The Book of Daniel: This Is the End

Pastor Fletcher concludes our Daniel sermon series with Daniel 11-12. Discussion points: Our hope is not in this broken world, God gives Daniel a look at the future kings which correspond to real historical figures in our understanding, power begets oppression in an unending cycle, our calling is to invest in eternal things instead of earthly things.

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  Scripture reader: [Daniel 12:1-4] At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there should be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time, your people shall be delivered. Everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase.

  This is the word of the Lord.

  Preacher: Alright, it's the last, chapter of Daniel last two chapters of Daniel, we're handling Daniel 11 and 12 this week. Last week we handled Daniel 10. Tyler graciously nearly died on his journey to preach for us and was able to declare God's word from Daniel chapter 10. And today we're looking at 11 and 12, and really the Daniel 10 through 12 is all one vision. At the end of Daniel, we see 3 visions given. We see the vision of Daniel 7, then we see Daniel 8, and then Daniel 9 is a prayer, and then he kind of starts to receive a he has a vision there at the end, and then Daniel 10 through 12, all one vision that we're given at the end of Daniel.

  And really Daniel is this book that has been really joyful to work through, although very difficult at times is, apocalyptic literature, so it's just difficult to, interpret at times. The first six chapters of Daniel, no, no. They are the most famous children's stories in the Bible. We got Daniel in the lion's den, Shadrack, Meshach, and Bendigo going into the fiery furnace. We got Nebuchadnezzar saying bow down that statue, and, and Daniel saying no way, and, you just got all this stuff that that we're familiar with, and then Daniel 7 through 12, it's just hard.

  And so I am grateful to be moving on from Daniel after that I'm telling you like a Daniel sermon twice as long to prepare for. I've been like struggling to get all of the stuff done every week these days. So, I've got one meme to show you to to sum up, the way I feel about Daniel and and there that's it. So this week we are firmly in that like one year old drawing of the horse's head at the end. OK, that's how I feel about my interpretation of Daniel as we get farther along through the series, OK. so you can, you can go back to the, the blank screen there, thanks.

  Daniel, like I said, it's like an art house film, it's mysterious. Daniel's an ideogram 4 on the ideogram. He's just like this artsy guy, and you never go to a museum and you look at a piece of art and you're like, I don't know what this means, but I know how it makes me feel. And that's kind of what's supposed to be happening when we read apocalyptic literature we're not supposed to understand every single thing in it it's not written to be understood in that kind of way. It's not written to be a 1 to 1 correspondence with everything happening in life. There are mysterious portions of this book.

  But it is supposed to elicit a sense of feeling from God and a sense of what God is doing in our world and there is so much that we can gather, you know, so much of the Bible is very direct and applicable, easy to read if you think about it, there's an ancient document 2000 years or older everywhere through it and almost everywhere in the Bible, if you pick it up and read it, you will understand it. Isn't that amazing that you are reading, you can't, who, who here actually could read Shakespeare and understand what it's saying? Very few of us, native English speakers could read something written in our own language. But nevertheless we picked this up and we're able to understand almost all of it and then we do get to portions and today is a difficult portion that's really hard to understand but God still has a word for us from this book today so I, I think it's actually really cool, OK?

  I'm gonna this is a Bible nerd sermon. I am sorry if you are not a Bible nerd, but this is a Bible nerd sermon and if you are, you're just, or if you're not, you're just gonna get to see a one in the wild, OK? Like you, it's like a zoo, OK? See how excited I am about this passage at least, but I just think it's really cool what's happening.

  Chapter 11, it reads like a prophetic history book. Basically what happens is Daniel is given a word of prophecy from God. And as he goes through all of Daniel 11, God basically tells him what's going to happen for the next 400 years. It's so well put together and articulated with what's happening over the next 400 years that many more liberal scholars who don't believe that God actually could disclose the future to someone said that it must have been written much later than what we believe it was written. It wasn't written by Daniel, they say it must have been written by someone who lived after all these things happen because who could summarize history like this? But for us who believes that God knows the future and can disclose it to people, it's no problem for us to believe that Daniel actually wrote these things that God actually disclosed the future events throughout the history of Israel to Daniel at that time.

  And so as we read through Daniel, that Daniel 11, that's what's happening. And then in Daniel 12, we have this reminder to put our hope in the kingdom of God. And so through the whole thing, the main point of Daniel is this. The world is stuck in a cycle of brokenness. But our hope is not in this world. The world is stuck in a cycle of brokenness, but our hope is not. In this world, OK, so let's dive into Daniel chapter 11. Here's the deal. I'm gonna go through some of this. I'm gonna show you enough to be like, here are my receipts. I'm only gonna show you about a quarter of my receipts, OK? and I'm just gonna assume that you give me the benefit of the doubt with the rest of it, but if you want more receipts with what's happening, just like open up, go to the the ESV study Bible, very well said in there I think. That it's free on the ESV app. I will give you a physical copy if it's something that would really benefit you. I will order it and have it sent to you, OK? But the ESV study Bible has all this really well done in there. There's other places you could find it, but I'm just gonna show you, a little bit just so you know what I'm talking about.

  Verse 1, Daniel chapter 11. And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him. So most historians believe Darius the Mede to be the same person as Cyrus, King Cyrus of Persia, which is the first king to tell the people of Israel that they can go back home out of exile. And then verse 2. And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise. So this is Daniel giving a vision, OK? Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia. And one shall be far richer than all of them. And and when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece.

  OK, so there's a lot of texts here, but you'll see what's happening. there's 3 kings that happened after Cyrus in Persia, you have these three kings. You have Smirdas, Darius the 1, I'm not even gonna try to say that, and Xerxes the 1, and you see the years that they were living in. And the third was richer Xerxes, richer than Smirdas and Darius the 1st, and you remember Xerxes from he's been in movies, fought against the Greeks, went and attacked the Greeks, historical guy, and that's who this is referring to. He fought the Greeks, but then he lost, and out of them comes what is called a mighty king.

  In verse 3, then a mighty king shall arise and shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. And who is this referring to, but Alexander the Great. And if you've. In world history courses you know who Alexander the Great is. Alexander the Great was famous for having never lost a battle. He conquered a lot of territory. He conquered all of, all of Persia in addition to what he had in Greece. So at the time, Persia was the largest empire in the history of the world, and then Alexander the Great conquered all of Persia. So you see this map, everything that's colored. Here is what Alexander the Great conquered. He conquered all of that and then he just left his mark everywhere.

  Alexander the Great, he really thought he was great, so he would start cities all throughout the empire and what would he name them, but Alexander or Alexandria. So that's why you have so many Egypt, Alexandria and Egypt. You have so many Alexandria throughout this entire empire because Alex the Great conquered it all. And took it all over and he's the one that gave the world a common language in many ways. So that's why Greek was what was spoken in all of these lands, and that's why the Bible was eventually written in Greek, even though it was a Roman colony at the time. It was written in Greek because Alexander the Greek took over all of this land and everybody learned Greek because the Greek Empire had taken it over.

  But he died at a young age. Alexander the Great did all this in his 30s, and then he went out of the world. He, he didn't live to an old age, and he died and he did not have a successor. As far as we know, Alexander the Great did not have any children. And so what happened, but they had to take his empire and it divided and it was divi divided among different leaders, 4 different empires, and, and they were ruled by others, and that is what verse 4 is telling us. In verse 4, it says, as soon as he has arisen. His kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others beside these.

  Now remember, this is like hundreds of years after Daniel's writing these things and he's just describing future events in so much detail, it's really amazing what is happening in this passage, even if it feels like a history lesson. It is amazing that God is not only knowing the future, but he's disclosing the future. It's really awesome that this is happening. So it's divided in four different areas. I'll, I'll explain it. The blue here is the the Seleucid empire. OK, the Seleucid kingdom, the green is the Ptolemaic, and then the other two are the Antigonid and the Hellenistic province that we have there. And so where is Israel? Israel's in the green in the Ptolemaic area, right? So Israel right on the east, eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea, you see where that is and it's in green, but what's it very close to the blue, right? And so what we see happen. Over the next several hundred years after this is divided is that the green guys and the blue guys fight each other constantly.

  OK, the Seleucid Empire, the king is known as the king of the north, and the Ptolemaic Empire is known as the king of the South, and they're constantly fighting one another for the land of Israel, known as the holy land or the or the glorious land. And what's happening throughout the rest of Daniel 11 is you see him referencing the kings of the north. And the kings of the South, and this is who he's talking about, is the the Ptolemaic Empire and the Seleucid Empire. For the next 300 years they're just going back and forth back and forth. So here's a slide of the different rulers of the different empires. So on the left, the southern rulers, I'm not gonna read them all, they're all Ptolemy 1st through 6th, and then on the north you have, the different kings of the north. So you have kings of the north, kings of the south, here they are, and the years that they lived in.

  And then if you want to see a quick summary of how Daniel summarizes their efforts, go to the next slide, and we have a quick summary here of just a few of these. So like I said, receipts, OK? I'm not gonna read through all of this, but I'll read the first one, OK, verse 5. Then the king of the South shall be strong, but one of his. Princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. OK, so this is talking about when the first king of the north, Seleucid, the first, he fled to Ptolemy the first, the king of the south for a short time and served as a prince there.

  So it's like referencing these things that happen in real life. But it, if you were just reading this without any knowledge of it, without any historical understanding of it, without looking at a study Bible, it would be like. OK, like what is this, how does this matter to me? It's amazing because God is giving this history of the future and we do get this idea coming out of it. So go ahead and go then if you want more receipts, I can give you all the receipts. I've got them written down. I wanted to just do a straight up history lesson today, but I figured you might be a little bored. So here's just like if you want to know exactly which leaders correspond to which verses, here you go. There's the verses with the leaders referenced in each verse, and as you see, we're going all the way from the time of Daniel, like 500 BC-ish all the way to about 175 BC, and I wanna take just a minute to talk about this.

  Antiochus the 4th Epiphanes Antiochus the 4th Epiphanes because he was a bad dude. And so the very end. Almost the entire, last portion of it is dedicated to this one guy, Antiochus Epiphanes and Antiochus Epiphanes, he's, known as the big king of the north, OK, so when you get towards the end of Daniel chapter 11, I think like basically from verse 29 onward, 2, 29 onward essentially it's talking about Antiochus Epiphanies, maybe 2021 onward talking about Attius, Attius Epiphanies, and that's because he's just a really bad bad character if you, if you're familiar with the books of the Maccabees, if you grew up in a Catholic background, you might have had those in your Bible. The, the apocrypha it again you're getting a lot of Bible nerd stuff today, OK? Bible nerd stuff, good stuff to know, but it's Bible nerdy.

  There's a portion of books included in the Roman Catholic Bibles, and that are fine for any of us to read, but I don't believe they've ever been recognized as divinely inspired. I think they're good history, just not divinely inspired, which is why Protestant Bibles don't contain them. And these books are a history of the intercanonical time period, OK? So what is an intercanonical time period was the time between Malachi and Matthew. There's like a, a 400, 500 year period, 400 year period of silence. No prophets were around and even the Apocrypha would say that there weren't prophets in those days. And so you have no word from God for 400 years. And then John the Baptist and Jesus come and that breaks the 400 year cycle.

  But you, we do have history from those 400 years and some of that's recorded by the Maccabees, the Maccabean revolt, and in that is the record of Antiochus Epiphanies attacking Jerusalem, and he did terrible things. I mean horrid things. First of all, he outlawed Judaism in Israel. And he said, if you're caught practicing the Sabbath or the the cleanliness laws, you're gonna be sent to prison or worse. Like he outlawed religion. It's, it's absurd. Then what he did is he put a statue of Zeus in the temple. And he said, Jewish people come and bow down to your new god Zeus, and if you don't, to prison or worse. And then he took a pig, the most filthy animal, to Jerusalem to to Israelite people, and he took it into the altar and he slaughtered a pig on the altar of God. I mean you cannot get any more sacrilegious and offensive than what he did. I absolute worst things you can imagine to a Jewish person at that time.

  And so he is this big bad king of the north, and Daniel is recording the bad king of the north at the end of Daniel 11. Now it is disputed what's going on in verses 36 to 45. I don't expect you to get super deep into this if you unless you really want to. Some people think it's talking about Antiochus more. Some people think that this last part is talking about Rome, Herod the Great, John Calvin thought he was talking about the Pope. some people think it's talking about Constantine and some people think it's talking about an a still end of the age antichrist. And I'll let you decide there I kind of like the idea of Rome. I kinda like the idea of Antiochus. I don't know. No one knows. This is like really mysterious nor did Daniel know when he wrote it, nor do I think it's the point for us to know exactly everything that's happening here because I think that the point is, is merely this.

  That all of these kings described throughout Daniel chapter 11 are paradigmatic of the fact that the world is in a state of brokenness. And that it's stuck in a cycle of brokenness. It's like a tilter world, you know, the tilter world rides, except for like it's broken and you just can't get off of it and it just keeps on going. The bad evil leaders, they, they just keep on coming and they won't stop coming. And It's nothing we can do. To get off of the ride even though we want to get off the ride, and we feel that, right? That's what Daniel is telling us. It's like, look, it's not just one king in the north, there's gonna be a succession of kings of the north. There's gonna be a succession of kings of the south, and they're selfish people seeking their own ends and it's a cycle.

  It's not like you get over one and then the world is better. Because what happens once you get rid of one selfish dictator. Another one pops up. Imagine the joy that the world experienced when Hitler died. And what comes after Hitler? More evil? Hopefully not as evil, but there is evil. And there's never been evil. There's never been a time in the world. When there haven't been evil leaders oppressing people, not in the history of the world, there's always been evil leaders and you'll never get away from that. Should we, should we resist them? Yes, we should, but you will never get away from evil leaders in this world and that is what this passage is telling us that we will always have evil leaders.

  It's it's not just paradigmatic of evil leaders, but of human nature as itself. All of these kings, they're showing us what the human condition is actually like. That the human condition. I stuck in a state of brokenness. And left to my own devices, I will seek power. And I will seek selfishness, and I will make the world around me and if you give me more power, I will just seek more power. That is human nature and the more we are unconstrained in that, separate from God, the more beastly we become and the more we seek it. And so the, the nature of humans is that we seek power and as we get more power, we seek more power.

  You see this in our politics. You see this in our companies, do you not? You see this in academia. You see this in every field in which you might be in that those who get power just seek more power and as you get more power, you don't care who you're stepping on as in your in your you're seeking to find more power even if it's just power in your own little home with your own little kingdom. As people are given that, they become abusive and the and they become oppressive, and we're stuck in a cycle where we see abuse and oppression continue and continue.

  God created us to be co-heirs of the world, to rule and reign in his place as his vice regents here. He created all of humanity to be made in the image of God. We were made in the image of God, meant to reflect him in the way that we love and serve and rule, but instead, because of sin, we have become more like the beasts, and now we rule for our own selfish pleasure. And so what are we to do as the world is stuck in a cycle of brokenness? That's what Daniel's helping us see.

  And there's two points, 2 applications, then I'll be done, OK? First, Resist the beastly urges within ourselves, resist the beastly urges within yourself and it's easy to look around the world and see those who have beastly urges within them. We can think about world leaders, we can think about people in our companies, we can think about people in our academic institutions, whatever it might be. And we might say like yeah they're power hungry seeking that power they're they're just getting more they're oppressing others but it's not easy to turn the mirror and to look at ourselves and see how we have the beastly urges within ourselves and Christians, I encourage you to do that, to resist the beastly urges that are exemplified in this line of evil kings that lives within each of us.

  In fact, is it, it's not like a lot of, of the teachings of Jesus on this topic itself. Doesn't Jesus just kind of tell us to resist the beastly urges to gain more power? I mean, when Jesus is speaking and teaching us, he says, if someone strikes you. What do you do? You turn the cheek You give away the power. Though Jesus, the exemplary of all of this, though he was equal with God, what did he do? He did not consider equality with God something to be taken advantage of, but instead, he selflessly laid his life down. When Jesus teaches on of someone borrowing money. What does he tell us to do? If someone doesn't pay you, at the end of the, at the end of the day, you don't yield your you don't wield your power, you yield it, and you forgive.

  Jesus has taught us a way of forgiveness, a way of laying your life down, that is contrary to the ways, the evil, selfish cycles of brokenness that we live in. He's the ultimate example of what humanity was meant to be. We're meant to have communion with God, to love one another sacrificially. And so when you place your faith in Jesus, that the ability to do that is given to you. That it's like the ability to truly lay yourself down as Christ has laid himself down for you is given to you. But also you're made right with God. As if Jesus lived in your place, cause he did. When you place your faith in him, you're loved and embraced. And you're forgiven of your own seeking power and your own beastly urges, and your own way to oppress others, and to live selfishly, however that might be, even in small ways. So it allows you this process of rediscovering your true humanity, what it means to reflect God.

  But what else do we do in light of the state of the brokenness, the cyclical brokenness in our world, but it's this, #2, take solace that our hope is not in this world, but the world to come. This is where Daniel lands the ship, OK? So this is where he, he comes in, he just ends everything. Daniel chapter 12 and the book basically ends with Daniel saying, look, These evil kings, they keep coming. If the world stuck in a cycle of brokenness, but They're all gonna die. It's basically what he says. Daniel 11 basically ends with the king of the north dying. And so he's being reminded that all these kings are gonna die, and that they're. Their plight for power is temporary, that they will not remain forever.

  In fact, all life is temporary and that's where Daniel ends. I wish, you know, when I was exploring this, I was like, where's he gonna end this? How do we end this book? Like there's gotta be some new realization and then as I read it I was like, this is just normal Christianity. This is like what we're preaching throughout Corinthians is what they're preaching throughout the New Testament. It's the same thing and it's this do not find your hope in this world. Find your hope in the world to come. Because we're stuck in a cycle of brokenness in this world. And the more we invest in this world, the more we're gonna see that we're disappointed.

  And so I wish, you know, God, he shows us that he knows the future in this passage, right? And he knows the future for you. What that future might be you might be really in a state of brokenness right now whether it's in your home or in our our world, however that looks and he knows the future and I wish I could tell you that he's got this really positive future for you where it's all gonna work out your marital problems are gonna work out your your financial problems are gonna work out your job problems are gonna work out, and they might, but that is not the promise of scripture. The promise of scripture is that there's more to this world than these things.

  That there is a greater kingdom to come, and this is where Daniel lands it. It's really kind of amazing. It's just the same thing that we preach every week, which is invest in the kingdom of God where rust and moth have no place, where there is no decay. Because anything in this life can be taken from you. Daniel 12:1, I'm just gonna show you how he says these things, and it is in the most complicated kind of way. It's not easy, but just check it out.

  Verse 1, 2nd half of verse one, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since, since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered. Everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And what's what book is he talking about? The book of life. Revelation talks about this as well. That God knows all those he will save. And all those who are saved by God, they will be delivered. And what he's saying is not in this life, but in the life to come, because many died in this process. And so that's not that you're gonna avoid all trouble in this life, but you have to invest and look forward to the time to come. Those who follow Christ, their names are written in this book.

  Daniel 12:2, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life. And some to shame and everlasting contempt. And what he's showing us here is that there are real consequences to what happened to what we do in this life. That those who are following after Christ and seeking to to reflect God, In this life, they will wake up one day after death and be resurrected to new life with God, reigning and ruling the world as we are meant to, without sin, without brokenness. We're freed from the the cycle of brokenness, but there will be some that receive the justice of God. The justice of God is not something that we have to run away from, but he will make all things right, and we take a lot of solace in that.

  The fact that evil people will not prevail throughout eternity, but evil will come to an end. That's good news, even though it's hard to, to, it's like a difficult, it's like it's like a difficult vegetable, OK? It's like one of those things it is good news, but it's difficult sometimes for us to wrap our heads around it, and I'm not gonna get into all of it right now, but it is good news that God is just and that he will bring evil doers to a rightful end. And Daniel, which we all deserve, by the way, as I said, we all have those beastly urges, but Christ paid the penalty for us.

  Daniel 12:3. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. What an amazing description of the future that waits for us who are following Christ. We will shine like stars forever and ever. Our God will eventually deliver us from death. We will go and have kingdom life with him. And that is where we find our solace and I just wanna, let's just find something a little bit easier, OK, this is your dessert. OK, we've been eating some pretty, protein rich things here. Let's, let's just go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 for a minute, OK? I just want to end with some New Testament, something that's saying basically the same thing but maybe a little bit more familiar and easier for us as we look at it, and I just think that is really helpful for us as we think about the resurrection from the dead.

  1 Corinthians 15. Verse 52. In a moment And the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on the immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? So the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

  And that's just a great way for us to kinda end Daniel because that is where Daniel ends is with our hope in the Lord. So I just wanna take a moment we're gonna pray through this last verse a little bit as we seek the Lord, and then we'll we'll shift into communion. So if you join me in prayer and meditation here. Just consider this. Therefore, my family, my beloved family, my brothers and sisters. Because of our hope and the resurrection. Be steadfast and immovable. Where is God calling you to take those steps of courage? Would you seek Him, the steps of being steadfast and immovable. You have a great hope. That is beyond this world. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. Knowing that the that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Everything you do can be a work for the Lord, if you do it as an act of worship for him. So, would you just give the Lord your work? Give him your life this morning.

  We're going to come to a time of communion and communion is a time where we get to physically be reminded and celebrate what Christ has done for us in a spiritual way that Christ's body was broken for us, that his blood was shed for us, that because of what he has done for us, we get to have life with him. And if you are a believer here this morning who has repented of their sin and is falling after Christ, you are invited to the table. But if there's an area in in your life that you need to turn, we encourage you to evaluate yourself, repent of your sins, and come to the Lord once again. So if you would, if you are able, we invite you to stand as we respond to Christ and just respond to what God is doing in your heart this morning.

  Father, we pray that you would break us out of the cycle of brokenness that each of us personally and us corporately as a church would be light, that we would shine like stars in this world that you would help us to shine the light of the reign and rule of Christ who has come to inaugurate the kingdom. And God, we pray that our hope would be in the world to come, that we would not be hoping just in things here, but in the things to come. And God, we pray that these would become very real things for us, that our relationship with you would be a very intimate thing and help us to reflect you as we live our lives for you. Help us to be steadfast and immovable because of the grace that you've given to us in Christ. We ask this in Christ's name, Amen.