Hopefully you'll learn something as well as I in Daniel chapter number 10. Been talking about prophecy. And we're looking at these last three chapters now in the book of Daniel before we get finished up. And chapter 10, 11, and 12, they are packed full of exciting, interesting, awe-inspiring events, some that were still yet future in Daniel's day but have since been fulfilled, and others that are far-reaching that we still await now today. And there's a lot of stuff that's going to happen, and the fact that we can look back and see that Daniel prophesied some things that were going to happen that were still future to him We look back now and see how God fulfilled those things and we say, wow, God was faithful to fulfill His predictions back then. That gives us even more excitement about the times to come. He's going to fulfill that too. He's done it in the past. He'll do it in the future. God's never been wrong. God's never failed. In Daniel chapter 10 we'll be looking at these last three chapters which Bible prophecy scholars say there's nothing like it in the Bible as we find in the detailed prophecies that we find in the last three chapters of Daniel. Just nothing like it. And Daniel chapter 10 introduces us to a powerful moment in Daniel's life when Daniel is suddenly made weak physically by hearing what God's going to do to and for and through His people, the Jews. He's made physically weak, but yet He's spiritually strengthened. And so these chapters that remain that we're going to look at have detailed prophecies of future events. standing and looking out. We were up in Izzard County today. My wife and I, we just had our 48th anniversary. We spent a couple days together and we just really enjoyed the time together. Unlike the vacations we take with Erin and Erica where they detail everything minute by minute, we said we're going to do whatever we want to do. If we feel like doing it, we will, and if we don't, we won't. Wherever we end up at the end of the day is where we're going to be. And wherever we end up at mealtime, that's where we're going to eat. And so we did have breakfast in Pangburn. I'll tell you, the food was kind of OK. But if you like really weak coffee, you'll love that warm water there. But I like good strong coffee. But we spent the last couple of days together and we really enjoyed it. And so now we came, we hadn't even been home yet. We just came straight to church. And I love being here. I just love studying the word of God. And I hope you do too. And so we're standing on the mountain of prophecy here up in Isard County when we're up there. Before we spent the night with my niece, you can look off of the deck where her house is. She lives in a log house. And you can look out the back deck and you can see mountains just as far as the eye. It reaches way out yonder. You can see the hills and the valleys. Well, prophecy is somewhat that way. When you're looking back in the Old Testament prophets, when they're looking forward under a vision like Daniel has here in Daniel chapter 10, You're looking with Daniel across the ages, and there's mountain peaks, and there's hidden valleys, and another mountain peak, and then another hidden valley. And so we'll see those fulfilled as history goes along. And so let's begin. Well, I just wanna say this, too, about what we're gonna see tonight. We'll entitle this, we'll entitle this The Unseen Battle and the future unveiled. Because there's a battle, there's a spiritual battle going on behind the scenes that Daniel couldn't see, but the angel of the Lord's letting him know what's going on behind the scenes. And we're gonna see some of that tonight. And so we're gonna be inspired, I think, to understand that there is a spiritual battle going on. Spiritual battle may be going on in your life. physically weak from the spiritual battles that we may not even know they're happening, but maybe that's why we end up being physically weak, and if we do it the right way, God can make us spiritually strong through it. I just want to read one verse, and then we're going to go through chapter 10, and we'll even take a sail of a bird's eye view across chapter 11, and get into just a little bit of chapter 12. If the Lord works it out the way I think, I think we'll have next to the last message from Daniel tonight, and next Wednesday night we'll sum it up in the last message. And so, chapter 10 and chapter 11 is all part of one vision that Daniel has. And so, let me ask you this. This is just for my own personal benefit. When we're doing a study like this, Would you personally like to read in the service, would you like to see the entire text read, the whole chapter, and then address it as we go through the sermon, or would you rather just get right into it and address the verses as we come to them? Which one? Read the whole chapter first, or just do it all as we come to it? Which one, Brother Paul? Do it as you come to it? Does everybody think that? I wouldn't try to read two chapters, but there's just 21 verses in chapter 10, so I was thinking, should I read that whole chapter, just 21 verses, and give you a bird's eye view of where we're going? But I think we'll just stick with this, verse 19, and we'll read this one verse to give you a taste of what's coming. Daniel's into this final vision, the final vision of Daniel. And so he finds himself very physically weak after seeing what God's going to do with his people. And so here's what the angel says to him in verse 19. Chapter 10, verse 19. 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, for thou hast strengthened me. This verse captures the reassurance that the Lord gives through the angel to Daniel that yeah, you're weak, but you stick with me and I'm gonna make you strong. And that gives us some hope and some empowerment for our own lives that comes through Daniel to us because there's times like that that may happen to us. It highlights God's care for his people. Let's pray and then we'll start. Father, I pray that you'd bless us as we look into Daniel, these final chapters tonight and next week. Lord, I pray that you'd send your Holy Spirit to give us understanding. Lord, Daniel found himself very weak physically from being exposed to all that's gonna happen to his people and even to mankind in the final days. And Lord, you strengthened him because you gave him the vision, he knew what was going to happen, he understood it, and then Lord, you strengthened him because of it, spiritually. Lord, we pray that our people who look at this final vision tonight, that we would also, even if we're physically weak, we would be spiritually strengthened. Bless us to that end, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. For us today, Daniel is not just a historical book of prophecy. It's not just a fulfilling of the past, but it yet contains the future for you and me. and it's a call for you and me to trust God. To understand all this, let's look at first, if we wanna see it like Daniel did, let's look first at the man of vision. Verses one through nine. Verses one through nine. Now this is the vision that Daniel is seeing that's gonna sum up the last of the book. In verse number one, he says, in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel. Now this thing was the truth that comes from the vision that he's seeing. He says, the thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long. So he's saying this time appointed, what he's seeing in this vision, it's not gonna be all fulfilled immediately. Some of it will be in the near future, but some of it's gonna be in the far future over those mountaintops and valleys of prophecy. And he says, the time appointed was long, And he understood the thing and had understanding of the vision. In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread. See, he's in the king's court and he can have some pretty fancy food. He can eat some delicacies. But instead of partaking of the king's food, he's grieving and he's weak and he's sick because of what he's seen that God is going to do yet in the future. And he says, he ate no pleasant bread. Well, probably when the Jews were grieving, if they were not fasting totally away from food altogether, they would not eat pleasant food, but they would eat just plain old unleavened bread, bread and water. And so that's probably what he's eating here. He said, 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 in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hittikal, that would be the Tigris River. You remember two great rivers, two rivers are called great, which were north of Israel. in Babylon and one of them is a tigress and the other is the Euphrates. And the tigress, they both come together real close there about 35 miles apart near Babylon. He says in verse 5, we've got him out there by the river in this vision. And then in verse five he says, then I lifted up mine eyes and looked and behold a certain man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with fine gold of Euphaz, his body also was like the barrel, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his word like the voice of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. So they were there, they probably saw the bright light from the glory of God that Daniel was gonna see the whole story, but the man that was with him, they saw maybe just a flash of lightning, and they ran, they're getting out of there. But Daniel got the whole vision. Verse eight, therefore I was left alone, and I saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me for my comeliness, his countenance or any handsome features, any pleasant features. He says, For my comeliness was turned into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet I heard the voice of his words, and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. Boy, he sees the glory of God, and man, he falls on his face. You know, that shows the reverence that he had for God. I mean, he just falls on his face. He says, Lord, I can't look upon you. I'm not worthy. And he falls down. So here's Daniel, the man of vision, and the setting of the vision is there by the river, and the appearance of this heavenly messenger. Who is this heavenly messenger that speaks to Daniel? in verses 5 and 6. It says that he's a man in linen, and if you'll look at Revelation chapter 1 beginning in verse 13, you'll see that this probably is not just an ordinary angel, probably not even Gabriel or Michael or some other great angel. This is probably what they call a theophany. A theophany was the pre-incarnate Christ. Before he was born in Bethlehem, years before, he shows up in some form as he did to Abraham in those days just before he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And so this is probably Jesus Christ himself. In Revelation chapter 1 verse 13, the description sounds almost the same. Look at this, Revelation 1 verse 13. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, that's Jesus, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girded about the paps with a golden girdle, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass. as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth was a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. Here's old Daniel. Boy, he sees this heavenly messenger. And this is not just an ordinary angel, although seeing an angel would be a pretty special thing, wouldn't it? But seeing Jesus Christ would be even multitudes of mountains above that in importance. And so here's Daniel, he's out there wanting to understand all of this vision, and he's physically weak, and he falls down on his face, and man, he looks up and here's the vision of this messenger from heaven. The Alabama wind suckers, the preachers down in Alabama, they'd get all excited, the camp meeting preachers, they would take a passage like this, and boy, they'd rip and snort, and say, man, here's God in the flesh, and here's Daniel, seize him, and he's excited, and boy, they'd rip and snort about the glory of God, and I agree with them. The glory of God is something special. But he's weak, and he's trembling, and this shows us a proper reverence. for God. You know what bothers me a little bit? When people don't show reverence for God. You see this on the internet a lot. People refer, people who mockingly refer to God as the big sky daddy. Sometimes even Christians will call God the man upstairs. What's wrong with just calling him God? Some people refer to him as the big dude. Well, that may sound cool, but it's not reverent. And there's all kinds of names. Somebody called Jesus Christ, called him J.C. and his disciples, the boys, J.C. and the boys. It might seem, you know, a little cutesy, but not very reverent. And so I bet if you asked Daniel, Daniel, what did you say? He probably wouldn't say, I saw the sky daddy, or I saw J.C. No, he'd fall on his face and say, man, I saw the Lord. and lifted up. Man, his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like brass. Man, here's something I've never seen before. This was the Lord, no doubt. It probably sounds a lot like Isaiah 6, verses 1 through 7. Remember Isaiah, when he saw a vision of the Lord in the temple? And Isaiah said, in the last year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. High and lifted up, his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings, and with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people with unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken up with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged. Isaiah was a man who already reverenced, respected God. But boy, when he saw a vision of Him in the temple, he said, Man, this is overwhelming. I am undone. Man, I'm full of sin. I've got a bad mouth. The words that I say don't bring reverence to God. You know, I think if some Christians got a good vision of God today, they would clean up their vulgar potty mouth, they'd quit their cussing, they'd quit their reverence, they'd quit saying things to hurt people unnecessarily, and they'd quit bad-mouthing God, and they'd get right with Him, and they'd have an awe-inspiring experience where they would reverence Him the way they should. Oh, God is not somebody we ought to mock and make fun of. No. We see Daniel here then who was to receive this far-reaching prophecy. He's getting right with God once again. We see Daniel always just getting right with God. Man, I wish Christians were that way today. When they find themselves getting cold or maybe not understanding the Word of God, or they're not talking about the Lord the way they should, they just say, boy, I need to get back and get close to God again. I just hadn't been close enough to him. That's what Daniel's always doing. So we see before he receives this prophecy we're going to talk about in just a minute, he's getting right with God and he's getting ready to really absorb and soak up this prophecy. So that brings us to the second part of the message, the conflict in the heavenlies. The conflict in the heavenlies. There is a great conflict going on behind the scenes, an unseen conflict. There's some things going on in the atmosphere, in the heavenlies, beyond the vision of the human eye. There's a spiritual battle going on. And friend, it may be going on in your life as we speak. No matter who you are, if you're a Christian, you probably have some spiritual battles that nobody else knows about and you might even not know why. But look at verses 12 and 13. It says, verse 12, it says, Then said He unto me, Fear not. I like that, don't you? He said, fear not. God's not a big bully in heaven wanting to knock us over the head with a club. He doesn't want you fearing and trembling because of what He's going to do. We ought to have reverence for God. a reverential fear of God, but well, not walking around thinking God's a big bully. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, and thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. Verse 13, But the prince of the kingdom of Persia Now who is this prince of the kingdom of Persia? Now remember the prophecy, listen here, the prophecies like this have that near and far fulfillment. Some of these prophecies are filled soon, others won't be fulfilled away in the future. There was a prince of Syria, but the prince he's talking about here is not just an earthly prince, we're talking about a demonic entity. He is a demon out of hell. And it says the reason Daniel has a delay in response is because of this demon. Look what it says. He says, verse 13, But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me. There's a spiritual battle going on. A spiritual battle going on behind the scenes. He withstood me one in twenty days But lo, Michael, now who's Michael? Michael is an angel. He's a powerful angel like Gabriel. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people. Thy people, you ought to circle that in your Bible. Thy people, who is that? Daniel's people, thy people, they're the Jews. This is about Israel. It's not about just the general population. It's the Jews in particular. So what do we see here? We see a response coming to Daniel, but it's been delayed. Have you ever prayed and thought, boy, I wonder if God heard me? He hasn't answered yet. Lord, why hadn't you answered, man? Did you not hear me? I prayed. And we get impatient. We think God ought to answer us right on the spot. We don't know what kind of battles are going on behind the scenes. And God may have to wait until some of these battles get quelled, settled, before He can answer a prayer. There may be things going on in your life and you wish that God would just go ahead and answer your prayer. It's been said that God always answers prayer. It may be a yes, or it may be a no, or it may be a maybe. But He answers. It may be a wait. In this case, Daniel had to wait. When I first got saved, I began to pray for my dad. He wasn't saved. I began to pray for my dad and pray that God would touch his heart. And I wrote in the margin of my Scofield Bible by Matthew 7, 7, a prayer promise. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Ask and it shall be given. And so I wrote my dad's name in there and I began to pray for him. Boy, the end of the year came and nothing happened. I kept praying. Prayed another year, nothing happened. Every time I'd read that passage of scripture out of Matthew, I'd look and say, Lord, did I not pray this right? Is this a promise or not? Years went by. Dad died. I'd witnessed to him. Brother Sneather had witnessed to him. But I didn't know if he was saved. And when he died, we'd been to the funeral home, we came back home from the funeral home, hadn't had his actual funeral in the cemetery yet, and my heart was broken. I mean, I was weeping because I didn't want my dad to die without Jesus. And we were sitting, several of the family members sitting in a room talking, and I said, boy, I just wish I knew that dad was saved. and little Bill, my cousin, not the brightest star, not the sharpest pencil in the packet. He was kind of sitting behind the door listening to everybody else talk. When I said, I wish I could have known that my dad was saved, Bill piped up. He hadn't said a word. He said, Rick, I can tell you that he was saved for sure. I said, how do you know that? He said because he was taking care of the cemetery up there, mowing the cemetery one day and I was with him and he said he sat down on a tombstone and told me his testimony and how he trusted the Lord as his savior. He said he told me he was ready whenever the Lord called him home. Man, you talk about a burden being lifted And I said, you know, that promise in Matthew 7-7 is true. That promise in Matthew 7-7 was delayed for me for years and years. But the time came when God said, I answered your prayer. And I look forward to seeing my dad in heaven one day. And you might be asking something of God that it seems like He's had deaf ears. It may seem like the heavens are brass and you don't get an answer. And just keep on praying. Just keep on praying, don't give up, don't turn back. The Bible says in Ephesians 6, 12, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. against spiritual wickedness in high places. What are we in battle about? We're in a spiritual battle. We might think our physical battles are strong, but let me tell you, friend, the real important one is the unseen battle. And Ephesians chapter 6 says we need the armor of God that we might be able to stand against these things because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places. The devil is the, he is the God, little g, God of this world. Until Jesus comes back, the devil's having a heyday, and during the tribulation time after the rapture happens, he's really gonna have a heyday. The devil incarnate, the antichrist himself is gonna be physically present on the earth, and he'll be unleashing all the forces of hell against the earth, those who were left behind. There's a spiritual battle going on. There may be people who are listening right now, maybe on the internet, people who are listening, and the Lord's been dealing with their heart, and the Lord's been pressing them and pricking their heart and wooing them to come to God, to come to the Lord Jesus for salvation, and yet they have not done it, and there's a spiritual battle going on there. Friend, you better let Jesus win that battle for you. Trust Him as Savior. There's an unseen battle, and that was what caused the delay of answer to Daniel's prayer. And then we see in verses 18 and 19, strength for the weary. Verses 18 and 19, chapter 10, it says, and said, let my Lord speak, for thou hast strengthened me. There is strength for the weary. Daniel was physically weak from seeing what's going to happen to his people, but the Lord touched him through an angel. When we talk about being touched by an angel, you may think about a TV show or a movie or something. Those things are generally inaccurate. but God touches His people and He might do it through an angel. The Bible says in Hebrews that we may entertain angels unawares and there's angels that may surround you and in this unseen world they may be close to you and yet you don't see them but they can touch you and they can strengthen you. And when you lose a loved one to the grave or when you have financial difficulties or your health fails You have family problems. You may see no way out. If you do like Daniel, fall at his feet and say, Lord, I don't have no strength of my own, but I need yours. He can touch you. Touched and changed. In 2 Corinthians 12, 6 it says, for though I would desire to glory, this is the Apostle Paul speaking. He says, for though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth. But now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be. or that he heareth of me, and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given unto me, given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." Paul is saying, look, if this happened to me, I've seen the Lord face to face, God's used me to preach and see people saved and plant churches, And if it wasn't something to knock down my pride like this, I might be a proud and arrogant person. But he said, God gave me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. Paul said, boy, I didn't like that thorn in the flesh. It hurt. I want to be rid of it. I prayed three times. You'd think after three times God would give me relief from the thorn in the flesh, that he might depart from me. Verse 9, and he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in what? Weakness. Most gladly therefore, Paul says, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Do you have a thorn in the flesh? God gives thorn in the flesh to his own people. He did to Paul. Maybe it's to keep pride from springing up. Maybe it's to keep us faithfully dependent upon him. But he gives us a thorn in the flesh. I've got thorns in the flesh. You probably do too. And you know what? I can clearly see that there's at least a thorn or two that he's not going to take away from me. I'm just going to have to live with it. Well, that doesn't seem very loving of God, does it? He said, no, you need that thorn in the flesh, but I'm going to give you grace. You've got to keep it. That sticker's still going to be there, and it'll still hurt, but I'm going to give you grace where you can stand it. There has no temptation taken us, but such is common to man. And yet, God's going to give us grace when we rely on Him. What does it come down to? Trust. Trust. Say, Lord, I've asked you to take that thorn away, but I guess you hadn't decided to do that, so Lord, I'm just going to rest in your grace. After all, isn't His grace sufficient? If it was sufficient for Paul, shouldn't it be sufficient for me? The hymn that's been sung so many times, He giveth more grace, speaks of a loving God who gives strength when the burdens seem heavy. Here Daniel is, boy, he's had the rug pulled out from under him. He's had the wind knocked out of his sails. And God touches him and gives him strength. You may say, well I've been living for the Lord and I've tried to do what you said preacher, I've tried to witness to people but I've just been rejected. Keep on staying in the battle. There's an unseen battle and you're not called on to win the battle, you're called on to stay in the battle. You may say, man, I've tried giving like you said, preacher. I've tried giving to faith promise. I've tried tithing. I've tried giving and still my finances stink and nothing seems to be working for me. Does God not love me? Stay in the battle. Keep on battling. Don't give up. You're not called on to provide all your own answers but to stay in that battle. You say, well, I've tried to correct my children, discipline my children, train my children, and nothing seems to be working. Well, don't give up, just stay in the battle. Don't quit, but stay in the battle. Don't give up. There's never a good time to give up. Never. I'm trying to find a Christian mate. Man, I'd like to get married or I'd like to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, but nobody wants me. Stay in the battle. You're not called to provide all your own needs, but stay in the battle. Don't give up. Just stay there. And in the time, when the time is right, God will answer those needs. Now Daniel is the man of vision we've seen. We've seen what it means to be in unseen battles. There's a spiritual world out there full of devils, demons, those that battle against God. We don't see it all, but it's out there, friend. Now we see the prophetic revelation, Daniel 11. We're going into chapter 11. Chapter 11, verse number One says, also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him. So here is a second angel. Now as you read through chapter 10 and chapter 11, you'll find, as we pointed out earlier, that that first vision The first part of the vision of Daniel, he sees this one who corresponds pretty well to the same person as described of Jesus in Revelation chapter 1. Practically the same description. That's Jesus. But there's another one. There's at least one other angel here that's not Jesus. This is one of them here in chapter 11, verse 1. Also I, this angel, says in the first year of Darius the Mede, now we're still talking about an unseen battle going on. Darius was strengthened by an angel through God, God through the angel, strengthened Darius the king to do some things for Israel that needed to be done. And Darius was strengthened in this unseen battle because of this angel. He said, I stood to confirm and to strengthen him. Verse two says, and now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than they all. And by his strength through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia or Greece. So we're going back to what had been prophesied earlier that Nebuchadnezzar would be defeated by the Medes and the Persians. Now this Persian empire, this Seleucid empire of the north, around where modern-day Syria is, this This empire, the Seleucid Empire, would be divided up into four categories or four different realms of kings and then the mighty one would stand up. These kings in this Syrian empire, they were influenced by the Hellenists from Greece and then also from the Romans. The Romans are exerting some influence on them as well as the culture of the Greeks and so although they're a separate kingdom they are under pressure from the Greeks and from the Romans and it says when he shall stand up his kingdom shall be broken and if we went all the way through chapter 11 we'd see how these moments of history unfold that Daniel has predicted. The Ptolemaic empire that was the Egyptian kings from the south, they're called in these passages of scripture kings of the south and then the Seleucids were the kings of the north and they're battling back and forth, for a while these up north are controlling everything, they're controlling the country of Israel and then at other times the Ptolemies down in Egypt, those kings are controlling Israel and Israel just caught in the middle And they're getting hammered. I mean, Israel's getting hammered from the right, from the left, from the north, from the south. And God said, because of their unfaithfulness to Him, He's going to let them go through some of these things. And they are still going through it today. And there'll come a time during the tribulation when they will finally have their eyes opened and they're going to say, well, have we ever been wrong? Jesus was the Messiah. We missed it. the nation will experience a revival and many will be converted so when God's given Daniel here in chapter 11 these nearsighted prophecies of these kings, different kings of the earth controlling things in the Middle East all of that came to be fulfilled and we see Daniel is being promised that God hadn't quit he's still going to see after Israel Eventually things are going to turn and you and I, when we get caught in the middle, we're getting hammered from both sides. We can't give up on God. Our job, the golden key, is to trust. Trust Him because eventually, eventually, everything's going to be okay. We see the persecution of God's people in chapter 11, verses 21 through 25. We see there Antiochus Epiphanes. We talked about him before. He was one of the Seleucid kings, Antiochus IV. And he's the one that sacrificed the pig on the altar in the Jewish temple and desecrated the place. He is a type, a representation of the Antichrist who is yet to come in the tribulation time. And the Antichrist will also defile the temple in the tribulation, just like Antiochus 4 did. We face a lot of trials, but keep this in mind, God's plan will ultimately win every time. Ultimately. Now look, I'm not a hyper-Calvinist that thinks that God's got everybody's life planned out and you have no choice, you're just nothing but a puppet and every decision you make is just something that was pre-programmed into you from eternity past and you don't have any choices of your own, you're just fulfilling God's will and you have no choice of your own. I don't believe that, but I do believe God has an ultimate plan for the world and we are free agents within that world to make decisions And we can even rebel against God if we want to, Israel did. We can rebel against God's plan but ultimately whether we rebel or don't, God's ultimate plan is going to come to pass like He has prophesied. There will, whether you believe or don't believe in the rapture, the rapture will be fulfilled. Whether you believe or disbelieve that there's going to be a judgment seat of Christ for believers to see if they receive rewards or not, whether you do or don't, it's still going to happen and your decisions are not going to change that. Whether you believe or disbelieve that there's going to be a tribulation of seven years that the Jews and anybody that was left behind after the rapture, if you believe that's not going to happen, doesn't matter, it's still going to happen. God's ultimate plan will be fulfilled. Whether you believe or disbelieve, there's going to be a millennial reign of Christ, a thousand years of Eden-like existence for believers. Whether you believe or disbelieve, it's still going to be part of God's ultimate plan that will come to pass. And so God is not dependent upon your decisions or mine to affect the general ultimate plan. If we step out of God's will and do the wrong thing, He'll fulfill it anyway through somebody else. If He wants somebody to be president, it doesn't matter if you vote for or against. If that's what He wants, it'll still happen. You're free to make your decision, but you're not going to change God's ultimate plan. So it brings us to the last thing we're going to look at in the first four verses of Daniel 12. and the remainder of Daniel 12 we'll go over next week, Lord willing. So we see the hope beyond the struggle. Daniel 12, one through four. There is a promise of deliverance. A promise of deliverance. Look at Daniel 12 and verse number one. And at that time shall Michael stand up This is the archangel. At that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, the Jews, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time, thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book. Now you say, there's gonna be a tribulation that's gonna take place and Israel is gonna experience a revival. But look at this in verse 2. He says, and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth. That's people who have died and been buried. They sleep. Now I don't believe in soul sleep like the Seventh-day Adventists. That's a false doctrine. The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The moment somebody dies, their spirit, if they're saved, is going to go directly to be with the Lord immediately. but their body is going to sleep in the dust of the earth. And that's the sleep he's talking about. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. That sounds like a general resurrection where everybody's going to be raised at the same time to see if you're saved or lost. No, these two resurrections are a thousand years apart. One is One is after the millennial reign of Christ. The ones who are resurrected, I think there's reference to the Old Testament saints here. They have been saved and died in faith in the Old Testament. They weren't part of the church. The church is resurrected in the rapture at the beginning, just before the tribulation begins. And so the church saved people who had already gone up to be with the Lord. The bodies of the Old Testament saints are still in the ground until this time here, I think there will be a resurrection at the end of the tribulation time for the Old Testament saints. Now if I'm wrong, show me and I'll admit it, but I think that's what's going to happen. And so the ones who are awakened to shame and everlasting contempt will be at the end of the thousand year reign and they'll go before the white throne judgment because they're lost. and they'll be judged, God will be judging them to show them why they're lost and why they're about to be cast into hell that's the ones that's resurrected to shame and everlasting contempt that doesn't describe a Christian at all the ones that's resurrected to everlasting life would be Old Testament saints at the beginning and Christians are resurrected to everlasting life and so In verse 3, we see that it says, And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. So there's a promise of deliverance here. He's saying, Daniel, your people's going to have a lot of trouble. There's going to be a lot of persecution. There's going to be a lot of hurt, a lot of hell on earth for the Jews. until this end event and then he says your nation, your people, the Jews, Israel is going to be delivered at that time and the ones that got saved, the ones that trusted the Lord are going to be eternally secure and you and I, no matter how bad things get listen, no matter how bad things get in our life we have at least that hope, that secure hope that we're going to be resurrected unto life So the worst thing that could happen to a person would be to die and go to hell. The worst thing that can happen to a Christian may be bad health, may be eternal illness, may be financial loss, may be family problems. Those may be bad things, but you still have the best thing to look forward to, and that's resurrection to eternal life. If the rest of my life, I've been blessed throughout my life. I was just thinking about how blessed I was to have my wife. And we've really enjoyed each other now for 48 years. We just really love each other and we love spending time together. But if I die or she dies right away, that's going to be horrible. You that have lost loved ones know how that feels. But if that happens, we may hurt for a while. We may experience pain and grief. But the best is yet to come. We're still going to be resurrected to eternal life and a million years from now we're going to look back and say, man, that was nothing back there. It hurt then, but boy, it doesn't hurt now. And it says the wise will shine. In verse number three, they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, stars in the sky. And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. If you, listen, if you seek to win lost people to Christ, you're going to shine. If you're one of those stars in the sky, and you've given yourself to be a witness for Christ, and the Lord's used you to win some lost people, then you're going to be one of the brightest stars in the sky. For all eternity, they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever. That gives me incentive to want to try to win somebody. Doesn't you? Shine like the stars. Well, these chapters challenge us to recognize God's sovereignty over everything. Nothing happens outside His will. And as we said earlier, you can step outside God's will and He'll let you if that's your desire. but there's an unseen battle going on and we're called on to engage in that battle through strength, by prayer, and faithfulness. So what do you do when things go bad and an unseen battle is giving you a fit? Stay faithful. Don't give up on God. Keep on praying. Seek God earnestly like Daniel did That gives me something to look forward to. Let's pray together. Father, we love you. Thank you for these prophecies that, Lord, we'll see come together in the next message. And Lord, that will give us more hope than ever before because we've seen you fulfill prophecies in the past. We stand assured, Lord, that even though we may struggle at times, we know you're going to win, ultimately, this big war against Satan. Lord, I pray that you'd bless our people tonight. Help us just to stand firm, to stay in the battle, never to give up. Lord, just to give our hearts to you and to trust you, even when things look bleak, because we know, Lord, eventually you're going to make us to shine. We thank you for that. Our heads are bowed and eyes are closed. If you need to pray, you're welcome to the altar. You can pray where you sit. Is there someone either here or watching online and you've never trusted Christ as Savior, knowing everything is going to happen in the future, how the psalm will be resurrected to