These godly men and women took action, but many died. Even some of those who “had insight” were killed. Why? The answer is given in the passage. God allowed them to suffer in order “to refine, purge, and make them pure.”      I wonder how many of the Jews willingly followed the new high priest Menelaus, Antiochus’ high priest? How many Jews thought that he spoke for God? The passage says those who had “insight” still suffered. Even those who could sense that Menelaus was not real still suffered.      How many of the Jews were willing to obey Antiochus? The passage says, “ . . . many will join with them in hypocrisy . . .” Many of the Jews pretended to be godly, but they were not really godly. Did any of them think, “Surely God will not care if we obey! Our lives are more important. If we die we will not be able to worship God or witness for Him when this is all over.” Some were willing to die for their faith.      Are you a soldier of the cross? Would you be willing to die for Jesus? What would you have done? God said they had “insight,” and they died anyway. God calls us to be faithful even unto death. If your answer is, “Yes, I would be willing to die,” then ask yourself, “Am I faithful now? Am I faithful now in smaller things - church, time with God, prayer, for example?”       Another Jump In Time. The vast majority of biblical scholars, the critics included, agree that the details of the chapter are accurate and true to history. They also agree that the events recorded in the rest of this chapter have not occurred. This is a wonderful fact. If the details have been accurate and true to verse 35, then the events which follow to verse 45 must be true too!     So how do we understand verses 36-45? The clue comes in verse 35. Here we are warned that God’s children will continue to suffer “ . . . until the end time . . .” But then the clue comes and we are told that the prophecy is jumping forward in time - to the end of time when it says, “ . . . because it is still to come at the appointed time.” As we saw earlier in this chapter, the prophecy has jumped hundreds of years between verses. We saw a jump of 130 years from the Medo-Persian King Xerxes to the time of Alexander the Great. God did not even talk about the other Medo-Persian kings. Why? They were not important to the prophecy. When we arrived at Antiochus IV Epiphanes, God stopped talking about the kings of Egypt and Syria. We saw a jump between Daniel 9:26 and Dan. 9:27. This is normal in scripture. God’s purpose is a message.      Antichrist - His Character. Antiochus is a picture of the coming Antichrist. God jumped from Antiochus to the Antichrist because the Antichrist is like Antiochus IV Epiphanes.     Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. (NASB) Dan. 11:36         < Back   Next >
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