TROUBLED BY TYRANTS

Introduction

-All of us probably have national or political leaders that we consider to have been people worth following. They had wisdom and skill that inspired others to greatness and they changed the course of history for the better—be it a Lincoln or Churchill or someone like that. But then there were other leaders who exploited the people and led by fear and power—we would call them tyrants—people like Stalin or Hitler or Putin.

-Everyone would say agree that it is better to be under good leadership rather than tyrants, but this is a fallen world and the possibility of being under the regime of a tyrant is a reality that the world deals with. You see, we have to understand, that the freedoms that the US has enjoyed these many centuries are not the norm in history. We are the exception, and who knows how much longer that exception will last.

-So, what happens when we are troubled by tyrants? Daniel and Israel had to deal with this very issue. They were under the control of one Empire after another and they were not always treated nicely or fairly. When can we learn about being troubled by tyrants?

Daniel 8:1–27 ESV

1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. 2 And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. 3 I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. 4 I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great. 5 As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. 6 He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. 7 I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. 8 Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. 9 Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. 10 It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. 11 It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. 12 And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. 13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” 14 And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.” 15 When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. 16 And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” 17 So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.” 18 And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. 19 He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. 20 As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. 22 As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. 23 And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. 24 His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. 25 By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. 26 The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.” 27 And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.

-This vision came about 2 years after the vision in chapter 7 while Babylon was still in power. Daniel had the previous vision of monstrous beasts representing the empires under which Israel would be controlled. And yet there would be an eternal Kingdom that God would set up. While those beasts will eventually die, God’s Kingdom would reign forever.

-Now Daniel would have a vision that would relate to world affairs that would be a little sooner in history (although still after Daniel’s time). He is given a vision of what would happen with beasts number 2 & 3 from chapter 7, a little more detail than what he had before. The details that are given within this vision are so accurate, this is why so many scholars have said that Daniel had to have been written after the events—everything was a little too spot on. But this just confirms the omniscience and sovereignty of God—God knows everything that ever will happen to the smallest detail.

-In this vision, Daniel was moved to another part of the Babylonian Empire and saw a ram that had two large horns. The horns on this ram were not symmetrical, as one grew larger than the other. Later in this vision Daniel is given a straight answer by Gabriel about the meaning of what Daniel has seen, and we find that this ram is the Medo-Persian Empire—the empire that would defeat Babylon and take over that part of the world. Scholars believe that the reason that one horn was larger than the other horn was because the Persian part of the government was more influential than the Media part of the government.

-However, as history has demonstrated over and over again, not all governments last forever. Another animal came to take its place, just as each beast in chapter 7 took over the one that came before it. In this vision a male goat attacks and moves so swiftly that it doesn’t even touch the ground. This goat has a horn between its eyes (I guess like a unicorn) which represents the primary king. This goat represents the Greco-Macedonian empire that is led by Alexander the Great. Alexander quickly defeated the Medes and Persians and set up his influence in the region. Alexander was so influential that his Greek heritage influenced the culture of the entire Empire. We call it being Hellenized. Through Alexander’s actions and influence God was preparing the world for the gospel because Hellenization gave the known world a common language—Koine Greek. The apostles and others would be able to communicate the gospel to all in what would eventually be Roman Empire.

-But at the height of the Greco-Macedonian Empire, Alexander died of a fever (possibly malaria) and a great struggle ensued between four of Alexander’s generals. The empire was partitioned into four different areas (two of which would be important to Israel and would be given more time in future visions). But the four generals were Antipater (aka Cassander) who gained control of Greece & Macedonia; Lysimachus who ruled Thrace and part of Asia Minor; Seleucus Nicator who governed Syria/Babylon/Middle East; and Ptolemy Soter who controlled Egypt.

-A good portion of the vision, though, zooms in on a little horn—a ruler who would rise up out of one of those four areas and he had a big part to play in the lives of the Jews because he would become a tyrant. It says that the little horn cast down the host of the heavens, the stars, which were representative of God’s people. This little horn would heavily persecute the Jewish people. It says that this little horn would exalt himself as high as the Prince of the host. This means that this leader would seemingly attempt to take on God Himself. How would he try to do that? It speaks of the little horn doing something to stop sacrifices in God’s temple, stop the observance of the Jewish religion, and he would become great and mighty in his own eyes. This little horn would be given power to desecrate the people of God and the temple of God for 2300 days (which is about 6 1/2 years) which is a very specific number.

-This vision is so overwhelming that Daniel needed help to figure out what it all meant, so God sent Gabriel to explain it to him. First, Daniel wondered why these things would happen to his people. In vv. 12 & 23 Gabriel says it is because of transgressions—speaking of the disobedience of God’s people. Even after the Babylonian captivity, the Jews did not learn their lesson, so God would allow another to rise to punish them for disobedience. Sometimes God allows tyrants to arise because His people are not following His Word. Just keep that in mind for things that might happen in our day and age. Does God allow bad leaders to rise because God’s people are not acting right? Absolutely; so take heed church.

-But what did it mean for the Jews. With hindsight being 20/20, we are able to see that the little horn is Antiochus Epiphanes IV. He rose to power by bribery and flattery amongst the Seleucids and had many notable conquests against the other portions of the empire. Beginning in about 170 BC, Antiochus began persecuting the Jews. He assassinated the High Priest Onias III, and possibly executed tens of thousands of Jews in his tyranny.

-After he took over Jerusalem, he desecrated the Jewish temple in so many ways. He stripped it of its wealth and stopped all Jewish sacrifices from occuring. The crowning act of his blasphemy was when he erected some sort of monument to Zeus within the temple and offered pig sacrifices to it. Again, God allowed this to happen because of disobedience. Antiochus was so evil that many see him as a foreshadowing of the Antichrist.

-But what we find in history is that even though God allows these wicked people to punish His own people, God will judge the wicked for the atrocities that they commit. Antiochus would not be allowed to run wild without being judged. Eventually Antiochus begin losing power. The Jews revolted under the leadership of the Maccabees and eventually regained control of Jerusalem and the temple. Then on December 14, 164 BC, Judas Maccabeus cleansed and rededicated the temple (about 2300 days or 6 1/2 years after Antiochus started his persecution). Today, the Jews celebrate the Feast of Hanukkah (which means “dedication”) to commemorate this event. And it is said that Antiochus died of Grief and remorse—a defeated and sad foe.

-This vision was so horrifying (because of the portrayed hardship and heartache that the Jews would endure) that Daniel became physically, emotionally, and spiritually sick. This vision, in a sense, was so much worse than the vision of the beasts that came a few years before. And yet, there is also some hope-filled lessons and some warnings that we can all take from this.

-First, no matter how bleak things may seem on earth and no matter how dark the times might seem, in the end evil will not win. Yes, God allows evil to prosper for a time and God will use evil tyrants even to punish His own people, but it will not go unanswered. The times of tyrants on this earth is short, and they will not only come to a final, physical end, but they will find themselves placed in an eternal place of judgment for their wicked deeds. All evil will eventually be defeated, but we can even take heart that the evil and the tyrants of our day and age will be defeated and meet their end. For God’s people, sorrow and heartache are for but a short time, but joy comes in the morning.

-Second, we are reminded that spiritual warfare is real. Antiochus may have been the earthly instrument, but there were stronger, darker spiritual powers at play behind him. God may allow it, but God does not cause it. There were other spiritual powers at work behind Antiochus just as there are behind the wicked leaders of our day, and we must do battle. But we do not battle with carnal weapons, but with spiritual weapons. We cannot be surprised to find ourselves in battle, and must prepare ourselves with the armor of God and fight with the weapons that God has put at our disposal.

-Third, I repeat again that God may allow tyrants to rise for a time because the people of God choose to walk their own way instead of walking in the ways of the Lord. God’s people get to fat and happy and comfortable and decide that they can do things their own way in their own time, and they begin to ignore God and disobey God. God will give His people over to their desires sometimes and then reap the whirlwind. But God will not allow evil to rule forever. If God’s people repent—if they pray and seek God and turn from their wicked ways—God will lift them up. The question is will we be the generation that is desperate enough to seek God for such repentance.

-But we can’t end there, we have to talk about hope, because there is always hope. And we know that this hope is found in Jesus Christ. God didn’t give Jesus for us to live fearful, defeated lives on earth, but to live in power and authority for His kingdom purposes. If you have never trusted in Jesus, you are missing out on who you were truly meant to be. If you have trusted Jesus, are you living out who you are in Christ? Let us pray that we will...