THE PREDICTED PATH (Part 2)

Introduction

-God’s attribute of being eternal has to be held as a lamp to shine light on so many of His other attributes and the way in which He interacts with the world. But because we are not eternal, we can’t fully grasp all the implications of that. We might be able to have a slight philosophical idea of what being eternal means (i.e. God has no beginning or end; God has no dimension or parts; God is not restricted by time or space, etc.). But when we try to explore beyond that, it almost blows a fuse in brains because, being His creature, we are nothing like that. In fact, there is no one or nothing else like that.

-So, we read books like Daniel, and we learn (like we did in chapter 10) that God has a book of truth that appears to lay out all of history. And we learn in Psalm 139 that God has a book for our own lives? Does that mean that God merely knows what is going to happen? Does it mean that God causes what is going to happen? Is it a little of both? We know that God is not and cannot be the author of evil, but that might just mean moral evil (that which goes against His character and standard). It doesn’t necessarily mean God won’t move us toward trials or at minimum allow trials to happen. We may not like the trials of life, but that doesn’t automatically put them in the category of evil.

-But all of this speculation is where God’s eternality comes into play. God is sovereign, meaning He is in control. God is providential, meaning He is involved in pretty much everything and moving things along according to His good pleasure. (Again, not causing moral evils, nor forcing evil people to do evil things). And this doesn’t even necessarily take away free will, but God in His sovereignty and providence can take the evil actions from the free will of humans and use them to somehow further His cause without Himself being the cause or author of evil. We don’t get it—we can’t comprehend it. All we can do is chalk it up to His being eternal. God can do that because He’s God. And so, sometimes we just have to trust Him because we know His other attributes—that He is good and loyal to those with whom He has a covenant.

-And so we come to Daniel 11, part of a vision given to Daniel by an angel, but the vision comes out of the book of truth—God’s plans within history. And the angel shares specifically what is going to be happening with Daniel’s people, the Israelites, over the next several centuries. This chapter specifically deals with a time period in which the remnant of the Greco-Macedonian empire has control over the land of Israel, and what is described is not very good. Yet, God has sovereignly decreed it, and what is in Daniel’s future is in our past, and we can see that the path for Israel that was prophesied has come to fruition. And never once did God lose control.

-And the prophesies of what is to come have so much detail to them that some think it was written after the fact—but it wasn’t. It was in the book. And it reads almost like a soap opera as the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria go toe to toe politically and militarily, and Israel is stuck in the middle. And it is all happening as God prophesied and somehow all of it is usable by an eternal God to further His cause. And all we can do is say AMEN. AS YOU HAVE SAID!

-And yes, just like He did with an entire nation, God can use circumstances (both good and bad) in our own lives to get us to be who He wants us to be and do what He wants us to do—and we don’t lose our free will and God never loses His sovereignty, and we have to be OK with not being able to understand, but just praise Him in awe of who He is and what He is able to do. So, what did God have in the book of truth for Israel. We saw some of it last week, but we will continue...

Daniel 11:17–20 ESV

17 He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. 18 Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him. 19 Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found. 20 “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle.

-Where we pick up the story, Antiochus the Great defeated the Egyptians and gained control of Israel. Antiochus forced a treaty with the Ptolemies, and to seal the agreement Antiochus gave his daughter Cleopatra (no, not that Cleopatra) to Ptolemy V as a wife. Antiochus hoped that through Cleopatra he would gain further control over Egypt, but the plan “did not stand/succeed” because Cleopatra loved her husband and completely supported the cause of the Ptolemies.

-Seeing that he couldn’t manipulate his daughter to create a puppet government within the Ptolemies, Antiochus turned to conquering the coastlands, but the up-and-coming Romans fought against him and defeated him. So, the Seleucids were forced to sign a treaty with the Romans that caused them to have to give up some territory and pay Rome lots of money and give 20 hostages over to the Romans.

-Due to this devastating defeat, an angry mob of his own people killed him, and his son Sleucus IV Philopater took over, but he was soon killed by his tax collector who sought to gain the throne for himself.

Daniel 11:21–24 ESV

21 In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. 23 And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. 24 Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time.

-Philopater’s son, Demetrius, should have been given the throne, but he was one of the hostages sent to Rome. So Philopater’s brother, Antiochus IV, seized power through cunning and intrigue. This Antiochus referred to himself as Epiphanes, the “Manifest One” or “Illustrious One,” but others called him Epimanes which means “The Madman.” Egypt tried to attack him, thinking the kingdom was weak with all the political infighting, but Antiochus soundly defeated them.

-Antiochus wanted to Hellenize all areas (meaning he wanted to introduce Greek culture everywhere). This included Israel where he got heavily involved in their politics and religion. As it says, he deposed the prince of the covenant, meaning that he ousted the Jewish High Priest at that time, named Onias III. And what Antiochus did was give the High Priest position to whoever the highest bidder was, doing some political maneuvering to keep a strong hand upon Israel. And as the passage said, Antiochus took much of the wealth out of Israel and redistributed it to His supporters throughout his empire.

Daniel 11:25–28 ESV

25 And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. 26 Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. 27 And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. 28 And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land.

-In 170 BC the Ptolemies attempted to recapture Israel, but they again were defeated by Antiochus. And because of this rash move, Antiochus in turn invaded Egypt and was able to take Ptolemy VI Philometor prisoner. Philometer had followed bad advice from members of the Egyptian court, leading to his being deposed and captured.

-Powerful Egyptian nobles then crowned Ptolemy VII, who was Philometor’s brother, as the new king. Antiochus actually teamed up with Ptolemy VI (whom he had captured) and together they deposed Ptolemy VII, although it obviously was a very shaky alliance. This seems to be the background for 11:27, talking about a fake truce, each telling lies, and nothing came of it.

-While Antiochus was off fighting this battle, a false report went out throughout Israel that stated Antiochus was killed which stirred up an insurrection among the Jews. But Antiochus went through Israel on his way back to Syria (carrying much wealth with him) and he quickly squelched the insurrection: killing 80,000 people and taking another 40,000 hostage. So, because of the insurrection, he set his heart against the holy covenant, stealing much out of the temple before returning to Syria. This was just the beginning of persecutions.

Daniel 11:29–35 ESV

29 “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. 30 For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 33 And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.

-A short time after Antiochus returned to his capital, he learned that Ptolemy VI Philometor and Ptolemy VII agreed to ruse Egypt together. Antiochus had hoped that they would instead be rivals and weaken each other so that Egypt was no longer a threat. And then Egypt negotiated an alliance with Rome. Furious, Antiochus set out for Egypt with his armies. This invasion, however, would not be like the last one. This time ships from the west (which refers to Roman forces) intercepted Antiochus on his way to Alexandria. The Roman ambassador met him at Eleusis, which was four miles from Alexandria, and presented Antiochus with the decree of the Roman senate. Antiochus replied that he would need to consider what he would do. It is said that the ambassador drew a line around Antiochus on the ground with a rod and said, “I must have a reply to give to the senate before you leave this circle.” Antiochus submitted to the demands, and turned around from Egypt.

-Frustrated with this defeat, and also frustrated with the Israelite refusal to take on Greek culture, he began a severe persecution against the Jews. Antiochus soon prohibited the regular burnt offerings at the temple and he set up within the temple the abomination that makes desolate—he set up within the temple an altar to the Greek god Zeus.

-In response the Maccabees led a revolt by the Israelites against Antiochus. Unfortunately, many apostate Jews took sides with Antiochus in order to save their lives. All Jews were forced to choose between faithfulness to God with the possibility of losing their lives, or become apostate and not be killed by Antiochus. Many chose death over unfaithfulness.

-Listen to how one particular martyr is described in the apocryphal book of...

4 Maccabees 7 NRSV

1 For like a most skillful pilot, the reason of our father Eleazar steered the ship of religion over the sea of the emotions, 2 and though buffeted by the stormings of the tyrant and overwhelmed by the mighty waves of tortures, 3 in no way did he turn the rudder of religion until he sailed into the haven of immortal victory. 4 No city besieged with many ingenious war machines has ever held out as did that most holy man. Although his sacred life was consumed by tortures and racks, he conquered the besiegers with the shield of his devout reason. 5 For in setting his mind firm like a jutting cliff, our father Eleazar broke the maddening waves of the emotions. 6 O priest, worthy of the priesthood, you neither defiled your sacred teeth nor profaned your stomach, which had room only for reverence and purity, by eating defiling foods. 7 O man in harmony with the law and philosopher of divine life! 8 Such should be those who are administrators of the law, shielding it with their own blood and noble sweat in sufferings even to death. 9 You, father, strengthened our loyalty to the law through your glorious endurance, and you did not abandon the holiness that you praised, but by your deeds you made your words of divine philosophy credible. 10 O aged man, more powerful than tortures; O elder, fiercer than fire; O supreme king over the passions, Eleazar! 11 For just as our father Aaron, armed with the censer, ran through the multitude of the people and conquered the fiery angel, 12 so the descendant of Aaron, Eleazar, though being consumed by the fire, remained unmoved in his reason. 13 Most amazing, indeed, though he was an old man, his body no longer tense and firm, his muscles flabby, his sinews feeble, he became young again 14 in spirit through reason; and by reason like that of Isaac he rendered the many-headed rack ineffective. 15 O man of blessed age and of venerable gray hair and of law-abiding life, whom the faithful seal of death has perfected! 16 If, therefore, because of piety an aged man despised tortures even to death, most certainly devout reason is governor of the emotions. 17 Some perhaps might say, “Not all have full command of their emotions, because not all have prudent reason.” 18 But as many as attend to religion with a whole heart, these alone are able to control the passions of the flesh, 19 since they believe that they, like our patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, do not die to God, but live to God. 20 No contradiction therefore arises when some persons appear to be dominated by their emotions because of the weakness of their reason. 21 What person who lives as a philosopher by the whole rule of philosophy, and trusts in God, 22 and knows that it is blessed to endure any suffering for the sake of virtue, would not be able to overcome the emotions through godliness? 23 For only the wise and courageous are masters of their emotions.

-This was in the God’s book of truth. And it has happened throughout history, God’s faithful are martyred. And God has not lost control. And God gets glory for it.

-We go forward into an unknown, scary future, and we don’t know what’s going to happen to us. But we know the one who has it in control and is moving it toward a purpose. We notice here that the OT saints were not spared heartache, nor were they spared from the judgment brought against the nation. Why would we be surprised that we experience the same? And yet, many of those OT saints did not turn their back on God, but decided to trust Him even more. May be choose to do the same.