Sunday Evening Bible Study
Daniel
Introduction
Several weeks ago we read of an incredible visit that Daniel had by an angelic visitor.
The visitor came to give Daniel an incredible prophecy
detailing things that were to happen to Daniel's people,
We have seen the prophecy going into the near future to talk about a person we know as the antichrist.
To sum up last week -
It appears that the antichrist will rule over some kind of European empire.
The antichrist will have this peace agreement with the nation
of
The Syrians and the Egyptians will both attack
While he's doing this, he will take over many neighboring nations as well.
As he moves in to take over
Then he will move into
:36-45 The Antichrist
:44 tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him
His campaign into
From the east ...
There's an army in the east that plays into things in the end, 200 million strong:
»Revelation 9:14-16 AV Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. 16 And the number of the army of the horsemen [were] two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
»Revelation 16:12-16 AV And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [come] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [which] go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
From the north ...
Some have suggested that Ezekiel 38,39 might play in here, I'm not too sure.
»Ezekiel 38:2-6 AV Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts [of armour, even] a great company [with] bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: 6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: [and] many people with thee.
These nations gather against
I believe that it may have already happened by our time in Daniel 11.
It could just be that the armies of the east are going to circle around and come in from the north.
It could be talking about another attack from
:44 he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many
»Daniel 11:44-NAS "But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many.
He responds to the oncoming armies.
:45 he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain
The "glorious holy mountain" is
»Isaiah 27:13-AV And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
The headquarters of the antichrist will be moved to
It is between the
He will officially move his government headquarters to
:45 he shall come to his end, and none shall help him
I believe this is meant to be an encouragement to the Jews who
are going to be living in
Because I think that it's probably at this point when the antichrist will declare himself to be god, demand to be worshipped in the temple, and begin the persecution of the Jews.
Last week we talked about how
Back when the antichrist is defending
But, in perspective, the time of persecution and fleeing would
seem to occur here, now that the antichrist has established his headquarters in
We'll see a little better reasoning when we see it connected to Daniel 12:1.
And so, to those who are fleeing and being persecuted, God says, "Don't worry, this guy will come to his end".
Let's take a closer look at that end.
It happens at the end of the tribulation period, when the battle at Armageddon gets going, and Jesus returns.
»Rev.19:19-21 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
»2Thess.2:8 And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.
All Jesus will do is breath one word, and it will be over for the antichrist.
Daniel 12
:1-4
:1 at that time
It may be that the "time" referred to is just a
general reference to all that we've looked at in
But I think the "time" the angel is referring to
could specifically be the time referred to in
:1 shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people
This is Michael, the "archangel".
He is roughly equivalent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the armies of heaven.
One of his main duties is to protect the Jews ("thy people")
The timing of this rising up of Michael coincides with something else we're told about him.
It takes place at the time that
»Revelation 12:6-AV And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days.
There will be a war in heaven, and Michael and his armies will cast Satan and his demons out of heaven:
»Revelation 12:7-10 AV And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
We're given the secret to overcoming Satan:
»Revelation 12:11-AV And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Though we're talking about angelic warfare here, the things described here aren't applicable to angels, but only to humans.
I think that the warfare in the angelic, spiritual realm is affected by what we do and pray in the current, physical realm.
Our weapons against Satan:
1. the blood of the Lamb
What's one of Satan's main tactics against us?
He is our accuser.
And what's the answer to all his accusations?
We're covered in the blood.
Jesus has paid for all our sins, and there is no longer anything left to accuse us with.
»1John 1:7-AV But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
2. the word of their testimony
a. This is when you are telling others about what Jesus has done in your life.
The enemy hates it.
b. This is the Word of God.
This is our "sword of the Spirit".
»Ephesians 6:17-AV ... the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
When Jesus resisted Satan's temptations, He did it by quoting God's Word.
3. they loved not their lives unto the death
How can you stop a person whose philosophy is:
»Philippians 1:21-AV For to me to live [is] Christ, and to die [is] gain.
Quiz: It might be easy to say "did not love their life", but what if:
Your TV breaks down (bummer city? praise the Lord?)
Your savings account dwindles?
Your car gets dinged?
Satan will decide to try and go after
»Revelation 12:12-17 AV Therefore rejoice, [ye] heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man [child]. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
We see the outward protection of
The general's name is Michael.
:1 a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation ...
This is what we refer to as "The Great Tribulation" period.
Specifically, it is the last half of the seven year tribulation period.
We find it mentioned as early as:
»Deuteronomy 4:30-31 AV When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, [even] in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; 31 (For the LORD thy God [is] a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
Jeremiah mentions it:
»Jeremiah 30:6-7 AV Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 7 Alas! for that day [is] great, so that none [is] like it: it [is] even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Jesus mentioned it:
»Matthew 24:15-22 AV When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
If you've ever read Rev.6-19, you've caught some pretty good glimpses of the Great Tribulation.
:1 thy people shall be delivered
Who is "thy people" to Daniel?
It's the Jews.
Here's an interesting passage:
»Romans 11:25-26 AV For I would not, brethren, that
ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of
the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all
When is
After their blindness removed, which happens when the "fulness of the Gentiles" comes in.
We are currently in a period of history where God has been dealing primarily with Gentiles.
And during this time, there is a partial blindness on the Jews as to who Jesus is.
But when the "fulness of the Gentiles" comes about,
when God's time for dealing with the Gentiles is over, and He again moves to
the Jews, then the deliverance will occur for
I believe that the "fulness of the Gentiles" occurs around the time of the Rapture of the church.
At that point, God will again turn to begin dealing with the
nation of
It's at this point that God's seven year clock, the last week of Daniel's seventy weeks (Dan.9:24-27) begins ticking again.
And as a result, God will deliver, or save His people,
:1 every one that shall be found written in the book
in the book - mentioned several places
in Scripture (Ex 32:32,33 Ps 56:8 69:28 Isa 4:3 Eze 13:9 Lu
»Philippians 4:3-AV And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and [with] other my fellowlabourers, whose names [are] in the book of life.
»Revelation 3:5-AV He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
»Revelation 13:8-AV And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
»Revelation 20:12-AV And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
»Revelation 20:15-AV And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
How can I know if I'm written in the book of life?
»John 5:24-AV Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
»1John
It's all about Jesus.
I don't believe that the "deliverance" that we read of in Daniel 12:1 is meant for the whole nation, but only for those who have come to trust in Jesus as their Messiah.
Do you have Jesus?
Q. When will this happen? What are we waiting for?
I think that the antichrist could very possibly be in the world today, but that there is a force that restrains him from getting going.
»2Thess.2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
Some have suggested that this is none other than Michael the archangel.
I feel it's probably more like the work of the Holy Spirit in the church, as it's being salt and light.
When the church is removed in the rapture, boom!
Q. Why is the rapture taking so long?
God still has work to do through the church on the earth.
»2Pet.3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
God is waiting for a few more people to be saved.