Word of Salvation – Vol.51 No.6 – February 2006
Tunnels to Final Glory
A Sermon by Rev John De Hoog
on Daniel 11:21-45
Scripture Reading: Matthew 24:1-31
Suggested Hymns: BoW 33a:1,2,8; 365; 145a:1,5,7; 468
Congregation.
David Jones is a Welshman, a preacher and pastor, who is right now (2005) working with the Presbyterian Church in Hobart. Some of you may have heard him preach. I heard David give the following illustration of what it’s like to travel from England to Wales.
To go from England to Wales is like crossing the Jordan to the Promised Land, says David Jones. (It’s interesting that he’s living in Tasmania, isn’t it! Perhaps the analogy is that he’s gone from the Promised Land to Paradise.)
Anyway, to travel from England to Wales you have to cross the estuary of the Severn River. Actually, there is a railway tunnel that takes you under the estuary. It is a very, very long tunnel. And before you get to the actual Severn tunnel, you go through a whole series of shorter tunnels first. As you go into a tunnel, you wonder, “Is this the Severn tunnel yet?” and then it’s not, and you go into the next tunnel, and it’s still not the Severn tunnel, and then finally you go into the real tunnel, and then suddenly you emerge and you are in Wales. (And then if you’re really lucky, you’ll find your way to Tasmania.)
The life of the church has been something like that. There has been one tunnel after another, and sometimes the tunnel has seemed very long and dark, full of terrible suffering, and the church has often wondered if this is the final tunnel. And then peace has been restored, and history has gone on. But one day the church will go into the final tunnel and will finally emerge in the Promised Land, in the new heavens and the new earth.
I’d like to tell you the story of a couple of these tunnels that God’s people have travelled through. The first tunnel I want to tell you about are the historical events that stand behind the verses we have just read from Daniel 11. This tunnel of suffering concerns the events surrounding the life of Antiochus IV.
Last time we saw that Daniel 11 refers to thirteen of the Greek kings of ancient history.
Ptolemy I Soter, son of Lagus,
322-285 (vs 5a)
Seleucus I Nocator, 312-280
(vs 5b)
Ptolemy II Philadephius,
285-246 (vs 6)
Antiochus I Soter, 280-261
Ptolemy III Euergetes, 246-221
(vss 7-9)
Antiochus II Theos, 261-246
(vs 6)
Seleucus II Callinicus, 246-226
(vss 7-9)
Seleucus III Soter Ceraunus,
226-223 (vs 10)
Ptolemy IV Philopator, 221-203
(vss 10-12)
Antiochus III Magnus, 223-187
(vss 10-19)
Ptolemy V Epiphanes, 203-181
(vss 14-17)
Seleucus IV Philopator, 187-175
(vs 20)
Ptolemy VI Philometor, 181-146
(vss 25-28)
Antiochus IV Epiphanes,
175-163 (vss 21-45)
Antiochus V Eupator, 163-162
Demetrius I Soter, 162-150
Notice how much of the chapter concerns Antiochus IV. He is the focus of this chapter.
Let me tell you about the tunnel of suffering that surrounded his short reign. Antiochus came to power in 175 BC. He is the king of the North mentioned in verse 21 of Daniel 11. Antiochus ruled that section of the Greek Empire centred in Asia Minor. But he was ambitious. He wanted more power, more control. In particular, he wanted to take control over that section of the Greek Empire centred in Egypt, which was ruled by another Greek king, the king of the South.
Now not only was Antiochus politically ambitious, he also wished to be a religious figure. He gave himself a blasphemous title: Basileus Antiochus Theos Epiphanes, which means, “King Antiochus, God Manifest”. Actually, behind his back other people gave him the title, not Epiphanes, but Epimanes, which means, “the Madman”! As his career progressed, it was the madman title that best suited him.
Here then, we have a man who gives himself this title: King Antiochus, God Manifest. Will a man who gives himself a title like that be successful?
In 169 BC, he initiated his invasion of Egypt, and of course this meant travelling through Palestine. This first campaign against the South is prophesied in verses 25-28 of Daniel 11. Without going into too much detail, he experienced much rebellion and opposition in Jerusalem. His response was cruel and crude in the extreme.
He savagely attacked Jerusalem, killing over a 100000 inhabitants, including 40000 people in just three days. He entered the holy of holies in the temple and defiled the temple area. He sacrificed a pig on the altar of burnt offerings, took away the temple furniture and installed his own man as high priest.
The following year was even worse; it’s prophesied in verses 29-35. This time he massacred thousands of Jews as they were gathered for worship on a Sabbath day. He further vandalised the temple and set up a statue of Zeus in the holy of holies. He sacrificed human beings on the altar, circumcision was forbidden, unclean meat was made mandatory to eat, the Sabbath and other feast days were forbidden and heathen sacrifices were offered in the temple for the next three years. He purposely set out to destroy the Jewish religion. From December 167 BC to December 164 BC, for a period of three years and ten days, the Jerusalem sanctuary was desecrated in this way. But the rule of Antiochus was short, only a few years; he died, insane, and the terror was over. And in December 164 BC the temple was re-consecrated and Jewish sacrifice and worship recommenced.
These terrible events, which we now know about in hindsight from the historical records, were predicted 380 years before they happened. That prediction was given to Daniel in Babylon, in the vision that is recorded here in Daniel 11.
Now I’d like to fast forward history and tell you about another tunnel of suffering that again involved Jerusalem. This time it is 70 AD, about forty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Once again Jerusalem is under attack. This time the attacker is a Roman conqueror, Titus Flavius Vespasianus. Titus won a victory of terrible violence. More than a million Jews were killed, unspeakable atrocities were committed, the temple was absolutely razed to the ground, Titus paraded with the temple furniture to show off his victory, the whole of Jerusalem was knocked down stone by stone and the whole area ploughed, and then a temple to the God Jupiter was built on the site of the former temple of God. Jerusalem was trodden down by the Gentiles. Just as Antiochus desecrated Jerusalem in 167 BC, so the Romans removed it from the map in 70 AD.
Now just as the messenger angel prophesied to Daniel the desecration of Jerusalem in 167 BC, so another great prophet prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. That second great prophet was our Lord Jesus Christ, and we read his prophecy earlier in Matthew 24. In his prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus makes a very strong link back to Daniel 11.
Matthew 24:15, “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’, spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
Jesus refers to “the abomination that causes desolation” spoken of through the prophet Daniel. See it referred to in Daniel 11:31, “His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.”
Now understand what Jesus is saying here. The abomination that causes desolation in the time of Antiochus was setting up a statue of Zeus in the Holy of Holies. That happened in 167 BC. Now Jesus is predicting that it will happen again, and it did happen again. In 70 AD Titus set up a temple to the Roman God Jupiter on the site of the former temple of God. What happened in 167 BC was a prediction, a forerunner, of what would happen again in 70 AD.
But notice now how Jesus goes on in Matthew 24.
“Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers…”.
Jesus goes on to describe how terrible those days will be. Then he goes on to explain the final victory of God. “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
Now Jesus is talking about the very end of the age, the end of time, when he will return. When Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, he was talking about another tunnel of suffering that God’s people would go through just like the tunnel of suffering in 167 BC. But at the same time, he was pointing to the final tunnel of suffering, the final tunnel under the Severn estuary, before God’s people will finally emerge in the Promised Land, in the new heavens and the new earth. There was an abomination that causes desolation set up in 167 BC and there was terrible suffering for God’s people. There was an abomination that causes desolation set up in 70 AD, and there was terrible suffering for God’s people. There will be an abomination that causes desolation set up at the end of time, and there will be terrible suffering for God’s people. It will be another tunnel of suffering.
Paul writes about that time in 2 Thessalonians 2. “We ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” See the pattern?! Another Antiochus Epiphanes! Another Titus Flavius Vespasianus, claiming to be God! The final Antichrist! It’s the same pattern over again.
This is how it happens. During the Second World War, there were many Christians who felt that Hitler must be the Antichrist of the New Testament. Look at him, slaughtering six million Jews! Look at him, parading as the emperor of all the world! They thought him to be the Antichrist. Who can blame them! And in a way, they were right, he was an antichrist, with a small “a”. For many antichrist figures will come. Joseph Stalin was an antichrist figure to the millions of Russian peasants that were killed during his reign of terror. Krushchev, the Russian leader who oversaw the development of the Sputnik programme (the Russian space programme), said this in relation to the Sputniks: “We will go right up to heaven, if there is a heaven, and to the throne of God, if there is a throne of God, and we will topple God off his throne, if there is a God.” You see. An antichrist figure. Setting himself up against God, seeking to tear God down. But of course, Krushchev spoke too soon, and God did the toppling, and Krushchev died disappointed.
There have been many such figures. Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, Nero, even the Pope at times, Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, the list goes on. Antichrist figures with a small “a”. One day, the final Antichrist figure will arise, and he will become all-powerful and deceive the whole world, except for the elect of God.
When we read Daniel 11, we are reading about what happened in history. But there is a sense in which we are also reading about what will happen in the future. For the tunnels that the people of God travel through bear similarities, they are always of a certain type. We are reading history here, but we are also reading about what will happen when the church enters that final great tunnel before finally emerging in the Promised Land.
Since this is the case notice something very striking about Antiochus in Daniel 11. His story is told in verses 21-45, and these verses are filled with time references that are absent in the rest of the chapter. Let me point them out to you.
Verses 21-24 describe his rise to power and initial success, but see how verse 24 ends – “but only for a time.” Verses 25-28 describe his first invasion of the South, but verse 27 “but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time.” This whole section is written in this way. See the following:
The career of Antiochus IV in Daniel 11
21-24
His rise and success (but only for a time)
25-28
His first invasion of the South and his attack on the
covenant (but the appointed end waits)
29-35
His second invasion of the South and his attack on the
covenant (at the appointed time, but the end still waits)
36-39
His attack on God (until the time of wrath is complete)
40-45
His last invasion, attack and fall (at the time of the end)
Do you see the point? God is in charge! Nothing can happen without his allowing it; nothing can happen outside of the times God has appointed. And God has appointed a time when the final tunnel will be completed. Continuing in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming.” The Antichrist will be a super powerful figure, all the world will go after him, he will exalt himself as God. It will be the darkest tunnel yet for the people of God. Don’t be deceived. And don’t worry. Jesus will come and just blow the man of lawlessness away!
We live in the time before the end of the world. I guess that’s a very obvious thing to say – if we had reached the end of the world, then I would not be standing here, and you would not be sitting here. And yet, even though at one level it’s a very obvious thing to say, at another level it is important to realise that we live in the time before the end of the world, because this time has certain features and characteristics that we need to understand. The tunnels that we travel through have parallels, similarities, and we can learn what the tunnels ahead hold for us by observing the tunnels of the past.
1. They are times of seemingly interminable human conflict, which will seem very threatening at times. But we must not be over-anxious. We have already seen this from Daniel 11, which tells the dreary tale of one meaningless conflict after another. Matthew 24:6, “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. All these are the
So let’s end today by seeing what, according to Daniel 11 and Matthew 24, these tunnels hold for us. It would be really interesting to trace these themes through into 1 & 2 Thessalonians and 1 & 2 Timothy and Hebrews and into 2 Peter and Jude and Revelation as well, but we can’t do that today. So, just today, Daniel 11 and Matthew 24.
What are these times like – these times before the end, these times of travelling through tunnels of suffering?
beginnings of birth pains.”
2. They are times that threaten great suffering and persecution and death for some believers. Daniel 11:22, “A prince of the covenant will be destroyed.” Verse 30, “He will turn back and vent his fury on the holy covenant.” Verse 31, “His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice.” Verse 33, “Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered.” Matthew 24:9, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me” (i.e., because of Jesus).
3. They are times when the temptation to abandon the faith is strong because of suffering and because of the seduction and deceitfulness of the world. Daniel 11:23, “He will act deceitfully, and with only a few people he will rise to power.” Verse 30, “He will show favour to those who forsake the holy covenant.” Verse 32, “With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resists him.” Matthew 24:10, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.” Verse 12, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.”
4. They are times in which God’s people are called to stand, to overcome, and those who do are promised great reward.
Daniel 11:32, “With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.” Verse 4, “Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end.” Chapter 12:1, “At that time your people – everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” Matthew 24:12, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Here then is a consistent theme in both Daniel and Jesus, and virtually the rest of the New Testament: Warnings about the suffering that will come during the tunnels we go through as a church and as individuals, combined with the glorious hope of the end of time, when we will be changed to glory. As Paul puts it at the end of 2 Corinthians 4, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Amen.