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Daniel-Wayne Barber/Part 28

Written by Dr. Wayne Barber | Sep 4, 2013 4:00:00 AM
By: Dr. Wayne Barber; ©2006
What a terrible time it will be for Israel during the time known as the tribulation, when the Antichrist will be on this earth. And if it’s anytime soon, friend, it might be that the Antichrist is alive even while I’m speaking right now.

A Vision of Conflict - Part 3b (Daniel 11:36-45)

We continue to talk about a vision of great conflict. This is part 3, simply continued. Let me go back and catch you up to speed. A vision of great conflict, part 3 continued, and we’ll be there for a while. What a terrible time it will be for Israel during the time known as the tribulation, when the Antichrist will be on this earth. And if it’s anytime soon, friend, it might be that the Antichrist is alive even while I’m speaking right now. If all these things are happening as it appears to be happening, he could be alive somewhere in this world. What an awful, awful time for Israel it will be when he comes into power. Daniel has been allowed to see all the way to the end, and chapter 10:1 says that he had a vision of “great conflict.” Why the great conflict? Because we know it was going to take a great conflict to break Israel of their self-sufficiency. We saw that in 12:7. Daniel 10:1 speaks of the great conflict. Daniel 10:14 speaks of the fact that this great conflict concerns his people. Now it has nothing to do with the Christians; it concerns Israel and God’s breaking of Israel. Now, part 1 of this vision of great conflict begins with verses 5-20 as we’ve already studied. It has to do with the battle between the kings of the north and the kings of the south; the Seleucid dynasty to the north and the Ptolemy dynasty of the south. These were two of the generals of Alexander the Great that actually became significant in the life of Israel. So we see then the kings of the north and the kings of the south, part 1 of a vision of great conflict. You say, what does that have to do with Israel? Well, it was Syria to the north and it was Egypt to the south and every time they would war together, they would walk through the land of Palestine, the land of Israel, plundering them and just beating them back and forth like a whipping post. Part 2 of the vision of great conflict begins in verse 21 and goes through verse 35. It has to do with the reign of terror by a man of the name of Antiochus Epiphanes. History already has documented that this portion of Daniel 11 has already taken place. He’s a preview of the Antichrist and we saw that very clearly in our study. Well, in part 3 of the vision of great conflict begins, I believe, in verse 36 and goes down through chapter 12, several verses into that chapter. Now how do we know that from verse 35 to verse 36 that we are catapulted into the latter times? Well, we’ve already gone over this. It’s very apparent and you’ll see it again today that Antiochus Epiphanes was the king of the north. And it’s going to talk about how the king of the north and the king of the south will come against this one spoken of in verses 36-45, so it couldn’t be Antiochus Epiphanes. History actually stops after verse 35. There is no documented history about verses 36-45. It is prophetic history; it is yet to come about. And so we see Part 1, the battle of the kings of the north and the kings of the south. Part 2, Antiochus Epiphanes; and Part 3 would be the Antichrist. Now we began to look at him last time we were together and we saw basically two things about his character. First of all he will be a lawless man. In other words, he will establish the law. He’ll become the law. No one will tell this man what to do. But secondly, we saw that he’ll be a godless man. That’s in verses 36-37 of our text. Now today we want to take a step further and this really gets to be quite thrilling. As a matter of fact, I’m trying to contain myself before we get into it.

The military genius of the Antichrist

We’re going to look today and the military genius of the Antichrist of latter day times. Look at verse 38 of chapter 11, “But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones, and treasures.” Now since he’s a godless man, what is it that’s going to fill that need in his life? Every man seeks after a god. What is it that is going to take the place of a god in his life? Well, it will be his love and his obsession for the military. He’ll be a military man. He’ll be a military genius. Now note: he will spend great wealth on this god in his life. He will spend a lot of money building up his military machine. It says here in verse 38 that “he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones, and treasures.” War is costly and it will be the same way during that time of seven years. It will be a very expensive venture that he’ll set out on. He’ll spend a lot of money building up his armies. You see, just as many men spend money on a pagan god, he will spend a lot of money on his god which is his military machine. Then verse 39 shows us how much confidence he’ll have in his military power. It says, “And he will take actions against the strongest of fortresses.” In other words he will battle with anybody at any time. It will not cause any fear to him whatsoever. He’ll have such a mighty, military machine, he will be afraid of no one. It says, “with the help of a foreign god.” Now be careful: the word “foreign” simply means strange god. What I believe he’s saying here is, and there’s been a lot of interpretation out of this verse, I think he’s simply saying “with a strange god,” which with his military machine he will attack anybody at any time. He’s not afraid of anyone. He is a military genius; he has a mighty, military machine. It goes on in verse 39, “he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him.” And I believe he’s speaking here of the people he conquers. When he conquers somebody, if they give ready obedience to him, then he’ll take them in, put them in places of leadership. Even give them oversight over different people, places of honor. But not only that, he’ll even give them the land that they’re overseeing. So he’s going to reward the people that will side with him, thus building a bigger and bigger and bigger military machine. Now we understand then that his character is to be lawless and godless, we also are beginning to see that he’s going to be a military obsessed man. He loves war, he wants to conquer, he likes power. But where is Israel in all of his? Now verses 40-45, as far as my own personal study, I believe he’s beginning to show you when he breaks that covenant with Israel in the middle of the seven years. Let’s go back to chapter 9:27 so we’ll not be confused. Now this is speaking of the tribulation period and so we see in verse 27 during the end times, speaking of those latter days, it says that the Antichrist “will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.” Now that’s that one week; as far as we can see, and my own personal belief is that there’s a gap between the 69 th week spoken of in Daniel 9 and the 70 th week. Why? Because in verse 24 there are six things there that have not yet taken place; they couldn’t have already happened. There’s no way. Nobody can document verse 24. So if that’s the case, and it’s 490 years decreed for Israel, or 70 weeks—actually that’s 70 periods of seven—if that’s the case, then there’s got to be a parenthesis in there. There’s got to be a gap between the 69 th week and the 70 th week of Daniel. If in fact that’s true, we understand Romans 11 that the Gentiles, the church, right there. We’re in that parenthesis right now and when the fullness of the Gentiles come then it will begin and initiate that last 70 th week, that period of seven years. At the beginning of that period of seven years, Antichrist will make a covenant with Israel. And in the middle of those seven years, the Antichrist, the one who is anti to everything Jesus represents, will break that covenant. Now verses 40-45 of chapter 11 appear to me to be talking about that time: the tribulation time, the time that the covenant is made, and the time that the covenant will be broken. The Antichrist, the military genius, will use that to turn his back on Israel and actually to turn against them during that time. Look at verses 40, “And at the end time.” Now we’ve discovered a pattern in Daniel, and the pattern is when you see the phrase the “end time,” or the “appointed time” it appears always to refer to the tribulation period, the 70 th week, the seven years period. Sometimes in Daniel it is more pointed toward the last part of that seven year period; in other words, the three and a half year period of time. But at any rate it’s during the time of tribulation, the time of Jacob’s distress, the time of that seven year period at the last of this age.

There will be a great battle fought against the Antichrist

So what’s happening here then that will concern Israel? There are three things that I want us to look at this morning from verses 40-45. Here’s a man on the scene during the last days, during the tribulation time, a man who is lawless, a man who is godless. How then is he going to affect Israel during this time? Well, first of all, let’s watch the progression in the verses. First of all there will be a great battle fought against him. It’s very clear there in verse 40. And this is the part, I tell you what, I just get so excited about it I can hardly stand behind this pulpit. Look at verse 40, “And at the end time,” during that period of seven years, “at the end time the king of the south will collide with him.” Now who is the king of the south? Well, we’ve studied chapter 11 and we realize the king of the south has to include Egypt. Now it doesn’t have to be totally exclusive of any other country. We’re talking about latter day times. But it must include Egypt, because that’s the king of the south as we’ve already studied. Now it could easily include other countries. It could easily be an Arab bloc of countries who would be specifically interested in the land of Palestine. All of them bonding together, allied with one another. We don’t know that; it says the king of the south. We know it has to be Egypt, but we don’t know all the ones that will be allied with Egypt at that time. It says it “will collide.” The word “collide” there means to butt like a goat. Have you ever watched two old goats out there just butting against each other? Reminds me of Baptists sometimes; they just haul off and bang together and they back off, eat some more grass and come back and butt again. Just hard-headed. He’s going to butt against him, not just collide, but butt against. Now why would Egypt do that? Probably because of the expansionism of this particular military man: The more he conquers, the bigger he gets, the more powerful he becomes, and they want that land of Palestine so therefore they don’t want him to go any further. So the king of the south will collide with him. Well, look at this strange alliance. It says “the king of the south will collide with him, and the king of the north will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships.” Now who is the king of the north? Chapter 11 already shows us that it has to include Syria. Syria was the main area of the Seleucid dynasty in this particular time of Antiochus Epiphanes. But wait a minute: we’re talking about the latter days. So we don’t know who the king of the north might be allied with, we don’t know what the power structure will be in the latter days. It must include Syria but not necessarily be exclusive of other countries. Have you ever looked at the land of Israel? Have you ever looked directly north of the land of Israel? Have you just taken a map and gone straight north? You come to an interesting country. A mammoth country of our time called the USSR. Russia is right to the north. Now this begins to get exciting, folks, because there’s a question you’re going to have to ask, I’m already asking. You see, we forget something. When you study prophecy there are pieces that fit together. Daniel is talking here in Daniel, but remember, his contemporary is a man by the name of Ezekiel. There were three sieges of the city of Jerusalem. The first one was in 605 BC when Daniel was taken out with all the other young men. But there’s a second one, and in the second one, Ezekiel and the 10,000 were also taken out. They were both in captivity at the same time. They were contemporaries with one another. Now Ezekiel, in chapters 38-39, speaks of a great battle that’s going to take place at the end times. It speaks of a great power from the north that is going to come down in the land of Palestine that God is going to supernaturally destroy. Now could it be that Daniel 11:40 with the kings of the south and the kings of the north, could it be that he’s speaking of the same battle that Ezekiel is speaking of in chapters 38-39? Now we know that there’s going to be a breaking of this covenant in the middle of the time, but remember the covenant itself that the Antichrist is going to make with Israel. The scene is so easily set up. You could read the newspaper every day and figure this out. If Israel covenants with the beast in the last days, remember there are ten nations behind it, the United States of Europe. This is a powerful beast led by the Antichrist. If Israel makes a covenant with them, do you realize that if there was an Arab bloc of countries that would immediately irritate them, especially in the fact that they are interested in getting that land for themselves? Would they not in fact call upon Russia to the north and say, “We need your help. They’ve made an alliance with this great beast and we need your help. We need to protect that land.” Oh, friend, it is as feasible as anything. Like I said, it’s like reading the newspaper. That could happen tomorrow. If Israel ever sides with a nation like that, as powerful as it is, it would automatically infuriate the people to the south and the people to the north. Well, at any rate we don’t know that. We don’t know for sure that it’s Russia. You cannot say for sure, for fact, that that’s what he’s talking about. But in Ezekiel 38 he speaks of Gog and Magog, and we know for a fact that that is Russia during that time. As a matter of fact, let’s look at that. Ezekiel 38:2-3. And some interesting things come out in this. If this happens, if this takes place, it’s amazing the scene. Look at verse 2, “Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog.” Now it appears to me that Gog happens to be the leader here and the country Magog, it has already been documented, is Russia. Now wait a minute, not the USSR, you take all of those little countries out. Have you been watching the news lately? When you start taking away Lithuania and all those other little countries, you’re going to be left with just one little country called Russia. Not the USSR, but one little country called Russia. It is that country that is Magog in the Word of God. It is incredible what is going on. Now in verse 2 and verse 3 look what he says, “Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,” all that is that area, “and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.”’” I read an article the other day that just sent chills right up my back. You realize you take the name Gorbachev, now I read this, you take the name and you put it into the original Russian language and it is not GORB as we see it, it is GOG. And then you take up the rest of the spelling. Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it coincidence that in this particular time that we’re living in there’s a man who right now is over there in Russia who has the name Gog? I have no idea if it’s him or whatever else. But I tell you what, it makes the blood get a little hotter as you’re studying the book of Daniel. Well, it had to be. If there’s going to be a battle against Israel, it’s going to have to be at a time of peace and security. Now remember, the first three and a half years of that last seven years, they’re going to be in a peace treaty, in a covenant with the Antichrist, fearing nothing. Look in verse 8, “After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them.” In other words it’s a time of security, a time of peace. Look at verse 11, “and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls, and having no bars or gates.’” So it’s a time of peace. If this battle is to occur, and if it is in fact the battle that we’re talking about in Ezekiel, it appears to me that it will be sometime during the first half of the seven years, because it’s at a time when Israel is at peace. So the first thing that we see is a great battle against the Antichrist. But here’s the important thing: we don’t know if it’s Russia, we don’t know all these things. We do know this: we do know the Antichrist wins. He wins that battle, obviously with the help of God if it is the battle pictured in Ezekiel; God supernaturally takes care of Russia as he puts the hooks in their jaws and brings them down from the north. We know that for a fact.

The Antichrist breaks his peace treaty with Israel

But at any rate, he comes out on top. Now nobody can stop him. This could be the turning point, right in the middle of the seven year period of tribulation. You wonder when he’ll break the covenant. You wonder why he’ll break the covenant. The first three and a half years Israel’s at peace. Now he’s a military mighty man. Kings of the north, kings of the south, have been defeated. No one can stand in his way. So the second thing we see then is in verse 41. Once he is the winner it appears that now he breaks his treaty with Israel. You wonder where Israel fits into all this. At the first part of it he’s at peace with them. But once the kings of the north and the kings of the south are dealt with, now he can make his move on Israel. Now notice verse 41. It all depends on who you think this “he” is. Verse 41, “He will also enter the Beautiful Land.” Now how do you know who the “he” is? Well, you just can’t be that dogmatic. My personal belief is that that’s the Antichrist right there in verse 41. He now enters the Beautiful Land, he now enters Palestine. Now when he enters there is says, “and many countries will fall.” Notice the word “countries.” If you have a New American Standard Bible, is your word there in italics? It should be. A translator has put that there thinking that that’s what he’s talking about. But I would like to take issue with that italicized word which is not verbally inspired. That’s a translator’s word that was put in there. That’s why it’s in italics. I believe what he’s talking about there, and certainly this is open to discussion, I don’t believe he’s talking about many countries will fall, but many Jews will fall. When he moves into Palestine, breaks his covenant with Israel, and that’s when the persecution begins. And many, many shall fall during that time. And this to me would be the beginning of the last three and a half years. So the scene so far is that we’ve seen a progression. First of all we see that there’s a great battle with the kings of the north and the kings of the south against the Antichrist, and he comes out on top. However he does that, he still does that. Secondly we see him, as far as I can tell, breaking his treaty with Israel in the middle of that seven week period of time. Go back to 9:27 one more time. Let’s just make sure we’ve got it down. “And he,” the Antichrist, “will make a firm covenant with the many for one week,” one period of seven years, “but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering.” That’s when he shuts it down; that’s when he breaks his covenant. And I think that coincides with Daniel 11:41, how he enters the Beautiful Land and many will fall.

No one now stands in the way of the Antichrist

It’s interesting now the third step of this progression. In verse 40 we see the battles of the kings of the north and the kings of the south. In verse 41 we see him breaking his peace treaty now with Israel? Why? Because there is no one to stand in his way. This is the third point: No one now stands in his way. As far as he’s concerned he is the number one military power on this earth. Kings of the north been destroyed, kings of the south been destroyed and now he moves into Israel, breaks his covenant and he can rule as he wants. Nobody can stand in his way. What a fearful, awesome, terrible scene that we have pictured here of great conflict in Daniel 11. Now look at the last part of verse 41, “but these will be rescued out of his hand; Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.” Now many times when you’re studying through Scripture and you have a good Bible you can look at the back of it and you can see where these lands are. If you’ll look sometime when you’re studying through you’ll find that they’re to the side. The next verse tells us he’s going to go down to Egypt not so much to conquer them, he’s already conquered them, he goes down to occupy them and to plunder their land. But in doing so he goes southwest from where he is, from Palestine, and by doing that he completely doesn’t even touch their territory. Somehow or another they’re just not even in the picture. He just moves right on down. Actually that land that is mentioned there in verse 41, Edom, Moab, and the foremost of the sons of Ammon, is modern day Jordan, and so they somehow are not even involved in this scenario that we see in verses 40-45. Well, verse 42, the first country that he goes to is Egypt. Having already conquered them, now he just goes and plunders and occupies. “Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape.” Part of Egypt is Africa and certainly in those latter day times is a picture here of how Africa and Egypt are together as one power. And so he moves in there. That’s the richest land in all of the world. Verse 43, “But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt.” You see, he’s there to occupy and to plunder. He’s a man seemingly, in his own mind, that cannot be stopped. And Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels. Now Ezekiel 38 alludes to the fact that both of these are aligned with Russia, so they’ve already been defeated. So basically what he’s doing now is occupying and plundering the area which he has conquered. And so nobody, nobody, can stand in his way. Look at verse 44, “But rumors from the east and from the north will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate man.” Now, who are the ones from the east and to the north? We don’t know. There are a lot of people who say that is China and the basic area of the Orient. Certainly Revelation 9:16 speaks of an army in the latter days of 200 million people. Where else could you find an army that big, and if that’s what the context is talking about, where else could it be but China? But we just don’t know that. The key is he goes and he destroys and defeats many. He still wins. Nobody can stand in his way. He absolutely seems to be invincible. He’s on this earth, conquers everybody in his path, and now it says in verse 45, “And he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain.” Now what seas? Again if you’ll look at your map you’ve got the huge Mediterranean Sea. If you’ll go over a little bit you’ve got the Dead Sea. You’ve got Jerusalem right up here. Somewhere between Mt. Zion and I think those two seas, he camps out. I don’t know where that is. I really don’t know enough geographically to pinpoint a spot, but somewhere I believe that’s where he’s talking about. He sets up his camp. “Nobody, nobody can touch me.” This is a fearsome, awesome person that’s going to be on this earth, maybe even within a short time of when I’m preaching this message. He’ll be here, folks, and when he comes, nobody can stop him. Why? Because Daniel 7 says he’ll have power, but he’ll have a power not of his own. Not only will he be allowed by God, for God raises up kings and establishes kingdoms, but he’ll be empowered by Satan himself in that last three and a half year period of time. When he breaks the covenant with Israel, that’s when we studied in Revelation 12, that’s when Satan is finally cast out of heaven, that’s his final casting out. That’s when it says “Rejoice O heavens.” Why rejoice? Because you don’t have to fool with the devil anymore. He’s been thrown down finally and ultimately to the earth, and when he comes down the devil is going to persecute Israel, the woman mentioned in Revelation 12. Revelation 13 says he’s going to incarnate the beast that is going to come up out of the sea. So it’s going to be a man. And Revelation 17 says this beast who came up out of the sea will be backed by a ten-nation confederation. What an awesome, evil power. It will be Satan’s masterpiece on this earth. Nobody can conquer this man. He has a seemingly military genius that is unstoppable. The kings of the south, the kings of the north and to the east and also back to the north, nobody can stop him. He thinks he’s on top. But this is the part of Daniel I can preach and nail it down, folks. I don’t know who these battles are, I don’t know who the kings are, I don’t know, I cannot say dogmatically, I just can’t do it. Some people always come to me after the service who have read about 17 different books to inform me of what he’s really talking about there. Friend, would you just not bother? Because that’s somebody’s opinion. We just don’t know from the book of Daniel who he’s talking about. But we do know this: in that last day there are going to be fierce time of great conflict and we know that Israel, friend, is going to directly be involved. We do know that whoever the Antichrist is will break his covenant with them. We know that for a fact and we know there will be difficult days. And for a period of three and a half years it would appear nobody can touch this man. But look at verse 45. Watch this. It says, “And he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holly Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.” Friend, God doesn’t need any help putting this fellow down. There’s going to come a time at the end of that three and a half years, and we’ve already seen that in Daniel. The throne is going to be set up of judgment. Man, something’s going on in the heavens, but something is going on down here on this earth. And God’s going to say, “Okay, time’s up, everybody out of the pool. Buddy, I’m moving in, I’m taking over. This is it.” That’s when His kingdom is set up on this earth. Boy, I love it; I get so excited about it every time that I can’t figure something out. I do know I’ve got something figured out, and I know that God’s got it locked up and He’s going to do it the way He says He will. You know the one thing that’s thrilling me in the study of Daniel, amongst others? One of the things that overwhelms me is the fact that God still loves Israel. You know, I have so many problems with people who have said that Israel is done away with at the cross. The people who say they’re not even involved in the latter days, the people who say it’s just the wheat and the tares, that God has nothing to do with the nation. Do you realize to take that out of the Bible is to take out one of the greatest mysteries of the unconditional love of God that is ever there? It’s a picture there: God never quit on them because God is a covenant God, a faithful God, and He promised to Abraham not just a seed, as Galatians 3 says was Christ. Not just a land which we know now is Palestine, and in 1948 friend, people shook their heads, they couldn’t believe that they’d come back and taken that land. But not only that but he promised a nation. A nation that has rejected Him, the greatest transgression of Israel was that they rejected the very Messiah that God prophesied even through Daniel, that would be on this earth. But God is not finished with them. He still loves them. He still honors His covenant with them. He just doesn’t give up. You know what that says to me? That says to me that if God’s heart is in me and God’s heart is in you, are you a believer this morning? Did you receive the Lord Jesus Christ when you were saved which is the condition Jesus said, “To as many as receive Me, to them gave you power to become Sons of God?” Do you realize the Holy Spirit of God now lives in you, and do you realize what He’s there for? Galatians 5:22 says, “Is to produce in us love, a love the world has never known,” and needs to know that a God unconditionally loves all of mankind. You and I, it’s human to give up on somebody, but it’s divine never to give up on anybody. And that’s the key: He’s not through with Israel. He still loves Israel. Go back and read Hosea. As a harlot she’s gone away from him, but he’s standing there waiting for her to come back to him one day, and at the end of that three and a half year period of time he will restore Israel, He will save Israel, one-third of all of Israel will come to know Him. That will be their day of atonement. That will be the day they’ll cry out and say, “Oh, it was You whom we crucified.” And they’ll finally see the Messiah as their Messiah and they’ll come in and inherit the kingdom of God. Folks, if you’re witnessing to somebody in your family, if you’re burdened for somebody in your family and they have spit in your face, they have literally told you everything short of just going to hell itself, and you have the tendency just to give up, slam the door, may I share with you that the love of God in you will not let you do that? Don’t you give up. God has not given up, don’t you give up. All things are possible with Him. Man if we could just see what God is trying to tell us in Daniel. It’s not for us to argue over who the kings of the North are and who the kings of the South are. We could argue endlessly until Jesus comes Himself. And He’s going to have to come
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