Sermon Tone Analysis

In verse 2, Ahasuerus, or Xerxes, the great Persian king who dominated the land of Palestine and other Persian kings who did as well.

The second major king was Alexander in verses 3–9.

Alexander and those who followed him, the great world conquering Greek, who founded the Seleucid dynasty and the Ptolemaic dynasty, the Seleucids to the north, the Ptolemies to the south and between the two of them, they literally dominated and oppressed that land for hundreds of years.

Then the third king was Antiochus the Great, in verses 10–20, the great Seleucid king who had the lasting control.

The first Seleucid and Ptolemy kings kind of kicked it back and forth and then Antiochus went in, Antiochus the Great, and kind of had a lasting control over Israel.

Then in verse 21 we met the last of the first four kings, Antiochus Epiphanes, the next in the Seleucid line who ruled Palestine.

And he it was who was a vile person, it says in verse 21, a vile person.

He oppressed, he desecrated, he slaughtered, he devastated the Jews, their people, their temple, their worship, all of these things.

Verse 35 is where we stopped last time and that’s the key.

“To purge and to make them white, even to the time of the end.”

The whole purpose of all of this was the purging of the people of Israel.

It was their spiritual purification.

It is to refine them.

God has always used suffering to do that.

Even in the New Testament, Peter writes that the Lord make you perfect after you have suffered a while.

James writes, the trial of your faith works patience and patience has its perfect work.

The purging, the purification of suffering, till the time of the end.

So, the angel says, “Daniel, you’re confused because the 70 years are up and only 40,000 went back, the rest have stayed embedded in Babylon and they’re not even interested in God.

And the ones who went back can’t rebuild the city, they’re a weak people.

And you’re saying to yourself, “I thought it was over.”

And the angel says it isn’t over.

It will go on until the end time.

And then he takes him through the Persian period and through the Greek period and says this is all for the purging and the making white, or the cleansing of God’s people till the time of the end.

Now, as we approach verse 36, we leap across centuries to the final king, Antichrist.

And we meet him in verses 36–45.

We’ve seen the Persian era, the Greek era, and now we see the final form of the Roman era.

The final chapter of the chastening of the people of Israel.

And this amazing figure will be all the evil power of Ahasuerus, Alexander, Antiochus the Great, Antiochus Epiphanes combined and more.

He is the counterfeit Christ who makes a treaty or a covenant or a league or a pact with Israel He promises to protect.

He aligns Israel with the west.

And then in the middle of the seven-year Tribulation, he breaks that pact, he desecrates their temple, he desecrates their religion, he blasphemes their God and precipitates the holocaust of Armageddon which is ended in the return of Jesus Christ.

Now beginning in verse 36, there’s a sharp break.

It is introduced to us at the end of verse 35.

“Even to the time of the end,” that’s the key phrase.

This is going to go on till the time of the end.

Up to this point, the prophecy has dealt with history past.

Now we come to a different scene, history future, the time of the end.

Now some Bible commentators, and you who get into the depths of these things will be interested in this, but some Bible commentators want to apply this to some historical point.

They want to apply the rest of the chapter to Antiochus Epiphanes, or some other personality, primarily Antiochus Epiphanes is selected.

But they don’t want to allow for prophecy in the future so they want to tie it all to some past event.

But that just doesn’t work very well.

Let me suggest several reasons.

First of all, in verse 35, the time of the end is an eschatological term.

It deals with last things.

In verse 40 it begins, “And at the time of the end.”

And both of those uses indicate a future last-days point.

Secondly, the scope of the prophecy is beyond just the Persian and Greek area.

The angel said this in 10:14.

“Now I am come to make you understand what shall befall your people in the latter days.”

So, from the very beginning, the prophecy was said to stretch much further than just Persian-Greek times.

Further, we can follow with minute absolutely accurate detail all of the prophecy up to verse 35.

But after that, we have no historical data that can at all relate to what happens from verse 36 to 45. Certainly not in the life of Antiochus Epiphanes.

Notice also in verse 36, it says near the end of the verse, all of this is going to prosper till the indignation be accomplished.

Now the indignation which is to be fully accomplished simply means the final outpouring of God’s wrath and that demands the last days.

In fact, the indignation is almost a synonymous term with the Tribulation.

Further, the description of the ruler in this passage absolutely detail by detail parallels other Scripture accounts of Antichrist.

Also 12:1 tells us that at that time shall Michael stand up and they’ll be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.

In other words, there is coming a time that will be worse than any other time in the history of man.

And verse 2, it will be followed by the resurrection.

Now that has to be the last time.

Furthermore, the last three revelations in the book of Daniel have closed with a word about the Antichrist.

It is fitting that this one follow that same pattern.

I just wanted you to know that there are reasons why we interpret this in relation to the Antichrist.

And so, we sweep across thousands of years of history to the final world ruler.