In the Word

Pastor Mike Warren: We’re going to finish one of the most exciting chapters tonight in all of Daniel. As Gabriel walks through Daniel chapters 11 and 12, he is going to cover about 375 years of world history. Many of the higher critics don't believe that this was written at the time purported to be written because it is written with such accuracy. They feel like it was a literary style where he was looking back and writing as though he was predicting when he was really recording. That is the only way they can excuse away the miraculous.

But we know who the author is, and it wasn't Daniel. It is the Holy Spirit, who is part of the Godhead who knows all things. He knows the beginning from the end. Let's pray and we'll dive in and see if we can’t finish out chapter 11. We’ll save chapter 12 for next Wednesday night, and then we'll be done with the book of Daniel.

Father, we thank You for this wonderful prophet. Just as Gabriel has come to his aid to inform him and to instruct him, to give him understanding and wisdom concerning the latter days. Lord, as we walk through this portion of history—from the Babylonians to the Medo-Persians to the Romans and the Greeks—it is just an illustrated sermon for us. Now we come to that section where Antiochus Epiphanes will come to the fore, which is a type of the Antichrist to come in our time.

Help us to unpack this and to understand it because once we get to verse 36 onto the rest of chapter 11 and chapter 12, it deals with the time that we are living in right now. That is how pertinent and relative this particular prophecy is to us this evening. Give us ears to hear, we pray. Hearts that are open, we ask, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

It is hard to find breaks. I'm looking at the clock and racing the clock, but I want to give you as much information as I possibly can so that you can understand just how great a section of scripture this is when it comes to prophecy and the fulfillment of it. Like we said, 375 years of history are contained here in these two chapters.

As we came into chapter 11, Daniel is being visited by Gabriel. Gabriel is giving him information concerning the last days. It is interesting that he is going to give him information as these kingdoms exchange all the way to the Romans as we're going to see tonight. Then from there, he is going to bounce to the future in verse 36 and talk about the time that we are living in.

He follows a track that has to do with Israel. Israel is the centerpiece of all prophecy. If you want to know what is going on in God's time clock, you look at Israel. Time is marked by her. We’re watching her. That is why Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24 that when Israel comes away from the diaspora, when God restores them as a nation and they gain control of Jerusalem, the generation that sees that will not pass away until all things be fulfilled.

It is interesting that as we opened up chapter 11, we were talking about Xerxes. Xerxes, under the reign of the Medo-Persians, was the empire where the Jews were almost annihilated under Haman. Then we moved past one of the greatest leaders in world history, Alexander the Great. He is barely mentioned. Then he dies while he's in Babylon at the age of 32. His kingdom is divided into four as the Bible said it would. This prophecy is about 170 years before Alexander.

It is divided into four: a northern kingdom of the Seleucids, a southern kingdom of the Ptolemies, and Cassander and Lysimachus take the west and the east. But scripture focuses on the north and the south because there's going to be 130 years of war between them, and guess who's caught right in the middle? Israel. Tonight we're going to see as we continue with those 130 years of wars back and forth that one of the sons of Seleucus III, who was killed, lays siege to Jerusalem on their way down to have battle again with the king of the south.

We're going to pass from Antiochus II to the III and to the IV, which is Antiochus Epiphanes. Let’s begin in verse 18. "After this shall he turn his face toward the isles or the coastland." This is the king of the north, Antiochus III. He has gone down and been defeated again by Ptolemy III of the Ptolemaic kingdom. So he comes back up now to expand his kingdom because he needs finances for these wars. They're expensive. He invades Greece and moves to the east where he meets a Roman soldier, Lucius Cornelius Scipio. He defeats him and sends him with his tail between his legs back to the Holy Land. On his way back to the Holy Land, he raids a Babylonian temple to take the gold because he needs funds to support the war effort, and the townspeople rise up and kill Antiochus III.

His son, Seleucus IV, will take his place for a short time and be assassinated by his brother, Antiochus Epiphanes. This reads just like your history books. It says he faces the isles and shall take many, but a prince—this is the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Scipio—faces a prince of his own behalf and shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease. He is going to stop him in his tracks and defeat him thoroughly. Then it says he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land. He is going to go back to the Holy Land, but he shall stumble and fall and not be found. He is killed on the way back.

Then an interesting thing happens in verse 20. His oldest son, Seleucus IV, now takes the throne and he seeks to tax the people. He must have been a Democrat. "Then shall he stand up in the estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom, but within a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle." Most historians tell us that Antiochus Epiphanes, his younger brother, assassinated him.

This is where we really want to get to the story. We walk through the Medo-Persians, Xerxes, the Greeks, Alexander the Great, to the dividing of the kingdom into four sections, but particularly scripture focuses on the north and the south as they battle and trample Israel. We're walking down through these different kings until we come to this particular man, Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV.

He is a type of the Antichrist that is to come in our time. Now, we know he is not the Antichrist. There are some people that want to say everything we read about in Revelation took place back in the Old Testament. If that is true and we're in the Kingdom Age, Satan's chain is a little too long for me. Jesus said in Matthew 24:15, "When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel," then he says to the Israelite people, "then flee."

As we start Matthew chapter 24, we remember that Jesus was telling his disciples that he is going to go away. They're asking him, "When will be your return? When is the sign of your coming and the end of the world?" He says, "When you see the abomination." Jesus puts it yet future. Paul does the same thing in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. He talks about the man of sin that's going to come and he's going to defile the temple and raise himself up to be as though he were God.

When we get to verse 36, we move into the time we're looking at into the real, but up until this point, we need to pay close attention because here we're going to get an illustrated sermon of what this man of sin is going to look like. So, he assassinates his brother. We read in verse 21 that he doesn't take the kingdom by war or succession; he takes it by assassination.

"And in his estate shall stand up a vile person." When you look this word up in the Hebrew, it's an interesting and complex word. It means a very proud, arrogant, self-willed kind of a person that won't listen to anybody or anything. He is just about himself. A vile person. We're getting a picture of what we can expect in the near future in our time, that there's going to be a man, a vile man, that will come to the fore.

Daniel is going to tell us how he's going to conquer. A man of peace. A man who will have all of the answers. A man who will make covenants. This is what Antiochus Epiphanes did. He'll make covenants with the nations around him through flattery and through bribery. Through all of these things, he will secure his position as one of the world leaders. I think that's exactly what's going to happen as we read some of the prophecies in Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel.

In his estate shall stand up a vile person to whom they shall not give honor or royalty—the royalty of a kingdom—because they know. In those days, it wasn't hard to figure out if a guy was only the king for a couple weeks and all of a sudden his brother becomes a king, something went on. Historians tell us they figured out he assassinated his brother. So they're not going to give him honor or royalty. They may be afraid of him, but they know what's gone down.

"But he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries." What he's going to do now is he's going to lick his wounds. The king of the south, a number of those different campaigns they've had down there, they've lost. Now he tried to go to the east, there he meets the Romans as they're coming to the fore and the Greeks are now diminishing, and he gets spanked there.

As his father's on his way home, he's killed. Now he comes to power. What he needs now is money. He needs resources. He needs allies. He needs something to sustain him in a position of power because he's weakened by all of these things. How he's going to gain power, the Bible says, is through flattery. It's going to be through bribery. It's going to be through intrigue and deceit. It's going to be through manipulation and lies.

That is how he's going to form this coalition, and he's going to enter into treaties with all of the countries around him—Syria, even Rome, and the different nations that surround him. He is going to enter into bribery and intrigue and lies and deceit. He's going to have this dominion in this area where they'll leave him alone all the while while he's mustering his forces because he has still in his mind that he's going to attack the king of the south. He's going to have dominance over the Ptolemaic empire.

This is a type of the Antichrist because he will be a man of deception. He'll be a man of lies and manipulation. In fact, Paul tells us he will perform lying signs and wonders. He will deceive many because he will have a deceivableness about him. He will only deceive those who do not know the truth or love the truth. That's one of the reasons in these last days that we spend so much time just teaching you through the Bible.

Let me ask you a question. How many remember the meal you had three years ago or a year ago on this day? Or two weeks ago? You don't remember, but you sit here fed and healthy because you ate. What we need to do is feed on the scripture, all of it. It takes a whole Bible to make a whole Christian. Line upon line, precept upon precept, doctrine upon doctrine. We feed on the word of God because we're laying a foundation underneath us so that when that deception comes, the word of God is so hid in our hearts.

We're so familiar with it that even if we can't remember it because we placed it in us, the Holy Spirit will bring it to the fore. You remember the promise that Jesus gave to his disciples. He said, "I'm going to go away, but I'm not going to leave you comfortless. I'm going to send another comforter, and when he comes, he will bring to remembrance everything that I've taught you and he will lead you and guide you into all truth."

You and I have that Holy Spirit in us. In those moments, as we fed on God's word, as we put that programming in our computers, the Holy Spirit will have access to bring that to the fore in those moments where there's a little alarm that goes off saying, "That's not right." Well, how do you know that? Because you have been taught the scriptures. Line upon line, precept upon precept. Book upon book, chapter upon chapter, verse upon verse, and been given the commentary of it. That foundation has been laid underneath you, and you have a database in this wonderful thing that God gave you called a computer, and the Holy Spirit can access those things at will.

Just like the guy up the road here in Redding, Bill Johnson, claiming to be an apostle, claiming to have the authority of an apostle, starting this whole movement, the NAR, the New Apostolic Reformation. He believes what he says becomes the word of God, and he can lay hands on people and make them apostles. There were only 12 that had that particular gifting and authority. We know that because when we study Revelation, there are 12 foundations and the names of those 12 apostles are written in those 12 foundations. There are no new apostles. Everything that we need to know has already been given to us. The warning at the end of it was, "Don't add to it and don't take away from it, or bad things are going to happen to you."

As we're looking at this, we're going to get a good look tonight in a very illustrated way of what this man is going to look like. He's going to come through deception. Isn't it interesting to you that when Jesus was asked that question in Matthew 24, "What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the world?" the very first thing he mentions is deception. Many false Christs, many claiming to represent Christ, to come in Christ's name. Many false prophets, many false teachers.

In fact, Paul, talking about the time we're living in, says this will be a time of seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. He tells us this will be a time, the time you and I are living in right now, when there's going to be a falling away, an apostasy from the biblical faith. Not from going to church, not from calling yourself a Christian, but from the biblical faith. The faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints. The faith that we're to earnestly contend for.

When this man comes to the fore, it will be deception. This is how Antiochus Epiphanes conquered; it was through deception. "And with arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant." He's going to make a covenant through intrigue with these people. He's going to wrap his arms around them, as it were, and then he's going to betray them.

Watch what it says here in verse 23. "And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully." After he brings all of these people into his favor through deception, through intrigue, through compromise and bribery, then he's going to act deceitfully against them. "For he shall come up and shall become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably into the fattest places of the province. He shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and the spoil, and the riches: yea, he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds, even for a time."

What he's going to do is he's going to bribe. He's going to share riches. His fathers before him did not do that. Once you were conquered, they took the riches for themselves. This man is going to begin to pour out from his treasury bribery after bribery. He's going to wrap his arms around them as though he were their friend, making covenants with them that he will deceitfully break in the long run. He's going to do this for a time until he is exposed.

Listen to verse 25. "He shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army." That's always been his eye again. As Antiochus Epiphanes comes and his fathers before him could not take the Ptolemaic kingdom, his eyes are still there. He still wants to go down and destroy them. Now as he has this coalition and really the support of these kings around him as he's bribed them and bought them and entered into false covenants with them, he will raise up a great army from them.

"And the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him." So the battle's going to go again. He's going to come down; it’s not going to go well for the king of the south. But it looks like in all reality, it's a draw.

Watch as we read in verse 26. "Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain." What's going to happen is this coalition is going to fall apart. Somehow they get wind to it, somehow they understand, and so those that he has fed, those that he bribed, they're going to turn on him.

"And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at an appointed time." Then shall he return to his land with great riches. Although the battle was kind of a draw, he's going to go back now again, the king of the north, back to his land, lick his wounds one more time. He's going to make one more effort to come down and conquer the Ptolemaic government, the empire.

"Then shall he return into his land," verse 28, "with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant." There's something that will stir in his heart. In all of these wars that have gone on for 130 years between the north and the south as he goes back this time, and now the Holy Land is under the dominion now, it's been sieged and conquered, it's under the authority of the Seleucids, something is going to change in this man's heart.

Something is going to stir that he will be against the holy covenant, and he shall do exploits and return to his own land. "At the time appointed he shall return and come toward the south; but it shall not be as it was in the former, as in the latter. For the ships of Chittim"—this is Rome—the navy of Rome now somehow sides with the king of the south. I know this is history, but it'll get to a point here where there's application for us.

The ships of Rome show up and shall come against him. Therefore he shall be grieved and return and have indignation against the holy covenant. So shall he do; he shall even return and he will have regard with them that forsake the holy covenant. Some very interesting things are going to go on. It's interesting that when he met the navy of Rome, one of the generals as they conquered him there, basically stopped his advance toward the king of the south.

As I said last week, they drew a line around Antiochus Epiphanes and said, "Before you step out of that line, you're going to swear allegiance to Rome as a conquered kingdom." From this point on, Rome now comes to the fore. So we've gone from the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, to Greeks, and now the Romans are coming to the fore.

This general draws a line around Antiochus Epiphanes and says, "Before you leave this place, you need to swear allegiance and pay tribute to Rome." He does. He realizes his authority and his influence have come to an end. He goes back to the Holy Land, which is the area that he still has as his kingdom, and he goes back with indignation. He cannot stand the Jewish people. Although he has made covenants with them, although he has been somewhat of a protector for them, although they've sided with the Seleucids against the Ptolemaic government on a number of occasions, he will go back now and betray everything.

Just like the Antichrist. When the Antichrist shows up, they're going to hail him as the Messiah. They're going to recognize him and say, "This is our Messiah, this is the awaited Messiah." This is the one, until three and a half years into the tribulation period, when their eyes are open when he offers the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, quoted by Jesus. He defiles the temple. It says in Zechariah that their eyes are going to be open and they're going to realize they crucified the real Messiah and they're going to mourn for him like a man who loses his only son.

So there's going to be an awakening. That's exactly what Ezekiel saw in the valley of the dry bones. "Son of man, can these bones live?" They were speaking of Israel. He said, "I don't know, Lord, you do." He said, "Prophesy, son of man, prophesy to these dry bones." They'd been scattered and they'd been dry for a long time, disjointed.

He prophesied, and the bones came together, and the skin and the muscle came upon the bones, and they stood up an exceeding great army. But there was no life in them, no breath. Physically they were Israel, but they weren't spiritually. We're seeing today Israel stood up since 1948, May the 15th, when David Ben-Gurion on an international radio declared Israel to be a nation again. We see them standing up physically.

If you go to Israel today, it's as secular as the United States is. You have sections and you have different factions of very orthodox Jews that stay true to the true and living God, but the rest of the country is as secular as secular can be. They're standing up figuratively, but there's no spiritual part of them.

Then God says to Ezekiel, "Son of man, prophesy again. Prophesy to the four winds." The four winds came and they blew, and it blew breath into these things that were standing up, these beings, this nation of Israel that had come together, and they became a living being. I believe that's going to take place when the Antichrist offers the abomination of desolation in the halfway point of the tribulation period that we read about from chapter 6 to chapter 19 of Revelation.

Their eyes are going to be open and they're going to be filled with the Spirit of God. The last three and a half years are going to be quite incredible as far as spiritual warfare goes during that tribulation period. The 144,000 special anointed evangelists of Israel speaking the truth with the word of God and with power, and nothing can harm them supernaturally. It's going to be an interesting time.

Aren't you glad we're going to be watching that from the mezzanine? Because this man of sin cannot even be revealed until that which restrains is taken out of the way. There's something hindering the Antichrist from coming on the scene. What's hindering him is you and me. You say, "How can you say that, Pastor?" Well, what did Jesus call us? What did Jesus say the church was? You are the salt of the earth.

What does salt do? It stops the process of putrefaction. It's an antiseptic. That's why Jesus said if you lose your saltiness, your antiseptic effect, you become of no use, just to be tossed out and trampled under by the feet of men. Our words as we present the gospel to this world that is rotten to the core and becoming more corrupt by the day, as we stand as this salt and we present this gospel with authority, the authority of God's word, and we challenge men to come to faith, to be saved, to repent, to turn from their wicked ways and accept in their heart and be born again the true and living God.

Our words need to be salty but seasoned with grace. How they're salty is because our lives have to live what we're preaching. We are epistles read of every man, the Bible says. People are watching us and they're drawing their conclusions of God by what they see in us. If we live no different than the world, then we've lost our saltiness. That's why we're told to come out from the world and be separate. "Touch not the unclean thing. I'll be your Father, you'll be my sons and daughters," says the Almighty God.

We are the salt of the earth. We are that which is holding back, as it were, because of who we are and what we are as we interact with this society. We are the salt of the earth. It's amazing. I remember when I was first saved, I worked every summer for my father. Then when I came to work to go to college, I had a part-time job. I worked for this guy that if you took the name of the Lord, the cursing of the name of the Lord out of his vocabulary, that man couldn't speak.

When I went to work there, I worked hard. He brought me into his office one day and said, "You know, of all the people I've hired, you young guys, you college kids, you're the hardest worker. You catch onto this very quickly. You've got a very good aptitude for mechanics and how mechanical things work. I want to put you through the apprenticeship kind of a program because I see potential in you." I said, "Well, I'm going to go into the ministry. I'm studying to be a pastor."

He was a Catholic but not a saved one. He said, "You might need to earn your living because preachers don't make much money." I said, "We've got eternal benefits that are out of this world, but yeah, we don't make a lot." But I said, "I can't work for you anymore." He goes, "What?" I said, "I can't work for you anymore." He goes, "Why?" I said, "You are always bad-mouthing my Father, and it grieves my spirit."

He goes, "I don't even know your dad." I said, "That's the problem. I'm talking about my heavenly Father because my heavenly Father doesn't want to damn anybody. You're running around saying God damn that person and God damn that person, and God doesn't damn; He saves." He looked at me and he goes, "Really?" I go, "Really. You would leave over that? Absolutely." He said, "Don't leave."

I watched that man bite his tongue on so many occasions around me. In fact, I had this little practice I would do when we were out working and he was around. If something went bad, I’d say, "God save!" He'd just look over and smile and go, "Yeah, I know. I get it." Well, that's what you should be saying. You are the salt. You're the light of the world. What does light do? It exposes darkness. It exposes false teaching. It exposes the false ideology, the false philosophy. It exposes sin, those things that are done in darkness; it exposes them.

That's you and me. The Antichrist cannot come upon the scene until the light of the world and the salt of the earth is taken out of the way, and then he'll come to the fore. I believe this is the last generation. I believe this is the generation that's going to lock the doors and turn off the lights as far as the church is concerned. I can't see it going on much further, and if you can, you've got better eyesight than I do, spiritually speaking.

This world cannot continue in the corruption and downhill spiral that it's in right now. In fact, of all the things Jesus said were earmarks of his coming—war, rumors of wars, famine, earthquake, pestilence—those were birth pangs, but the main thing, he says, is the love of many will wax cold and lawlessness will abound. See any of that lately?

Would you have said this world's out of control, or the United States is out of control, 10 years ago as far as lawlessness goes? People are walking right into stores and loading up their bags and walking out, and they're not even stopped. Crime rate exponentially is off the charts. We are living in a dangerous world, as we were told it would be. Paul said, "Perilous times." Lawlessness would abound.

I believe we're the last generation. I can't see a turnaround. I can't see a hope. I think it's too ingrained in this culture. I think Jesus is going to come back, remove his church. We're going to go have dinner with Dad at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and then we're returning with Him, and the swamp will get drained. I guarantee it.

But this man of sin is going to have his moment. This is what he's going to tell us. He's going to have his moment, just like we just read. It will be, but there's going to be an end to it—a beginning, a middle, and an end to it, about seven years of it.

Guest (Female): Verse 31.

Pastor Mike Warren: Thank you, sister. Verse 31. Let's back up to verse 30. So these ships come from Rome, they stop the king of the north from making war against the king of the south. There the Roman general, as Rome is coming to the fore, now puts a circle around Antiochus Epiphanes, sends him home. He's very upset when he gets home. He returns and he has indignation against the holy covenant. He's going to take out his wrath upon God's people.

So shall he do, and so shall he even return and have intelligence with them that forsook the holy covenant. Actually, what he's saying is he shall have regard toward those of God's people who compromised and broke the covenant they had with their God and became Hellenized, or became Greek in their culture and their thinking and their practices and their ways. What are we talking about here? A time of compromise.

During the reign of Antichrist, there are going to be those that will stand firm for the Lord and there will be those that will compromise and buy into the culture, buy into what is going on, buy into—and it could be even being here we could see could be the Jews because they'll hail him as the Messiah. It could be some "Christians" who think they're Christians that are going to be here after the Rapture, who see him as the Messiah. We don't know, but there is going to be a compromise.

"And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place an abomination that maketh desolate." What Antiochus Epiphanes did when he came back, just to completely destroy the morale of those that were standing firm with their God, wouldn't compromise His word like so many of the others that had become Hellenized, he put a statue of Zeus in the holy place and he poured pig's blood as he sacrificed a pig on the altar all over and defiled it.

We know that when we get into the book of Revelation, halfway through, the abomination of desolation that Jesus talked about, somehow the Antichrist will do the same. This is a point of history. He did that to break the morale. "And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people..."—this is the point we need to get for you and me, here's the application.

We know this. If you go back and study the Maccabean wars, how many have read the Apocrypha? You know, that section in the Catholic Bible that we don't have because it really isn't—it never made it into the canonized scripture because it's not holy writ. Some of it is just fanciful science fiction, but when you get to the book of the Maccabees, those are the Maccabean wars. Those are just reports of history that actually did take place.

This is the time of the Maccabees when they rise up in revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes and they rise up in revolt to purify, as it were, the temple that he had just defiled. So he's going to do this, "but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits." It almost sounds like, wow, they're going to stand up and they're going to fight and they're going to put down this man and they're going to have great victory. Not so much. Not so much physically.

There's something I want to point out this evening that I think is of grave importance because sometimes we think that the victory is in what we can win here. That it's our job to turn the tide of what's going on in this nation. That we need the old America back. That we need to stand up politically, we need to stand up economically. There's a false teaching going on called Dominion Theology, or the doctrine of the Seven Hills. It's all about how Jesus cannot return and His kingdom cannot come until we as Christians dominate the world in every aspect of it—economically, educationally, politically, everything—which is nothing further from the truth.

Paul said it's going to get worse and worse until the coming of Christ; it's not going to get better and better. I don't want to pop your bubble, and I am not depressed at all; I'm more encouraged than I've ever been. America's not coming back. Do you understand? God is judging this nation for their sin. For the babies they have been aborting. For them shaking their fist as far as the relationship that God created between a man and a woman—one man, one woman, one lifetime—called marriage, the institution of marriage. And just the vile corruption that is going on. This nation is being judged.

Yet there are some Christians, just like in the days of Jeremiah when Jeremiah was prophesying, saying, "No way, no way! God's not going to judge Judah! God's not going to judge Jerusalem! We're His people! He would never bring a people worse than us in here to discipline!" That's exactly what He did.

I'm not praying for America anymore; I'm praying for Americans, those who are not saved to get saved, because Jesus Christ is coming back. I'm not looking for the Antichrist; I won't even know who he is. I have some speculations, but they're only speculations. I'm not looking for the Antichrist; I'm looking for Jesus Christ. That's the next prophetic event to take place, and we need to be ready for that moment.

That's why we study prophecy. Prophecy's not studied just so we titillate our minds so we can put together a puzzle, as it were, and put together the crossword pieces. No, we study prophecy because the Bible says all who have this hope, they purify themselves. Jesus said it's funny that you can't discern the times. You look at the sky and you say red sky at night, sailors' delight; red sky in the morning, sailors have warning. You can judge the sky, but you can't discern the times.

When He came the first time, He said, "Had you known the day of your visitation, this wouldn't have happened." They could have known it. We studied it in Daniel chapter 9. They could have known the very day that Jesus walked triumphantly into Jerusalem. The very day. Now, we're not promised to know the day or the hour; we're promised to know the seasons.

You look around and you tell me today that there's any prophecies left to be fulfilled. I've been a student of prophecy for 40 years. I've written doctrinal courses on prophecy. There's nothing left. Except for this war thing to break out in the Middle East that the Antichrist will be able to use as a tool to come to the fore and calm everything down, and again through peace, conquer. When he comes to the fore, we are gone.

Do you understand? Do you understand what's going on in the Middle East today? Do you understand the players that are in place? Do you understand the scene is being set, the stage is being orchestrated for a meltdown in the Middle East like the Bible said would happen? Psalm 83 followed by Ezekiel 38 and 39, and out of that comes this man of sin that we're studying about. The church is gone somewhere there.

You could wake up tomorrow to a different world. I'm telling you, if you are not right with Jesus, you need to get right. We're not guaranteed another day. The saber-rattling is going on again. The players are in place: Russia (Gog and Magog), China, Iran, all of those countries that are radicalized around Israel calling for their destruction. Israel now, for the first time, is standing alone. As the prophet Jeremiah said, it's become a stumbling block for every nation around it. What do you do with Jerusalem? This is where we're at.

But in this time, in these last days—and I think as we're looking at this as a type, we have to look at our time—when the Antichrist is stirring, when he's trying to come to power, they that know their God... and do you know Him? I'm not talking about knowing about Him. I'm not talking about being religious. I'm not talking about going to church. I'm talking about know Him.

Saul of Tarsus, before his conversion, was quite religious. In fact, he excelled in the religion of his people, in Judaism. He had no equal. He says that, and it's verified by some of the writings we've found of Gamaliel speaking of this student that he had, that there was no equal. The only problem he had with Saul of Tarsus was giving him enough stuff to read. He excelled in Judaism.

Yet after his experience as Jesus speaks to him on the Damascus Road as he's on his way to persecute Christians: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" "Who are you?" "I'm Jesus." "What do you want me to do, Lord?" That's how fast he was converted. Then he writes later, "That which I once thought was gain, all of my accolades, I count now but dung that I might know Him."

Do you know Him? Is He an ever-present help? Do you sense Him? Is His Spirit in you? Do you communicate with Him? Are you broken when you fail Him? Are you empowered by the Spirit? Do you hear His voice? Are you in His word? Do you love Him with all of your heart? Because that's what's required. Jesus said, "You want to know what the great commandment is? You love the Lord your God with all your heart."

I was just having a conversation with somebody before we came in here, and she was telling the ladies in women's Bible study that if you really want to know how much God loves you, go to our doctrines class and look up in Christology lesson 4 and lesson 5 because I talk about the love of God there. I'm enamored with it. 46 years as a Christian, I can't get over the fact that God would save a wretch like me. I'm broken before Him because I know me, and I'm undone. On my best day, I'm undone.

There's nothing lovable about me, not in the eyes of a holy God, there's nothing lovable. Yet He chooses to love me. In fact, He loved me so much He gave His son to pay for my sin that He might wash me in His blood, that I could have again a relationship with Him, I could be brought back into His presence. And how, how, how could you spend another day if you're truly born again not in awe of the fact that He loves you, that you know Him, He knows you? You hear His voice.

I've told people that and they think I'm crazy. I get alone in the mountains to pray, I hear Him. It's not an audible voice; if I start hearing that, I'll tell you, and maybe it's time for me to go check in someplace. But I hear it here, and it's much louder than anything else. Amen? Do you spend time with Him? Do you know Him? Because here it says in these times of trouble that they that know their God shall do great, shall be strong and do great exploits.

And they that understand among the people shall instruct many because we know our God and we understand the times that we're living in. What do we do with this information? Do we not share it with many people? You need to get right; Jesus is coming back. Can I come over and explain it to you? Walk across your yard to your neighbor's house and say, "I'd like to talk to you about something."

You ought to be more afraid about being rejected by God than by them. Pray for them first. Pray that the Holy Spirit give you a door. I told you the story about my neighbor. I didn't like the guy. You say, "Pastor, you're a pastor." I know, I know. I'm justified and I'm still working on the sanctification part. I didn't like the guy.

When we first moved in there, my daughter's driving, she just learned how to drive, and he gets out in the thing and he starts yelling at her. So I go over and I put my finger in his chest and I said, "You ever yell at my daughter again, and you and I are going to have a problem. You understand?" That was Dad, not Pastor. I said, "Don't you ever stop my daughter. I don't know you, and yell at her. That's my girl. You got a problem with my daughter, my wife, any of my children, you talk to me."

So we had this kind of a rub going after that, and I would pray for him every once in a while when I'd see him walking around out there. I'd pray for him. Then I heard he got sick. The Lord spoke to me as clearly as I've ever heard him say, "You need to go talk to him." "But Lord, I don't want to talk to him." He said, "You don't talk to him, I'm not going to talk to you because he needs to hear what you have to say. I've already prepared his heart."

So my wife arranges it. Like the Holy Spirit, she never lets up. I said, "The Lord told me I need to go talk to him." "Okay, when?" "Well, I'm not really sure." "Okay, I'll set it up." Because we've been ministering to his mom, I love his mom. I mean, during this last outage, we took her wood, took her hot water. She's British so she could have her tea in the morning, fed her. Every meal we ate, she ate with us because we take some over there. We just love Barbara. But her son, not so much.

Okay, so I go there and he's in the bed, and I walk in and lean on the door and I see all of these Bibles. I said, "Man, what's up with the Bibles?" He goes, "I collect them." I said, "You collect Bibles?" He goes, "Yeah, I don't understand them, but I collect them." "You don't understand what you're reading? Ethiopian eunuch? Philip?" "Well, what don't you understand?" "Well, I don't understand why this man Jesus had to die."

Let me explain it to you. At the end of that explanation, I said, "Do you want to accept Him?" He goes, "Absolutely." You know how you make an enemy—you know how you get rid of an enemy? You make him a friend. And I told him, "Hey, man..." So then we, I liked him. And then I just said, "Well, I want to come back and talk to you some more about the Bible. There's so many neat things I know." Because he had cancer and there was no fixing it, he was dying soon. "I want to talk to you about heaven." He goes, "I'd like that, but I'm really tired right now. How about tomorrow?"

So I tried to call tomorrow and he had to go to a doctor's appointment, and the next day he went to be with the Lord. You just never know. They that know their God, they do great exploits, they're strong. They that understand among the people shall instruct many. Yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, and by spoil many days.

Wait a minute. If we know our God and we're doing great exploits, why this? True story, I got saved in a very legalistic church and every Sunday night we had an evangelistic service because if you'd sinned during the week, you lost your salvation, you had to get it back. It was very confusing for me the first six months of my Christian experience because I thought, "Got it, lost it. Got it, lost it."

So I remember one week just not going anywhere, just praying and fasting because at the end of that week, I was going to ask the Lord to kill me. I've told you the story before because I couldn't keep this up. Those people down there are different than I am; I'm messed up and I can only stay holy for like a week at a time and that was a lot of work.

I remember coming home that afternoon after church and just praying, earnestly as I could. I was sincere as a heart attack. "Lord, kill me. I want to go to heaven. I really do. I love You with all my heart. I thank You for all You've done for me, but I'm not going to be able to keep this up." When He didn't, I prayed the second time. When He didn't, I prayed the third time, and then I got mad. I said, "You don't seem to understand."

And I could hear again, "No, you don't understand." How many when you were a brand new Christian ever played a thing called Bible roulette? Just me? Put your finger down or something. Romans chapter 4. God refuses to put sin on those accounts that He's justified. Chapter 5. Having been justified by faith, you have peace with God. He'll never be mad with you again. You have a standing in His grace, you have the hope of heaven.

I started reading that going, "What?" And then I said, "There's got to be more to this." I read the next verse. "And we also rejoice in tribulation." How did that get in there? I'm all for the other stuff. But you have to understand that Jesus said, "In this life, you're going to have trouble." But the victory is in the fact that you're in the fray of it.

You read Hebrews chapter 11, you see how many of those people fought and yet died. Some refused to even be delivered that they might have a greater hope in the resurrection. There's a battle coming, and some of us are not going to survive it physically. Persecution. I've got pictures of friends when I went up and taught the chaplains in the Sudan that came down out of the Nuba Mountains full of bullet holes.

According to the Voice of the Martyrs, the year 2014 was in recorded history the most martyred year of any year of Christianity. Did you know that? We're living at a time where you go to other places in the world and Christians are losing their lives for their faith. He's telling us here that there's going to be that kind of a time.

During this time, just so you'll know that Antiochus Epiphanes killed 80,000 Jews living in the area of Jerusalem. He enslaved another 40,000 and he sold into slavery to other countries another 40,000. These Maccabeans, as it were, these who knew their God were standing up for the truth, but it didn't mean it was going to be easy and it didn't necessarily mean they won here. But I guarantee you in the annals of time, because when we get to chapter 12 of Hebrews, having surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses... what witnesses? Chapter 11, the faith chapter. Sawn asunder, killed by the sword, fed to lions, sport in the arena. Many of them refusing to be delivered that they might obtain a greater resurrection.

For me, I think it is, and this is the application, is that God is looking at our hearts and saying, "Are you in the fight? Do you know your God? Are you strong in Him? Are you doing great exploits no matter what it costs you? Because it may cost you your life." Polycarp, at the end of the first century, the student of John, his disciple, the pastor of the church of Ephesus when John left his exile, came to be with him there.

When they finally arrested him to put him to death, they took him into the arena and said, "Either take a pinch, offer to Caesar, declare Caesar is God, then you can go worship anything you want, but you have to do that." Polycarp said, "I can't do that." "What do you mean you can't do that?" "Can't do that. That's idolatry. There's only one true and living God, I'm only going to serve Him." He said, "Well, if you don't do it, then we're going to feed you to the lions."

You know what Polycarp said? "I like lions." The emperor became so mad, he said, "We're going to burn you at the stake." He said, "Well, get the wood, because all of these many years that I've served Him, He's never denied me and I'm not going to deny Him now." You know the story, I've told it to you before, you can read it in history books. They gathered fire around, lit him on fire, and he wouldn't burn.

So they got more wood, lit him on fire, wouldn't burn. In fact, one soldier got so upset, it says in the historians of the day that he went in with a spear and stabbed him, and so much blood came out of Polycarp it put the fire out. The blood of the saints is the seedbed of the gospel in the first century, and it will be in the coming of Christ.

So they said, "Just cover him in wood." And they covered him in wood and they lit it on fire again. As the smoke ascended into that arena, it had such—historians of the day say that the people were testifying it had such an aroma to it that the whole stadium, over 20,000 people, gave their lives to Christ that day in opposition to Caesar.

Sometimes our victories are won in ways that we don't see and in ways we might not agree with. But as these battles are being fought, they are winning. Let's get at least to verse 35 because verse 36, we'll come back next week and we'll look at the time we're living in because it jumps from verse 35 to then to verse 36 to now.

"They that know their God shall be strong and do great exploits. They that understand among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, by spoil for many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries." They're going to try to convince the people, but many of them are just going to stay in this compromise.

"And some of them," listen, "and some of them of understanding shall fall." Polycarp. Tyndale. One of my favorites. If it wasn't for Tyndale, we wouldn't have a Bible we could read in English. His crime? Printing the Bible in English. Burned at the stake. You look down through history and Christians have stood and they paid the ultimate price, and when they get to heaven, they will be rewarded.

"And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge them," as it were, "and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed." Then we look back at chapter 10 verse 14 as we started this section, Daniel was told by Gabriel, "This is for the latter days way, way, way off."

I don't know that we're going to be persecuted to this extent before Jesus removes the church, but I know there are going to be people coming out of the tribulation that wash their garments in their own blood, and they are saved as martyrs. But this is going to be a very difficult time looking forward. Before Jesus comes, we will be hated of all nations. After Jesus comes and removes us, those that are left behind that become believers during the tribulation period are going to be sorely persecuted.

But just because you're persecuted and you lose your life doesn't mean you didn't win the war. Amen? When you stand firm upon what you know to be the truth, no matter what it costs you, listen, you're a winner. Amen? So my advice to you is be a winner and not a whiner. Just accept what comes down the pike as God's will and just go with it. Don't let anybody shut you up. Amen?

Listen, if you can't... I've had people say, "Well, you know, if I miss the first bus, I'll take the second one." If you can't live for Jesus now, how are you going to live for Him later? So I'm advising you: listen, we're living in the last days. Be about the Master's business. Do you know the Lord? Do you know Him? Do you know Him? They that know Him will be strong and do great exploits. They that have understanding... do you have understanding? Have you been well-fed? Have you been taught?

The question always from us pastor types is, did I make the sheep fat or did I make them healthy? Because healthy sheep, as our Pastor Chuck used to say over and over, healthy sheep rebegat. They begat healthy sheep. They go out and bring others into the kingdom. Freely you have been given, freely give.

Listen, there is a commandment, there is an order that is a standing order and it's still in place and it came from Jesus. Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew chapter 28, "You go into all this world and preach this gospel to every living creature." Do you understand? That's a standing order. And you better have an order from Him that supersedes that one, because that's the standing order.

Everywhere you go, in every opportunity you have, you need to be sharing your faith because souls and eternity are at stake. Listen, guys, Jesus said, "Look on the harvest, it's ripe." Do you think it's not ripe today? Do you not realize that the world itself, people are committing suicide at a rate that's exponentially higher than it's ever been in the history of the United States? Because they're in despair, there's hopelessness around us.

And we have the message of hope. Man, the pump, as it were, is primed, the iron is hot. The Holy Spirit is working on people's hearts. We need to take this message—that you can be forgiven in Jesus Christ. You can have eternal life as a gift; you don't earn it, He gives it to you. You can know today that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and when He comes to judge this world, judgment will pass over you.

That's the greatest message. Not that there's sinners; I knew I was a sinner before anybody ever told me I was a sinner. I didn't need to hear I was a sinner. A few of those people came, those self-righteous religious kind, and tried to beat me with their Bibles; I didn't listen. But when Dwayne Bird at White Eagle gas station on Ordan Boulevard in 1975 looked me in the face as I'm pumping gas, he said, "Mike, I've got something I want to tell you."

I said, "What is it, Dwayne?" I kind of knew him from school. He said, "Jesus loves you, and He's got a better plan for your life than this." That man had no idea the turmoil that was going on in my life, and those words haunted me. Through a process of events, I found myself just a few weeks later in a Bible study in the mountains, accepting Christ as my savior. Sometimes you plant, sometimes you water, and God gets the harvest.

Can I leave you with one thought? And I'm not trying to... I don't want to lay a bonus on you. Have you ever considered when we get to heaven, that verse in Revelation 21 where it says He's going to wipe every tear from our eyes, and be no more sorrow? Did you ever wonder why, when we get to heaven, we're there? We're there, we have our new bodies, we're in His presence, we're saved, we're home.

Have you ever wondered why He would have to wipe every tear from our eyes? Because before that verse is recorded, we have chapter 19 at the Great White Throne. There will be people that will be standing at the Great White Throne and they're going to hear the Father say, "Depart from me, you worker of iniquity; I never knew you." And they will be cast into outer darkness.

I wonder, and I've often wondered—and this has driven me, and I'll tell you why in just a moment—this drives me because I wonder if those people when they're standing there are going to look at us and say, "Why didn't you tell me?" One of my best friends in high school, very religious guy, I found out after I got saved. His name was Harold. After I got saved, I went to Harold and said, "Harold, I've got some great news for you. I want you to know I'm saved."

He said, "I am too." "What?" He said, "My family's all Christian, we go to church. I've known the Lord my whole life." "And you knew me and you never said a word to me about it? Are you kidding me?" Well, I don't think I liked Harold much anymore. "Why?" "Well, I was afraid you'd be offended." "I'm offended now! What if I had gone to hell and you never told me? You never said anything to me!"

Listen, I'm telling you, you can hear the clock ticking. Time is running out. Look upon the fields, they are ripe. The laborers are few, the harvest is many. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the field. I think one of the greatest warnings we get from this chapter—the part I like the most—is they that know their God... what do they do? They're strong. They do great exploits. Not only that, they who have understanding, they make others to understand.

Amen? So let that challenge sink in on us, man. This is not a bonus on you because we ought to be about the Master's business. You know what? I look and think about ways just to start a conversation. Just... I don't much like those cold things, but you look for them at the restaurants or at the store, at the gas station. Just think about ways that God could open a door that you can tell people, "Listen, the world's coming to an end and Jesus is coming back, and He loves you. He loves you so much He died for you. He thinks you're to die for. And what He wants you to do is spend eternity in His kingdom, and He holds in His hand a gift for you called the gift of eternal life, and all you have to do is receive it."

So go home and think about it. Give them your phone number if they want to call you later. Amen? Let's stand. Read ahead. We didn't get as far as I thought we would, but we'll finish it up and we'll just take another bite next week. Oh, and I'm glad my voice held out. Amen. Did it sound good to you guys? Because it sounded like I'm in a drum up here. It's good to hear the word twice, though, because it bounces around, because my head is kind of empty.

But let me just ask you this: how many know that you know Him? Not religiously, but you know Him. The more I get around religious people, the more I realize you're missing it by 18 inches—the difference between here and here. God doesn't want anything from you; He just wants your heart. That's it. Because once He has your heart, He has your head and your hands, how you think and where you go and what you do. Amen.

Father, thank You for the warnings in Your word. One great man of God, I think it was Spurgeon, once said that if we would pay as much attention to the warnings in the Bible as we do to the promises in the Bible, the church would be far better off. I would tend to agree with that, Lord.

So Father, as we understand from prophecy that we're moving into a time just prior to Your return to take us out, that it is going to be difficult. We're seeing it today—this falling away from the biblical faith, the compromise, the buying into the culture and not staying true to the word, and just all of these things, Lord. Please, we pray, don't let us get sucked up into that.

Let us be a people that stay true to their God. And Lord, because we are a people who know You, may we be people who instruct others about You, Father, that they may come to know You, Lord. We pray these things tonight in the mighty name of Jesus. And all God's kids would say, amen.