Series: Daniel
Daniel 11:36-39 ESV
Matthew 25:15-21 ESV
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 ESV
If King Antiochus IV would have been given a name true to his character would have (no doubt) been called King Antiochus, the Worm.
I say that because worms don’t have a mind to pay attention to what’s going on with other creatures.
Worms do whatever they want to do.
Worms can detect changes around them and when they do they do what’s best only for them.
Worms prefer the dark side.
Worms don’t pay any attention to the needs of others.
The needs of a worm are all that matter.
In Daniel 11:36-39 Daniel saw King Antiochus for who he was and who he would be.
We are told, “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.”
Antiochus was filled with evil and many worms. According to historical accounts in the second Book of Maccabees, IX: 4-28, Antiochus "thought to avenge upon the Jews the disgrace done unto him by those that made him flee. Therefore commanded he his chariotman to drive without ceasing, and to dispatch the journey, the judgment of God now following him. For he had spoken proudly in this sort, That he would come to Jerusalem and make it a common burying place of the Jews. But the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, smote him with an incurable and invisible plague: or as soon as he had spoken these words, a pain of the bowels that was remediless came upon him, and sore torments of the inner parts; And that most justly: for he had tormented other men's bowels with many and strange torments. Howbeit he nothing at all ceased from his bragging, but still was filled with pride, breathing out fire in his rage against the Jews, and commanding to haste the journey: but it came to pass that he fell down from his chariot, carried violently; so that having a sore fall, all the members of his body were much pained. ...So that the worms rose up out of the body of this wicked man, and whiles he lived in sorrow and pain, his flesh fell away, and the filthiness of his smell was noisome to all his army. And the man, that thought a little afore he could reach to the stars of heaven, no man could endure to carry for his intolerable stink. ... Thus the murderer and blasphemer having suffered most grievously, as he entreated other men, so died he a miserable death in a strange country in the mountains."
There are scholars who believe that Daniel not only saw characteristics of the evil King Antiochus, he saw what was yet to come from the dark side.
Many of the characteristics that Daniel outlined point to the antichrist yet to come. King Antiochus was but a preview.
Matthew speaks of what is yet to come in Matthew 24:15-21 when he wrote, “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.”
In the end the abomination will come. What Daniel saw in Daniel 11:36-39 was the evil King Antiochus, but he also saw there was more yet to come.
And in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 the Apostle Paul speaks of what is yet to come when he wrote, “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
The Lord will come.
The rebellion will come first.
When Jesus comes His breath will bring the lawless one to nothing.
Nothing.
And then we will all be gathered together to Him.
Spiritual Practice: Pray Jesus
Pray and open hands and heart to Jesus.
In God, Deborah
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