Daniel 11 Verse By Verse

Even though the book of Revelation gets the most publicity the book of Daniel can tell us so much! There is actually a play by play story of the world empires listed in the book of Daniel. The visions he has about the subjects are not understood by Daniel though. So in chapter 11 we see an angel come to explain these things.

Before we get into what the angel said we need to understand one thing. Many people seem to miss the fact that God has given a period of time to be known in which everything on earth will happen. This includes the seven year tribulation. But this time line is not without a break.

God has declared that everything will happen in 70 periods of 7 years each. The time starts counting down from the time the command was given to rebuild Jerusalem. The time this happened is found in Nehemiah 2:1-8. The time line ends with the end of the 7 year tribulation.

But if the time for all of this was to be a total of 490 years why has the end not come? Why also did Daniel only know about 4 empires? Haven’t there been many more and much more time? The answer is in understanding that this time line was for the Jews and Jerusalem. If God turns His attention away from Israel and onto the gentiles this timeline pauses.

That is why after the first 69 weeks we see Jesus come and die on the cross (which was the subject of the 69th week) and then the gentiles are suddenly the ones God is focused on. Now obviously He still cares for Israel, but to provoke them to jealousy (to bring them back to Him) He shifts focus.

The 70th week is on hold. It all starts again at the time when Jerusalem becomes the capital city of the Jews again, the temple is once again in place, and the Antichrist confirms a covenant of peace that is stated to be for 7 years.

Why would God have 69 “weeks” happen in succession and not have the 70th week come right after it? Why not? There is no rule saying He must continue in the same pattern. Especially when you consider He shifts focus from Jews to Gentiles for a while.

So What Happens During The First 69 Weeks

I am going to give you a verse by verse history of the world starting in Chapter 11 of the book of Daniel. You will see how amazing God is at telling the history of the world before it happens. This one chapter alone is proof that the Bible is the word of God and not men!

This is going to get a little intense for those of us that don’t find history to be very exciting. But taking Daniel 11 verse by verse shows how accurate Bible prophecy is. So hang in there.

Darius was viceroy under Cyrus 2, which is when Daniel prophesied. After Cyrus 2 came Cambyses 2, then Smerdis, then Darius 1, then the 4th king Xerxes went to war with Greece (Xerxes is also called Ahasuerus in the language of Persia (read Book of Ester).

Alexander the great (of the Greeks) conquered Medo Persia.

Alexander dies and instead of his children taking the kingdom (because they were murdered) his kingdom was divided among 4 generals during a civil war known as Diadoci wars. These generals commanded the nations of Greece, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt. Soon wars would turn it into only a north and south kingdom.

King of south (Egypt) was Ptolemy 1
King of north (Syria) was Seleucus 1

The king of the south (Egypt) was Ptolemy 1. During the Diadoci wars Seleucus 1 served as a prince of Ptolemy until he took over Syria as his throne. Syria was the greatest of the divided kingdom.

Ptolemy 2nd who was the king of the south after Ptolemy 1st gave his daughter Berenice in a marriage to Antiochus 2nd who himself was the king of the north after the deaths of Seleucus 1st and his sons death Antiochus 1st. It may seem strange the kings spoken of in this verse are not the same men as before. This does not matter though since they are still kings of the two nations. The Bible isn’t focused on the particular individuals so much as with the office of the king.

After her father Ptolemy 2nd dies Antiochus 2nd leaves Berenice for his ex wife Laodice (whom he had divorced to marry Berenice). Laodice then murdered Berenice and her child as well as Antiochus 2nd so that her son Seleucus 2nd the son of Antiochus 2nd could be king.

Ptolemy 3rd Berenices brother (of Egypt) launches a war against Seleucus 2nd who flees to Asia Minor.

Ptolemy looted Syria and then returned to Egypt at which time Seleucus 2nd regains Syria. (Verse 9 So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom “Into the kingdom of Seleucus 2nd”, and shall return into his own land “Then returns into his own land which means he “who is Ptolemy” returns to Egypt).

Now in verse 10 we talk again about the king of the north.

Seleucus 2nd gave way to Seleucus 3rd as the king of the north and raised an army and attacked the Attalid dynasty. But after 2 years was assassinated.

Antiochus 3rd ruled in place of Seleucus 3rd now as king of the north then he attacked Egypt (Ptolemy 4th)…he was not successful.

Ptolemy 4th was proud of his victory and wanted to enter into the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple. The Jews did not let him and because of that he was angry with them and killed tens of thousands.

Meanwhile Antiochus 3rd had a few other military victories in other areas to the east and 20 years after the first defeat in Egypt he returned to wage war on Egypt.

During this war Egypt rebelled against Ptolemy 4th and they continued to rebel through the next Ptolemy 5th. That is when Antiochus 3rd made an alliance with Philip 5th of Macedon to distract Ptolemy 5th. This rebellion was put down.

Finally Antiochus 3rd defeats Egypt.

Antiochus 3rd now rules over Palestine which is called the beautiful land.

Antiochus 3rd makes peace with Ptolemy 5th and gave his daughter Cleopatra to be married to Ptolemy 5th. This was to take over Egypt without a fight. Instead Cleopatra turned against Antiochus 3rd her father.

Antiochus 3rd turned his attention to Asia minor and attacked all the way to the coast (Greece). Finally Rome stopped him (a prince from another land).

Antiochus 3rd was killed before he made it home.

Rome forced them to pay taxes after Antiochus 3rd and ruled in Syria more as a tax collector than a government. This was the way of Rome. They taxed the people but let them govern themselves for the most part.

During the reign of Rome God turns his attention to the gentiles to make the Jews jealous. Because Israel is scattered at this time and God focuses on reaching the gentiles instead, Daniel’s final 70th week has to wait until Israel comes back, is no longer scattered again, and the time of God dealing mainly with the gentiles ends.

In Luke 21:24 Jesus mentions the time of the gentiles. Jesus spoke of the time of the gentiles as being a time when Jerusalem and the temple would be under gentile control. Which it has been since the temple was destroyed. But the time He was mentioning is more specifically during the first 3 and a half years of the 7 year tribulation according to Revelation 11:2.

The timeline is paused for the Jews because the gentiles are now the ones God is reaching out to. That is why we see a break in the 70 weeks. This is also why we see God stop talking about the natural time line and skips in the next verse to the last 7 years in which the antichrist comes. Even then, during the first 3 and 1 half years God lets the gentiles carry on in Jerusalem.

Many have said that the scriptures bring in the antichrist in later verses… this is because they mistakenly believe that the next ruler of the north was the one who set up an abomination of desolation. This however falls through because he did not fulfill all of the prophecy. There was no 7 year covenant, no breaking of said covenant, and no destruction of that ruler at the return of Jesus. Instead verse 21 is the antichrist because God skips over the time in which He deals mainly with gentiles between these two verses.

Also note that though Rome ruled the area the people still called themselves Syrian. Rome simply imposed taxes over other nations. Rome did not itself absorb these nations into itself but made them territories and provinces.

Another important thing to note is that the band of Romans that destroyed the temple and Jerusalem were from Syria. This is important because the Bible tells us the people of the Antichrist would do this. So “his people” were a combination of Rome and Syria. But more importantly Syria is the nation of the king of the north.

What Happens In The 70th Week

God now turns his attention back to Israel after provoking them to jealousy through the gentiles and we see the final man of sin… antichrist come out of Syria. This man of sin is not in line to rule but because of flattery and talk of peace he is going to rule anyway.

The people will make him their leader. He will then lead over the kingdom and even the creator of the covenant (which he confirms) is under his control. Note that it says they are broken but it does not say they are no longer in existence. So he rules his nation and has other nations under his control.

A league is made with this vile antichrist… (In Daniel 9:27 Daniel is explained the meaning of this several times. In these verses we see the angel showing what this league is) this league made with many including Israel allows him free access into the land. That is how he will be able to pass through Israel in the next verses.

He divides the wealth of the nations among his followers. (Boosts the economy)

He attacks Egypt

He wins through a rebellion in the kingdom of his enemy (in Egypt).

Egypt and he will make an uneasy truce. This truce will be full of lies.

He pulls out of Egypt and abuses Israel in some way while doing so.

He will once again seek to invade Egypt. But this time he will not win.

He is driven back by a navy from Chittim (the area of the mediterranean sea…most likely a navy from europe or even the west) and because of this he is angered. Now he will begin to actively seek Israel’s destruction by making an alliance with those who are against God (potentially Islamic nations).

An army on his behalf will now take away the sacrifices from the temple and set up the abomination that causes desolation. This is normally thought to be an idol. But, it can also be the man himself.

He draws the wicked men of the world under his power. But Christians will become stronger than ever.

Those who know God instruct many. Therefore he will make war with them. The saints will be under the greatest attack Satan can give.

The Christians will not see much help and there will be those who pretend to befriend them only to betray them.

The Christians will be killed in order to make them so much stronger in their faith. This is a trial by fire where the hot will get hotter and the cold will grow colder!

Antichrist will seem to be victorious.

He shall not claim any god but he himself will say that he is a god.

Though he does not claim a god to be over him he will honor the god of forces…this may seem strange that he could not regard any god and yet honor this one, but he is basically becoming one with his god. Who is the god of forces? It is none other than Satan himself. This is the only logical answer I have found since Satan and the antichrist are of the same spirit.

He divides the land among the strongholds that he has taken. He is basically setting up provinces in his kingdom.

Finally at the time of the end Egypt attacks him but fails. This attack however is met with such a strong and swift retaliation that the antichrist not only defeats Egypt but also other countries that may try to get in his way.

Many countries fall to him during this war. There are some however that do not.

Egypt is no match for him.

He takes the wealth of Egypt and he controls Libya and Ethiopia.

News from the east and north alarms him so he goes out to make war with the whole earth.

He sets up his camp in Israel in the holy mountain. But this is where God then comes and makes an end of him.

WOW, that’s a lot packed into one chapter! But there is so much more to learn about world history, empires, and this man of sin himself. In our next study we will talk about a “one world government.”

Continue To Unit 6B:5 – What Does The Bible Say About A One World Government OR

Return To Christianity 101 Unit 6B – The Latter Days – A Detailed Look

July 14, 2015 at 12:01 am | | No comment

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