The People Who Know Their God

Daniel 11

OPENING REMARKS

I’m not going to read the whole of the chapter today because of it’s length, but hopefully most of you have familiarised yourself with it.

This chapter once again reinforces the great theme of the book of Daniel; that God rules both in the heavens and on the earth, that He is sovereign, that world events happen according to His plan and occur at His timing.

Over and over in this chapter you see the phrase repeated by the angel speaking to Daniel ‘at the appointed time’. Who appoints the precise timing for all these things that happen in Daniel 11? God does. He reigns so completely over His creation, so precisely and yet without violating the freedom of His creatures He brings all His will to pass perfectly and not earlier or later than He planned, but exactly according to the timing He appointed before the foundation of the world.

God isn’t sat up there in heaven helplessly twiddling his thumbs as some preachers would have it. He is not at the mercy of human free will, unable to get His will done until we agree with Him. He is relentlessly bringing His sovereign will to pass every minute of every day. What do you mean? How can God be bringing His will to pass in my life, if I’m suffering!! Much of this whole passage of scripture has to do with preordained suffering for God’s people, even those who are faithful to Him:

Daniel 11:32–35 ESV

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.

Suffering, pain and loss in the life of a Christian are not always evidence of the devil getting his way. They are certainly not evidence that God isn’t sovereign. Even these things are appointed in God’s perfect timing for a believer so that they may be refined, purified and made white. If we are united with Christ, who suffered in His earthly life, how do we expect not to suffer also?

This same doctrine of God’s sovereign timing applies to all the affairs of this world as we experience them now, all things are happening according to God’s plan and in His timing. Your life is unfolding according to His timing, you live according to His appointed timing. If God is so careful about ordering the universe, taking care of every last detail, then we can be sure that His plan will come to pass in our lives at His perfect timing. Does life feel out of control now? Do you feel like you’ve missed your chance? Does it feel like God has abandoned you? Not a chance. He is bringing about His purposes in your life with precision and care, but according to His timing, not yours.

I think we will also see in this passage today the importance of knowing God; knowing who He is, His nature, His character, His word, His commandments and then also knowing Him personally, having a relationship with Him.

We will see that It would be those who really knew God who would be able to stand firm and be strong in the face of persecution and deception, it was those who knew God who were able to act decisively and do great things even at the risk of losing their lives.

We will also see again the remarkable accuracy of Bible prophecy. This passage predicts certain historical events with such ridiculous levels of accuracy that sceptics claim it is simply too accurate and must have been written at a later date.

Much of the chapter deals with details concerning two Kings; the king of the north and the king of the south. We won’t go into every detail of what is put before us today, interesting as that would be, we would be here all day, but we will need to understand broadly speaking what is happening here so that we don’t make misapplications. Some preachers have preached that all of this prophecy is future, some preach that everything from verse 5 onwards is still future for us, some preach that everything in this passage has already happened. So it will be worth our while to take a quick moment to consider what’s happening here.

VERSES 1-4

In verses 1-35 some say there are up to 135 independent facts of history that are accurately predicted.

The fourth Persian king of verse 2 that becomes strong and stirs up all against Greece is nearly universally accepted as being King Xerxes. He reportedly had the largest army the world had ever seen. When invading Greece his army created a bridge made out of ships across the Hellespont to cross over towards Greece because it would have taken them a year to walk around on land. It took his massive army 7 days and nights to cross over the bridge of boats. Xerxes’s armies amassed at Thermopylae where they were famously held back for 3 days by 300 spartan warriors led by King Lionidus.

The mighty king of verse 3 who rules with great dominion but whos kingdom shall be broken almost as soon as he has arisen is taken to be Alexander the Great.

This passage of scripture, written roughly 200 years before Alexander the great began his conquests accurately predicts that his life would be broken almost as soon as his dominion arose; after drinking and partying he died of a fever in Babylon at the age of 32.

His kingdom was then divided up into four, he did have sons and also another potential heir within his family but they were all murdered and instead four generals divided up the Greek empire into four kingdoms, north, south, east and west.

VERSES 5-35

The rest of this passage deals only with the kings of the north and the south. Why? Because these two regions of the Greek empire were the ones that fought for control over the holy land. The northern kingdom was ruled initially by a General named Seleucus 1, over an area now covered by the nations of Syria and part of Iraq. The southern kingdom was ruled by a man named Ptolemy 1, and the southern kingdom was the land of Egypt. Each king that reigned in those regions took the name of the first ruler; Seleucus or Ptolemy.

So the name ‘the king of the north/the king of the south’ could refer to Ptolemy 1,2,3,4 or Seleucus 1,2,3,4. This prophecy spans the lives of several rulers of each region.

There are some insanely accurate predictions in here which have made some sceptics doubt that the book was written until after these things happened.

But interestingly, the historian Josephus, who wrote in the 1st century AD wrote that the reason Alexander the Great didn’t sack Jerusalem on his way through the holy land was that the high priest came out to him and read him the book of Daniel, and pointed out that he was prophesied about in the book and Alexander left Jerusalem alone.

The prophecies from verses 5 through until at least verse 36 span a period of history between 305BC and 164BC, around 141 years, so not a massively long period of time but a lot happened!

VERSE 6 - This verse is a veiled reference to the marriage of Bernice, the daughter of the Egyptian King Ptolemy II, to Antiochus II of Syria (grandson of Seleucus) around 250 B.C. Bernice, her husband, and her son died by poisoning.

VERSE 7 - The historical reference in this verse is to the intervention of Ptolemy III, the brother of Bernice, who took revenge for the death of his sister in a military expedition against Seleucus II of Syria, son of Antiochus II, in 246 B.C. As indicated in the following verse, he took considerable spoils back to Egypt.

VERSE 17 - This verse is an apparent reference to the marriage of Cleopatra, the daughter of Antiochus III, to Ptolemy V. The Syrian king counted on this alliance to dominate little by little the Egyptian kingdom, but Cleopatra took the side of her husband against her father.

VERSES 21-36

A large chunk of this chapter concerns one particular king of the North, a contemptible person who shall take the throne illegitimately through flattery and who shall profane the temple set up an abomination that causes desolation.

VERSE 21 - Seleucus IV had a son named Demetrius who should have succeeded him, but Antiochus IV, the brother of Seleucus IV, seized the royal power when his brother was assassinated. Later Antiochus IV took the name of Epiphanes.

This man is written about in the 8th chapter of the book of Daniel as the little horn of the Greek empire; his name is antiochus Epiphanes and he ruled from 175-164BC.

We dealt with his story in some depth a few weeks back so I won’t go into to much detail here. But here we can see the things he did accurately prophesied

His first conquest and victory over Ptolemy VI and Egypt in verses 25 and 26

His second attempt at conquest of Egypt and subsequent retreat after the Roman navy landed and forced his withdrawal in 29 and 30

His outpouring of rage against the jews on his way back to Syria after being humiliated by the Roman general Poppilius in verse 30.

His desecration of the temple, when he dedicated it to Zeus and sacrificed a pig on the altar on December 25th 168BC in verse 31.

We know that this man, is a foreshadowing of the future little horn, or otherwise known as the antichrist. So, what we see of Antiochus, we will also see of the future antichrist. That he will enter in illegitimately through flattery and deceit, that he will exalt himself above all gods and speak blasphemy against the God of Gods, he will be an architypal narcissist, a man who has an answer for everything, a man of means who understands riddles as the Bible puts it. That he will ultimately turn against the people of God and will desecrate a rebuilt temple and set up an abomination that causes desolation.

THOSE THAT KNOW THEIR GOD

There were many Jews who sided with Antiochus Epiphanes at the time. Many of them felt that resistance against him was futile and that they should get over themselves and start worshipping the way the Greeks did, that they ought to dispense with the old ways and begin to live like the Greeks did. There was one group that didn’t succumb, however. And they are mentioned in verse 32, and this is the verse I want to give special attention to:

Daniel 11:32 ESV

32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.

A few months after the pig sacrifice in the temple, one of Antiochus’s envoys entered a small town north of Jerusalem and set up an altar and commanded an elderly priest Mattathias Hasmonean to offer a sacrifice to the pagan gods, he refused. Another villager, fearing violence, stepped forward and volunteered to be the first to make an offering. Mattahias, in a fit of holy rage grabbed a sword and slew the man on the spot before turning on the men who brought the altar, killing them all. This was the beginning of the Maccbean revolt, which ended in the reconsecration of the temple three years later in December 165. This is now celebrated in the Jewish festival of Hannukah.

Mattathias and his five sons, and all those who rallied around them were those people who knew their God, who stood strong and who took action. Because of their actions, the enemies of God’s people were eventually overthrown and true worship once again flourished.

Just as these men were standing against a type of antichrist in their day, so we in our day are seeing the church attacked on every side by an antichrist spirit. Teaching that leads people away from God by exalting the glory and power of man over God, teaching that is worldly, sensual and preoccupied with riches and gai. And only those who KNOW their God will be able to stand firm.

Lexham Research Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible ידע

ידע (ydʿ), VB. know, notice, hear of, learn; reveal, be or become known; realize. Greek equiv. fr. LXX: γινώσκω (284), οἶδα (107). LTW יָדַע (Knowledge), יָדַע (Learning), מְיֻדָּע (Friendship), יָדַע (Belief).

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XI Knowledge Commended (No. 609)

To know God is the highest and best form of knowledge.

Every born again believer is someone who has a thirst for more knowledge about their God! How can we know of God then?

The natural world

The way things are

Scripture

Just as biologists know about the inner workings of the body, and mathematicians are concerned to know the principles which govern their discipline so a Christian is someone who ought to know the things of God. And not just the basics, that there is a God and that He love us, but a Christian ought to be ready and able to answer any questions the world might have about the God in whom we believe.

1 Peter 3:15 NIV

15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XI Knowledge Commended (No. 609)

Believers are constantly spoken of in the Scriptures as being people who are enlightened and taught of the Lord; they are said to “have an unction from the Holy One,” and it is the Spirit’s peculiar office to lead them into all truth, and all this for the increase and the fostering of their faith. They are not kept in darkness that they may believe, but put into the light that they may believe. Here is the difference between the religion of Christ, and the religion of antichrist.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XI Knowledge Commended (No. 609)

Do not be content to be saved in the dark: try to find out how it is that you are saved. You are on a rock; but look at the rock, and understand why it is a rock, and how you came to be standing on it.

Personal story of being transformed by consistent and steady exposure to the whole of scripture

If ever there was evidence of an antichrist spirit at work in the church it is this backlash against Biblical doctrine; ‘I don’t need theology, I just love Jesus.’ You can’t love Jesus without doctrine! Without doctrine you can’t even define who He is, and you can’t love someone you can’t even apprehend! Yes, we’ll never be able to completely and fully comprehend God in all His glory, but why would we not want to know all that we can?

HOW CAN WE KNOW GOD MORE?

Read scripture often and in large chunks.

Actually study scripture, use a Bible study app like Blue Letter Bible, read commentaries. If there’s a verse you don’t understand, ask a more mature Christian what they think.

Attend a Bible teaching church and sit under faithful teaching. Don’t go to a church for the community, or for the style of worship music, find a church that faithfully teaches God’s word, no matter how small or uncool it might be.

Teach others about God. Start by sharing what you have learnt with your family, with your children, with your spouse. Look for opportunities to teach, for little opportunities to share with others about the things of God. The best way to learn is often to teach.

Engage in debate. Listen to the arguments of those who deny Biblical truth and watch how Christian apologists respond so that you will be equipped should someone come to you with similar objections.

Make use of historic creeds and confessions of faith. Get yourself a copy of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, or the Heidelberg Catechism. These confessions are condensed expressions of Biblical truth, they answer everyday questions that we might have about God, man, salvation and what it means to be a Christian.

It’s no use however, having only head knowledge. The Hebrew word used in this passage for ‘know’ is yada, which is both to know and understand something in your mind but also to know it experientially. We must know God personally. It’s no use having a robust theology of God which is completely detatched from our hearts. We must know God in our lives through worship, through prayer, through repentance, through thanksgiving, through being in His presence daily.

THE RESULTS

Listen, if you follow this advice, if you get on the journey of knowing God more deeply and standing for Biblical truth, don’t expect applause for it.

Daniel 11:33–35 ESV

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.

If you know your God, if you know the truth about Him and begin to stand firm against the lies, God will use you to make many understand but you will experience pain, persecution and betrayal. People will start to distance themselves, call you divisive.

Truth is divisive. It divides between truth and error. - RC SPROUL

If you really want to stand firm for the truth about God don’t expect a blue tick on social media and people to be singing your praises. In fact when I’m looking for faithful Bible ministers a blue tick on social media isn’t something that’s going to convince me that this is someone that knows their God, in fact popularity often means quite the opposite in this day and age. So few church goers actually know their God well enough to tell the difference between a true and a false teacher, so they tend to follow the most popular teachers, the most witty, the most captivating, and are bored by the ones who faithfully expound the scriptures.

That preacher who does nothing but excite the people, who teaches nothing and declares no definite doctrine, had better lay aside his office and take to some honest employment where he may do no more mischief. - SPURGEON

If we do these things, if we commit to being a people who know their God then when deception comes we will be able to discern it and withstand it, when persecution comes we will be strong enough to endure it, we will be used of God to make the people understand and just like the Maccabees we will see a revival of true worship in the land.

PRAY