JULY 1980-VOL. 12, NO. 5

TEXT - DANIEL 9:24-27

I have preached on the seventy weeks of Daniel's prophecy many times, and we have published the message in the Contender as well, but I am trusting the Lord to help me deal with the subject again in the light of present day world conditions. I take no delight in being an alarmist, but I believe this energy situation, which has now reached a world wide scope, will be just as instrumental in fulfilling prophecy as the taxing was in the days of Caesar Augustus. You all know the story, how this Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, in about the 12th year of his reign, suddenly got the idea to levy an extra tax on the whole world, and how that caused Joseph and Mary to be in Bethlehem, waiting to pay their taxes, when Jesus was born. God did not have to say, "Now, Augustus, there is a certain portion of my word that must be fulfilled, so you do thus and so." No! That is not the way God fulfills His word. When time comes for a certain prophecy to be fulfilled, God just withdraws His restraining hand and allows greedy politicians and ruthless radicals to bring about circumstances that move right into the stream of fulfilling prophecy. Caesar Augustus was a pagan; he knew nothing about the program of God. But he did know quite a bit about politics, and he was just carrying out a plan to build an beautify Rome until eventually all roads would lead to Rome. They set up one of the fastest letter carrying and messenger systems that it was possible to have in that day. It was important to those Emperors to know what was going on in the far flung regions of their vast domain, in order to be able to deal with any revolt that might spring up in the outlying territories. Therefore they had garrisoned, messenger relay stations along all their great caravan routes, where troops were stationed to keep the world news moving toward Rome. Professional runners carried news. Some rode horses, but many of them ran on foot, and everything was designed for one great purpose, to build Rome into one of the most unique systems of human government that had ever been. Old Augustus was probably running a little low in his treasury, so he hit upon the idea to add another tax to the already overtaxed population, right down to the lowest little peasant. That caused Joseph to take his espoused wife and go to Bethlehem, for no other reason but to pay his taxes. Little did he know that this was fulfilling prophecy that had been spoken centuries before, that Jesus should be born in Bethlehem. I am sure that taxation worked a great hardship on every little Jew, but it was all in the great plan of God. Scripture had to be fulfilled regardless of the hardship it brought upon the people. It is the same way in our day; who is to say just what God may allow in order to get the stage set for Ezekiel 38 and 39 to be fulfilled? Two thousand years ago God's finger was pointing to ONE man, and ONE woman. They needed to be in a certain place, at a certain time, and the way God allowed it to work out affected the lives of hundreds of other Jews, for they all had to suffer the necessary hardships of going to pay their taxes in the place of their birth, or the city of their lineage. God knows exactly how to put it in the hearts of political minded men to fulfill His word, and the people of God have to suffer the hardships brought on by their decisions just like everyone else, and many people ask, Why? but let us not question God like this; rather, let us be glad and thankful that our heavenly Father has seen fit to tell us ahead of time what to expect. Furthermore let us be thankful for the assurance we have that God will provide for His own children, even if it requires supernatural intervention as in the days when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt. God's word must be fulfilled, but He will not fail to provide for His true children.

OUR PLANS CAN CHANGE

Now think about this, Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem for no other reason but to pay their taxes, and then they were going to return to Nazareth so Joseph could get back to work, but the birth of that little baby changed all of their plans, and He has continued to change the plans of mortal men ever since. It is ironic that the very land which we know as the land of the Bible should be the very land that would produce the source of energy that the whole world depends upon, and that it would be there for hundreds of years before men would ever discover that they needed such a thing. In less than one hundred years, men have built themselves into an age of mechanization so that all phases of everyday life depend upon oil, and most of the oil comes from the Middle East. Then to carry the thought on through: those oil producing areas of the Middle East are anti Israel, and we are living in the days when God is regathering and restoring those Israelites, and allowing them to regain the land that was first given to Abraham. Where does that put any nation that would be friendly toward Israel? You know as well as I do, that self survival is causing every nation, one by one, to turn their back on Israel, the very nation that gave birth to the Savior of the world. Satan hates Israel, (the woman of Revelation 12:1, 5, 6, 14, 17) and he will use any means, in his attempts to kill every Jew upon the face of the earth. That is why we are hearing reports from Iran, Afghanistan, and all those places in our world news broadcasts every day. Just like I said already, all of this is serving a purpose of God just as much as Augustus imposing an extra taxation upon the world two thousand years ago. When Nehemiah was carrying wine to King Artaxerxes, the Persian King, all that area which we hear spoken of as Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan was part of the great Persian empire. These areas were still known as Persia even after the first advent of Christ on up until about the 8th century A.D. Nehemiah was in the capital city called Shushan, in the king's palace. Another name for it was Susa. Brothers and Sisters: This is just a little background to get us into our thought. We are going to be studying from chapters 7, 8 and 9 of the book of Daniel primarily, but that will require many other scriptures to be used. There are some things that we want to link together in this message, and for the benefit of some who do not have history books available we are going to print certain portions, word for word, right from Jewish history. This should help to clear up the picture for those who are interested enough to bear with us. We have chosen four verses from the 9th chapter of Daniel to build the message around, but there are many things to be dealt with as we go along.

One thing we definitely want to establish is where the Antichrist, the man of sin, will come from. Theologians down through the centuries have had various ideas about it, and they all have their certain reason for believing what they do, but Saints! God's word does not give us a half a dozen choices. Let us understand from the scriptures that he will definitely have to be connected with Rome. When we get to the 9th chapter, that will be made very clear. Remember, God's word does not speak contradictory things; everything has to fit together regardless of all our former opinions. It is only because men have tried to interpret the scriptures apart from the leadership of the Holy Ghost, that we have so many different viewpoints floating around, and hundreds of different religious denominations arguing and fussing about things they know nothing about. May God help us to say some things that will remove all doubts and confusion. First we will just take a little time to acquaint you with the various identities of this beast man, the Antichrist that is to come, and call your attention to certain other men through the ages that have actually typed the one who is yet to come.

ONE MAN WITH MANY IDENTITIES

In the 7th chapter of Daniel we read where he had visions in which he saw four great beasts come up from the sea, each of the four different from the others. But it was the 4th beast which really caught Daniel's attention; and caused him to inquire about the meaning of the visions. The 4th beast was dreadful and terrible, and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth, and it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet. This beast had ten horns, and while Daniel watched it, he saw another little horn come up from among the ten, before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. This horn had eyes like a man, and a mouth speaking great things. The angel told Daniel that the four beasts were four kings (or kingdoms) which would arise out of the earth. We all know what those four kingdoms were, Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greece, and Rome. But notice, the ten horns and the little horn belonged to the 4th kingdom, and that is the one Daniel watched until the thrones were cast down and the ancient of days did sit. As the angel answered Daniel's questions: Daniel wanted to know about the horns on this 4th beast which we know is Rome, and about that little horn that spoke such great things, and that made war with the saints and overcame them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgement was given to the saints. Verse 24, "The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise; and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. (25) And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hands until a time (ONE YEAR) and times (TWO YEARS) and the dividing of time, (HALF A YEAR)." There you have 3½ years of prophetic time, 1,260 days. The ten horns, or ten kingdoms are the ten major nations of Europe, and the little horn that raised up was the power of the papacy. We will say more about all of this later in the message, but right now we are just looking at the various identities of this man of sin that is yet to be revealed. Here we have seen him as a horn, (A HORN SPEAKS OF POWER.) He shall truly have power throughout his allotted time of 1,260 years, but then his power shall be destroyed by the coming of Jesus Christ with His saints.

ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES TYPES THE ANTICHRIST

To clear up some known confusion: let us look at another horn mentioned in chapter 8. It will help you to read the whole chapter, but we are not going to now. We will start in verse 9, and read a few verses to get this horn. Daniel saw a goat which had a great horn between his eyes, and this he goat (Greece) was very great, but there came a time when his great horn was broken, and for it four notable ones came up, and out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceedingly great toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land (ISRAEL). This little horn magnified himself, and by him the daily sacrifice of the Jews was taken away, and the truth was cast down to the ground, and the horn practiced and prospered. Go to verse 13, "Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?" Now I know that sounds just like what we know about the Antichrist, what he will do in that seventieth week of Daniel, over in the great tribulation, but remember, the Antichrist only has 1,200 days allotted to him to do this, and then notice the answer given here in verse 14, "And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; (2,300) then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." That is, without any doubt whatsoever, speaking of Antiochus Epiphanes, that horn of Syria which came out of the break up of the Grecian empire. But as you read on throughout this chapter, verses 24 & 25, which actually are speaking of the Antichrist, have caused some scholars to believe it is still referring to the horn of verse 9. That simply is a reference to show that this same spirit of Satan rested on those forerunning types of the wicked one who is yet to come. You will notice in verse 25, that this one stands up against the Prince of princes, which could be none other than Jesus Christ himself, and we know that Antiochus has never, and will never stand up against Jesus Christ in mortal flesh. It is only that the same spirit of destruction and desolation that was in Antiochus will also be in the Antichrist, the son of perdition. Some have looked at these verses and said, the Antichrist will come out of Syria. Others try to put these scriptures together, and they come up with the idea that he will be an apostle Jew. No! He will be a Roman. We will show you, in chapter 9, that the Antichrist must be a prince of the Romans.

A ROMAN PRINCE

When we go to chapter 9, we do not find this Antichrist person being referred to as a horn any longer. He is now called a prince. You must read these verses carefully though, for many people read verses 25, 26, & 27, and get the princes mixed up. First notice that the Prince in verse 25, is the Messiah, (Jesus Christ) and then notice that the prince in verse 26, is not capitalized. This is another prince, and he is the one who will confirm the covenant with many for ONE WEEK (7 years) and in the midst of the week, actually the middle of the week, he will cause the Jewish sacrifice and the oblation to cease. This is what marks the beginning of the great tribulation period which will last for the space of 3½ years. This is the prince that shall come, (come into power) and he gains this opportunity as a peacemaker. This gives him world recognition and places him in a position where he can exalt himself, and actually set himself up as God. This will fulfill II Thessalonians 2:3 & 4, where Paul said, (speaking of our gathering together unto Jesus Christ in the rapture) "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the day of our gathering together unto Him) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (the Antichrist) Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; (NOTICE NOW) so that he (the Antichrist) as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." Brothers and sisters: This is all to take place in that 70th week of Daniel, which is just ahead of us. There is an Ezekiel 38 & 39, war to be fought first, but I am very insistent on the fact that this energy crisis is being maneuvered by the hand of God to create a world wide condition that will cause man to usher in the 70th week of Daniel. I believe it will be the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 & 39, that will so shake world leaders, that they will be ready to accept the Roman Catholic pope as the man to oversee and arrange a peace covenant that will fulfill Daniel 9:27. Let us go back to Daniel 9:26, now, and read it very carefully, and in so doing you will see that this false prince must be connected to Rome. "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself; (That was when He was crucified and spilled His blood to pay our sin debt, not His own. He had no sin.) and THE PEOPLE OF THE PRINCE THAT SHALL COME SHALL DESTROY THE CITY AND THE SANCTUARY; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." Now let me ask you this, Who destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary in 70 A.D., a few years after Jesus, the Messiah was cut off? We all know the answer to that. History tells us plainly that it was Roman soldiers led by Titus, and we know from this verse, (26) that the prince which is to come, this false prince, the son of perdition, is to be a prince of the people that destroyed the city and the sanctuary, (Romans.) Then verse 27, tells us that this Roman prince is the very one that will confirm the covenant with many for one week, and Daniel 8:25, allows us to see that it is by peace, that he shall destroy many. Saints, it all adds up; it is just a matter of getting it added up right. Everything is moving right on schedule. There is no possible way that you could bring Christ back, six months before He is destined to come. You could fast and pray for a solid year, (if such a thing were possible) and you would not change the plan of God by even one minute. He controls the earth; He controls the heavens, and He controls the destiny of every mortal creature. He will put in the hearts of mortal men, at exactly the right time, to do whatever must be done to make His word come to pass. Over six hundred years before Titus, with his Roman army, destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Daniel recorded it, and at the same time, he tied it to something that would take place at the end of the Laodicean age by another man who would be led and motivated by the same spirit that caused Titus and his army to do what they did, and that caused Antiochus to do what he did. Titus was not the prince of Daniel 9:26, but psychologically, and politically, he typed that one who was to come. Titus did not go there to destroy the city and the sanctuary; he only went (as ordered) to put down a Jewish revolt. He thought this could be done very simply, and easy. Little did he know that almost 40 years prior to that, Jesus had uttered some prophecy concerning Jerusalem, which must be fulfilled. Therefore, instead of simply putting down the revolt as he came to do, those Jews came out and fought so furiously against his army, that it antagonized him and all his men to the point where they could stop with nothing less than total destruction. Look at the type. He came with a political motive. He did not come to tear down the city, nor to butcher Jews, but the Jews infuriated him to the point where he fulfilled the words of Jesus concerning the destruction of the city and the temple. Likewise the Antichrist will not engineer that great peace covenant with the thought in the back of his mind that he is going to kill two prophets of God that will set his course of slaughtering Jews in motion. But just as it was in 70 A.D., what those Jews in Israel say and do, will so infuriate him against them that he will begin to slaughter them. Pure hatred for the Jews will drive him to fulfilling the word of God. The term, prince, is applied to an ambassador of peace. That is why Daniel 9:26 refers to him as a prince instead of a horn which speaks of power. He is a counterfeit, a false peacemaker, forerunning the true Prince of peace (JESUS CHRIST) who will rule and reign in the Millennium.

THAT WICKED ONE IS A FALSE PROPHET

We are looking at the various terms that are applied to the Antichrist, as well as establishing where he will come from, and what spirit will motivate him, so let us go back to the 2nd chapter of II Thessalonians. After calling him the son of perdition in verse 3, and showing what that Satanic spirit will lead him to do, in verse 4, Paul goes on in verse 7, to say, "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work." That reveals his cloak. When you begin to see him as an instrument of perdition, a tool in the hands of Satan, to lead the world to destruction, then you will realize that he is hiding behind a cloak of deception. That spirit of deception was already at work in the first age while Paul and John were still alive, for they both warned the saints against it. In verse 8, Paul refers to the Antichrist as "THAT WICKED ONE," and goes on to say that his coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. Satan will enter that old peacemaker just like he did Judas Iscariot. (See Luke 22:3) When Satan entered Judas he immediately went about to betray Jesus, and lead the murderous Scribes and Pharisees to where He was. When Satan enters the old Antichrist, in the middle of Daniel's 70th week, he will immediately begin to kill Jews, the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3, being the first ones. Now the word Antichrist means, anti word. There have been many minor Antichrists down through the ages, (men who perverted the word of God) but there is yet one to come that will be THE ANTICHRIST, the certain man of sin that so many scriptures speak of. He is also called the FALSE PROPHET, over in the book of revelation. A prophet is one to whom the word of the Lord comes, and in his appointed hour the world will look upon this man as one who is anointed and inspired of God. But in reality he will be a false prophet, because the word that has come to him will not have come from God. Instead of having the word of life, he will have the word of death. All who are deceived by him will be rejected of God and damned.

FOURTH BEAST OF DANIEL'S VISION

Now that you are aware of the many identities of the man who is soon to become a great world hero, let us go to the 13th chapter of Revelation where we will see a profile of this world beast system that comes up, a system of which this Antichrist will be the head. The apostle John is writing what he saw when he was projected into future time in a vision. Revelation 13:1, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having SEVEN HEADS and TEN HORNS, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Remember, head is symbolic of government, and John says in verse 3, "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." Let us go right over to chapter 17, and see what the angel told John about these 7 heads. In verse 3, John says, "So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having SEVEN HEADS and TEN HORNS." We are not reading the whole chapter now. We just want to deal with the 7 heads of this 4th beast which Daniel wrote about, in chapter 7. The angel says to John in verse 8, of Revelation 17, "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not: and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that WAS and IS NOT, and YET IS. (NOTICE NOW) (9) And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The SEVEN HEADS are SEVEN MOUNTAINS, on which the woman sitteth. (SEVEN MOUNTAINS) (10) And there are SEVEN KINGS: five are fallen, ONE IS, and the other is not yet come; and when he commeth, he must continue a short space. (11) And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the EIGHTH, and is OF THE SEVEN, and goeth into perdition." Where will that EIGHTH HEAD come from? The BOTTOMLESS PIT. Where will he go? Into PERDITION. What is the bottomless pit? That is HELL. What does the PERDITION pertain to? That is a word that means DESTRUCTION. This proves that hell is not eternal, for we see a spirit of Satan coming out of hell and going to destruction. (We have a complete article which deals with that.) That is the spirit of the 8th form of government which has its seat in Rome. It has to be Rome, not Syria nor anywhere else. Only Rome sits on 7 hills, or mountains, and has an office with authority that spans the globe. Now that 8th form of government is church government taking over the 7th, or last form of Roman imperial government, blending the two together. That is why it says the 8th is of the 7th. That puts church over state, rather than state over church. When it became church over state, that initiated the form of government that ruled over Europe through the Dark Ages, the bloody rule of the Roman Catholic Church. Now what was in that head of church government? A spirit of Satan. Where will he go? He will go straight to destruction. Not only will he be destroyed, but every last human soul that has ever been deceived by all that these things add up to, will be destroyed also. That is Satan's objective, lead them to destruction. We will go into more details on these 7 heads and 10 horns on that 4th beast later in the message. Right now we are just endeavoring to get these various things up front in your mind so you can follow the various things that link together in a message such as this. If we did not have the book of Revelation it would be very hard for us to put the various aspects of Daniel's vision together. Revelation gives us the clues we need to link them all together. It gives us the Twentieth Century picture in more detail. Remember, the angel told Daniel, Go thy way; for these words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. But, saints! We are living in the time of the end and these things must come together. Do not treat them as though they are unimportant, for true saints of God will need this light to walk in as spiritual darkness closes in around them.

THE HE GOAT & THE RAM

Let us go back to the 8th chapter of Daniel now, for we have a he goat and a ram that we want to look at for a few minutes. In one of his visions Daniel saw a he goat and a ram, and they strove, one against the other. We will begin reading in verse 5. The ram is symbolic of the Persian empire, and the he goat is symbolic of the Grecian empire. (5) "And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. (6) And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. (7) And I saw him come close unto the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. (8) Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven." This he goat that came bouncing from the west was fulfilled by Alexander the great. When he had conquered Egypt and all the area of Palestine, and all the areas of Lebanon and Babylon, he also invaded the areas which were ancient Persia. He defeated the Persian kings, and then lived in the king's palace for the winter. He and his vast army remained in Persia for about 4 months through the rest of the winter. When he and his generals determined to leave the royal palace of the Persians: they fell upon the idea of burning it to the ground. Upon leaving, that is exactly what they did, saying, This shall be for a memorial, that a Grecian has sat on the great throne of the Persians. The Persian empire began to crumble, for there was none to deliver the Persians from the hands of their conquerors. Therefore the he goat waxed very great. That is Alexander the great, and the Grecian empire. But that great horn was broken, (Alexander the great, died) and the empire was taken over by four of his generals which divided the great domain that he had conquered into 4 geographical territories. One of these territories was established in Syria. This is where we pick up verse 9, "And out of one of them (one of these four territories) came forth a little horn, which waxed exceedingly great, toward the South, (meaning Egypt) and toward the east, (further into Persia) and toward the PLEASANT LAND, (Israel) (10) And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." You would have to know how this particular king really began to project himself to understand that. Therefore let us consider him for the next little while. That king was none other than Antiochus Epiphanes. You who have Scofield Bibles may read about him in the footnotes at the bottom of the page, but we are going to read from Jewish history itself, just to allow you to see how vicious and cruel, and how full of hatred for the Jews this man was. Right from this Jewish history you can see how this man fulfilled the scriptures we are reading, from this 8th chapter of Daniel. I am not ignorant of the fact that many people do not care anything about history, therefore I will try not to read enough to make it a boresome chore for you to study the message, but please be aware of the fact that many of the saints who are interested in making a complete study of these scriptures, do not have history books available to them. This is to help them, and I pray that everyone else will be patient with us. I will say this also: If there ever was a time in history when saints of God needed to get interested in these things, it is now. That week of Daniel is just ahead of us, and it does not matter whether it is still 5 years off or not: I do not know, but I do know that whatever time is left between now and then, you will need it, to allow God that much time to deal with your life, to get your mind in the proper channel of thinking for the end. The days of just participating in a church program and riding along on John 3:16, are over with. The old world is going to get a shaking that will really determine who is of God, and who is not, and your little church programs will not be enough to hold you, in that day. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and only that which cannot be shaken will remain. Saints! I want to remain throughout the shaking! Don't you? It is time to look beyond our neighbors and friends, and consider these things from the standpoint of eternal life. If you are among those who have been so nonchalant about certain things in the scriptures, things like whether there is still 3½ or 7 years yet to be fulfilled of Daniel's 70 weeks, and whether the thunder of Revelation 10:3, are important to the living element of the bride of Christ, you had better shake yourself. These things were not written in the Bible just to take up so much space. If you treat these things like that, you may as well treat water baptism, sanctification, predestination, and other major doctrines of the Bible the same way. God did not save us, to be ignorant of truth and Bible facts all of our lives; He saves us because He loved us, but we are to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of His whole plan and program for our age. To grow in the knowledge of Christ, is to grow in the understanding of all that God is doing. It is for your benefit, so let us get this horn straightened out in our minds.

ANTIOCHUS RECOGNIZES HIS POWER

When Antiochus came out of Syria, little by little he recognized or realized just how much power he really did have and he began to exalt himself. There came a time when he actually thought himself to be God. Verse 11, "Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down." That means, it was closed up; no priests could minister, and I am going to read to you just exactly what the Jews said he did. If you want to know what the attitude of the Antichrist will be toward the Jews, just watch that same spirit in Antiochus. He was the beginning of that image psychologically and politically, but not religiously. The beauty of the Old Testament in all these different identities is how it brings out his psychological attitude toward the Jews, and his political motive to subdue and rule them, by the terms horn and prince. Then when you go to the New Testament you pick up the spiritual identity of such a man. He is not a Buddhist, neither is he a Hindu, nor a Moslem; he is an apostate Christian. God knew that He was going to give this glorious gospel of eternal life to the Gentiles for a period of time, and He knew what each Gentile nation would do with it after they had it for so long a time, therefore He showed those old prophets all these things that would transpire through time, and they recorded those visions without ever understanding very much about them, but we are the people who have been predestined to understand all that the prophets recorded.

CHRISTIANITY OUT - ISLAMISM IN

Speaking of the gospel, Did you know that right in the very area where 50 Americans are being held hostage, Paul preached the gospel for 3 years? When he preached there at Ephesus, which is on the western shores of Turkey, the Bible says that all Asia heard the gospel. Up until the 6th and 7th centuries the gospel grew and flourished in those areas. But by then, the Christian gospel began to be so ritualized and apostate, God allowed an anti Judaistic philosophy to raise up, down in Saudi Arabia. A man by the name of Muhammad, who denounced paganism, and became known as a prophet of God's wrath, and a preacher of righteousness came on the scene. He believed that God is one, just like the Jews, but he believed, or claimed that he, himself was the last prophet. He pulled the sword, gained a bunch of converts, and rode all over the Middle East desecrating churches and slaughtering Christians in every area where those early disciples had preached Jesus Christ. He compelled the citizens to accept what the Western world calls Muhammadanism. Christianity died out in what is now called, the Moslem world. Then in the 8th century, there came a man called Muhammad Ali, who rode into Egypt, determined to destroy every Christian, and every Christian church house that he could find. He is the one who stripped the beautiful Cheops pyramid. He took its beautiful alabaster stone about 10 miles away, across the Nile River, where it is found in 4 domes of one of the largest Moslem mosques there is. He desecrated many Christian church buildings in Alexandria, Egypt, and also in Cairo, and turned them into Moslem prayer places, and Christianity has never flourished in Egypt since then. The whole Middle East is predominately Moslem, and what we are seeing in our day is the final outcome of what all this has built up to. It is an explosive situation and the only way we can know how it is all going to turn out, is by the Bible itself.

Let us get back to Antiochus, now, and try to finish reading this scripture, and the history. We will pick up in verse 12, "And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of the transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? (That is the area of the temple) (14) And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; (2300 DAYS) then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." From there the angel goes back to explain the vision to Daniel, but we will not read all the verses at this time. I want to take this time to show you how that horn of Syria which came out of the breakup of the Grecian Empire, fulfilled these very scriptures. I will not be dogmatic about dates, for Scofield says this took place between 175 to 170 B.C., and the little Jewish history places it between 170 and 162 B.C. Therefore, realizing that there can be discrepancies in history dates, especially when you start comparing Jewish history with Gentile history, we will avoid using specific dates. However when we do study the seventy weeks of Daniel, I am going to stick strictly to the Jewish history side of that, for it is by their means of reckoning time, that these 70 weeks are to be fulfilled, not by some Julian calendar.

ANTIOCHUS IN HISTORY

I believe we are ready to read this history concerning Antiochus Epiphanes, now. Remember, he has just been in Egypt, and he has received word that the Jews at Jerusalem are about to stage a revolt, because they are under the impression that he is dead, but they soon found out that he was not dead. Therefore what you are going to read is taken word for word from Jewish history. We will start with the beginning of the paragraph and it will lead right into what we are dealing with.

EXCERPTS FROM JEWISH HISTORY

ANTIOCHUS THE LITTLE HORN OF DANIEL CHAPTER 28

AND THE 2300 DAYS

Soon after this event Antiochus went to Tyre, and thither proceeded three deputies from the Sanhedrin to justify the death of Lysimachus and to impeach Menelaus. Menelaus, with his accustomed means - bribery - purchased the friendship of Ptolemy Macron, a favorite of Antiochus, and this worthy procured a judgment acquitting Menelaus and condemning his three accusers to death. Menelaus now returned to Jerusalem, being protected from the effects of well-deserved hatred by the proximity of Antiochus's army. Next year, however, the king, pursuing his campaign against Egypt, laid siege to Alexandria, and a report reached Jerusalem that he had fallen before that city. Jason lost no time in entering Jerusalem, and, finding friends within the holy city, soon deposed Menelaus, whom he confined in the citadel. But his power was short-lived. Antiochus was not dead; and as soon as he heard of the revolt in Jerusalem, he set out with a sufficient force to punish the defection of the people. Jason fled from the city and took refuge in Sparta, where he ended his life in misery. Antiochus advanced against Jerusalem; stormed it, slew 40,000 of its inhabitants, and sold as many into slavery. Menelaus led him into the temple, which he stripped of its treasures, including 1,800 talents of gold and silver, for which he found use in his expensive siege of Alexandria, then still in progress. From this enterprise, however, he was now compelled to retire by the imperious command of Rome; and he turned his attention towards his disaffected subjects, the people of Judea, now driven to despair by the tyranny of Andronicus and Phillip, whom he had appointed governors. Antiochus sent 22,000 men under Apollonius, with orders to plunder the cities of Judea, to slay the men, and reserve for sale the women and children. Jerusalem was attacked on the Sabbath day - when the Jews would not offer resistance - and its inhabitants were all massacred. The city was set on fire, its walls were demolished; and with its ruins a fortress was built to overawe the inhabitants. The daily sacrifices of the Temple ceased, and surviving priests were dispersed. Upon the altar swine's flesh was burnt and oblations were offered to Jupiter Olympus, whose statue was set up in the Holy place. Decrees were issued prohibiting circumcision, the observance of the Sabbath, and the reading of the Law, under pain of death. In all the cities of Judea, altars were erected to the gods of the Grecian mythology, and their worship enforced. Many Jews conformed to the king's decrees, but the mass remained faithful to their religion, and found means to evade these cruel restrictions. Thus, instead of reading the law, a portion from the Prophets was selected, either referring to, or resembling, the weekly lesson, originating the Haftarah of our present ritual. The rite of circumcision was practiced in spite of the king's decree. Two women were crucified for performing it upon their infants, and the babes were hanged at their necks. The most fearful tortures were employed to compel the faithful Jews to worship the king's idol. A widow and her seven sons are described as suffering death by being thrown into a boiling cauldron. Heroically steadfast, they submitted to their fate - the mother surviving them only to exult in the sacrifice of her sons to the service of her God, and then to die as they had died. Of course such unexampled cruelty and tyranny could not fail to rouse a spirit of resistance; and that resistance was led and organized by the glorious family of the Maccabees. In Modin, a small and obscure village near Joppa, dwelt an aged man of priestly lineage, named Mattathias. Hitler came Apelles, an officer of the king, charged to enforce the new religion, and to secure the adhesion of Mattathias. In vain were bribes and threats by turns employed; the old man indignantly rejected all overtures and refused to join in the hated idol-worship. An apostate approached to perform the idolatrous sacrifice, when the old man leaped forward and killed him with his own hand. The assembled populace rushed on the commissioner and his train, whom they slaughtered. Mattathias, accompanied by his five sons Jochanan, Simon, Judah, Eleazer, and Jonathan, and by a small party of sympathizers, took refuge in the mountains, where the number of his partisans daily increased, until they were able to make frequent and unexpected attacks upon the neighboring towns. They were assiduously hunted down by their foes; were attacked on the Sabbath day, and their numbers so reduced by the onslaughts, that they abandoned their old objection against fighting upon that day, and recognized it as their duty to defend their lives when attacked. For a year they continued this guerrilla warfare to which their small numbers restricted them, suffering privations and hardships without complaint, until their old leader died, charging them with his last breath to give their lives for their religion. In 3602 (166 B.C.) Juda, his third and most valiant son, succeeded him, and with his small army, now amounting to 6,000 men, commended t perform bolder operations, and rapidly gained possession of several towns. On his banner were inscribed the inspiring words: "Who is like thee among the mighty, O Eternal," and with this, their war-cry, prodigies were performed, because it proclaimed on the battlefield the name of the God for whom they fought. Apollonius, the king's governor, raised a large army, and advanced to crush the revolt, but was defeated and slain, and his force put to the rout; leaving behind rich plunder, that fell into the hands of Judah. Seron, the provincial Governor of Coele-Syria, next advanced against the patriots with an immense force. As he approached through the Pass of Bethoron, Judah attacked him, "leaping upon him suddenly," and drove him back with a loss of 800 men. Antiochus, irritated by these defeats, resolved to crush the rebels at one blow, and, with this view, an army of 40,000 men and 7,000 cavalry was led against them by Nicanor and Gorgias. So confident were they of success that Nicanor summoned some thousand slave-dealers to follow in the train of the army, engaging to sell them his captives at ninety Jews for a talent, about 2 a head. Judas heard of the approach of this vast army while at Mizpah; and, having assembled his men, he found that the bulk of his force did not exceed 6,000. Conformably to law, he made the usual proclamation, dismissing those who had married within the year, built a house or planted a vineyard. This reduced his band one-half, so that 3,000 men were arranged against fifteen times their number. Gorgias made a detour, intending to surround Judas; but he, by a series of masterly maneuvers, eluded him, and falling unexpectedly on Nicanor's camp at Emmaus, routed that army, and fired the tents. Gorgias, led by the conflagration, arrived in time to witness the utter rout, and decided on retreat; but, ere that could be accomplished, the Macabee's army was upon him, and his soldiers fled precipitately. Nine thousand men fell. Gorgias fled to Jerusalem, and Nicanor, who had proposed to sell Jews as slaves, escaped in the disguise of a slave. Timotheus and Bacchides, two of Antiochus's generals in Further Syria, next took the field against the Jews, only to be again defeated in the Ammonite territory with severe loss. These successive disasters, determined Lysias, the Syrian regent, to superintend the operations in person. Avoiding the defiles that had proved fatal to former generals, he advanced with 60,000 infantry and 5,000 calvary to meet Judas, who had an army of 10,000 to oppose him. They met at Bethzur, south of Jerusalem, and fought all day, and when night closed in, Lysias had lost 5,000 men, but, perceiving that the Jews fought like men resolved to conquer or die, he decided upon retreat, and returned to Antioch. A cessation of hostilities now ensued, during which Judas marched to Jerusalem, and on the same month and day as that of the first pollution (25th Kisley,) he again set up God's altar, restored the Temple services, and kept the Feast of Dedication. He next surrounded the Temple with walls and lofty towers, to afford protection against the Syrian fortress, which still existed on the neighboring Mount Acra.

BLOSS'S ANCIENT HISTORY

Antioch IV., Epiphanes, "Illustrious," ascended the throne left vacant by his brother, B.C. 176. He engaged in a war with his nephew, Ptolemy, and conquered all Egypt except Alexandria. He took the young king prisoner, affected to act as his guardian, and to treat him with the greatest attention. The Egyptians, however, applied to the Romans, who, as arbiters, compelled Epiphanes to set the young king at liberty, and restore the cities he had taken from him. The Jews having revolted, the Syrian monarch marched into Judea. He besieged Jerusalem, and took it by storm. During the three days that the city was abandoned to the fury of the soldiers, 80,000 Jews were put to death, and 40,000 taken prisoners. To his other crimes he added sacrilege. He forced his way into the temple, and ventured to enter the Holy of Holies. He carried away the altar of perfumes, the table for shew-bread, the seven-branched golden candlestick, and other precious things of the sanctuary.

Some time after, Antioch published a decree, requiring all the nations of his dominions to lay aside their ancient forms and ceremonies, and worship the gods he worshiped, after the same form and manner e had adopted. The Jews refused to comply with this command, and such a horrid persecution arose as no pen can portray. At this time happened the martyrdom of Eleazar, and the seven Maccabean brethren. "Tidings out of the east and out of the north" now troubled Antiochus. He divided his forces into two bodies; committed one part to the command of Lysias, with orders to exterminate the Jews, while he led the other detachment against the Armenians. The army of Lysias met the other band of Jews, commanded by Judas Macabeus, upon the plains of Mizpah. The Syrians were defeated, with dreadful slaughter. Two more battles gave the Jews such decided superiority that they marched to Jerusalem, recovered the sanctuary, re-dedicated it to the service of the true God, and devoted the week to thanksgiving and praise.

Antiochus, hearing of the defeat of Lysias, set out himself for Judea. On his way, fresh expresses met him, saying that the Jews had thrown down his idols, overturned his altars, and re-established their ancient worship. At this intelligence he ordered his coachman to drive with the utmost speed, that he might satiate his vengeance by making Jerusalem the burying-place of the whole Jewish nation. Scarcely had he uttered the impious words, when he was seized with the most excruciating pain; and as the horses were running at their greatest speed, he fell from the chariot. The agony of his bruises, added to the torment of his disease, drove him frantic. He imagined that specters hovered round, reproaching him with his crimes. Recognizing the hand of Divine justice in the anguish he suffered, he exclaimed, "It is meet to be subject unto God, and man who is mortal should not think of himself as if he were a god." He promised if his life were spared to do magnificent things for Jerusalem; but his sands were run. "He died a miserable death, in a strange country, in the mountains." (B.C. 176-164) END OF EXCERPTS

KING OF FIERCE COUNTENANCE

Brothers and sisters: I hope this history has helped you to better understand the abomination of desolation that was to last for 2300 days. I am sure you can easily see that this scripture here, has no connection at all to the Antichrist who will appear in the last half of the 70th week of Daniel, except to set a type. You saw also, how that period ended when Judas with his army marched into Jerusalem, set up God's altar, and restored the temple services, and kept the Feast of Dedication. If anyone wanted to take the time to figure it out hey would find that this portion of history concerning Antiochus covered a period of time that corresponds with the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14. This man literally hated all Jews when he was doing what he did; that is obvious. But do you know why? That spirit of Satan got hold of him. He had no intention of doing what he did, in the beginning, but God's word had to be fulfilled, and it fell upon Antiochus to be the man who would characterize the Antichrist, exemplifying that spirit of hatred for the Jews that he will display for a period of 1260 days, which is the last half of the 70th week of Daniel. He is the little horn of Daniel 7:8, that the little horn of chapter 8, verse 9, set the type for. I want you to see that these two references pertain to two different men, with many centuries of time in between them. As you read on through chapter 8, where the angel is explaining Daniel's visions to him, you come to verses 23, 24, and 25, which definitely do pertain to the Antichrist which is yet to come. Antiochus did not in any way fulfill these verses, except to exemplify the same spirit of the devil that motivated him. Unless you read them carefully though, you can think they are referring to the same human instrument as the verses in the first part of the chapter. Let us rad them. (23) "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, A KING OF FIERCE COUNTENANCE, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. (The Antichrist) (24) and his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: (it will be by the power of Satan) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. (25) And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; (Jesus Christ) but he shall be broken without hand." He will be broken by the sword that proceeds out of the mouth of Jesus Christ when He comes back to earth with His saints after the great tribulation has run its course. He will stand up against the Prince of princes, but he will be broken, and Revelation 19:20, tells us that he will be cast alive into the lake of fire. That is the end of this false prophet that will exalt himself and show himself as God for his allotted time. He will be a man from our very generation, but he will be led and motivated by that same spirit that was in Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian. Do not look for the devil to resurrect some ancient character to fulfill these Antichrist scriptures, like a lot of Pentecostal modernists are teaching it. That is perversion of the interpretation of the Bible. God caused all these scriptures to be written to portray the evil spirit that moves man to do what these various characters do. In the mind of God, Judas was the son of perdition all along, but he was not the Antichrist. He was the son of perdition in type. In Antiochus we saw the psychological and political type of the Antichrist, but it took Judas to portray the religious type.