The Reign of Rebellion, Part 2 A

The chastening of the children of Israel, the people of God, would go on and on and on until the end time, the time of Antichrist.

So serious was their sinfulness, so obstinate are their continued rejections that their chastening goes on and on and on and on. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. You know him by several names in the Bible. He's called The Lawless One, The Son of Perdition, and simply The Beast.

You'll hear a few more names for this person, better known as Antichrist. On today's edition of Grace to You as John continues his current study from the book of Daniel titled The Future of Israel. So follow along in your Bible as John begins today's lesson. Daniel chapter 11, verses 36 to 45. Daniel has been focusing on the fact that God has planned to chasten his people, Israel. That because of their sinfulness, they were taken into Babylonian captivity. That was not the end of their chastening. That was the beginning.

They were chastened for 70 years. Daniel kind of thought it would be over at the end of 70 years. God said, no, that's only the beginning. And God sent this angel in chapter 10, 11, and 12 to unfold to Daniel that the chastening of the children of Israel, the people of God, would go on and on and on until the end time, the time of Antichrist.

So serious was their sinfulness, so obstinate are their continued rejections that their chastening goes on and on and on and on. Gentile oppression of Israel will last until the kingdom of Messiah. The angel says to Daniel, Daniel, millennia will go by and the land will be overrun. It will be oppressed. It will be devastated. It will be plundered. And that is exactly the case. In fact, I remember the first time that I went to the land of Israel, I remarked at how barren it was, even on the hillsides, and I was instructed rather rapidly that that was not natural to the place.

The place naturally, one guide told us, should look like a mountainous area in the western United States in the Rockies or in the lower mountains of the Sierra Nevadas, just literally covered with trees of a pine nature. But they had been so denuded because the city would always be denuded in its rebuilding, and every time it was wiped out, they'd strip its land barren of the trees to rebuild it again, and it has been overrun and oppressed and plundered throughout the centuries. Now, as we have been looking at the unfolding of this prophecy, we've been hearing that message from the angel. Now, you remember that in the first 35 verses of chapter 11, which, by the way, we will not go over again.

You can be sure. That was a long one. But the first 35 verses detail for us the oppression of the people of God and the land of Israel under the Persian and Greek eras. And we saw last time how absolutely accurate that prophecy was.

The flow of that period, you'll remember, was marked by a series of key monarchs, a series of key kings who oppressed the land and the people. Now, as we approach verse 36, we leap across centuries to the final king, Antichrist, and we meet him in verses 36 to 45. We've seen the Persian era, the Greek era, and now we see the final form of the Roman era, the final chapter of the chastening of the people of Israel.

And this amazing figure will be all the evil power of Ahasuerus, Alexander, Antiochus the Great, Antiochus Epiphanes combined, and more. He is the counterfeit Christ who makes a treaty or a covenant or a league or a pact with Israel. He promises to protect. He aligns Israel with the West. And then in the middle of the seven-year tribulation, he breaks that pact. He desecrates their temple. He desecrates their religion.

He blasphemes their God and precipitates the holocaust of Armageddon, which is ended in the return of Jesus Christ. Now, beginning in verse 36, there's a sharp break. It is introduced to us at the end of verse 35, even to the time of the end.

That's the key phrase. This is going to go on to the time of the end. Up to this point, the prophecy has dealt with history past.

Now we come to a different scene, history future, the time of the end. Now, some Bible commentators, and you who get into the depths of these things will be interested in this, but some Bible commentators want to apply this to some historical point. They want to apply the rest of the chapter to Antiochus Epiphanes or some other personality. Primarily, Antiochus Epiphanes is selected, but they don't want to allow for prophecy in the future, so they want to tie it all to some past event. But that just doesn't work very well.

Let me suggest several reasons. First of all, in verse 35, the time of the end is an eschatological term. It deals with last things. In verse 40, it begins, and at the time of the end. And both of those uses indicate a future last days point. Secondly, the scope of the prophecy is beyond just the Persian and Greek area. The angel said this in chapter 10, verse 14, Now I am come to make you understand what shall befall your people in the latter days. So from the very beginning the prophecy was said to stretch much further than just Persian-Greek times. Further, we can follow with minute, absolutely accurate detail all of the prophecy up to verse 35. But after that, we have no historical data that can at all relate to what happens from verse 36 to 45.

Certainly not in the life of Antiochus Epiphanes. Notice also, in verse 36, it says near the end of the verse, all of this is going to prosper till the indignation be accomplished. Now the indignation, which is to be fully accomplished, simply means the final outpouring of God's wrath and that demands the last days.

In fact, the indignation is almost a synonymous term with the tribulation. Further, the description of the ruler in this passage absolutely detail by detail parallels other Scripture accounts of Antichrist. Also, chapter 12, verse 1, tells us that at that time shall Michael stand up and there'll be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. In other words, there is coming a time that'll be worse than any other time in the history of man. And verse 2, it'll be followed by the resurrection.

Now that has to be the last time. Furthermore, the last three revelations in the book of Daniel have closed with a word about the Antichrist. It is fitting that this one follow that same pattern. I just wanted you to know that there are reasons why we interpret this in relation to the Antichrist. And so we sweep across thousands of years of history to the final world ruler. His character, his conflict, his condemnation. If you've read this, you may have been confused by it, but it really isn't that difficult.

Let's flow through and see what it says. First, his character. What will he be like? And we've seen this already several times in Daniel, and Daniel builds upon the past. The king, just calls him the king, shall do according to his will. And he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished, for that which is determined shall be done. Now, most Bible students have called him in this verse the willful king.

The king who shall do according to his will. This particular figure comes under several titles in the Bible. In Daniel 7, he is called the little horn. In Daniel 8, he is called the king of fierce countenance, which has to do with his face, old fierce face. In chapter 9, he is called the prince that shall come. In 2 Thessalonians 2, he is called the man of sin, and the son of perdition, which is a Hebraism, meaning he is doomed to destruction. In Revelation 13, he is called the beast. Now, all of these have reference to the same personality, and here he is called the king who does according to his will, or the willful king.

Now, the angel gives us several facts that indicate his character. First of all, his character is marked by prerogative, prerogative. In other words, he exercises the ultimate prerogative. He makes all decisions. He does according to his will. He is an absolute sovereign.

He is an absolute dictator. He will rule alone. He will rule with utter selfishness, utter self-will. He will rule in a self-centered and self-energized approach, and behind the scenes, moving it all along, is Satan himself. One writer said he will come to the world with the baptism of hell.

He will have full demon cooperation. He will establish an absolute world monarchy, and his credentials for pulling it off will be his ability to do signs and wonders and powerful miracles to deceive people. He literally rules the world, and in his ruling the world becomes the protector of Israel, because everybody wants Israel.

Russia, the East, the Arab world, apparently even the South, a coalition of Africa, and the West becomes its protector. It is true that there are other rulers. Revelation 17 says there are ten kings, but they are puppet kings under this one.

Revelation 13 says he has a cohort called the false prophet, but the false prophet just simply does his bidding. You say to yourself, well, what about the kings of the South that attack him? What about the king of the North that attacks him? What about the king of the East that attacks him?

Oh yes, there will be a fomenting revolution against his sovereignty, but that's only after his sovereignty is established. So he has prerogative. He makes all the decisions. He rules the world.

Every man on the globe, in order to function in human society, according to Revelation 13, will have to take his mark, the mark of the beast. Secondly, he's characterized not only by prerogative, but by pride. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god.

Now, Antiochus Epiphanes was proud. He was an egomaniac, but he never magnified himself above every god. In fact, he very religiously worshipped the gods of the Greeks, and he even tried to force the Jews to do the same. But the Antichrist will be absolutely atheistic, irreligious, setting himself above every god. Paul makes this same point in 2 Thessalonians 2. He says, he will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he is God, sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Now, there are egotists and there are egotists, but the guy who sits in the temple telling himself he's God is the egotist of all egotists. And by the way, you notice it says, he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god.

Paul says, he opposes all gods and all forms of worship. And Paul uses a participle. He is the opposer, or he is the adversary. The very name of Satan is ascribed to him, and that links him with the one behind him. He is the exaltor of himself.

Again, in 2 Thessalonians, Paul uses a participle. He is the one who exalts himself, and that same verb is used twice in 2 Corinthians 12 where it says, exalted above measure. He exalts himself and he opposes all other form of religion.

All that is called God, all that is worshipped, all deities, all shrines, all images, all alders, everything, takes a second place to him. Oh, for a while the Bible tells us he'll tolerate religion, and then all of a sudden he'll just consume it all. He devours, doesn't he, the false church in Revelation 17 when the Bible says he consumes the whore, the harlot, the false church. He lets Israel exist in their temple, then all of a sudden in the middle of the tribulation he devastates the place, commits the abomination of desolation all over again, and desecrates the temple and the holy people and starts to slaughter them. And before he's done, two out of every three Jews will die. So he gets to the place where he then sets himself up as the God of gods right in the temple and speaks great things.

And that leads us to the third thing. He's not only proud, he is profane. It says he shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He is a blasphemer without equal. And in Revelation chapter 13 we find the same thing. He will blaspheme in ways that are without precedent. I'm thinking of a couple of verses there.

I think it's verse 5 and 6. It was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he opened his mouth to blaspheme against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. He is the very mouth of hell.

He opens his mouth and hell talks. He is profane. He even tries to change God's moral laws, Daniel 7.25 says. He even tries to change the standards that God has set. And by the way, when it says he shall speak marvelous or astonishing things, that is a very interesting Hebrew participle that means he will speak things that are unbelievable.

In other words, there is a uniqueness. He will be more blasphemous than anyone else. His blasphemy will be unique to himself.

He will go so far. He will blaspheme God in a degree of insolence and a degree of self-exaltation beyond what anybody's ever done. Suppose we could ask the question at this point, why does God let him do it? Why does God tolerate it?

And the answer is because it is part of the purging process of purifying God's people Israel. And by the way, God only lets it go for a short time. It says in Revelation 13, only for 42 months can he really carry this off. Only for three and a half years, just half of the tribulation. And it says it in verse 36 too.

He'll do it, but he'll prosper only until the indignation be accomplished. Just until the final unfolding of the wrath of God is finished. God puts a time limit. And the reason again I say that God allows this and permits such oppression of the Jews is that it is this people, listen to me, it is this ultimate incredible blasphemy and oppression of the antichrist that finally brings Israel to the proper attitude where they will recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah and turn to him.

And the Bible shows us that nothing short of this will do that. Verse 37, not only does he exercise prerogative, pride, profanity, but verse 37 tells us he's perverted. He is perverted. And the angel shows us three things which normally men hold dear, which are just normal, natural responses to human behavior, but not him.

He is perverted in the very basics of human behavior. First of all, he does not regard the gods, that should be plural, the gods of his fathers. And the reason we know it's plural, gods, is because the singular is used twice in the next few words. And so in using the plural he is referring about, referring as opposed to one god to many gods. He doesn't even regard the traditional religion, the traditional worship of his fathers.

Now watch this. He has no proper perspective of family. You remember when Paul said in the last days men will not have natural affection? And he uses a Greek term which has to do with family love.

In other words, in the last days the family will break down, the family will fall apart, people will no longer care about their families, they'll have no respect for the parents, no respect for their heritage, no respect for the traditions of their fathers, no respect for the beliefs that have been handed down. That's this kind of man. He has no respect at all, no natural affection, no family love for those who are his ancestors. Men normally have an affinity for and a respect for the gods of their parents, their ancestors. Some sense of respect, not him. He doesn't have normal family love. Secondly, this is very interesting, neither does he regard the desire of women. Now this is a very difficult one to interpret. It could mean that he's a homosexual.

That could be very possibly the meaning. He has no normal desire for women. He has no capacity to love a woman.

He has no interest in loving a woman. Some people think it means that he has none of the gentleness, none of the graciousness, nor does he appreciate any of it that women bring to society and give to their children. Some other commentators have felt that it means that he doesn't care for the Messiah, that the desire of women is kind of a title that the Jewish mothers use to speak of Messiah. In other words, the ultimate desire of a Jewish woman would be to give birth to the Messiah. But I really believe that interpretation is foreign to the context here. Why should we introduce into this some Jewish element? We cannot distinguish Antichrist because he has no desire for the Messiah.

A lot of people don't have that. I think what it's saying is he has no capacity for normal affection for a family. He has no capacity for normal affection for a wife, a mother, a sister.

He's perverted. And thirdly, he doesn't regard any God. You don't have to travel very far around this world to find out that most people believe in God, some kind of God.

You just watch them when they get into trouble and see if they don't. All across the globe, men invent religion everywhere because they believe in the supernatural. This man does not. He is utterly irreligious.

That's a perversion of normal human response. He has no family love. He has no love for women. He has no love for God of any kind. He is perverted.

So he's characterized by prerogative, pride, profanity, and perversion. Fifth, by power. He will have power. He will magnify himself above everything. The end of verse 37. How can he do this?

How can he pull it off? Verse 38, but in his estate, or literally, Hebrew, in its place. What's place?

Normal human desires for family and women and God. In its place, he will honor the God of fortresses. That Hebrew word is used six times in this chapter.

Verse 1, verse 7, verse 10, verse 19, verse 31, and verse 39. And every time it means a strong place, a fort, a strong place. And it has to do with military power. Let me tell you something. The world is ready for that kind of leader.

The world is ready for that kind of leader. It wouldn't bother anybody today that a man didn't have a normal relationship to a family. It wouldn't bother anybody today if the man happened to be perverted in his sexual life. I read a textbook that's used in the public school system to teach sex education.

They present homosexuality as an alternative. Everybody's different. We all have different noses, different kind of ears. Everybody likes different kind of flavors of ice cream.

Everybody's different. The world's ready for that kind of thing. And God isn't important in our society. We take an atheist, someone who didn't believe, especially if he pretended to be religious.

We're ready for this. That's John MacArthur, chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, with the sobering reminder that the world is moving toward the judgment prophesied in Scripture and how you can escape condemnation. Today's lesson is part of John's current study titled The Future of Israel. John, I was struck by something you said today in talking about the Antichrist. You said that our world seems ready for that kind of ruler, and it occurred to me that today's sermon actually was one you preached several years ago.

Today we live in a culture with big organizations that are mapping out the new world order, and it seems to me that the world is even more ready for Antichrist now. Is that how you see it also? Well, I do see it that way, and in particular because of the fact that globalism has arrived. You could go back 50 years and ask the question, could one man rule the world?

How would that even be possible? Because nationalism was so highly defined. Nobody seemed to be able to rule the world, but all of that has changed. The world is one world, and it's one world by virtue of the massive, massive impact of electronics and the media. Basically everything is ubiquitous.

Everything is everywhere. And also the fact that with globalism you have the interaction of all these nations, the rubbing out of borders, even hostility toward nationalism, even in our own country. When have you ever seen such continual hatred for identifying as America?

This is being assaulted and attacked because Satan's strategy is to wipe out all the borders, to eliminate everything so that Antichrist can step in and rule the whole world. There has never been a time in human history where that has been possible at the level that it is currently possible for. You look back, for example, to the New Testament era, and you say Caesar ruled the world. Really, Caesar's world was the Mediterranean, and not even the whole of that. He didn't get extended very far into Africa. But what about the rest of the world?

He had no identity even in the rest of the world. So the idea of a one world ruler would be very obscure in any era of human history except the one we're living in today. And because the networking of all these nations and the commonality of life around the globe has perpetuated the same problems everywhere, the same kind of moral problems, social problems, economic problems, all the problems, one person who could offer the solution to everything could rise to a tremendous power. And that's set up perfectly for the Antichrist. Thanks, John. And friend, if you'd like to learn more about the Antichrist or the End Times, I'd encourage you to pick up John's two-volume commentary on the book of Revelation.

Understanding the book of Revelation is key to knowing what the future holds for you and for the whole world. Order the commentary when you contact us today. You can call us at 800-55-GRACE, or you can order online at gty.org. Each volume of the Revelation commentary costs $19 and shipping is free. Including the two Revelation commentaries, there are 33 total volumes in John's commentary series.

It covers every book of the New Testament, and if you order the whole set at once, you get a discount on each volume. Again, to order, go to gty.org or call us at 800-55-GRACE. And friend, if you've been encouraged by John's current study on the future of Israel, or if our recent series on doubt helped strengthen your assurance of salvation, or if someone you know has come to faith in Christ after hearing John's verse-by-verse teaching, we'd love to hear that story. Email your feedback to letters at gty.org, or you can mail a letter to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Watch Grace To You television this Sunday, DIRECTV Channel 378, and then be here Monday as John continues to look at how Israel's future should give you hope for what's to come. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time. On Grace To You.