Daniel in Exile Part 13

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church iconKongsvinger Lutheran Church

0 views

Sunday school from March 12th, 2023

0 comments

Daniel in Exile Part 14

Daniel in Exile Part 14

00:00
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
00:09
So that we can take heed of what you have warned us ahead of time about and that we may be may be
00:16
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
00:24
But that we would fear you and so that we might share eternity with you rather than eternity with him.
00:30
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
00:41
You know, you know like a horror movie something kind of stuff and you know Just ignore it
00:48
The the antichrist is when he shows up the man of lawlessness when he shows up is going to be
00:54
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
01:04
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
01:14
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
01:22
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
01:29
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.
01:35
It's terrible what happens to you So and as for me, i'm i'm in christ i'm never gonna die.
01:40
So go for it You know, that's christians can die well and with that kind of defiance
01:47
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
02:00
Character that begins to be described in verse 36 of daniel 11 Is in fact not
02:07
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
02:19
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
02:33
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.
02:41
The two are both true So when when lutherans say Along with other confessions, by the way presbyterians say the same thing
02:49
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
03:02
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
03:11
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
03:24
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
03:33
Is there there these people are constantly trying to play the game of pin the tail on the antichrist
03:38
Okay, is it the current guy? Who's the the prime minister of uh of turkey?
03:45
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
03:50
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
03:58
Okay He's also a governmental figure, but he's a religious figure first and foremost
04:05
Um, and he exalts himself within the temple of god and we're going to explain what that is, too
04:10
And exalts himself to be god within the temple of god So when we put all the pieces together, you know eschatologically
04:19
We can see that the activity of the antichrist is present now and has been present for the entire
04:25
Two millennia that the church has been around and will have its final culmination
04:30
In in the manifestation of and revealing of who this man of lawlessness is the one that daniel's prophesying here
04:36
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
04:43
So let's let's continue with the commentary because I'm finding i'm finding this commentary to be Helpful.
04:49
Okay. So in verse 36, let me read out verses 36 to 39 from daniel 11
04:55
And the king hamelech shall do as he wills He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god
05:05
And he shall speak astonishing things against the god of gods
05:10
He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished For what is decreed shall be done
05:17
He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers or to the one beloved by women
05:23
He shall not pay attention to any other god for he shall magnify himself above all
05:29
He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these a god whom his fathers did not know
05:35
He shall honor with gold and silver with precious stones and costly gifts
05:41
Okay, he shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god
05:47
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
06:10
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
06:19
And the and the sin of of the man of lawlessness of the antichrist himself
06:25
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
06:52
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
07:00
He did as he pleased and became great. Okay, so regarding the antichrist
07:07
In the same way that alexander the great was totally unconquerable and did whatever he wanted to do
07:12
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
07:29
You are going to foolishly think that you can somehow thwart him Okay, and that is ridiculous
07:38
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
07:50
The best thing you can do is pretend that you're a cockroach and scurry and find a hole and hide in it, okay
07:56
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
08:06
Spoken of alexander the great was also antiochus the third. However, those statements came within the
08:12
Within the descriptions, but this very first statement about the eschatological king
08:18
He is chiefly characterized by his willful arrogance Unlike those other kings his arrogance is characterized as primarily
08:29
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
08:39
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
08:55
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
09:06
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?
09:14
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
09:24
He was actually wounded in battle and had no ability to use his legs but um
09:30
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
09:37
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
09:47
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
09:55
But he led off our conversation one month. He said do you think that nancy reagan is the antichrist?
10:02
And I went what? I Because it was it had just been revealed somewhere around that time
10:12
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
10:23
Astrology and stuff like this and so he he legit. It was a like he was an honest question
10:28
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.
10:43
I I like that man. You're showing your age steven Elliott you're showing your age. So just say no
10:51
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
11:01
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
11:09
Antichrist this man of lawlessness this eschatological king His arrogance is chiefly and primarily focused on the religious aspects of it
11:20
Now he does become a global political leader but his primary
11:26
In initiate, you know initiation if he went, you know into into the into the world scene
11:32
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
11:40
What is godly instead of challenging the geopolitical order as other kings actions did antiochus the fourth?
11:47
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
12:03
Antiochus epiphanes stands out then is because that's the one that went after the the temple worship
12:09
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
12:18
Uh, he's he's focused here. And so you're gonna note then Type and shadow is in a jewish context the
12:27
The the fulfillment is in a christian context not a jewish Okay, because christ has come right
12:35
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
12:46
So the main characteristic of this end time king is that he elevates himself over every other god
12:54
To usurp the one true god. He speaks wonderful things ostensibly divine words against god
13:02
Making him the same as the little horn in the vision of daniel chapter 7
13:08
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
13:19
And the nifal feminine plural participle occurs a four total 42 times in the old testament in the 39 of these instances
13:27
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
13:37
But here it refers to the antichrist deceptive words, which are crafted in order to supplant god's word note here the antichrist
13:47
Words are are designed to supplant god's words to get rid of god's words
13:53
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
14:03
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
14:15
That's all the actions of the spirit of antichrist So the antichrist then
14:22
Designed his design to supplant god's word through which salvation comes to his people
14:28
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
14:45
Og arrogant things A word used by peter in judah in their description of false teachers that will arise among christians
14:53
So peter warns in second peter also false prophets arose among the people just as among you
14:58
There will also arise false teachers who will secretly introduce destructive heresies even denying the master who bought them
15:05
Bringing upon themselves swift destruction for for by speaking arrogant things again.
15:11
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
15:23
From the ones who live in error jude use a similar language to speak about such people for certain men.
15:29
They sneak in secretly Who were written about long ago? for this condemnation ungodly persons who turn the grace of our god into licentiousness
15:42
And they deny our only master in lord. Jesus christ. These men are grumblers They're malcontents.
15:48
They follow their own lusts their mouths speak arrogant things here again hoop eragga
15:55
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
16:11
That is disguised as divine words And we have words like that Already in the church by false teachers.
16:21
Okay, so daniel is also told that this king will prosper Pay attention to this
16:28
He will prosper Until god's anger against him is completed in other words
16:34
He's gonna succeed Okay, this is this is why whenever whenever I get to a section like this in scripture,
16:41
I remind christians of Remember what it was like when you were young and you played flag football or you know
16:47
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?
16:57
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
17:05
You know do these things, right? Uh, so Christ in the huddle here is letting us know something.
17:12
Okay the job of true christians during this time
17:18
Is to lose Okay, it you know Do you understand our job?
17:25
Okay, because this guy nothing's gonna stop him Absolutely nothing except for jesus himself.
17:32
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
17:43
Should run their course god wants his actions to run their course saint paul calls this
17:48
Eschatological eschatological figure the man of lawlessness and describes him in terms parable parallel to 11 36 and 37 and notes
17:58
That it will be christ who will end his power the apostle explains the prophecy given to daniel
18:05
So this is from second thessalonians chapter 2 And this is wonderful. I like the way he's put this in here
18:11
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
18:25
He opposes and exalts himself above everything called god note what second thessalonians do is doing here is
18:33
Paralleling and expanding on what daniel has written here in 11 36 to 39.
18:40
Okay So he opposes and exalts himself above everything called god
18:45
Or that is worshiped so that he takes his seat in god's temple Displaying himself as if he is god and then
18:56
Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the lord will slay with the spirit or breath of his mouth
19:02
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
19:17
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
19:27
That is all the activity of satan doing the foundation work preparing the way for the man of lawlessness now
19:36
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
19:49
And i'm going to do a search in the new testament temple And i'm going to look in the epistles in particular.
19:58
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
20:09
Works out concepts regarding the temple. So in first corinthians 3 paul says this.
20:14
Do you not know that you? You are god's temple.
20:20
All right. Now this is going to be an interesting thing here Hati na astheo
20:26
Who do you not know second person plural perfect active indicative
20:33
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
20:43
Okay When paul writes he's not saying that you as an individual are god's temple
20:50
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?
21:03
Okay If anyone destroys god's temple god will destroy him for god's temple is holy and y 'all
21:12
Are that temple? Okay So note here in paul's theology and note this is holy spirit inspired theanoustas theology
21:25
Okay That the temple isn't referring to the temple in jerusalem
21:32
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
21:45
Our bodies are the temple of the holy spirit, but now let that permeate
21:51
What is going on here in second thessalonians chapter two? It is very clear that the man of lawlessness
22:01
He will take his seat in god's temple Now let me ask you this
22:10
Are you ready? Okay The old testament temple is a type and shadow of christ
22:16
The fulfillment is christ If the jews in israel build a temple today
22:22
Will that temple be god's temple? No, it will not therefore
22:31
It can't this this text does not refer to a rebuilt third temple in jerusalem
22:40
It's referring to the visible church So you'll note where does the antichrist arise from visible visible christianity
22:52
Visible christianity and you'll note that this is absolutely in accord with what we see then the lawless one will be revealed
22:59
His the man of lawlessness is coming is by the by satan's working with every kind of miracle and signs and false wonders
23:07
Where are these false miracles false signs and wonders taking place today? in the visible church
23:15
Okay You you just have to sort this out Okay, you you think of todd todd white you think of benny hinn ken copeland?
23:27
These guys are the forerunners of the antichrist And their activity and their false signs false wonders and false prophecies are taking place
23:37
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
23:51
And all of this deception that i've been covering on fighting for the faith for the past two decades is preparing the ground
24:00
For the arrival of the man of lawlessness and his first the first place he comes up from is the church
24:09
That's the temple it's referring to All right Okay Okay.
24:14
Now, let me see here Yes, so john paletto.
24:20
This is uh, andrew steinman's uh, concordia commentary Put out by cph. That is correct.
24:26
Okay If our job is to lose then how should I pray god help
24:33
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.
24:40
Well You know what? Oh, yeah
24:48
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
24:56
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,
25:06
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
25:11
Yeah, go ahead and kill me. You'll do me a favor, you know, but uh, you get the idea Yes, what
25:20
That's a different thing altogether That's a different thing altogether. All right So lily says
25:26
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
25:32
Prophets the false prophets of today are just conditioning us to believe false words for god
25:38
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
25:46
Hashtag my truth your truth any god anything, you know goes. Yep. That's right.
25:51
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.
26:01
We'll claim it's jesus um Yeah, the uh, the tbn will go wall to wall with coverage focusing in on this guy
26:11
Uh, michael brown will be explained to us how he really is jesus. I mean, that's what we're talking about here
26:18
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
26:30
Okay That's how this is going to go down If i'm alive because I again,
26:36
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
26:45
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
26:55
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.
27:04
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
27:11
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.
27:17
I'm thankful. I won't be here for that many so All right.
27:23
So yeah, you you got the idea then I And lily says I think he'll be likable guy by the world standards
27:30
Yeah, even the world's gonna worship him as god Okay The the world's gonna love this guy
27:38
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
27:50
Why? Why what a what a waste of money, okay
27:57
Yeah Okay, so pcr will truly become an underground radio much like resistance during world war ii.
28:05
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
28:17
And and and you think about it being able to control the internet is like within people's grasp now, thanks to ai
28:24
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
28:36
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
28:43
Is beheading so that's a fast way to go. So yeah, that's yeah way to go
28:50
Smiley joel osteen will have nothing on this guy, right? You're right
28:55
Okay, and smiley joe osteen will think it's jesus too so Oh, it's gonna be a mess.
29:04
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.
29:12
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
29:21
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
29:34
Occurs 45 times in the old testament and is always description a description of yahweh
29:40
Therefore this king will come from among the people of god similar is the implication of the statement
29:45
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
29:55
Some commentators see this as an indication that the antichrist will be jewish. However, this phrase is not an ethnic identification
30:02
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
30:11
Thus in paul's term. He takes his seat in god's temple arising from among faithful believers
30:22
Okay cross -reference first john 2 They went out from us, but they were not of us
30:27
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
30:33
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
30:45
Here's the thing The apostle paul clearly Prophesized something regarding the antichrist and let me find it real quick here one timothy um
30:58
All right now watch this first timothy 4 The spirit the holy spirit expressly says that in the later times
31:07
Some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons
31:15
Through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared Who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that god created?
31:24
This is a standout right here who forbid marriage? Why have you noticed that the world legitimately has lost its mind?
31:34
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.
31:42
I need my notes database Check this out This is one of the most frightening things
31:49
I have seen in a long time All right. Hang on a second here Um, and let me re -share my screen
31:56
Okay from the current affairs magazine a magazine of politics and culture from the united states
32:02
The the headline is why we should abolish the family All right
32:10
Listen, listen this the family is a conservative project that limits human flourishing. The family must be abolished by lily sanchez
32:21
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
32:31
Where do you start? well, you start with Forbidding marriage
32:40
And why? Why would people want to forbid marriage? There's a very specific reason why
32:47
Ephesians chapter 5 I think does a really good job of explaining it Okay um
32:58
Hang on. I gotta get to that part husbands Love your wives as christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
33:08
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
33:18
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
33:26
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh
33:32
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.
33:40
So the idea here is is that marriage itself? Reflects The love that god has that christ has for his bride the church
33:51
And even the marriage union itself is a type and shadow of the union christ has with his church
33:58
With his beloved and so marriage at its core
34:04
Is a reflection of the love of christ. Why does satan hate it?
34:09
Okay satan hates marriage because it looks and smells just like jesus's love
34:16
Okay, and this is why he goes after it. So the institution itself
34:22
Is prophesied will be forbidden Okay. Now I want you I want you to think about this
34:28
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
34:39
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?
34:52
Okay You you just think about this is the kind of stuff that is designed to provoke
34:59
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
35:08
Okay, so all of the gender bender weird stuff that's going on right now, this is all precursor
35:14
And laying foundation for the eventual outlawing of marriage itself And here's the thing had
35:22
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.
35:30
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
35:38
It's it's we're getting closer by the minute. All right. Now, let me come back then to our commentary
35:45
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
35:57
Renders him incapable of loving of the loving devotion that is required by both marriage and true piety
36:03
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
36:17
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
36:28
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
36:42
You know, it's it's it's not really the point here So what is this god of fortresses a god?
36:48
A god his fathers did not know It is temporal power as signified by fortresses
36:55
This will be the thing that he values above all else Making it power his god
37:02
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
37:15
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
37:24
When the king rejects the god of his fathers, he will seek to use temporal power
37:31
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
37:43
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
37:52
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
38:00
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
38:11
The eschatological king will be like antiochus the fourth who foreshadowed him
38:17
Both use temporal power and both attack god his people and divine worship
38:23
Through which god grants salvation and eternal security to his people however, antiochus was
38:30
Primarily a geopolitical figure who used his status to attack the religious institutions
38:36
And practices of the jews the eschatological king primarily will be a religious figure
38:42
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
38:54
It also fits the description of the antichrist as the beast in revelation chapter 13
39:00
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
39:11
They are mirror images of each other the first being a geopolitical figure who stirs up problems of a religious nature
39:19
The second being a religious figure who stirs up problems of a geopolitical Nature, so they mirror each other.
39:27
Okay, and so he kind of gives us, uh, you know how this works So antiochus the fourth the geopolitical figure
39:33
Uh occupied in warfare The eschatological king a religious figure preoccupied with temporal power
39:40
Antiochus uses his political power to attack god's people and prohibit and pervert god's ordained worship institutions uh and affairs and practices
39:52
The eschatological king because of his abuse of religious authority which he yields in geopolitical affairs
39:58
He is attacked and becomes involved in warfare Again, just mirror images of themselves, but the themes are identical
40:08
Okay So continuing on The king's final days the end of the eschatological king
40:16
The time of the end is an expression that occurs four times in daniel's vision
40:21
Just as it was used in 817 to signify the time when the period prophesied in that vision would end
40:27
So it is also used here to indicate the end of the period covered by the divine man's words
40:33
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.
40:43
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
40:54
Clearly is pointing to the return of christ and the and the general resurrection of the dead therefore 11
41:00
Versus 40 to 45 Speaks of the end of the eschatological king immediately before the perusia the return the visible return of christ
41:10
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.
41:25
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
41:32
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
41:39
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
41:47
And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through He shall come into the glorious land
41:54
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
42:02
He shall stretch out his hand against the countries and the land of egypt shall not escape
42:07
He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver and the precious things of egypt and the libyans and the cushites
42:14
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
42:29
Yet he shall come to his end with none to help him At that time now we'll go into 12 also
42:38
At that time shall arise michael the great prince who has charge of your people
42:43
And there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time
42:48
But at that time your people shall be delivered everyone whose name shall be found written in the book
42:54
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life some to shame and everlasting contempt
43:04
And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above and those who turn many to righteousness
43:11
Like the stars forever and ever Okay, so there's there's there's that's the beginning portion of this
43:18
So you can kind of see that this this and this man of lawlessness guy. He comes to a pretty swift end
43:25
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
43:38
All right, let's see here I what am I looking at I want to see the where was
43:43
I I went too far.
43:50
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.
43:59
Okay And then we're going to note this the parallel to this is revelation 20 versus 7 to 10
44:06
So let's take a look at that so we can kind of see how it plays out revelation 20
44:13
Versus 7 to 10 Okay And when the thousand years are ended satan will be released from his prison
44:19
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
44:25
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
44:34
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
44:41
Where the beast and the false prophet were and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever
44:47
I think that's that's a pretty clear parallel to what we just read. Okay, and then the other parallel what um
44:56
Is uh, so we read daniel, uh 12 1 to 3 the parallel then is revelation 20 versus 11 to 15
45:05
And then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it From his presence earth and sky fled away.
45:13
No place was found for them. I saw the dead Great and small standing before the throne and books were opened
45:21
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
45:29
And the sea gave up the dead who were in it death and hades gave up the dead who were in them
45:34
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
45:42
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
45:51
So you can see here then you can't understand revelation apart from daniel the two have to be read together
46:01
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
46:08
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
46:19
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
46:33
What is the activity of of the antichrist itself? And here, uh, dr.
46:39
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
46:47
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
46:56
And they're all kind of heading towards the big one So antichrist in a generic sense
47:03
Okay, this includes the the ones doing the prep work in in preparation for the big guy himself
47:10
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
47:25
And the antichrist claims the right to change doctrine established by christ
47:32
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?
47:43
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
47:55
Okay, let me give you an example since we're in lent What medieval rome did with lent
48:01
Totally conflicts with the gospel because what do they say if you don't eat fish on friday?
48:07
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
48:16
And they turned it into a mandatory tradition and threatened you with the fires of hell if you don't do it
48:23
Okay So what gets lost there that's a form of worship that conflicts and contradicts the gospel itself
48:32
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
48:40
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
48:47
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
48:58
Nar churches conflicts with the gospel, right? Okay Antichrist rules in the church
49:06
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
49:14
He is primarily primarily a ruler in the church Although he claims to exercise temporal power as well
49:20
And then the antichrist makes himself out to be god by usurping the authority and prerogatives of god himself
49:27
He is unwilling to be judged by the church or anyone else and fiercely persecutes any who?
49:34
dissent Okay How many of you have come out of churches where when you challenge them with the scriptures regarding their false doctrine?
49:43
They refuse they fiercely refuse to to listen to you and even
49:49
Persecuted you for daring to question god's anointed And then they kick you out, right?
49:56
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
50:06
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
50:12
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
50:25
Derogatorily referred to that fellow as the bible guy He wasn't saying that to compliment him.
50:32
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
50:44
Who's who's ruling in that church the antichrist, right? Okay, you get the idea here.
50:51
And of course the roman catholic church and the council of trent they anathematized If you believe in salvation by grace through faith alone
51:00
Apart from works the council of trent says you are anathema Okay, no
51:06
Anathema means you're damned so note that the roman catholic church has as official dogma
51:13
If you actually believe what the bible says that you're saved by grace through faith as a gift by you know
51:18
That you are damned Okay, if that isn't a doctrine of antichrist, I don't know what is right
51:27
I I I cling to that gospel so much. I mean I Oy um
51:33
You know, I did You know, I the blasphemy here Is this beyond belief now?
51:40
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
51:54
Antichrist the antichrist is foreshadowed by antiochus epiphanes antiochus the fourth epiphanes
51:59
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
52:10
He has some similarities to the antichrist But is also significant there is also significant differences
52:16
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
52:25
This horn speaks great things against the most high wages war against the saints
52:30
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
52:38
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
52:46
This visionary depiction of the little horn is in harmony with the new testament passages about the antichrist
52:52
He was present already in the apostolic age Listen, the the antichrist has been with us the whole time.
53:00
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
53:12
As the time of the end draws near and is destroyed at the return of christ
53:17
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
53:32
And multiplicity of false christ false prophets false doctrine. It's going to practically
53:39
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
53:55
Eschatological king of the north who considers himself to be divine. He will exalt himself and magnify
54:01
Magnify himself over every god similar to the little horn. He will speak wonderful things that are polemical against the god of gods
54:08
He will prohibit marriage and not favor desire of women instead of honoring god and the scriptural truth
54:15
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
54:25
And those who obey him he will give great honor and make them rule over many he will set himself up in the church
54:33
Represented by the beautiful land and the beautiful holy mountain yet at the return of christ
54:38
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
54:46
Begins in the intertestamental period already in the medieval period some roman catholics
54:52
Interpreted antichrist as the papacy the lutheran confessors agreed with this view Which was over 300 years old by the time of the reformation
55:01
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
55:09
Luther uh roman catholic theologians were already saying that 300 years before luther
55:14
Okay so the lutheran confession speaks several times of the Antichrist and the antichrist with the most with most of the
55:20
References clustered in the apology of the augsburg confession the small called articles and the treatise on the power and primacy of the pope
55:28
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
55:37
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
55:46
The confessions instead focus on 11 36 through 45 and refer specifically to 36 through 39
55:54
They probably also allude to Uh, uh chapter chapter 11 38 and 43.
56:00
However, most biblical interpretation interpreters interpreters Did I say that right interpreters?
56:06
Uh, uh, yeah, um, yeah Yeah, I know They have understood
56:11
That there is a close connection between the little horn and daniel and the king described in 11 36 to 45 the confessors
56:18
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
56:28
Is that the little horn's activity is described in more general terms in daniel 7 whereas 11
56:33
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
56:43
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?
56:56
Which it does the apology defines these antichrists as false teachers However that in itself does not adequately explain
57:04
Either the confession's use of daniel 11 or their identification of the antichrist as the office of the papacy
57:09
To understand these we must first understand what the confession's view is the primary characteristics of the antichrist set forth in scripture
57:16
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
57:27
Confutation he's writing against the the roman catholic computation against the uh, augsburg confession
57:34
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
57:44
They call these trifles the ornaments of the churches daniel describes a vastly different desolation ignorance of the gospel
57:52
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
58:03
Yet, this is the principal doctrine of the christian faith. So what what melanchthon is describing?
58:10
Is that in the roman catholic church? their man -made doctrines the cumulative effect is that it swamped the it swamped
58:23
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
58:37
That is continuing to this day. Not only in rome, but in evangelicalism and in the charismatic movement and all this kind of stuff
58:45
So you get the idea, but that's that's that's the strategy at this point and it's working beautifully
58:52
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
59:01
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
59:08
How you spent years decades so much time in churches and you never knew your bible you never knew sound doctrine
59:15
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
59:25
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
59:35
The truth about what the scriptures teach that that again is all prep work for the antichrist
59:41
Okay All right, so i'm going to jump off here
59:48
Yeah, i'm going to jump off here and uh steven elliot i'm for the sake of fellowship time which you know
59:53
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
01:00:01
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
01:00:09
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