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Daniel 11 is both amazing and terrifying. It’s amazing because God lays out for us in incredible detail future events from the time of Daniel in 539 BC all the way to around 164 BC, nearly 400 years in the future. So detailed and accurate are these prophecies that liberal scholars date the writing of Daniel in the 2nd century, which would be after all this history had transpired. One Bible believing scholar says there are about 135 prophecies in this chapter up to verse 35 that have come to pass exactly as written here in Daniel. It would be equal to someone in the time of Calvin, the 1500s, writing out in detail the movements of the North and South in battle-specific events of our Civil War. Your Bible is not just another book. The Bible is the Word of the living God.
The terrifying part of Daniel 11 is for the preacher. How on earth can you preach through all this detail and keep anyone’s attention? You’ll be relieved to know that we’re not going to go through all these verses explaining all the details. If you want to know the who, what, when, and where of it all, pick up a good conservative commentary on Daniel (like Wiersbe or Whitcomb).
I’m going to summarize the chapter up to verse 35 this morning and then we’ll camp on verses 32 and 33, “the people who know their God.” There are basically five parts in the passage.
The Future of the Persian Empire – vss. 1-2
Daniel 11:1-2, “In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him. 2 “And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of Greece.
Gabriel is still talking to Daniel from chapter 10. He and Michael gathered to fight those two demon princes of Persia and Greece (10:21). We begin here in the first year of the Persian Empire, 539 BC, down to the fall of the Persians to Alexander the Great in 331 BC. That fourth king was Xerxes, the same as Ahasuerus in Esther. Around 480 BC he tried to defeat the Greeks with a huge army of 200,000 soldiers and a navy of hundreds of ships and was defeated, but not before wreaking some havoc in Athens, torching their various temples and sacred sites. Greece never forgot it. Next we leap over 150 years to the fall of Persia.
Alexander the Great defeats the Persians – vss. 3-4
Daniel 11:3-4, And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases. 4 But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to others besides them.
We saw this “mighty king” earlier. He’s that ram with four wings in Daniel 7 who flew over the land smashing everything in his way, including the Persians in 331 BC. But “as soon as he has arisen” he died, in 323 BC in Babylon. His whole family was murdered so his kingdom was divided up among four generals, “not to his own descendants.” Again, what a detail God includes. Only God could reveal this over 200 years before it happened.
Now the prophecy focuses on two of those four generals and their regions, the Ptolemies in the south or Egypt and the Seleucids in the north or Syria.
The Wars Between the North (Syria) and the South (Egypt) -vss. 5-20
Now is when the details really begin and you’ll thank me for not trying to explain it all. After all, we do have to eat sometime today. In essence, both the North and the South wants to control the entire Middle East so they go at it like Alabama and Georgia football. First one gets an advantage and then the other. And in the middle is poor Israel, like the football being kicked around.
The Despicable Person – vss. 21-35
Daniel 11:2, In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.
We’ve seen this despicable character before, Antiochus Epiphanes, the illustrious one. The Jews called him Epimanes, the madman. He’ll rule from 175 to 164 BC. He is a deceiver, liar, and murderer. He takes the throne of the North illegitimately, “by intrigue.” He foreshadows the Antichrist, whom we’ll meet next week in verses 36 and following. His goal was to eliminate the Jewish religion and turn the Jews into Greeks.
He’s the one who wreaked mayhem in Jerusalem. He sacrificed an unclean pig on the altar, forbad circumcision, burned Scriptures, slew thousands of Jews and sold thousands into slavery. He bribed and persuaded apostate Jews and priests to work for him in Judea. He mandated all the Jews make sacrifices on pagan altars. He also set up an image and altar to Zeus in the temple, called the abomination of desolation, which Jesus refers to in Matthew 24:15 as still future.
Daniel 11:3, “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.
About this time in the village of Modin, a righteous old Jew, Mattathias, refused to offer sacrifice to Zeus. A young spineless Jew stepped forward to do it. Mattathias in holy rage slew the youngster, along with the official standing close by. Then Mattathias and his five sons took off for the hills to rebel against all this paganism. The leader of these rebels became Judas Maccabeus, “the Hammer.” A group called the Hasidim or “faithful ones” joined this revolt. By December 164 BC the Maccabees retook the temple, cleansed it, lit the lampstand or menorah, and ever since the Jews have celebrated this event as Hannukah, the festival of lights.
There were two kinds of Jews in these days: the ungodly who bowed to the political and religious pressure of the State, and the godly ones who boldly stood up for God. These godly ones are “the people who know their God” of verse 32. God always has His people. These faithful Jews were key players in God’s plan of preparing for the coming of Christ.
The People Who Know Their God – vv. 32-35
Daniel 11:32-33, “but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. 33a “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many.
When the ruling elite become the enemy of the church, when the laws and powers are leveled against God’s people like this despicable person Antiochus Epiphanes, we must obey God rather than man. This is one huge lesson here. The people who know their God will be strong and take action, and that’s exactly what they did and what all believers in Christ must do. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”
What does it mean to know God? Jesus explained in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” Paul’s goal was to “know Him,” speaking of Christ in Philippians 3:10. To know God is the highest calling in your life. J. I. Packer wrote, “What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God.” One of Packer’s chapters in his book Knowing God is entitled, “The People Who Know Their God.”
But what does it mean to know God? It’s more than being aware that God exists. Romans 1:21 says everyone knows God exists. But not everyone honors Him as God. It’s more than knowing facts about God. You can know all the rooms and closets and hallways and furniture in a house and still not know the person who lives there. Let’s look at Jeremiah 9:23-24 for help in knowing God.
Jeremiah 9:23, Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches.”
- You can have a massive brain to discover the secrets of quantum physics.
- You can have muscles that look like the Rocky Mountains.
- You can have a million-dollar annual income.
God’s not impressed. Verse 24 gives us two things that impress God.
Jeremiah 9:24, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
- That he understands Me – he has insight into who I am, my character, plans, purposes, what I am all about.
- That he knows Me – the Hebrew word for “know” means intimate relationship. He knows Me personally. He knows Me enough to trust and love Me. He knows Me enough to love what God loves and hate what God hates. You’ll know Him as the God of lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness. Do you know God?
What can you expect in your life if you truly know God through faith in Christ? God gives us five marks of people who know their God in verses 32-33.
First, you’ll be strong. You’ll display strength in the face of opposition. You won’t fold. This was Paul. He knew Christ and nothing stopped him. When they stoned him in one city he shook it off and went to the next city. You see this in Daniel. When they ordered him to stop praying, what did he do? He kept praying! Those three Hebrews chose to burn in the furnace rather than bow their knee to man’s idol. If you know your God, the true and living God through faith in His Son, you’ll be strong. You’ll be strong to fight temptations and fear. Paul told Timid Timothy, “God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-control.”
Second, you’ll take action for God. No one who begins to know God personally will just sit there. “Take action” is literally one word in Hebrew: “do.” You’ll be a doer. When Christ comes into your life, things begin to happen. As your relationship with God grows, more things begin to happen. You’re going to be a different kind of friend. When you pursue a life partner, it will be of the opposite sex. You’ll have a standard of purity – different from the world. You’ll be a loving spouse and a faithful part of the church. You’ll be praying like Daniel did for your loved ones. If you know God, you’ll take action. You won’t just go lukewarm and lose all your fizz like an old, stale coke or rancid meat sitting in a pot on the stove for weeks.
You’ll take action to stand against what is false and contrary to the will of your God. If someone is misrepresenting God’s Word or God Himself or teaching evolution or abortion or that it’s ok to have same sex attraction like we’re hearing today, you have to say something. Evolution – wait a minute! Not true! Critical Race Theory – not true. Christian LGBTQ relationships are just fine with God – not true!
Third, you will have insight and discernment. People who know their God have eternal values and standards. You’ll see through the world’s lies and false promises and determine to seek God’s kingdom first. You realize you have brought nothing into this world and you’re not taking anything with you, so you live contentedly. You’ll love what God loves and hate what God hates. You’ll be alert to words you hear and read and ask yourself, “Is that what the Bible really teaches?”
Fourth, you’ll be a blessing to others. Verse 33 says “they’ll give understanding to the many.” You may start a Bible study with someone. You may assure others you’re praying for them. You may volunteer to work in the nursery. You may be gifted to write a book. Think about how men like John Calvin and John Bunyan have blessed others. Calvin knew his God and wrote the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Bunyan spent twelve years in prison for refusing to cave to the State’s draconian laws about preaching. What did he do? He wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and a little later, Pilgrim’s Progress, one of the most read books in the western world. If you know God, you know you’re not here to live for yourself. You’re here to honor God and be a blessing to others.
Fifth, you’ll have rough sailing in this world.
Daniel 11:33,35, “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. Daniel 11:35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.
If your heart is set to know God in a genuine sense, you’ll be walking against the wind, against the grain of this world. Many of God’s precious people have faced the persecution of verse 33! The godly Jews under that despicable person Antiochus Epiphanes stood firm and suffered death rather than conform and compromise like many of their apostate fellow Jews did. By God’s grace we’ll be strong and take action. God uses the fires of opposition to purify and refine His people and make us more and more into the likeness of His Son.
Daniel 12:3 says there’s a reward for those who know their God and are strong and take action and discern and minister and endure hardship.
Daniel 12:3, “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
I see Daniel shining up there, along with three young fellows who refused to bow to the State when it meant compromising their faithfulness to God. Remember those five missionaries cut down by the end of the spear in Ecuador, including Jim Elliot. What about William Tyndale who gave his life to provide Bibles to the English-speaking world? He was strangled and burned at the stake on October 6, 1536. He’s up there shining brightly! If you know Christ, you look forward to joining them. Our lights may be duller than the martyrs, but if you know your God through your faith in Christ, you’ll be there too some day!
Let’s go on to know God more and more as we carve out time to read and meditate on His Word and all His great and marvelous works. Paul made it his ambition to know Christ.
Philippians 3:8, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.
Do you know Christ personally? Have you seen your sin and need of forgiveness? Have you submitted to Him as your Lord and Savior? Can you honestly say you know and love your God?