I Dare You: Remember! - Part B

So every time God fulfills a promise that he has made or a prediction that he has made, should cause us to well up with faith.

It's true that some of the prophecies in the Bible don't sound like good news, but as Skip shares today on Connect with Skip Heitig, knowing God keeps his promises are cause for great hope and joy for the Christian. But right now, we want to tell you about a resource that will strengthen the soul of your marriage and help it thrive. We have an exciting resource to help strengthen your marriage so it can thrive no matter what your circumstances. It's The Marriage Devotional, 52 Days to Strengthen the Soul of Your Marriage by Levi and Jenny Lusko.

And we'd love to send you a copy as thanks for your gift this month to grow the ministry of Connect with Skip. How do you figure out what's going on underneath your marriage? You ask about it. So when was the last time you've checked in with your spouse? And a little pro tip, Jenny and I, our marriage counselor, for what it's worth, she told us to never, ever, ever do the check-in during date night.

And this has been revolutionary for us. We used to just literally have a fight every single date night because that was our check-in. One of us would be dumb enough over appetizers to go, well, how, what's going on in your house? Which is usually code for, please tell me the five things I'm doing wrong this week. You know what I'm saying? And so now, like, I'm like, I'm pushing the cauliflower away because I'm like feeling hot and angry and, you know, and then we get in this big fight.

And she goes, oh, gosh, you're doing it wrong. Date night's joy. Date night's fun. Just keep it light.

Put a pin in stuff that's going to give you stress on the date night. But you got to have the check-in too. Great marriages are made, not born. And this devotional journey will be the encouragement your marriage, not just any marriage, needs to flourish. So we cling. We cling to God. We cling to our spouse. We cling to the local church because we're vines. And we want our marriage to be like a fruitful vine in the heart of our house.

In The Marriage Devotional, 52 Days to Strengthen the Soul of Your Marriage, Levi and Jenny will point you to God's word and help you experience a depth and beauty you may have never thought possible. We'll send you a copy of this powerful resource as thanks for your gift to expand Connect with Skip Heitzig to reach more people in major U.S. cities. Yours for a donation of $50 or more. Just call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer.

That's connectwithskip.com slash offer. Let's join Skip now as he looks at Daniel 11. Let me tell you how it was divided because this is important. So, Cassandra took Macedonia and Greece, the kingdom of Alexander's father. Lysimachus 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 regents 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. But 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 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, 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. 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 Theus. 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 is 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 saluted 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 and in his place shall arise a vile person.

How'd you like to have that as your introduction? A vile despicable wicked person to whom to whom they will not give the honor of royalty notice but he shall come in peaceably and seize the kingdom by intrigue. Verse 21 to 24 describe Antiochus the fourth 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. In fact he called himself ready Theos Antiochus Theos Epiphaneus which means loosely translated I am God most glorious manifest.

He had no self-esteem issue as we've said before. That's the name he gave himself Theos Antiochus Theos Epiphaneus actually he was Crepus Maximus. He called himself Antiochus Epiphanes the illustrious glorious one. The Jews called him Antiochus Epimeneids the madman because of what he had done to them. Verse 25 through 28 describe his retaliation with Egypt a peace treaty was signed and it was broken both rulers actually broke it but look at verse 29 now let's get into this at the appointed time he shall return and go toward the south so he's up north moving south but it shall not be like the former or the latter for ships from Cyprus shall come against them therefore he shall be grieved and return in rage against the holy covenant and do damage and so he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant now by this time the Ptolemies down south were so sick of Antiochus that they called upon a new superpower looming in the west called Rome to help them. Rome sent a fleet of ships from the island of Cyprus who met Antiochus the fourth down just outside of Alexandria Egypt and they warned him strictly if you go to battle against this kingdom you're going to also go to battle with us Rome we're going to be allied with them and we're going to take you down and then they drew a circle around him in the sand they said you better make your decision before you leave the island leave the circle so they publicly humiliate him now he's in a corner puts his tail between his legs and goes back home now he's going from south to north if he's going back home from south to north what land does he go through Israel what city does he go through Jerusalem now verse 31 here it is Antiochus now humiliated as it says and enraged heads toward home verse 31 and forces shall be mustered by him and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress that's the temple in Jerusalem and they shall take away the daily sacrifices and place the abomination of desolation there there it is now every time from here on when we read about the abomination of desolation this is the primary reference what Antiochus epiphanies did is what someone else is going to do coming in the future the abomination of desolation here's what happened historically Antiochus placed soldiers around the temple area forbidding people to worship forbidding people to sacrifice on one sabbath he sent his soldiers to the city of Jerusalem to kill as many babies as they could find on another occasion they went to the city of Jerusalem to kill as many women as they could find he made idolatry mandatory erecting a statue of Zeus killing a pig on the altar of sacrifice forcing the Jewish priests to eat pork sprinkling the juices of the pig all around the temple desolating it desecrating it and then he made nudity public taking what he called athletes and parading them nude in full view of the temple mount area just totally in a filthy manner desecrating the temple in verse 32 those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery those are those who help the flattery those are those who helped him do it who were actually Judean Jews but the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits it's always been one of my favorite verses of scripture I didn't really know what the context was until much later I'll tell you what it is in a moment and those are the people who understand shall instruct many yet for many days they shall fall by the sword and flame by captivity and plundering now when they fall they shall be aided with a little help but many shall be joined with them by intrigue those who aided with a little help those who trust their God and do great exploits is a reference I believe to the deliverers who would come a group of Hasmonean priests led by Judas Maccabeus who revolted the Syrians and re-established proper worship in the temple that is still celebrated to this day in the Jewish feast of Hanukkah.

Hanukkah is all about driving out Antiochus Epiphanes and the Syrians and re-establishing worship on the temple. So poor Daniel man he's like 86 years of age and he's mourning and weeping because Israel isn't the glorious nation and capital like it once was the people have gone back but only a few and the work has stopped and he's praying and mourning and fasting and the angel comes and goes I've got your answer Daniel you're probably not going to like this but the 70 years of captivity are up but there are more conflicts yet to come because after this 70 years will come a Xerxes and then an Alexander and then rivals between two kingdoms for a couple hundred years till eventually in Antiochus Epiphanes who will utterly obliterate your people and that will happen all the way to the end. Now by now I hope you're wondering why would God allow all that to happen I know Daniel was thinking that and so verse 35 tells us and some of those of understanding shall fall to refine them purify them and make them white until the time of the end because it is still for the appointed time. Daniel God is going to use this suffering would you agree that nothing is effective in driving people to God like suffering nothing gets our attention nothing drives our eyes upward I know we hate it we all vote against it if we could eradicate suffering in all of its forms today but God uses it and that's why Peter said in the New Testament the trials of your faith have come so that your faith more precious than gold though refined by the fire may be proved to be genuine. Now I'm going to close with a question why the detail you got to understand of all the chapters of Daniel I was least excited about teaching this one until I got into it why the detail why this king and that king and this all these detailed events three reasons number one to highlight the survival of the Jewish people they shouldn't exist they have been hassled and hounded they should be out of existence existence but they exist. Jewish survival is miraculous here's just a sampling of history 50,000 Jews were killed in Seleucia 20,000 died in Caesarea by the Syrians Anticus Epiphanes killed 80,000 on this event that I told you about sold 40,000 as slaves and took 40,000 as prisoners in 70 a.d the Romans entered Jerusalem and killed 1,300,000 Jews the emperor Constantine outlawed Jews killing them cutting off their ears dispersing them in the 5th and 6th century Jews were forbidden to hold public office in Europe and over 60,000 were killed in 633 a.d with the rise of Islam in the Arabian peninsula Jews were slaughtered even to this day the crusades of the 11th century the Christian crusades the motto was kill a Jew and save your soul many of them were slaughtered in the name of Christ in 1350 the black plague in Europe happened Jews were blamed for it and half of them were killed because of it in 1492 in Spain when Columbus sailed the ocean blew 80,000 Jews were pushed into the sea most of them died by exposure World War II the Third Reich Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime exterminated 6,000 Jews 6 million Jews in a holocaust there is no reason they should exist but they exist because of this angelic keeping that goes on in heavenly places Queen Victoria asked her prime minister show me one thing that proves the bible is true the prime minister said the Jew madam the Jew second reason the detail is given is to highlight the similarity of the Antichrist you're going to read next week in the last 10 verses of this chapter about somebody else who is coming and Antiochus Epiphanes is the prototype of that Antichrist that's the second reason here's the third reason and I close with this because it highlights the sovereignty of God sovereignty of God I love it when the bible shows off God's track record and we see 135 predictions fulfilled that are mentioned in 35 verses that's God's trademark in fact so often in the old testament God says to the false gods I can do what you can't do I'm going to predict this this this and that can you do that uh no can any of your false gods make the kind of predictions I can make uh no so every time God fulfills a promise that he has made or a prediction that he has made should cause us to well up with faith every tomorrow has two handles handle of anxiety the handle of faith most of us like to grab the handle of anxiety I don't know what's going to happen I don't know what's going to happen okay so you don't know what's going to happen so what every time God fulfills a promise that he makes it should move us toward that handle of faith because the thinking person will say this if 135 prophecies that verifiable are found in 35 verses then I think the rest of what he says is also going to happen like Jesus is coming back and like the kingdom age is going to come and heaven is a real place that's what it should make us think and yet some will say yeah I've heard this before I've heard these warnings for years Jesus is coming the end of the world is coming my grandmother used to think that well baby your grandmother was right on it is coming it is happening there was a man who wanted a barometer that he saw in a store beautiful wood and brass and he thought it would look good on his mantle so he ordered one had it shipped to his home he unpacked the barometer he looked at it he was so disappointed he thought it's defective because the needle was stuck on the section of the barometer reading hurricane he goes ah this stupid thing it doesn't work put it back in the box had to go to work so he wrote a quick letter he was going to mail it on the way to the city where he worked when he drove home that night the barometer was gone not only the barometer was gone his house was gone that had the barometer in it yeah it was right a hurricane came the angel who spoke to Daniel his needle was right on storm after storm after storm would hit Israel and there is a storm yet to come on the horizon talked about in the last section of this chapter that makes everything we have briefly considered this morning nothing more than child's play what Jesus said is the worst period of time that has yet to hit planet earth here's my question here's my question can you come to church week after week and sit sermon after sermon week after week and see God's power demonstrated in his word like this and remain unmoved because if you can I pity you when you see such verifiable evidence of the omniscience and power of God and prophecy it's absolutely amazing it should cause us to bow and worship and relinquish control to this sovereign life that wraps up Skip heitzig's message from his series i dare you find the full message as well as books booklets and full teaching series at connectwithskipp.com now here's Skip to share how you can keep these messages coming your way to connect you and many others around the world with God's word when we remember all that God has already done to fulfill his promises it helps us to trust him to fulfill every word in scripture and that's why we share these teachings to encourage you to put your faith in God and follow him with confidence and we want to invite you to help keep these messages online and on the and on the air so more friends like you can experience God's presence in their life as they keep growing in their faith and I'm praying that in 2023 we'll be able to reach people in more cities in the United States but I need your help to make that happen would you give generously today here's how you can do that visit connectwithskipp.com slash donate to give a gift that's connectwithskipp.com slash donate or call 800-922-1888 800-922-1888 thank you for your generosity be sure to come back next week as Skip begins a powerful message about why scripture gives you reason to rest not stress connect with Skip hyton is a presentation of connection communications connecting you to god's never changing truth in ever-changing times