Daniel in Exile Part 13

Let's pray and we're going to get started. Lord Jesus again as we open your word We ask the power of your holy spirit to help us to rightly understand this difficult portion of scripture

So that we can take heed of what you have warned us ahead of time about and that we may be may be

Keen on the devil's strategies to attack the church and undermine the gospel And we pray lord that we would not fear the antichrist

But that we would fear you and so that we might share eternity with you rather than eternity with him.

We ask in jesus name. Amen All right. So today we get to talk about the antichrist, which is a lovely topic, by the way um, you know, and if you hear like ominous music in the background

You know, you know like a horror movie something kind of stuff and you know Just ignore it

The the antichrist is when he shows up the man of lawlessness when he shows up is going to be

Just a mess And and christ has given us all of this ahead of time I kind of look at it this way if if the man of lawlessness were to show up like next thursday

Why thursday because it's always the least expected day if the man of lawlessness shows up next thursday And all of a sudden it's illegal to be a christian and publicly worship christ and stuff like this

Do you think i'm going to stop i'm not going to stop? And uh, and uh, and if the antichrist gets really upset and decides to make an example of me

I'll basically say you know It's really funny that you're saying all these things and you're forbidding all these things because this is exactly what god said would happen

Don't don't you think you should be concerned for yourself because your end isn't a good one I've seen the end of the book.

It's terrible what happens to you So and as for me, i'm i'm in christ i'm never gonna die.

So go for it You know, that's christians can die well and with that kind of defiance

So as we were looking through the book of daniel We noted last week that and we we we looked at the commentary and we're going to continue to look at the commentary to help us understand that this

Character that begins to be described in verse 36 of daniel 11 Is in fact not

Antiochus epiphanies the subject has changed and the time frame has changed Um two things completely and what we'll do along the way is we'll also take a look at the this commentator's

Excursus on the antichrist and the lutheran confessions because when we talk about antichrist, we have to recognize that Antichrist his spirit his activity has been present in the church since christ ascension

And there's still a future Kind of pinnacle event of where the man of lawlessness himself a a singular man of lawlessness shows up.

The two are both true So when when lutherans say Along with other confessions, by the way presbyterians say the same thing

That the office of the papacy is the office of antichrist It's it's not saying that a specific pope is the antichrist, but the actual office itself, which

Which lords itself and puts its authority over the church and replaces christ because what are the pope? What the pope's claiming to be the vicars of christ that that office itself is an antichrist

Office and is in accord with the activity of the antichrist So as when we kind of look at this, uh, you know people it always cracks me up when you get like these, you know pre -millennial

Eschatological people, you know, you think of you know How lindsey's late great planet earth and and all the nonsense that went along with that but always fascinates at me when somebody

Is there there these people are constantly trying to play the game of pin the tail on the antichrist

Okay, is it the current guy? Who's the the prime minister of uh of turkey?

I mean that he he's uh, He's a bad dude. And so there's a lot of people thinking well, maybe it's putin putin

Maybe he's the antichrist Okay, and sitting like thing you guys are like ignoring like an important bit of this the antichrist is a religious figure

Okay He's also a governmental figure, but he's a religious figure first and foremost

Um, and he exalts himself within the temple of god and we're going to explain what that is, too

And exalts himself to be god within the temple of god So when we put all the pieces together, you know eschatologically

We can see that the activity of the antichrist is present now and has been present for the entire

Two millennia that the church has been around and will have its final culmination

In in the manifestation of and revealing of who this man of lawlessness is the one that daniel's prophesying here

Actually daniel wrote down the prophecy. Remember it's jesus. Who's the one who gave him this so, uh, we we get the idea

So let's let's continue with the commentary because I'm finding i'm finding this commentary to be Helpful.

Okay. So in verse 36, let me read out verses 36 to 39 from daniel 11

And the king hamelech shall do as he wills He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god

And he shall speak astonishing things against the god of gods

He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished For what is decreed shall be done

He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers or to the one beloved by women

He shall not pay attention to any other god for he shall magnify himself above all

He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these a god whom his fathers did not know

He shall honor with gold and silver with precious stones and costly gifts

Okay, he shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god

Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price now nice thing about this is is that having kind of a fresh start at this addressing this topic singularly rather than on the heels of Of the greater teaching on hebrew on hebrew not hebrews, but daniel 11

We're able to have you know, we're able to kind of look at this with fresh eyes and with the fresh eyes We can begin to see the shape of the deeds

And the and the sin of of the man of lawlessness of the antichrist himself

So here's what our commentator says. So the ominous note is sounded by the opening sentence the king ha melech will do as he pleases the identical wording for this arrogance do and Literally according to his pleasure was also used for the characteristic arrogance of the kingdom of persia represented by the ram in Daniel 8 4 so if you remember in daniel 8 4 we saw the ram

I saw ram charging westward and northward and southward No beast could stand before him and there was no one who could rescue from his power

He did as he pleased and became great. Okay, so regarding the antichrist

In the same way that alexander the great was totally unconquerable and did whatever he wanted to do

The man of lawlessness will be the same Okay, and I like how the commentator points out that this is an ominous note okay because If you are not prepared for this

You are going to foolishly think that you can somehow thwart him Okay, and that is ridiculous

Okay. Okay You'll note that the the the smart here the biblically astute who know their bibles if this guy shows up There ain't nothing we're gonna do to get rid of this fellow

The best thing you can do is pretend that you're a cockroach and scurry and find a hole and hide in it, okay

Um that that's about the only way you can write out this period of time Okay so and and that's so note that he will do as he wishes that's

Spoken of alexander the great was also antiochus the third. However, those statements came within the

Within the descriptions, but this very first statement about the eschatological king

He is chiefly characterized by his willful arrogance Unlike those other kings his arrogance is characterized as primarily

Religious in nature Okay, so I always tell this story, you know, so back when barb and I first got married we lived in seattle and um

And that was an interesting place to live and I worked At a uh a startup bank called pacific northwest bank and their offices were at 1111 third avenue in Seattle, which is right across the street from my one of my favorite skyscrapers in the whole world

It was formerly called the washington mutual building, but it's at 1201 third avenue and the architecture on that thing is just brilliant Anyway, um, there was a fellow who was a vietnam vet

Shows you there's not a lot of those guys left, but there was a vietnam vet Who? Who would every month get his disability check?

Okay, and this is a guy and his disability check was a substantially Substantial amount of money every month and the reason being is because he was a paraplegic

He was actually wounded in battle and had no ability to use his legs but um

What ends up happening with a lot of gi's, you know veterans who come back and they they have ptsd and they're wounded and stuff

Like this this guy was practically a homeless person But once a month he would come in to our bank in order to cash his check

Okay, and so he he comes in And uh, he he always liked to strike up a conversation with me and talk about this some of the strangest things

But he led off our conversation one month. He said do you think that nancy reagan is the antichrist?

And I went what? I Because it was it had just been revealed somewhere around that time

On the news that that nancy reagan was into psychics and and and you know, and and would consult uh people who are into Just weird kind of you know

Astrology and stuff like this and so he he legit. It was a like he was an honest question

Is is uh is nancy reagan the antichrist? Well, I think we can pretty much say no to that right now um, you know nancy isn't with us at the moment, uh but But I like what steven elliott said just say no.

I I like that man. You're showing your age steven Elliott you're showing your age. So just say no

That's clever I like that i'm stealing it I tried to explain to him that I didn't think that nancy was the antichrist

But I don't think I really got through to him. But uh that that's a whole other story. So Anyway, so you're going to note then the

Antichrist this man of lawlessness this eschatological king His arrogance is chiefly and primarily focused on the religious aspects of it

Now he does become a global political leader but his primary

In initiate, you know initiation if he went, you know into into the into the world scene

Is as a religious figure So this king will be a religious figure and his power will be exercised in ways that pervert and profane

What is godly instead of challenging the geopolitical order as other kings actions did antiochus the fourth?

Was a foreshadowing of this eschatological king because antiochus the fourth Was the only one of the hellenistic kings whose actions directly corrupted and prevented the biblically based worship of god in israel so the reason why

Antiochus epiphanes stands out then is because that's the one that went after the the temple worship

That corrupted things that offered a sacrifice of a pig on the altar, uh in uh in you know, so you'll note that that's why he's

Uh, he's he's focused here. And so you're gonna note then Type and shadow is in a jewish context the

The the fulfillment is in a christian context not a jewish Okay, because christ has come right

All right, so all right, so he prevented biblically based worship However, the other acts of antiochus the fourth mentioned in chapters 8 9 through 14 were primarily geopolitical in nature

So the main characteristic of this end time king is that he elevates himself over every other god

To usurp the one true god. He speaks wonderful things ostensibly divine words against god

Making him the same as the little horn in the vision of daniel chapter 7

Okay, and I won't explain how nifal participles work in hebrew But um is this nifal participle occurs in daniel only daniel only in 824

And the nifal feminine plural participle occurs a four total 42 times in the old testament in the 39 of these instances

It is used as a noun for the wonderful miraculous salvific acts of god In 824 refers to god's salvific actions through his old testament means of grace the temple and its liturgical rites

But here it refers to the antichrist deceptive words, which are crafted in order to supplant god's word note here the antichrist

Words are are designed to supplant god's words to get rid of god's words

Now if you were to think then is that these actions of the antichrist when he shows up Are already at work in the church

You can see the spirit of antichrist at work in those churches Where god's word is being supplanted with false traditions and practices and doctrines and things like this

That's all the actions of the spirit of antichrist So the antichrist then

Designed his design to supplant god's word through which salvation comes to his people

So clearly this figure's words against the true god are designed to replace The wonderful acts of god that redeem his people and which are gods alone interestingly theodosian translates this word in 1136 with uh

Og arrogant things A word used by peter in judah in their description of false teachers that will arise among christians

So peter warns in second peter also false prophets arose among the people just as among you

There will also arise false teachers who will secretly introduce destructive heresies even denying the master who bought them

Bringing upon themselves swift destruction for for by speaking arrogant things again.

Here's the greek word Uh hoop of futility Arrogant things of futility they entice by desires of the flesh and by sensuality those who barely escape

From the ones who live in error jude use a similar language to speak about such people for certain men.

They sneak in secretly Who were written about long ago? for this condemnation ungodly persons who turn the grace of our god into licentiousness

And they deny our only master in lord. Jesus christ. These men are grumblers They're malcontents.

They follow their own lusts their mouths speak arrogant things here again hoop eragga

Flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage So the prophecy given by daniel by the divine man predicts the coming of an eschatological figure whose words will be the epitome of such arrogant false teaching

That is disguised as divine words And we have words like that Already in the church by false teachers.

Okay, so daniel is also told that this king will prosper Pay attention to this

He will prosper Until god's anger against him is completed in other words

He's gonna succeed Okay, this is this is why whenever whenever I get to a section like this in scripture,

I remind christians of Remember what it was like when you were young and you played flag football or you know

You you know, you played football with the kids in the neighborhood, right? And what what would you do your team would get in your huddle and your your your team captain or your quarterback would say?

Okay. All right roseboro. I want you to run a post I want you to run out here and then At 15 yards in I want you to cut in and and i'm going to throw the ball to you and everybody else

You know do these things, right? Uh, so Christ in the huddle here is letting us know something.

Okay the job of true christians during this time

Is to lose Okay, it you know Do you understand our job?

Okay, because this guy nothing's gonna stop him Absolutely nothing except for jesus himself.

Okay so Uh, he's going to he's going to succeed He's going to see he's going to prosper until god's anger against him is completed since god has determined that his actions

Should run their course god wants his actions to run their course saint paul calls this

Eschatological eschatological figure the man of lawlessness and describes him in terms parable parallel to 11 36 and 37 and notes

That it will be christ who will end his power the apostle explains the prophecy given to daniel

So this is from second thessalonians chapter 2 And this is wonderful. I like the way he's put this in here

So paul says let no one deceive you in any way for that day the day of the lord Will not arrive until the apostasy comes first And then the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of destruction

He opposes and exalts himself above everything called god note what second thessalonians do is doing here is

Paralleling and expanding on what daniel has written here in 11 36 to 39.

Okay So he opposes and exalts himself above everything called god

Or that is worshiped so that he takes his seat in god's temple Displaying himself as if he is god and then

Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the lord will slay with the spirit or breath of his mouth

And bring to an end by the epiphany of his perusia That's actually how the greek word reads in that His the man of lawlessness coming then is by the by satan's working with every kind of miracle and sign and false wonders um

And with all deception of weakness for those who are perishing So no satan's activity within the church to twist up the scriptures and teach false doctrine then

That is all the activity of satan doing the foundation work preparing the way for the man of lawlessness now

This then requires us to do a slight excursus here because this is where a lot of people get tripped up Okay And we'll i'm going to pull up accordance here

And i'm going to do a search in the new testament temple And i'm going to look in the epistles in particular.

Okay All right Let me shorten everything up and i'm going to look outside of the book of acts because we need to see how new testament theology

Works out concepts regarding the temple. So in first corinthians 3 paul says this.

Do you not know that you? You are god's temple.

All right. Now this is going to be an interesting thing here Hati na astheo

Who do you not know second person plural perfect active indicative

Do y 'all not know that y 'all are god's temple? Okay Yeah, my greek students pay attention to the second person plural here

Okay When paul writes he's not saying that you as an individual are god's temple

He's saying that we all of us christians together. We are god's temple and that god's spirit dwells in In where where in human in y 'all?

Okay If anyone destroys god's temple god will destroy him for god's temple is holy and y 'all

Are that temple? Okay So note here in paul's theology and note this is holy spirit inspired theanoustas theology

Okay That the temple isn't referring to the temple in jerusalem

The temple is the church The temple is the church and then you'll you can even then make the argument that Individually as christians we have the holy spirit dwelling on us and each of us as christians

Our bodies are the temple of the holy spirit, but now let that permeate

What is going on here in second thessalonians chapter two? It is very clear that the man of lawlessness

He will take his seat in god's temple Now let me ask you this

Are you ready? Okay The old testament temple is a type and shadow of christ

The fulfillment is christ If the jews in israel build a temple today

Will that temple be god's temple? No, it will not therefore

It can't this this text does not refer to a rebuilt third temple in jerusalem

It's referring to the visible church So you'll note where does the antichrist arise from visible visible christianity

Visible christianity and you'll note that this is absolutely in accord with what we see then the lawless one will be revealed

His the man of lawlessness is coming is by the by satan's working with every kind of miracle and signs and false wonders

Where are these false miracles false signs and wonders taking place today? in the visible church

Okay You you just have to sort this out Okay, you you think of todd todd white you think of benny hinn ken copeland?

These guys are the forerunners of the antichrist And their activity and their false signs false wonders and false prophecies are taking place

Where not in a jewish temple? They're taking place in the visible body of christ the the antichrist is legitimately at first and foremost a pseudo -christian

And all of this deception that i've been covering on fighting for the faith for the past two decades is preparing the ground

For the arrival of the man of lawlessness and his first the first place he comes up from is the church

That's the temple it's referring to All right Okay Okay.

Now, let me see here Yes, so john paletto.

This is uh, andrew steinman's uh, concordia commentary Put out by cph. That is correct.

Okay If our job is to lose then how should I pray god help

I i'm gonna run for my life and pray that god Makes it so that I I don't get caught and then if I get caught i'm gonna pray that I die.

Well You know what? Oh, yeah

So not everybody will die, right? So here's the thing many christians are going to be martyred during that time when that guy shows up But not all christians will be martyred

So note this there will be some who will be alive when christ returns, but not many So, um, you know, so, you know if I I might my you know,

I might get so old It might take this guy too long to show up if i'm too old. I'm just not gonna try

Yeah, go ahead and kill me. You'll do me a favor, you know, but uh, you get the idea Yes, what

That's a different thing altogether That's a different thing altogether. All right So lily says

I wonder if the false prophets i'd like you. I like the way you spelled that. Uh lily P -r -o -f -i -t -s

Prophets the false prophets of today are just conditioning us to believe false words for god

So that when the real thing comes on the scene people will be so used to the confusion that they will just believe it without questioning

Hashtag my truth your truth any god anything, you know goes. Yep. That's right.

Lily. You're absolutely right I think a good way to think about it is this is that when the man of lawlessness shows up Sid roth's it's supernatural.

We'll claim it's jesus um Yeah, the uh, the tbn will go wall to wall with coverage focusing in on this guy

Uh, michael brown will be explained to us how he really is jesus. I mean, that's what we're talking about here

Okay, that's that And and here's the thing I will be labeled a an uber hyper critic not worthy of living for daring to speak out against this fellow

Okay That's how this is going to go down If i'm alive because I again,

I don't know when this is all going to take place But all I can say is this You guys better be paying attention because in church history

The apostasy that we're seeing right now in the in the church today. It's it's unprecedented Okay, the very words of christ warning us that in the days before his return immediate return

There would be many false christs and false prophets Have you noticed that's today? Okay That that's that we're looking at it right now.

So we're getting closer But again, I I don't have I don't have the due date so I couldn't tell you when it's going to happen

So I I would be surprised if it's not in the next hundred years But I mean, that's my best guess, you know, you know a hundred years.

I'm thankful. I won't be here for that many so All right.

So yeah, you you got the idea then I And lily says I think he'll be likable guy by the world standards

Yeah, even the world's gonna worship him as god Okay The the world's gonna love this guy

Love him. Love him. It's gonna be the best Yeah, neha says some years ago a neo -pentecostal pastor in brazil built a new temple of solomons in brazil

Why? Why what a what a waste of money, okay

Yeah Okay, so pcr will truly become an underground radio much like resistance during world war ii.

I know I know that's what we're about but I just Distribution, uh will be challenging because i'm sure that whoever this man of lawlessness is he's going to control the internet

And and and you think about it being able to control the internet is like within people's grasp now, thanks to ai

Okay, uh, you know, they don't need humans to to Watch out for stuff. They can crawl stuff with ai now and and find everything that's being said and going on So it should be lovely, you know

It's gonna be fascinatingly fun And and if you've read the book of revelation the the primary way in which christians will die

Is beheading so that's a fast way to go. So yeah, that's yeah way to go

Smiley joel osteen will have nothing on this guy, right? You're right

Okay, and smiley joe osteen will think it's jesus too so Oh, it's gonna be a mess.

Yeah, it's just it's cat Just remember this Again, i'll make the reference because I I think it's the best reference ghostbusters.

Okay, where he's they're trying to explain to him How big the twinkie is? Okay Um, and you know and you know and and they're saying it's it's it's gonna be cats and dogs living together, you know stuff

Like it's just gonna be total chaos. That's what we're talking about. It's a big twinkie coming. Okay so Now note then this king will not favor the god of his fathers the phrase god of his or our or your fathers

Occurs 45 times in the old testament and is always description a description of yahweh

Therefore this king will come from among the people of god similar is the implication of the statement

He will honor a god whom his fathers did not know Since the people who know their god is in 1132 refers to believers in the one true god of israel

Some commentators see this as an indication that the antichrist will be jewish. However, this phrase is not an ethnic identification

It is a religious one It indicates that the eschatological king will come from those whose ancestral tradition is to worship the one true god

Thus in paul's term. He takes his seat in god's temple arising from among faithful believers

Okay cross -reference first john 2 They went out from us, but they were not of us

They had if they had been of us, they would have continued with us But they went out that it might become plain that they are not all of us

Okay, and that's in the context of the greater discussion on the antichrist in in first john So this king will not favor normal human marital relations nor any god because he will make himself greater than all now

Here's the thing The apostle paul clearly Prophesized something regarding the antichrist and let me find it real quick here one timothy um

All right now watch this first timothy 4 The spirit the holy spirit expressly says that in the later times

Some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons

Through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared Who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that god created?

This is a standout right here who forbid marriage? Why have you noticed that the world legitimately has lost its mind?

Regarding marriage. Okay. In fact, let me let me show you something. I gotta grab this real quick and I'm gonna open up my notes.

I need my notes database Check this out This is one of the most frightening things

I have seen in a long time All right. Hang on a second here Um, and let me re -share my screen

Okay from the current affairs magazine a magazine of politics and culture from the united states

The the headline is why we should abolish the family All right

Listen, listen this the family is a conservative project that limits human flourishing. The family must be abolished by lily sanchez

Okay, let that sink in Okay Okay, let let let this sink in we got to get rid of the family and if you get rid of the family

Where do you start? well, you start with Forbidding marriage

And why? Why would people want to forbid marriage? There's a very specific reason why

Ephesians chapter 5 I think does a really good job of explaining it Okay um

Hang on. I gotta get to that part husbands Love your wives as christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

So that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word and then he says this okay um for one does not

No one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as christ does the church because we are members of his body

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh

This mystery is profound and i'm saying it refers to christ and the church However, let each one of you love his wife as himself.

So the idea here is is that marriage itself? Reflects The love that god has that christ has for his bride the church

And even the marriage union itself is a type and shadow of the union christ has with his church

With his beloved and so marriage at its core

Is a reflection of the love of christ. Why does satan hate it?

Okay satan hates marriage because it looks and smells just like jesus's love

Okay, and this is why he goes after it. So the institution itself

Is prophesied will be forbidden Okay. Now I want you I want you to think about this

Okay, the day is coming and there's no way to stop it when all of us who are presently married will be forbidden from being married

We will be declared by the state to be not married Which would turn every single human relationship where there's a union into an adulterous sinful sexual relationship, right?

Okay You you just think about this is the kind of stuff that is designed to provoke

God to wrath and anger To draw him out and to bring him back to put an end to all of this satan knows full well

Okay, so all of the gender bender weird stuff that's going on right now, this is all precursor

And laying foundation for the eventual outlawing of marriage itself And here's the thing had

I said this 10 years ago people would have thought I was extreme But i'm saying this today and everyone's sitting there going.

Yeah, I can see it because we're not we're not that many steps away from it Right Okay We're just we're this close

It's it's we're getting closer by the minute. All right. Now, let me come back then to our commentary

Okay, so note then talking about The man of lawlessness the antichrist in uh, that's revealed at least what's revealed about him in daniel levin his arrogant his arrogance

Renders him incapable of loving of the loving devotion that is required by both marriage and true piety

He personally is not married and does not rightly honor the one true god and as a king He imposes this disdain for marriage and his dishonorable view of god upon his subjects

Wow Okay So some interpreters claim desire of women it refers to jewish women's desire to bear and give birth to the messiah to support this theory

They note that in in the other occurrence of the noun Uh in construct the following genitive is always a subjective this is kind of a i'm going to kind of miss this excursus because I think that's kind of a

You know, it's it's it's not really the point here So what is this god of fortresses a god?

A god his fathers did not know It is temporal power as signified by fortresses

This will be the thing that he values above all else Making it power his god

He will honor temporal power because it will provide him with the things That fortresses provide a way to protect his power a means of defense a place of security

Ironically fortresses is used most often in the old testament as a metaphor for god himself as the strength protection and salvation of his people

When the king rejects the god of his fathers, he will seek to use temporal power

To replace what only god can supply Therefore this eschatological king will deal with other temporal threats fortified fortresses with the help of a foreign god

Which is the god of fortresses the god whom his fathers did not know that is Instead of relying on god and his word as a fortress to protect him

The means of grace through which christians find security and victory He will rely upon temporal power to deal with the powers of this world

Therefore he will honor those who acknowledge him and his power And for that price he will give them power in this world over people and territory thus

The eschatological king will be like antiochus the fourth who foreshadowed him

Both use temporal power and both attack god his people and divine worship

Through which god grants salvation and eternal security to his people however, antiochus was

Primarily a geopolitical figure who used his status to attack the religious institutions

And practices of the jews the eschatological king primarily will be a religious figure

Who will use his religious position to wield temporal power? This is exactly how paul describes the antichrist the man of lawlessness and second thessalonians, too

It also fits the description of the antichrist as the beast in revelation chapter 13

So with this understanding of the eschatological king It's now possible to see the type of parallel that the revelation that the revelation that daniel draws between antiochus and the antichrist

They are mirror images of each other the first being a geopolitical figure who stirs up problems of a religious nature

The second being a religious figure who stirs up problems of a geopolitical Nature, so they mirror each other.

Okay, and so he kind of gives us, uh, you know how this works So antiochus the fourth the geopolitical figure

Uh occupied in warfare The eschatological king a religious figure preoccupied with temporal power

Antiochus uses his political power to attack god's people and prohibit and pervert god's ordained worship institutions uh and affairs and practices

The eschatological king because of his abuse of religious authority which he yields in geopolitical affairs

He is attacked and becomes involved in warfare Again, just mirror images of themselves, but the themes are identical

Okay So continuing on The king's final days the end of the eschatological king

The time of the end is an expression that occurs four times in daniel's vision

Just as it was used in 817 to signify the time when the period prophesied in that vision would end

So it is also used here to indicate the end of the period covered by the divine man's words

In the case of this vision it is the end of the world At the return of christ since the time frame of this vision ends with the resurrection.

So note here daniel 12 verses 1 through 3 The world has ended and then there's the resurrection so you can you can say the time at the end

Clearly is pointing to the return of christ and the and the general resurrection of the dead therefore 11

Versus 40 to 45 Speaks of the end of the eschatological king immediately before the perusia the return the visible return of christ

To be followed by the bodily resurrection thus daniel 11 40 to 45 is parallel to revelation 27 to 10 and daniel 12 1 to 3 is parallel to revelation 2011 through 15.

So let's do a little bit of work on this. Shall we? All right. So let's read now Daniel 11 40 to 45

And then we'll take a look at its at the parallel passages and see how they how they parallel identically So at the time of the end

The king of the south shall attack him But the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen with many ships

And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through He shall come into the glorious land

And tens of thousands shall fall but these shall be delivered out of his hand edom and moab in the main part of the ammonites

He shall stretch out his hand against the countries and the land of egypt shall not escape

He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver and the precious things of egypt and the libyans and the cushites

Shall follow him in his train But news from the east and the north shall alarm him and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to Destruction and he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain

Yet he shall come to his end with none to help him At that time now we'll go into 12 also

At that time shall arise michael the great prince who has charge of your people

And there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time

But at that time your people shall be delivered everyone whose name shall be found written in the book

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life some to shame and everlasting contempt

And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above and those who turn many to righteousness

Like the stars forever and ever Okay, so there's there's there's that's the beginning portion of this

So you can kind of see that this this and this man of lawlessness guy. He comes to a pretty swift end

And none is able to help him. So let's then take a look at the parallels which requires me to come back to This hold on a second here i'm gonna scroll down here

All right, let's see here I what am I looking at I want to see the where was

I I went too far.

Hang on. Here we go. So we just did that So let's take a look at our cross references then. So we just read out 11 40 to 45.

Okay And then we're going to note this the parallel to this is revelation 20 versus 7 to 10

So let's take a look at that so we can kind of see how it plays out revelation 20

Versus 7 to 10 Okay And when the thousand years are ended satan will be released from his prison

Will come out to deceive the nations that are the four at the coral corners of the earth gaga magog to gather them for battle

Their numbers like the sand of the sea They marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city

But the fire came down from heaven and consumed them and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur

Where the beast and the false prophet were and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever

I think that's that's a pretty clear parallel to what we just read. Okay, and then the other parallel what um

Is uh, so we read daniel, uh 12 1 to 3 the parallel then is revelation 20 versus 11 to 15

And then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it From his presence earth and sky fled away.

No place was found for them. I saw the dead Great and small standing before the throne and books were opened

Then another book was opened which is the book of life And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done

And the sea gave up the dead who were in it death and hades gave up the dead who were in them

And they were judged each one of them according to what they had done Then death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire

This is the second death the lake of fire And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire

So you can see here then you can't understand revelation apart from daniel the two have to be read together

To kind of put put the puzzle pieces together in a way that makes sense so that you're not kind of led astray by fanciful

Misinterpretations, right? Okay. So let's come back here And I think this is the point where I think we should probably just take a brief look at the excursus

We're not going to read this in its entirety There's a very specific part of the excursus on the on the antichrist that I think is super helpful for us and that that specifically relates then to how um

What is the activity of of the antichrist itself? And here, uh, dr.

Steinman points something out the marks of the antichrist Uh, this is on the treatise in the power primacy of the pope in the lutheran confessions

And I want you to listen to how this how this this this works. So John makes it clear that the antichrist there are many little antichrists already here

And they're all kind of heading towards the big one So antichrist in a generic sense

Okay, this includes the the ones doing the prep work in in preparation for the big guy himself

The antichrist promotes false doctrine that conflicts with the gospel of christ especially the central article of the true faith justification for christ's sake by grace alone and through faith alone

And the antichrist claims the right to change doctrine established by christ

Okay, that's one of the hallmarks of antichrist and here's the thing Everybody out there who's twisting the scriptures right now are is they're doing the work of the antichrist?

Because they're changing established church doctrine that's found in the scriptures. Okay? The antichrist institutes form of worship forms of worship that conflict with the gospel

Okay, let me give you an example since we're in lent What medieval rome did with lent

Totally conflicts with the gospel because what do they say if you don't eat fish on friday?

That's a mortal sin and you go to hell if you die, right? Okay, they took a pious practice that actually has some legitimately interesting theological implications

And they turned it into a mandatory tradition and threatened you with the fires of hell if you don't do it

Okay So what gets lost there that's a form of worship that conflicts and contradicts the gospel itself

Okay Um, I I would note then that so you have that fellow running around I forget his name right now but running around claiming that he has

God gave him the revelation of the courts of heaven and that we have to file lawsuits in the courts of heaven Okay Well, why would

I need to file lawsuits in the courts of heaven because christ has bled and died for all of my sins The devil has nothing to accuse me with right so that the the doctrine of the courts of heaven that new doctrine in the charismatic

Nar churches conflicts with the gospel, right? Okay Antichrist rules in the church

He assumes the supreme right to forgive or retain sins in this life And even claims jurisdiction over the fate of souls after this life

He is primarily primarily a ruler in the church Although he claims to exercise temporal power as well

And then the antichrist makes himself out to be god by usurping the authority and prerogatives of god himself

He is unwilling to be judged by the church or anyone else and fiercely persecutes any who?

dissent Okay How many of you have come out of churches where when you challenge them with the scriptures regarding their false doctrine?

They refuse they fiercely refuse to to listen to you and even

Persecuted you for daring to question god's anointed And then they kick you out, right?

I I I recently had a conversation with a A few people who came out of it a very well -known mega church in texas

If I told you the name you'd recognize who the pastor is And um, and since they didn't give me permission to share it

I can't give you the details but Um, this this fellow was on staff and the very very very famous Uh mega church pastor that a lot of you who know who he is um, he

Derogatorily referred to that fellow as the bible guy He wasn't saying that to compliment him.

He he was the bible guy and eventually they kicked him out They they they legitimately kicked that guy out for being the bible guy, okay

Who's who's ruling in that church the antichrist, right? Okay, you get the idea here.

And of course the roman catholic church and the council of trent they anathematized If you believe in salvation by grace through faith alone

Apart from works the council of trent says you are anathema Okay, no

Anathema means you're damned so note that the roman catholic church has as official dogma

If you actually believe what the bible says that you're saved by grace through faith as a gift by you know

That you are damned Okay, if that isn't a doctrine of antichrist, I don't know what is right

I I I cling to that gospel so much. I mean I Oy um

You know, I did You know, I the blasphemy here Is this beyond belief now?

There was a part in here where he's quoting philip malancton. Let me let me read just a little bit Antichrist is depicted in daniel as a little horn in chapter 7 and as the evil eschatological king of the north in 1136 to 45

Antichrist the antichrist is foreshadowed by antiochus epiphanes antiochus the fourth epiphanes

The seleucid king who fiercely persecuted the jewish people in the second century bc Antiochus the fourth is depicted as the little horn in daniel 8 as the king of the north in 11 21 to 35

He has some similarities to the antichrist But is also significant there is also significant differences

And so he should not be equated or confused with the antichrist In daniel 7 the prophet sees the antichrist as the little horn on the fourth beast

This horn speaks great things against the most high wages war against the saints

Wears them out seeks to change the times and the law That is god's word and the means of grace and the divine worship

At the coming of the son of man the second advent of christ this beast with its horn Suffers a fiery judgment and is destroyed forever

This visionary depiction of the little horn is in harmony with the new testament passages about the antichrist

He was present already in the apostolic age Listen, the the antichrist has been with us the whole time.

Okay? Okay, you know we're talking about you know The spirit of antichrist and remains active throughout the church age and he intensifies his warfare against the church

As the time of the end draws near and is destroyed at the return of christ

Let me focus on these words Intensifies his warfare against the church as the time of the end draws near As we get closer and closer to the return of christ the intensity and ferocity

And multiplicity of false christ false prophets false doctrine. It's going to practically

Swamp the church Okay, it in fact, I would argue it effectively has already done that Okay so in 1136 to 45 the divine man describes to daniel the antichrist as the

Eschatological king of the north who considers himself to be divine. He will exalt himself and magnify

Magnify himself over every god similar to the little horn. He will speak wonderful things that are polemical against the god of gods

He will prohibit marriage and not favor desire of women instead of honoring god and the scriptural truth

He will value temporal power and honor a god of fortresses He will carry out a quest for temporal power by means of great wealth with gold silver precious stones highly prized things

And those who obey him he will give great honor and make them rule over many he will set himself up in the church

Represented by the beautiful land and the beautiful holy mountain yet at the return of christ

He will come to his end and there will not be one to help him The history of the interpretation of these and other old testament texts about the antichrist

Begins in the intertestamental period already in the medieval period some roman catholics

Interpreted antichrist as the papacy the lutheran confessors agreed with this view Which was over 300 years old by the time of the reformation

So you're going to know the lutherans didn't invent that idea that the office of the papacy is the office of antichrist that actually was a was was

Luther uh roman catholic theologians were already saying that 300 years before luther

Okay so the lutheran confession speaks several times of the Antichrist and the antichrist with the most with most of the

References clustered in the apology of the augsburg confession the small called articles and the treatise on the power and primacy of the pope

The confessions include references and connections to daniel's prophecy We might have expected that they would refer to the depiction of the antichrist as the little horn

But they include no citations of the little horn this may be due to luther's explanation Of the little horn as muhammad or the turk that within I don't think he was right by the way

The confessions instead focus on 11 36 through 45 and refer specifically to 36 through 39

They probably also allude to Uh, uh chapter chapter 11 38 and 43.

However, most biblical interpretation interpreters interpreters Did I say that right interpreters?

Uh, uh, yeah, um, yeah Yeah, I know They have understood

That there is a close connection between the little horn and daniel and the king described in 11 36 to 45 the confessors

May have been aware of that connection, even though they did not explicitly cite the little horn Another likely reason why the confessions concentrate on daniel 11 rather than daniel 7

Is that the little horn's activity is described in more general terms in daniel 7 whereas 11

It is much more specific in its description of the eschatological king The lutheran confessions recognize that the new testament speaks of one particular man of lawlessness

I always like to remind my friends who do not believe that that the lutheran confessions do that Okay Who opposes god in whom the confessions call the antichrist and that the new testament also speaks of multiple antichrists?

Which it does the apology defines these antichrists as false teachers However that in itself does not adequately explain

Either the confession's use of daniel 11 or their identification of the antichrist as the office of the papacy

To understand these we must first understand what the confession's view is the primary characteristics of the antichrist set forth in scripture

So we've already Kind of laid that all out But let me read this this quote from philip melanchthon um from the apology of the augsburg confession in the

Confutation he's writing against the the roman catholic computation against the uh, augsburg confession

In the computation our opponents writing ring Ring their hands over the desolation of the temples and the altars standing unadorned without candles or statues

They call these trifles the ornaments of the churches daniel describes a vastly different desolation ignorance of the gospel

The people were swamped by many different traditions and ideas And could not grasp the sum of christian doctrine who among the people has ever understood our opponent's doctrine of penitence

Yet, this is the principal doctrine of the christian faith. So what what melanchthon is describing?

Is that in the roman catholic church? their man -made doctrines the cumulative effect is that it swamped the it swamped

People's thinking so that they were unable to grasp the gospel itself and and and actually ever get at a right understanding of what is sound biblical christian doctrine

That is continuing to this day. Not only in rome, but in evangelicalism and in the charismatic movement and all this kind of stuff

So you get the idea, but that's that's that's the strategy at this point and it's working beautifully

And I say that with lament um But it's it's legitimately working very well at keeping people from understanding the gospel at all

I can't even begin to tell you I mean you guys In your fellowship time you you discuss these things and i've talked with many of you

How you spent years decades so much time in churches and you never knew your bible you never knew sound doctrine

How many of you people are attending my my catechism classes? And this is the first time you were ever taught the basics of the christian faith in any kind of systematic way

But the thing is you were very busy in your false churches But you you were being swamped so that you can never actually have time to really learn

The truth about what the scriptures teach that that again is all prep work for the antichrist

Okay All right, so i'm going to jump off here

Yeah, i'm going to jump off here and uh steven elliot i'm for the sake of fellowship time which you know

We didn't have it in between i'm going to uh, i'm going to make you the host and if you guys would like to Stay on and chat

Then uh, you you are able to do that and i'm gonna go Shovel out and you know get rid of all the snow in my driveway pray for me

And I says if if I if you don't see me in a couple of hours then uh, call call in the rescue dogs