Daniel 11: Stand Firm Against the Mad False God --- 2019/08/23

Rev. Gregory Alms, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Catawba, North Carolina, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Daniel 11.

After so many hints and shadowy references, we finally get Daniel’s prophecy in the clearest terms. Daniel’s apocalyptic message to stand firm in the faith and to resist the powers of evil rings truest for Israelites suffering under Antiochus IV “Epiphanes” of the Seleucid Empire. The historical precision of chapter 11 practically names this madman who fancies himself a god, as it traces the rise and fall of Alexander the Great and the subsequent wars of succession.

We see through it all that power cannot bring true peace; it only brings a cycle of anxious insecurity and revenge. We cannot rely on our own power—the false god of money—nor on the power of the many godless forces of this world. As our Lord Jesus makes clear in the gospels, Daniel’s prophecy is just as much for us as it was for them: the church faces the temptation to compromise under persecution. Stand firm. Only Christ is the true eternal king. The king who persecutes you will fall, just like the rest.