well we have just two sermons left in our study of the book of daniel today we're going to take all of chapter 11 so i invite you to turn to daniel chapter 11 um this is a fascinating chapter and so we will consider the whole of daniel chapter 11 found on page 889 let's give our attention to the word of the lord and as for me in the first year of Darius the Mede I stood up to confirm and strengthen him and now I will show you the truth behold three more kings shall arise in Persia and a force shall be far richer than all of them and when he has become strong through his riches he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece then a mighty king shall rise who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills and as soon as he has arisen the king shall kingdom his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven but not to his posterity nor according to the authority with which he ruled for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these then the king of the south shall be strong but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule and his authority shall be a great authority after some years they shall make an alliance and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement but she shall not retain the strength of her arm and he and his arm shall not endure but she shall be given up in her attendance he who fathered her and he who supported her in those times and from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place he shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north he shall deal with them and shall prevail he shall also carry off to Egypt their gods and their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land his son shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through and shall carry the war as far as his fortress then the king of the south moved with rage shall come out and fight against the king of the north and he shall raise a great multitude but it shall be given into his hand and when the multitude is taken away his heart shall be exalted and he shall cast down tens of thousands and he shall not prevail for the king of the north shall again raise a multitude greater than the first and after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies in those times many shall rise against the king of the south and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision but they shall fail then the king of the north shall come and throw up siege works and take a well fortified city and the forces of the south shall not stand or even his best troops for there shall be no strength to stand but he who comes against him shall do as he wills and none shall stand before him and he shall strength stand in the glorious land with destruction in his hand he shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them he shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom but it shall not stand or be to his advantage afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them but a commander shall put up put an end to his insolence indeed he shall turn his insolence back upon him then he shall turn his face back toward the fortress of his own land but he shall stumble and fall and shall not be found then shall arise in his place one that shall send an executor for tribute for the glory of the kingdom but within a few days he shall be broken neither an angel nor in battle in his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given he shall come in with without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken even the prince of the covenant and from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully and he shall become strong with the small people without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers fathers have done scattering among them plunder spoil and goods he shall devise plans against strongholds but only for a time he shall stir up his power and his heart against the kingdom of the south with a great army and the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army but he shall not stand for he plots his plot for for plot shall be devised against him even those who eat his food shall break him his army shall be swept away and many shall fall down slain and as for the two kings their heart shall be bent on doing evil they shall speak lies at the same table but to no avail for the end is yet to be at the time appointed and he shall return to his land with great wealth but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant and he shall work his will and return to his own land at the time appointed he shall return and come into the south but it shall not be this time as it was before for ships of kittim shall come against him and he shall be afraid and withdraw and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant he shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress and shall take away the regular burnt offering and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate he shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant but the people who know their god shall stand firm and take action and the wise among the people shall make many understand though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame by captivity and plunder when they stumble they shall receive a little help and many shall join themselves to them with flattery and some of the wise shall stumble so that they may be refined purified and made white until the time of the end for it still awaits the appointed time and the king shall do as he wills he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god he shall speak astonishing things against the god of gods he shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished for what is decreed shall be done he shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers or to the one beloved by women he shall not pay attention to any other god for he shall magnify himself above all he shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these a god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver with precious stones and costly gifts he shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor he shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price at the time of the end the king of the south shall attack him but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen with many ships and he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through he shall come into the glorious land and tens of thousands shall fall but these shall be delivered out of his hand edom and moab and the main parts of the ammonites he shall stretch out his hand against the countries and the land of egypt shall not escape he shall become ruler of the treasuries of gold and of silver and of all and all precious things of egypt and the libyans and the cushites shall follow in his train but news from the east and the north shall alarm him he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction and he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain yet he shall come to his end with none to help him may the lord bless the hearing of his word this morning well this is um a very hard chapter to preach should i say that i'm a bit overwhelmed by it i said to darcy the other day i i want to i want to skip this one and uh she says didn't you just preach a sermon on being strong Who are you? Saul among the supplies? Hiding among the supplies? I said, you're right. So then I read this passage for devotions, and she says, I'm glad I don't have to preach that. So this is where we are with this particular chapter. Well, this chapter is important. This is God's Word. It is a long history lesson. I don't know how many of you liked history in school those were for people like dr godfrey but um not for me at least history is important though isn't it the fact is god inspired this he inspired every word that i read and he has told us that all scripture is profitable why do we need a chapter like this it's such a i i think what you felt in going through it when you probably said i have no idea where this is going or why it's why God is telling us this is exactly how he wanted you to feel initially that's why we have pastors to try to explain these things a detailed study of this today would be impossible it would be cumbersome but what I want to do is show you what's happening in this particular text and take a giant step back while looking at some of the details that stand out to us and ask the larger question today that's the important question of why is the Lord doing this for us why would he give us such a chapter with such detail and no names really just a few application in this regard is extremely important to understand this to appreciate this but let me begin today by trying to capture it with something that i watched a few years back that i found one of the most fascinating little documentaries that i had seen in the animal world and it was and if anyone's ever seen this i want you to tell me after because i'm i'm the nerdy one that's probably the only one that's seen this but it was on a lot of a lion pride in the sabi sands in africa called the mapogos pride the mapogos pride was an amazing pride in the history of our sort of documentary and study of lions. It was the most vicious tribe ever on record. The lions were sizable. They had never seen a pride rise up that this kind of size and power and strength. They were ferocious lions. They were unequaled compared to all the prides that had come before them. You can watch this right on YouTube. A band of ferocious brothers came together, called the Mapogos, unequaled in strength, the most dominant coalition of lion pride that we know on record that we've seen, at least to this time. They dominated Kruger National Park and the Sabi Sands up to, listen, 170,000 acres. When lions lift their legs, they are marking. they are territorial. They wiped out hundreds of lions. The three warrior lions they named, Mr. T was the strongest. The second one was named Kinky Tail. And the third was named Makulu. No one stood in their way. Strength. Finally, after they had wreaked their havoc all through the Sabi Sands and destroyed Cubs and Prides. The Majingaling Pride came along and took down Mr. T. And it was over. I was into it, let me tell you. It was fascinating. Their kingdom fell in a day. If you have some appreciation of what I'm describing this morning, the sheer dominance of, And I think we have things in the animal world that tell us things about reality and tell us things about us at times, if you can see. The sheer dominance of this tribe, the power of this tribe, you get a sense of what Daniel's describing. At the moment of the Mapogos, everyone, all the lions were terrified. No one dared step into their territory. But today they're no longer here. Their glory was taken. that's daniel 11 i hope that helps you that's that's what i was wrestling with and trying to find to help you that daniel has been associated the kings and the kingdoms of this world as beasts vying for power they have their prides for a time if you will and there are times in history when things are happening in the kingdoms just like ours just like the united states where ferocious figures in history, in these kingdoms, have risen up. Mr. T-like figures have risen up. Who cannot think of Hitler? Who cannot think of Stalin? Have risen up. And in history, they have attempted to crush, to conquer, to conquer. And all of that has created wars and rumors of wars, Jesus talked about all of them trying to establish a kingdom that will last forever daniel is is helping us with this with a history lesson today daniel is helping with this in chapter 11 where essentially from this chapter all the way to the end he's capturing at least 15 leaders 15 kings who ruled between the years 322 and 163 BC. He's capturing that period of time. It's not a time we're greatly familiar with. It's a time we understand maybe by reading even before this Homer and the Iliad and reading Helen of Troy or something like that. What's remarkable about it is that all of this, now listen, this is such an important point today. All of this was predicted well before it happened. Could I have ever written that what I just read? Would you have ever written what I just read? And you know the answer is no. That was the most complex, detailed thing. You have no idea until the history actually unfolds and you could look back and say, wow, that happened to a T. that's just what Daniel 11 does. In fact, it has marveled historians who have tried to say, well, this had to have been written after. This had to have been written after because nobody could capture it ahead of time so precisely, and that's exactly what God does. The Lord obviously wants us to consider this. For what reason? Well, there are lots of conclusions that we might draw here, but clearly the Lord wants us to put our lives into perspective. That the Lord wants us to put our little lives into perspective of the whole. When I'm talking about cosmic warfare, that's why I referenced that passage today. There are very turbulent times in which we find ourselves. Difficult seasons. And what do we do? We lose heart. And this particular passage is given to us to encourage us in the sovereign Lord of history. And to encourage us to know that everything has an appointed end. And to encourage us to know that he's bringing in an everlasting kingdom that won't be like this. Those are three of the basic takeaways I think you could run with in this particular passage. And as it ends on some practical notes, that's what I'd like to do. So this morning, I just want to consider a few basic points. First, that this history here belongs to the Lord. As we look at the larger stepping back picture of Daniel chapter 11. Remember what happened in the previous chapter. In chapter 10, Daniel was deeply discouraged because it seemed that nothing was moving forward in life. And all of his problems, he was being beset by enemies. That's why we sang Psalm 35. He was being beset. Israel, Judah was being beset to rebuild the temple by all the enemies. Discouragement, discouragement, discouragement. I mean, we waited 70 years to go home and this is what we have to deal with? Problems, political turmoil, difficulties, challenges, ideologies, warfare. He became depressed. I think you know how powerful I said last week depression can be. Some of you who've gone through it. One of our great discouragements in this age has precisely to do with this right now. One of your greatest discouragements in this age has precisely to do with this point of this chapter. It has to do with all the political problems that were bearing down on us constantly. And it's not made life easy for Christians. It's not made life easy for believers. You remember what the Lord did to encourage him. He sent a glorious angel from heaven who reflected God and his holiness. And remember all of Daniel's strength was taken and the angel puts his hand on Daniel and says, get up, Daniel. Get up in the strength of the Lord. And his strength was replaced with the Lord's strength. And that was the imagery that that's what we need through this life. We need strength from the Lord in all of this. Well, we have to realize that. We have to understand that. You have to appreciate that every day you get up. The more you try to live this life in your strength, the more the depression comes. Well, what kind of strength does God give us? And how does he help us? And what does he desire us to do in this age? Well, one of the things that the angel explained was that there's a cosmic warfare going on. There's a spiritual warfare that's happening. And even the angels are here expressing, this warfare is hard for us. Michael had to come to my help because I had to go fight the prince of Persia and the prince of Greece. But then our chapter begins with, and I aided him. This was important for Daniel to know. That the problems and the hardships that he faced in life were part of a larger conflict that's going on part of a very serious spiritual warfare that's happening in the heavenly places that there is going on in the realm of angels and they're at war but we've tried to like i said create a disneyland life and it doesn't work it doesn't work There's still cigarette butts at Disneyland, aren't there? Daniel is lifted back up, put on his feet, and he's trained for battle. Well, chapter 11 begins with the angel saying, I, even I stood up to confirm and strengthen Michael. What's happening? That's where we're led. Now we're led to work through a little bit of history here. We read in verse 2, and we're just going to take a few pieces of this, that an angel explains real historical events from Daniel's place and position that would soon take place in the future. And he begins by saying, there will be more kings who will rise in Persia, three more kings, and a fourth shall be richer than them all. And if you were to take your time, so the history buffs among us, and to go through and start reading and studying all of this, you will know that this king that was richer than all others was known as Xerxes I. He was the husband of Esther. But then, verse 3, a mighty king shall arise who will rule with great dominion. That was Alexander the Great. None of these guys are named ahead of time. He's describing them to a T. We know this from history. The details fit perfectly. Alexander the Great led campaigns and expanded the empire beyond Greece to Persia, Babylon, Egypt. He was a warrior king. but he gets one verse. He gets one verse. But his kingdom was then shattered, and none of his posterity would rule in his place. That's exactly what we know in the history books happened. All of his children and his relatives and his wife, they were all murdered, and then his kingdom was divided into four parts. Again, predicted ahead of time. Now, you just read the history of Alexander the Great in one verse that's purposeful this chapter then traces those four kingdoms it focuses in on two it focuses in on the kingdoms of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids and there's a real fascinating interjection here in verse six that that as you read verse six the figures are Ptolemy the second tried to make peace with you'll notice here the Seleucids and its name was Antiochus the second for we read that the daughter of Ptolemy II was given to Antiochus to marry. Here's what we actually know in history. This is exactly captured here. Her name was Bernice. And to make the alliance work, Antiochus had to divorce his wife whose name was Laotus. And when he divorced her, he married Bernice to achieve the alliance. But then Laotus poisoned Bernice and his son. and so Antiochus remarried Laotus, and then enraged, the brother Bernice of the Ptolemies came and attacked them, and verse 8 captures that he carries all their gods to Egypt with their princes and precious articles of gold and silver. You can read this history. I doubt any of you will, but you should, and if you were to go on in verse 20, you have the same kind of thing repeated all the way down it sounds like a helen of troy story in homer's odyssey and you're sitting here today what good does that do me in 2024 well this is where i do want to hide among the supplies i think we can answer that though we get the message that the kings and the kingdoms of this world are drunk with power and they're obsessed with conquering and influence and dominion and i think this matters because of daniel's experience he was depressed he was mourning enemies are making life hard can you imagine living through all of this imagine living when mr t is running through the area ravaging everyone alexander the great and then boom kingdom taken daniel says 11 says something that doesn't seem to be very encouraging it says life is hard it says life in the political worlds of this kingdom is hard and at times it's probably going to get worse for us that's not what i want to say preaching today i want to tell you that in this life it's all going to get better i want to tell you if you hold out for the right president life will be good again but the reality is if you trace these years it moved from worse to worse and i think the goal of this chapter is to put things in perspective for you One pastor said, we're deeply troubled by all the problems we face, but it could be worse. It could be worse. There's a lot of people suffering for their faith right now who are dying. And are we really, truth be told, in all of our difficulties, so comfortable that it's hard even to get us to church? See, we're always living in the midst of a sort of vicious cycle of political turmoil. That's life under the sun. Yes, it may get worse. It probably will get worse. A cycle of war, cycles of war, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, one nation toppled, here comes another. Imagine if we could read the history from this point, 50 years down the line of what the U.S. is. You'd be stunned. we're always living in this. And Daniel is capturing this ongoing problem in the cycle of the world nations that we find ourselves living in, and it looks like this. It looks like chapter 11. It feels like chapter 11. You're just zeroed in at one moment where Mr. T might be running around. But the majingaline are coming. It's always like that. It's always like that. Nations grow, sometimes worse. Their ideologies affect us. And the temptation is, as one pastor said, and the big point of this is to become impatient and frustrated and depressed. And then even to try to bring God's kingdom in our way or militant or angry. see these are all the emotions you felt in light of political turmoil is it not we have no idea what this election season's about to bring i can tell you it won't be pretty our nation's in the same cycle and you see how it can affect you look at what covid did look at the responses it drove a lot of people to their wits end changing their trajectories in life one pastor said we're living in the midst of a conflict that to us seems to be out of control that's our experience that's our that's our sense of things and we can become so distressed by all of this but do you see the value of chapter 11 do you see the value chapter 11 who's describing history ahead of time that's a powerful point i was so struck by that who wrote it before it happened who in a blot of a pen wrote about alexander's life and in a sentence it was over the god who is eternal the god who sits on his throne forever and the recounting of the history before it happens is to remind us of his absolute control of history, his absolute control of what's happening. And we're not changing what's happening. Do we understand that? Did you notice how many times in this past? Until the appointed time, until the appointed time, so-and-so ruled, until the appointed time? Well, now it turns to one figure who in history was the most ruthless of them all. Meet Mr. T in history. We met him in chapter 8. His name is Antiochus Epiphanes. His history picks up in verses 21 through 35. He's like the Mopogos lions. One of the most fierce figures before the coming of Christ. He was a Seleucid king. The first section here captures his legendary exploits. It describes him in strength and it describes him in power and strategic alliances. and anyone who resisted Antiochus was pummeled. He was that powerful of a leader and king. But then in one swoop, verse 29 says, at the appointed time, he shall return and go to the south, but it shall not be like the former of the latter. Notice this, for the ships from Cyprus shall come against him. There's always somebody who's bigger and better than you. Therefore, he shall be grieved. He shall be greatly troubled. Notice, at the appointed time, he's frustrated. And he returns in rage. This is the crucial point here. Against the Holy Covenant. Isn't that remarkable? That when these rulers become, at times in history, frustrated, and not achieving the glory of their kingdoms, where do they turn? Against you. he failed in Egypt so in anger he turned toward Jerusalem that's the history here and as we know which is recounted here he profaned the worship there he burned pig's flesh on the altar he desecrated the most holy place why would he go do that you know why because in times of ruthless kings and kingdoms Daniel wants you to remind you that ultimately that when things spin this way they hate God they're attacking him you know look at what we're facing at times it seems that everything's turning against our faith and why all of a sudden all this rage against Christianity why all of a sudden the hatred that turned so quickly against Christianity. Isn't it remarkable to live through this? Why all of a sudden? Why can they impose such wicked ideologies that attack the truth? And that lingering question comes back to us. What do we do? What do we do? Notice in verse 34 when it says, they shall be aided with little help it's as if Daniel now takes this ruthless figure and introduces something that perplexes commentators to the end of the chapter from verse 3 to the end of the chapter another king is introduced and it doesn't fit any of the historical details we know of anything that comes before this that were so precise this king verse 36 shall do according to his own will he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god he shall speak blasphemies against the god of god he shall prosper until the wrath has been accomplished and it shall he shall regard neither the god of his fathers nor the desire of women or any god he shall exalt himself above them all and it finishes by speaking of his conquests that's chapter 11 i think we come back to where we began in chapter 10 today that we are in a very serious cosmic warfare with spiritual dimensions to this and the spiritual warfare that's happening takes shape in the kings and kingdoms of this world at times at times the conflict will be directly aimed against us god's people they hate god this is most likely describing at the end of this chapter the antichrist and fulfillment in some form. But here's the point today. None of them last. None of them last. And that's supposed to be comforting to you. There are a few surprising statements here when you ask the question today, what do we do in application? And that's exactly what verse 32 says. Did you notice verse 32? He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant. Listen to this. But the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. That's a verse to highlight. God is not promising us a smooth ride. But what does he promise? What did he say to Daniel? What did the angel say to Daniel? And he says this to you today. Be strong. Some of us face a period of trial and we fall apart. I said yesterday, last week, we blame everyone else other than taking it and being strong in the calling God's given us. Be strong, Daniel. Those who know their God shall be what? Firm and strong in this age. What a promise and what an encouragement to know your God. What an encouragement to know the scriptures of truth. What an encouragement to be a church. We so often think we can take or leave that. This is how you know you're God. Hard times come. Hard times will come. Those who know their God will be firm through it. And they'll take action. Notice what the next thing says right after that. And the wise among the people shall make many understand. That's quite a verse. Why are we here? Well, 2 Peter 3 says God is not slow giving us the promise. But he said he's long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Why are we here? Because there's people in your lives that need to be strengthened with the truth. That's one of your great responsibilities. There are people drifting. There are people apostatizing. There are people moving away from the truth. And the wise among us shall instruct many, literally. That's why we're here. Because there are many right now who need the truth. this is what the angel said to Daniel you're given the scripture of truth in chapter 10 there are many right now who need the Lord God has not only promised us strength but he's encouraging us to help people with the truth even though at times we will suffer great pain he speaks about people being cast down that's persecution but we carry with us a power that breaks strongholds in people's lives we're here for the wayward we're here for those who need next to us who need truth here for our children to train them you're here for your confused neighbor you're here to help people with the light to help people to remember the warfare we're involved with that many people need the scripture of truth and what an encouragement for us to remember why we're here but the best news in this book to close today is what we'll close on next week is that the messiah the prince the messiah the prince is bringing in an everlasting kingdom and at the appointed time you don't live in this period. If you were here last Sunday night, you would have heard a whole sermon explaining that the kingdom of God has arrived. When John the Baptist preached and said, behold, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is here. It's come. That kingdom has broken into history. And this is a kingdom that will never be toppled. An unshakable kingdom. A kingdom that will stand forever one that jesus said my father told you don't be discouraged it's his good pleasure children to give you that kingdom it's come what is in store for us i has not seen nor ear heard nor entered in the heart of man the things that God's prepared for those who love him. The warfare has an appointed end. This chapter's telling us that. And there's going to be very difficult seasons throughout history. You don't know what's coming. We don't know where it will go. Wars and rumors of war still abound. As Jesus said, that's not changed. But chapter 12 will remind us in closing that everyone found written in the book shall rise to everlasting life. That's the certain future that's ahead of you, see? That's where the book will end us. There's a certain future that's ahead of us. And the Lord wants us to live in confidence of His promise, of His kingdom, of His Messiah, of His glory. Jesus Christ has come. He's the King of the nations. Mr. T bows in his presence. Those who know their God in this age, listen, shall be strong. You shall be strong. Be strong then in the, remember Ephesians 6? Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. That's Ephesians 6. Put on the armor. He's promised you the victory. Be of good cheer. Jesus has won, and that means the world is already overcome. He has made the sacrifice once and for all to deliver you from all evil. Believe that, live like that, and rise today in his strength. That's the message of Daniel 11. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word to us and encouraging us today. Help us, O Lord, to be strong in the Lord. we are so prone to take this in our own hands thank you for being faithful oh lord thank you for showing us your sovereignty over history thank you for putting our lives into perspective thank you for bringing in a kingdom that is everlasting that can never be shaken we pray these things in jesus name amen