Step by Step Through Daniel/Program 5

Introduction

Ankerberg: Welcome to our program. We’ve got a great one for you today. We’re talking about the Sovereign God of the universe who has given information to the prophet Daniel and also to the apostle John: the apostle John in the book of Revelation, and Daniel, the Old Testament prophet. And these fellows have written down the information that God gave. And God gives information to Daniel about events that are going to take place in the future, to where we’re at, already starting to transpire. He’s also got a track record of things that Daniel said would happen from the sixth century on up into the Roman Empire, and those things have taken place. Those are his credentials for saying this is what’s true; and there’s stuff that is still coming about, you’d better take notice of this.

Now, we’re trying to compare the book of Revelation right here with the book of Daniel. And, Jimmy, as we go toward the fourth pillar, which is the alignment of the nations that are going to come against Israel that Daniel talks about, how does that square with these three pillars up here that stand for the outline of the book of Revelation? Take us through Revelation again, and then bring us back to Daniel.

DeYoung: You know, that leads to a very important question that is often asked of me, John. Do you study Revelation first or the book of Daniel first? I say you study Revelation. It gives the overall big picture of what’s going to happen in the end times. And then Daniel gives the details for that terrible time of judgment, the tribulation period, between the rapture and the second coming of Christ. The rapture takes place; the next event after that is chapter 2 of the book of Daniel, and that would be the revival of the old Roman Empire, the ten toes of iron and clay. Then chapter 7 verse 7, the ten horns, and that would be that political entity that comes together, becomes very powerful.

When you think about the European Union, they have almost a half a billion people within all 27 member states. And when you add the additional 17 states, they’ll have over a half a billion people as compared to the United States with only about 350 million people. When you look at the Gross National Product for the United States as compared to the European Union, the European Union is much more powerful economically. And indeed the European Union is that infrastructure, I believe, for the Revived Roman Empire.

And a political leader, out of that Gentile world power, a political leader, the Antichrist, referred to in the Bible, 1 John chapter 2; Jesus calls him the false messiah, Matthew chapter 24; he’s called the beast out of the sea in Revelation chapter13 and verse 1. He’s the Antichrist. It’s a world dictator. When he moves to power, he establishes the peace we talked about last time, that peace treaty that will be confirmed by the Antichrist. But going back to the book of Revelation, after the appearance of the Revived Roman Empire, coming out of that the little horn, the Antichrist surfaces to go and confirm a peace treaty between Israel and her neighbors.

The next thing to happen would be the second seal judgment in chapter 6 verses 3 and 4 of the book of Revelation. A man on a red horse comes forth. He takes peace from the earth. He’s given a sword to do that. Now, you take peace from the earth, the absence of peace means war. Recently when I was speaking in south Georgia, a man who had just graduated from the War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, told to me that there were a 157 conflicts going on across the world today. Jesus Christ, when he was speaking in the Olivet discourse, asked by his disciples, “Give us some signs of your second coming,” the second event in our walk through Revelation. He said, “There shall be wars and rumors of wars; see that you be not troubled. Nation shall come upon nation, kingdom against kingdom.” There are a number of wars in the tribulation period. Of course, the mother of all battles, as Saddam Hussein called it, the battle of Armageddon. That’s at the end just at the time Christ comes back to the earth. But there are other wars that go on through that seven year period of time.

And we now come to that 11 ^th chapter of the book of Daniel, which sets the stage for the first war, basically the first major conflict, worldwide conflict that’ll take place right after the tribulation has begun, right after the Antichrist confirms the peace treaty and starts the clock ticking on that seven year period of time. Daniel chapter 11. In Daniel chapter 11, the prophet talks about five personalities. In verse 2 he talks about King Ahasuerus, who would be a leader in the Medo-Persian Empire, who antagonizes the Greeks and causes them to overrun the Medo- Persian Empire. Ahasuerus was the prophecy. And, in fact, Daniel wrote about King Ahasuerus 59 years before he came on the scene, giving us evidence that he was a prophet and a true prophet of God when you put the Deuteronomy 18 test to all the prophecies of Daniel.

The second personality, this would be verses 3 and 4, talks about a king who comes to power, a willful king. That could be any world leader, to tell you the truth, but he then has his kingdom divided into four parts. That has to be Alexander the Great, because at 32 years of age he had conquered the known world, had his Grecian Empire headquartered in Babylon on the shores of the Euphrates River in what is modern day Iraq today. And at 32 he died and his kingdom was actually divided into four parts.

Then in verses 5 through 20 of the book of Daniel chapter 11 he talks about one of the leaders of one of those four parts. In fact, he talks about the king of the north and the king of the south. When you look at the text and study the passage, you have to come to the conclusion the king of the north is what we know geographically as modern day Syria, and the king of the south would be modern day Egypt.

We come to the 21 ^st chapter of the book of Daniel, from the 21 ^st to the 36 ^th verse of [chapter 21] the book of Daniel talks about a terrible king that’s coming to power. His name is Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus, the madman. And the details in that passage of Scripture enviably have to lead you to this man Antiochus Epiphanes, who walked into Jerusalem , slaughtered a pig on the altar of the temple, desecrating the temple. And he did that. But three years to the day later the Maccabees, which we were talked about in Daniel 11, overran Antiochus Epiphanes, ran him out of town, cleansed the temple, and they started their temple practices once again.

Now, the fifth personality we come to is the Antichrist. He will be a willful king, verse 36 says. He will have no desire to worship any other god. He will make himself a god. And, in fact, it talks about him dealing with the alignment of nations that’s going to come into place at that particular time in history. Daniel chapter 11, starting in verses 40, through 45, details some of the players that will be involved in that alignment of the nations that will attack the Jewish State of Israel. Interestingly, it says the first nation that will make a move will be that king of the north. Now, remember the king of the north, earlier defined in the text in chapter 11, is Syria. What Syria is doing today, the saber-rattling going on between Syria and Israel, seems that the stage is not only set, the actors are not only in place, the curtain’s about to go up on this final act.

Ankerberg: Give me an illustration of the news right now.

DeYoung: Well, the news is that Bashar Assad, who is the president of Syria, made a statement recently they will take back the Golan Heights. And then he said, “We’ll either do it diplomatically or we’re going to do it militarily.” As we are producing this broadcast there are 20,000 Syrian troops perched at Israel’s northern border. They’re ready to come in. The foreign minister recently said to Israel, “The next war we are going to take it to your home front; we are going to take it to the cities and we’re going to wipe you out.” Israel responded, of course, and maybe in the next segment we’ll talk about that.

Ankerberg: Okay, so he goes after Syria. Syria attacks, and then what happens?

DeYoung: Egypt moves from the south and they start making their way north. And they’re going to join up a coalition, with Syria and Egypt coming against the Jewish State of Israel, when they’re both wiped out. And I’m going to tell you who is going to wipe them out. It’s not Jesus Christ. Very interesting what happens as these two nations, Syria and Egypt, start to attack Israel. But then after, when they are removed from the world scene, all of a sudden all the other nations that will form a coalition talked about in Ezekiel 38, Psalm 83, and Daniel chapter 11, come to play and they go after Israel.

Ankerberg: Alright, let’s take a break and we’ll come back and we’ll talk about those nations. And we’ll name them, and we’ll see if it fit the news, alright. So stick with us. We’ll be right back.

Ankerberg: Alright, we’re back. And we’re talking with Dr. Jimmy DeYoung. We’re talking about the amazing prophecies of Daniel. And we are now to the spot where Daniel talks about the alignment of nations that are coming against Israel in the last days. And we’re starting to see these nations getting angry about Israel. There’s a lot of anti-Israeli sentiment in the world going on right now. We want to take it from where we’re at right now to where Daniel says it’s going in the future; where Ezekiel says it’s going in the future. Take us there.

DeYoung: You know, I’ve got to remind you, in chapter 9 the Antichrist confirms that the peace treaty which starts the clock running on the seven year tribulation period. Chapter 11 does not come into play until the tribulation has begun. The Antichrist was that first seal judgment in Revelation chapter 6 verses 1 and 2. And then the man who takes peace from the earth on a red horse, Revelation chapter 6 verses 3 and 4, is better defined by the book of Daniel chapter 11, verses 40 to 45.

When we get to that location in God’s prophetic word, we see that a group of nations will form themselves into a partnership that will go to Israel and try to wipe the Jewish State off the face of the earth. In fact, that phrase has been quoted often by the president of Iran, President Ahmadinejad, who has made the statement Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth and her name be forgotten forever. That’s an almost a direct quote from the book of Psalm chapter 83 and verse 4. We will get back to that in just a moment. But let me remind you, Daniel chapter 11 verses 40 and 42 are dealing with the nations who are going to come against Israel.

The king of the north is going to make its move against Israel and the king of the south will make its move against Israel. Now, the king of the north, earlier defined in chapter 11, would be what we know as modern day Syria. The king of the south Egypt, defined the king of the south in the Scripture, and talked about there in Daniel chapter 11 as the nation that will come from the south and attack Israel itself.

The Antichrist is going to come quickly back into the land of the Bible, the glorious holy land, it’s talked about in verse 41 of chapter 11 of the book of Daniel. Remember the Antichrist when he comes on the scene as the tribulation is underway goes to that seven-hilled city, Rome, Italy, and puts together ecclesiastical Babylon, a false church that will be in operation for three and a half years out of Rome, Italy. While that’s all taking place, then these two nations, Syria in the north and Egypt in the south, attack Israel. When they do that the Antichrist who, remember, he confirmed a peace agreement, he guaranteed the safety of the Jewish people. The Jewish people accept him as their messiah, albeit, he is a false messiah. But he’s going to come quickly, verse 41, running back into the land. He goes to the north, he wipes out Syria.

The text then tells us he comes down through Moab, Ammon, and Edom. But that, of course, is biblical terminology for what we know is modern day Jordan. Now, the antichrist is not going to touch Jordan. And the reason is that in Edom, the lower third of modern day Jordan, is the location where Petra is. The book of Revelation chapter 12 and verse 6 says that God has prepared a place to protect at least a portion of the Jewish people in that last three and half years of the tribulation period. But this is early on in the beginning of tribulation period when this alignment of nations starts to come together. Syria attacks, they’re wiped out by the Antichrist. Egypt attacks, they’re wiped out by the Antichrist. And the text tells us that the Antichrist turns around and at his heels – now that would mean he is turned around facing Jerusalem going back there – at his heels would be murmurings out of the east, murmurings out of the north, and Ethiopia and Libya. These are the four directions, north, south, east, and west, where this coalition will come from.

John, you’ve got to remember that Israel is about five million Jewish people. It’s about the size of the state of New Jersey. It’s less than 90 miles across from the Mediterrian to the Jordan River. It’s surrounded by 350 million Arabs, plus the Islamic nation like Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia. We’re talking about a group of nations with hundreds of millions of people in addition to the Arab nations. They’re going to come against Israel in the last days. And the Bible talks about it in Ezekiel 38, parallel to the book of Daniel chapter 11, and also in Psalm 83.

Ankerberg: Let’s run through Ezekiel 38 and let’s tie that to it.

DeYoung: Well, just for a moment, if you are watching the broadcast today, picture in your mind you’re way out in outer space someplace, and you are looking down on the Middle East. And there, through the magic of electronics, you can see the little State of Israel. Surrounding Israel in the north is Syria, in the south is Egypt. We’ve talked about that already. But as you spread out, you are going to see the leader of this coalition of nations, as referred to in Ezekiel 38 and verse 2, Gog in the land of Magog. Now, Gog is the person, Magog is the place. Magog, according to a deep study of the word of God, has to be what we know as modern day Russia. Magog was a grandson of Noah. And he went north of the Caspian Black Sea to establish a nation. Then you have in Ezekiel 38, looking at verses 2 and 6, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Togarmah. In biblical times those four, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Togarmah, were what we know today as modern day Turkey. It says in verse 5, Persia; and until 1936 that’s the geographical location known as Persia then, but today known as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. It talks about Ethiopia, or maybe your translation says Cush; that’s Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan. And then it says Put, or Libya in your translation. That’s modern day Libya, Colonel Qaddhafi and all his people. You go to Psalm 83 and it talks about the Ishmaelites, and that would be Saudi Arabia; and Tyre, modern day Lebanon. Every nation that I’ve just mentioned, John, are involved in forming a coalition to do away with Jewish State of Israel. That’s what Daniel, some 2500 years ago, wrote about in chapter 11 of the book of Daniel.

Ankerberg: Alright, and what happens?

DeYoung: When they come, and the time they’re going to come, according to Ezekiel 38 verses 8 and 11, is when the Jewish people are dwelling safely in the land. They are resting at ease in the land. Well, remember, the Antichrist, when he comes to power he confirms a peace treaty. So they believe the Messiah, the Jewish Messiah, has arrived. Peace is on earth. They lay down their weapons. And it says in chapter 38 of Ezekiel verse 11, when they are living in “unwalled cities.” Now, when Ezekiel wrote that text they didn’t have F-16’s, they didn’t have the Merkava tank, the most sophisticated tank in the world. They didn’t have the Apache helicopters. They didn’t have their PT boats. They simply had a wall around the city. When they laid their walls down, when they have laid down their military armament and are dwelling safely in the land, that’s when this attack comes from this coalition of nations.

Ankerberg: Let me give an illustration, Jimmy. Let’s go back to something that actually happened during the Gulf War where George Bush the first there, he actually talked them into not using their weapons. Tell that story so it kind of illustrates what you’re talking about.

DeYoung: It’s a perfect illustration, John. I was there during that time when the first Gulf Crisis was underway in 1991. Every single time that Israel wanted to retaliate against the 39 SCUDs that were being sent into the Jewish State, President Bush then, the first, he would send in one of his Secretaries of State. They would come in and just soothe things over with the Israeli leaders saying, “Do not retaliate, our Patriot missiles are taking care of you; don’t worry about it.” Well, indeed Saddam said he was going to gas half of Israel. He did not do that. I don’t believe that the Patriots did anything at all to help protect the Jewish people, but it is a perfect illustration of what you’re talking about.

What is going to happen though, as these nations come against Israel, they are going to be wiped out. Starting in Ezekiel 38 verse 18 through Ezekiel 39 verse 6, it talks about, and according to the text there in verse 2, five out of every six of these attacking nations and their citizens back in their home countries will be wiped out. When you look at the lowest common denominator for all of these nations, they’re are all Islamic nations. This will render the Islamic world in a position where they’ll not be able to operate. They will be ineffective. That is key, because what the Antichrist is doing, remember, he is establishing a one world religion in the city of Rome in that first three and a half years. And this takes place in the first six months of the tribulation period. So Islam, who is an exclusive religiosity, will not cooperate with any other religion, must be removed from the earth. And that’s God scenario for the end times as we look at this all unfold.

Ankerberg: And where does it go after that?

DeYoung: After that the battle is finished. And then we move into the Lord bringing others to come against the Jewish State of Israel. At the midway point of the tribulation we’re going to see that what takes is that angels, the evil angels, will be thrown out of heaven. They will intensify their persecution against the Jewish people. You see, Satan, who energizes the Antichrist, has one plan in mind: wipe out the Jewish people. That’s the reason for this coalition of nations coming against the Jewish State to try to wipe them off the face of the earth. Satan knows that if indeed he can wipe out the Jewish people, God cannot keep His promises to the Jewish people. And thus Satan becomes god; God has been defeated.

Ankerberg: Alright, so you got this time period and you are moving toward the coming back of Christ to earth. What has to happen before Christ comes?

DeYoung: Then we have to look at this end of this time called the tribulation, the great time of Jacob’s trouble. The Antichrist moves to power in city of Babylon, the literal city of Babylon, puts in place a one world economic political governmental system. The last thing that Jesus Christ does before He steps back on the Mount of Olives in the city of Jerusalem is to wipe out that economic, political, governmental headquarters in Babylon. He does that, He comes to Jerusalem. And another alignment of the nations try to come; all the nations of the world this time try to attack and defeat Jesus Christ as He comes back.

Ankerberg: And why do we want people to know all of this?

DeYoung: Because when you understand what the Bible talks about in Revelation and Daniel you can understand what’s written on the front pages of your newspaper, what you hear in the radio newscast and the television newscast. You will understand the times in which we are living. Secondly, you’ll understand how close it is to the rapture of the church when Jesus Christ comes back. That should cause every single person to be prepared for that event, knowing Christ is Lord and Savior, admitting you’re a sinner, believing that Jesus Christ died and was resurrected from the dead to take away our sin, calling upon Him to come into our hearts and lives and save us. Once we know that, it should purify us in our daily living and make us productive. So many of our friends need to understand what’s happening in this world. Anybody can take the front page of a newspaper and start preaching to anybody, any place in the world. On the front page you’re going to see some of these events we’ve been talking about as we’ve studied in Daniel. And you can launch off of that into an evangelistic conversation with them or a purifying conversation, one that will help them become more productive as we wait for the soon return of Jesus Christ.

Ankerberg: Alright, Jimmy, this is the outline of the book of Daniel. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to start another series next week. And we are going to look at the specific predictions that Daniel gives about our day. And there is one that we bypass that is just so key that actually talked about the time and the place where the Messiah, God’s Messiah, would appear in Jerusalem on planet earth here, and what would happen to him, and talks about the destruction of Jerusalem. And there is only one place where the Bible says the Messiah would show up, alright. We are going to talk about that specific prediction. It’s absolutely quite astonishing. Then we’re going to talk about these things that God says He’s going to establish His kingdom. We’re going to get to the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey says. And then we’re going to talk about, more about the current events that are taking place in our day in relationship to Daniel and the book of Revelation. So folks, I hope that you’ll join us next week.