 We're going to be looking at chapter 8. Chapter 8 is a chapter here in the book of Daniel that gives to us a prophetic view of one who has yet to come. We'll be seeing that in a moment. He's referred to in a variety of ways in Scripture. In this particular portion of Scripture, he will be referred to as the little horn. And so we're looking at, at the conclusion of the study, we'll be looking at some of the things related to the one who is referred to as the little horn also known as the anti-Christ. And so I'll begin reading here in chapter 8 at verse 1. I'll read Daniel chapter 8 verse 1 to verse 4 and we'll get into our study. Daniel chapter 8, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 4, in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, to me Daniel, after the one that appeared to me the first time. I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision that I was by the river Ulay. Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there standing beside the river was a ram which had two horns. And the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other. And the higher one came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him. Nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, that he did according to his will, and became great. And so as we've seen already, Daniel received a vision covering his time until Jesus sets up his kingdom. We saw that in chapter 7. And that vision included the revelation of four great world empires, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greek, as well as the Roman Empire. Now we know that this Roman Empire, the fourth beast that he spoke of in chapter 7, this Roman Empire continues in some form until the tribulation. And then it's going to reform. It can be seen today actually in its basic, I think, I don't know how to put this properly. We can see that there is something somewhat akin to what would have been this Roman Empire. We can see this in today's European common market. The European economic community is actually, territorially, the former Roman Empire. Now today there are some 27 nations within this community. But in its final form, it's going to consist of a 10 nation confederacy, and it's going to have a leader, and the leader is the Antichrist. So in the end, after a brief world domination, Antichrist kingdom will come to an end. Daniel 726 tells us that his dominion is stripped away and his kingdom will be destroyed forever. And then in verse 27 of chapter 7, it says, when it comes to the end, Jesus's kingdom will be established and his kingdom is everlasting. Now over time, there have been attempts to unify this empire, and they have failed. You can look in your history, and I'm not encouraging you to do that at this moment, but if you look at history, you'll see that in 800, Charlemagne tried to unify the empire. And in 17, Napoleon in around the 18th century into the early 19th century, he tried to do so, but he failed. Even in more current history, not necessarily that close to where we are now, but even in recent years, more recent history, Hitler tried to bring this about again when he had the Third Reich, but he failed. So there's been, in other words, there's been since over the years, many attempts to unify and once again resurrect what was known as the Roman Empire. Well, they have failed up to this point, but there is still one on the horizon, and there's going to be a leader who will not fail in reviving the Roman Empire. He will become the leader of a 10 nation Confederacy, and he's known by many names. You can see him as the willful king. You'll see him referred to as the man of sin. He's referred to as the son of perdition, the lawless one. We know him as the beast. We know him as the anti-Christ. In this chapter here, he's going to be referred to as the little horn. He's going to be spoken of again in chapters 9 and 11. Now, just to set the stage for our study, the world, as we know it today, is looking for a world leader that can bring peace and unify. That's not a new desire. This desire for someone who could step in and fill the void of leadership has been for many years. I was reading about former Belgian Prime Minister, a fellow by the name of Ph Spock, and he was a Prime Minister of Belgium in 1938 and 1939. Prime Minister Spock said this, what we need is a man, someone of the highest order, of great experience, of great authority, of wide influence, of great energy. Let him come and let him come quickly, either a civilian or a military man, no matter what his nationality, who will cut all the red tape, shove out of the way all the committees wake up all the people and galvanize all governments into action. Let him come quickly. This man we need and for whom we wait will take charge of the defense of the West. So this is a desire that people have had for many, many years. And so this desire will one day be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled in the person Scripture refers to as anti-Christ. We know him as the beast in this particular chapter he's spoken of as the little horn. And so as we begin, I'm going to give to you, as I normally do, a lot of information to develop it, but we're going to see that in chapter eight, it's actually, there are going to be two applications to this one referred to as a little horn. One is going to be an application that refers to somebody who already existed. And I'll show you that in just a moment as we go through this. And then the secondary is going to be the one who has yet to come, who is going to be the final anti-Christ. We'll see that as we go through this together. So beginning at verse one and trying to give you a Bible study, giving you information and all, we begin at verse one when he says, in the third year of the reign of King Baal Shazzar, a vision appeared to me, to me Daniel, after the one that appeared to me the first time. And so as we begin, basically what has happened, and I introduced this to you as we began our study, Daniel has, the book of Daniel has been in a language called Aramaic up to this point. And now we return to Hebrew. Aramaic had been used from chapter two, verse four, and then Aramaic was used up to chapter seven, verse 28. But now Daniel is resuming writing in Hebrew, and he's speaking about some events that are actually, that actually transpired two years after those that had been spoken of in chapter seven. And Daniel speaks of a vision. This is a vision that appeared to him. Now a vision for those of you who might wonder what that is, when you read in Scripture, that person is a, is a vision. No, actually, that's not what you read. You just think of that about your girlfriend. When you read in the Bible vision, the word vision speaks of what we would call today a waking dream. And this particular vision, this waking dream, if you will, relates to the events that occur in both the second and third empires, the Medo Persian and Greek empires. And the vision we'll see also relates prophetically, we're going to see that when we get to verse 19. But he speaks of this and he says in verse two, I saw in the vision and it so happened while I was looking, I was in Shushan. So this divine communication from God has come to Daniel. And Daniel by vision, not physically, is transported to the capital city of Persia. And in this vision, he's given a glimpse into the coming Medo Persian empire. He's taken notice to the capital, to Shushan. Shushan is the residence of the Persian kings. It's actually what would be called a citadel. And if you were in the city of Babylon, you would be going 200 miles north and you would go to Shushan. So he's finding himself, he's just giving us the geography. He finds himself by the river Ulai, which was artificial canal that connected two rivers. And while there he says in verse three, I lifted my eyes and saw and there standing beside the river was a ram which had two horns and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, northward and southward so that no animal could withstand him nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great. So this ram, he sees, notice it has two horns. Well, the ram later on is going to be identified for us in verse 20. It says the ram which you saw having two horns, these are the kings of media in Persia. And so that is interpreted for us. It represents the Medo Persian empire. It's interesting that instead of crowns, a Persian king when leading an army would wear a ram's head. And so that's the picture. Now the higher one is the Persian, the dominant portion of the empire because that rose later. The Medes and Persians dominated the world for almost 200 years. And so he's got this vision and he's seen something. Verse four, I saw the ram pushing eastward, northward, southward, no animal could withstand him nor was there any that could deliver from his hand. He did according to his will and became great. So this empire is going to expand, he says, to the east. It's principal, rather to the west, north and south, it did expand to the east, but its principal conquest were west, north and south. Again, this is the Medo Persian empire. So he's beginning to just give us some insight into the expansion of the Medo Persians. And then he goes on and he says in verse five, and I was considering suddenly a male goat came from the west across the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground. The goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river and ran at him with furious power. And I saw him confronting the ram. He was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him. But he cast him down to the ground, trampled him. There was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand. And therefore the male goat grew very great. But when he became strong, the large horn was broken. And in place of it, four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. So he's given us once again a description of what is taking place. And notice again, he sees this ram pushing and all, going and conquering and all. And now what we have here is a male goat from the west. What he's speaking of now is the Grecian Empire. We'll see that in verses 21 and 22. Greece comes from the west rapidly moving to the east in conquest. There's an author by the name of Larkin. And he wrote concerning this. So I'm just going to read a bit of a quote from him. This is speaking of Greece. And Larkin wrote, Alexander the Great, 326 to 323 BC, became king of Greece when he was 20 years of age in BC 336. Two years later, 334, in goat-like fashion, he leaped the hellish pond with an army of 30,000 inventory and 5,000 cavalry. He defeated a Persian force on the banks of the Granicus. By a swift advance eastward, he, in the following year, 333, defeated at Isis, a Persian army of 600,000 men commanded by King Darius. After minor conquests in Phoenicia and Egypt, he returned to Syria, where on the banks of the Tigris River, he defeated an enormous army led by Darius. This is known as the Battle of Arbela, 331 BC. From 330 to 327 BC, Alexander was engaged in subjugating the outlying provinces of the Persian Empire. Later, he returned to Babylon, where at the climax of his glory, he died of marsh fever and intemperance in June of 323, when he was 33 years of age. So notice in verse 8 how it says, when he became strong, the large horn was broken. Alexander died in the prime of his life. Somebody said this. Notice I just mentioned that he died of marsh fever and intemperance. Intemperance is a large word that speaks about being somebody who was a drunk. He drank, and they used to refer to that as intemperance. But Alexander, somebody said, conquered the world, but he could not conquer himself. What an interesting thing to say. He conquered the world, but he could not conquer himself. And historians differ on this. To be honest with you, I read various things related to this today. Some would differ with this, but the majority did not. The majority said he died while he had been drinking. And while the Bible in Proverbs 20 verse 1, you might want to mark this as it like this. Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by it is not wise. In Proverbs 31 verse 4, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink. And in the New Testament, Ephesians 5 verse 18, do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit. We don't use the word dissipation, right? The word dissipation speaks of a lack of self-control. When you are dissipated, it means you're just out of control. So drinking wine, Paul said, when you get drunk with wine, he said, there's a lack of self-control. During the time that Paul was writing, related to drinking and all of that, was a time when there was a Greek mythology, a mythological god called Bacchus. And Bacchus was the god of partying basically. He was the wine god. And they would have what they called Bacchanalian feasts, festivals, where the people would get very drunk. Now as they got drunk, they were coming under the influence of Bacchus. So they no longer had self-control. And that was what Paul was referring to when these people were engaged in Bacchanalian feasts and revelry, it's also referred to. And he was saying that because these people were saying they were under control of Bacchus, the god of wine, he said it's not for a Christian to yield themselves over to this spirit, not so much Bacchus himself, but through the mythology related to the lack of self-control that comes because when you're drunk, you're normally not the most controlled person. The more you drink, the more out of control you are. And so he is saying, rather than yielding yourself to the flesh and lack of control, yield yourself to the Holy Spirit. Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, wherein is dissipation, but rather be filled with the Holy Spirit. Why? Because one of the fruit of the spirit is self-control. And so a person who is yielding themselves to drinking and they're losing control and doing the opposite of what a believer is to do. And so this man Alexander, the greatest general who had ever lived, this is a man who conquered the known world. And it is said anecdotally that he finally upon his last conquest just cried because there's nothing else to conquer. I mean, this is the greatest warrior and all, well, this man did not practice self-control at the end and he actually died. Again, he may have conquered the world, but he couldn't conquer himself. As a believer, we need to make sure that we don't yield ourselves to anything that causes us to be out of control. What we yield ourselves to is the power of the Holy Spirit who actually produces self-control for us. And so in place of this one, this male goat and all, in place of this one, notice there are four, there are four that come up. It says they came up toward the four winds of heaven. Now verse 22 will make it clear to us and it says, as for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power. And so what happened is after considerable turmoil, once Alexander died, the empire that he at one time commanded was actually divided into four parts. One of my commentators said that there was a great amount of infighting. It lasted 22 years after Alexander had died. And so the empire that he at one time unified under his leadership was divided between four generals. One general was named Cassander, the other was Lysimachus, the other was Seleucis, and then there was Ptolemy, four of his generals. And so in verse 9 through 12, it says, out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. And it grew up to the host of heaven and it cast down some of the hosts and some of the stars to the ground and trampled him. He even exalted himself as high as the prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered. And so this is where the little horn is introduced. As I was mentioning, the little horn, that title has two applications. One is going to be applying to a ruler that already exists, his name Antiochus Epiphanes. The second, and we'll see that later on when we get to verse 23, is applying prophetically to the Antichrist. So first we're going to look at Antiochus and you're going to find some of this very interesting, I hope, because as we look at it, you're going to see some Jewish history and all and what happened. And so he speaks of verse 9 again, out of one of them come in this little horn. And when it says out of one of them, that speaks of Seleuthus. Now he ruled over Syria, Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Persia and Afghanistan. Interesting. His rule lasted from 312 and his empire lasted from 312 to 63 BC. And so out of his line came a man named Antiochus Epiphanes. He is what is called the 8th king of the Syrian dynasty. He is a type of the Antichrist. Now in verse 9, it speaks of this horn. The horn was small in its beginning, but it grew, it says, it grew great in three directions. The south, the east, and notice the glorious land. The term glorious land speaks of Israel. The glorious land in the Old Testament is Israel. Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 6. On that day I raised my hand in an oath to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands. So this is a title for Israel. So it tells us that he's going to come against the nation of Israel. Notice verse 10. It grew up to the hosts of heaven. It cast down some of the hosts and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them. Antiochus Epiphanes is being spoken of here. Antiochus ruled from 175 to 164 BC. And he conducted warfare against the Jews. His treatment of the Jews can rightly be classified as a religious cleansing. It was a persecution. And so it speaks concerning that. And it speaks of how he came against the stars. Notice verse 10. It grew up to the hosts of heaven. It cast down some of the hosts and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them. The stars represent the Jewish nation, represents Jews. Because when God was speaking to Abraham, God said this in Genesis 15 verse 5. It says that he brought, God brought him outside and said, look now toward heaven. Count the stars if you're able to number them. He said, so shall your descendants be. So the stars are representing Jews. In Daniel 12 verse 3, it says, those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament. Those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. And so this represents God's promises to Abraham and the stars that are, are, are treated in this fashion represent the Jews. It says in verse 11, he exalted himself as high as the prince of the hosts and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away in the place of his sanctuary cast down because of transgression. An army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices. He cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and he prospered. Antiochus. This is, this is hopefully I can help you to see how interesting this actually is. Antiochus was firmly Greek, Greek in his culture especially. And when Antiochus began to dominate Israel, Antiochus is the one who tried to, the word is Hellenize. He tried to Grecianize. He tried to make the Jews into cultural Greeks. And so he began to do that by bringing in his culture and bringing in his language and he brought in the religion of the Greeks. And he appointed a Greek high priest. His name was Jason. And this is what he did. Now this I found interesting as I was preparing this study. He built an athletic stadium. Antiochus built an athletic stadium outside of the Temple Mount by the Holy of Holies. And he encouraged the Jews to become involved in the athletic games and the physical exercise and things like that. They came along with the Greeks and somebody says to themselves, what's the problem with that? Working out is a pretty good thing, isn't it? Is there something wrong with working out? The answer to that is no, there's nothing wrong with working out. If you want to hurt yourself, go right ahead. It's fine with me. If you enjoy the pain, that's up to you. No, but here's the thing. And I want to make sure I follow my notes properly so I can make this as clear as I can. One of the things that was so wrong with the Greeks and the exercise and all is that they exercised and they competed. They did so without any clothes on. They would do it naked. And what they would do is they would just put oil on their body. And so eventually the Jewish priests who could look out and see what was taking place because it was right below where they were. There was a stadium there. Eventually the priests began to look, become intrigued, want to work out. And they began to join with the Greeks who were down there running around naked. And the Jews began to do the same thing. They began to participate in the same games and they began to do so naked. And this was highly offensive because the religious Jews knew that God had covered Adam and Eve's nakedness. And yet here they are exposing themselves. Now, the reason they were concerned about this is because they also knew that this was going to produce lust. And so they were concerned for that. Again, the stadium was in plain view of the temple. And there were those who were going to worship who could actually see what was taking place. And it began to stumble everybody. Now, here's something else that may not seem significant, but it is. Jewish males were circumcised and Greeks were not. And so when the Jews began to note that they were different because of their circumcision, which according to the law was a covenant between them and their God, when the Jewish males began to notice that they were being mocked by the Greeks who were uncircumcised, they started to neglect circumcision. And so through the introduction of what some would say it's harmless, their religious faith was being undermined by the bringing in of Grecian culture. The religious faith of the Jews was being watered down by bringing in the culture and language of the Greeks. The Jewish religious language and identity that is found in language began to be transformed. And it's and I'll say this quickly. I didn't add this in my notes, but I'll say it quickly. When you read in the New Testament that there was a problem between religious groups, remember those two groups that we best, we know best the Pharisees and what was the other group? Sadducees. The Pharisees and the Sadducees, the word Pharisee speaks of separated ones. That's what the word Pharisee means, the separated ones. But why would they refer to or be referred to as separated ones? They were separated from the stain of the world because the Sadducees during the Grecianizing of Israel had begun to water down their religious faith. So the Pharisees rose up against the Sadducees. When you read of the beliefs of the Sadducees, the Sadducees didn't believe in angels or spirits and they didn't believe in the resurrection. And they had been watered down because they began to take into their philosophy of life the Grecianized way of thinking. So just in a simple thing like introducing the Greek athletics to Israel outside of the temple, Antiochus was able to water down the faith of the priests themselves. And the priests themselves began to compromise and circumcision began to be neglected and a variety of things began to happen all through those kinds of things. And so what happens is the Greek culture and morals began to infect and impact the Jews. It says in verse 10, it grew up to the host of heaven. It cast down some of the hosts and some of the stars to the ground. The stars representing Jews to the ground and trampled them. When Antiochus came into Israel and began to dominate, he dominated and actually massacred many of the Jews. He took their valuables. There were those when he started to work against them and there were those who began to escape. They went to the wilderness. And because he was trying to wipe out the Jewish faith, history records that they put to death women, women that had caused their children to be circumcised. And this is what they did. They hanged the babies around their mother's necks. They plundered their houses and slew those who had performed the circumcision. What he would do is this. When he found, when the soldiers found a mother who circumcised her son, he slew the baby. He tied the baby around the mother's neck. He marched her right through the middle of town to the edge of town and he threw her over a cliff that she would die. That's what he did. That's how he trampled them. It says in verse 11, he exalted himself as high as the prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. So the morning and the evening offerings were no longer allowed while he ruled over Israel. Now, unbelieving Jews began to follow his commands. They began to forsake the Jewish faith. They started to build altars in groves. They began to sacrifice pigs' flesh. They stopped circumcising their sons and they began living immoral lives and forgot God's word. What he was trying to do, Antiochus, as a type of the Antichrist, is he was trying to abolish the Jewish faith by force. There's a book. It's called Maccabees. It's what is called an apocryphal book. The word apocryphal is defined as the hidden. It's a hidden book. The apocryphal books are regarded as not inspired by the Holy Spirit. You will find apocryphal books in some Bibles. The Catholic Bible, for example, contains what is called the apocrypha. They are not regarded as inspired and that's why you won't find these books in your New Testament or Old Testament. They are books that were written between 400 when Malachi was closed in and the New Testament. They were books that were found in that time. They were never regarded as being inspired but have been made useful for the recording of history. In First Maccabees, which is looking at it from a historic perspective, chapter 1 verses 44 through 49, it says this. It says, the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. He directed them to follow customs strange to the land, to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and feasts, to defile the sanctuary and the priest, to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable to everything unclean and profane so that they should forget the law and change all the ordinances and whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die. And so that's what took place. Notice in verse 11 how it says the place of his sanctuary was cast down. After Antiochus had been defeated and he died, the Jews tore down the altar. They replaced it as well as the interior of the temple. And so in verse 12, because of transgression an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered. And so notice it says, because of transgression an army was given over to the horn to Antiochus. Who was this army? The army consisted of unfaithful and unbelieving Jews and these joined him in the slaughter of their own people. Because Israel had not been faithful, God gave them over to the hand of this king. It really is God who brought judgment. In Jeremiah 12 verse 7 he said, I have forsaken my house. I have left my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. In Ezekiel 5 verse 11 therefore as I live sayeth the Lord God surely because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations therefore I will also diminish you my eye will not spare nor will I have pity God gave him over and the judgment came on these who had rejected him. And so it says in verse 13, I heard a holy one speaking and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, how long will the vision be concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgressions of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot? And he said to me, for 2,300 days then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. It's generally believed that these 2,300 days are fulfilled from the period of 171 to 164 BC. That would be the time when the Jewish religion was eroding and that's when his life would end. Now there's a man by the name of John Wolford and he's a great, was a great Bible teacher and he said this, he said, Annias the third, the legitimate Jewish high priest was murdered in 171 BC and from then a pseudo line of priests assumed power. Approximately 2,300 days after this Antiochus died on a military campaign in media and so when he died that opened the door for the cleansing and rededication of the temple. The temple was rededicated because Antiochus had sacked Jerusalem. Listen to this, he had killed 80,000 Jews, he plundered the temple dedicating it to his idols, Antiochus killed a pig on the altar and spread the fluids that gushed out all through the temple. That's what he did. It has been referred to as the abomination of desolation and so this is what Antiochus said. This is how much he hated the Jews and the Jewish God and this is why he is a picture of the coming Antichrist. So with that verse 15, then it happened when I Daniel had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning that suddenly there stood before me when having the appearance of a man and I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Uli who called and said Gabriel make this man understand the vision. So he came near where I stood and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face and broke my nose. No, he fell on my face but he said to me understand son of man that the vision refers to the time of the end. Now as he was speaking with me I was in deep sleep with my face to the ground but he touched me stood me up right. He said look I am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation for at the appointed time the end shall be. And so we're now introduced to Gabriel. The name Gabriel speaks of a warrior of God. This is the first time an angel is mentioned by name and Daniel is given insight. He says the ram in verse 20 following the ram which you saw having two horns they're the kings of media in Persia. So this is what is called the dual fulfillment. It's historical and prophetic. The prophecy fulfills shadows fulfilled shadows future events that are yet to be fulfilled. But he's speaking of verse 23 the latter time of the kingdom. So this latter time of the kingdom represents the fourth kingdom that would be Rome. This is a prophecy of the coming Antichrist. In the latter time of their kingdom a king shall arise. Now we get to see the picture of this verse 23. I read it verse 23 to verse 26. In the latter time of their kingdom when the transgressors have reached their fullness a king shall arise. Having fierce features who understand sinister schemes his power shall be mighty but not by his own power. He shall destroy fearfully and shall prosper and thrive. He shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people. Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule. He shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the prince of princes but he shall be broken without human means. And the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true. Therefore seal up the vision. Notice for it refers to many days in the future. So the first portion that we saw with the little horn that was something that was the near future. That was going to be fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes. What we're looking at now is the little horn as it represents the Antichrist. And we are seeing various things about him that are being described to us. Notice in verse 23 how it says he has fierce features. When it says he has fierce features it says it's saying he has a strong, a confident, a bold appearance. The Antichrist is not going to be a person that you won't notice. He's going to be the guy who walks into a room that everybody notices. He's going to be that magnetic personality that when you look at him, were you to see him, he's going to just wreak confidence. He's going to be the guy that women will, oh boy this guy is a hunk. And the men are going to admire. The men are going to say, now that's a guy I can line up behind. There are men, I'll speak as a man and to the men right now, you'll understand what I'm saying. There are guys that are leaders that they're called leader, they're called the captain of the team or maybe they were appointed to it. But if you're one of the players on the team, you don't necessarily line up behind his leadership. Why? Because you don't think he's really strong, gifted. He doesn't have that confidence about him. Sometimes they're appointed because the coach is this leader's father and he says I think my son should be you know the captain of the team. And then there are other guys that are there amongst the group and they just stand out. There's just something about them. They have a confidence about them. They're good at what they do. They carry themselves in a certain way that causes another man to immediately respect him. And there are guys that I've encountered in my life that I could say I'll follow that one. I'd follow that one. I'd go into battle with that one. I trust him. There are guys like that. Ken Graves is that way. Ken Graves just has that strength about him. Chuck Smith had that. It's not just a power that you have either it's a confidence, it's an awareness of who you are. It's a knowledge of what you're going to do and what you can do and men can pick that up with other men. And you can say that's somebody that I trust, that's somebody I'll follow. The Antichrist is that guy. He's that guy who walks in and the room gets quiet because this man carries himself. He has fierce features. He is strong. He is confident. Notice it says he understands sinister schemes. What does that mean? He's very intelligent. He's really on the genius level. He's an intellectual. The Antichrist is going to have a confidence about him and he's going to be respected for his intellect. He's not some guy who's just going to walk in and go, he's going to be a guy that you will say I could follow this guy. Verse 24, his power shall be mighty both militarily and spiritually. It says his power shall be mighty but not by his own power. He shall destroy fearfully, shall prosper and thrive. He shall destroy the mighty also the holy people. So he's going to have a military strength but he's also got a spiritual strength. He's going to establish a system of military alliances but he's going to be demonically empowered. Notice in verse 24 it says but not by his own power. It is not a natural gifting he has. According to Revelation chapter 13 verse 2, the dragon gave him his power. So he is going to be satanically energized. It's not his own power. In verse 24, he shall destroy fearfully. He is going to be a conqueror. He's a military genius. The scripture says then the whole world will wonder at the beast. They will say who can make war with him. He's a military genius and they will wonder after him. In Revelation 13, 7 and 8 it says it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them authority was giving him over every tribe tongue and nation all who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He will have that magnetic draw power and people will follow him wondering after him because he is satanically energized. He's not a human being with natural gifts. He's a man with demonic power. It says in verse 24 he shall prosper and thrive. When it says he shall prosper and thrive, he's going to be rich and he's going to be powerful. In Daniel we'll see this in chapter 11 verse 36. It says he's also called the willful king. The king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every God and shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished for what has been determined shall be done. He's going to do according to his own will and he is going to prosper. In verse 24 he shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people. He's a man who makes war and destruction follows at his heels. In Revelation 17 verse 6 I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. In verse 25 it says through his cunning he shall cause the seat to prosper under his rule. He shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the prince of princes but he shall be broken without human means. And so through his cunning he will he will he will deceive. It's a constant and consistent scheming. He is a liar and his lies are believed by those who follow him. There will be a lack of discernment, a worldwide blindness. Those who are not belonging to God and followers of the Lord are going to be deceived. I have to be careful. I don't have that much time and I have a few more scriptures to give to you but I used to wonder how would that be possible? I don't anymore do you? How would that be possible? How would that be possible? Because whatever appeals to me I want to believe. And if something is said to me that pretty much I'm in agreement with already I just needed somebody to say it. I have a tendency of following that. That's human nature. Because God has given to us the word of God and because God has given to us of his Holy Spirit we have a discernment and an ability to to know what is true and what is not true. And what is not true is simply that which doesn't line up with what the word of God teaches. That's why we labor through the word of God the way that we do so that we can go line upon line and see God's full counsel. That's how that works. Because we are open to deception. I've said this before I'll say it again and then move on just so that you'll see where I'm coming from. It's interesting many years ago when I was beginning to study the word of God I noticed something that I found interesting and that is this is that the word deceived deception in the Greek language can also be translated the same Greek word that is translated deceived can also be translated seduce. Isn't that interesting? Deceive can be translated seduce. And I researched that looked into that. Why is that so? Well here it is. I'll just make it practical. We used to talk about seduction as if it was wrong. It is. But sometimes people think it's just normal now. So a guy is on the job and I'll use the male image. The guy is on a job. He sees a young woman he's attracted to. He talks to her as he's talking to her you know at first he's kind of just formal acting as if it's just a job requirement for him to talk to her. But now he's getting to know her so he begins to ask her questions. How old are you you know things that are not bad but he's gathering information on her because he's a hunter she just doesn't know it. So he finds out that she's unhappily married. Eventually he finds out what a complaint is while my husband never says I look good or my husband doesn't compliment me about my cooking whatever whatever she starts to give the little things. Then one day he walks in and he says you know what I just have to tell you something I don't want to be coming on kind of weird but have you lost some weight or did you just get your hair done different it's just different I don't want to be too forward with you. What is he doing? He's saying things she wants to hear. She's already told them my husband doesn't compliment me. She's already told him he now knows her vulnerability. He has gotten her confidence and now he's telling her what she wants to hear that's what he's doing. What do we call that seduction? That's called seduction. Seduction is simply finding the need and meeting it and then encouraging a behavior that satisfies you. The antichrist is giving a message that people want to hear. The message of the gospel isn't always a message people want to hear. Why? Well to get right with God you have to do something called repenting. What do you mean repent? You have to turn from your wicked ways. What do you mean wicked? I'm not wicked I'm a good man right? You know I only beat my wife twice a week. There are others who do it three times. You know I'm a good person because sin is an offense and I don't want to be called a sinner and if you even make me feel bad you're the one who's bad. You see that's what's happened today is that we don't want to hear truth because truth sometimes hurts because it means that my life isn't as good as I'm trying to make it or we have this thing now you just don't know what I've gone through. So I actually deserve being angry. I should get even or whatever and so what happens is messages that undermine that have a tendency of being rejected and so the antichrist is going to make people feel welcome as they are as long as they follow him and that is going to be something that appeals to them. He's going to seduce them. Now that's his cunning that's his line. People believe him. He's going to have a false prophet. The false prophet encourages deception. Revelation 13 11 through 13 I saw another beast coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb spoke like a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven and the earth in the sight of man. Notice verse 25 he shall magnify himself in his heart meaning that he is self promoting and self exalting. He's going to promote himself. Second Thessalonians 2 verse 4 says he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. In verse 25 he shall destroy many in their prosperity. In other words they will have a false peace under his reign and they're going to end up destroyed. In 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 3 it says when they say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman they shall not escape. And then again in verse 25 he shall even rise against the prince of princes. He's going to oppose Jesus himself. He shall speak pompous words Daniel 7 25 says against the most high and he shall persecute the saints of the most high. He's going to speak against Christ himself. But verse 25 he shall be broken without human hand. Jesus is going to destroy him at his second coming. In Revelation 19 19 through 21 I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. The beast was captured and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshipped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. The Lord will take vengeance on him. And then finally we'll close when he says verse 26 the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true therefore seal up the vision for it refers to many days in the future. I Daniel fainted was sick for many days. Afterward I rose and went about the king's business. I was astonished by the vision. No one understood it. One last thought. This is for the future. It says it refers to many days in the future. This is the future. This is the time that we're living in moving in right now. But as he sees this notice his response it devastates him. One last thought and this is this is where I think that we need to really be when it comes to Bible prophecy and of course I'm not giving you the most thorough studies that you're ever going to have in that. I'm just going through the book and trying to make it practical. But I was sick for many days. I fainted. Here's your application we'll close with. People are going to suffer terribly and it broke his loving heart. When I first got saved we started talking about the return of Jesus Christ. That's when I first began to hear of the second coming and everything like that. And there was a bumper sticker. There used to be a lot of bumper stickers. People would just put their faith on their piece of paper on the car. Bumper stickers, right? And one of them was the rapture. I'll never forget it. It said the rapture, the great escape. The great escape. I was 21 years old, 20 years old, 20 years old at that time when I saw that. And even then I thought there's something wrong with that. The rapture isn't the great escape. I'm not afraid. I haven't lived in fear of my eternity since the day I gave my heart to Christ. I don't want to escape. I'm not that guy. I'm not the guy who's going to run. I'm just not that guy. Do you mind if I'm just real with you as I close this is what I'm feeling about this and I'm going to close like this and forgive me if it doesn't come off right. Because I didn't prepare this. I'm just sharing my heart. I'm the guy who plants his feet and says I'm not going to move. I'm just not. I'm not. You're not going to move me from Jesus Christ. I don't care what you say, what you do, how you feel. I don't care how you act towards me. Jesus Christ is my Lord and I'm going to preach his gospel and you're not going to tell me not to. I will find a way to because that I have been commanded to do and so no man and no woman is going to tell me when I can talk about my king and my savior. See that's just me and I think all of us in this room probably agree with that principle. Now I'm not stupid. I'm not going to go out and cause problems, blah, blah, blah. I try to be wise in that, but in your heart there's a strength that you have that comes from Jesus Christ, what he's done and what he will do and I am armed with the reality of fact that we are in him more than conquerors. We have a place that is set aside for us in the kingdom of God. We will one day hear well done my good, my faithful servant and we have been blessed above all people to be able to worship Jesus Christ and so that's what we do and the antichrist is attempting to undermine the will of the body of Christ and the body of Christ has got to wake up right now. We've got to realize that this is what spiritual warfare is and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They are mighty in God to the pulling down of strongholds and we have to understand that it's the word of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, it is the weapons of our warfare, it's the determination of our faith and it's the reality of our victory that motivates us and moves us into the future and so the antichrist is coming. That's true, but I'm waiting for the real Christ who will one day come to take me to be with him and that's called Christianity. That's what it is and so we have an opportunity here to look at the antichrist and all of that and we should be aware of these things and as we look around we can see how the table is being set. We can see that but look up for your redemption, Drosny. Father we ask that you would work within us to that end. Lord I know that in you we are more than conquerors. I know and so Lord I lift up right now to you the church the body of Christ throughout the world obviously caring for those who are right now undergoing extreme persecution that none of us can understand especially the believers right now in Afghanistan and surrounding areas Lord we're believing in you is causing their heads to be taken from their body but Lord Jesus we California Christians Lord we need to wake up call we need to wake up Lord and I pray that you will ignite that fire within us. For Lord the times are perilous and the days are short and we just got a photograph of what's going to happen in the future and this antichrist does appear and how he does win the hearts of people so may we go forth with your message your gospel and may we speak truth and see captives set free may the church be ignited the heart of evangelism to speak to the loss we lift up our family our friends those we work with our neighbors and Lord we ask that if given opportunity we might be faithful witnesses to them and even as our eyes are closed our heads are bowed perhaps there's some right now we need to get right with the Lord and I want to pray for you if you're watching online or wherever you are in this room if you need prayer I would ask you to allow me to pray for you and if you need to get right with the Lord right now would you raise your hand let me pray for you right where you're at Father you see these hands you know the reason why they're being raised to you and I'm asking Lord that by your mighty Holy Spirit you would reach down and touch them Lord if there are things within them that they need to empty themselves of I pray that right now they are the confessing and releasing them to you and I pray also that your Holy Spirit work in them that you would just fall upon them in a powerful way and that Lord from this point on they will be more faithful witnesses than ever before and if they're yielding and saying God I need you to forgive me and they're saying that for the first time I pray that you would just enter in Lord by your Spirit and dwell within them and make them brand new so we lift ourselves to you Lord we receive from you and we give you give you praise thank you Lord you can put your hands down and Jesus I ask that you would move in all of us to your glory in your name amen