HISTORY IN HIS HANDS

Posted by Angella Diehl, Webmaster on September 15, 2024 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message from September 15, 2024 from Daniel 11:2-20

Theme: Our God rules over history, and causes it to unfold as he decrees for the good of His people.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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We come this morning to one of the most controversial portions of the Book of Daniel.

It’s a portion in which the prophet Daniel was given a remarkably detailed vision of approximately 350 years of history before it happened. It’s so remarkable in its accuracy that it has led many unbelieving Bible critics to assume that the Book of Daniel would have to have been written by someone living many centuries after Daniel’s time.

Daniel 11—more than any other passage—puts the reader of the Book of Daniel at the crossroads of a decision. It makes the Book of Daniel to either be a dishonest attempt to present history as if it were prophecy, or an actual prophecy of future events that couldn’t have come in any other way than by the revelation of God.

And we believe the latter. There’s more than enough objective external and internal evidence to assure us that the things this chapter tells us were indeed revealed by God and written down by the prophet Daniel years—and even centuries—before they occurred.

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Now; before we begin looking at it, let’s remember something that the Bible shows us about our mighty God. There are passages in Scripture in which God remarkably revealed certain specific events to His chosen instruments—in unusual detail—before they occurred.

Think for example of the story of the Old Testament king Saul. When he was just a young man—at a time when he was searching for his father’s lost donkeys—God called him and anointed him to be king of Israel. And just listen to the details that the prophet Samuel then told him in 1 Samuel 10:

“When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. And now your father has ceased caring about the donkeys and is worrying about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ Then you shall go on forward from there and come to the terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hands. After that you shall come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is. And it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a stringed instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you. You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do” (1 Samuel 10:2-8).

Now; how could Samuel have known about such a flow of events—with such remarkable detail—before it all transpired? It’s because the sovereign, almighty God that Samuel served per-arranged them, revealed them to Samuel in order, and then brought them all to pass exactly as He had decreed. Or think of what the Lord Jesus once told His apostles in Luke 22—just before having His last supper with them. They asked Him where He wanted them to prepare the meal, and He told them,

“Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready” (Luke 22:10-12);

And, of course, they found it all prepared just as He had told them. There are many such passages in the Bible. They show us that God knows specific sequences of events before they occur because He ordained them to occur as He wished.

Now; the Bible also makes it clear to us that each human being is personally responsible before God for his or her choices of action. That’s a truth, presented to us in the Scriptures, that we cannot deny. How it can be that God’s sovereignty is compatible with human responsibility is a mystery that’s beyond our ability to understand; and is something that we must ultimately accept by faith. But the Bible nevertheless makes it very plain that God remains absolutely sovereign over even the smallest of details. In Matthew 10:22, our Lord said that not even a sparrow can fall to the ground apart from our Father’s will—not just apart from His “knowledge”, but not even apart from His “will”. It says in Ephesians 2:10 that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” As it tells us in Acts 15:18, “Known to God from eternity are all His works”—not merely because He foresaw them, but because He foreordained them.

And that’s demonstrated clearly to us in the passage we’re about to study. It demonstrates to us that our God rules over history, and causes it to unfold as He decrees for the good of His people.

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Now; let’s remember the context of this passage. It’s the fourth and final vision that God gave to the prophet Daniel concerning the future of world events as they impact the Jewish people and the holy city of Jerusalem. God has already made it clear to Daniel that His plan was to preserve His chosen people and to seat His Son—Jesus Christ—upon the throne in Jerusalem as King of kings and Lord of lords. And this final vision gives the details of what will happen to the nations that surround Israel until that plan is fulfilled. This vision is not meant to be a complete survey of all of world history; but is just meant to reveal that aspect of history that impacts God’s prophetic plan for Israel.

And do you remember how it was begun? In Chapter 10, we’re told the details of how an angel came to Daniel to deliver this message to him. This angel told him that spiritual forces of great power hold sway over the nations of this world; and that God’s angels battle against evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realms with respect to those nations. This particular angel fought for three weeks against spiritual resistance to bring this message to Daniel. So; what we’re about to study was something that angelic beings battled hard to deliver—and that wicked forces fought hard to prevent.

Look at how it begins. In Daniel 11:2, the angel told Daniel;

“And now I will tell you the truth …” (Daniel 11:2a).

What “truth” is that? It’s what the angel had spoken of in 10:21 when he said, “But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture [or “writing”] of truth.” This was not a reference to the copy of the Scriptures that we hold in our hands today; but rather, a reference to a wondrous ‘writing’ in the heavenly realms before God. It’s the eternal record of His sovereign decree for the ages—known unto God from the beginning—that details His unfolding plan for history. It is—as this angel calls it—“the Scripture of truth”. And after fighting long and hard to get to Daniel, the angel is now about to tell him “the truth” of the events of history that would occur from Daniel’s time—over the next 350 years—until the arrival of a very wicked and vile king who will viciously oppress the Jewish people. That king’s name was Antiochus Epiphanes, and his story is prophetically described in verses 21-35. But he was only a picture of an even more wicked and vile tyrant—the Antichrist—who is yet to arise in the later days. His story is told in verses 36-45. And then, after being given the revelation of the Antichrist’s defeat, Daniel is then finally told about the glories of King Jesus and of His reign on earth.

This morning, we’ll only look at the events that lead up to the coming of that first wicked and vile king. All of the events that we are about to see described to us actually occurred in real history—recorded for us primarily in the works of such ancient historians as Josephus and Polybius, and in the apocryphal books of the Maccabees. We can really only touch briefly on the details; but enough will be seen to show us that our sovereign God truly has the events of history in His mighty hands—and declares them before they occur.

First, notice what the angel told Daniel …

1. CONCERNING THE PERSIAN KINGS.

At the time that this vision was given to Daniel, he was living as a captive under the rule of the Persian empire. We’re told at the beginning of Chapter 10 that this vision was given to him in “the third year of Cyrus king of Persia”. And so, in Daniel 11:2, the angel begins by telling him;

“Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all; by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece” (v. 2b).

Now, the angel doesn’t tell Daniel the names; and that’s because the names of kings who had not yet arisen would not have been meaningful to him. But we know their names, because we’re on the other side of the fulfillment of the angel’s words. The three kings yet to come were Cyrus II in 550 to 530 B.C., Cambyses in 529-522 B.C., and Darius I Hystapes in 521-486 B.C. But one more was to come. He was Xerxes from 485 to 465 B.C. We also know him as King Ahasuerus, whose story is told to us in the Book of Esther. Other kings followed after, but they were far less significant than Xerxes.

Xerxes was the mightiest of those Persian kings that were yet to come in Daniel’s day. But he would also be particularly known as the Persian king who became a threat to the growing kingdom of Greece, and who fought against them in the famous Battle of Thermopylae in 480 … leading eventually to his own defeat. The last king of the increasingly weakened Persian empire was Artaxerxes V; and he was slain in 329 B.C. by the Grecian king whose story is about to be told to us.

Now; do you remember how, in Daniel 8, Daniel was given a vision of a ram that was viciously attacked by a he-goat with one prominent horn? We learned back then that the ram represented the Median-Persian empire; and that the he-goat represented Greece. That one prominent horn was broken off to make room for four more. And so; that leads us next to the angel’s words …

2. CONCERNING ALEXANDER THE GREAT (vv. 3-4).

In verses 3-4, after explaining that Xerxes would stir up the Greeks, he told Daniel;

“Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be uprooted, even for others besides these” (vv. 3-4).

Alexander was one of the most remarkable individuals in ancient history. He began his conquests in 335 B.C.; but he died at a very young age in 323 B.C. He conquered almost the whole of the known world in only twelve years’ time. And because his sons had been murdered, his empire then had to be passed on to his four generals; Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus.

Ptolemy ruled over Egypt in the South, and Seleucus ruled over Syria and the regions of the north. And all that now follows in this prophecy of prehistory, for the most part, involves the ‘seesaw-like’ conflicts and battles between the successive kings of those two kingdoms: the subsequent Ptolemaic kings in the South and the subsequent Seleucid kings in the north—with the land of Israel stuck in the middle—and all under the sovereign hand of God.

So; let’s now go on to see what this prophecy said …

3. CONCERNING KINGS OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH.

In verse 5, we’re told the story of the rise of two initial kings. The angel told Daniel;

“Also the king of the South shall become strong, as well as one of his princes; and he shall gain power over him and have dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion” (v. 5).

The first king that’s mentioned was Ptolemy I Soter whose time was from 323 to 285 B.C. He was the king of the southern region. And the other king—here called “one of his princes”—was Seleucus I Nacater whose time was from 312 to 281 B.C. He was the king of the northern region. Seleucus ruled along with Ptolemy; but in time, he succeeded in expanding his northern kingdom in Syria into a “great dominion” which included the Grecian regions of Macedonia and Thrace.

The enlargement of the north over the South created an inequity. And so; verse 6 goes on to tell us about how a fatal alliance would be formed by the later kings over these regions. It says;

“And at the end of some years they shall join forces, for the daughter of the king of the South shall go to the king of the North to make an agreement …” (v. 6a).

A later king of the South—the son of Ptolemy I named Ptolemy II Philadelphus—entered into a remarkable agreement with a later king of the north—the grandson of Seleucus I named Antiochus II Theos. They agreed to a peaceful alliance on two conditions. First, Antiochus of the north must divorce his wife Laodice and marry a woman named Bernice, who was the daughter of Ptolemy of the South. And second, any child that Antiochus and Bernice had would become the heir of the northern kingdom after Antiochus died.

The marriage took place. But things didn’t go as agreed. As verse 6 goes on to tell us;

“but she shall not retain the power of her authority, and neither he nor his authority shall stand; but she shall be given up, with those who brought her, and with him who begot her, and with him who strengthened her in those times” (v. 6b).

What happened was that when King Ptolemy II of the South died, King Antiochus II of the north went back to his former wife Laodice and married her in addition to Bernice. And Laodice—now once again the wife of the northern king—wanted to secure her new position of authority and power. So, she poisoned her two-timing husband Antiochus II, and had his other wife Bernice and their infant son put to death. She installed her own son, Seleucus II Callinicus, in Antiochus’s place; and all lived happily ever after. What a soap opera, eh?

By the way, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; when you look at the lives and the conduct of those in positions of power throughout history—and even in our own times—do you ever wonder to yourself, “Where is God in all this? How can He let this stuff go on? Isn’t He paying attention? Doesn’t He care?” Well; the next time you wonder that, just remember this passage—and take it to heart that our sovereign God does know … and always remains in control … and is permitting such people to behave according to their will—but all to the fulfillment of His sovereign plan for the good of His people.

So then; there’s this crafty woman Laodice—the murderer of Bernice—reigning over the north with her son Seleucus II. Word of all this reaches the southern kingdom; and Bernice’s brother wasn’t going to stand for it. This leads us to the story of an avenging brother from the South. Verse 7 tells us;

“But from a branch of her roots one shall arise in his place, who shall come with an army, enter the fortress of the king of the North, and deal with them and prevail” (v. 7).

The phrase “a branch from her roots” is a way of referring to her biological brother. And this brother is none other than Ptolemy III Euergetes. He rose up in vengeance, killed Laodice, and seized control of Antioch. His name “Euergetes” meant “the Benefactor”; and through his vengeful conquests in the north, that’s what he became to his own people in the South. Verse 8 tells us;

“And he shall also carry their gods captive to Egypt, with their princes and their precious articles of silver and gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the North” (v. 8).

Ptolemy III of the South reigned six years longer than Laodice’s son Seleucus II, and thus secured his gains over him. Later, Seleucus II attempted an invasion into the kingdom of Ptolemy III in the South; but he was unsuccessful. Verse 9 tells us;

“Also the king of the North shall come to the kingdom of the king of the South, but shall return to his own land” (v. 9).

But the personalities involved just couldn’t leave well enough alone. Verse 10 tells us about two sons from the north. It says;

“However his sons shall stir up strife, and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one shall certainly come and overwhelm and pass through; then he shall return to his fortress and stir up strife” (v. 10).

The names of these two northern sons of Seleucus II were Seleucus III Ceraunus (sometimes called Soter), and his brother Antiochus III the Great. They assembled a great army, overwhelmed the south, returned to the north, and stirred up the conflict even more. And that second son—Antiochus the Great—becomes so much of a focus in the verses that follow that his brother Seleucus III seems largely to fade into the background.

Now; a new king came to power in the south. His name was Ptolemy IV Philopater. Historians tell us that he was a king who loved living in ease and luxury. Nevertheless, he was “moved with rage” because of the campaigns of the two sons of Seleucus II—particularly against Antiochus the Great. And this led to a southern king’s revenge in the Battle of Raphia in 219 B.C. In verse 11, the angel told Daniel;

“And the king of the South shall be moved with rage, and go out and fight with him, with the king of the North, who shall muster a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into the hand of his enemy” (v. 11).

In this famous battle, the armies were relatively closely matched in size. But according to the promise of God, the multitudes of Antiochus the Great’s forces were given into the hands of Ptolemy IV. Ptolemy IV went back home in victory. But Ptolemy IV was still a lover of luxury and sinful pleasures; and he squandered his time in such a self-indulgent manner that he failed to secure and solidify his gains in the north. Verse 12 says;

“When he has taken away the multitude, his heart will be lifted up; and he will cast down tens of thousands, but he will not prevail” (v. 12).

And this leads to the story of a northern king’s response. Verse 13 tells us that Ptolemy IV would not end up retaining his victory;

“For the king of the North will return and muster a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come at the end of some years with a great army and much equipment” (v. 13).

The northern king Antiochus the Great was not squandering his time during the fourteen years after the Battle of Raphia. In 203, after Ptolemy IV died and left his southern kingdom to his four-year-old son Ptolemy V Epiphenes, Antiochus the Great returned to seek his revenge. He had even made an alliance with the king of Macedonia to expand his force. And as it turned out—in his journey southward—he also drew in some unscrupulous Jewish people on his side. It must be that they later read the Book of Daniel and thought that they could be part of fulfilling the prophecy by bringing an end to the tyrannical rule of the south. In verse 14, the angel told Daniel;

“Now in those times many shall rise up against the king of the South. Also, violent men of your people shall exalt themselves in fulfillment of the vision, but they shall fall” (v. 14).

They did indeed fulfill prophecy … but not in the way that they thought they would.

Now; the northern king Antiochus the Great was successful in his vengeful attack on the south. Neither the kingdom of the child-king Ptolemy V—nor the generals who served him—could stand against Antiochus’ attack. He even drew the land of Israel under his control. Verses 15-16 tell us;

“So the king of the North shall come and build a siege mound, and take a fortified city; and the forces of the South shall not withstand him. Even his choice troops shall have no strength to resist. But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and no one shall stand against him. He shall stand in the Glorious Land with destruction in his power” (vv. 15-16).

Antiochus the Great was a shrewd man. He was determined to use his opportunity to solidify his gains; which included establishing himself in the land of the Jewish people. Verse 17 tells us;

“He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do” (v. 17a).

That phrase “upright ones with him” can be translated as “bringing equitable terms”; and it seems that that’s what he did. He sought to gain control of the south by making an alliance by marriage. And this leads us to the story of a double-crossing daughter. Verse 17 goes on to say;

“And he shall give him the daughter of women to destroy it; but she shall not stand with him, or be for him” (v. 17b).

Antiochus the Great had a daughter named Cleopatra I. (She was not the more famous Cleopatra who would come onto the scene 150 years or so later.) He arranged for his daughter Cleopatra to marry young Ptolemy V Epiphanes in 197 B.C. Ptolemy was only about ten years old at the time; so it certainly wasn’t a marriage built on love. But the northern king Antiochus thought that it would nevertheless ensure the aid of the southern king Ptolemy’s kingdom in a looming war against Rome, and would secure his gains over the south. But the plan didn’t work. Cleopatra chose to stand for the interests of young Ptolemy against her father. She stood by her man … or, I should say, her boy. Eventually, the southern kingdom of Ptolemy V and Cleopatra ended up giving aid to the Romans against Antiochus the Great.

Now; at this point, Antiochus the Great sought to secure to himself the regions around the Aegean Sea—particularly Asia Minor. His ambitions just wouldn’t cease. And this leads to the story of a Roman roadblock. Verse 18 tells us;

“After this he shall turn his face to the coastlands, and shall take many. But a ruler shall bring the reproach against them to an end; and with the reproach removed, he shall turn back on him” (v. 18).

This ‘ruler’ who brought this ‘reproach’ against ‘the coastlands’ to an end was the Roman general Lucius Scipio Asiaticus. He defeated Antiochus the Great in 191 B.C. at Thermopylae; then again at Magnesia, and finally forced him into a peace treaty in 188 B.C. Antiochus the Great had to abandon his plans for the conquest of Asia Minor. As verse 19 tells us;

“Then he shall turn his face toward the fortress of his own land; but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found” (v. 19).

Not so ‘great’ an end for Antiochus III the Great! Little is known of what happened to him after he returned to his land in the north—only that he died in 187 B.C. His son Seleucus IV Philopater succeeded him as king over the north. But though his kingdom was vast, the royal treasury was now nearly empty. The Romans had imposed a heavy tax upon his father’s kingdom. And so, Seleucus IV sent his prime minister Heliodorus to seize funds from the temple in Jerusalem.

And this closes our look at this passage with the strange story of a suspicious tax collector. Verse 20 tells us;

“There shall arise in his place one who imposes taxes on the glorious kingdom; but within a few days he shall be destroyed, but not in anger or in battle” (v. 20).

Seleucus IV died in 176 B.C. after only eleven years of rule. The story of his death seems rather mysterious. It was perhaps not entirely mysterious though; since his prime minister Heliodorus was clearly seeking after his throne … and Seleucus died of poisoning.

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Now; there are a lot of details in the story of what the angel told Daniel would happen. It may seem hard to keep track of it all. But please understand the point: our God very clearly rules over history, and causes it to unfold as He decrees for the good of His people. Seen in that light, this is truly an amazing passage.

It reminds us of what the apostle Paul said in Acts 17 when he shared the good news of the gospel of Jesus with the people of Athens. They worshiped many false gods, but he told them,

“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us … ” (Acts 17:26-27).

God exercises sovereign rule over the flow of history—even over the times of nations and the locations of their boundaries—in order to advance the message of the gospel of His Son Jesus Christ; who is destined to rule over all.

And dear fellow brothers and sisters in Christ; let’s not forget how His sovereign rule is also exercised over your life and mine! As Paul also wrote in Romans 8:28-30;

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).

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