament.  Alexander’s goal was not just to conquer territory but to bring people together in a ‘united empire.’  His soldiers married women from the conquered nations, and Alexander’s empire became a ‘melting pot’ for all peoples.  This too assisted in the spread of the Gospel centuries later.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God not only sees the big picture, but He also sees the individuals who help make up the big picture.  It is my goal in life to accomplish the things that the Lord has planned for me to accomplish so that my life will bring glory to the Lord.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Stephen Langton about A.D. 1228.”  I have done a little bit of study on this man and it is most interesting.

Today’s Bible Question:  “What were going up and down on Jacob’s ladder?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/3/2014 10:59 AM

Prophecies About Persia (Dan. 11:1-2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/2/2014 9:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Prophecies About Persia

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Daniel 11:1-2

            Message of the verses:  I am not exactly sure how long ago this story took place, but probably at least twenty years ago.  I was going to a church that I had joined four years after I became a believer in Jesus Christ, and I was sitting in a Sunday school class studying the book of Daniel.  I enjoyed the man’s teaching who was teaching us about Daniel as he was very precise in his teaching, probably because that was his profession.  At any rate when we got to the tenth chapter of Daniel he made the statement that the first section of Daniel eleven he got his material to teach us from the library.  Now this was before the days of the internet so the old fashion way of doing things was to research things in the library.  But how could things about the book of Daniel be in a public library?  Well they were in there because Daniel’s book prophesied about future history that would and did take place, however there is a portion of this eleventh chapter of Daniel that has not taken place, but just as the first parts of his prophecies took place, so the last part will also take place.

            It is the book of Daniel and the eleventh chapter of the book of Daniel that the critics of the Bible have said could not have been written before they took place.  I have no problem that the God I worship can cause a person, through the power of His Spirit to write down things before they happen.  It was by the Word of God that the heavens and the earth and all we see were created, so how big a problem is it for God to write about things that haven’t yet taken place, take place?  Not a problem at all!  I think that when we studied the ninth chapter of Daniel that I mentioned a book written by Sir Robert Anderson called “The Coming Prince.” We he wrote another book entitled “Daniel in the Critics Den” that tells of the accuracy of the book of Daniel in spite of all the critics.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes at the conclusion of his introduction for chapter eleven, which he has entitled “A Remarkable Prophecy—Part 1” “First, we will consider the verses that were prophecy in Daniel’s day but have been fulfilled and are now ancient history.  As we do, we will try to glean some practical spiritual lessons to help us in our Christian walk today.”  Dr. Wiersbe has broken up the eleventh chapter of Daniel into two different chapters in his commentary on Daniel.  His commentary on Daniel is entitled “Be Resolute.” 

            Prophecies about Persia (Daniel 11:1-2):  “1 "In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him. 2 “And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of Greece.”

            In order for us to better understand this first verse Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “It’s likely that verse 1 should be at the end of the previous chapter since it deals with the holy angels’ conflict with Satan’s angels.  The rulers of Persia had no idea that Satan was seeking to control their minds and lead them into making decisions that would hurt the people of God.  The Persian rulers were much more considerate of the Jews than were the Babylonian rulers, and Satan didn’t want this to happen.  He hates the Jews and is the father of anti-Semitism wherever it is found (Rev. 12).  However, Michael and Gabriel won that battle and Darius and Cyrus showed that compassion for the Jewish exiles.  In fact, it was Cyrus who issued the important edict that permitted the Jews to return to their land and rebuild their temple (Ezra 1:1-4).

            As we look at the second verse we see that the angel tells Daniel that there will be three more kings that will arise in Persia and that the last one will be extremely rich and will invade Greece.  The names of the four kings of Persia were Cambyses (539-522), Pseudo Smerdis (522-521), Darius I Hystapes (521-486), and Xerxes (496-465), the Ahasuerus of the Book of Daniel.   I got this material from Dr. Wiersbe’s book and I do not know if there is a typo for Hystapes’ rule as it seems to go into the rule of Xerxes.  After doing a little research on this I find that there is a typo and that Xerxes should begin in the year 486.

            Xerxes is the richest of the kings as Daniel wrote and he did attack the Greek’s and was defeated and then he came home to find comfort in his harem, and this is where Ester is involved in the story which can be seen in the book of Ester.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Xerxes was assassinated in August 465.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look, read, and study the book of Daniel I can see many truths in it, truths that I can and should put into practice in my life.  I can see that Daniel is a man of prayer and a man who obeys the teachings of the Lord, two things I should put into practice in my life.  Daniel trusted the Lord more than any other thing in his life even though at times, from the perspective of a human logic and thinking it could have cost him his life.  Now if the things that Daniel wrote about in this eleventh chapter of Daniel have already come true, and they have then I can trust the Lord to work out things in my life, and I should be able to remember these things so that my faith will grow, and my walk with the Lord will also grow and become stronger.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord and also remember Proverbs 3:5-6.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Josiah” (2 Kings 22:3-5).

Today’s Bible Question “Who divided the Bible into chapters?” 

Answer in our next SD.

1/2/2014 11:23 AM

Interlude in Daniel

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/19/2013 9:38 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Interlude in Daniel

            Today’s SD will be a different format that what we have been doing as we will look at what Dr. Wiersbe entitles “Interlude” which is a section between the end of the tenth chapter and the last two chapters of the book of Daniel.  Chapter ten was the introduction to this great prophecy that the angel Gabriel will give to Daniel before he returns to help Michal in the upcoming invisible battles that are still going on today.  The prophecies in the book of Daniel are primarily for the nation of Israel even though there are Gentile nations involved in them, but Daniel’s prayer is for the nation of Israel and God has answered his prayers and gave him in detail the things that will happen to the nation of Israel, and many of the things that Daniel learns are not good, and they are extremely hard on him as a person.  I am reminded of the Apostle John who wrote the book of the Revelations of Jesus Christ, and in one section of this book John is told to take a little book from the hand of  an angel and to eat the book, which will be sweet in his mouth, but will make his stomach sour.  “Re 10:9 So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he *said to me, "Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." Re 10:10 I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.”  Daniel has gone through the same reactions when he receives the prophecies that he has received.  I am also reminded of what Dr. Wiersbe has written about prophecy stating that when we learn of the prophecies that are in the Bible we are to be humble in knowing what the Lord has planned for His people, and we are not to brag about every new thing that we learn.  Yes prophecy is sweet when we learn it, but then when we think about all of the people who are involved in the prophecies we learn about and how miserable their lives are going to be that is when it makes our stomachs bitter and our hearts aches for them.  One can see the reactions that Daniel has when he has received the prophecies and one can see the reaction of when John received the book of revelations, and in a short time, Lord willing, we will see the many tears that Jeremiah will shed over the sinfulness of the nation of Israel (the Southern Tribes).  We will not look at the Interlude that Dr. Wiersbe wrote:

Interlude

            “The prophecy given in chapters 11 and 12 is long and complex.  The first thirty-five verses of Daniel 11 were prophecy in Daniel’s day but are now history.  They deal with important but, for the most part, forgotten historical characters with difficult names and complicated relationships.  The chapters may be outlined as follows:

I.                 Prophecies already fulfilled (11:1-35)

a.       About Persia –11:1-2

b.     About Greece—11:3-4

c.      About Egypt and Syria—11:5-20

d.     About Antiochus Epiphanes and Syria –11:21-35

II.               Prophecies yet to be fulfilled (11:36-12:3)

a.      About the Tribulation and Antichrist –11:36-12:1

b.     About the promised kingdom –12:3-3

c.      Final intrusions to Daniel (12:4-13)

These prophecies fill the details of previous prophecies the Lord had given to Daniel and were the answer to his prayer for greater understanding of God’s plans for Israel.  The focus is on Israel in the last days.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “A.D. 30”  I have also read that Christ died in A. D. 29.

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who said “A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house?”

Answer in our next SD.

12/19/2013 10:04 AM

The Invisible War (Dan. 10:10-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/18/2013 9:14 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  An Invisible War

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Daniel 10:10-21

            Message of the verses:  “10 Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 He said to me, "O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you." And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. 12 Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. 13  "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. 14  "Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future." 15 When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless. 16 And behold, one who resembled a human being was touching my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, "O my lord, as a result of the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength. 17 “For how can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, there remains just now no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me." 18 Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me. 19 He said, "O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you; take courage and be courageous!" Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, "May my lord speak, for you have strengthened me." 20 Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come. 21 “However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.”

            What we see in this section of Daniel’s writings is very special and also very informative, for in it we see something that Bible scholars call angelology, which is the study of angels.  We will not get into the prophecy until we begin to look at the eleventh chapter of Daniel, which Lord willing will be next month, but we will see in this section something that makes it clear to us that there is a constant battle going on in the invisible places around the earth.  The Apostle Paul writes about this in different places of his writings, but let us first of all look at Ephesians 6:10-20 where he describes who we war against and how we can be protected while in this war:  “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14  Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15  and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16  in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18  With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.”  Paul uses the word “stand” many times in this section showing his readers the need to stand, and not to fall down.  He speaks of the different pieces of armor that the believer needs to put on in order to be able to stand, and if you count prayer, and I think we should there are seven pieces of armor needed in our battle, a battle that it not against flesh and blood.  We can see from verse twelve that Satan has a well organized army that fights against the Lord and the people who belong to the Lord.  We can also see this in the section of Scripture we are studying for our lesson today.

            It is possible that the One whom we speculated was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ has left and Daniel is now in the presence of the angel, who was probably Gabriel, and Gabriel tells Daniel why it took him three weeks to be able to come to him with the answer to his prayers.  Daniel at this time needs the angel to minister to him in a special way and will also need it again so that Daniel will gain his strength to be able to understand the prophecy that he is about to receive.  There were two times that the angels came to minister to our Lord when He walked on this earth, one was after his forty day fast, and the other was when He was praying in the garden just before He would go to the cross to die for our sins.  The angel tells Daniel that he is loved or dearly loved and this is the second time Daniel hears these words from an angel.  Jesus heard words similar to these from His Father while He was on the earth on several occasions.

            As mentioned Daniel’s conversation with this angel reveals to us that we are in an invisible war, and prayer has much to say about the outcome.  We will speak more about this later, but I want to mention that there is a novel written by Frank Peretti entitled “This Present Darkness,” that gives a wonderful illustration of what goes on in this invisible war.  It is an older book but well worth reading or listening to.   

            There are many people today that do not believe that the devil is real, and that is a part of his plan.  I remember trying to witness to a man at work who told me that if you add an “o” to God you get “good” and if you take the “d” from devil you get “evil.” I could tell from these words that he certainly did not believe in either God or the devil.  James tells us that the demons do believe in God and they tremble when His name is mentioned.  There is a story in the book of Acts that tells of some men who were trying to cast out a demon from a person in the name of the Jesus that Paul preached and the demon said that he knew Paul and he knew Jesus but he did not know the men who were trying to cast him out and so he beat up all of these men.  (See Acts 19:13-15.) 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The believer’s responsibility is to put on the whole armor of God by faith and use the Word of God and believing prayer to oppose and defeat the wicked one.”  Daniel was doing this along with fasting; something else that we can do when there is something very important we need to pray about.  Daniel did not realize how much his prayers were affecting the invisible war that was going on above him while he prayed for three weeks, and we probably don’t realize it either. 

            The angel told Daniel that the “prince of Persia” was opposing him, and this was why he delayed in coming to him, something we have mentioned, but I want to quote from Dr. Wiersbe again on this subject, as it is important.  “It appears that there are specific evil angels assigned to various nations; some students of angelology call them ‘territorial spirits.’  That’s why Paul told the Ephesian believers that the Christian’s battle was not against flesh and blood but against the demonic forces in the heavenlies that oppose the holy angels who always do God’s will.  The problems that the Jewish remnants were having in Jerusalem at that time weren’t being caused by the local officials but by Satan’s evil powers using those officials.  Christians are never to worship angels (Col 2:18-19; Rev. 19:10; 22:8-9) or pray to angels, for our worship and prayer belong to God alone.  But when we pray, God direct the armies of heaven to fight on our behalf, even though we may know nothing about the battles that are being waged in the invisible war.”  “Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:17). 

            “The prophet Daniel realized the great significance of God’s plans for Israel, and once again he fainted and was unable to speak.  Here he had been involved in a cosmic spiritual conflict and didn’t even know it, and the Lord was using some of His highest angels to answer his prayers!  This certainly lifts prayer out of the level of a humdrum religious exercise and shows it to be one of our strongest and most important spiritual weapons.  The neglect of prayer is the reason why many churches and individual believers are so weak and defeated.  The late Peter Deyneka, a missionary to the Slavic peoples, often reminded us, ‘Much prayer, much power; no prayer, no power!’  Jesus taught His disciples that the demonic forces could not be defeated except by prayer and fasting, the very activities that Daniel had been involved in for three weeks.” 

            We see again that the angel restored Daniel’s strength in order for him to hear the prophetic message and we also see that there are two times that the angel tells Daniel “fear not” (Daniel 10:12, 19). 

            Lastly we see that the angel tells Daniel that the battle is not over as he and Michael had to continue their fight against the Persian prince and then go to the prince of Greece.  The Persian king allowed the people to return to Israel and so we can believe that this had to do with the prayers of Daniel and others. 

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes by writing “One reason why God commands His people to pray for those in authority is so that God’s will, not Satan’s plans might be fulfilled in their lives (1 Timothy 2:1-3).  The destiny of more than one nation has been changed because God’s people have fervently prayed.”  (See 2 Cor. 10:4-5).

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This has been a great reminder to me on the importance of prayer, and my need to pray more and more fervently. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Take this message to heart and pray more.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Foolish questions, genealogies, contentions, strivings and the law” (Titus 3:9).

Today’s Bible Question:  “What year is it believed that Jesus was crucified?” 

Answer in our next SD.

12/18/2013 10:49 AM