The Holy Spirit in the End Times.
Book of Daniel Series
June 8th, 2025
Text: Daniel 11:32-35 (CSB)
Introduction:
Today is Pentecost Sunday, a day we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the early church. It’s a day to rejoice in the Spirit’s power, presence, and purpose in our lives.
I know most of you aren’t bible nerds like me, but over the last few years there has been a lot of discussion about our understanding of the end times. For over a thousand years, the church’s primary belief on the end time is what we would call today, Amillennial. In short, this belief holds that Jesus suddenly returns at the end of this age, judges evil, and sets up his eternal kingdom on earth, and that most of the apocalyptic imagery and text found in prophetic books is allegory and not to be taken literally. However, during the spiritual awakenings of the 19th century, the premillennial understanding of the end-times rose in popularity. This is our primary eschatology we hold to, that states the rapture, or the taking away of the church, will occur before the Great Tribulation happens, and with it the Holy Spirit’s current role as we understand it today.
Why do I believe that?
2Th 2:7-8 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will bring him to nothing at the appearance of his coming.
Contextually, we know that the “he” that is taken out of the way is the Holy Spirit leaving this current role when the church is raptured. When the church leaves, in a large part, HE will as well, allowing the antichrist to rise to power.
It’s important for us to realize- if this interpretation is correct, this is still a future event.
I want to tell you this morning that the Holy Spirit is alive and well in the church, and is available for any follower of Jesus Christ who seeks HIM out, and the Spirit’s power has not lessened one iota from the first Pentecost to today.
Now that we have established that-
Specifically, what does this mean for us in 2025?
What is the Spirit’s primary ministry to us as believers and followers of Jesus.
Why are so many people seeming to drift away from their faith in Jesus the Christ?
We’re going to shed some light on these questions for you this morning.
When I was in bible school, and came upon this morning’s scripture in Old Testament Studies, and then again in the Prophetic Books class, I was intrigued as to what they meant. I was still young in the faith, and was bothered a little as to how we interpreted their truth.
I’ve come to believe the scripture we are about to read is going to instruct us and show us the final ministry of the Holy Spirit during these last days, and how believers are going to go through some amount of fire, but when they stand before Christ to give HIM an account, they will worship HIM for it.
Daniel 11 deals with an entire panorama of prophetic history, most of which we have covered in other chapters. Daniel now shifts to this mysterious man called the antichrist, but then tells us how God’s people will act in the world as the end approaches.
Let’s read God’s word this morning
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Dan 11:32-35 With flattery he (antichrist) will corrupt those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will be strong and take action. (33) Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to many, (look closely at these next few verses because you might see yourself or your loved ones here) yet they will fall by the sword and flame, and they will be captured and plundered for a time. (34) When they fall, they will be helped by some, but many others will join them insincerely. (35) (Focus) Some of those who have insight will fall so that they may be refined, purified, and cleansed until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
Prayer
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We are going to start with brief glance at the rest of Daniel 11.
This whole chapter is God’s prophetic panorama of the end times, starting with Daniel, and working its way through Revelation. He talks of the Seleucid (Sell Lew Cid) and Ptolemaic (Ta La Mae ic) empires. It talks a person who will embody the same evil as the antichrist, Antiochus (Ant tye’ i cus) Epiphanes (Ep’ a phase), a ruthless Seleucid king who persecuted God’s people around 167 BC. He desecrated the temple, outlawed Jewish worship, and pressured God’s people to abandon their faith.
Chapter 11 deals with other wars and conflicts, even pointing to Rome rising, but then it switches. This is a case of what is called a double fullfillment of prophecy- that something prophesied can have two occurrences. Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 AD is a type of the antichrist who is yet to rise. I believe the antichrist is alive today, in the background, waiting for his chance to come to power.
I also believe that in these final hours before the rapture trumpet sounds, we will see the Holy Spirit move in the church in a very unique manner outlined here in our scripture this morning.
In Danie11:32-35, we see clues supporting this idea.
What are the clues here in Daniel that we are nearing the end?
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The first thing we see is a sudden rise in antisemitism-
Vs 32With flattery he (antichrist) will corrupt those who act wickedly toward the covenant
I. Rise of Antisemitism
America has always had a subculture of people who hate the Jewish nation, but the vast majority of the culture kept this in the shadows.
No more.
The nations are rising against Israel.
Many Americans are shrugging away over a 1000 murders during the October 6th, 2023 attacks.
Many in the world support the barbarians that shield their murderous members inside hospitals, schools, and worship centers within Gaza.
From the hostages that have been released, we learn of unspeakable horrors these demonic men have done to the captives, so evil that I will not speak of them from this pulpit. These terrorists are evil, demonic, and utterly bereft of any goodness seen in a creature that is supposed to carry the image of God.
Here on college campuses, Jewish students are openly attacked. Just last weekend, a madman crying “Free Palestine” burned and tried to murder Jewish people silently marching for hostages being held by Hamas using makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails.
The weekend before that, a young Jewish diplomat and his fiancé were gunned down, shot in the back by another demonic coward crying Free Palestine. These pathetic men hide behind the slogan, “from the river to the sea” which calls for the extermination and genocide of every Jew in Israel.
Overseas and in the UN, Israel is a pariah among the nations. But even here, their opponents can’t give a logical and cogent argument to why they hate Israel, because the demonic forces behind them only want the emotion of hate to govern their thoughts.
This is what Daniel saw 2500 years ago. Think about that for a moment. In his day, there is no longer was a Jewish nation- it had been demolished by Assyria and then Babylon, and now Persia is the dominant empire. None of these empires exist today as they did then- they have turned to dust.
But Israel rose again showing the bible’s truth and accuracy in telling us tomorrows headlines today.
What is driving this increasing hatred toward Jews?
Simple answer-The antichrist spirit. This prince in the kingdom of darkness hates the Jew. After all, satans kingdom was defeated by a jew because Jesus was a jew, from a long line of Jews dating back to Father Abraham. This evil spirit is now on the warpath, and the bible tells us why in Revelation 12 that the devil comes with great wrath because he knows his time is short.
His primary target is Israel.
His primary method- stoke hatred against the Jews, so that all manners of evil will seem justified to eradicate them. Satan knows he is defeated by the cross of Jesus Christ and that he can’t stop God’s plan, so in his twisted mind he has decided to inflict as many casualties against God’s chosen people as he can before the end.
That is why we see the headlines we do. The antichrist spirit warring against Israel and the church.
The next sign we see in Daniel 11-
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II. The Fall of Christian Celebrity leaders.
Vs 33- Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to many, yet they will fall by the sword and flame, and they will be captured and plundered for a time.
Here is a list of names you might recognize- Jim Jones, Ted Haggard, Jim Bakker, Cardinal Bernard Law and the RC child sex scandals, Jimmy Swaggart, Robert Tilton, Bill Hybels, James Mcdonald, Carl Lentz, Ravi Zacharias, Mike Bickle, Dr. Michael Brown.
This is just a small listing of some of the more famous men who have held position of high leadership or celebrity in the church since I’ve been on the planet.
There are a lot, lot more. I could even add Pastor John Oscar to that list, because although my failures might not have been to the level of these men, there have been times when I haven’t lived up to the high standards found in 1 Tim 3 or Titus 1. But I also haven’t met a pastor yet who has, which is why any leader in the church must be completely dependent on the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.
Why is the kingdom of darkness sniping the leaders in the church?
There is a picture illustrating this given to me during a leadership development course. It showed that Pastors are like an umbrella of spiritual protection over the church. All of the enemies arrows get shot at the pastor first. Where ever the holes are in his character is where the arrows go through that umbrella to hit the families of the church.
I’m not sure if that’s exactly true, but it’s a good illustration. I use it this morning to emphasis-If you are a leader in the church, there are a lot of arrows coming your way. Anyone who rises up to serve will make themselves a target of the kingdom of darkness.
Let me read the verse again.
Vs 33 Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to many, yet they will fall by the sword and flame, and they will be captured and plundered for a time.
Does this verse make more sense now?
There second reason for this-
One I’ve mentioned- the nail that sticks it’s head up is a target for a hammer. The attacks come first at the leaders.
The second is in the next verse
(34) When they fall, they will be helped by some, but many others will join them insincerely.
What this shows us is an obvious truth we see today-
There are people so committed to a belief system, that no matter what facts, logic, or truth you put in front of them- they will not change their minds.
People have a right to be wrong. Some people want the comfortable lie more than the hard truth-it’s just reality.
Where this is bad is when people prop up a bad leader, and ignore his glaring faults.
This is the reason there are so many crooked politicians, business owners, college professors, and yes, even church leaders. It also shows why they stay so long in a position of power because people refuse to do the hard thing and confront them.
There is a truth I’ve found about refusing to do the hard thing.
No matter how much it hurts, no matter how painful it is, if you don’t truthfully and accurately identify the problem, the solution will lead you back to supporting the problem. (Repeat)
This is why we need the Holy Spirit’s power to have the boldness and character to stand for the truth, even if it makes us unpopular.
As bleak as I have made all of this sound, I point you now to the hopeful part of these verses.________________________________________
III. Falling leads to restoration.
I want you to see the glory of God in this next verse-
Dan 11:35 Some of those who have insight will fall so that they may be refined, purified, and cleansed until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
Let me ask a question. Show of hands-How many of you will say you are stubborn?
I resemble that. I’m an oil tanker- once I start on a course it’s bear to stop or move me from that destination.
Stubbornness is not always a bad thing- it could be a sign of firm character or a sign God has called you to leadership in some way.
However, the enemy will use stubbornness to make you resistant to the Holy Spirit’s conviction.
This is why God will let you fail sometimes.
I would even say that Failure is part of the process of sanctification. Failure is often the best teacher, particularly if you have a stubborn streak in you.
Failure isn’t just not doing well at a task, in the context of our life in Christ, it mostly has to do with our character.
There is also another truth about this- the greater and more ingrained the sin, the greater, and often more public, the fall to break it away from you.
Have you ever known a person where just seeing them or hearing their name would cause you to just freak out- the anger would immediately erupt inside of you?
If not, go down to Kwik Trip, wear a MAGA hat and hold up a Trump sign. You’ll see what I’m talking about very quickly.
I have had this kind of visceral reaction about a person.
About 20 years ago, I had a tyrant for a boss. The most unprofessional, mean-spirited person I have ever meant. She was also by far the most incompetent nurse I have ever seen and had zero integrity. Years before Wisconsin approved critical care paramedics, you needed to have a nurse in the back with if they had a chest tubes (devices to reinflate collapsed lungs).
We had such a patient in a small hospital that just had a chest tube placed to stabilize them, but need the big hospital in Milwaukee to fix the problem.
In comes that nurse. The patient had just had this tube placed less than an hour ago and was on fairly high suction to keep his lung inflated. That’s normal, and he was completely stable when I first made contact.
That is, until she got there. As we moved him to the cot and started hooking up our equipment, I went to transfer the hospital suction to our portable machine. The nurse said, “He doesn’t need that, we will just clamp it.” I said, “He had this placed less than an hour ago.”
She looked at me, and in the most condensing tone, said right in front of the patient and his family.
“Maybe some day if you ever go to nursing school, not that your smart enough to pass it, you’ll know suction settings are up to the nurse.”
I looked at my partner Kory, and he is just shaking his head. He told me later that my face turned the color of a tomato and shook his head slightly because to calm me down because he saw I was about to erupt on her. I admit, I was so angry, not just because of the insult, but because what she said was so abysmally and clinically wrong and stupid everyone in the room’s IQ score was significantly lower for hearing it.
I took a deep breath, then another deep breath. Kept my mouth shut, and respected her authority, and started moving the patient and cot toward the ambulance.
About 90 seconds later, we are in the elevator, and patient is complaining of chest heaviness. She’s at the back of the cot looking at the monitor with all of the vital signs, and said he is fine.
2 minutes later and we are at the outside door, he is breathing over 30 times a min, grey, with a lovely bluish tinge around his lips.
I stop and come around the back to look at the monitor- pulse ox is 65%, blood pressure 80/60, pulse 140. Normal pulse ox is above 93, and 65% means you are about to meet Jesus. She says, “I’m turning up his oxygen by 1 liter.” Finally I act, I’m not going to let this patient die to prove her wrong.
“Is this a lack of oxygen, or a lack of ventilation- ie, one of his lungs has collapsed again.” Blank look. I connected the suction hose to the portable suction, turned in on, and unclamped the hose. 30 seconds later, he is fine, Pulse ox was 98%, color is back, and he is stable.
The nurse didn’t say anything to me the rest of the trip.
A week later, a supervisor stopped by the station to give me a writeup from her for insubordination.
Why do I tell this story-
A little bit of backstory-At that point in my life, I was really arrogant and prideful about my skill and knowledge as a paramedic. When she insulted that in front of the patient, she tripped a pride switch in me that was ok with letting this patient decompensate to show how dumb she was.
When I got that writeup, my initial reaction was…well, not Christian. My pride and ego were bruised, and no one was backing me up even though I was 100% clinically right.
I went outside to sit at the picnic table and fume, when the Holy Spirit asked me, “What kind of a paramedic would let a patient die to prove he was right.”
Dan 11:35 Some of those who have insight will fall so that they may be refined, purified, and cleansed until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
Remember when I listed leaders who have fallen and included my name?
My failure wasn’t on the cover of a magazine or the top story on the evening news. No one knew about it except those who were there. There are at least 5 different ways I could have handled that if I didn’t let my pride and ego dictate my actions.
Boy, did I repent. And as painful as that lesson was, I have learned now in difficult circumstances take my pride and ego out of an argument and work toward the solution.
Love him or hate him, President George W. Bush once said, “It’s amazing what you can get done if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
And in my case this pride was so deeply entrenched in me that it took a 2x4 hit from The HOLY SPIRIT to break it so that, I could experience being refined, purified, and cleansed in my spirit.
Many of you may be wondering why God allows such failure in HIS leaders on earth. I’m not excusing moral or financial failures- They shouldn’t happen and all Christians should try to live above reproach.
But before we pick up the rocks to throw at those who fall, maybe we should take a moment and see what The Father does with that failure.
This fall may be necessary and part of HIS plan to bring that person down where their only foundation is Jesus Christ, so he can build something beautiful in its place.
Let me speak plainly to you today.
You may have messed up. You may be in a situation where you’d be destroyed if anyone found out your sin, and living in fear, allowing the enemy to keep you captive and make you ineffective for God’s kingdom.
Let me just encourage you- don’t live in fear, live for God.
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IV. Conclusion and Call to Action
My friends, the time is short.
Call to Action:
• Seek to Know God: Spend time in His Word and prayer, asking the Spirit to deepen your relationship with Him.
• Be Filled with the Spirit: If you’ve never experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit, seek it today. If you have, ask for a fresh filling to empower your witness (Ephesians 5:18).
• Stand Firm in Trials: Whatever you’re facing, trust the Spirit to give you strength and hope.
• Share the Truth: Like the wise in Daniel, make many understand by sharing the gospel with boldness.
Closing Prayer- Spirit rain down (Worship)
