Title: One who deceives (Daniel 11:20-24)
Lesson 112 The deceitful (Daniel 11:20-24)
11:20-24
The one who succeeds it will cause the extortioner to wander through the good parts of the kingdom, but he will perish in a few days, without wrath or strife, and the one who will succeed it will be a humble man, who will not give him the glory of the kingdom. He will gain his kingdom by deceit in peace, and an army like an overflowing water will overflow from him, and he will be defeated, and so will the king of his alliance; and after making an agreement with him he will come up deceitfully, and he will become strong with a few people, and he will be at peace. Then he will come into the most fertile part of the province, and do what his fathers and their fathers did not do, and he will scatter the spoils and plunder among the multitudes, and he will plot against the fortresses for a time, until the time comes.
It is a continuation of the content where the angel Gabriel explains to Daniel what will happen in the future. It was prophetic at the time. Historically, we can see that these words did not fall to the ground and were fulfilled. As I said last time, the king of the north was greedy and attacked the islands and coastal cities of the Roman Empire. But he lost the fight badly. Because of this, the king of the north was obliged to pay huge war reparations to Rome. The king of the north went into a temple and tried to plunder the treasure there in order to obtain war reparations for Rome, but he was killed by the angry inhabitants.
Please see verse 20. "He who will succeed him." This means that the son of the king of the north will ascend to the throne from generation to generation. He inherited from his father the obligation to pay war reparations to Rome. “I will cause extortioners to wander through the beautiful places of the country.” He sent the generals under his command "to the beautiful places of the country" to collect war reparations. "Beautiful place in the country" means the land of Palestine. The extortioners wanted to enter the temple in Jerusalem and plunder all the gold and silver vessels there. But what was the result? "He will perish in a few days without wrath or fighting." He was not, like his father, murdered by the furious people there when he tried to loot the temple treasures. He did not die while fighting on the battlefield. According to historians, he was assassinated by the same general he had sent to extort.
In the past and now, after a king dies, the king's son is the one who succeeds the king to the throne. But let's look at verse 21. "And he who will succeed him is a lowly man, and he will not give him the glory of the kingdom." At that time, the son who would succeed the king of the north was held hostage in Rome. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the younger brother of the king of the north tried to succeed the throne. He was not a man who would legally become a king. “He will find his kingdom in times of peace by deceit.” In the end, the king's younger brother became king. This man was Antiochus Epiphanes, the future shadow of the Antichrist. He was a man of many tricks. He visited the leaders of the north one by one, and made them all on his own side with his cowardice. “If you help me become a king, I will reward you when I become a king in the future.” It was all tricked in this way. So he took over the throne instead of his nephew.
Let's look at verse 24. “He came into the most fertile part of the province in peacetime.” He pretended to be at peace. He set out, step by step, step by step, taking possession of the most fertile places and good cities of the South, as if there was never going to be a war. “He will do what his fathers and their fathers could not do, and he will plunder and scatter the spoils among the multitudes.” Antiochus Epiphanes managed to manage his popularity well. He distributed the stolen goods to the soldiers who were with him. So how popular will he be? "I will plot against the fortresses for some time." For a while, he was able to conquer the strongholds of Egypt by his own schemes. But look at the end of verse 24. “It will be until the time comes.” His deceit does not last forever. We will only do so until the time that God has ordained.
Antiochus Epiphanes, the shadow of the Antichrist, was a man of many tricks. Jesus said that in the last days there will be many deceived people. So Jesus warned us not to believe even if Christ is here or there.
You don't know how much people named Jaerock Lee of Manmin Central Church in Guro-dong are deceiving people recently. He lays hands on sick people, making them think they are all well. I saw a young man being interviewed on television. It is said that he was ordained by Jaerock Lee because he had a spinal disc. It's still not all healed, but that's what he said. "Even if your body is not fully healed, come out and testify with the belief that everything is healed. Then, according to your faith, your disease will be completely healed." Hearing this, the young man testified that he was completely healed in front of everyone. Eventually, he did not get better and was hospitalized. He was interviewed while in the hospital. At the same time, he apologized that it hurts so much to think about how many people have been deceived by his words.
Many people were deceived by Mr. Jaerock Lee's fraudulent play. When people hear the testimony of those who testify that they have been healed, they mistakenly believe that Jaerock Lee has any great powers. So, people paid a lot of money to Jaerock Lee in hopes of getting better or solving their own problems. In the end, he went to the American gambling city of Las Vegas several times and lost millions of dollars. It was revealed by close associates. Then he explained it this way at an all-night prayer meeting. “How can I be greedy for money? No matter what I do, I want to save a little more money and give it to God for the construction of the temple. I am not greedy for money at all.” I made excuses like this. Nevertheless, those who were deceived firmly put on anything they put on it. "We need to be more loyal to the chairman. How can we complain to the chairman?" He was saying such a pathetic thing.