Daniel: Chapter 10-12

Tonight it's Daniel chapter 10 to commence, so if you have your Bible, Daniel chapter 10. Now it's certainly been a pleasure to be here and encouraging to all our hearts, and we trust that the Lord will bless his word to each one of us. We must admit now the well is deep, and if we have got across to you what the big picture is and where we fit, you'll appreciate it, and as you read the book of Daniel, you'll understand a little further of what it's all about.

I hope you all have a clear head tonight, it's a quarter past eight already, and I'll try and be as simple as it's possible to be. So I asked myself a question today, right, I'm sitting in the gospel hall at Ontario, Wisconsin, USA, and I have a question, where do I fit in the big picture of prophecy tonight? I'm sure you have asked yourself that question before. Now, I'll just answer that in a very simple way.

So we look at the chart. Oh, and by the way, if you don't agree with what we're going to say tonight, please talk to me, I'll be happy to listen to you. Right.

So where do I fit tonight? As a believer in the Lord Jesus, in this great dispensation, I fit right here. The church which is his body. And very, very soon, from the world of men, the church will rise, and every soul saved by the grace of God, whatever the background, they're saved, they're enveloped by the spirit of God, their sins are forgiven, heaven.

Now if you want to know about other side issues, people are asking about children, they're asking about subnormal and abnormal, and all these people that have taken their lives terminated, and before they're even born, and all these abortions, and oh, there's a host of things. But I'm telling you, the Lord is coming, and whenever the Lord comes where I fit, I will be looking down from heaven, and all of us, down into this area here. Now just let me remind you, I won't go over all the ground again, but all of this here, all of it, is history.

It's finished. And before we come to this part, which is prophetic, and I'm talking now in general terms, we are going to leave the world, maybe tonight, and that's this present age. The last soul will be saved, and the spiritual building will be complete, and in an instant, will rise to meet the Lord in the air.

And that brings all kinds of other things in. Who will rise at the first resurrection? Well, we can talk about that after the meeting. That's the same issue.

All right? We dealt here with these 70 weeks of years of prophecy, that Daniel talked about and got a vision of. And it affected him. And right away, he gets the message, this nation that I represent in the future is going to have a tremendous lot of suffering, and trial, and devastation, and death, and destruction, and darkness, and despair, and every adverb and adjective you want to use to it.

All right? Daniel was really upset. And that's where chapter 10 comes in. And so, we're going to read a little in chapter 10, 11, and 12.

Right. In chapter 10, for example, we're going to learn a little about angelic ministry of world rulers of this darkness. And that's Ephesians chapter 6. There's angelic ministry in the big picture tonight of planet Earth and our generation and all other generations.

We're going to talk about that. Now, in chapter 11, verses 1 through 35, there it is there. These are wars between Egypt and Syria.

The king of the south and the king of the north. Now, I'm not even going to read that. It was future for Daniel.

It's now history for us. And I'm going to read a little from verse 36 when we get there. And we're going to look at the prophetic line of things.

And so, there will be a last king of the south, Egypt. And you have to read the Old Testament carefully to get that. There will be a last king of Assyria or Syria.

The king with a fierce countenance. This little horn here that we have talked about. And all the rest of it.

Now, what happens next? Well then, we're going to talk about chapter 12. Now, the Antichrist is the false prophet. And I pointed out to you that everybody will be anti.

But in this particular section here, we're going to think of, we've already thought of the political individual. That's the man of sin, the little horn of Daniel 7. Here's the king with the fierce countenance, the little horn of Daniel chapter 8. And here, this Antichrist, the false prophet, he's at the end of chapter 11. And we'll read a bit about him.

And then when we get into chapter 12, then we're going to talk about the nation of Israel, the time of the end, the addition to these days here. 1260 days. I take all of these to be literal.

Three and a half years, time, times and half a time, 1260 days. 30 will be added, making it 1290. And 45 more will be added, making it 1325 and so on.

1335. Alright. We're going to read in Daniel chapter 10.

I'll read as little as possible, say something about it, and it'll be time to go. So you got your Bible? Chapter 10. Here's Daniel really upset.

Verse 1 please. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar. And the thing was true, but the time appointed was long.

Now if you have a Newberry Bible, it tells you right there that the warfare is great. He's overcome. He understood the thing and had understanding of the vision.

Now here's how it affected him. Verse 2. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

And then he's by the river and all the rest of it. It's all history. Notice what happened.

Verse 10. Behold, a hand touched me, which set me up upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright, for unto thee am I now sent.

Notice verse 12. Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia, now that prince is an angelic being, withstood me one and twenty days.

But lo, Michael, and Jude calls him the archangel, one of the chief princes, came to help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia. And so on. Notice verse number 16.

And behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips, then I opened my mouth and spake and said unto him that stood before me, O my Lord, notice a small l, O my Lord, by the vision of my sorrows are turned upon me and I have retained no strength. And so on. Notice verse 18.

Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man and he strengthened me and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak. Verse 20.

Then said he, knowest thou whereof I have come unto thee and now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia. That's an angel. And when I have gone forth, lo, the prince of Grisha shall come and I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth.

And so on. Now that will do for chapter 10. Can I just summarize this and tell you tonight in a few words? The content of chapter 10 is this.

There's a conflict in the unseen world that you and I can't see. Our eyes cannot see it. These are created intelligences and they're in the kingdom of Satan.

Evil angels putting all the scriptures together. And an example is that every kingdom has one of them. And Persia is involved and Greece is involved and the nation of Israel is involved.

Now those that opposed the messenger Michael came to his assistance in the unseen world above our heads and had a great conflict. Now the context shows there's a conflict all through the centuries behind the scenes. So pause a minute.

What do you think stirs up strife in the international arena tonight? Without going into any details you know all that's happening in Afghanistan and Iraq and other places. All we are seeing, I'm suggesting tonight are the front men. But behind that they're empowered by Satan.

And Satan is behind it under the permissive will of God to stir up the nations and to fight against the nation of Israel. Well what happens? Well Michael is the archangel and he's the guardian angel of the nation of Israel. And he helped this messenger that came from heaven to bring Daniel the message.

And now he's telling them at the end of the chapter I'm going back and before I get back into heaven Michael has to come again to help me. These evil emissaries. Now Colossians 2 and Ephesians 6 and other scriptures show that there are principalities and powers created intelligences on the positive side good on the negative side evil.

Now the chapter shows there's a great conflict. And whenever Daniel was burdened before his God God heard as soon as he uttered the words and he was looking for answers but there was three long weeks and he never got an answer. He couldn't understand.

And so he gets his answers. Now to be very simplistic somebody says well what about us? Well chapter 10 tells me and Ephesians chapter 6 we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers that context is evil. And I get the world rulers of this darkness that's what the passage means.

You ever get down to pray and you feel in your own soul you're being opposed then that's Daniel. And yet we are on the side that is one and we move to the throne of heavenly grace and as soon as we make our requests known they're heard in heaven. We often point out on a practical point that God's delays on prayer are not necessarily his denials.

I'll give you an example. There was an honored servant in Northern Ireland whenever I was a young fellow his name was Frank Knox. I had one series of meetings with him godly man one of the great soul winners of his day.

His girl was the youngest child and she died her mother died in childbirth. He was on his deathbed in his middle 80s and one day I went to the hospital to see him in Belfast Northern Ireland and he said to me Stan, do you see that lady there? That's my daughter. I prayed for her for 56 years and I never thought she would be saved.

But she's saved, baptized and in the meeting. I'm just pointing out to you 56 years is a long time. So God's delays were not his denials.

And so you might have prayed for years about someone or something or some problem and God has not been pleased to give the answer to this point. You shall have your desire sometime somewhere. Now you can develop that further if you will.

The next thing I want to talk about here for a minute or two Do you know that angels are interested in assembly life? Yeah. 1 Corinthians 11 and the whole context there is headship and by the way it's been challenged in 2010. And it says there that we as the people of God when we gather in assembly capacity and acknowledge the truth of headship that we are educating angels.

So angels are interested in assembly life. Do you know another thing? Every believer has a guardian angel that protects them physically. It's the Holy Spirit of God that preserves us through the word of God spiritually.

I'm talking physically. Right away we think of an Old Testament example. Psalm 34.

There's David. He's in the land of the Philistines. He's in Gath.

And he acted like a madman. Do you know the context? And he thought that his actions preserved him and kept him in the lands of the Philistines. But as he gets back and he's on the throne in Psalm 34 he puts down how he felt and he says this.

It's the angel of the Lord that encamped around about him and he delivered him. So you know when you come to Matthew chapter 18 here's a very quick quotation. The Lord Jesus Christ is telling them in that context that the Father or the angels of the little ones, believers behold the face of their Father in heaven.

Hebrew chapter 1 shows these angels ministering spirits sent forth to preserve those that shall be heirs of salvation the saints of this age an application to us. So I would suggest tonight that all of us have got a guardian angel. Now I've told you more than once in this series that I'm 53 years on the road to heaven.

And as I look back over those 53 years there's been several times and had a guardian angel not been beside us we wouldn't have been here tonight. I'll give you an example. It was one morning we were coming out of Florida and we were coming, flying to Toronto, Canada.

And everything was just going as usual. And all of a sudden, in a second the plane diverted that way. And there was a shudder.

You would have thought it was an earthquake on the plane. And the pilot come on in his calm personality and all and he says that was another plane that was in our path. And he was less than 10 seconds away and we were flying at 500, 600 miles an hour.

Now somebody says what's that to do with it? Well there must have been divine intervention or we'd have been all killed. You can likely go back over times in your life. I'm just pointing out to you don't tempt that angel but I'll tell you right now every one of us have got guardian angels.

Now I have to leave that. Let's go to chapter 11 please. Put your Bible open now.

And I'll just read a verse or two. Now let me point out to you as I've already indicated and on the chart this is the same angel, messenger from heaven telling Daniel what's going to happen in the conflicts between these nations that we have looked at and the king of the north and the king of the south. That's south and north of the land of Israel and Israel are in the center of that conflict.

Now verses 1 through 35 of Daniel chapter 11 history. Now we want to read a little about prophecy so you got your Bible now. You got to listen carefully here.

See from verse 36 on. There's a definite gap between verse 35 and 36. 35 ends history.

Verse 36 commences prophetic unfoldings. Now verse 36 and the king shall do according to his will. Now let me point out to you that that king is likely the false prophet and somebody says how do you know? Well I won't read all the verses but let me read you one or two of them.

See verse 36 and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself. That's the king we're talking about. Above every God and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods and all the different things that he's going to do.

You see in verse 37 neither shall he regard the God of his fathers. Now that is a Jewish connotation. That's nothing to do with Gentiles nor the desire of woman.

What is that? Every woman in Israel had a longing that the child that she would bring into the world would be the man child the Messiah. Obviously the Old Testament is full of that. Now he has no regard for the God of eternity, the God of Israel or the mothers in Israel.

Now that tells me right there he's a Jew and if that is the case it's pretty obvious that the king is the false prophet. The religious man. Now we can't go to all the verses there but now listen carefully to this.

Go to verse number 40 and at the time of the end we have had it several times shall the king of the south push at him. Now that him is the false prophet. That's the king.

That's what the context shows. So obviously the king of the south is different than the him. I think that's obvious.

And the king of the north that's another king. That's what we have talked about already. The south man is Egypt the north man is Assyria and shall come against him the false prophet like a whirlwind with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships.

And he now you see you might not understand this but he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over and he shall enter into the glorious land. Now you see the subject of the sentence is the king of the north in verse number 40 and in verse 41 and at the end of verse 40 I take that he to be the king of the north and all the different things he's going to do. Now let me tell you here's what he says in verse 44 What tidings out of the east now he's down fighting with the king of Egypt and out of the north shall trouble him that's the Assyrian that's the king of the north therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many.

Notice the next verse And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas the dead sea in the Mediterranean in the glorious holy mountain that's where Jerusalem is built yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him. Now people ask me right away how do you know that that him is the king of the north well I'll tell you something you see the false prophet and the man of sin they will be at the judgment of the living nations Matthew chapter 25 and they will go alive to the lake of fire Revelation chapter 19 so this man is slain long before that he won't be at the judgment of the living nations so we've got all these players let me just point them out to you before we go any further see this man here he's the Roman little horn that's the man of sin the western configuration and confederation this man here he's the king of the fierce continents he's the little horn of Daniel chapter 8 this king that we have read about he is the false prophet and then the king of the south is Egypt and the king of Assyria is the king of the north I can just see people saying man what is that all about there are four big players now and the king of the south is Egypt and have been against Israel for a lifetime centuries and the king of the north the same this is the wind up now let me suggest a few things to you as we move into the next chapter chapter 10 conflict in the heavens chapter 11 conflict on earth and to be very very simplistic these people fight among themselves obviously God's behind it and they will annihilate each other as far as earth is concerned because they're fighting internally now that's what chapter 11 is all about now I was telling the folk at supper time tonight I read recently that in 2009 there were more Islamic people killed Islamic people the Muslims than those from the west that's an amazing thing you know what that means they're fighting internally 2.2 billion there are so many of them that they can't stand each other and God allows them to slay each other now that's chapter 11 of the book of Daniel now I know the king of the south is involved the king of the north is involved and the false prophet is involved and all the rest of it so there's conflict on earth and Daniel can see the nation of Israel are going to be in the middle of it and he recognizes this is going to be a dreadful time for them and he's really upset so there's a tremendous day of conflict ahead for this whole world let's make an application tonight the Lord Jesus said nation will rise against nation Matthew 25 wars and rumors of wars earthquakes in diverse places indicators in the heavens of what's going to happen with the moon and the stars and the sun and all the rest of it Revelation 6 and all comes into it there too I want to tell you tonight there's a terrible day ahead and when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to call from the world his own you and I will rest in heaven but you see the nation of Israel will pay for what they did they crucified the Lord Jesus but they were fulfilling divine purpose and so we have all a conflict and that's why the great tribulation and somebody says is there anything that we can learn about this chapter yeah we can learn this God will win every time these supermen of that day will be wiped out whenever they do what God wants them to do and what God does and what God says it will be done for sure how does that affect us well we rely on the promises of Holy Scripture whatever the circumstances of life are I will never leave thee nor in no wise forsake thee Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever all may change but Jesus never glory to his name whatever your circumstances are tonight we can rest assured on this no matter what happens he's as good as his word yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry and others say a very little while do you think that God would go back on that promise never see so we can think about that now here's the other thing people say that's your opinion about prophecy they don't believe a word of it well I want to tell you this I have traveled in several continents this last number of years amongst God's people and I have met beloved brethren and some sisters too that have talked around the tables of their homes who I never met before and they have read the bible and the thing that never ceases to amaze me they have come to the same conclusion without any previous collaboration never met them before never even an email from them telephone calls, nothing so that tells me tonight that as we come to the holy scripture and we read it with an open mind and we ask God to direct us and help us to bow to his claims we all will come to the same conclusion and I hold all the time those that are saved by the grace of God and they come to read the bible and they ask themselves what happened to people in the new testament that got saved well the book of Acts tells you every one of them were baptized and many of them came into assembly fellowship has it changed? no so it's a little thing to help us tonight as we go to the next chapter God is as good as his word and if you take time to read it and to study it and ask the Lord to open it to your understanding I'm suggesting to you I've proved it you will come to the same conclusion as others, why? it's the same Holy Spirit it's the same word of God it's the same promises it's the same prophetic truth and we enjoy it all right, chapter 12 look at chapter 12 please high level tonight verse 1, chapter 12 at that time shall Michael stand up that's Michael the archangel the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people that's the nation of Israel and there shall be a time of trouble such was never was since there was a nation even to that same day and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book now verse 2 obviously it's the nation of Israel here what happens here and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life some to shame and everlasting contempt and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to the righteousness as the stars forever and ever but I, O Daniel shut up the words seal the book don't tell anybody yet even to the time of the end many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased now we'll pause there for a minute now here's a scripture along with what the Lord said in Matthew 24 and all the parallel scriptures that there's a great future for the nation of Israel and when the great tribulation comes Daniel's 70th week there's a moment when he will gather the elect the elect of Israel from the four corners of the world now I'm suggesting to you that verse number 2 is an awakening of the nation of Israel it's not resurrection and somebody says why not because every resurrection in the Bible is national in character this is only one nation that's what Michael's telling Daniel this is thy people the nation of Israel so it's an awakening when the time comes and those that sleep in the dust of the earth it's metaphorical language and they that shine as lights in the firmament are the nation of Israel that bow to the Lord Jesus and will be the remnant that will go through those times and right into the millennium reign see the others those that awake to everlasting life those that awake just let's read the end of verse 2 and some to shame and everlasting contempt that's apostate Israel now here's the picture tonight God in heaven knows everything he knows where the nation of Israel are ten tribes are lost they were carried away to Assyria in 2nd Kings chapter 17 nobody knows where they are tonight we call Judah and Benjamin Israel in the land of Israel that's only two tribes and when the time comes these people will awaken and they'll come right up into the open and the false prophet will head these people that are apostate and the Lord Jesus Christ will direct his own and Isaiah 53 and all those passages will come into vogue amazing so Daniel sees that there's a great day of awakening for the nation of Israel now you see there are individual Jews getting saved but this is national that we are talking about and when we are out of the picture and every soul saved by grace in this great age has gone to heaven then God will take up the nation of Israel and the clock of prophecy will commence and Daniel is learning a bit about it alright let me just pick out a verse or two see verse number 11 he's learning here this is all to do with the nation of Israel and from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away we're now in Jerusalem in the temple on the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days and read the next verse just when we're here see what it says he says now verse twelve lest it is he that waiteth and cometh to a thousand three hundred five and thirty days that's seventy five days on to twelve sixty but go thy way till the end be where thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days now let me just summarize this only a few minutes I've already pointed out to you three and a half years twelve hundred and sixty days time times and half a time is the last half of this seventieth week of years of prophecy and you remember what I've told you there's a gap between the sixty ninth and the seventieth week of years and we're living in it alright whenever that starts three and a half years in the man of sin and the false prophet moving together in unison revelation chapter thirteen the false prophet is there and he will allow this man to set up an image of the man of sin the first beast out of the seas and the whole world will wonder after the beast and will take the mark of the beast and all the rest of it and that's what's called the abomination of desolation now let me tell you something I don't know if anybody in this audience has been to the land of Israel but I know those that were there this year and the guide brought them right to the inner place where they have the material and they have all the information for the inside and the priesthood that will come out and all the rest of it in the tribulation days for the temple that will be built in the very area of the dome of the rock and the wailing wall that's today under the control of the Islamic world and they think they own it but God has given it to them and in a very fast time these whole people will be taken away and Israel will be in there and it's apostate Israel that will build the temple and this image will be set up in it and Daniel is learning about that those days are not far away if you were in Jerusalem tonight those Jews would tell you that it's just a short distance and this is all going to take place. Now the Lord Jesus Christ will be here before that to take us out of the world and so on.

Now somebody says what's the extra 30 days and what's the extra 45 days now I'm going to make a suggestion you see in the Old Testament whenever David was taken home to heaven at 70 years of age and his boy around 20 Solomon they had a little time together and the father told the son now listen you have got to deal with certain people you have got to deal with Joab and you have got to deal with Shimei and other people see and he says you have got to make sure that the kingdom will be established and before the great kingdom under Solomon was going he gathered from it all things that offend and he went forward so there will be a time after the judgment of the living nations the supper of the great God and Revelation 19 and all those things it's going to take time to get that all sorted out and then somebody says what's the additional 45 well the last temple of the Bible is Ezekiel's temple and it will be built in the precincts of Jerusalem somewhere and it's going to take time to get that building erected and the kingdom will likely be established so there are literal days at the end of the great tribulation that will be used to establish divine things in Jerusalem and as we have pointed out it will become a seaport and the dead sea will disappear and the contours of the land will be such that the great sea the Mediterranean sea will come right into Jerusalem and they will become the metropolis of the world and all the Gentile nations will come to worship Zechariah 14 at Jerusalem and God will show the nations what he had previously in mind for the nation of Israel and even though they failed God doesn't fail he says his callings and his gifts are without repentance tremendous days ahead but before that happens it's suffering let me give a very simple word tonight two minutes every one of us tonight said by the grace of God we're destined for heaven it's glory but in the meantime it's suffering to whatever degree and that's what the bible teaches ought not Christ to have suffered and to enter in to his glory the sufferings of Christ 1 Peter chapter 1 and the glories after these so it's suffering here first and then it's glory next and whatever happens to a believer whatever it may be if it's financial problems if it's bereavement if it's ill health or whatever it is it's better on before and so we quote here we suffer grief and pain here we meet to part again in heaven we part no more so we will be the heavenly seat and the nation of Israel will be the earthly seat and if I have understood the bible correct in millennium days we will be in a satellite city raining over the earth not on the earth over the earth to administrate the millennium earth 1 Corinthians chapter 6 shows it and we will administer angels and we'll be close to our Lord Jesus Christ now Daniel knew nothing about it but I'm making it practical for all of us tonight as we leave you glad you're saved tonight absolutely don't get depressed people are getting depressed among us and they're saying man I don't know what's going to happen to this whole world and I can't get on a plane and I can't go here and I can't go there the worst that can happen will shorten the journey and hasten us home now you don't have to be stupid I understand that but at the same time let's get on with living for Christ for soon it will all be over thank you very much let us pray Our Father once again it is our happy privilege to address the mighty God of eternity we thank thee for the God of the bible we thank thee for divine purpose we thank thee for the beloved son we thank thee for his down stooping his death, his burial, his resurrection his present ministry and the unfinished session at thy right hand and as we think of the gloom of earth and it's getting darker as the years go on very soon he'll be in the air to call us away forever and so he said let not your heart be troubled you believe in God, believe also in me in my father's house are many mentions of it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go I will come again and receive you unto myself he's gone away but not to stay he's coming back again help us as a company of thy people as families, as individuals in this area and any other area to live the rest of our time for the glory of Christ for it will soon be all over bless us all as we leave tonight and we ask thy blessing on every family that needs our prayers tonight, there are some in deep distress, father we commit them to thee in his worthy name amen