If you have missed some of the last few weeks, this may seem an unusual passage. The later part of Daniel is a sequence of strange visions in which the future history of the Middle East was described in some detail. Two weeks ago I pointed out that it was a matter of faith whether you believed these visions were written by Daniel or by someone else 300 years later. After the service one or two commented they struggled with the idea that it was all predicted and suggested the framework was prophetic and the detail was added later.  I suggest that if we believe God knows the future, he probably knows it in detail.

 

 But before we move on to Chapter 10-12, I want to let you know about God’s answer to Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9. If you read chapter 1:21

²¹ And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

9:1

 ¹ In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus  (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom- We think  this Darius was in fact Cyrus

and Ezra 1:1 page 472

 ¹ In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia…

 

 

 you discover an amazing connection. In the very year that Daniel was praying about the end of the exile, God moved Cyrus/ Darius to reverse the Babylonian policy of dislocating people from their homeland and send them back to their homelands. In other words God  answered Daniel’s prayer in the year that he prayed it! But as we saw last week, the answer that God gave Daniel was more about the plan of eternal salvation than the short term return to Jerusalem.

 

Peter comments on this in

1Peter 1:10-12 page 1217

¹⁰Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, ¹¹trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. ¹²It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

 

Read 10:1 page 859

 ¹ In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.

 

 the date stamp tells us it is after Daniel’s time in Babylon see 1:21.

²¹ And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

In Ezra 1:1-5 we read of the first return to Jerusalem. Where Daniel was we don’t know.  Nehemiah’s return is still to come. So this were times of immense change, turmoil and challenge. Vast numbers of people on the move. Choices about whether to stay or go.

 So what does Daniel do? What he has always done, pray!

Read Daniel 10:2-3 Not only did he pray but also he selectively fasted. Back to the vegetable diet of his early days in the palace when he and his three friends had refused to eat anything but vegetables. No lotions either! No Oil of Olay, no deodorant, that’s serious fasting!

 

What follows gives us a clue as to how these visions happened.

Read Daniel 10:4-11:1

 Did you know that when you pray, angels are on the move? When we meet to pray, we engage in a world conflict that we are barely aware of. There is a battle going on between God on one side with his angels and the Devil on the other with his demons. And although the victory in Jesus is assured, this struggle we read of here is more real than Bush’s war against terror. 

 

Do you believe that? Are you aware of it?

 

 Michael we read in 12:1 is the great prince who protects your people. He turns up in Jude 9

⁹But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

 

Leaving aside what this event is, it is clear he is an archangel which means he is a sort of boss angel and he was involved after the death of Moses in some sort of dispute or battle. In Revelation 12:7-9

⁷And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Again I am not going to try to explain all this but it shows that Michael is involved in a war with Satan. A war which Jesus won a critical battle on the cross, The cross was a victory which means that Satan will finally be overcome In Revelation 20:7-10 we read of his final doom.

 ⁷When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. ⁹They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. ¹⁰And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Hell was designed for the devil and his angels, not for humans. Humans being only go to hell because the choose to ignore God’s way of salvation.

 

 So in the middle of this war, Daniel prays and the angel who is sent to him arrives hot from the battle fields to speak to Daniel. That is how significant prayer is.

 

If you want to find out more about Michael, read the commentaries.

 

Chapter 11 is a very complex prophecy. It refers primarily to the times which you can read about in the books of the Maccabaeus, which are part of the Apocrypha. These are very ancient books which were included in many early Bibles but are not considered Holy Scripture like Daniel.

Time does not allow us to match the prophecy with history but you can do it with amazing accuracy.

Additional notes not in the sermon

Dan. 11:1 And in the first year of Darius the Mede (not Darius I, but rather the Darius of Lion's Den fame), I took my stand to support and protect him. 2 "Now then, I tell you the truth: Three more kings will appear in Persia, and then a fourth, who will be far richer than all the others. When he has gained power by his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.

'After the death of King Cyrus, who was reigning at the time of the vision, the next three kings of Persia were Cambyses (530-522 B.C.), a usurper called the False Smerdis or Bardiya (522) and Darius I (522-486 B.C.). The fourth king was Xerxes (486-465 B.C.), known in the Bible as Ahasuerus and the husband of Queen Esther. He spent four full years stockpiling supplies and assembling manpower for a military expedition against Greece, just as the angel had predicted. He truly stirred up "all." His army teemed with contingents from forty nations . . . Together they marched, perhaps 300,000 of them, mostly on foot, all the way from their homelands to the battles of Salamis (480) and Plataea (479) in Greece--and to complete defeat.'

v 3 Then a mighty king will appear, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases.

This king was Alexander the Great who conquered most of the civilized world by 331 B.C. The map below demonstrates the extent of Alexander' s Empire.

v 4  After he has appeared, his empire will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the power he exercised, because his empire will be uprooted and given to others.

Realizing he was dying after a drunken debauchery (others suggest dying from swamp fever or malaria), Alexander parceled out his kingdom to four of his generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus I "Nicator" and Ptolemy I "Soter".  An examination of the map of that time as well as the following verses indicates that the Seleucid kingdom based around Syria became the King of the North, and that the Ptolemaic kingdom encompassing part of Egypt became the King of the South. These two kingdoms were constantly striving to conquer the other. Since Israel was located in the middle of the two, its territory was continually exposed to the military campaigns of the two kingdoms, Israel's land and people being at times subservient to one kingdom, then the other.

5 "The king of the South (Ptolemy I Soter) will become strong, but one of his commanders (Seleucus I Nicator) will become even stronger than he and will rule his own kingdom with great power.

'Egypt was immensely wealthy and rather easy to protect (from the start). The "prince" who became "stronger than he" was Seleucus I Nicator, the general who originally won the eastern part of Alexander's empire. Seleucus was driven out of the east by yet another one of Alexander's generals and fled to Egypt for safety. Ptolemy gave him special status and helped him outfit a new army. Quickly successful in driving his rival out of the east, Seleucus followed through by pushing Lysimachus out of Syria and Asia Minor, thus making himself "King of the North" and the master of most of Alexander's former empire. He would have liked to control Judea too, taking it away from Egypt; but Ptolemy reminded Seleucus that without his help in the first place, he would never have staged his comeback.'

v 6 After some years, they (King Ptolemy II Philadelphus and King Antiochus II Theos of Syria) will become allies. The daughter of the king of the South (Berenice) will go to the king of the North (Antiochus Theos) to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last. In those days she will be handed over, together with her royal escort and her father (other translations use or include "child") and the one who supported her.

"Around 250 B.C., King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt (285-246 B.C.) and King Antiochus II Theos (261-246 B.C.) of Syria attempted to guarantee peace between their countries by having King Antiochus marry King Ptolemy's daughter, Berenice.  Antiochus already had a wife, called Laodice.  It was part of the deal that he divorce her.  So the divorce was arranged, the new marriage was celebrated, and in due course a baby boy arrived who could someday be the next king.  Unfortunately, Antiochus soon found that he didn't like Berenice very well.  He kept making comparisons between her and his first wife.  And when Berenice's father, the king of Egypt, died, Antiochus divorced her and took Laodice back again.  But Laodice had become bitter.  She was afraid, too, of what her husband might do next.  So using her royal powers in a manner all too common in those days, she had Antiochus, Berenice, and Berenice's attendants and Bernice's little son all murdered.'

v 7"One from her family line will arise to take her place (Ptolemy III Euergetes, 246-221 B.C.). He will attack the forces of the king of the North (Antiochus II Theos, 261-246 B.C.) and enter his fortress; he will fight against them and be victorious. ⁸ He will also seize their gods, their metal images and their valuable articles of silver and gold and carry them off to Egypt. For some years he will leave the king of the North alone.

⁸ He will also seize their gods, their metal images and their valuable articles of silver and gold and carry them off to Egypt. For some years he will leave the king of the North alone.

'By his divorce and remarriage, Antiochus lost far more than he could have hoped to gain. For the next king of Egypt, Ptolemy III (246-221), a brother of Berenice's, determined to avenge Berenice's death by invading Syria. He took his army all the way to Babylon and beyond before voluntarily pulling back! His navy occupied Seleucia, the port that served Antioch, the capital of Syria, and for some time Egyptian shipping dominated the eastern Mediterranean.'

v 9 Then the king of the North (a new king, Seleucus II) will invade the realm of the king of the South, but will retreat to his own country.

'In the year 242, Seleucus II Callinicus (246-225) attempted to avenge himself for Egypt's deep penetration of his ancestral lands, but his army was vanquished and his navy blown away. He returned to Antioch badly bloodied and empty-handed.'

v 10 His sons (the two sons of Seleucus II, namely Seleucus III Ceraunos, who was assassinated after a short reign [225-223] and Antiochus III the Great [223-187]) will prepare for war and assemble a great army, which will sweep on like an irresistible flood and carry the battle as far as his fortress.  ¹¹ "Then the king of the South (Ptolemy IV) will march out in a rage and fight against the king of the North (Antiochus III), who will raise a large army, but it will be defeated. ¹² When the army (Antiochus') is carried off, the king of the South will be filled with pride and will slaughter many thousands, yet he will not remain triumphant.

'These three verses deal principally with the battle of Raphia, June 22, 217 B.C. . . . in which over 70,000 foot soldiers and 5,000 cavalry were committed on each side. The body count the next day showed that Antiochus III had lost 10,000 killed and 4,000 taken prisoner. Ptolemy's loses were lighter but still significant . . . . Egypt won the battle, for Antiochus lacked discipline . . . Yet Ptolemy failed to follow up on his victory and Antiochus III was eager for a rematch'

v 13 For the king of the North (Antiochus III) will muster another army, larger than the first; and after several years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped.

After his defeat, Antiochus III sprung back and reconquered the territory to the east all the way to India and to the west to the Aegean Sea. He then prepared for a second attack on Egypt. At this time, the king of Egypt was Ptolemy V Epiphanes, a boy of six.

v 14 "In those times many will rise against the king of the South. The violent men among your own people will rebel in fulfillment of the vision, but without success.

At this time, many of the Egyptians began rebelling against the ruling Grecian family and began rioting and defying them. Many of the more zealous Jews also began rebelling against the Ptolemaic regime, hoping to establish their own independence.

v 15 Then the king of the North (Antiochus III the Great) will come and build up siege ramps and will capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will be powerless to resist; even their best troops will not have the strength to stand. ¹⁶ The invader will do as he pleases; no one will be able to stand against him. He will establish himself in the Beautiful Land and will have the power to destroy it.

Antiochus III the Great took Palestine, the Beautiful Land, from the Ptolemies at the Battle of Panias in 197 B.C. The Ptolemaic kingdom was never able to reclaim it from the Seleucid kingdom.

v 17 He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will make an alliance with the king of the South. And he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plans will not succeed or help him. ¹⁸ Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back upon him. ¹⁹ After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more.

Antiochus III the Great took many of the coastline territories bordering on the eastern and northeastern edges of the Mediterranean Sea away from the Ptolemaic Kingdom. And he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plans^] will not succeed or help him. refers to none other than that well known character Cleopatra!

v 20 "His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor. In a few years, however, he (the successor) will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle.

This verse most likely reflects Antiochus III's son (Seleucus IV Philopater, 187-175 B.C.) who sent Heliodorus to Jerusalem to collect the "untold sums of money" from the temple treasury. Heliodorus was prevented from accomplishing his task by the reported personal intervention of God as he sought to enter the temple. See 2 Maccabees 3. However, a plot arose against Seleucus the IV, and he was assassinated (i.e. neither in anger nor in battle).

21 "He will be succeeded by a contemptible person who has not been given the honour of royalty. He will take over the kingdom when its people feel secure, and he will seize it through intrigue. 

 

Let me introduce Antiochus IV Epiphanes a very nasty character. He is prophesied in verses 21-45. Lets just pick up at verse 29

 ²⁹ "At the appointed time he Antiochus IV Epiphanes, will invade the South again, Second invasion in 169 B.C. when Egypt was still governed by Ptolemy VII Philometer but this time the outcome will be different from what it was before. ³⁰ Ships of the western coastlands (i.e. Roman warships) will oppose him, and he will lose heart. Antiochus' victory in Egypt was short-lived. When the Romans showed up with their warships, the Roman ambassador C. Popilius Laenas, informed Antiochus that the Roman Senate wanted him to leave.  The grim Roman drew a circle around Antiochus with his cane and demanded a decision before he stepped out of it.'   Then he will turn back and vent his fury against the holy covenant. "After subduing Egypt, Antiochus [IV Epiphanes] returned in the one hundred and forty-third year [169 B.C.]. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the lights, and all its utensils. He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censors, the curtain, the crowns and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off. He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures which he found. Taking them all, he departed to his own land." 1 Maccabees 1:20-24.

 He will return and show favor to those who forsake the holy covenant.

 ³¹ "His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. ³² With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.

 ³³ "Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. ³⁴ When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. ³⁵ Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.

 'And the king [Antiochus IV Epiphanes] sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, to forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifices and drink offering in the sanctuary, to profane Sabbaths and feasts, to defile the sanctuary and the priests, to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, so that they should forget the law and change all the ordinances. "And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die." . . . Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege upon the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding cities of Judah, and burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. The books of the law which they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. Where the book of the covenant was found in the possession of any one, or if any one adhered to the law, the decree of the king condemned him to death. They kept using violence against Israel, against those found month after month in the cities. And on the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice [probably of swine] on the altar which was upon the altar of burnt offering. According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mother's necks. But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. And very great wrath came upon Israel.' 1 Maccabees 1:41-50, 54-64

 

Skip over the early bit of Chapter 12 for a moment and look at verses 11-12. 

 

1290 days makes 3 and a half years if 360 day years which fits one of the calendars of the time.

What is going on here? Well in 167BC A rather nasty guy called Antiochus Epiphanies in a final act of destroying Hebrew religion and replacing it with his own Greek religion set up .

1 Maccabees 2:54

⁵⁴ Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding towns of Judah, ⁵⁵ and offered incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. ⁵⁶ The books of the law that they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. ⁵⁷ Anyone found possessing the book of the covenant, or anyone who adhered to the law, was condemned to death by decree of the king.

What is the desolating sacrilege? In 2 Macc 6:1 we read

 Not long after this, the king sent an Athenian senator to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their ancestors and no longer to live by the laws of God; ² also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and to call it the temple of Olympian Zeus, and to call the one in Gerizim the temple of Zeus-the-Friend-of-Strangers, as did the people who lived in that place.

 

And it ended with the death of Antiochus and they re-established the sacrifices We read in 1 Macc 4:52

⁵² Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-eighth year, ⁵³ they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering that they had built.

This is 164BC

A little bit of Mathematics get you  3 years 10 days or 1090 days which is not  1290days. However the sacrifices were stopped before the fifteenth day so the 1290 days sort of fits. However 1Macc 10 says that the sacrifices only lapsed for two years but the error maybe the writer of Maccabees.

What I am saying is that these verses do clearly relate to actual events in Israel in the time between Daniel and Jesus and you can relate the prophecy quite closely to them.

What does this say to us today?

 

Well, we could at this moment go into a lot of highly speculative discussion about a second layer of prophecy. The idea being that this prophecy refers to more than one layer of events. So the 1290 days become 1290 years and refer to the rise and fall of the Roman Catholic Church. Or, that ‘The desolating Sacrilege’/’Abomination that causes desolation’ spoken of is actually the same as the one spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14. Jesus quotes this passage as his hearers would know exactly what he meant (It was part of their culture, celebrated by the feast of Purim.) In AD 40 is happened and the Christians fled and survived because they believed what Jesus said prophetically.

So why read it today?

Because it tells us that God is not detached from politics and nor is politics unrelated to the spiritual war that is going on. Our leaders need to be men and women of faith just as much as we do.

Daniel had this vision when the Jews were returning to the promised land or beautiful land. They were looking to build the temple and rise from the ashes to an new eternal kingdom. But that was not to be. God warns Daniel that this new temple will in turn be desecrated as Solomon’s was. That wars and deceit and suffering will be the lot of the people of God just as it is for the rest of humankind. The eternal kingdom is not found here on earth. That may have been disappointing news to the Jews as they struggled to build the temple but it was the truth. These things that were prophesied happened. Conservative evangelicals need to know that just as the Catholics, then the Protestants and the puritans and the Methodists should have known before them. The kingdom of God is not an earthly kingdom gained by war and subjugation of your enemies. The USA is not the kingdom of God. Nor was the British Empire. The kingdom is not geographical or political, it is where individuals bow the knee in repentance and faith and ask Jesus to be their Saviour and seek the Holy Spirit to enable them to live lives as God intends for us. If you have asked Jesus to be your Saviour you are part of the everlasting kingdom of God and what’s more you will live in it for ever.

 

What comes next is seems to jump off into the air!

 Well, let’s read verses 12:1-4

¹ "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. ² Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. ³ Those who are wise^] will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. ⁴ But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge."

 

Our first reaction is to set it as an “end times” Prophecy. The problem with that is that is says it is not. It says “At that time”

So although it does go on to the end of time in verse 9, it applies to the period just referred to , that is somewhere around the time Jesus came. Some indeed, think that Micheal is in fact Jesus. It is he who will arise. But the consequences seem different. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. It could refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70  or what is called ‘The tribulation” and referred to in Revelation. But remember Revelation is about “The time is near” not some far future event. We know that the world is a terrible place to live. In the last century we know of 6 million Jews slaughtered ,  even more millions of Russians starved to death, vast famines in India, Africa, China. The horrors of the Tsumani. We know we berely survive on this planet and maybe we have ourselves made it eventually unliveable.

But rather than debate the times and places, look at the core of this passage.

But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. ² Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. ³ Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

These refer to a resurrection to everlasting life, a concept quite rare in the Old Testament. This is a significant development of the revelation of God which is what the Bible is about.

 Which will you wake to? Everlasting life or shame and everlasting contempt?  I believe wise here to mean the wise of proverbs – those who fear the Lord. Therefore they will know to put their faith and trust in salvation through Jesus and none other. And it goes on to say that lead many to righteousness will be like the stars. Telling your family and friends the Good News is more than approved of in heaven 2500 years ago God said if you do , you shine in his kingdom like stars. Wow! That should encourage us to pray for and talk to and tell of a Saviour’s love.

⁴ But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge."

This is the opposite message to the one in revelation where the book is to be open. It may mean that this is all that God is revealing at this time. It may refer to the fact that from this time to Jesus there will be no other prophets except John the Baptist. It may be that the book of Daniel was too hard for us to receive before Christ was revealed.

 Whatever you make of these chapters listen to the final words, they are for you as much as Daniel.

 

 ¹³ "As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance."

 

Our gospel is a tough gospel. We have to live as God intended in a difficult world, struggling to understand the why of what happens around us. But we will rest. But death is not an end. It is the entrance to a new phase of eternal life. You will rise to receive your allotted inheritance. Jesus said “I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

That is the best hope we can ever have. Rest, life and most of all the presence of Jesus.  We can debate the exact meaning of these words and wear ourselves out. Or we can go out and live righteous and godly lives in the knowledge that this world will ever be a place a rising and falling kingdoms but we have apart if the eternal kingdom of God.

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