Who Are You | Those Who Know God - Daniel 11 | November 24

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As we read this, I want you to think in this way, perhaps,

even though potentially this goes against what I'm going to tell you later and

also what I've told you for the last 11 weeks or 10 weeks, whatever,

11 weeks, I guess, if we're in Daniel chapter 11.

Daniel 11 · chapter mention

Let's look at this as a short, brief, little history lesson,

if you will, as we read through these pages, these words in Daniel chapter 11.

Daniel 11 · chapter mention

It starts off actually in verse 2, so we've kind of skipped verse 1 because

we didn't read it as part of last week, even though it's part of last week's

time in Daniel chapter 10 and maybe not so much Daniel chapter 11.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention Daniel 11 · chapter mention

So we're just going to skip verse one. You can read verse one on your own.

Daniel 11 starts in verse two by saying, now then I will reveal the truth to you.

And I'm going to stop there because I don't want us to skip over these words.

This is more than just fantastical visions or hopeful predictions. This is a truth claim.

Daniel's making a claim on the truth of what has been, of what will be.

And it's important because it's exactly this claim of truth that sort of embroils

these spiritual skeptics who stand firm on the foundation that Daniel couldn't

have possibly be written earlier than maybe like the second century.

It couldn't have possibly been written earlier. It must be a work of fiction

or it must be something of a more modern composition because this is a claim to truth.

And if they were to accept this book as a work of ancient literature,

then they also have to submit to that claim of truth.

The claim that there is a God who is in control of history, who can foretell

the future, who knows what's going to happen.

In fact, who stands outside of time itself and that there is a God,

it's the same God who can provide salvation to sinners.

So, if we were to hold firm to this belief that this is a work of ancient literature

happening before all of this history that we're about to talk about,

then you have to also submit to that truth claim.

And so that's kind of flies in the face of these spiritual skeptics,

because this is, what we're going to see is that this is a supernatural revelation of truth.

Daniel chapter 11, even more so than predictive literature or apocalyptic literature,

Daniel 11 · chapter mention

this is a supernatural revelation of truth.

It's a truth claim. So keep reading verse two.

I'll repeat it. Now then I will reveal the truth to you.

Three more Persian kings will reign to be succeeded by a fourth far richer than the others.

So these are four Persian kings. And if Daniel is writing in the time of Cyrus.

And the following kings that are included in this list are Cambyses,

Smyrides, Darius I, or Darius the Great.

And then finally, the wealthiest of all, as it's referred to here at the end of there, Xerxes I.

And so Xerxes used his wealth to build up an army to mount attack against the Greeks.

So the Greeks, specifically the Athenians, joined in the Ionian revolt against

his father, Darius the Great.

And so Xerxes kind of raises up this army to pay back the Greeks for their insurrection, I suppose.

So, Darius the Great, he lost an important battle in this against the Greeks

in the Battle of Marathon, which might be something that you have heard of before,

or it might sound a little bit familiar.

It's exactly what it sounds like when you think about the word.

So, Darius, again, is starting to seek to punish the Greeks for the Ionian revolt.

So he aimed to conquer Greece.

So part of this, he fought, he mounted his Persian army, which is the empire

of the time. It's the great empire of the time, right?

So he mounted his army to go fight against the Greeks and he fought against

the Athenians specifically on the plains of Marathon, which is a place.

And the story is, or the history is that the small outnumbered Athenian army

actually defeated the great Persian army.

And so this is more than just like, of victory in battle, what this proved to

the world is that the Persian empire could be defeated.

And so, this is this great psychological boost rather than just a tactical success.

And this battle is actually what began the Greco-Persian Wars,

a series of wars fought over many years.

This wasn't like the final blow to the empire. The Persians kept going on for

a number of years after this.

What it did is it set the stage for this next chapter.

We saw in Daniel chapter two, we saw it in Daniel chapter seven and eight,

this rise of the next kingdom, the Greek kingdom.

So it's setting a stage for the rise of Greece. And so the battle of Marathon,

we'll get back to that just so we are all up to date on this.

This is where there's a legend of this guy named Pheidippides, perhaps.

He's an Athenian messenger. So, when Athens won against the Persians,

the legend goes that Pheidippides ran 26 miles back to Athens to tell of the victory.

He basically said we won and then collapsed down and died of exhaustion.

And again, this is perhaps the historical accuracy of this can be debated.

It makes it a good story and it kind of certainly like builds up this idea of Greek determination.

And of course, that's where we get the modern day marathon from,

which is ironically enough, perhaps not, I guess it's not ironic, 26.2 miles.

So all that we know about a marathon comes from this experience and history

between the Persians and the Greeks and this guy who ran and died of exhaustion.

So verse two continues, He will use his wealth to stir up everyone to fight

against the kingdom of Greece.

So again, this is probably Xerxes who following his father's death,

he kind of resisted for a while, but eventually he built up this great army

using his massive wealth to form this army of retribution against the Greeks.

And again, while there were certainly some victories that were won by the Persians,

essentially the Persians just kind of limped along after this for quite a while,

just as a defeated empire waiting for another to take its place.

So continuing on verse three, then a mighty king will rise to power who will

rule with great authority and accomplish everything he sets out to do.

But then at the height of his power, his kingdom will be broken apart and divided into four parts.

It will not be ruled by the king's descendants, nor will the kingdom hold the authority it once had.

For his empire will be uprooted and given to others.

So this is indeed prophecy, as we believe that it is a claim to truth.

And this is pretty amazing. because it's probably undoubtedly talking about

Alexander the Great, who rose to power very swiftly. He took over much of the

world in just a matter of short period of eight years. But after his death.

He didn't, his descendants didn't inherit the kingdom, but it was divided amongst

four of his generals, which assumed rule over these four parts of the kingdom.

And then the rest of the book of Daniel that we're about to read essentially

is focusing in primarily on the Northern, the Seleucid kingdom,

and then the Southern, the Ptolemaic, the Ptolemaic kingdoms.

So these are the two kingdoms that Daniel 11 now will focus in on,

these two Greek kingdoms following the Alexander the Great, which specifically

these two kingdoms repeatedly interacted across what Daniel refers to as the

beautiful land, the land of Israel.

And north and south here are terms relative to that position, Palestine, Israel.

So the Northern Seleucid kingdom, the Southern Ptolemaic kingdom. Let's keep reading.

The king of the South, verse five, will increase in power, but one of his own

officials will become more powerful than he will.

And he will rule his kingdom with great strength.

So some years later, an alliance will be formed between the king of the north

and the king of the south.

The daughter of the king of the south will be given a marriage to the king of

the north to secure the alliance, but she will lose her influence over him and so will her father.

She will be abandoned along with her supporters, but when one of her relatives

become king of the south, he will raise an army and enter the fortress of the

king of the north and defeat him.

When he returns to Egypt, he will carry back their idols with him along with

priceless articles of gold and silver.

For some years afterward, he will leave the king of the north alone.

Later, the king of the north will invade the realm of the king of the south,

but will soon return to his own land.

However, the sons of the king of the north will assemble a mighty army that

will advance like a flood and carry the battle as far as the enemy's fortresses.

Then in a rage, the king of the south will rally against the vast forces assembled

by the king of the north and will defeat them.

After the enemy army is swept away, the king of the south will be filled with

pride and will execute many thousands of his enemies, but his success will be short-lived.

Verse 13, a few years later, the king of the north will return with a fully

equipped army far greater than before.

At that time, there will be a general uprising against the king of the south.

Violent men among your own people will join them in fulfillment of this vision,

but they will not succeed.

When the king of the north will come and lay siege to a fortified city and capture

it, the best troops of the south will be able to stand in the face of the onslaught.

The king of the north will march onward unopposed.

None will be able to stop him. He will pause in the glorious land of Israel,

intent on destroying it.

He will make plans to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will form

an alliance with the king of the south.

He will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom from

within, but his plan will fail.

After this, he will turn his attention to the coastline and conquer many cities.

A commander from another land will put an end to his insolence and cause him to retreat in shame.

He will take refuge in his own fortresses, but will stumble and fall and be seen.

No more. Verse 20, his successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the

royal splendor, but after a very brief reign, he will die, though not from anger or in battle.

So Daniel chapter 11, I know we're not quite done yet, but it's reading as a

Daniel 11 · chapter mention

dramatic history that plays over some 150 years of power struggles between this

Ptolemaic kingdom and the Seleucid empire.

And so, there's this early rise of the king of the south, which points to Ptolemy

I of Egypt. And he's initially strong.

He's initially the power in the area, but then the tables are turned when one

of his own officials, as we kind of just read, Seleucus, breaks away from him

and establishes this kingdom in the north, the even mightier Seleucid empire in the north.

And so as the years roll on, alliances are formed, betrayals happen,

anything that you might associate with politics of the time,

all of this follows close behind.

So to strengthen his ties.

Ptolemy II offers his daughter Bernice in marriage to the northern kings, Antiochus II.

There's a lot of Seleuces, there's a lot of Antiochuses, there's a lot of Ptolemies.

These are names that will repeat over and over again, so don't get confused.

So he gives his daughter Bernice to Antiochus, which is in the Seleucid Empire,

and this union's meant to seal peace and keep the kingdoms from fighting,

but it doesn't end well because after Ptolemy II dies,

Antiochus returns to his former wife, and his former wife has Bernice and her

son killed to secure their own family power.

And so, after Bernice is betrayed, this delicate alliance that was briefly formed

between the North and the South just crumbles away for a while again.

We just read this in the following verses, but the fact that the daughter of

the King of the South will be given a marriage to the King of the North to secure

the alliance. This is what it's talking about.

And so, after that, Bernice's brother, Ptolemy III steps in with a vengeance.

He marches forth. He storms the Seleucus strongholds. He hauls back treasures and gold from Egypt.

And there's this brief period of history where the scales are tilted in the

favor of the kingdoms of the South, but that doesn't happen for too, too long.

The Northern kingdom doesn't stay quiet for long. So the sons of Seleucus II,

second, particularly Antiochus III.

There's going to be a lot of them. This one's also Antiochus the Great for some

reason, but they rally these kingdoms that follow, the sons of Seleucus II,

they rally forces. They launch these massive offensives against the kingdom of the South.

They push their campaigns either farther to the Southern fortresses and beyond.

They even come into, as we just read as well, the beautiful land of Israel in

their quest for dominance.

In verse 10, we read that the sons of the kingdom in the north will assemble

a mighty army that will advance like a flood and carry the battle as far as the enemy fortresses.

So this is playing out in history over the years.

So to secure his hold, Antiochus III, this is the second sort of daughter giving

away to secure some sort of victory alliance happening.

This is like the Habsburgs of the ancient times, I suppose.

But Antiochus III offers his daughter Cleopatra I to Ptolemy V.

If you're keeping track.

And so what he's doing is he's hoping that his daughter will speak,

whisper into the ears of her husband and will maintain power and take over the

kingdom that way, undermining the Egypt from within rather than from direct attack.

But this plan backfires when Cleopatra sides with her husband against her father.

And eventually they leave these schemes and the dust behind them and move on

and continue in their dominance.

Verse 16, we read that the king of the north will march onward unopposed.

None will be able to stop him. He will pause in the glorious land of Israel,

intent on destroying it.

He will make plans to come with the might of his entire kingdom.

We'll form an alliance with the king of the south. He will give him a daughter

in marriage to overthrow the kingdom.

We're reading just back and forth, history versus Daniel chapter 11.

Daniel 11 · chapter mention

And it's pretty darn accurate, right? So following this failure,

Antiochus III shifts his focus to the coastline.

He conquers cities across the coastline. He extends his influence only to come

up against the rising power of Rome.

So Rome has started to gain power and enters on the scene, and Antiochus III

finds himself against these Roman forces led by generals like Scipio,

Asiaticus, and stuff like that. So he's defeated.

He returns home, humiliated, where he soon dies after that.

We read that verse 18 and 19. After this, he will turn his attention to the

coastland and conquer many cities, but a commander from another land will put

an end to his insolence and cause him to retreat in shame. This is Greek versus Rome.

He will take refuge in his own fortress, but will stumble and fall and be seen

no more. This is exactly what we just read.

So the drama doesn't stop there. His successor, Seleucus IV.

Tries to bolster his empire by amassing great wealth, specifically by sending

out tax collectors to maintain their splendor and their wealth.

And Seleucus IV's reign is cut short when he mysteriously dies.

He's mysteriously killed, not in battle, but under suspicious circumstances.

And we read that in verse 20, right?

His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor,

but after a very brief reign, he will die, though not from anger or in battle. So.

All of us bring us up to Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV, which Jake spoke

a little bit about last week.

Antiochus Epiphanes is this ruthless figure who seizes power through deception.

He's not in line to the throne.

He's not of royal descent. So he kind of worms his way in through deception.

He becomes infamous for his harsh rule, especially in his oppression of the

people of Israel, the Jewish people.

He desecrates the Jewish temple.

He sets up an altar to the Persian or the Greek gods in the temple.

And he offers sacrifice of unclean animals on the altar in the temple.

He bans Jewish practices and he instead instills and pushes his own agenda.

And he poses Hellenistic Greek practices, which ultimately trigger in history,

the Maccabean revolt again, which we talked a bit about last week.

And so the rest of Daniel 11 now, we've been taken from the kings of Persia,

and then we've taken into their interactions with the Greek people and the Persian-Greco war.

And now we've entered into this time of Greece following these four generals,

specifically the Seleucid empire and the Ptolemaic empire.

And now Daniel 11 is just going to camp out a little bit on Antiochus Epiphanes.

And the rest of this chapter seems to just accentuate his infamy and his reign.

And so let's keep reading verse 21.

The next to come to power, I'd tie it as Epiphanes, will be a despicable man

who's not in line for royal succession.

He will slip in when least expected and take over the kingdom by flattery and intrigue.

Before him, great armies will be swept away, including a covenant prince.

With deceitful promises, he will make various alliances. He will become strong

despite having only a handful of followers.

Without warning, he will enter the richest area of the land.

Then he will distribute among his followers the plunder and wealth of the rich,

something his predecessors had never done.

He will plot the overthrow of strongholds, but this will last for only a short while.

Then he will stir up his courage and raise a great army against the king of the south.

The king of the south will go to battle with a mighty army, but to no avail,

for there will be plots against him.

His own household will cause his downfall. His army will be swept away and many will be killed.

Seeking nothing but each other's harm, these kings will plot against each other

at the conference table, attempting to deceive each other, but it will make

no difference for the end will come at the appointed time.

The king in the North will then return home with great riches.

On the way, he will set himself against the people of the Holy Covenant,

doing much damage before continuing his journey.

Then at the appointed time, he will once again invade the South,

but this time the result will be different.

For warships from Western coastlands will scare him off and he will withdraw

and return home, but he will vent his anger against the people of the Holy Covenant

and reward those who forsake the covenant.

His army will take over the temple fortress, pollute the sanctuary,

put a stop to the daily sacrifices and set up the sacrilegious object that causes desecration.

He will flatter and win over those who have violated the covenant.

But the people who know their God will be strong and will resist him.

Wise leaders will give instruction to many, but these teachers will die by fire

and sword or they will be jailed and robbed.

During these persecutions, little help will arrive and many who join them will

not be sincere. and some of the wise will fall victim to persecution.

In this way, they will be refined and cleansed and made pure until the time

of the end where the appointed time is still to come.

The king will do as he pleases, exalting himself and claiming to be greater

than every God, even blaspheming the God of gods.

He will succeed, but only until the time of wrath is completed.

For what has been determined will surely take place. He will have no respect

for the gods of his ancestors and for the God loved by women and for the God

loved by women or for any other God, for he will boast that he is greater than them all.

Instead of these, he will worship the God of fortress, the God of his ancestors

never knew and lavish on him gold, silver, precious stones and expensive gifts,

claiming his foreign gods help and will attack the strongest fortresses.

He will honor those who submit to him, appointing them to positions of authority

and dividing the land among them as their reward.

Then at the time of the end, the king of the south will attack the king of the north.

The king of the north will storm out with chariots, charioteers,

and a vast navy. He will invade various lands and sweep through them like a flood.

He will enter the glorious land of Israel and many nations will fall,

but Moab, Edom, and the best part of Ammon will escape.

He will conquer many countries and even Egypt will not escape.

He will gain control over the gold, silver, and treasures of Egypt,

and the Libyan and Ethiopians will be his servants.

But then news from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out

in great anger to destroy and obliterate many.

He will stop between the glorious holy mountain and the sea and will pitch his royal tents.

But while he is there, his time will suddenly run out, and no one will help

him. That's the end of chapter 11.

Again, we can stack this book up against the events of history.

And over the centuries following Daniel, these events will unfold and it's utterly

amazing how accurate it is.

Timelines line up, milestones, sentence after sentence, year in and year out.

Now, what I was sharing is not just Daniel 11, but the events of history that

we know to have occurred in the Hellenistic empire and the Hellenistic age.

So it's no wonder that people who have no knowledge of the spiritual realm will

read these words and refuse to believe that they could possibly have be written

before the events happened.

That they have to be of a more modern time rather than something much later.

Because this is indeed a supernatural revelation. It is a truth claim.

And it's, it's so amazing that we may forget in all of our fascination.

One very important fact, as we read these words that Daniel,

knew nothing about this history. All of this was future for him.

He didn't have the wealth of Greek history, the wealth of the Hellenistic empire

to inform him of what these events would be. This was all future for Daniel.

Because this book was not written in a more modern time, as some presume.

Daniel didn't have that advantage of the unfolding of history at his disposal.

At the time of these words, at the time of this prophecy, the Greek empire didn't

even exist in some unified form, much less in this divided kingdom that he speaks about.

And so, there's a fascination that comes with us as we connect the dots,

as we connect these events across history. There's a fascination that comes as we connect the dots.

And you guys know the dot-to-dot puzzles, the connect-the-dot things where you

connect a number of dots and some image emerges.

I'm sure if we searched the kids, there probably would be one in this room, right?

But that idea of connecting the dots, there's a much deeper thing to it where

it's about tracing the events.

It's about seeing the bigger picture. It's about piecing the puzzle together, the clues together.

It's about forming insights from this jumble of information that just appears to be random.

And when we take this approach because of our fascination,

this fascination that comes as we connect these dots across history,

as we play the detective, as we investigate the clues and match up the events,

there's this fascination that comes that distracts us from the purpose of Daniel's vision.

We get distracted as the truth claims become reality.

Because Daniel couldn't connect the dots. Those that were reading Daniel's words

couldn't connect the dots.

That was impossible for them before history unfolded.

And even as history unfolded, even those people who were living in the time

of Antiochus Epiphanes and all of these events, even as these events were folding,

It's difficult to see when you're in it, right?

It's difficult to perceive what's going on when you're in the midst of it.

So even they, as history is unfolding, as these events are coming true,

even they would find it difficult to put the pieces together, to connect the dots.

And part of being a good Bible reader is for us to approach these words as those they were written to.

For us to, for a moment, ignore the fact that we have seen history unfold,

that we have textbooks that piece it together for us and understand what it

meant to those who first read it, what it meant to Daniel who recorded it.

What did these words have for them? What could we deduce if we were Daniel or

if we were those who read it just after it was written?

What could we hope to understand?

Keep in mind that we wouldn't have the wealth of Hellenistic history.

We wouldn't have the wealth of history to inform us that we do today.

What are we meant to see in these words?

Because certainly we're not just meant to be fascinated.

Surely we can stand in wonder of the God who knows, but that perhaps is not

the point of these words. Let's look at verse 40 real quick.

Verse 40 says, then at the time of the end, and actually, I don't know where

it is, But before that, it even says that the end, then the end will still not come.

And then verse 40, we said at the time of the end. So there's this weird...

It's interesting that as we get to the end of this book, in these final verses,

there seems to be a shift from specifics to a more generalized picture.

And so, the events in history, as a result of this generalization,

stopped lining up one-to-one.

Before we could see, okay, this daughter was given to this person,

this king went to the coastline, we could line up the events in history.

As we get to the later verses, especially verse 40 and onward,

but a little bit before that, the events in history stopped lining up. so well.

And that's because there's more of a generalized picture at place.

There seems to be a shift away from Antiochus specifically, and then it shifts

to more of using him as a picture of what will happen as a future fulfillment.

And it's this future fulfillment, I'm not just making this up.

We let the Bible interpret itself first, right? So this is a future fulfillment

that Jesus picks up in Matthew 24.

And he says, don't let anyone mislead you. For many will come in my name,

claiming I am the Messiah.

And they will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don't panic.

Yes, these things must take place, but the end won't follow immediately.

Nation will go to war against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world,

but all of this, but all this is only the first of the birth pains with more to come.

And this chapter is actually where Jesus quotes the book of Daniel.

He talks about these end times, the coming of the son of man.

We'll read some verses that follow this in a little bit. We'll also read some

of his parables that follow in chapter 25 of Matthew.

But all of this is culminating in what Daniel has already suggested as well,

is that we are meant to see this as not the end, but rather movements until the end.

That there will be movements until the end. And that's what Daniel is writing

as well, that there is still more to come, that if we receive, there's a danger.

If we receive these words in the wonder and expectation, even those following

directly after Daniel, we would be tempted to encounter our difficulty that we experience in life.

We'd be tempted to encounter hard times like those faced under Antiochus,

like those that we hear also may face in our future.

We would be tempted to encounter these difficult times and believe in very well,

it may be assumed that this is the end.

We would be very tempted to believe in difficulty that we are experiencing the end.

And it's only natural to do so because we long to see the light when we're surrounded by darkness.

We long for escape. We long for the heart to be passive and to walk into the light.

But Daniel's not recording these words that we might know when the end is.

There's still more to come.

And so chief, the former chief rabbi of the UK, Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sachs,

he talks about this in his analysis,

and his picture assessment of apocalyptic literature, talking about like when

religion goes wrong and apocalyptic politics, how for religious people,

our danger, our temptation.

Is that when we face trials of various kinds, we search for revolution without transformation.

That we are tempted and we fall into danger when we want change without the

slow process of education.

We want the world to change, but we don't necessarily want our hearts to change.

We want out, we look for escape.

Rather than seeing these difficult times as a means to an end,

we tend to focus on them as the end, rather than seeing as a means to an end,

as a means to transformation in our lives and the world around us.

We chide the slow process that comes with spiritual maturity.

Instead, we pray for and we beckon a swift end, quick rescue.

And so doing, we seek about to bring the end of time in the midst of time.

We're searching for the end of time in the midst of time.

This is what Lord Jonathan Sachs talks about, that we long for the end,

even as we're living in the midst of time.

But you can't create eternity in the midst of time, he says,

which is, he said this, he says, creating eternity in the midst of time is like

Samson in the temple of the Philistines bringing down the building on his enemies,

but destroying himself in the process.

And so, I don't completely agree with his assessment in the sense that eternity

by nature of what it is, doesn't have a beginning and it also doesn't have an end.

So, eternity also exists in the midst of time.

In the midst of our time, eternity is still going on. It never started and it

never will end. That's the definition of eternity.

Therefore, eternity is now as well. But I understand what he's getting at.

I understand the sentiment and it's that as long as there is time, it can't be the end.

As long as we're still living in time, it can't be the end.

And so for us to spend our life searching for the end of time,

even while time is still going, is to waste our life or to be found in folly, to be led into folly.

Because we who live in the between, the between of that time and when the end

of time comes, we must remain humble and open.

We must remain humble and open to the fact that we don't understand everything.

We must remain humble and open to the fact that in all of our running about,

in all of our living, in all of the increase of knowledge that we experience year after year,

and even the enlightenment, in all the ways that the world has changed from

ancient times to modern times, there are people who will look down on ancient

times as those being less educated, less understanding, less enlightened than us.

In all of our running around, in all of our enlightenment, in all of our increase

of knowledge, we're going to get prophecy wrong a lot.

And so, we're not to go searching for the end.

We're not supposed to play detective, searching for the end in the record of these events.

But like a musical score, we're supposed to let it unfold, movement after movement,

each part playing its role to compose the melody, the orchestration until the end.

And interesting, before we move on, what does the Bible say about eternity?

Anybody know? It says, this is eternity, John 17. It says, this is eternity

that we know God and Jesus Christ whom he sent.

So there is a presence and a knowledge that comes as we experience eternity

that is situated in our understanding and our knowledge of God.

So Daniel doesn't record these words that we should know when the end has come.

Daniel records these words that we would be prepared and know how to act as the end is coming.

As the end approaches, we would know how to act. That's what Daniel's doing

when he writes these words.

I want to just remind you of a parable we've talked about before.

This is in Matthew 25. This is following Matthew 24, not surprisingly.

This is the parable of the 10 virgins. He says that, then the kingdom of heaven

be like 10 bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.

Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The five who were foolish didn't

take enough oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take a long extra oil.

When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

At midnight, they were aroused by the shout, look, the bridegroom is coming,

come out and meet him. And all the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps.

Then the five foolish ones asked the others, please give us some of your oil

because our lamps are going out.

But the others replied, we don't have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and

buy some for yourselves.

But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came and those who were

ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was locked.

Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside calling

out, Lord, Lord, open the door for us.

But he called back, believe me, I don't know you. So you too must keep watch

for you do not know the day or the hour of my return.

So this parable is a kingdom parable. When is the kingdom coming?

It's a parable that emphasizes the importance of being prepared for Christ's return, right?

That which will come at an unexpected time. So Daniel's not writing so that

we may know when the time is.

If we expect it, if we predict it, then it won't be unexpected. Right?

And one thing is for sure, we can trust that it's going to take us by surprise,

that this time is going to be unexpected.

So the events of the Bible aren't there for us to know when to expect it.

It's about what we're doing when he comes.

It's about what we're doing when he comes. It's about living consistently as his disciples.

It's about understanding what is our life about and having the way that we live

our life line up with what we say.

It's about living in a way that reflects our faith. It's about staying focused on Jesus.

It's about being ready no matter what happens.

It's about being prepared so that we don't have to go and fix things,

which is not necessarily the gospel truth anyway, but might be how we feel.

These bridesmaids, it's interesting. This is an interesting story because presumably

the lamps weren't lit already. So how did they run out of oil?

Also, why didn't they just stay? So there's a lot going on here than just,

oh, they weren't prepared.

It's more of like what was important to them wasn't necessarily the bridegroom's

coming because maybe they would have stayed anyway.

Maybe they wouldn't have left. There was something else going on.

It's interesting that those who are ready will share in the joy of his coming.

So this is idea of preparedness for the unexpected coming of the son of man,

a preparedness, which is of utmost importance.

This is how we live in the interim period between the first and second appearance

of the Messiah, that how we live must be consistent with our claim to be his disciples.

We were at a discipleship conference on Wednesday with the Palmers.

And one question that they asked during that time was, are you a disciple worth replicating?

We were just to ask ourselves that, are we a disciple worth multiplying, worth replicating?

It's a similar question to what Jesus is asking in this parable,

isn't it? Are you looking out for his coming? Are you seeking him? Do you know God?

Are you prepared for his arrival?

So this parable and a few others in chapter 24 and following,

these are all kingdom parables and they're following on purpose,

Jesus's words in Matthew 24, which where he quotes Daniel, where he's making

references to these prophecies that we just read.

If we go back to chapter 24, Jesus tells us this before he shares this parable

that we just read. He shares these words.

You will be arrested, persecuted, and killed.

You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.

Many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. Many false prophets

will appear and will deceive many people.

Sin will be rampant everywhere and the love of many will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved and the good news about the

kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world so that all nations will

hear it and then the end will come.

The one who endures till the end, the one who endures till the end will be saved. Are you enduring?

Daniel was a man who, although he lived in this world, he lived for another

world that would last forever, that would outlast this world.

He lived for another kingdom, a supernatural realm that had manifested itself

in Daniel's life, in the life of his friends. He lived for that kingdom,

even though he lived in this world.

Daniel knew how to live in the waiting. He knew how to endure as Jesus calls us to.

And he shares those secrets for us in this chapter.

But we might miss it if we're fascinated by the history.

You might miss it. So don't miss this. Verse 32, Daniel writes,

he back up a little bit. He will flatter and win over this guy.

But the people who know their God will be strong and will resist him.

The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.

Other translations may finish it differently, but they all say that those who know God will endure.

Those who know God will take action. Those who know God will resist.

So Jesus says, your life will be asked of you, endure.

Daniel says, those who endure know who God is.

That those who endure know who

God is. This is what we've been saying over and over again in this book.

If you know who God is, if you know who God is, you will know who you are.

You'll know what to do. You'll know your purpose.

Those who endure know who God is.

What does your, what is your life about? Is about knowing him and making him

known. Is that what your life is about?

Not just what we say our life is about, but when we weigh the events in our

life, is that what our life is about?

When we're at home with our husbands or wives, when we're at home with our kids,

when we're out at work, when whatever we're doing in every moment,

are we filled with the presence of God?

Are we seeking to know him and as a result, make him known?

Charles Spurgeon said that the Lord is a man of war. Jehovah is his name.

Those who enlist under his banner shall have a commander who will train them

for conflict and give them both vigor and valor.

The times of which Daniel wrote were of the very worst kind.

So, oh, that we may know our God, his power, his faithfulness,

his immutable love, and so may be ready to risk everything in his behalf.

He is one whose character excites our enthusiasm and makes us willing to live and to die for him.

Oh, that we may know our God by familiar fellowship with him,

for then we shall become like him and shall be prepared to stand up for the

truth and righteousness.

He who comes forth fresh from beholding the face of God will never fear the face of man.

If we dwell with him, we shall catch the heroic spirit.

And to us, a world of enemies will be but as the drop of a bucket.

A countless array of men or even of devils will seem as little to us as the

nations are to God. And he counts them only as grasshoppers.

Oh, to be valiant for truth in this day of falsehood.

To know God, to be like God is how we endure great hardship.

That our God wants his people.

Our God wants his people to be strong so that through us, so that through us,

others might recognize that he alone is the only true God, but he alone is the real God.

That God wants it to be known that whatever situation, whatever circumstance,

whatever obstacle, whatever crisis.

Whatever potentially could have strength in our lives, overcoming our lives. He wants everyone.

He wants us to know that he is greater.

And whatever these events in our life, whatever strength or power they hold

over us, that we would know that he has greater strength,

that he is greater, that we would know him and the truth of who he is.

I just want to read a few verses about what it means to seek the Lord,

to know him, what it means to dedicate our lives to his presence in us.

And see, some of these are verses that you're familiar with.

Some of them might be more obscured, but I just pray that you would listen to

what the wealth of scripture has to teach us about what it means and what it

looks like to seek the Lord.

Matthew 6, 33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And all these things will be added to you. Are we seeking the kingdom first

in all of the moments of our life, whatever those may be visible and invisible

by those around us, seen,

heard, or unseen in private in every moment, are we seeking the kingdom?

And is that demonstrating something about who we are about our present, his presence in us?

Deuteronomy 429 from there, you will seek the Lord, your God,

and you will find him. if you search after him with all your heart and with

all your soul, is it a full body experience for you?

1 Chronicles 22, 19, set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God,

arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that the ark of covenant of

the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the name of the Lord.

Set your mind and heart to seek the Lord, arise and build the sanctuary.

It's interesting in 1 Peter, it says that you also like living stones are being

built into his holy temple, to this holy sanctuary that we just read.

2 Chronicles 7.14, if my people who are called by my name, humble themselves

and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven.

I will forgive their sin and heal their land.

We can finish on that one because if there isn't a more complete prescription

of what it means to seek the Lord, that we would humble ourselves,

that we would take a lower position,

that we would trust in his wisdom and in the truth of what he says and not insist

on our own way, not insist that we are right and that we have all the answers.

If we humbled ourselves, if we would pray, if we would submit to him,

if we would create lives that were dependent on him,

if we would seek him, if we would turn, if we would repent and turn to God,

if our life, if what our lives demonstrated about us and what we believe is

that we were dependent on God, that we sought him with our lives,

that we abandoned all of our ways that say we know how to do this.

And we would just humbly sit under his presence, that we would know him and

make him known in this world.

We will endure. We will be people who endure if we know who God is.

We'll know who we are, we'll know what to do.

Lord, I just pray, I just pray that we won't get lost in the fascination.

The Bible, your word is brilliant.

It is something that we can spend our lives investigating.

I pray that we would know you primarily.

We wouldn't get lost just in the fascination that has its place and is exciting

and it's good, but we wouldn't just get lost in that fascination,

but we would dwell in your presence,

that we would seek to know you in humility and prayer and dependence and confession,

that we would seek to live our lives in ways that reflect who we are as your disciples.

So I just pray that you remove the separation, Lord, all the things that we've

built up in the way, all the obstacles that we've placed between us and you.

And we would just recognize that despite all that stuff, you're still just right

here next to us, just waiting for us to turn, to abandon our foolish pride and our so-called wisdom,

and to seek you first, to seek you only, to seek you above all.

Just put within us, Lord, a hunger, a thirst for you, for your presence.

Your presence would overflow within us, God, that it would pour out of every

fiber of our being and that you would create within us.

Lives as your disciples that are attractive to the world around,

to your lost children, that they would see you, that they would experience you as we gather,

they would experience you as we live in this world, but for your kingdom.

Music.