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Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip. I had a history professor who loved to quote that famous George Santayana quote. You know the one that says those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it? And I think my history professor, like almost every class, would say, those who failed to learn from history, and we'd all go, are doomed to repeat it. We all knew it very well.
Yeah. But I think it happens to be true, and I think it It happens with just about every generation. Have you noticed that every generation? Thinks that they're like the most unique, singular generation that has ever lived. And they're going to do things so totally different than their parents did it.
And then they grow up. And they have kids. And often those patterns are repeated over and over again. Girl came up last night after church, a teenager, with a tie-dye t-shirt. And I'm thinking, I should have kept that tie-dyed t-shirt from the seventies.
It's just funny how things sort of circulate over and over and over again.
Well, sadly, that can happen with national history as well. One author wrote what he called a bird's eye view of the cycle of men and cultures. Listen if this sounds familiar. Typically cultures go from bondage to spiritual faith. And then from spiritual faith to great courage.
From courage to liberty. From liberty to abundance. From abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency. From complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, and then from dependency back to bondage. No wonder God told his people.
In the Old Testament, to remember what he had done. Deuteronomy God said, and you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these many years. Daniel chapter 11 is to us Historical. Most of it has already happened. The last 10 verses are yet to happen, but for us, it's pretty much we're looking backwards, we're remembering what has happened in history.
And it's about Wars and oppressors Most of whom you have never heard of before, unless you have studied these periods of history. Otherwise you're going, huh? It's like the kid in School, who was getting bad grades in history, and his buddy said, How come you're flunking history? And he said, Because the teacher keeps asking us about things that happened before I was born. Yeah, that's what history is.
Now, these things are all history to us, but for Daniel, they were all yet future.
Now let me just sort of catch you up here. As you recall, and I'm so glad that you've been following us in our study on Daniel, because a lot of this won't be new. You'll get it. Daniel Had been reading the prophet Jeremiah. which said that Israel will be captive by the Babylonians for 70 years.
And the 70 years was up.
So he dropped to his knees, and Daniel prayed that they would return. and be strengthened. and rebuild and become a glorious city once again. But it never really happened. Yeah, they returned, but just a small group returned, less than 50,000, the Bible tells us.
The great majority of the children of Israel remain back in Babylon. They had become so complacent, so comfortable, so paganized. They didn't want to disrupt their lifestyle and go on a mission trip. To the Holy Land?
So they stayed. And those who went were unsuccessful. They didn't re-establish the monarchy. And the work came to a screeching halt.
So, Daniel, once again in chapter 10, hits his knees and he mourns and he prays and he fasts for three weeks. And finally, the answer comes. The answer comes, and it wasn't an answer that he expected. The answer is Daniel. Seventy years.
Being captive in another place. has been very, very difficult. But the chastening of Israel will not end with the 70-year captivity ending. There's going to be more pain and suffering and sorrow and purging. All the way through history, up to the very end, in fact, all the way up until Messiah's kingdom.
That's the answer that we're getting here in chapter 11.
Now let me give you a lens with which to view this chapter. And again, I'm glad you've been with us so far in Daniel because you remember Daniel chapter 9 and the whole prophecy on Daniel's 70 weeks. Where the angel said, 70 weeks of years are determined for your people and for your holy city. Chapter 11, verse 1 through 35. Are prophecies that fit within the first 69 weeks of years of the 483 years that we've already told you about?
The last part of chapter 11. Verse 36 through 45. Deal with Events, conflicts that will happen in Daniel's seventieth week. or the Great Tribulation period.
Now I just want to give you a note here, sort of a warning. It's a very detailed chapter. In fact, get this. In 35 verses. There are 135 predictions.
that have been fulfilled. One hundred and thirty-five very detailed, minute. Unbelievably detailed prophecies. that have already been fulfilled.
Now, because of this, because of that fact that I just said, this is why the book of Daniel has been attacked by the critics, because the critics came along and still come along, and this is what they say.
Well, there's no way that anyone could know that kind of detail before it happened, so it must have been written. After it happened. After all those things were fulfilled, that's... That's when it was written. Because the critics can't figure out any other way.
They certainly can't believe in a God who writes the Bible or who knows all things. They certainly can't believe in the integrity of Daniel, who had impeccable character, and now they have to discredit Jesus Christ, who called Daniel a prophet.
So they're making Daniel a liar, Jesus a liar, and they're saying there's no way this could happen. What we have in Daniel chapter 11 is the marvelous demonstration. That history is merely his story. And that for God Telling the future. Isn't any harder than knowing the past.
Now, I'm going to give you a crop duster view of this chapter. We're going to fly over and just top some of the trees. But talk about a soap opera. This chapter is it.
Now, I've given you in your worship folder today an outline with dates and names because I know that nobody's going to remember all these names or dates, so it's here for you. And if you want to go and do all the incredible detail and research on your own, have Add it. I want to give you a crop duster's view because otherwise we'll be here for weeks. But I have divided up this chapter, what I'm going to give you this morning, into four sections. four sections based upon four different peoples.
or people groups. Number one, regents. of Persia. It's not in your outline. I'm giving it to you orally.
Regents of Persia. or the kings of Persia that are mentioned. Number two. the ruler of Greece. Which is Alexander the Great.
Number three, rivals North and South. and finally the rogue of Syria. Those are the four sections that we'll briefly look at. Let's begin with Persia, because that's where the chapter begins in verse 1. Also, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I, even I, stood up to confirm and strengthen him.
And now, this is the angel speaking to Daniel. And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia. and the fourth shall be far richer than them all. By his strength, through his riches, He shall stir up.
all against the realm. of Greece.
Now we typically don't think too much about Angels In our daily lives, we don't think about them protecting us or ministering to us. We don't give angels really much of a thought. I do, because I married one, but other than that, we typically don't. But the truth is, Scripture tells us that God, Hebrews chapter 1, Sends angels to those of us who inherit salvation to serve us. Or as it says To serve or minister to those who inherit salvation.
Hebrews chapter 1. Did you know in the Bible, out of 66 books, 34 books mention Angels. 17 in the Old Testament, 17 in the new. They're spoken about 103 times in the Old Testament and 165 times in the New Testament. And we have already seen last week that there was this conflict in heaven between demons and angels that affect what happens on the earth.
We should think about that more often. A pastor was preparing a sermon for his small congregation, and someone said to him, Why do you work so hard when your message will be heard by so few? And he said, Ah, you underestimate how large my audience will be. If angels are looking, nothing that is done is trivial. I'm doing it for the glory of God and in the presence of all those witnesses.
Well, verse 1 and 2 tell us that there's going to be three kings followed by a fourth. who's going to be very wealthy. Truth is, there were more than four Persian kings, but the angel is picking out. A section of four. at a very crucial key period of time.
And then it focuses on the fourth. The first king that is predicted is a guy by the name of Cambyses, who was the son of Cyrus. The second king was named, get this, Pseudo-Smyrtus. Because he was an imposter. He looked so much like Cambyses, he actually made people believe that he was him, and that's how he got on the throne.
It was all by trickery. It was all by... being an imposter. This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before Pastor Skip continues, check out this special resource for your family this Christmas.
Here's Nate Heitzig. Teaching my kids about Jesus is one of the greatest privileges of my life. And I wanted to create a book that connects the story of Christmas and Easter in a way that kids, parents, and grandparents will truly cherish. In Christmas Under the Tree, you and your family can experience God's love seen through a unique perspective. And my hope is that this story becomes a treasured family tradition for years to come.
Request your illustrated book and audio experience at connectwithskip.com slash offer with your gift of $25 or more to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Again, that's connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Let's return now to today's message. Third is a guy by the name of Darius I Hystaspes. And fourth is somebody you know.
King Xerxes or a hazueris. You're looking at me like, I know him?
Well, You know him if you've ever read the book of Esther. He is the king that is featured prominently in the book of Esther, the one that he brings Esther into his company with. That's King of Hasuaras, there's Xerxes, very wealthy and had the largest army in the ancient world. He massed an army of two and a half million men plus naval ships, and with that he attacked Greece. History tells us.
He crossed over the Hellespont and at the Battle of Thermopylae waged war against the Grecian Empire. He lost the war. He lost the battle. But it so angered the Greeks that they waited and waited and waited for revenge. 150 years later, They got their wish.
Verse 3. Then A mighty king shall arise.
Now he's waging war, verse 2, against Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise. who will rule with great dominion and do according to his will. And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be uprooted even for others. Besides these.
Virtually every Bible commentator will say this refers to Alexander the Great.
Now, we've already seen him highlighted in previous studies on Daniel in chapter 7. The Grecian Empire was represented by the. Leopard with four wings in chapter eight, by the goat that came from the west, rapidly coming with a notable horn, which broke off and four horns grew in its place.
So we're familiar with this kind of prophecy. This is the king.
So we have the regents of Persia followed by the ruler of Greece.
Now, something about Alexander. He really was pretty great. He stands out in history as one of the most remarkable military leaders, and these verses. Describe him. Perfectly.
In 332 BC, he seized the entire Persian Empire. Within 10 years, get this. Within ten years, he conquered the world. He was king of the world by age thirty three. He had conquered from Europe all the way to India.
And when he finally went to Babylon, and his troops were exhausted, they couldn't go on any further. He was drunk one night. And he wept. Because there were no more worlds to conquer. He done it all.
That was the night he died. And you'll notice what it says in verse 4: His kingdom will be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity.
Now Alexander the Great had a half-brother who was mentally retarded. He had an illegitimate son. And he had a baby born to him posthumously. That is, the girl was pregnant, then he died, then the child was born. All three of them.
were murdered. He had no posterity. And as it says, the kingdom won't go to his posterity, but be divided toward the four winds. of heaven.
Okay. What happened is a battle ensued, and an argument ensued, and they had to decide how they're going to divide up his kingdom.
So they divided the kingdom among the top four generals. Of Alexander the Great, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. The spelling's right there in that nice little outline I gave you. Let me tell you how it was divided, because this is important. Cassander took Macedonia and Greece.
The kingdom of Alexander's father. Lesimachus took Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, and the Thracian Empire. Seleucus took Syria and Babylonia. And Ptolemy, spelled with a P and then a T. Ptolemy, the fourth general, took Egypt, North Africa, and Arabia.
That's how the kingdom was divided.
So we have in chapter 11 The regions of Persia The ruler of Greece.
Now we come to the rivals north and south.
Now, if you'll look at your Bibles, beginning in verse 5, all the way to verse 20, is the longest section in the chapter. That's because The kings north and south are the kings that directly affect Israel.
Now, they all directly affect Israel because Alexander took over the world, the Persian Empire had taken over the world, so they all affect Israel because they were in charge of them. I mean directly affect Israel. Because we're dealing with the nation north and south of Israel. By the way, geography in the Bible is all relative toward Israel. When I was a kid, I remember in school, a teacher showed us a world map.
Map of the world. You know what what country was right in the middle? America, that's what we think of ourselves. We're right in the middle. We're it.
On God's map, Israel's right in the middle. In fact, he says as much. Ezekiel chapter 5, verse 5, God says, and I quote, See, I have set Jerusalem in the midst of all the nations that are around her. In other words, I put Israel right, smack, dab in the middle. That's why in the Bible, north, south, east, and west are always relative to the nation.
of Israel. That's why In Jewish writings like the Midrash and the Mishnah. There are sayings like this one: the land of Israel is at the center of the world. Jerusalem is at the center of the land of Israel. The temple is at the center of Jerusalem.
That's their way of saying the temple in Jerusalem at Israel is the naval or the epicenter of the planet.
So, because you have Israel here, and you have kings up here, and kings down here, and Israel is sandwiched in between and will get the brunt of all their battles.
So much is given in this section. Let's look at a snippet. Verse 5.
Now, another quick warning. You're going to read over and over again in this section, and we're only going to look at a few verses. The king of the north, the king of the south. King of the south, the king of the north, the king of the south, and it goes on and on. It doesn't refer to one king necessarily, but a dynasty of kings.
Whoever happens to be ruling in the north at that time is the king of the north. Whoever happens to be ruling in the south is the king of the south. It's a dynasty. Uh Seleucus the general. Established the Seleucid dynasty.
Syria, the north. Ptolemy established the Ptolemaic dynasty, Egypt down in the south. Verse 5.
Also, the king of the south, that's Egypt, that's the Ptolemaic Empire. shall become strong. As well as one of his princes, and he shall gain power over him and have dominion. His dominion shall be. A great dominion.
And at the end of some years they shall join forces. For the daughter of the king of the south shall go to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the power of her authority. and neither he nor his authority shall stand. But she shall be given up with those who brought her and with him who begot her.
and with him who strengthened her in those times. Here's the deal. The Ptolemaic dynasty down south grew stronger quicker. But not for very long. Eventually.
Eventually the Northern Kingdom Syria became also very strong, and there was tension between north and south. To ease the tension, an alliance was made.
Now, the way alliances were made in those days, is one of the kings would give his daughter to the other king as a wife. Because now that's going to mean we're going to treat each other good, and you hope that works out.
Sometimes it would be more drama than it would be peace, but. That was the idea.
So that's what happens here. The guy down south, Ptolemy Philadelphus, gives his daughter Bernice to the king of Syria named Antiochus Thais.
Now the only problem is the king of the north is already married. He has a wife.
Now he has given the daughter, Bernice, this young, beautiful girl. As his second wife. No problem, he's the king. He divorces his wife, marries her.
Well, his wife doesn't think too highly of that. Kills the new wife and her attendants and poisons her husband.
So the whole alliance falls apart. like this verse. predicted.
Now The rest of the verses. We're not going to be looking at We would be here for weeks and weeks and weeks unraveling all of these pieces and showing you how they fit historically. I think you get the gist of it. It covers about 150 to 200 years of history, but there's a couple of verses I want to show you why this is important. Verse 16: But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will.
and no one shall stand against him. He shall stand in the what? Glorious land. What land would that be? Israel With destruction in his power.
Verse 20: There shall arise in his place one who imposes taxes on the glorious. kingdom, again a reference to Israel. But within a few days he shall be destroyed. but not in anger. or in battle.
What I want you to see is the reason so much Is talked about here is because all of the intrigue, all of the conspiracy, all of the wars, all of the bloodshed. Between north and south, Have Israel in between them.
So when one king wants to attack the other king, they have to go through Israel.
So for hundreds of years, Israel would be sandwiched. between the hammer and the anvil getting beat up, beat up, beat up. By these kingdoms.
Now this happens for years and years until Until One particular king, and he has written about and given more space than any other single individual in this chapter. One northern king in particular, the eighth in that line. or that dynasty of the North. the eighth Seleucid king by the name of Antiochus the Fourth. which takes us to the fourth and final division The rogue of Syria.
Verse 21. Look at this. Yeah. And in his place shall arise a vile person. How would you like to have that as your introduction?
A vile, despicable, wicked person. To whom They will not give the honour of royalty notice, but he shall come in peaceably and seize the kingdom by intrigue. Verse 21 to 24 describe Antiochus IV's rise to power. He was an illegitimate king. He had no right to reign.
He seized the throne by flattery. In fact, that's how he kind of ruled. He would see cities he wanted or people he wanted and he would come with all hearts and flowers and be sweet, always with the end game of taking them captive and being in charge. That's how he got to the throne. Mm.
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