College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Daniel 12 - Introduction
SERMON NUMBER ELEVEN
DEITY OR DEMON?
Text: Daniel 11-12
INTRODUCTION
I.
MAN MAKING HIS OWN GODS
A.
Montaigne once said, Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a flea, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.
B.
Men will accept anything or anybody for a godall the way from a piece of wood to a manrather than surrender to dependence upon the One True God (cf. Romans 1:18 ff.).
C.
Man must have a god! If he will not allow his Creator to have sovereignty over him, then man will stupidly enslave himself to a god of his own making.
D.
And when man does, he degrades himself and depraves himself, ... they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to Baal, and became detestable like the things they loved. (Hosea 9:10; cf. also Psalms 115).
II.
MAN CLAIMING TO BE GOD
A.
Equally as tragic and portending consequences even more terrifying are moments in history when men have declared themselves gods.
B.
History is replete with monstrous men and movements such as this.
C.
The ages of enlightenment and science were supposed to usher in a Utopia where peace and harmony and understanding would prevail and governments would be paternalistic and benevolent. J. Wallace Hamilton wrote, Nobody is talking now about automatic progress, about every day in every way, getting better and better. Who is saying that now? Nobody! What if the sons of evil come? What if animal men, brain men and brawn men with no God in their hearts, with all humanity bleached out, should hold these powerful forces (atomic power, etc.) in their hands? We have had some glimpses of that. We saw it in the Nazis, in their scientific savagery; they were monster men with powerful forcesDachau, Buchenwald. It sickened us; it frightened us.. What if the sons of evil come? We cannot shrug this off or talk glibly about being emancipated from divine authority or from the old ethical rules by which civilization has emerged from the darkness. The problem of man is still that downward bent in his heart, by whatever name you want to call it.
III.
DEITY OR DEMON?
A.
Indeed we have seen glimpses of the sons of evil come upon our world; men claiming to be gods, but acting like demons.
B.
Here in Daniel 11:12 we have a brief history of such a contemptible one, Antoichus IV (Epiphanes)
C.
There are many infamous demagogues in history whose histories parallel that of Antiochus; one such is Adolph Hitler.
D.
We do not believe Antiochus IV is prophetic or typical of any ONE such demagogue (such as The Antichrist so-calledsince many antichrists are predicted).
E.
He is just one, in a long line, of many beasts who shall oppose all that The Holy God and His Kingdom shall stand for until the final overthrow of the Dragon and the Beasts and The Harlot.
DISCUSSION
I.
ENVIROMENT, Daniel 11:1-20
A.
Ancestry
1.
The ancestry of Antiochus IV was a history of despots devoted to ruthless exploitation of friends and foreigners to serve their own lusts for power.
a.
Seleucus Nicator progenitor of the Seleucid -dynasty, Antiochus-' ancestor, betrayed his king (Ptolemy I), and usurped his rule over Syria.
b.
Another of his ancestors, Antiochus II, committed bigamy and adultery, marrying two wives, for political purposes.
c.
Seleucus II murdered women and children to obtain the throne.
d.
Antiochus III called himself Theos (God).
e.
Robbery, murder, adultery, deceit all were the way of life for the Seleucids, ancestors of Antiochus IV.
2.
The ancestry of Adolf Hitler, as much as we know, is fraught with pseudo-despots.
a.
Alois, father of Adolf, was the illegitimate son of Maria Anna Schickelgruber, who married three times.
b.
Adolf's mother was a bride of Alois, 23 years younger than her husband, former maid in his first wife's home.
c.
Adolf's father put on all the airs of a petty customs official, bitterly opposed Adolf's ambition to become an artist. Adolf came to hate his father.
d.
Encyclopedia Britannica (from which this information on Hitler is excerpted) says: It may indeed be doubted whether at any time in his life he ever truly loved, or was loved by, any normal man or woman.
B.
Training
1.
Antiochus IV spent most of his youth as a hostage in Rome's royal courts.
a.
There he learned the Roman ways of pragmatism to serve the ends of the empire.
b.
He learned to worship power.
c.
He learned to practice deceit.
d.
He learned ruthlessness.
2.
Adolf Hitler was an orphan at 15 years of age.
a.
He went to Vienna where his mind was saturated with the humanism and hate-mognering of a generation of youthful malcontents and rabble-rousers.
b.
He became a failure, academically, artistically and economically; he couldn-'t get in school or get a job of any value.
c.
He began a reaction mechanism of hate for trade unions, socialists, and Jews.
d.
He wrote in Mein Kampf, Gradually I began to hate them (Jews). I was transformed from a weakly world-citizen into a fanatic anti-Semite.
e.
He joined the army and at the coming of WW I he fell on his knees and thanked Providence that he was privileged to live in heroic times and to participate in noble deeds of pan-Germanic, Wagnerian splendor.
3.
His mind was poisoned by the evil-producing theory of evolution.
a.
A few quotations from him will show what effect evolution had upon his thinking.
b.
Thus there results the subjection of a number of people under the will, often of only a few persons, a subjection based simply upon the right of the stronger, a right which, as we see it in Nature, can be regarded as the sole conceivable right, because it is founded on reason. at a speech at Nuremberg in 1933.
c.
His hatred of the Jews was rationalized by using evolution. The Germans were the higher race, destined for a glorious evolutionary future. For this reason it was essential that the Jews should be segregated, otherwise mixed marriages would take place. Were this to happen, all nature's efforts to establish an evolutionary higher stage of being may thus be rendered futile (Mein Kampf).
d.
... the whole world of Nature is a mighty struggle between strength and weaknessan eternal victory of the strong over the weak. speech at Munich, 1923.
e.
He who would live must fight. He who does not wish to fight in this world where permanent struggle is the law of life, has not the right to exist. To thing otherwise is to insult nature. Distress, misery and disease are her rejoinders (Mein Kampf).
C.
As the twig is bent, so grows the tree! DIETY OR DEMON.
1.
Ancestors or parents are not totally responsible for the demonical behavior of their offspring, but their influence goes a long way in determining whether they will partake of the nature of the Divine or the nature of the devil.
a.
Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord Ephesians 6:1-4.
b.
... that through these (his precious and very great promises) you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4.
c.
It is possible for parents to direct their children so that they may become partakers of the divine nature!
2.
Training has a tremendous influence upon children.
a.
The evolutionary indoctrination they get in public schools, news media, entertainment, literature, turns them into demons.
b.
Life magazine, May 25, 1962, editorial entitled, The Nego interview of a reported surveying a broad cross-section of America's most prestigious pre-schools heard them say to him: I have no values because there is no basis for them. Nothing's solid; there are no values to depend upon. Everything's gray; there aren-'t any values. WHERE DID THEY GET THESE PHILOSOPHIES AND STANDARDS? LISTEN TO THEIR OWN ACCUSATION! They bring us here and feed us full of Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Sartre, Camus, Arthur Miller, J. D. Sallinger.
3.
Parents BE ALERT, YOU HAVE IT IN YOUR POWER TO DIRECT THE DESTINIES OF YOUR CHILDREN.. WILL THEY BE DIVINE OR DEMONICAL?
II.
ENORMITY, Daniel 11:21-43
A.
Blasphemous
1.
Antiouchous IV was irreligious, irreverent and blasphemous of any deity except himself called himself God Daniel 11:36-37.
2.
He profaned the sacred temple of the Jews as well as temples of the gods of other nations. he did not even pay homage to the gods of his ancestors. In the Jewish temple he put up a statue of Jupiter (probably in his own likeness); he sacrificed a pig on the sacred altar.
3.
Hermann Goering said of Hitler, We love Adolf Hitler because we believe deeply and unswervingly that God has sent him to save Germany. Hans Franck said, Hitler is like God.
4.
Hitler preached anti-Christian, antiwestern and anti-Semitic hate and followed the blasphemous teachings of Nietzsche.
5.
There have been other blasphemers equally as precocious and audacious. Herod (Acts 12); Nebuchadnezzar; Pharoah, etc.
6.
Antiochus-' heart was set against the holy covenant. Daniel 11:28 He hated the holy people and their God. Hitler hated god-fearing people and their God. There will always be haters of God as long as the world stands unconverted.
B.
Deceitfulness
1.
Antiochus was a flatterer; one who acted deceitfully; seducer; liar; Daniel 11:21; Daniel 11:23; Daniel 11:27; Daniel 11:32; Daniel 11:34; Daniel 11:36.
2.
He made alliances and dishonored them by attacking his allies.
3.
He deliberately lied about his intentions.
4.
He tricked, flattered, seduced and deceived for his own ends.
5.
Adolf Hitler: The tale of how he and his aides destroyed the German republic by treachery and deceit, built a totalitarian tyranny upon foundations of intolerance and terrorism, rearmed the reich and ultimately enslaved Europe is the tale of what Konard Heiden, perhaps Hitler's most accurate biographer, -The Epoch of Irresponsibility.-' Hitler became Caesar over Europe because of prodigious power of self-deception which most influential Europeans displayed in the face of a menace which they failed to understand and in some cases even mistook for salvation. The man who fled from reality into fantasy and became a devil thereby was able to turn his fantasies into realities because his victims in all lands were blinded by their own insecurities of the old and simple distinctions between what is actual and what is illusory, what is true and what is false, what is good and what is evil. Encyclopedia Britannica
6.
Hitler lied, made treaties and broke them, flattered, deceived, attacked his own allies, betrayed and murdered his friends.
7.
Communist demons (Stalin, Khrushchev, Mao, Castro) have all followed the pattern of the contemptible Antiochus. As long as there are unbelievers in the world willing to let the devil enslave their minds, we will have DEMON POSSESSED TYRANTS.
C.
Violence, Brutality
1.
Antiochus was brutal and cold-blooded. One has only to read I Maccabees to read of the atrocities committed by him and his representatives.
2.
Antiochus plundered, scattered, killed, enslaved Daniel 11:24; Daniel 11:33.
3.
Antiochus was a warmongerhe defied and worshipped war and power.
4.
Josef Goebbels, Hitler's homosexual minister of propaganda, said: Hitler's opportunity was to unchain volcanic passions, to arouse outbreaks of fury, to set masses of men on the march, to organize hate and suspicion with ice-cold calculation.
5.
On Dec. 11, 1941, Hitler declared, A historic revenge has been entrusted to us by the Creator.
6.
In his last anniversary speech on Jan. 30, 1945, he declared, The life that is left to us should serve only one tasknamely, to make up for all the wrongs done by the international Jewish criminals and their henchmen to our nation.
7.
Things ordered to be done by him and his demon-possessed cohorts almost defy description.
a.
8,000,000 Jews slain in gas chambers, shot, buried alive, starved to death, frozen to death, burned alive.
b.
Aged and infirm methodically slaughtered to prevent them from bearing unfit children.
c.
Human beings used as laboratory animals for experimentation by surgeons.
d.
Rape, tortures, enslavement, the skins of human beings used in one prison camp as lamp shades in the concentration camp commandant's office
e.
Cultural rape of conquered nations.
8.
IS IT ANY WONDER WHY DEPRAVED, UNGODLY HUMAN GOVERNMENT AND RULERS ARE SYMBOLIZED AS BEASTS IN THE BIBLE?!
a.
Actually, depraved human beings are worse than the brutes.
b.
Some demon-possessed human beings will fall lower than the brutish instincts of beasts. THE BEAST ACTS BY INSTINCT.. THE DEPRAVED HUMAN ACTS DELIBERATELY AGAINST HIS CREATOR!
D.
When human beings are taught by precept and example that they are animalswhen human beings are robbed of Divine fellowship through atheism or polytheismthey will act like animals.
1.
The center of the person is the will; the center of the will is attention; therefore we will be what we give our attention to (Hosea 9:10).
2.
In Romans, chapter one, we see what happens to people who worship animal gods or human godsthey act like animals.
3.
When men saturate their demonical wisdom (cf. James 3:13 to James 4:10), they act like demons. BUT THANKS BE TO GOD, THROUGH A KNOWLEDGE OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST (a knowledge both empirical and experiential) WE CAN BECOME PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE.. THERE IS A WAY TO BE TRANSLATED FROM THE KINGDOM OF DEMONS TO THE DIVINE KINGDOM!
III.
END
A.
Despised
1.
Antiochus was hated and despised by everyone except a few followers.
2.
The Jews nicknamed him Epimanes (mad-man)
3.
He was called the contemptible one and betrayed by his own officers.
4.
He was hated by most of his own family and every other nation in the world.
5.
He was contemptuously despised by the Romans.
6.
Adolf Hitler was despised by most of the world.
a.
Joseph Stalin described Hitler as a cannibal.
b.
Neville Chamberlain said, In all history no other man has been responsible for such a hideous total of human suffering and misery as he.
c.
Winston Churchill said he was a bloodthirsty guttersnipe, a monster of wickedness, insatiable in his lust for blood and plunder.
d.
Henry Wallace said of Hitler, Satan has turned loose upon us the insane.
B.
Cowardly
1.
Such people are usually compensating for cowardice to face up to what they think are inadequacies by their ambitions to power and by their cruelty when they have the upper hand.
2.
Antiochus was a coward when it came to facing up to the superior mettle of the Roman legate when confronted in Egypt (see our comments on Daniel 11:30).
3.
Antiochus made a sniveling death-bed attempt to confess and repent and begged the Jews to be good to his successor-son since Antiochus had been so good to the Jews.
4.
Goebbels wrote in his diary in December, 1932, Four hours on end, the Fuehrer walks up and down in his hotel room. Once he stops and says: -If the Party should ever break up, I-'ll make an end of things in three minutes with a revolver.-'
5.
Sometime in May, 1945, as Berlin's death agony approached its end, Hitler, paralyzed from a former attempt on his life and raging insanely in his bunker, carried out a death pact he had made with his mistress, Eva Braun.
C.
Evaluation of these demons
1.
Antiochus IV: ... one of the most extraordinary characters exhibited on the pages of history. He was both avaricious and prodigal, excessive in his indulgences and prone to violent passions, a compound of the veriest folly and weakness in some respects, and of great cunning and dexterity in some others, especially in regard to flattery. Stuart.
2.
Adolf Hitler: In death, as in life, he man from Braunau remained the most sinister symbol and the most appalling incarnation of the desperate sickness of western culture in the 20th century. Shockingly incredible was the revelation that men, thus stripped of human attributes by their inner conflicts, can become devils, driven toward deeds of insane criminality and sadistic cruelty which stagger the imagination and reveal depths of depravity in the human psyche hitherto unsuspected save by psychoanalysts, Encyclopedia Britannica.
CONCLUSION
WHAT IS TO BE THE REACTION OR RELATIONSHIP OF THE GODLY MAN TO DEMONIC RULERS or, HOW ARE GOD'S PEOPLE TO ACT IN TIMES WHEN DEMONS RULE?
I.
PRAY FOR THEM AND PREACH TO THEM AND LIVE SO AS TO CONVERT THEM. Some have seen this come to pass; Daniel, Paul (Caesar's household).
II.
TRUST IN THE LIVING GOD AND HIS PROVIDENTIAL JUSTICE AND GOODNESS TO BRING ABOUT THEIR DEMISE IN GOD'S OWN GOOD TIME.
III.
UPHOLD GOOD CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND STRUCTURES OF SOCIETY WHICH ARE INSTITUTED TO BRING RESTRAINT UPON EVIL AND JUSTICE UPON THE UNCONTROLLABLE.
EXAMINATION ELEVEN AND TWELVE
REFUTATIONS
(Answer the following by giving the argument which will correct the statement)
1.
The kings of the north and of the south are prophecies of the battles to take place in the Middle East during the millennium. Refute!
2.
The king of Daniel 11:36 ff is a prophecy of The Antichrist to come at the end of the N.T. age. Refute!
3.
The 3½ times, the 1290 days and the 1335 days in Daniel 12 are predictions of the terrible times during a millennium age or just preceding it near the final judgment. Refute!
ASSOCIATIONS
(Associate the persons or events of column one with the correct person or event of column two)
1
2
Cambyses
The Great
Antiochus IV
Alexander's generals
Seleucus Nicator
Ptolemy I
Smerdis
Cyrus-' son
Popillius Laenas
Carthaginian
Marathon
Epiphanes
Heliodorus
mad-man
Hystaspis
city in Persia
Xerxes
Babylonian king
Ptolemy Lagi
Ptolemy's general
diadochoi
usurper to Persian throne
Antiochus III
Roman legate
Hannibal
capital of Elam
Epimanes
tax-collector
Cleopatra
Darius
Judah Maccabeus
Persian king of Esther
Kittim
Antichrist
Indignation
battle of Persians and Greeks
1290 days
millennium
1335 days
Feast of Dedication
Hanukkah
sister of Ptolemy Philometor
prophet
captivity of Jews
abomination of desolation
death of Antiochus IV
MEMORIZATIONS
(Fill in the blanks:)
And many of those who ________ in the ________ of the earth shall ________, some to ________ ________, and some to ________ and ________ ________. And those who are ________ shall ________ like the brightness of the ________; and those who ________ many to ________, like the stars for ever and ever.
EXPLANATIONS
1.
Explain how the Seleucids came to rule over Syria and Palestine.
2.
Explain the relationship of the Seleucids to the Ptolemies.
3.
Explain why Antiochus IV was not the legal heir to the throne of Syria.
4.
Explain why some of the Jews joined in with Antiochus Epiphanes-' Hellenization of Palestine.
5.
Explain how Antiochus IV was thwarted in his ambition to conquer Egypt.
6.
Explain what it means when describing Antiochus IV as honoring the god of fortresses.
7.
Explain how Antiochus IV came to his end.
8.
Explain the contextual meaning of the periods of time in chapter 12 entitled time, times and half a time, 1290 days 1335 days.
SPECIAL STUDY SIX
OUTLINE OF Matthew 24:1-51
by Seth Wilson
I.
Matthew 24:1-3THE OCCASION AND THE QUESTIONS. (Mark 13:1-4; Luke 21:5-7).
1.
Observing the magnificent buildings of Jerusalem. Matthew 24:1.
2.
Jesus-' dire prediction: There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down Matthew 24:2.
3.
The disciples-' questions:
(1)
When shall these things be? (Destruction of Jerusalem).
(2)
What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? Matthew 24:3
II.
Matthew 24:4-13ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS.
1.
Answers to first question, concerning Jerusalem. (Matthew 24:4-28; Mark 13:5-23; Luke 21:8-24).
DON-'T EXPECT IT TOO EARLY!
a.
Warning of preliminary troublesthe beginning of travail. (Matthew 24:4-14; Matthew 24:5-13; Matthew 24:8-19)
(1)
False Christs, wars, rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes do not indicate the end: be not troubled.
(2)
Persecutions, apostasies, false prophets, shall afflict the church: take heed to yourselves, endure to the end; trust God for help; the gospel testimony shall go into all the world. (Matthew 24:9-14; Matthew 9-13; Matthew 12-19) cf. Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:23; Romans 1:8; Romans 10:18; Romans 16:19.
WHEN YOU DO SEE THE SIGN, EXPECT IT IMMEDIATELY!
b.
The sign of Jerusalem's end, and how to escape the woes of that terrible time. (Matthew 24:15-28; Matthew 24:14-23; Matthew 24:20-24)
(1)
The abomination of desolation standing in a holy place is Jerusalem compassed with armies; then know that her desolation is at hand.
(2)
Let those in Judea flee to the mountains without delay. Pray that the hardships of flight may be lessened; but the unprecedented afflictions of the city must be escaped at all costs. Believe no false prophets, signs or promises; I have forewarned you; the Christ will not return at this time, or at any time without being seen from east to west.
EVEN THEN DON-'T EXPECT THE PERSONAL COMING OF THE LORD!
(3)
The tribulation shall be excessive, shall threaten extinction of the Jewish people, shall take them captive to other nations, shall leave Jerusalem to the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
2.
Answer to the second question, concerning Christ's coming. (Matthew 24:29-31; Matthew 2 Matthew 24:4-27; Matthew 24:25-28)
a.
The time is purposely indefinite; but the event is to be watched for at all times (immediatelyMatthew 24:29), after a terrible and extended (see Luke 21:24) tribulation.
b.
The event itself shall be unmistakable; accompanied by tremendous sights and sounds in all earth and heaven, the Lord Himself shall be seen by everyone, coming in the clouds with power and great glory.
c.
The angels shall gather the elect from everywhere: look up, your redemption draws near. (Matthew 24:31; Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:28)
III.
Matthew 24:32-36THE ANSWERS REVIEWED IN CONTRASTING SUMMARY.
1.
Parable of the fig tree: signs are easily recognized. Watch for ALL THESE THINGSwars, persecutions, false Messiahs, the desolation of Jerusalem, and great tribulation, to come to pass in this generation. (Matthew 24:32-34; Matthew 24:28-30; Matthew 24:29-32).
2.
Solemn affirmation of unfailing certainty of His words. (Matthew 24:35; Matthew 24:31; Matthew 24:33).
3.
But of THAT DAY, Jesus-' coming, no one knows. The time cannot be told, even by the Son of God. (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32).
IV.
Matthew 24:37-51PARABLES AND EXHORTATIONS TO BE READY AT ALL TIMES.
1.
As in the days of Noah the flood came suddenly upon those who had been warned but believed not, so shall the coming of the Son of man be without any immediate forewarning signs. (Matthew 24:37-39)
2.
In the midst of daily work, suddenly one shall be taken and another left; WATCH for you know not the day. (Matthew 24:40-42; cf. Matthew 24:31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:52.)
3.
Parable of a householder unprepared for a thief who came when he was not expected. Be ready, for when you think not, the Son of man comes. (Matthew 24:43-44)
4.
The servants of the absent Lord have each one his own work (Mark 13:34) to be faithful until He comes. He may not come as soon as they imagine; but if they think that He tarries and they can take advantage of His delay to indulge in sin, He will come when they least expect it and will punish them. (Matthew 24:45-51; Matthew 24:33-37; Matthew 24:34-36). WATCH AT EVERY SEASONLuke 21:36.
(Christ continued the same lessons in the 25th Chapter 1. in the parable of the ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom, 2. in the parable of the talents committed to servants until the Lord's return, and 3. in the scene of judgment that shall take place when the Son of man shall come in His glory.)
(In these additional prophetic pictures, He emphasizes that the servants must be prepared to wait patiently and to serve faithfully even though the Master may not come for a long time [see Matthew 25:19]; also that His coming will bring strict judgment and swift vengeance upon all who have not used the intervening time in His service.)
IN CONCLUSION
For this prophecy and similar ones were not written that we might (beforehand exactly) know history and the troubles of the future, so as to feed our curiosity as with an item of news; but that the pious might comfort themselves and rejoice over them, and that they should strengthen their faith and hope in patience, as those that see and hear that their wretchedness shall have an end, and that they, delivered from sin, death, the devil, and every evil, shall come to Christ in heaven, in his blessed eternal kingdom.
Martin Luther
He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority, But you. shall be my witness in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
Jesus Christ (Acts 1:7-8)
The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation; they inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.