Reason to Trust
Reason to Trust
Daniel 11
“Why do you trust the Bible?” It is a simple yet profound question. I spent the last few days with pastors all over post-Christian Europe. They were from Scotland and Sweden, Italy and Ireland, Montenegro and Moldova, and all of them are battling with the same question. How do you convince people to trust the Bible in a post-modern, post-Christian culture? What reasons would you give someone as to why they should trust the Bible? In our evangelizing, when we are confronted with the question, “Why should I trust the Bible?”, we better have answers.
Recently, I spoke with an unbeliever who shared that one of the things that made him reject the faith was that when he asked his pastor and Sunday School teacher why he should believe the Bible, he was given only vague answers such as “You just have to have faith.”. Of course, we have to have faith in the Bible, but is there anything else? Is there any other logical reason why we should submit to the Bible’s teaching?
In conversations with pastors this past week, several asked me what I was teaching. When I responded with “Daniel 11”, they winced and smiled, and, in my head, I could hear them saying, “Bless your heart.” One commentator said of Daniel 11, “This passage may be useful in a Bible class, but I do not see how it can be useful as a Christian sermon.” Another scholar wrote more than 100 pages in his commentary on Daniel 11. Alastair Begg said of Daniel 11, that he would read the passage and study for 30 minutes, get a headache, and then take a nap. He would then get up, read the passage and study for 30 minutes, get a headache and take another nap. In fact, if you were to sit down and read the entire chapter, it would take you about six minutes and leave you very confused. But, although this passage may seem confusing, if we can work through the confusion and understand the main point that the angel revealed to Daniel, I believe God will help us have a greater confidence and trust in His Word. We will see how God has fulfilled promises in the past, so we can know that God will also fulfill His promises in the future.
God promised kings and kingdoms will rise and fall.
Daniel repeats this theme again and again. It is one we need to be reminded of because we have a hard time thinking beyond our own time and often get overwhelmed with what is happening in our culture right now. But as we look at history and other cultures, we can see that God’s sovereign hand is in control. The angel begins his vision in verse 2.
“And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these. Daniel 11:2-4
The three kings after Cyrus are Cambyses, Smerdis, and Darius I. The fourth king, then, is Xerxes I (486–465 b.c.), also known as Ahasuerus, the king who selected the Jewish orphan Esther as queen of Persia. Ahasuerus was very wealthy and stirred up trouble against Greece. In fact, some scholars report that he attacked Greece over the course of four years with more than one million men. The Greeks would not forget, and as Alexander the Great began to rule, he quickly and decisively defeated the Persians. But although Alexander the Great is revered in history, he lived to only 32 years old before his sons were executed, and the kingdom was divided among his four generals. This should sound repetitive because we have heard about this several times already in the book of Daniel.
It is important to note that almost all historical and biblical scholars agree on what I have just shared and on what I will share about what the angel prophecies. The angel rightly predicts the future.
“Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times. Daniel 11:5-6
The king of the south is Egypt, while the king of the north is Syria. This is all in relation to Israel, the Promised Land. Historians tell us that verse six predicts the marriage of Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy II of Egypt, to Antiochus II of Syria. The king and his new wife and their son would all be killed and would not retain power. Again, even secular historians and liberal biblical scholars confirm this. The Bible predicted specific details of what would happen in the future. We won’t cover the history of every verse, but we will see the rising and the falling of kings and kingdoms up to verse 19.
“And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail. He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land.
“His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress. Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the first. And after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies. “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail. Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. But he who comes against him shall do as he wills, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, with destruction in his hand. He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him. Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found. Daniel 11:7-19
We can trace each one of these verses and see how they directly relate to historical events. The angel gives Daniel a very clear vision of what will happen over the next hundreds of years. The prophecy is so accurate that some modern scholars have desperately attempted to explain the accuracy by changing the date when the book of Daniel was written. But there is another clear reason: God knows what will happen in the future because He is sovereign over all. He is not bound by time and space. The angel spoke the future because God revealed it to him.
The first 19 verses of Daniel 11 tell us something else; they tell us that all human kingdoms end. Let’s look at how each one of these human kingdoms that stand against God will fail. Beloved, we cannot always trust our eyes, but we can trust God’s Word. Campbell states: “In the first 35 verses there are at least 135 prophecies which have been literally fulfilled and can be corroborated by a study of the history of the period.” You can trust God’s Word because it has proven true.
Daniel continues in verse 20 with Antiochus IV or Antiochus Epiphanes, the wicked king of Daniel 8 who wages war against the saints.
“Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land.
“At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time. Daniel 11:20-35
Antiochus IV was a vile wicked king. He built an altar of Zeus in the Holy of Holies, bringing an abomination to the temple and making it desolate or empty of worshippers of God. One of the apocryphal books, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, writes in detail about the evil done by Antiochus IV. Maccabees should not be mistaken as Scripture, but it can be trusted as a historical document.
He concluded that Judaea was in revolt. He therefore marched from Egypt, raging like a wild beast, and began by storming the city. He then ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy everyone they encountered.… It was a massacre of young and old, a slaughter of women and children.… There were eighty thousand victims in the course of those three days, forty thousand dying by violence and as many again being sold into slavery. Not satisfied with this, he had the audacity to enter the holiest Temple in the entire world. 2 Macc 5:11–15
Insolently breaking into the sanctuary, he removed the golden altar and the lampstand for the light with all its fittings, together with the table for the loaves of offering, the libation vessels, the cups, the golden censers, the veil, the crowns, and the golden decoration on the front of the Temple, which he stripped of everything. He made off with the silver and gold and precious vessels, he discovered the secret treasures and seized them, and removing all of these, he went back to his own country, leaving the place a shambles.
1 Macc 1:21–24
I am reading and highlighting the historicity of this text to prove that the Bible can be trusted. If more than 135 specific prophecies were given and more than 135 specific prophecies were fulfilled in the first 35 verses of this chapter, then you can trust the Word. And, as in Daniel, if God’s Word has proven to be true regarding what will happen in the future, then we can trust what God’s Word will say about the future. I want to highlight two New Testament texts that show us how much we can trust the Bible.
The first is after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus in Luke 24. He meets two disciples on the road to Emmaus and opens their minds to understand the Scriptures.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:44-49
Jesus grounds salvation in the Word of prophecy. He says, “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and Prophets and Psalms must be fulfilled.” Jesus doesn’t ground salvation by saying, “Look at me. I am alive.”. It is fascinating that instead of telling them to look at Him, He tells them to look in the Word. He opens their minds to understand by teaching them. He says, “It is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations.” He states, “It is written.” He grounds the mission of church, not in His appearance, but in the veracity of the Word. Beloved, do you see why we can trust the Word of God? It has proven itself true!
Peter says something very similar. He saw the risen Christ transfixed before him, but he put even more trust in the Word.
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:16-21
The prophetic word is more fully confirmed! All prophecy is not born from man but from God. Peter did not want others to trust his experience on its own merit, but rather because it was confirmed in the Word of God. Every prophecy Daniel received about the things that were going to happen did not come from him but from God. Daniel merely recorded it. Then, it was fully confirmed in history. Peter says, “You will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.” What overcomes the darkness? The Word of God. It is a light unto my path and a lamp unto my feet. You can trust the Word because it is true.
Friend, if you are not a Christian, have you ever truly studied why and how the Bible is trustworthy? Christians base their lives on the Bible. It is our final authority. I challenge you to consider the Bible’s authority on what it has said about the past and what it will say about the future. The Bible is true because God not only knows history but controls history. Notice in Daniel how often you see the phrase, “At the appointed time.” It is at God’s appointed time. All history is controlled by Him. Only a God who is in charge of history can tell you what is going to happen in history, because He is the author of history.
God promised to establish the everlasting King and an everlasting kingdom.
Daniel 11 confirms Daniel 7 and 9. Kings and kingdoms would rise and fall like the acorns in the fall, but an eternal King and an everlasting kingdom are coming for those whose names are written in the Book of Life. In Daniel 11:36, we see a shift from Antiochus Epiphanes to the Antichrist, who will rise at the end of days. Antiochus was a type of Antichrist, but another would come who would be far more evil and far more global. He will attack not just the people of God in the Holy Land but over the whole earth.
“And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done. He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price.
“At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him. Daniel 11:36-45
The Antichrist will exalt himself above every other god, even the gods of his fathers. This is where we see a break from Antiochus IV. We see this figure being the one who will bring war against all the people of God, devoting many to destruction. But all his worldwide power will be short-lived. “Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.” Earthly kings and kingdoms will come against the Lord and fail. The final evil king, the Antichrist, along with his evil kingdom, will come against the Lord and fail. The wicked may prosper for a time, but then their reign will come to an end.
I spoke to someone recently about Christ, and he said, “I am just going to do what I am going to do.” Sadly, this is a very common way of thinking about life. “I am just going to be me.” Notice how this evil king, the epitome of evil, who stands against God is described, “And the king shall do as he wills.” He has no fear of God. His only concerns are himself and his own desires. Friend, is that how you would describe your life? Do you dismiss the things you know you should do in order to do the things you want to do? If that’s you, you do not know God but are in league with evil. It may be fun for a time. You may even think you are getting the most out of life, but one day you will come to your end, with none to help you.
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Matthew 16:26–27
Friend, consider your ways.
Believers, we know there will be a time of great trouble and persecution. We know there is a great cost for following Jesus in this life. Some may believe we will be snatched up before the day of great trouble but Daniel, Jesus, and Paul all try to prepare us to stand when that trouble comes. It would be wonderful for Christians to avoid the great tribulation, but that doesn’t seem to be the message of the Bible. We will face intense persecution, but it will only be for a time. It will not last. God will carry us through. How? How will we be able to persevere? Look back at Daniel 11.
He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. Daniel 11:32
Beloved, here is the take away from this vision. Persecutions will rise against God’s people. Earthly, evil kings and kingdoms will rise against God and His anointed, but those who will persevere will be those who know God. They will stand firm and take action. So the question is, “Do you know God and are you making it your aim to know him better?” This is the goal of all life, and this is the goal of Daniel 11. God wants to be known. And the only way we can know Him is through his Son, Jesus Christ.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. John 1:17-18
We know God because Jesus came to unite us to God.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. 1 Peter 3:18
When we repent of our sins and put our trust in Jesus as our Lord, we are united with Jesus Christ. His life becomes our life. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. We know God because He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell with us, and the Holy Spirit, in turn, leads us into the knowledge of God.
But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. [“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:9-16
Do you see how marvelous the gospel is? Because we know God, we do not have to fear the day of persecution or trial, and because we know God, we can stand firm and take action in faith.
When Jesus takes His seat at the right hand of God, He becomes the everlasting King. And when we put our faith in Jesus, we become part of the everlasting Kingdom. Jesus came to make a Kingdom that will never be shaken because His Kingdom is not of this world. It is a spiritual Kingdom, born of the Spirit. It may seem small now, but just like kudzu grows and overtakes our backyards, the Kingdom of the beloved Son will cover the whole earth.
God has promised a resurrection from the dead.
TIm Keller died on Friday. He was a gift to the church. He was gracious and kind, a man who embodied the Jesus he proclaimed. His sermon on Jeremiah 29 shaped my life. It was one of the first sermons I heard that was truly expositional, and it set me on a path to give my life to hearing and preaching the Word. Yesterday, I was reading about Tim and watching videos of his life and teaching, and one, in particular, caught my attention. He was asked, “What do you tell a young person struggling with anxiety?” Kelller anchored his answer in the resurrection and said, “If Jesus really was raised from the dead, if He really walked out of the tomb, then everything is going to be ok.” Daniel’s message is the same.
“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Daniel 12:1-4
In this last vision, Daniel predicted 135 prophecies that have been fulfilled, and he promises a future resurrection. Daniel 12:2 is the clearest teaching of a resurrection in the Old Testament. If God’s word is true, then there will be a resurrection from the dead, a resurrection for the just and the unjust.
Tim Keller was diagnosed with cancer three years ago. He fought it hard. He went into remission, and then the cancer came back. He went home Thursday night, ready to meet Jesus. He had one last night with his family before he closed his eyes in death. “If Jesus really was raised from the dead, if he really walked out of the tomb, then everything is going to be ok.” Friends, everything is going to be ok.
Many of us will face cancer or car accidents, heart attacks or strokes, embolisms or old age, but if you know God, “Everything is going to be ok,” because Jesus really rose from the dead. How do we know the resurrection will happen? God said it will, and God’s word is true and can be trusted. If God fulfilled His word in the past, He will fulfill His word in the future. We will all face trials and tribulations, but God has promised they will end, and we will be ushered into His eternal kingdom. But everything will only be ok, if you know God, and you can only know Him through Jesus Christ our Lord.