The apocalyptic visions Daniel experienced in the Old Testament left him frightened and confused and overwhelmed for several days. Maybe as you've read them, they've had the same effect on you. With a day on Truth for Life, Alastair Begg takes us to those prophecies to help us see how we can resist evil schemes and rest in God's provision. Let's open our Bibles to the book of Daniel. We're in chapter 8.
It's interesting, they're talking to one another, and then verse 14 it says, And he said to me, Of course, it was Daniel that needed the answer to the question. And here we go, for 2,300 evenings and mornings. And then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state. When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man, and I heard a man's voice.
Calling out, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.
Well It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? This is God, he speaks to Gabriel, and Gabriel has the responsibility given to him. And I take it that this is our friend Gabriel, whom we know from elsewhere. And As a result of what he begins to say, Even the encounter with him in verse 17, Daniel, when he came, was frightened and he fell on his face.
Well, that's not a very good start, is it? You want to know what's going on, and you get the messenger sent to you, and then you just collapse in fearfulness. But he said to me, Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end. And again in verse 19, Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end.
Now This is no time for falling asleep, and yet in verse 18, he fell into a deep sleep. I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground.
Now, the reason for this is not because of the length of Gabriel's message, but the nature of Gabriel's message, unlike Um would be true for some of the rest of us.
Now, the whole thing really turns, doesn't it, on this question of the end? Is this the end to which this passage is referring? I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation. That indignation is that abomination, that violation, that. Situation that has now been created within the temple of God.
So I take it that the angel is informing Daniel that God is going to intervene on behalf of his people and that this horn. which is uh so A vicious and are full of animus. is going to be broken, but not by human hand.
Now It's up for you folks to decide. You're sensible people and you have to read the Bible for yourselves, right? It is common to read this reference to the end as referring to the end of the age at the return of Jesus Christ. If that is correct, then what this vision actually envisages is the time of the final Antichrist. This points to that time.
But I don't believe it refers to that time. that the end to which it's referring concerns the destruction of Antiochus. which will be a foretaste. of the final destruction of the Antichrist. himself.
And the character sketch that is given of this man, verse 23 and on, and at the latter end of their kingdom when the transgressors have reached their limit, here we have this description of this individual. And when you read the description, and we will do in a moment now, you find that this description could apply to more than one political leader from the history books of the world. Because these features that we now see are common In the kingdoms that are radically opposed to God's word and to God's people.
Now How then are we to understand what it means for Daniel to understand? What did it mean for Daniel to understand?
Well, clearly. It couldn't mean. that he was able to see the future as though he was reading an advanced copy of a history book. Right? There's no way that he could know.
About what would happen in 400 years' time. in the fulfillment of this prophecy.
So the understanding of Daniel surely means That he needs to understand what lies at the heart of all of this, that this actually will take place. And that the actions that will be revealed and embodied finally in this character. Reveals something of the nature of endemic evil. He's understanding that this conflict that is represented in all of these various elements is something that is so immense and so far-reaching. That ultimately the triumph over it is going to have to be something that reaches way beyond the proximity of his own time.
Now If we were spending longer, we could Unpack this in detail, but let's just notice that we're told that at the latter end, verse 23, there will be a king of bold face who shall arise.
Now, again, we've identified this individual. The word that is used here for a bold face is the same word that is used to describe the brazen hussy in Proverbs chapter 7. That's how I'm cleaning it up because he's a prostitute in chapter 7. That is the brazen boldness of animosity that is represented. Insolent, arrogant, defiant, and skilled in intrigue.
A man who understands riddles, a man who is is skillful in double talk. A man who is able to use his God-given intelligence for evil purposes. And when you read 24 and 25, His power shall be great. but not by his own power. and he shall cause fearful destruction.
By his cunning, deceit shall prosper.
So you have destruction, you have deceit. And in his own mind he shall become great. You have the notion of delusions of grandeur and of self-deification. And he shall even rise up against the prince of princes. He will stand in defiance of God himself.
And all of this. will not be by his own power. My big brother, even for the breath it breathes to sin against God. It is dependent upon the one. against whom it sins.
That's one of those sentences again, isn't it? It would be great if you could just have one. even for the breath it breathes to sin against God. It is dependent. upon the one.
against whom it sins. Man cannot lift his fist in defiance against Almighty God unless Almighty God gives him the strength to do so. What an amazing mystery. Deceit prospers, verse 25. Deceit will always prosper.
in a context like this. Because at the back of it is the great deceiver. namely Satan himself. and deception. and delusion.
and the exchanging of the truth of God for a lie. Always will lie at the heart of these things, at the very beginning of creation. Isn't it the lie of the evil one? And he says to Adam and Eve in the garden, you don't need to pay attention to that kind of stuff. You will be like God if you eat this stuff.
That's the only reason he doesn't want you to do it. He wants to spoil your life. If he really wanted you to have a nice life, he'd let you do anything you want to do. That's a lie. It's the same lie that's around in young people's lives now.
If God was a good God, He'd let you do anything you want to do. Like overdose on heroin? You just do whatever you want to do. Would that be a good God? No, God says, listen, here's the way.
You can have all of this, and I made it for you so that your life will be fantastic. Leave this alone. An evil one comes and says, Hey, you don't have to leave that alone. And so the roots of man's rebellion and defiance against God are the same always, everywhere. And his arrogance is revealed here.
Is that he is flying in the face of God? By his cunning, he will make deceit prosper. In his own mind, he will become great. Without warning, he will destroy many. He will even rise up against the prince of princes, and he will be broken.
But by no Human hand.
Now The vision, verse 26, of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true.
So seal it up. for it refers to many days from now. What does that mean? or presumably Roll up their scroll. And But uh Paper clip on it, or you know, put a seal on it, because this is important information.
and it's important information for a time not yet.
So the idea of sealing it up is not a notion of secrecy. It's the notion of preservation. Because nearly 400 years were going to elapse. before these events that we've just been considering. before Antiochus Epiphanes is doing his thing.
And in that period of time, the people of God would need this information.
So Daniel is told, make sure. that you seal it up. Make sure that you preserve it. And Daniel. Land on Local television and radio to tell about his great experiences and.
He sold millions of books and became wonderfully wealthy and famous.
Now He went to his bed. He was actually overcome. And he lay sick. for some days. I guess seeing into the divine purposes.
Must be quite devastating. To have God Almighty pull back a little curtain. and show Daniel what's there. surely must bring him into some realm of divine sorrow. in the face of man's wickedness.
And surely into some element Yeah. A compassion that is divine. For the people who were going to experience this. That's why I've never understood these people who. Love to talk about how exciting it is.
that there That they're all going to be taken away in the rapture. And everybody else can basically go fly a kite, you know? Dear folks, sorry we were gone. Have a good life, you know? Does that sound to you They're kind of Divine response.
It doesn't to me. Daniel is given an insight into what will happen. And it puts him in his bed. It puts him in his face. It puts him on his knees.
I think that's the right response. And after he'd sorted himself out, He says, then I arose. and went about the king's business. But I was appalled by the vision. I did not understand it.
Say, wait a minute, I thought you understood it.
Well, he didn't understand the ultimate aspect of it as it is finally revealed. The prophecy was future to him, it's history for us. But let's finish with this notion of arising and going about the king's business. Because Monday comes and we must arise. and be about the king's business.
Remember that wonderful story of Wesley, who's riding somewhere in England, and he meets a stranger. And the stranger says to him, mister Wesley, if you knew that Jesus Christ was going to return tomorrow, what would you do tomorrow? And he went into the saddle bag of his horse and he pulled out his diary. or his calendar, and he opened it up. and he read for the following day's activities that were planned and into the morning of the next day.
And he said to the fellow, That, dear sir. is what I would do. In other words. Business as usual. God has set you where you live.
God has given to you the privileges of employment. God has appointed your space and your place. And it is to that place. to our individual spot that each of us returns. to go back to the king's business.
alerted to the reality, to the drama of divine impact. But nevertheless, back to the routine. In Daniel's case, back to serve Belshazzar. Not much of a job at that point in his life. Hauled out of retirement in order to give the odd interpretation to a prophecy, but beyond that, nothing much happening.
And as we go back to the king's business. Let's do so in the awareness of the fact. that the activity of the Evil One Just is as predictable I was going to say it's the weather, but that's no good. is predictable as the Browns losing. Did he lose today?
I don't even know. Oh, they did? I didn't know. I didn't know. I knew it was 10-0 after two quarters, but I didn't know anything else.
Okay. And here and here it is. Here here it is. You notice, this is your takeaway. In verse 11, and the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown.
And truth was thrown to the ground. These three things are always present. Number one, The daily sacrifices were taken away. You say, but wait a minute, we don't do daily sacrifices. Daily sacrifices were part of the liturgy of Judaism.
That was what they did under the Mosaic covenant. We don't have the Mosaic covenant, no. But the reason for those things was in order that the people of God might understand on a daily basis that sacrifice was necessary for fellowship with God. And the evil one says, I'm going to stamp on that, I'm going to get rid of that notion in their minds. That's exactly what he wants to do to you.
He wants to suggest to you that The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for your sin is really not that significant a deal. when in actual fact your entire eternal destiny rests on it. And the evil one comes in order to challenges at that place. Say, you're a fine religious person. You're doing good deeds and everything else.
And he's happy with a religion that is a crossless religion, that is a Christless religion, that is a religion that knows nothing of... Penal substitutionary atonement. His attack is always at the cross. Always at the cross. Beware of anyone who offers to you a crossless Christianity, an approach to the living of the Christian life that does not take you again and again back to the place that says, My only hope, my righteousness, my sole defense, my righteousness is in Christ.
Today, tomorrow, and every day, it is tied entirely there. And the evil one wants to come and say, No, it's not. You don't have to worry about that. That's the first thing. The second thing is that the place of the sanctuary was cast down.
You say, Well, we don't believe in sanctuary. That's right, we don't actually.
So it was the temple that was destroyed. What does the devil do? Destroys the temple. What is the temple? On an individual level, our individual bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
He says, You don't have to worry about this or that, do this, do that, it doesn't matter. He'd be happy to destroy you. And it's true that we are being joined together as living souls, built into a spiritual house, to a temple, as Peter says, and the evil one comes and says, I'll destroy the temple for them. By false teaching or by disunity or animosity. or lethargic.
Horrible worship. The people just Dead? He attacks the place of sacrifice. He seeks to destroy the temple. And thirdly and finally, He seeks to cast truth.
down to the ground. Then Paul takes his leave of the Ephesian elders and he says to them, Listen, guys, when I leave, you need to be alert to the fact that false teachers will arise from among you. Loved ones, if Paul gave that warning to a church that he founded and spent three years grounding in the truth, don't you think that's a good warning for us to listen to? To recognize the real essential danger that is there, because the activity of the evil one is to cast the truth down into the ground. And he will do it in every possible way that he can.
Well, you see, but the gates of hell will not prevail. I know that. But they'll still push. They'll still push. And ultimately, of course.
Antiochus epiphanies. Is an anti-type. of the Antichrist. And ultimately, this picture of animosity embodied evil, if you like. Will be fulfilled in the man of lawlessness, as we said when we finished last time in 2 Thessalonians 2.
But the challenge to us is a straightforward one. It's the challenge that was the challenge to the people when they found themselves back in Jerusalem. the challenge that runs the whole way through the Bible. Choose you this day, Joshua says, whom you will serve. You can serve the gods on the far side of the river, or you can serve the living God.
But you're going to serve somebody. Where do you? Actually, Bob Dylan said that, but it but uh And so did Joshua kind of. It's the same today. Who is on the Lord's side?
who will serve the king. who will be his helper. other lives to bring. Who will leave the world site? And who will face the foe?
And who is on the Lord's side? And who for him will go? Let's have the Daniels, the Shadrach, the Meshachs, and the Abednegos stand forward in our generation. Let's have young men and young women laying hold of the precious. Gift.
of Jesus in his death on the cross. Making their commitment to the people of God, wherever it is and whatever it means. and anchoring themselves. to the truth. of God's Word.
has provided for us. in the Bible.
Next time. But right chapter 9. Choose this day whom you will serve. That's a biblical challenge from Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. Alastair returns in just a minute.
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Now here's Alastair to close with prayer. Father, thank you that the Bible is not just some trivial little piece of material. Thank you that it's not Silly stuff. Thank you that it doesn't all fit so perfectly with our puny minds that we could. Just say, yeah, we've got it, we've got it, we've got it.
But thank you that it. It reminds us again that you are God and we are. mere men and women. Daniel Uh he desperately needed to understand. He Longed to know.
He got an insight, he didn't get it all. He got the grasp of it, but not all the details. We don't get it all either.
Now we see through a glass darkly. One day we'll see face to face.
Now we know in part We prophesy in part, we understand, but And so we pray that you will help us to. Be good students. But at the same time, to be submissive learners. We thank you that the Word of God Is fixed in the heavens, that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We thank you that it can be trusted.
And we pray that you will help us to trust it more and more. especially as the prevailing drift run so counter to the things that your word affirms. Help us, Lord, to this end, we pray. Help us to triumph and to live to your glory. and write your word on our hearts, we pray.
For Christ's sake. Amen. I'm Bob Lepine. Does your faith sometimes falter? in trying circumstances.
Tomorrow we'll learn how Daniel's pattern of life helped him trust God even on his darkest days. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
