Sunday, April 24, AM

Father we thank you for this day. Thank you for the rain you sent. We thank you for the The coolness of the morning. We thank you for traveling mercy. And we try to thank you for health. We thank you for provision.

We thank you for grace. And we thank you for Christ during these moments ahead. Would you help us to? Focus on you turn our eyes to heaven. Not to The things of earth Not to our anxieties and worries, but to place all of those things at the foot of the cross To leave them for you to care for.

We desire to hear your word preached. We desire you hear your Word sung. We desire as a body as a congregation to bring honor and glory To you this morning. You are an awesome God. And you care deeply for each of us and you made a way for us to Be part of the family.

Through the blood of the burial the resurrection of Christ may his name be praised this morning. And we ask this in Jesus name.

Amen, would you stay with me. For our call to worship. Our passage this morning is found in Psalms chapter 78.

We'll be reading verses 1 through 4 read with me together. Give ear. Oh my people to my teaching Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. You will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings from of old Things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us.

We will not hide them from their children but to tell the coming Generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders that he has done. And our first song this morning is in our Psalms for worship hymnal page 78 a.

We'll sing verses 1 2. Page 217. Last week if you remember brother Michael said every Sunday we should Praise the Lord that he Christ the Lord is risen today.

Every Sunday, so that's what I'm gonna sing this morning. It's from Isaiah. We're continuing in Isaiah together chapter 22 this morning.

Starting at verse 15. We'll be reading through verse 25. We've been going through these oracles of judgment against the nations and We continue that this morning. But it's a little bit different because now we come to an oracle of judgment against an individual.

And so you're gonna hear the name Shebna. Shebna was a wicked adviser to the king Hezekiah and you're gonna hear the judgment of God against him starting at verse 15 chapter 22 of Isaiah. Thus says the Lord God of hosts Go to this steward to Shebna who is over the household and say to him What have you to do here?

And whom have you here that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself? You who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? Behold the Lord will hurl you away violently.

Oh you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you and whirl you around and around and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die and there shall your glorious chariots. You shame of your master's house.

I Will thrust you from your office and you will be pulled down from your station. In that day. I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe and will bind Your sash on him and will commit your authority to his hand.

And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open.

And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house. And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house the offspring and issue every small vessel from the cups to all the flagons.

In that day declares the Lord of hosts The peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way and It will be cut down and fall and the load that was on it will be cut off. For the Lord has spoken.

Would you pray with me Heavenly Father as we worship in.

Song now we worship through the reading of your word. These are your words Your words never fail Through your prophets They are given with surety. The truth that is spoken will come to pass that evil and wickedness will be put away that righteousness will be installed and Will reign.

Father as we continue to worship this morning through song through the preaching of your word help us to yield ourselves. Ambition our pride The sin that so easily ensnares us to run to you to find freedom in Submission to our King Jesus.

We ask all these things in his precious name Amen.

You may be seated before we sing our next two songs the Lord said to my Lord and you are the Lord.

I'd like to read a verse from the book of Psalms. Psalms 110 verse 1 the Lord says to my Lord sit in my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet we serve an an awesome and sovereign God.

And then from the second song is a phrase Sovereign Almighty there is none like you. Because he is the Lord. We're gonna sing pages 110 D in your psalms for worship and then 133.

Key for this day.

Thank you that we do celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ every first day of the week when you said let there be light and Indeed there was light Light of Christ which now shines upon our world.

The darkness did not overcome it. The darkness could not overwhelm it. But you have sent us the light of your son Jesus Christ to shine the light of the face of Jesus Christ into Earthen vessels clay pots.

Without you without your grace without the light of Christ We will be lifeless without hope in this world. We thank you that you have sent your son. We thank you that you have magnified and glorified him.

That you have transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into this into the kingdom of your beloved Son. We thank you that we share in his victory that we share in his hope that we gather here today rejoicing in his accomplished work looking with hope as He reigns at your right hand until all of his enemies are placed as a footstool for his feet.

With this we agree, and we say amen amen and amen rejoicing in Christ. Amen. Invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Daniel chapter 10 the very end of chapter 10 through the Entire chapter of Daniel 11 is our goal.

The Title for this section of Daniel chapters 10 through 12, which comprise a single vision the the prelude to the vision the vision itself. And then the final word of the vision. Altogether Daniel chapters 10 through 12 is all one event and a good title for it is the latter days and that comes from chapter 10 and verse 14 where Christ says to Daniel now I have come to make you understand what will Happen to your people in the latter days.

For the vision refers to many days yet to come so not right now, but a whole lot later and for anyone wondering what the latter days consist of all they have to do is read the previous chapter chapter 9 and The timetable of the 70 weeks so we are looking at the latter days a a vision given to Daniel to provide understanding to Daniel so that he would write down and and prophesy as a servant of God for the benefit of the people the calendar of hope that the Jews would live with for 12 generations until the arrival of Jesus Christ and.

So we see a lot of history a lot of history transpiring especially in chapter 11. But all of this history moves by at great speed but centered on relevance to Jerusalem and Judea the even the geographical Notations of who is in the north and who is in the south has everything to do with the fact that Jerusalem's in the middle.

And so it's world history, but it's Jewish history and all of it is moving along Toward a goal and the goal is the revelation of Christ and the exaltation of Christ as God's Son God's chosen servant King of Kings.

And that's the basic idea of chapters 10 through 12. Here in the book of Daniel is that Jewish history indeed world history? is Jesus's glory. So I'm going to read Just a portion of our text and we'll read the rest of it as we come to it in the sermon.

I'm going to begin reading in verse 20 of Chapter 10 and I'll read through verse 4 of chapter 11. I want you to stand with me as I read God's Word. This is the Word of the Lord. Then he said Do you know why I have come to you and Now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia and when I have gone forth indeed the prince of Greece will come.

But I will tell you what is noted in the scripture of truth. No one upholds me against these except Michael your prince. Also in the first year of Darius the Mede I even I stood up Confirm and strengthen him and now I will tell you the truth.

Behold three more kings will arise in Persia and the fourth shall be far richer than them all By his strength through his riches. He shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise.

He shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will and when he has arisen His kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven. But not among his posterity nor according to his dominion with which he ruled for his kingdom shall be uprooted even for others besides these.

This is the Word of the Lord praise be to God. You may be seated. Let me read through.

The Latter Days and the Sovereignty of Christ

Chapters like this in which God gives detailed prophecies To his people of all the events about to unfold and even to unfold throughout generations and then we See that they all come to pass. We recognize that God is doing more than simply Predicting what will come to pass but he is sovereignly governing all of that history Bringing it to pass according to his design.

That he is shepherding history into the fold of his glory and that fold is Christ shaped. And When we see the sovereignty of God displayed By the prophecies of the past now fulfilled are we not given?

Assurance of God's goodness in our tumultuous now. Isn't the God who governed history in the past still governing history today? Did he not bring it all for good in the past? Will he not bring it all for good today?

It increases our confidence in the Lord gives us great cause to praise him. Chapter 10 the first 19 verses focuses on this encounter that Daniel has with Christ and Then as our Lord gives to Daniel the truth of how everything unfolds we see in chapter 11 basically enmity that there is a great deal of opposition and Animosity between various groups there are whole mountain ranges of enmity going on in chapter 11 as nations war against nations and even civil war breaks out within nations and cultural opponents go to war with one another.

We have Persia at war with Greece and Greece overcoming Persia and then Greece falls apart into four Opposing factions which then resolves into two in the north and the south go to war with one another over generations in a civil war of Greece we even have The Jews opposing the Greeks and then the Jews opposing themselves with rival factions.

Laced throughout it all what do we see but man? Railing against God man in opposition to God as man often tries to destroy the people of God. We also find the subtext through it all is that the enemy our enemy?

Satan at war with Christ as the serpent still wars against the seed of the woman. Throughout chapter 11 the theme is enmity these groups Fighting one another this one against that one enmity all throughout.

But yet the promises of God remain despite the tumult of history. So in chapter 10 Verses 20 through chapter 11 verse 4 the passage that we read under this heading of enmity. We see first of all that Christ gives to Daniel the truth of heaven.

So that Daniel is not left simply reading the newspaper or watching the news and seeing Bad things happen after more bad things happening and seeing chaos Everywhere and think to himself who boy. But he knows that this is all of the Lord that God is in charge.

And so when he sees all this happen he can say amen the Lord has planned this the Lord has ordained this and he is organizing this for good. So when we look at these verses chapter 10 verse 20 through 11 verse 4 twice We are told that What Christ offers to Daniel is truth?

Here's the truth. Not the speculations not the guesses not the spin. Not the interpretation, but here's the truth. And he says in verse 21. But I will tell you what is noted in the scripture of truth.

And he says in verse 2 and now I will tell you the truth. And what is the truth? The truth is Christ says I opposed the the prince of Persia and after I'm through with him then comes the prince of Greece.

Well when you read the history books They're gonna give all sorts of reasons why that great Xerxes failed in his bid to destroy the Grecian Empire. Although he mustered all of the kingdoms of the Persian Empire to go to war with Greece.

Various analyses will be offered about the failure of military tactics or the the the fates the accidents of history where where storms or geography played their role in the undoing of the Persian campaign against the Greeks and how things were arranged for Alexander the Great to do great and mighty deeds in warfare.

And how everything felt just right for him to spread his kingdom and his dominion so quickly across the ancient world and Various reasons are going to be given to us depending on what textbooks we read or what documentaries we watch.

But Christ told Daniel a long time ago, here's the truth. Here's the truth. I took care of the Prince of Persia so that the Prince of Greece can come and. And of course the idea is what when he's done with him then the next one's up.

So who is the Lord of history? Who is the what's the real reason behind the way? Things fall in the sequence that we often read about. The Jews enjoyed a great deal of prosperity and peace under the Persian Empire except for the war that was waged against them by the intrigues of Haman and.

Then we have the blitzkrieg from Alexander the Great as the Grecian Empire Went across the entire known world and basically destroyed the Persian Empire but then we read in the text that when this great king this mighty King Alexander the Great just as he reached his peak and he Conquered all the known world and and he traveled back from the east to Babylon and sat down to enjoy the fruits of his labor and drank himself to death.

That his kingdom was then spread to four others in Chapter 7 we hear about a beast a leopard who was very swift with four wings and four heads. And so his kingdom Alexander the Great was split up in four ways.

The same thing we read about in chapter 8 has the goat with the horn that's whose hooves were never touching the ground. He was so fast and he busted apart the Medo-Persian ram that when he was broken off four horns came out of that Same goat.

So what happened in history just it was exactly as was prophesied in Daniel that Antigonus and Cassander and Ptolemy and Seleucus the four generals of of Alexander the Great split the kingdom up into four ways and there was even more instability and this resolved into the Syrian kingdom of the north the Seleucids in perpetual war against the Egyptian kingdom the Ptolemies of the south and Greece was forever split in two and often waging war with one another down throughout the history exactly as the prophecies of Daniel state.

So what do we see? We see The truth of the matter. God was sovereign over this history. Why did one king rise and then fall and another one arise and fall. And why was there a splitting up of the the kingdom of Greece and its power diminished.

Why did all these things happen. Because the Lord sovereignly governed all of it and Jesus tells Daniel and through Daniel tells the people of God For generations what was about to happen so they would know the truth of it.

So that they would know the truth of it. This isn't chaos. This is God's sovereign providence. This isn't hopeless and meaningless and heading into disaster. This is being governed for a good yet to come namely the arrival of Messiah.

In such chaos how valuable it is to be given the truth. What how valuable is truth today? How worthless are all the Speculations. How worthless is all the political spin. How worthless is all the projections of what is right around the corner and everyone reaching for this standard and that standard to Analyze what goes on today and and give us the answer.

Where is truth. To be found today and how valuable it is. How how costly it is. How worthy to be pursued and to gain to be gained to be possessed today, and where are we going to find it? We're not going to find it on Fox News.

We're not going to find it on any of the media channels. We're not going to find it on the blogs on the internet and the vlogs on the internet. We're not going to find it around the water cooler and the rumors and the speculations.

We're not going to find truth there. What we find there is all fool's gold. It's not worth anything instead. We know where to go look for truth. Are we not told in? Proverbs 3 Verse 13 happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.

For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies and all the things you may desire cannot be compared with her. Length of days is in her right hand and her left hand riches and honor.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happier all who retain her and. And and what is the basis of our wisdom and this on this wisdom and this understanding it is the fear of the Lord.

Isn't that what happened in chapter 10 of Daniel. The Lord shows up and Daniel crumbles. She realizes how mighty how holy how powerful the Lord is and how weak and unable and Unlimited Daniel is the fear of the Lord you see is established in detail in chapter 10 and then We hear this here's the truth.

Here's the truth and to hold on to the truth to move forward throughout the whole of chapter 11 and to see kingdoms rise and fall Over and over again. What is necessary is the fear of the Lord? What is necessary is to think of him first and to think of him most so that we realize that he is sovereignly Governing over all of this apparent chaos in which we live.

That is precious valuable worthwhile information. That is truth, and we must recognize That this truth is not neutral. To say that Jesus Christ is sovereignly involved in the rise and the fall of nations that the nations have been given to him as an Inheritance had he reigns from Mount Zion with a rod of iron and he regularly busts them up when they rage against him.

To say that is to be is not to be neutral. That is not neutral information. Those who fear the Lord rejoice in that truth those who rage against the Lord Plot in vain against him that is not neutral Truth that is not inert.

This is this is more like a fire. This kind of truth is is is fire which consumes lies with its heat and dispels darkness with its light and As a lamp for our feet gives us direction of where we're going.

All right, so this is not neutral to say here's the truth. Jesus Christ is in charge and things rise and fall according to his design as the seed of the woman Crushes the head of the serpent. This enmity that we see throughout chapter 11 had long been Foretold from Genesis chapter 315 here it is on display in the history of nations.

But it's all to Christ's glory. Now secondly, let's look at some of the tumult of history in verses 5 through 20. Now as we read through this section you're going to hear about the king of the north and the king of the south and you'll hear about a ruler and a prince and this one and that one and You'll notice that no specific names are given.

I mean, we're not told about Alexander the Great in name. We're not told about Seleucus or Ptolemy by name a little bit later on. We're not even told by name Antiochus Epiphanes and all these famous names from that time of history we're just said king of the north against the king of the south.

And while Chapter 11 transpires over several generations and hundreds of years of history. It's important to realize as you read it's not the same king of the north every time. And it's not the same king of the south every time.

But that these two powers are at war with one another and whoever happens to be king at that point in time is That war with whoever is happens to be king at that point in time in the south. Which is why we have a little handout today on the back of your outline.

Give you some insight into where this prophecy that Christ gives to Daniel accorded. Exactly with the way that history played out. So you can go look it up for yourself and read the history books and see all the interesting things that happen and hopefully some Of the things that I mentioned today will whet your appetite for reading a little bit of history in the ancient Near East.

But we have kingdom kings of the north and kings of the south in conflict with one another verses 5 through 20 giving us a Span of about a hundred and fifty years as these kingdoms these kings are against one another time and time again.

I will emphasize yet again that What is listed here is not the only intrigues not the only political Conflicts going on in the world at that time. Many other historical events were happening. But they were not relevant to the prophecy because the prophecy was centered upon the holy covenant the covenant topography the holy mountain the covenant geography the holy city the covenant architecture the temple and what went on between The northern kingdom and the southern kingdom the Seleucids and the Ptolemies the Syrians and the Egyptians back and forth.

They waged their war across the promised land often bringing into threat Jerusalem and Mount Zion and the temple and that's why this history is relevant because God wants his people paying attention to the shadows of Christ Treasuring his revelations of Christ until Christ would finally come.

That's the kind of history we're looking at. So beginning in verse 5. Also, the king of the south shall become strong as well as one of his princes. And he shall gain power over him and have dominion.

His dominion shall be a great Dominion and at the end of some years they shall join forces. For the daughter of the king of the south shall go to the king of the north to make an agreement. This was a princess by the name of Berenice and She was later known as Berenice Syra because she went north and married a Syrian.

Okay. But she shall not retain the power of her authority and neither he nor his authority shall Stand but she shall be given up with those who brought her and with him who begot her and with him who strengthened her in those times.

Well, what happened was the king of the north divorced his wife so he could marry this one to bring about a peace treaty between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies the north and the south and that didn't work out very well.

And he put her away and and brought back his other wife. But in the process a whole lot of people got poisoned and died and it was basically a disaster so soap opera of the ancient days and. Then her brother took over verse 7 in the south from a branch of her roots.

So her roots being her parents a branch meaning her brother one shall arise in his place who shall come with an army enter the fortress of the king of the north and deal with them and prevail. And he shall also carry their gods captive to Egypt.

That's hilarious. How do you pick up someone's gods and walk around with them anyway? With their princes and their precious articles of silver and gold and he shall continue more years than the king of the north.

So we see at one point we see the northern kingdom prevailing now the southern kingdom and it's going to go back and forth back and forth. Verse 9. Also the king of the north shall come to the kingdom of the king of the south.

But shall return to his own land however his son shall stir up strife and assemble a multitude of great forces and one shall certainly come and overwhelm and pass through then he shall return to his fortress and stir up strife.

So you look on the timeline you can see as you move from In the historians language from the first Syrian war to the second to the third and so on. Now verses 11 through 13 I find interesting. And the king of the south shall be moved with rage and go out and fight with him with the king of the north.

Who shall muster a great multitude? But the multitude shall be given into the hand of his enemy. When he has taken away the multitude his heart shall be lifted up and he will cast down tens of thousands.

But he will not prevail for the king of the north shall return a muster a multitude of greater than the former and shall certainly come At the end of some years with a great army and much equipment. Amongst the equipment were elephants.

So the Seleucid kingdom was very broad and stretched across the the old boundaries of the Persian Empire out to the east towards India. And engaging in war with some of the troops in India. He ended up making a treaty with them amongst which he acquired many Asian war elephants.

Which he brought and met the Ptolemaic armies on the Gaza Strip in a battle Where the Ptolemies had African war elephants versus the Seleucids with Asian war elephants the only time those two creatures were ever in a battle together and the African elements got spooked and ran and.

Well, that's what happened. So it's really interesting history. Verse 14 now admit in those times many shall rise up against the king of the south also violent men of your people. Look, we see what Christ is saying to Daniel.

The king of the south is is controlling Judea. He's controlling Jerusalem at this time. Okay, and violent men of your people Daniel some radicals some insurgents of your people Shall exalt themselves in fulfillment of the vision meaning they're going to say it is time.

It has come to pass it is time for our victory. But they shall fall. It wasn't time. It wasn't their victory. They misinterpreted the visions. They misinterpreted the prophecies. They misinterpreted the scriptures.

Revolted and they failed. Now at this point we we realize that there are some among Daniel's people in the future who will be Radical meaning to the root. They'll be always turning back to the scriptures and the prophecies saying let us be faithful to the Lord and and let us take back our country from the oppressors.

There will be others who will be more about synthesizing and complying and and Adopting the culture of the oppressors saying this is the way forward. This is how we make peace. And so that's another kind of enmity which occurs in this chapter.

Verse 15. So the king of the north shall come and build a siege mound and take a fortified city in the forces of the south. Shall not withstand him even his choice troops shall have no strength to resist.

But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will and none shall stand against him. He shall stand in the glorious land with destruction in his power. He shall also set his face to enter the strength of his whole kingdom and upright ones with him.

Thus he shall do and he shall give him the daughter of women to destroy it. But she shall not stand with him nor be for him. There's another bad intermarriage this time a Son a daughter sent to the south to marry a son and that didn't work either but notice again.

This is about what happens in the Holy Land the glorious land. What's going on? Who's ruling at what times? And verse 18 after this he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall take many. But a ruler shall bring the reproach against them to an end and with the reproach removed.

He shall turn back on him. Now verse 18 is interesting because this isn't a king of the north or a king of the south. It's just just a ruler who will bring a reproach of the coastlands to an end and turn back this king of The north.

Well who was that what this is the the famous general Roman general Scipio who comes in and turns them back. Again more interesting history to read on your own. Verse 19 then he shall turn his face toward the fortress of his own land.

But he shall stumble and fall and not be found. How many times we were reading that a king goes and does this but then ultimately he fails and he dies and he's done. It's kind of like Genesis chapter 5 the refrain and he died and he died and he died.

Verse 20 and there shall arise in his place one who imposes taxes on the glorious Kingdom. This was the Seleucus the fourth who raided the temple at Temple Treasury and said The temple the Jews owe me money.

But then he was assassinated so that didn't work out. Notice. But within a few days he shall be destroyed, but not in anger or in battle. All right, so he was assassinated it what didn't happen in the middle of a war or in the middle of a battle.

So this brings us all the way up to Antiochus Epiphanes of which we begin to read in verse 21. But I want to make some observations. The first is that Nobody gets a name in this passage. I Mean you even you get the name Cyrus.

You know long before Cyrus was born or came to power his name was given to the to the Jews to look forward to this servant of God Cyrus. But nobody is named here not even among The famous general Scipio or the names of the Ptolemies or the Seleucids or even Alexander the Great.

We don't even get to read about the name Xerxes or any of that all these great powerful men of history. They're all just a bunch of no names. They claimed for themselves that they were the offspring of the gods.

But the gods had mated with their mothers and so they were demigods and they had superhuman powers. They claimed this of themselves. Not only were they not gods. They were not demigods. They were not they were not any kind of great significant men at all.

Look at them. They none of them have a name. You know what they are. They're flowers in the field. Just flowers in the field passing away so quickly. Psalm 103 verse 15 as for man his days are like grass as a flower of the field.

So he flourishes. For the wind passes over and it is gone and this place remembers it no more. If they had adopted the wisdom of Solomon and read Ecclesiastes deeply enough. They would have realized the futility of their passion to seek glory for their own name through Dominion and Dynasty, but who are these men but just flowers in the field.

They come and they go they're up and they're down but. Isn't this isn't this of the Lord? Isn't this according to the Lord's design. Does he not subject all these things to futility? Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 12.

Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed who establishes a city by iniquity. So woe to politicians. Woe to woe to the those who build empires with sin. Behold is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people's labor to feed the fire?

Isn't it the work of the Lord of hosts isn't the isn't the sovereign governing of Yahweh's Sabaoth. That the people's do nothing, but just feed the fire. And that nations weary themselves in vain. Isn't it of the Lord that he brings frustration and futility and vanity to impoverished nations?

When the empire Is not backed by God. And the empire is not backed by God that they fail to acknowledge The sovereignity of God in frustration those who would gather in the plains of Shinar to make for themselves a name, that He would come down and confuse mankind and make their efforts in vain.

For what purpose will He frustrate man in these endeavors? It says in verse 14 of Habakkuk 2,. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. He will not allow man to fill up his dominion with the glory of man's name.

He will not allow man to exalt man, but God has ordained that His name be glorified. God has ordained that man should be humbled and that Christ be exalted, and the glory of God, the knowledge of His glory, will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Is this not exactly what is spoken of in Colossians? Consider how Christ is named and described. He is the image of the invisible God, Colossians 1 .15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

That's His status at the right hand. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible. Notice, the things that are in heaven and on earth, the visible and invisible what?

Visible and invisible thrones, visible and invisible dominions and principalities and powers. All of these have been created by Christ and they are through Him and they are for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things consist.

You see, Jewish history, indeed world history, is Jesus' glory. It belongs to Him. It's for His glory. And so we can praise Him for that and thank God who is the God of history. Now this brings us to the transgression of the horn as He is described in Daniel 8.

Verses 21 -32 we read about Antiochus' epiphanies. And in his place shall arise a vile person. And that's how Antiochus is described, a vile person. And he was not in direct royal lineage of the northern kingdom, the Seleucids.

But as the apparent heir of the northern kingdom was not old enough or fit enough to reign just yet, Antiochus was chosen by intrigues to be a steward of the kingdom. And he promised to be a good boy and not stir anything up.

But, of course, by the slaughter of many, many people, he ensured that he was the only one left viable to reign. Verse 21, again. In his place shall arise a vile person to whom they will not give the honor of royalty, but he shall come impeacably and seize the kingdom by intrigue.

With the force of a flood they shall be swept away from before him and be broken. And also the prince of the covenant. When Antiochus Epiphanes came south to see Jerusalem, he was appalled at the lack of progress in the city.

That it wasn't Hellenized, meaning it wasn't brought along in the culture of Greek thought, Greek philosophy, Greek culture. It wasn't being Hellenized enough. And he saw the reason why. The one in charge was obviously the high priest, this prince of the covenant.