Michael (part 2)

1) Last Sunday night we went through a lot of the information in Dan. 10.

2) Daniel was a prophet who received a message from God and he understood this information (Dan. 10:1).

3) What Daniel received and comprehended was some very sad news.

4) Sometime after receiving this information Daniel saw a heavenly creature (verse 5).

5) This creature was strong and it initially terrified God’s prophet.

a) We ended the lesson by noting that the heavenly creature in Dan. 10 was opposed by “the king of Persia.”

b) It was shown that Daniel’s heavenly visitor was somehow challenged by another spiritual force.

c) Daniel’s helper said he was opposed in trying to get to Daniel and he would be opposed on the way back.

d) In fact, Michael (who is identified as an archangel) came to help the good heavenly creature.

6) Michael essentially drove off (away) some type of wicked spirit, perhaps an evil angel.

7) Tonight we want to move forward from Dan. 10 and extend our study into Dan. 12.

a) As we look at this passage, let’s not forget that Daniel was written before the New Testament era.

b) Daniel received information prior to the cross of Christ.

c) Dan. 12:1 – READ.

8) We want to break this verse down into small sections.

a) First, once again come to Michael, a heavenly creature we have identified as an archangel.

b) We are told that Michael would “stand up.” This does not mean he would want to stretch.

c) Angels are spiritual creatures; stand up suggests a call to action. He would be doing something.

d) Michael’s power is found in the expression “great prince.”

e) Back in Dan. 10 Michael had enough power to drive away an evil angel.

f) Here we are specifically told Michael is a mighty creature, and we get some insight about his work.

9) Michael was going to stand up for “the children of thy people.”

10) These five words provide us with some very important details.

a) Daniel was the one who received this information; he was a Jew.

b) Daniel was a child of God. “His people” would also be people of God.

c) Daniel was received information about the “children” of His people (a later generation).

d) Somehow Michael would help God’s people at a future time.

e) This much of this text is clear to all, no matter what their religious persuasion.

f) We need to hold on to this single fact.

g) At a later time God’s people would receive special assistance from Michael.

h) If we lose this fact, we will not see the point.

11) In Dan. 12:1 we find that this time of help was to happen during a “time of trouble.”

12) God’s people would face a very difficult period and Michael the archangel would somehow intervene.

13) If this is all the information we had, we could probably not narrow down when this was.

14) God provided through this prophet some specific information :

a) Look again at the end of the first verse – READ.

b) God’s prophet is told that the time of trouble would be distinctive.

c) Nothing like it would have happened prior to that time.

d) Throughout history up to this point, all other tragedies would have been less severe.

e) Premillennial teachers and believers just love this kind of passage.

f) They see this type of information and think about nuclear bombs exploding all over the planet.

15) We can show that Daniel did not have in mind any type of millennial nuclear war.

16) We do this by looking at the context (backing up to the previous chapter)

a) In Dan. 11 we are introduced to some history (for Daniel this information was in the future).

b) Daniel received some information about the Persian Empire (Dan. 11:2).

c) History tells us that Persia did indeed reign for a while.

d) In this same verse Daniel was told that a Grecian rule would occur – READ 11:2-3.

e) Most have heard of Alexander the Great. He overthrew the Persians and conquered the Roman world.

f) After Alexander there was a split, a four-way split in power (verse 4).

g) We want to move past some of world history and get to verses 31-35 – READ.

17) Daniel is receiving some information about events about 175 years before Jesus came into the world.

18) At this time there was a ruler known as Antiochus Epiphanes.

19) Anitochus was not a nice man. He persecuted the Jews. He tried to destroy the Scriptures.

20) He desecrated the Jewish temple. He told the Jews they could not practice circumcision.

21) He said they could not observe the Sabbath. Possessing the Scriptures was a capital offense.

22) Jewish leaders were told to make pagan sacrifices.

23) Some Jews (including children) were killed to serve as an example and warning to others.

24) We have this information in a book known as “First Maccabees.”

a) This book can be found in most Catholic Bibles. It is a book about history, but it is not an inspired book.

b) The history in the book is widely accepted, but it is typically rejected as an being authored by God.

c) The history in this account, which is also what we have in Dan. 11:31-35, basically goes like this.

25) Mattathias Maccabees was a Jewish priest.

26) In 170 B.C. he was asked by a government official to sacrifice to Greek gods.

27) This man refused to do that. He then took things a step further.

28) He killed a Jew who stepped forward to offer the pagan sacrifice.

29) Then he attacked the government official that had requested the pagan offering.

a) This incident caused officials to seek his arrest and he took refuge in the wilderness of Judea.

b) His five sons went with him. Mattathias began to call on all Jews to follow him.

c) A war ensued and this conflict is the basis for the holiday we know as “Hanukkah.”

30) I want to read several verses from First Maccabees so we get the full picture:

The king sent messengers with letters to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, ordering them to follow customs foreign to their land; to prohibit holocausts, sacrifices, and libations in the sanctuary, to profane the sabbaths and feast days, to desecrate the sanctuary and the sacred ministers, to build pagan altars and temples and shrines, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to let themselves be defiled with every kind of impurity and abomination, so that they might forget the law and change all their observances. Whoever refused to act according to the command of the king should be put to death. Such were the orders he published throughout his kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people, and he ordered the cities of Judah to offer sacrifices, each city in turn.

Israel was driven into hiding, wherever places of refuge could be found. 58 So they used their power against Israel, against those who were caught, each month, in the cities. 59 On the twenty-fifth day of each month they sacrificed on the altar erected over the altar of holocausts. 60 Women who had had their children circumcised were put to death, in keeping with the decree, with the babies hung from their necks; their families also and those who had circumcised them were killed. 63 they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Terrible affliction was upon Israel.ä»… Then Mattathias and his sons tore their garments, put on sackcloth, and mourned bitterly. The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices. Many of Israel joined them, but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart. Then the officers of the king addressed Mattathias: "You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city, supported by sons and kinsmen. 18 ^{2 3} Come now, be the first to obey the king's command, as all the Gentiles and the men of Judah and those who are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons shall be numbered among the King's Friends, and shall be enriched with silver and gold and many gifts." But Mattathias answered in a loud voice: "Although all the Gentiles in the king's realm obey him, so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers and consents to the king's orders, yet I and my sons and my kinsmen will keep to the covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments. We will not obey the words of the king nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree." As he finished saying these words, a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein according to the king's order. When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal; his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused; he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar. At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar.

It was reported to the officers and soldiers of the king who were in the City of David, in Jerusalem, that certain men who had flouted the king's order had gone out to the hiding places in the desert. Many hurried out after them, and having caught up with them, camped opposite and prepared to attack them on the sabbath. "Enough of this!" the pursuers said to them. "Come out and obey the king's command, and your lives will be spared." But they replied, "We will not come out, nor will we obey the king's command to profane the sabbath." Then his son Judas, who was called Maccabeus, took his place. All his brothers and all who had joined his father supported him, and they carried on Israel's war joyfully.

1) In Daniel 11:31-35 the prophet got a history lesson that took him to a time about 175 years before Christ.

2) This history lesson is the one I just went over as well. Daniel’s history lesson did not stop here.

3) It extended to the time of the Lord and even beyond – Dan. 11:40 – READ.

a) There are a lot of ideas about how the “king of the North is.”

b) I was recently on a Bible study with someone from here and this passage was mentioned.

c) The person thought the “north” is a reference to America.

d) Remember that Daniel is seeing a progression of history in Dan. 11.

e) Persia, Greek, the time Antiochus, and then history brings us down to the time of Rome.

f) I accept the explanation that Daniel was being told about the Roman Empire.

g) This is the subject at the end of Dan. 11 and the opening of Dan. 12.

4) You might be wondering what all this has to do with Michael the archangel.

5) I haven’t forgotten about him – let’s back to Dan. 12:1 – READ.

a) Daniel said, “at that time.”

b) What was this “time”?

c) If we follow the history down through Dan. 11, we are dealing with a period when Rome was in power.

SINCE WE HAVE THE GENERAL TIME FRAME (THE NEW TESTAMENT ERA), LET’S INTRODUCE SOME NEW MATERIAL THAT IS FOUND IN DAN. 12:7 – READ.

a) This is an interesting passage.

b) The “holy people” were going to be “crushed” (broken; overthrown, destroyed).

c) We normally think of holy people as being saved (God is on their side).

d) This crushing blow is not hard to identify; Jews faced this in 70 A.D. when Rome overthrew them.

e) Jews basically lost it all at this time in history; the Romans came in and cleaned house.

f) Jews lost their genealogical records. Their temple was sacked. Jews never recovered from this.

2) If Michael intended to protect the Jews from the Roman invasion, he failed in ever way.

3) If Michael was to watch over and protect the Hebrew nation, he botched the job.

4) This message means something else, and another familiar Old Testament passage helps us understand it.

a) Do we remember Gen. 49:10?

b) The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh come.

c) What does this prophecy mean? It means this.

d) Judah would not lose its national sovereignty until “Shiloh” (the Messiah) came.

e) Daniel foresaw the time when the Messiah had come (the first century).

f) Since the Messiah came, the scepter could depart from Judah (Israel no longer had to be a holy people).

g) Since the Messiah had arrived, Judah could lose its sovereignty to Rome, and it did.

5) Dan. 2:44 tells us the kingdom (in the sense of the church) would be established in the days of Rome.

6) This happened, and this event changed some things.

7) Listen to Rom. 2:28-29 – READ. “True Jews” were Christians, not fleshly descendents of Abraham.

a) Earlier I asked us to hold on to a very special fact.

b) Daniel was told that Michael would help the “children of his people.”

c) These children are the ones we sometimes call New Testament Christians.

d) Michael was scheduled to help some members of the church.

8) When did Michael plan to offer that help?

9) Jesus gave the answer in Mt. 24:21.

a) What is said prior to Mt. 24:36 relates to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

b) In verse 36 and following Jesus spoke of His second coming.

c) Listen to what He said about Jerusalem being destroyed, verse 21 – READ.

d) The Lord’s words match up with what Daniel was told about a “time of great trouble.”

10) Going back to Dan. 12:1, the text says “all” the people involved in this matter would be delivered.

11) Who were all these people, and from what were they delivered?

12) Simply this: All Christians were delivered from the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

13) Because of what Jesus said Christians had advance warning.

14) Too, Michael was somehow involved in the process of delivering New Testament saints.

15) Then Daniel received a bit of information about the end of time (Dan. 12:2-3).

16) If we sum up what has been presented tonight the message is this:

a) God knew that Christians would be exposed to one of the world’s worst events.

b) God used Jesus as well as an archangel to protect every single one of His people from this danger.

c) That is an amazing, amazing amount of love and care.

d) When this part of the Bible is studied, we have to sit back and simply say, “wow.”

e) God is an amazing God of love and God’s love continues to exist at the present time.

1 Macc. 1:44-45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 58-60, 63; 2:1-2, 14-25, 28, 31-34, 3:1-2