Sermon Tone Analysis

Prophecies about Persia

King Ahasuerus

The four kings that would rule in the future were Cambyses (529–522), Pseudo-Smerdis (522–521), Darius I Hystapes (521–486), and Xerxes (496–465), the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther.

But the most important of the four kings, and the wealthiest, was Xerxes I, the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther.

He ruled an empire that reached from Ethiopia to India and he had a great passion to conquer Greece.

In 480 he tried to invade Greece, but his vast fleet was defeated at Salamis and Samos, and his army was defeated at Plataea.

All of this occurred between chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Esther.

He came home a bitter and angry man and sought to find relief for his wounded pride by enjoying his harem.

It was at this time that Esther entered the picture.

Xerxes was assassinated in August 465.

Now the angel says, Look, there are going to be three kings and then following those three there is going to be a fourth, he’ll be stronger and richer than the others and he is going to try to stand up against the nation of Greece.

Now the prophecy then centers on the fourth king.

Let me just say this as a note.

There were more than four kings in Persia but the angel picks out the key right here.

There were three who ruled just before a fourth and that fourth one was the one who led a major attack on Greece.

And that’s the thing we want to see.

The first of that line of four was a man named Cambyses who was the son, by the way, of Cyrus who was king at this time.

The second, history tells us, is a man named pseudo-Smerdis.

He was, by the way, a usurper and an impostor.

He looked so much like Cambyses that he claimed to be Cambyses and through all kinds of deception he got himself into the throne.

The third king was a man named Darius Hystaspes.

And the fourth one was named Xerxes, but he had another name and his other name was Ahasuerus.

He is the king mentioned in the book of Esther.

He is one of the greatest Oriental rulers of all time.

He had fabulous wealth.

he commanded the largest army in the Ancient World.

In fact, he commanded the largest army that we know about in ancient history.

And he decided that he wanted to attack Greece.

The mood with the other three kings was moving that way, and in fact that third king, Hystaspes, made a sort of small piddly little attack on Greece.

But this fourth one really stirred up all he had against the realm of Greece.

By the way, he was totally and utterly in a devastating way defeated by the power of Greece.

And the Greeks never forgot about it.

Prophecies about Greece

King Alexander the Great

After that, 150 years went by and a lot of other little nondescript kings came along, but they never forgot what Ahasuerus did and 150 years later, the Greeks finally got their act together and decided to retaliate based upon what this guy had done 150 years before.

And they came.

And when they came, they came led by another king whose name is Alexander, and he’s the second king … Alexander, verse 3. Of course, you know that following the Persian Empire came the Greeks: “And a mighty king shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will.”

A mighty king, none other than Alexander the Great of Greece.

All Bible commentators agree that that is who is in mind.

He retaliated for what had happened earlier to Greece.

He seized the entire Persian Empire.

It says he had great dominion.

I’m telling you, the man was a man who stands out in history as perhaps the most remarkable military leader ever.

By the age of 33 he had conquered the world.

His army wouldn’t go any further.

They were literally worn out.

They had conquered everything from Europe to India and he was weeping because there were no more worlds that he could conquer.

He changed the course of history more than any other ruler.

He was the son of Philip of Macedon and it says in verse 3 that he did according to his will.

He was an absolute monarch, an absolute sovereign who had not only the power of personality and the power of leadership but the power of military might.

And of course, both the Persian Empire and Alexander overran the nation Israel.

The Persians possessed it and controlled it.

The Greeks under Alexander, possessed it and controlled it.

But you remember that he died at 33.

And what happened?

Verse 4, “And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken.”

It seems no sooner does he stand up and get his kingdom than it is shattered.

And watch, “It will be divided toward the four winds of heaven.”

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014).

John MacArthur Sermon Archive.

Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.

From the previous visions, Daniel already knew the sequence of the great empires.

From the previous visions, Daniel already knew the sequence of the great empires.

After that, 150 years went by and a lot of other little nondescript kings came along, but they never forgot what Ahasuerus did and 150 years later, the Greeks finally got their act together and decided to retaliate based upon what this guy had done 150 years before.

And they came.

And when they came, they came led by another king whose name is Alexander, and he’s the second king …

Alexander, verse 3. Of course, you know that following the Persian Empire came the Greeks: “And a mighty king shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will.”

A mighty king, none other than Alexander the Great of Greece.

All Bible commentators agree that that is who is in mind.

He retaliated for what had happened earlier to Greece.

He seized the entire Persian Empire.

It says he had great dominion.

I’m telling you, the man was a man who stands out in history as perhaps the most remarkable military leader ever.

By the age of 33 he had conquered the world.

His army wouldn’t go any further.

They were literally worn out.

They had conquered everything from Europe to India and he was weeping because there were no more worlds that he could conquer.

He changed the course of history more than any other ruler.

He was the son of Philip of Macedon and it says in verse 3 that he did according to his will.

He was an absolute monarch, an absolute sovereign who had not only the power of personality and the power of leadership but the power of military might.

And of course, both the Persian Empire and Alexander overran the nation Israel.

The Persians possessed it and controlled it.

The Greeks under Alexander, possessed it and controlled it.

But you remember that he died at 33.

And what happened?

Verse 4, “And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken.”

It seems no sooner does he stand up and get his kingdom than it is shattered.

And watch, “It will be divided toward the four winds of heaven.”

The image (chap.

2)

Babylon—head of gold

medo-Persia—arms and chest of silver

Greece—belly and thigh of bronze

Rome—legs of iron, feet of clay

Vision (chap.