Sermon Tone Analysis

Impostors

Trick’or’Treaters will be coming to your door, they are impostors.

Bribe them to go away.

Enough about them, let’s dive back in to Daniel.

Some of this may sound like a history lesson.

But I promise… it’s SUPER awesome history.

And prophecy.

And war.

And bad guys.

And anti-Christ.

Anti-Christ the first

(A couple years after the vision of Daniel 7) A very similar vision.

It may largely sound like a repeat to us… but this is years later than Daniel 7’s vision, and 60+ years after the one Daniel interpreted for Nebuchadnezzar.

A important reminder and re-affirmation of, again, the primary purpose of all these visions:

The Ancient of Days is on the throne, and the Son of Man wins.

So Daniel has this vision:

The ram with two horns: Med-Persian empire, the Persian side being larger.

The goat, Greece.

And like the four heads of the leopard, the goat has four horns.

Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Alexander’s general, Seleucus is one of the four horns, and he establishes the Seleucid Empire, ruling over what they called “Asia”, which was originally Babylon, Persia, Palestine.

(Jesus was Asian before Asia was Asia).

That empire lasted 250 years and the 8th ruler was one Antiochus IV, who styled himself “Ephiphanes” meaning “God manifest” or “Glorious.”

Antiochus was rabidly passionate about Hellenism - Greek culture - and HATED that the Jews were preserving their own culture.

He persecuted them viciously, killing tens of thousands, maybe more than a hundred thousand Jews.

A lot of this is recorded in the “inter-testamental” books, which we don’t consider inspired Scripture but still represent a historical record of the time between the last of the prophets and the time of Jesus.

That is, he built on altar to Zeus in the temple and sacrificed a pig to Zeus.

From that time they stopped sacrifices…

And people smarter than I am have done some very complicated calendar math to determine.

Not “230 days”, but “2300 evenings and mornings”, which is 1150 days if you’re counting both evenings and mornings… and 1150 days after the “abomination that causes desolation,

Well, the people are fed up, and they revolt, called the Maccabean revolution.

And they rededicate the temple.

And they celebrate that day in the “Festival of Dedication” or “Festival of Lights”, which was honored and celebrated by Jesus.

And we call that?

Hannukah.

So cool.

That is the near fulfillment of Daniel 8, bits of Daniel 7… and Daniel 11 just blows peoples mind.

In fact, scholars who don’t believe Daniel is inspired by God have to throw these chapters out the window and say they are written after the fact.

The text in Daniel 11 reads like a history lesson on the goings and comings of Antiochus and the Seleucid Empire or “the king in the North.”.

He fights Egypt to the South, Rome to the West, and detail after detail

Little horn #1

Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Anti-Christ the last

Almost every detail is fulfilled by Antiochus.

But… not all.

Remember the first Little horn of Daniel 7? It arose, not from Greece, but from an empire to follow.

And among 10 horns, not 4.

And immediately after that king rose to power, Jesus, the Son of Man, came into his kingdom and ruled everlasting.

Not quite fulfilled yet.

(Sound like lake of fire from Rev 19?)

Jesus himself points to another fulfillment of the “abomination of desolation...”

So, as happens many places in prophecy, there is a near fulfillment and a fuller, more complete, future fulfillment.

So Antiochus IV Ephiphanes is a type of the anti-Christ to come.

A future world leader who will be fantastically successful… and will persecute God’s people in the pattern of Antiochus.

And if you count up the letters of his name, and convert them to Hebrew numbers, they will add up to 666.

Just kidding.

Paul talks about this figure this way:

This is a real and literal future figure.

But, let’s take a moment to remember, what is the purpose of Daniel’s prophecy?

That we should be fearful and afraid?

No, to remember in the midst of all of it:

The Ancient of Days is on the throne, and Jesus wins.

Anti-Christs among us

Little horn #1 is Antiochus.

Little horn #last is the mysterious future anti-christ figure.

This word “anti-Christ” stirs up all these myths and legends, fear and turmoil.

Predictions and speculation.

Where is our focus in that?

Enduring to the end.

And? Proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom to all nations.

Enduring to the end.

Proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom to all nations.

This is where we get this word “anti-Christ.”

It is transliteration of Greek.

Anti-Christos.

Either “against” (anti) the Messiah.

Or, it can also mean “instead” of the Messiah.

This doesn’t show up in Revelation at all, but John does use the term:

So “anti-Christs” are these: outside the church these are people proposing salvation without Jesus.

Antiochus Ephiphanes: salvation was through superior culture...

and you’ll find folks preaching that gospel:

If we could just fix our culture, this would be heaven.

If we could just get the correct economic system.

Capitalism.

Socialism.

That would “fix” everything.

If we could just get the right “moralism” everyone would be better.

If everyone was kinder, more tolerant… if everyone was more like me.

That is the spirit of anti-Christ.

The solution to the world’s problems, your personal problems… it isn’t Democrat or Republican, it isn’t America or Canada or China, it isn’t capitalism or socialism, it isn’t democracy or “democratic socialism” or communism...

It is the Son of Man coming on the clouds with power, and his kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom.

That’s it.

The only answer, the only “Rescue”, the only Messiah, the only Christ.

All other proposals or persons claiming to fix the world another way?

Anti-Christ.

That’s what that is.

Within the church, this is insidious.

What does John call someone who claims Jesus didn’t come in the flesh?

Anti-Christ.

They were teaching that Jesus was like a spiritual projection, not really human.