Angels and End Times Part 5 (Daniel 11:36-40)

Well, good morning. We'll get started here. Let's open in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word.

You have given it to us for correction, instruction, for refining, for purging, for purifying, as it says in the

Old Testament. And Lord, we look forward this morning to what you have for us. You always present us with what we need for the day and for all time.

You have spoken with sovereignty and with clarity and with authority throughout the word.

We thank you for that, especially as we study through the book of Daniel. It is a comfort to us to know that what you have said has come to pass and that what you have said about what is coming will come to pass.

We look forward to those times both with fear, trepidation, and with delight and with comfort.

This morning, we ask you for your wisdom as we study your word. Illuminate us and give us opportunity to glorify you this today and this week.

And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. So refine, purge, and purify.

Those are the key words as we study the book of Daniel, and especially chapter 11. He's always refining, he's always purging, and he's always purifying his people,

Israel, and the church. And those terms overlap.

Last week, I gave a quote about how at this time in history, one of the greater dangers to the

Israelites was the traitors within the house of Israel.

And I made an allusion to the fact, A -L -L -U -S -I -O -N, to the fact that that's the same, it's difficult, the unbelievers in the church, false

Christians are more of a danger to the church. But one thing I didn't mention was that in human history, men can destroy a city because of traitors, but God is building

His church. And so we can have comfort and confidence knowing that though men can destroy a city,

God will continue to build His church. And there will be infidels and unbelievers and false

Christians within the church, and they will go out from us. But I forgot that we need to have the confidence to remember that that will not happen to the church.

The church will not be destroyed because God is building the church. Men build cities, and they are under the sands of time, but the church will continue because God is building it.

I just wanted to remind us of that. God reminded, I was reminded of it last week after I finished the class and got home.

And the next morning I was looking at it and I thought, well, we need to make sure that that's clarified. So we're going to read the book of Daniel chapter 11, verse 29 through the end of the chapter, starts on page 1159.

So 29 through 45, Daniel 11, 29 through 45, and you might find in your

Bible Ezekiel 38 and 39. We're going to be reading through that today later on.

So you can stick your finger there and it won't take you so long to get there. Daniel 11, chapter 11, verse 29.

These first four words should be of great comfort to the people of God.

At the appointed time, He will return and come into the south. But this last time it will not turn out the way it did before.

Speaking of the forays and the plundering of the Kings. For ships of Chiton will come against him.

Therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action. So he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant.

Speaking of Antiochus Epiphanies and forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress and do away with the regular sacrifice.

And they will set up the abomination of desolation. And by smooth words, he will turn to godlessness.

Those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.

And those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many, yet they will fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days.

Now, when they fall, they will be granted a little help and many will join with them in hypocrisy. And some of those who have insight will fall in order to refine purge and make them pure until the end time, because it is still to come at the appointed time.

Then the King will do as he pleases at that appointed time. And he will exalt and magnify himself above every

God and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods. And he will prosper until the indignation is finished for that which is decreed will be done.

And he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show any regard for any other

God for he will magnify himself above them all. But instead he will honor a God of fortresses, a

God whom his fathers did not know. He will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. And he will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign

God. And he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and he will cause them to rule over the many.

And he will parcel out land for a price. At the end time, the King of the South will collide with him and the

King of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships. And he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through.

He will also enter the beautiful land. And many countries will fall, but these will be rescued out of his hand,

Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries and the land of Egypt will not escape.

But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt.

And Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels. But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many.

And he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end and no one will help him."

So last week we left off with verse 35, which ends the career of Antiochus Epiphanes.

Some of those who have insight will fall in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time, because it is still to come at the appointed time.

And the tenor of Daniel 11 changes now. And we see a different grammar, a little bit different grammar, not significantly different, but different focus.

And we'll talk about the three different views that commentators take of this last section of Daniel chapter 11, starting with verse 36.

Then the king will do as he pleases and he will exalt and magnify himself above every God and will speak monstrous things against the

God of gods. And he will prosper until the indignation is finished for that which is decreed will be done.

Even today, people speak monstrous things against the God of gods. But this will be an unprecedented time.

It will be clear to those who live at that time that this is different. This is as bad as it gets.

Remember that, beloved, that we want to see, we would really like to know when all these things are going to happen.

And we're not going to. We will have signs and we will have bookmarks, Bible bookmarks.

But the people who are actually living when these things happen, it says we'll have insight and they will begin to see as it starts to line up.

Would to God, in some ways I want to live in those times, in some ways I don't, but God will be

God. And at the appointed time, these things will all happen. So as mentioned before, until the end time makes a break in the tenor of this prophecy up to verse 35,

Daniel is talking about a historical king, Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus 4 Epiphanes. But now using different language, a different king is in view.

Up to this point, the prophecies were fulfilled in great historical detail. And we took kind of a deep dive into that, looking at all the different aspects of that.

They were fulfilled marvelously, as God indicated. And they were fulfilled in detail in the historical events that were embedded in the lives of the kings we discussed throughout this section.

Here, however, there is no such connection. There are some to be sure who believe that the following verses through the end of the chapter through verse 45 also refer to Antiochus Epiphanes.

But even those who believe this, who believe that concept, admit that the accuracy is gone.

The accuracy that attended up through verse 35, pinpointing the things that happened that we can detail in history is gone, if they believe that.

So there are three major views of this section of Daniel 11, verse 36 through 45.

First, the first view is that it is a history, more history describing the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.

The second view is that it is a fictional account that whoever wrote wished had come to pass.

And the third is that it is a genuine, unfulfilled prophecy of Jehovah God.

Those who believe that Daniel was written by a second century BC writer generally believe that this was fulfilled in the life and death of Antiochus Epiphanes.

They take the second view. Excuse me, the first view. But liberal scholars who believe this have to admit that it is not in any way an exact description of the rest of Antiochus' life.

It doesn't fit his life at all from here on out, from there on out. Most will admit that it seems to be imaginary of a history.

They uniformly admit that there is a big difference between 1 through 35 and 36 through 45.

All of the scholars that I'd looked at who take this view in some way confess that it's not as accurate.

It doesn't seem to fit as well as 1 through 35, especially the section on Antiochus' specific life fit him.

Conservative scholars, biblical scholars reject any idea that this is a history and see this section as a future fulfillment.

This is coming in the future. And I'm going to hit this, nail this idea every time

I can think of it. That should be a comfort. What God has said will come to pass.

Period. End of statement. I'll just move on to this section here. The idea that it is a fiction has attracted very few followers other than most atheists would agree that it's a fiction.

Atheists is actually a contradiction in terms of, I'm not going to get into that. Okay. Some compare the passage to Constantine the

Great. Some compare it to the Roman Empire. Some compare it to the Pope of Rome or the papal system or Herod the

Great. Of course, none of these remotely satisfy the considerations or the descriptions herein.

This section is a prophecy of the culmination of history in the second coming of the

Lord Jesus Christ. It meshes perfectly with the end of chapter 2 of Daniel and the destruction of the image.

It also corresponds perfectly with the destruction of the little horn in Daniel chapter 7, which is also described in Revelation chapter 6 through 19.

These 10 verses have nothing to do with the second century BC. We have changed places in history from that which happened to that which is to come.

But they look forward to an incredible prophecy of the future. The two main different views of conservative scholars begin with this idea that the king of verse 36 is the

Antichrist who is an unregenerate Jew living in Israel in the end times and who is in cahoots with the

Roman world ruler at the time. This is the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 3 through 10 and the false prophet of Revelation 13, 11 through 18.

Some believe that this person must be a Jew because even a false messiah would have to be

Jewish to be acceptable to the Jewish people at the time. Some people believe that. They find their support for this in verse 37, which says, and he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers.

And of course, they identify the God as Yahweh. The second and more likely view is that the

Antichrist is the Roman world ruler. We'll talk about the Muslim view. We'll get to that here later, actually pretty quickly.

Most believe that he is the, the second and most likely view, let me rephrase myself, is that this is the

Antichrist is the Roman world ruler. Say that three times fast.

The same as the little horn of Daniel 7 and the beast of Revelation chapter 13, 1 through 10. According to this verse, he is an absolute ruler.

He will do as he pleases. He is an absolute ruler who does whatever he wants. This is best contemplated in the person of the

Antichrist rather than in Antiochus. Antiochus was run out of town by the Romans. That's not what happens here.

This man, this king, this perversion does whatever he pleases. This is considered an absolute authority.

Antiochus did have authority in his kingdom, but not elsewhere. This is the world ruler of Daniel chapter 7, verse 23, that will quote, devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it, unquote.

There will be others associated with him. The 10 horses, the 10 horns of Revelation 17 and the false prophet of Revelation 13.

But none of these are absolute rulers. He will claim deity. Now Antiochus claimed deity nominally, but he still insisted on the worship of the

Greek gods. So he claimed to be a god alongside of other gods. This, he will claim deity.

This ruler we will see will book no worship of anyone, anyone but himself. The violation of which is a death penalty.

You will be punished by death if you do not worship him. Now, this is another view that I ran across that people have talked about, and I hadn't thought of it, which is interesting or not interesting.

I don't think of a lot of things. Some believe this wicked ruler may be a Muslim. In this well -taught group here, this probably comes as no shock, but the

Muslims have a completely different view of the Lord Jesus Christ than do Christians. The god of the

Muslims, Allah, is not at all the god of Christianity. So when you see someone on Facebook or some other stupid platform say that, well, we all serve the same

God. No, we don't. No, we don't. Their prophecies, their view of God is unbiblical and blasphemous.

Can I be any more clear? What do you really think, Cornell? It's evil.

It's perverted. It's apostate. It's reversionistic. Okay. Allah is not the god of Christianity.

The true God of all creation is Yahweh, spoken of in the Bible. The Jesus that the Muslims believe in was simply a very good prophet.

He did not die on the cross. He did not rise from the dead. He went to heaven like Elijah. And is in heaven right now waiting for Allah to send him back.

His return will be purposefully for the correcting of the false theology of Christianity, yours and mine, at the point of a sword.

Of course, the source for this is the Quran, the Bible of the Muslims, and the Sunnah, which is the works, the words and works of Muhammad.

So Jesus will return. He will set the record straight so that Christians stop believing, stop believing that he is the second person of the

Trinity, the son of God. And then he will get married, have children, and die to be married, to be buried next to Muhammad.

This is utter blasphemy. But it is their belief. Peter? Any philosophy of life that violates what the scripture says is specifically for the satanic purpose of blaspheming

Jesus Christ. So that is correct. I don't care what version of religion it is.

If it doesn't adhere to scriptural tenets, it is blasphemy. And blasphemy is always against God.

Peter? Very convicted.

They will acknowledge Jesus. Remember that the demons acknowledge Jesus. And they have good theology.

So according to Muslim eschatology, we're going to look at this because there is a growing contingent of people who, and it's been around longer than I thought it was.

I didn't actually look at the origins of this idea, but it's been around a while. There is a growing contingent that believe this.

And it's fine. It's an alternate view. And I could actually see some correspondence to scripture.

According to Muslim eschatology, there will be three great signs of the end. The first sign will be that the

Mahdi, also called the 12th Imam, will return and he will slaughter all who will not worship

Allah and convert to Islam. Muslim writings identify these infidels who will not worship

Allah as pigs and dogs. He will establish the final kingdom of Islam.

He will establish the final caliphate. And he will carry on a holy war. And either you convert or you die.

You are killed. Their writings stipulate that the Mahdi will at first make a peace agreement.

I want you to hear this. The similarities, and as Peter has pointed out, this was composed satanically to inculcate enough truth to fool many.

But the false writings that comprise the Quran, and it is false, are designed to lead people away from Christ, as is all false religion.

So listen to the similarities to scripture. Remember that all of the

Bible was in existence at this time when the Quran was written in 600 AD.

So it would have been really easy to research the scriptures and come up with an alternate story that would address what the

Bible said. He will carry on a holy war. Okay. Their writings stipulate that the

Mahdi will at first make a peace agreement with the Jews for seven years.

Get that. He will come riding in on a beamer.

No, a white horse. A white horse. He'll come riding on a white horse. He will discover hidden scriptures, hidden scriptures, you know, that everybody wants to find, near the

Sea of Galilee and a hidden Torah. As a descendant of Muhammad, he will be an unprecedented leader.

He will make a seven -year peace treaty with the Jews and then conquer Israel and massacre the Jews. That's the dream of every

Muslim there is, I think. He will establish the world headquarters of Islam in Jerusalem, establishing

Islam as the only religion. While he rules in Jerusalem for seven years, all the people on earth will love him or die.

This is the description of the biblical antichrist, the beast of Revelation 13.

He will be greater than Jesus. The second sign is the return of the

Muslim Jesus. Jesus returns as a radical

Muslim to assist the Mahdi. He will even pray to the Mahdi, acknowledging the

Mahdi as his Lord. He will worship Allah and lead Christians to reject their incorrect notion of Jesus, and he will establish worldwide

Sharia law. He will be the final witness on the Day of Judgment against all non -Muslims, and because of this,

Christians will admit that they were wrong, that the gospel is wrong, and that the New Testament is a lie.

There's no either or here, beloved. This is unutterable.

I'm uttering it, so it's not unutterable, but it's unbelievable blasphemy. They will admit that he didn't die.

He didn't rise. He isn't God. He isn't the Son of God. He, the Muslim Jesus, will come back to testify to that.

His correction of all the misrepresentations is spoken of in the Islamic scriptures as, quote, he will shatter crosses, unquote.

This speaks of the destruction of the church. He will then kill the Islamic Antichrist. Yes, they have one of those too.

He will die and be buried next to Muhammad. This evil creature corresponds to the false prophet in Revelation chapters 13, 16, 19, and 20.

The Mahdi is the replication, is the replica of the Antichrist, and the Islamic Jesus is the replica of the false prophet.

Make no mistake. The third person to show up, boy, I'm getting all excited, the third person to show up in the final

Islamic panorama of the final days is called Dajjal, the great deceiver. This is their

Antichrist, the Islamic Antichrist, according to their writings, but guess who he claims to be?

He claims to be Jesus, their Antichrist, the Son of God. He claims deity and he will attempt to destroy the

Mahdi and the Islamic Jesus. This is nearly the complete reverse of biblical eschatology.

Their writings say that the Muslim Jesus will fight the false Jesus, the Dajjal, and establish Islam forever.

Many believe that the Muslim ascendancy, which is about 60 % of the old Roman empire, happens to be under Muslim control, demonstrates that Muslims will have a major play in the end times.

Ezekiel 38 describes a listing of nations that form a coalition that supports that the Antichrist and eight of the nations are

Muslim nations today. So it's possible. It's possible. And make no mistake of this, the people who are in that time, living in that time,

Daniel says, will have insight. In Revelation 17, verses 9 through 11, the

Lord Jesus Christ tells John that there are seven kings or kingdoms which have fallen. One is, that would be

Rome, and the other has not yet come. This seventh kingdom has traditionally been thought to be the revived

Roman empire, but these folks, the folks who believe that a Muslim will be the Antichrist, they believe it could be the

Ottoman Turk Empire, which lasted about 500 years and ended in 1923. This is essentially the basis of the idea that out of the

Ottoman Empire will spring the Muslim Antichrist and false prophet. It does make for a plausible scenario.

I give them that. I am going to stick with the revived Roman empire variation, but the point is, there's no end to unbiblical iterations of what's going to happen in the end times.

We need to be careful to be spending our time reading what the Scripture says about the end times, and comparing verse to verse,

Scripture to Scripture, letting Scripture comment upon itself. So, that was just kind of a primer on Muslim eschatology, and it is a perversion of biblical eschatology.

Any questions about that? Or any other insights that I kind of might have missed? It was quite involved, quite interesting, in a perverse sort of way.

The remaining verses to come in this chapter make statements regarding the character of this coming king. These statements are not true of Antiochus' epiphanies, but agree with statements elsewhere in Scripture that talk about the

Antichrist. So, what is going to come in Daniel chapter 11 is statements about this coming king, and they agree with statements about the

Antichrist in other parts of Scripture, whether Old or New Testament. They will detail some of the actions of this person as though he is being spoken of for the first time.

That's what I meant about a change in grammatical tenor. Antiochus' actions in life have already been detailed in Daniel, and so this seems to reference another king.

Verses 40 through 45 detail historical events from the life of this king which do not match the historical record of the life of Antiochus, but they do describe the activities and life of the

Antichrist that is detailed in other sections of Scripture. Antiochus has never been designated before as the king.

He and his predecessors have always been called king of the north. In verse 40, both the king of the south and the king of the north come against this king, so it cannot be

Antiochus. Cannot be either of them. Excuse me. Chapter 12, verse 1 states that along with this king will come a time of trouble for Israel worse than any other time in history.

This corresponds with Matthew 24, verse 21, which says, for then there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever will.

Jesus was speaking that in his time, 30 AD, 33 AD. It hadn't occurred up to then and never will.

It's going to occur in the end time. This describes the great tribulation during the rule of the

Antichrist. Finally, and for our purposes to remember, comparing

Scripture with Scripture, the Antichrist has already been presented three times in the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 7, verses 7 and 8.

After this, I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying, and extremely strong, and it had large iron teeth.

Can you go ahead and advance it for me? Yeah, that's what

I would have done. There we go. Daniel 7, 7, 8. After this, I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying, and extremely strong, and it had large iron teeth.

It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

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

Blaspheming God. Then in Daniel 8, verses 23 and 24. In the latter period of their rule, when the transgressors have run their course, a king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue.

His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree, and prosper and perform his will.

He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. And finally, in Daniel 9, 26 and 27.

Then after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary, and its end will come with a flood.

Even to the end there will be war. Desolations are determined, and he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction.

One that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate. The agreement with Israel, the violation of the agreement.

This is the Antichrist described three times in Daniel previous to this. This presentation of this king as the

Antichrist is nothing new in this marvelous revelation of God. So as we have worked our way through the rest of the chapter and the final chapter in the book, let us understand what

Daniel has said about this evil one so far. Here's what he said. He will be one who will arise from the final kingdom, the final

Gentile kingdom, which we contemplate as the revived Roman empire most likely. Remember that Daniel 9, verse 26 indicates that the people who destroy the temple in 70

AD will have a prince arise out of them who will make the covenant with Israel. That verse 27 of this chapter stipulates.

He is the little horn of Daniel 7, 7 through 8. And we've read that. And you have it in your

Bible, probably not on page 1120, but somewhere. This little horn will wage war with the saints, the persecution of the godly

Jews, as we see in Daniel 7, 21 and further explained in Revelation 13, 7.

In 7, 21, Daniel says this, I kept looking and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them.

And then in Revelation 13, 7, it was also given to him to make war with the and overcome them and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.

This little horn is further described in verse 25 of chapter 7. He will speak out against the most high and will wear down the saints of the highest one.

And he will intend to make alterations in times and in law, and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half the time.

And he is also the first beast of Revelation chapter 13, verse 13, chapter 13, verse 5.

There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months was given to him.

We meet him next in chapter 8, verses 24 and 25. Rick, three and a half years.

Yes, three and a half years. Time, times, and time and a half, and half a time, excuse me.

We next meet him in chapter 8, verses 24 and 25, which is specifically speaking about Antiochus Epiphanes, who is clearly as Daniel describes a type of the

Antichrist. 24, 25, verse 8, chapter 8. His power will be mighty, but not by his own power.

And he will destroy to an ordinary, extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will. He would destroy mighty men and the holy people.

And through his shrewdness, he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence. And he will magnify himself in his heart and he will destroy many while they are at age.

He will even oppose the prince of princes, but he will be broken without human agency. Following this, he is seen again in Daniel 26, chapter 9, verses 26 and 27, especially in verse 27.

Then after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary and its end will come with a flood.

Even to the end, there will be war. Desolations are determined. Verse 27, he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week, half the time of the final seven years, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering.

And on the wing of the abominations, on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is discreet is poured out on the one who makes desolate.

God will give him his just due, but not until after he has poured out incredible wrath on the world.

And now we come to chapter 11, where we see him in a type, in type through Antiochus Epiphanies in verses 21 through 23, and again in type in verses 31 through 32.

Note carefully, however, the last phrase in this verse, for that which is decreed will be done, quote unquote.

This continues to remind us that God is sovereign and it is his decree that will be followed, even when the

Antichrist thinks he is owning the world. With that as background, let's continue in this chapter.

Verse 36, that's a little bit of the background from verse 36. Verse 37, he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other

God, for he will magnify himself above them all. The word for gods is the

Hebrew Elohim, instead of the more personal Yahweh, that would indicate the God of the

Jews. This is a statement that this evil creature will not honor the gods of his fathers, which would be the

Roman gods, or should the Antichrist be a Muslim, it would be Allah. He would not honor

Allah. I take this to mean that the gods of Rome and the world at this time, the time that this occurs, that's who he's talking about.

Whenever this occurs, whether it's tomorrow or in 50 years or in a thousand years, it will be the gods of that time.

Do not be disabused of the fact that even in this current generation, people worship false gods.

Oh, I didn't know that. Did you know that? There is even a worship of Gaia that the earth goddess around us.

It's remarkable. People have to worship something. And I don't want to talk about the God -shaped hole, but we were designed by Yahweh.

We were built, we were created by Yahweh, by God, the God of the Bible. And it is to him we owe our allegiance and our worship.

There are those who believe, let's see, I want to get myself lost. Those who believe this man will be a

Jew use this verse in some respects because, open quote, God of his fathers, quote, is an anecdotal expression of the ancient

Israelites. But the word again is not Yahweh that they would have probably used. It is the plural

Elohim and refers to God's multiple. And that's what it is looking like in this verse.

So whoever the gods of his fathers are at this time, he will not honor even them. Regarding his lack of regard for the desire of women, interesting, very interesting information here.

There are several possibilities. Some believe this indicates he may be a homosexual. Others think he may just have no interest in sexual relations.

One final concept is the understanding, is to understand the background for the book of Daniel, which is the

Hebrew worldview. The average Jewish woman had a great desire to be the mother of the

Messiah. Every Jewish woman wanted to be the mother of the Messiah. This was the desire of women,

Jewish women throughout the history of Israel. So some believe this refers to the fact that the Antichrist would have no regard for the gods of his fathers, nor would he have any regard for the

Messiah. Indeed, he would hate him. His regard would be against the

Messiah. Further, he will have no respect for any God at all, denying all of them and taking the place of God himself as the final authority.

And he claims supremacy as overall as described in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 4, which says this, who opposes and exalts himself above every so -called

God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being

God. He will book no worship of any other than himself. You will die if you don't worship him.

Although Antiochus Epiphany prefigured the Antichrist by styling himself divine, he did not take it to the degree that the

Antichrist will. Antiochus continually forced the Jews to worship the Greek pantheon of gods.

The Antichrist will kill anyone who does not revere him as the sovereign God of the universe. A tad bit arrogant, don't you think?

Any questions about verse 37? Comments? Verse 38, but instead, interesting play on words here.

He will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know. He will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones, and treasures.

What happens on April 15th? What do you do? You pay your taxes.

Do you think an empire of this size, at the end times, would require a little bit of money to sustain?

How about the military he's going to build? One that he thinks can wage war against God.

I bet that's going to cost a lot. That's probably going to cost gold, silver, stones, costly stones, and treasures.

Taken in context with subsequent verses, this violent ruler who opposes, who believes himself to God, will not allow the worship of any other but himself.

In keeping with his worldview, it postulates that his devotion will be to military power, God of fortresses.

If, as the scripture says, he will show no regard for any other God, but will magnify himself above all them is accurate, and it is, then one must assume that this is referring to something else, and that's something else's military might.

He will honor this God with all the money necessary to build the mightiest military the world has ever seen.

From its beginning, Rome was religious, from its very beginning. They worshiped the pantheon of gods, often including whoever was the current

Caesar. This evil man will do away with all of that, requiring that all worship only him, and he will worship only military strength, and he will sacrifice to that strength all the requirements to build it to the greatest military engine the world has ever seen.

Warfare is expensive, and will continue to be so even during the end times.

So, watch out for the incredible taxation that will occur at this time. I think that'll be the least of people's worries, but it will occur.

His honor to this God of fortresses will require gold, silver, costly stones, and treasures.

The catastrophic occurrences that come to fruition in this end time, the catastrophic occurrences that come to fruition in this end times are described in Daniel and in Revelation, among other places in Scripture.

This section is also an incredible commentary on the nihilistic, the nihilistic worldview that permeates the globe today.

In his commentary, Walvard connects some of the dots for the end time actions. He says this, taking

Daniel 11, 36 through 39 as a whole, it is apparent that the Revelation provides an incisive analysis of the combination of materialism, militarism, and religion that will characterize the final world ruler.

Let me repeat that. Militarism, materialism, militarism, and religion.

When you combine those in someone who has the power, that would result in the attempted overt subjugation of the entire world.

Okay, back to Walvard. This portion of Daniel, in the light of contemporary trends, becomes an illuminating prophetic commentary on the ultimate end of these present forces in the world that will unite the political, religious, and materialistic philosophies of our day in one man who is

Satan's nomination for the king of kings and lords of lords. The apex of this development will be reached in the last half of Daniel's 70th week, the three and a half years of the final time of the great tribulation, immediately preceding the second advent of the

Lord Jesus Christ. However, his world government will be assailed by the catastrophic judgments from God portrayed in Revelation chapters 6 through 18.

And the inherent difficulties of ruling the entire globe come to their fruition in a final world war of which the closing portion of Daniel 11 furnishes a description.

So even he won't be able to subjugate everybody, but he will try and he will kill multitudes of people.

Some believe that the God mentioned here is the Roman beast, the political leader of the time, as distinguished from the

Antichrist who is identified as the religious leader in Jerusalem. This is a minority view among premillennialists, but it is one view.

Verse 39, he will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign

God. He will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and he will cause them to rule over the many and he will parcel out land for a price.

Whatever nations are strongest at this time, the Antichrist will attack them first. He will give honor to those who acknowledge him as God and he will give them rule over other existing nations, either as officers in his cabinet or as governors under his presidency as such.

He will also sell those to land, sell land to those wishing it. He may require money or this may imply obedience rendered to him as the price to rule under him.

One of the two, money or obedience, probably both. With the help of a foreign God is also translated by the means of the strange

God. It may be that the military God earlier mentioned or some fake deity that he erects to use for his own means.

In any event, the Antichrist will be one who is supremely self -serving and will do whatever is necessary to bring everyone under his control.

And I took too long to get through verse 39. We have no possibility in the space time continuum to finish verse 40, including reading all of Ezekiel 38 and 39.

So your homework for next week, should you accept it, should you choose to accept it and know that there won't be a fire up here after I'm done, is to read

Ezekiel 38 and 39. We're going to look at some of the dots that connect as we see the end times, the final battles.

And what is most important is to just reflect in awe on how

God constructed his word so that line upon line reinforces line upon line.

And that when you look at what is said in the New Testament, it reinforces and comments on what is said in the

Old Testament and what is prophetically given to us in the Old Testament either happened in history or will come.

This should produce great comfort. It will refine, purify and purge the church.

God's word will do that. And so the end times will result in a great reduction in the size of church services.

It's going to be a whole lot easier to come to church and find a seat in the end times because only the faithful will stay.

May God grant that it be us if it is in those times. Any questions or comments before we close?

This is actually just the best book I've ever read since the last best book

I ever read. Okay, let's pray. Father, we are grateful for your word. It is marvelous. It is wonderful.

And it is edifying and it is comforting. Let it be that to us today. And we thank you for it in Jesus name.