The Little Horn - Antiochus Epiphanes (Daniel 8:9-14) | Adult Sunday School

Kootenai Church iconKootenai Church

1 view

The Little Horn - Antiochus Epiphanes (Daniel 8:9-14) | Adult Sunday School

0 comments

00:05
When the moon, the farthest hill,
00:12
I will sing His name, I will praise
00:18
Him still. When dark trial, my heart is filled with the weight of death,
00:32
I will praise Him still. For the
00:39
Lord our God, He is strong to save,
00:45
From the arms of death, from the deepest grave.
00:54
For the Lord our God, He is strong to save,
01:02
From the arms of death, from the deepest grave.
01:11
And He gave us life in His perfect will,
01:19
And by His good grace, I will praise
01:24
Him still. When the farthest hill,
02:10
I will sing His name, I will praise
02:16
Him still. I once was lost in darkest night,
02:54
Yet thought I knew the way. The sin that promised joy in life,
03:03
Had led me to the grave. I had no hope that You would hold,
03:13
A rebel to Your will. And if You had not loved me first,
03:22
I would refuse You still. As I ran my hell -bound race,
03:42
Indifferent to the cost, You looked upon my helpless state,
03:51
And led me to the cross. And I beheld
03:58
God's love displayed, You suffered in my place.
04:05
You bore the wrath reserved for me, Now all
04:10
I know is grace. Hallelujah is
04:24
Christ, Hallelujah, Jesus is my life.
04:42
Jesus is Christ, Jesus is my life.
04:54
Be Yours alone, and live so all might see,
05:20
The strength to follow Your commands. Could never come from me.
05:32
Ransom life in any way You choose,
05:38
And let my song forever be my own.
06:04
Jesus is my life. Jesus is
07:10
Christ, Hallelujah, Jesus is my life.
07:27
Good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome to Kootenai Community Church Adult Sunday School.
07:38
And you're asking yourself, okay then, why are they letting him teach? Because I know where the ice cream is.
07:47
Good morning, we'll be back in Daniel chapter 8, which is on page 1151 and 1152 and on in your
07:55
Bibles, or at least in this one. So let's open in prayer.
08:26
Father, Your Word is truth. It is dynamic. It is awesome. It is wonderful.
08:32
It is what gives us life and what points us to the true life, which is Jesus Christ. We look to Your Word for everything, for life and godliness in Him.
08:42
We look to Your Word for revelation, especially in our own lives, that we might learn what it is we need to change, learn what we need to submit to Your Holy Spirit to become followers of Christ indeed.
08:55
And this morning as we're looking in the book of Daniel, there's much that's difficult to understand. There's much that's hidden. There's much that You said some things
09:01
You will shut up until the end. But help us to understand what we can and to apply it to our lives, not so that we know more than the guy next to us, but so that we love
09:12
You more. We ask You for Your wisdom this morning, for Your illumination and for Your help in understanding these things.
09:18
And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. So the more I study the book of Daniel, especially chapter 8, the more
09:25
I realize I don't know very much. And the average Hebrew in Daniel chapter 8 would be asked, why didn't you read 1 through 7?
09:35
Oh, it's all Aramaic to me. Well, okay.
09:41
We're off to a bad start. So chapter 8, we began a couple of weeks ago.
09:48
We actually began July 3rd. And in chapter 8, Daniel returns to the
09:53
Hebrew language because this section of the book is given to warnings, exhortations, and information for his countrymen.
10:03
And so different from the first part of the book, which dealt with kingdom of Babylon issues and was written in the language of the kingdom of Babylon, this section is again in Hebrew.
10:19
And there are several visions coming in chapter 8, 9, and on to the end of the book.
10:27
And we will be dealing with them as well as we can. A couple of housekeeping items. We're going to be looking into the book of 1
10:33
Maccabees. Now, 1 Maccabees is not inspired, but it's a good history. It's a historical book.
10:41
I have a series written of histories that I read that these people, Durant, they do a good job in recording history.
10:49
They're not inspired. But if I want to know what was happening in 300 B .C. Greece, they're a pretty good reference book to go to and look.
10:57
Actually, in many cases, they used letters and legal papers from the time that they wrote about so that they could understand better what was going on in those times.
11:08
So in Daniel chapter 8, we will be comparing some of the history in 1
11:15
Maccabees to the scripture, Daniel 8. The first rule of thumb is that the scripture is always true, and every man a liar.
11:24
The scripture is always true. And as science, true science, and history unfolds, and we are given more insight into the past, we will always see history, the chronology of history, acknowledging and affirming the truth of scripture.
11:44
A great deal of this happened with the Babylonian Chronicles. People didn't even believe Belshazzar existed.
11:49
The Bible said he did. And lo and behold, in the early 1900s, they found out that, well, actually, he did exist, and he did all the stuff that Daniel said he did and elsewhere in the scriptures.
12:00
The scripture was true. History had to catch up. And that may be some of what is happening in this part of the book of Daniel.
12:07
So we looked at his vision, which appeared to him.
12:13
He said, and we're going to read the first 14 verses of chapter 8 before I get into this.
12:20
So let's do that. Let's read Daniel chapter 8, 1 through 14. In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me,
12:30
Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously. And I looked in the vision, and it came about while I was looking that I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam.
12:43
And I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal. Then I lifted my gaze, and I looked, and behold, a ram, which had two horns, was standing in front of the canal.
12:52
Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. I saw a ram budding westward, northward, and southward, and no other beast could stand before him.
13:02
Nor was there anyone to rescue from his power. But he did as he pleased, and he magnified himself.
13:08
While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground, and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.
13:17
And he came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath.
13:25
And I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him. And he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him, so he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power.
13:38
Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken, and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.
13:49
And out of one of them came forth a rather small horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the beautiful land.
13:58
And it grew up to the host of heaven, and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to earth, and it trampled them down.
14:05
And it even magnified itself to be equal with the commander of the host, and it removed the regular sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was thrown down.
14:15
And on account of transgression, the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice, and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.
14:23
Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking,
14:29
How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?
14:38
And he said to me, For twenty -three hundred evenings and mornings, then the holy place will be properly restored.
14:45
So in chapter 8, we looked at the beginning of the vision, and it starts out with Daniel being transported into the province of Susa, into the citadel of Susa, and he's standing by the
15:02
Ulai Canal, and he lifts his gaze and he sees the ram, and we discussed what the ram was and the goat.
15:12
So the ram was the Medo -Persian ascendancy. One horn was larger than the other. One part of that ascendancy was more powerful than the other.
15:21
And then he saw the ram taking property, budding northward, westward, and southward, conquering.
15:28
And he did as he pleased, and he magnified himself. And then in verse 5, there was a goat that came over the surface of the earth, didn't even touch the earth.
15:37
That's how fast Alexander's campaign proceeded, especially in those days.
15:43
Eleven thousand miles in three years, he conquered the known earth, the known area. And he had a conspicuous horn.
15:50
That goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. This referenced Alexander the
15:55
Great. He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which he had seen standing in the canal, and rushed him in his mighty wrath, verse 6 says.
16:01
And then verse 7, I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him. And he struck the ram, shattered his horns, two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him.
16:10
Medo -Persian went down under the power of Alexander. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power.
16:16
Nobody came, no allies came to aid the Medo -Persians. Everybody fell in the onslaught of Alexander.
16:24
Then verse 8, then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, Alexander was 32 years old when he finished his conquest, and he was dead at 33.
16:36
The large horn was broken, and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds. We looked at those, we realized that those horns were the four generals that served under Alexander.
16:49
And then we talked about the particular method that he might have died.
16:56
Was he murdered? Was he poisoned? What exactly happened to him?
17:02
And I think if some of you might remember, there's pretty good evidence from historical perspective and from the historians of the time that he probably died of Gullien -Barr syndrome.
17:12
And that's one of the reasons why people thought he was a god, because he was dead, in air quotes, and his body wasn't decomposing.
17:21
It was probably because he was in a deep coma, and the science of the time could not detect his breath.
17:26
And so what killed him was the embalming process. I understand that's pretty definitive, yeah?
17:33
So, don't get embalmed until you're done, okay? So, however he died, we know that whatever happened to him was exactly on the schedule of the sovereign god of the universe.
17:46
And his conquering was God's design so that the next nation that would come, the
17:53
Roman nation, would be set up to do that. But we're not there yet. We're not there yet. And so we're going to look at verse 9 now.
18:01
We're going to start in chapter 8, verse 9. And out of one of them, those four horns, came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the beautiful.
18:12
Now, the word land is supplied out of Daniel chapter 9. The Israelites would have understood this, and often sometimes we have supplying words so that we understand the scripture.
18:25
This is the beautiful land is Israel. Here then is one of the most controversial verses in this vision.
18:34
Just what is this little horn? What is it referring to? The horn is little at the beginning, and this would refer to the power of this king.
18:42
His name was Antiochus Epiphanes, or Antiochus IV, who was also known as Antiochus Epiphanes.
18:48
He was not the rightful heir to the throne, and he seceded to the throne using bribery and treachery and flattery.
18:55
The Encyclopedia Britannica describes his early years this way. Antiochus was the third son of Antiochus III the
19:02
Great after his father's defeat by the Romans in 190 to 189.
19:09
He served as hostage for his father in Rome, 189 to 175. So what would happen was, well, what would happen was science has defeated me again.
19:25
Can you put me on what was 125 of the map, and we'll start there. Marvy, thanks.
19:32
Antiochus was the third son. So what would happen was when a Roman there would be a conquering, they would take the hostage, they would take a son or a daughter, some relative of the conquered nation who was in the kingship or in the hierarchy of the rulership, the oligarchy,
19:50
I guess, and take them back to Rome as a hostage so that there would be no shenanigans in this nation that the
19:56
Romans were conquering. So his brother King Seleucus IV exchanged him for Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, and after Seleucus was murdered by Helodorus, this is out of Encyclopedia Britannica, a usurper,
20:10
Antiochus in turn ousted him. During this period of uncertainty in Syria, the guardians of Ptolemy IV, the
20:16
Egyptian ruler, laid claim to Syria, Palestine, and Phoenicia, which Antiochus III had conquered.
20:22
Both the Syrian and Egyptian parties appealed to Rome for help, but the Senate refused to take sides. In 173,
20:28
Antiochus paid the remainder of the war indemnity that had been imposed by the Romans on Antiochus III at the
20:33
Treaty of Apamea. So flattery, treachery, and money, silver crossing palms.
20:42
That's part of how Antiochus came to power. This is the king that I believe
20:47
Daniel talks about again in chapter 11, verse 21. In his place, a despicable person will arise on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.
20:59
Daniel 11, 21. So Antiochus's reign was occupied with subduing the
21:06
Jews, and they hated him. He was an intense object of hatred during this time period.
21:12
Even non -Jews of the area found him to be a despicable man. The historian Polybius, who was a contemporary of Antiochus, referred to the king as Epiphanes, which means the insane one.
21:24
It was a play on his name, Epiphanes. He told many tales of Antiochus's drunken, eccentric behavior, including sneaking out of the palace to feast at parties with commoners and play his flute.
21:40
Apparently, he was such a bad musician or just such an annoying buffoon that most people fled from the parties that he came to.
21:47
This is out of histories. Antiochus's campaigns were directed primarily to Egypt, the south, in 1
21:55
Maccabees 1, 16 -19. This is the history recorded by the Maccabeans.
22:01
Now, when the kingdom was established before Antiochus, he thought to reign over Egypt that he might have the dominion of two realms.
22:08
Wherefore, he entered into Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots, with elephants and horsemen, and a great navy, and he made war against Ptolemy, king of Egypt.
22:17
But Ptolemy was afraid of him and fled, and many were wounded to death. Thus they got the strong cities in the land of Egypt, and he took the spoils thereof.
22:24
So he took over. He made war against the south in Egypt and took that. And then also towards Armenia and Elymas, the east, 1
22:34
Maccabees 3, 31. Wherefore, being greatly perplexed in his mind, he determined to go into Persia, there to take the tributes of the countries and to gather much money.
22:44
So the king took half of the forces that remained and departed from Antioch, his royal city, the 147th year, and having passed the river
22:51
Euphrates, he went through the high countries. The dates we will be talking with, we will be using are the Seleucid era dates, which would be what the
22:59
Jews would have used during this time. 1 Maccabees 6, it says, about the time that king
23:05
Antiochus traveling through the high countries heard say that Elymas in the country of Persia was a city greatly renowned for riches, silver, and gold, and that there was in it a very rich temple, wherein more coverings of gold and breastplates and shields, which
23:21
Alexander, son of Philip, the Macedonian king, who reigned first among the Grecians, had left there. Wherefore, he came and sought to take the city and to spoil it, but he was not able, because they of the city, having had warning thereof, rose up against him in battle.
23:33
So he fled and departed thence with great heaviness and returned to Babylon. So he conquered several areas to the south,
23:40
Egypt, and to the east, Medo -Persia or Armenia, as is recorded in history. The third location he attacked, which is referred to in this verse as the beautiful land, again with the word land supplied later from verses in Daniel and elsewhere.
23:52
Of course, the beautiful land is Israel, and we can see that from many other locations in Scripture.
23:59
I must have lost a... So we have a...where
24:08
are we? That's the beautiful land. You see the word Jerusalem or the city Jerusalem up there.
24:15
Daniel 11 .16, but he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him.
24:21
He will also stay for a time in the beautiful land with destruction in his hand. Daniel 11 .41, he will also enter the beautiful land, and many countries will fall, but these will be rescued out of his hand.
24:32
Edom, Moab, and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. Daniel 11 .45, 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.
24:46
Jeremiah 3 .19, then I said, how would I set you among my sons and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations?
24:54
And I said, you shall call me my father and not turn away from following me. Ezekiel 26, and on that day
25:03
I swore to them, bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected them flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, and Zechariah 7 .14,
25:11
but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them, so that no one went back and forth, for they made this the pleasant land, desolate.
25:23
Antiochus was especially vicious to the Jews, pillaging and killing at will. Most of this is recorded in 1 and 2
25:30
Maccabees and in the writings of Josephus. One commentator put it this way, he said, this suppression came to a head in December 168
25:38
B .C. when Antiochus returned in frustration from Alexandria, where he had been turned back by the
25:44
Roman commander Populus Leonis. He vented his exasperation on the
25:50
Jews. He sent his general, Apollonius, with 20 ,000 troops under orders to siege
25:55
Jerusalem, to seize Jerusalem on a Sabbath. There he erected an idol of Zeus and desecrated the altar by offering swine on it.
26:04
This idol became known to the Jews as the abomination of desolation, which served as a type of a future abomination that will be set up in the
26:13
Jerusalem sanctuary to be built in the last days, based on Christ's prediction in Matthew 24.
26:18
The rather small horn is not Rome, as some have suggested, but is in fact
26:26
Antiochus Epiphanes. A simple, straightforward interpretation of Scripture yields this historical fact, but also, notably,
26:33
Josephus said this in his book 12, chapter 7. He said, this desolation happened to the temple in the 145th year, this is the
26:41
Seleucid era, on the 25th day of the month, Apollonius, and on the 153rd
26:47
Olympiad, but it was dedicated anew on the same day, the 25th of the month, Apollonius, on the 148th year, and on the 154th
26:56
Olympiad. And this desolation came to pass, according to the prophecy of Daniel, which was given 408 years before, for he declared that the
27:04
Macedonians would dissolve that worship for some time. Now, we don't know exactly what the date of the dissolution of the worship was.
27:11
We know when the date of the ancient abomination of desolation occurred, but we don't know the actual date, at this time, when the
27:21
Jewish temple worship, the regular sacrifice, was disrupted, and that's significant. Verse 10, any comments or questions about verse 9?
27:34
Excuse me. Verse 10, speaking of the horn, it grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth and it trampled them down.
27:47
So Antiochus' rise and reign was meteoric and tumultuous. He murdered so many of the
27:52
Jews that Daniel, here in his prophecy, notes that fact. Some believe that the word stars refers to those angels and the angelic hosts who were tasked with Israel's protection.
28:00
It is more likely that this word and the word for host are simply referring to the many righteous Jews who were murdered by Antiochus.
28:08
Genesis 15 .5, the word was often used in Hebrew literature to denote people, to denote important folks, or to denote just the rank and file.
28:19
Genesis 15 .5, and he took him outside, Abraham. Now look upward toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them.
28:25
And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. Genesis 22 .17, indeed, I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sandwiches on the seashore.
28:35
And your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. Daniel 12 .3, those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven and those who lead the many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
28:48
And then in Matthew 13 .43, then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father.
28:54
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. So it's today when you're talking about, unfortunately, some celebrity from television, what do people call them?
29:04
They misuse the term, in my opinion, but what are they called? They're called stars. Yeah, just let that sink in, misapplication of the term.
29:18
But it's a common term used throughout history to denote some of the more famous in a particular society.
29:30
So, in Deuteronomy 4 .19, the word host is also interchangeable, by the way, with stars. In Deuteronomy 4 .19,
29:36
the scripture says this, and beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, comma, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the
29:50
Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. And then in Isaiah 40 .26, lift up your eyes on high and see the stars.
29:57
He who has created these stars, the one who leads forth their host by number, he calls them all by name because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power.
30:06
Not one of them is missing. It is good for us to always remember that the proper use of the term stars and host is given to us in scripture, and it is that which
30:15
God has created. And Psalm 19 says that it declares to us the glory of God.
30:21
It declares not just to us, it declares to all of humanity and has down through all ages the glory of God.
30:27
It declares the glory of God. It spreads it before us. It's unmistakable. They would have known this.
30:35
Verse 10, excuse me, verse 11. By the way, one other thing that I need to remember, verse 12 indicates in this chapter that Antiochus' army had control over the host and stars, and this would be very difficult if it actually referred to angels.
30:56
So it's most likely that Daniel is referring to Israelites, maybe influential
31:01
Israelites, but people who were murdered by Antiochus who were destroyed by him because of his hatred of the Jews.
31:07
Verse 11, the hornigan. It even magnified itself to be equal with the commander of the host, and it removed the regular sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was thrown down.
31:18
So let's go back to chapter 29 of the book of Exodus, and we'll see what the regular is.
31:24
Now, in this verse, the word regular does not have the word sacrifice following it.
31:30
That is supplied for understanding. A Jew would have known what it meant.
31:36
A Hebrew would have known what it meant. There was a, in Exodus chapter 29, verses 38 and 39, we're given the information about what the regular is, the regular sacrifice.
31:50
Let's look at verse 37 first. For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy.
31:58
Now this is what you shall offer on the altar, two one -year -old lambs each day continuously.
32:06
The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. So this is the regular sacrifice that was put there for continual remembrance of Yahweh.
32:20
This was to keep Yahweh before the eyes of the Jews all the time. Can you see why a foreign king would want to remove this sacrifice?
32:30
It was supposed to remind them of their God day and night. It was a reminder.
32:36
It was a necklace hung around your neck, or frontlets, or whatever.
32:42
Some of the other things the Jews used to remind themselves of things. Things we do. Calendar. You know, you got your calendar that beeps.
32:49
This was the twice -daily sacrifice that reminded the Jews that Yahweh was their
32:55
God and they owed him everything. And so when we see later on the abomination of desolation, it takes on a greater importance, at least it did to me.
33:04
The intention is to remove every concept of Yahweh from our eyes, from the
33:10
Jews' eyes. Remove him from their consciousness and replace him, replace Yahweh with a false god.
33:16
In this case, Antiochus, which we will see later on. Numbers 28, Numbers 28, 3 and 4 just reiterates this.
33:28
I just wanted to look at each iteration of it. And you shall say to them, this is the offering by fire which you shall offer to the
33:37
Lord, two male lambs, one year old, without defect, as a continual burnt offering. Every day you shall offer the one lamb in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight, in the evening.
33:48
Morning and evening offerings. And then again in Ezekiel 46, 13, carried on through.
33:56
I should have marked these. 46, 13.
34:13
It's an embarrassing thing to say, but I'll admit it. I've been reading and studying the Bible for the better part of 45 years and I still don't have the order memorized in the
34:21
Old Testament. So if there's any of you out there, we're compadres, we're compadres, yeah. I should have it memorized.
34:28
It goes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and then there's a little song, like the alphabet song.
34:33
Is there anybody in here who can teach me that song? Okay. Thank you, Amanda. We'll be talking.
34:40
46, 13. And you shall provide a lamb, a year old, without blemish, for a burnt offering to the
34:47
Lord daily, morning by morning. This was, shall you provide it. This was for the
34:52
Lord. This was a reminder to the Jews and it was something they were doing in devotion to him.
35:00
Antiochus, any king would want that removed. And then last, just remembering that every day was supposed to be a constant devotion to Yahweh and this would have been the
35:10
Jewish, the Hebrew reminder, the Jewish reminder, the once in the morning and the once in the evening sacrifice.
35:17
In a fashion similar to the attempt Satan made on God in Isaiah chapter 14 to become equal with him, Antiochus usurps the worship of Yahweh in the sanctuary of the temple and throws down the sanctuary.
35:28
In his mind, in Antiochus's, now I'm not saying I read, I understand his mind, but this would be the standard operating procedure of a mind like this.
35:38
In his mind, the desecration of the temple and his halt of the worship of Yahweh exalted him over the
35:47
God of the Hebrews. He conquered the God of the Hebrews in his mind. The fact that he stopped the regular sacrifice indicates that he disrupted the entire system the
35:57
Jews had for worshiping Yahweh. This is recorded again in Maccabees, in 1st Maccabees 1, 44 through 50.
36:03
Again, good history, not scripture. For the king had sent letters by messengers into Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that they should follow the strange laws of the land and forbid burn offerings and sacrifice and drink offerings in the temple and that they should profane the
36:17
Sabbaths and festival days and pollute the sanctuary and holy people, set up altars and groves and chapels of idols and sacrifice swine's flesh and unclean beasts, that they should also leave their children uncircumcised and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation to the end that they might forget the law and change all the ordinances and whosoever would not do according to this commandment of the king, he said, he should die.
36:45
So this wasn't just something posted on the town bulletin board. This was a proclamation and a law.
36:52
If you didn't obey this, you could die. You probably could die. While the wording thrown down might refer to the complete destruction of the temple, it is likely that it does not.
37:02
However, it is significant that after the removal of the desecration from the temple, the
37:08
Jews completely recrafted, re -gifted everything and refitted everything. In 1st
37:14
Maccabees 4, 42 -49, this is after the throwing down, the conquering, the revolt where they overthrew
37:23
Antiochus. So he chose priests of blameless conversation, this is the priest, the
37:30
Jewish priest, such as had pleasure in the law, who cleansed the sanctuary and bare out the defiled stones into an unclean place, and as they consulted what to do with the altar of burnt offerings, which was profane, they thought it best to pull it down, lest it should be a reproach to them, because the heathen had defiled it.
37:47
Wherefore, they pulled it down and laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place until there should come a prophet to show what should be done with them.
37:55
Then they took whole stones according to the law and built a new altar according to the former, and made up the sanctuary and the things that were within the temple and hallowed courts.
38:03
They made also new holy vessels, and into the temple they brought the candlestick and the altar of burnt offerings, and of incense, and the table.
38:12
So once the revolution was at least at this point, this part of it was over, where they had thrown him back out of the temple, they completely refitted the temple.
38:22
They took everything that he had profaned out and refitted it with new items, and took all this stuff up into the mountains and just left it there, it says, until a prophet should arise to tell them what to do with it.
38:34
While this portion of the prophecy did have complete fulfillment in Antiochus, there are clear indications that this also has end times implication, especially when one considers
38:44
Daniel 9 .27, and it says this in Daniel 9 .27, 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 abomination will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction.
39:01
One that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate. So Daniel, this prophecy for the future indicates that there could be something similar to this, and then
39:11
Jesus talks about it in the New Testament. So we will have that, we'll look at that as we get to those, I don't want to steal
39:17
Daniel 9's thunder, okay, we'll look at that as we get to Daniel 9. So any comments on verse 11?
39:24
So we have a king who has come in, and he's going to, he hasn't done it yet, but he's going to do everything he can to completely stop any remembrance of the
39:34
God of the Jews. This is, that's the abomination. The swine on the altar, that's in the
39:41
Jewish mind, that is a picture of the abomination, but the abomination is when anyone puts someone, some other
39:47
God, whatever it is or whoever it is, in the place of Yahweh. That's the abomination that's going to go on here.
39:54
Verse 12, and on account of transgression, the host will be given over to the horn, the small horn, the relatively small horn, along with the regular sacrifice, and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.
40:09
So this is a confirmation of the fact that Antiochus did for a short time enjoy complete control over the
40:15
Jews and their mode of worship. The truth he flung to the ground would be the Scriptures at that time, which would essentially be the
40:21
Law of Moses, quite a few early prophets and histories, as well as Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Psalms.
40:27
I have a list, and there it is. So up to, this would have been the truth at the time that he would have flung to the ground, all of the recorded canon at the time.
40:45
Genesis, Job, Exodus and Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges and Ruth, 1 and 2
40:53
Samuel, 1 Chronicles, Psalms, Amos, Hosea, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, 1 and 2
41:02
Kings, Joel, Micah, Isaiah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Jonah, Nahum, Obadiah, those would have all been truths that would have been destroyed or taken out of the
41:13
Jews' use. So however many of them had
41:18
Scriptures memorized, they would have been the people of the day. As do many wicked believers when they attack the people of God, Antiochus prospered.
41:28
His kingdom grew strong, relatively strong, but his time was coming. Verse 13,
41:34
Daniel says this, he said, Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?
41:49
Now I see that it's 10 .04, and this next section I have is seven pages long in my little tiny print, so we're not going to get through all of it, but I will try to find an appropriate place to stop.
42:02
Now Daniel hears what is most certainly an angel speaking to another angel about the desecration and horror.
42:08
This reminds us that only God is omniscient. Even his immediate servants, the angels, which are flames of fire that serve the people of God, do not know everything.
42:18
Only God is omniscient. And so Daniel asks these servants, these beings, how long will this happen?
42:27
He heard a holy one asking another one, how long will this be? And so then the interesting thing here is, who does that being answer?
42:36
It's kind of like he got the question from Rick, and then he turned and said, here's the answer to someone else.
42:46
He answers Daniel, he said, to me, for 2300, now get this, evenings and mornings, the holy place will be properly restored.
42:54
So a great deal of controversy surrounds this verse regarding whether or not the number means 2300 days, 2300 years, or 1150 days of two, service two, sacrifices daily.
43:08
There are a great many well -respected scholars who interpret this as a full 2300 days. There are some, and I want to look at this because this group does a lot of prophecy work, it's all bad, but they do a lot of prophecy work.
43:22
You see their posters, you see their signs, and they're pretty well understood to be the understanders of the end times, at least to the unknowing.
43:34
So there are a great many of them, there are plenty, but they mostly were led by the Seventh -day Adventists from about 150 years ago who interpret it as years.
43:43
They predicted the end date of 1884. That was the date that the sanctuary was going to, the holy of holies was going to have
43:53
Jesus enter into it, and he was going to judge everyone. This was supposed to be when it happened. When that did not happen, they decided that the trampling of the holy place then referred to a heavenly holy place, and its restoration referred to the idea that Christ entered into the heavenly sanctuary and began investigating all of the sins of everyone who has existed.
44:11
This is their official statement. Christ moved from the holy place to the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary on October 22, 1844.
44:24
Excuse me, I got my date wrong there, it's 1844, and began a new phase of ministry.
44:31
This ministry was foreshadowed by the Levitical day of atonement. The first phase of the day of atonement is called the cleansing of the sanctuary.
44:38
It involves a pre -advent investigation and judging of God's people to determine whose sins will be removed from the sanctuary.
44:46
Christ started this judgment in 1844, beginning with Adam and Eve and progressing chronologically down through the ages.
44:52
Now let me just stop right there for a minute. How much time do you think the omniscient
44:58
God of the universe needs to figure out who is a sinner and who isn't? I thought about going through this whole thing,
45:06
I'm going to kind of hit the high points, but refresh my memory if I'm not mistaken, didn't he choose you before the beginning of time?
45:16
So he already knew your catalog of sins multiple billions of eons ago, and I'm only attaching a number to it because that's what
45:23
I have to do because I'm a nerd, a math nerd. But the word was eternity past. So he's always known that those he would choose, the elect, would be sinners.
45:36
They would need the work of the Lord Jesus Christ to undo that. At any rate, so I'm not going to finish their statement, just a few high points.
45:44
God already knows his own, John 10, 14, I am the good shepherd and once the investigation is done,
45:52
I might know my own and I might check with God the Father and see if we can figure out which ones have sinned.
45:58
It doesn't say that. I know my own and my own know me, 2
46:03
Timothy 2 .19, nevertheless the firm foundation of God stands having this seal, the Lord knows those who are his and everyone who names the name of the
46:10
Lord is to abstain from wickedness. Number two, God knows everything, but I repeat myself.
46:17
Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him, declares the Lord. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth, declares the
46:23
Lord, Jeremiah 23, 24. I have a whole host of scriptures here. In 1844,
46:28
God already knew everyone that was saved. Before the world even existed, he knew the exact list of which humans he would be saved and which ones would be lost.
46:37
Why would God need to investigate anything that he has known forever? When are sins blotted out?
46:45
Such were some of you, Paul said in 1 Corinthians, but you were washed, were is past tense, right?
46:54
You were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our
46:59
God, 1 John 1 .7. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, 1
47:10
Peter 1, 18 and 19, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
47:24
We have been deemed, our sins have been deemed blotted out. The atonement was completed at the cross.
47:30
They teach that it is not complete until the investigative judgment is completed just prior to the second coming.
47:37
The Bible teaches that the atonement was completed when Jesus died on the cross. What did he say on the cross, what were his last words?
47:45
As soon as the investigative judgment is concluded, it is finished. He said it is finished, it is finished.
47:55
But he having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of God waiting from that time forward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet for by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
48:07
And when did he do that? He did that at the cross. The Bible teaches that Christ's atonement on the cross has perfected, past tense, his children.
48:16
Christians are not made perfect during the investigative judgment. If we are in Christ, then we were made perfect 2 ,000 years ago through Christ's perfect sacrifice on Calvary.
48:24
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, no condemnation.
48:32
It said that prophecy is supposed to be comforting and it is for the comfort of the believers.
48:37
But for me, that's not prophecy, but that's comforting, Romans 8 .1. There is no condemnation to those.
48:43
Eternal life begins at conversion. Well actually, eternal life began at your birth, but eternal life with Christ began at conversion.
48:52
John 5 .24, the cases of the righteous have already been decided. Can you think of one that's already been decided and has actually happened in history?
49:02
Who remember the fight over Moses' body in Jude? Moses was decided.
49:09
What about the guy next to Jesus on the cross? As soon as the investigative judgment is completed, you will join me in paradise.
49:17
He said today. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Enoch, Moses, Elijah, at any rate, there's a whole list.
49:25
I could go through them, but we don't have time. Where have I heard that before? When did
49:30
Christ enter the holiest? They teach that Jesus entered two times into the most holy place.
49:37
Once at his ascension, and once again in 1844. Hebrews, the book we are going through now, chapter 9, verse 12, it says, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he entered the holy place twice for all, once for all.
49:53
I mean, it's not like this is up for question. Some of these silly Bible doctrines that I read,
49:59
I just go, did you read the book? I see some of the assemblies of toasters, and I go, did you read the instructions?
50:08
You can jack a car up with it, but you're going to burn your toast. Okay, enough, enough.
50:16
I don't need to go for any more of that, other than Hebrews 10, 12, because the scripture is wonderful. But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.
50:27
It is finished. For the most part, however, scholars ascribe, as let's get back into the dispute about 2300, they ascribe either 2300 days or a great many ascribe 2300 morning, evening sacrifices, which would be 1150 days.
50:44
Context alone assures us that the holy place, which was trampled in history, in verse 13, was restored in history, verse 13, was restored in history, verse 14.
50:54
So this is talking specifically about something that happened. There may be in times implications that we will look at later in other sections of Daniel, but this happened 200, 300 years after Daniel prophesied it, for the most part.
51:10
Further, the entire chapter deals with a vision that is based on earth and not in the heavenlies. Note also that the word in verses 11, 12, and 13 for the regular sacrifice is the word tamid,
51:22
T -A -M -I -Y -D in the Hebrew. And I may be pronouncing it wrong, but that's my best shot at it.
51:27
And it's actually just the word regular. The word sacrifice is added in the
51:33
English translations because it would be confusing to an English reader if just the word regular was used here.
51:39
To the Jewish reader, the word regular would be well understood as referring to the daily burnt offering. One commentator explained it this way.
51:45
He said, I understand the term was partly motivated to see if would...
51:51
He wanted to understand if the term was if it meant to be...was connected to the showbread and the candlestick. So he said, my own exegetical examination of the term tamid was partly motivated to see if it was really necessary to connect the showbread and the candlestick with the regular.
52:04
Essentially, to discern if the regular meant the entire setup of the holy place in the temple, including the furnishings, or it was restricted to the whole burnt offering that was replenished on the altar twice a day.
52:15
What caught my attention was that in Daniel 8, 11, and 12, the reason the term for burnt offering, olah, was not included in those passages was because for the
52:22
Jews, it was redundant. In those particular instances, the article the is added to tamid, making it what is elsewhere an adverb, meaning continual, into a noun with a particular idiomatic meaning.
52:37
That noun form of the word, ha -tamid, designates a particular thing that is continual, the never -ceasing whole burnt offering on the altar.
52:45
Back to what I mentioned earlier, this was the Jews' everyday continual reminder that Yahweh was their
52:51
God, and I've run out of time. I'm going to finish this, and we'll tackle this again next time.
52:56
But the noun, so we have a noun, the never -ceasing whole offering. It was not eaten by the priests.
53:02
The word sacrifices added in English translations of those passages only because writing the regular or the continual would be confusing for us, though not for the original
53:11
Jewish readers. Actually, it would have been better for the supplied word to have been offering because the whole burnt offering was purely for the honor and pleasure of God, not in expiation for sins, and that we read in Exodus 29.
53:25
This ties in with what verse 811 says, the rather small horn removed, the regular from him.
53:31
It was something for God's pleasure that got taken away, not an expiatory sacrifice for human sins.
53:36
Standard reference work, the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says this, most frequently this word is used in an adjectival genitive construction with holah for the continual whole burnt offering made to God every morning and evening.
53:52
So this is a construction that is normative in Old Testament usage to refer to the morning and evening sacrifice, the continual, the regular, that was for Yahweh, it was for him.
54:05
It was a sign of devotion to him, it was a sign of remembrance to him, and it was instructive to the
54:10
Jews and to us as to why Antiochus would want to remove that. He would not want them devoted to their
54:17
God, he would want them devoted to him. I don't think that's changed down through history, and I don't think it will change.
54:25
So before I close, we'll pick this up next week here in the middle of this. So what we're going to look at is the potential that the 2300 refers to mornings and evenings, or 1150 days, and how that works out.
54:40
Now, if you go home and do the math and look at the history in 1st Maccabees, you're going to see that it still doesn't fit, and that's my clickbait.
54:51
Any comments before we close? Father, your word is always true, and anytime we don't understand it, it is because we don't have understanding.
55:04
You supply that as needed, and so, Lord, we look to you for understanding this section.
55:09
But you have also said that there are things you will shut up until the end, and it is your people's delight and honor to trust you all the way through to the end, knowing that you are the
55:20
God of goodness, that you are a good God, you will always do what your word has said you will do, and that is to be true to yourself, holy, omniscient, and perfect.
55:29
I could go through the entire list, but Lord, we know that we trust you, we look to you this morning, we look to you for the morning message that will instruct us in behavior and in loving you.
55:41
Father, we ask you this morning, as we read through this section of Daniel, to read it again and again with a clear understanding that this is the word of God and that you are always true, and we thank you for it, in Jesus' name, amen.