Daniel 27: The Antichrist In Daniel

Good morning, and welcome to family worship with the church body of Eastern Hills. Whether you are here in the room, or online, thanks for being part of our celebration of Jesus today.

One thing that is such a blessing about our church family is our student ministry. We have great students, who I’ve had the blessing of getting to hang out with a lot this summer. So parents of our students: thanks for raising your kids! And part of what makes our student ministry so great is the faithful, caring adults who serve as volunteers for weekly things, events, and trips. I know I speak for Trevor when I say “THANK YOU” to those who serve in the student ministry. Your volunteering matters!

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Opening

Has everyone recovered from the historical fire hose that we got sprayed with last week from the first part of this chapter? If you missed it, I highly recommend going back and watching it to help you have context for today’s passage. I’d recommend that you do so with your Bible open, so that you can connect the dots between the prophecy given to Daniel (about 535 BC) and the historical events in Persia (verses 2-4), and then Greece (beginning in 312 BC with verse 5).

Remember that we left off last week at verse 35 with the struggle that the Jews were under when Antiochus IV Epiphanes was king of the Seleucid dynasty (kings of the North). Antiochus had just been humiliated by the Roman fleet, and returned to Jerusalem in a rage, taking his embarrassment out on the Jews there by massacring 20,000 of them on the Sabbath, then abolishing any traditional Hebrew worship, and setting up an altar to Zeus in the temple. All of this was allowed by God in order to “refine, purify, and cleanse” the Jews of their apostasy.

This morning, we will finish up this chapter (but not quite the vision itself) by reading Daniel 11:36-45. So if you would please turn there in your Bibles or Bible apps, and stand as you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word:

Daniel 11:36–45 CSB

36 “Then the king will do whatever he wants. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and he will say outrageous things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, because what has been decreed will be accomplished. 37 He will not show regard for the gods of his ancestors, the god desired by women, or for any other god, because he will magnify himself above all. 38 Instead, he will honor a god of fortresses—a god his ancestors did not know—with gold, silver, precious stones, and riches. 39 He will deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. He will greatly honor those who acknowledge him, making them rulers over many and distributing land as a reward. 40 “At the time of the end, the king of the South will engage him in battle, but the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships. He will invade countries and sweep through them like a flood. 41 He will also invade the beautiful land, and many will fall. But these will escape from his power: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of the Ammonites. 42 He will extend his power against the countries, and not even the land of Egypt will escape. 43 He will get control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the riches of Egypt. The Libyans and Cushites will also be in submission. 44 But reports from the east and the north will terrify him, and he will go out with great fury to annihilate and completely destroy many. 45 He will pitch his royal tents between the sea and the beautiful holy mountain, but he will meet his end with no one to help him.

PRAYER Savannah Carter, Matt Smith, Cyndi Leavitt

A couple of years ago, we took a trip to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. I had never been to South Dakota, and I had never been to Wyoming, either (our trip took us through Wyoming). Here’s a picture of Abbie and I in Wyoming (one of my favorite pictures of us… good memories). As we drove north past the town of Wheatland, we could see mountains off in the distance. Now, we couldn’t make out any details of those mountains other than the peaks. Contrasted with the beautiful grasslands that surrounded the highway, the mountains looked like they were painted—a flat, two dimensional image off in the distance, without depth. They blended together to look like one big range of mountains.

But the truth is that there were sometimes miles between the peaks that we could see from that distance. We drove a different way when we came home, and came through those mountains from the north. We found ourselves driving through vast valleys with mountains on both sides of us. These were the same mountains that we could see from the south, but with texture, depth, and detail.

So it can be with time in predictive prophecy. From a distance, the chronological surface of a prophecy might look “flat.” Consider that verses 5-35—31 verses—covered a historical time span of nearly 150 years. Daniel could see “peaks,” but didn’t really know how far apart those “peaks” were. This feature of prophecy is called “prophetic foreshortening.” Likewise, in the break between the end of our focal passage last week and the beginning of this week’s, Daniel could not see the time “valley” between the “peaks” of 35 and 36. You could say that the break between the 69th and 70th weeks in the “Seventy Weeks” vision in chapter 9 contains a similar foreshortening.

When we left off at verse 35, we were faced with the tyrannical and oppressive reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. And to be certain, Antiochus IV Epiphanes is a type, perhaps the foremost type, of antichrist. However, the prophecy in verses 36-45 appears to shift to a different figure without warning.

There a couple of good reasons for us to think this:

The very general reason (lots of sub-reasons in this, so I’m generalizing) is that Antiochus IV Epiphanes didn’t do the things that this passage foretells. I’ll give a few specifics in my first point this morning. Some argue that Daniel just got things wrong about Antiochus and his reign, conquests, and downfall. But this doesn’t make sense. As we saw over and over and over again last week, chapter 11’s prophecies up to this point have been fulfilled with great accuracy and specificity. In fact, in his commentary on Daniel, Stephen Miller writes: “In the first 35 verses there are at least 135 prophecies which have been literally fulfilled and can be corroborated by a study of the history of the period.” (Daniel) Did God suddenly start getting things wrong in verse 36? Certainly not, especially in light of my second point here:

The “time of the end” (40) and the death of this “king” are closely connected to 12:1-2, which we will look at next week. This connection between the two gives this “time of the end” the meaning of the END end. Suffice it to say for the moment that this king has to be there at the end of time, just before the resurrection. So this cannot have happened yet, and no historical figure we’ve seen can be its fulfillment.

Some have thought this this passage is about Antiochus, some about the Roman Empire, some Herod the Great, some about Mohammed, some about the papacy of the Catholic church. But the position that I hold, and that most of traditional Christianity have held throughout history, and that I believe makes the most sense of the passage, is that this is a vision of the antichrist—a real, historical figure who will rise to power just before the end of time. Remember when we studied 1 John in the spring of 2023, we saw two references to antichrist in that book:

1 John 2:18 CSB

18 Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour.

1 John 4:2–3 CSB

2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

From John, we can confidently say two things about the existence of antichrist: 1) the spirit of antichrist is in the world and at work, and 2) there have been several who have been “antichrists” who are not THE antichrist. Antiochus was definitely one of these, as others such as Herod and Nero likely have been—they each shared the characteristics of the antichrist that we will consider this morning.

So the question that we ask ourselves as we approach this passage is: Who is the antichrist? Well, we don’t know. But our passage points us to four things that we can know for sure about him:

1: Deceiver (36-37)

First, we see that the antichrist will be a deceiver. Since Antiochus IV was a type, or prefiguring, of the antichrist, we can see from his example that that is par for the course for those who are antichrists. And the greatest area where the antichrist is going to attempt to deceive people will be in the area of religion or faith:

Daniel 11:36–37 CSB

Here is the first example that I’ll give of why this person isn’t Antiochus. While Antiochus did call himself “god manifest” (Epiphanes), he still worshiped pagan Greek gods. Remember that he didn’t just make worship of the Yahweh illegal, he set up an altar to Zeus in the temple complex and offered sacrifices on it. Thus, he also did not reject “the gods of his ancestors.”

So we know that antichrist will hold himself up as a divine man, and not just A divine man, but THE divine man, because he will “magnify himself above all.” (37) In the process, he will speak blasphemies against the One True God, as we saw of the little horn, who represented antichrist in Daniel’s first vision back in chapter 7:

Daniel 7:25 CSB

25 He will speak words against the Most High and oppress the holy ones of the Most High. He will intend to change religious festivals and laws, and the holy ones will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time.

Just as the little horn was allowed to oppress the saints of God for a fixed amount of time, so the antichrist will be allowed to be “successful” until the time of wrath is finished. And as we will see in a bit, that time is guaranteed (36b).

Revelation gives us the same insight into the antichrist, referred to in that book as the “beast.”

Revelation 13:5–8 CSB

5 The beast was given a mouth to utter boasts and blasphemies. It was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 6 It began to speak blasphemies against God: to blaspheme his name and his dwelling—those who dwell in heaven. 7 And it was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. It was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. 8 All those who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.

The antichrist will basically be an atheist, believing that there is no God, but he will want everyone else to not be atheistic. He will want all of humanity to worship him. This will be his greatest deception. This is how Paul explained this in 2 Thessalonians:

2 Thessalonians 2:4 CSB

4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s temple, proclaiming that he himself is God.

2 Thessalonians 2:9–10 CSB

9 The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with every kind of miracle, both signs and wonders serving the lie, 10 and with every wicked deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth and so be saved.

So what we see in Scripture is that the role of antichrist is found in his name. Anti-Christ. And as we saw before, the spirit of antichrist is present and active in the world. As John would later write in 2 John:

2 John 7 CSB

7 Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

These may come in the form of false teachers for now, but the antichrist will be just as false.

And ultimately, this is what the antichrist is: the opponent, the opposite, of the real Christ. He’s a negative caricature of Jesus. His ways are the polar opposite of the ways of Christ.

Antichrist will speak in lies. Jesus is the truth.

John 14:6 CSB

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Antichrist will exalt himself. Jesus humbled Himself.

Philippians 2:5–8 CSB

5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.

Antichrist will pretend that he is god and blaspheme the true God. Jesus truly is God incarnate, and glorifies the Father.

John 17:4–5 CSB

4 I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with that glory I had with you before the world existed.

So don’t be deceived by the spirit of the antichrist! He is a cheap knockoff of the real thing. Don’t listen to false teachers and false messiahs:

Mark 13:5–6 CSB

5 Jesus told them, “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and they will deceive many.

Mark 13:21–23 CSB

21 “Then if anyone tells you, ‘See, here is the Messiah! See, there!’ do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and will perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 And you must watch! I have told you everything in advance.

So we must remember that the antichrist will be first a deceiver, even empowered by Satan to do incredible things as part of his deception. But he will also be a despot.

2: Despot (38-39)

The term “despot” isn’t a word that we use alot in conversation, but it is a great word to describe what the antichrist will be like during his allowed reign. A “despot” is a ruler who exercises absolute power and authority in a brutal or oppressive way. And what we see in our focal passage is that antichrist’s policy will be that “might makes right.”

Daniel 11:38–39 CSB

38 Instead, he will honor a god of fortresses—a god his ancestors did not know—with gold, silver, precious stones, and riches. 39 He will deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. He will greatly honor those who acknowledge him, making them rulers over many and distributing land as a reward.

Almost across the board in the commentaries that I read in preparation for this morning’s message, the interpretation of this phrase “a god of fortresses” doesn’t mean that there is some new “god” who builds or protects fortresses, but that this is the only idol that the antichrist does “worship:” warfare—capturing fortresses, building fortresses, and defending fortresses. And for him to “honor” that god will take a great deal of wealth. Through the help of this “foreign god,” he will conquer even the strongest of nations. With his military power, he will crush power. We’ve already read that he will able to oppress the holy ones, to exercise authority for forty-two months. And all who toe the line—all who “acknowledge” his power and authority—these he will promote and reward, building a network of loyalty and support through his use of power.

So antichrist will be a violent ruler who will oppress, abuse, and manipulate in order to get what he wants. He will be a despot in the greatest sense of the word. And his deception combined with his despotism and use of military might will win over many in the world. Revelation tells us this:

Revelation 13:4 CSB

4 They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against it?”

Again, this characteristic of the antichrist stand in opposition to the Person and character of Jesus. Instead of being a despotic dictator who must use might and magic to lure the world into following Him, Jesus is a loving and gracious Lord. Instead of bringing His bringing subjects into His Kingdom through force and manipulation, Jesus came to rescue us from the power, penalty, and punishment for sin:

Colossians 1:13–14 CSB

13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

And how did He do this? By dying in our place—the Lord for the lost:

Romans 5:6–11 CSB

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

This is nothing like how the antichrist will exercise his power and authority. He will be domineering, forcing or tricking people into following him for his own benefit and glory. Jesus, on the other hand, has put His power and authority on display through sacrificing Himself for us—in this way, He is a model for us about exercising godly dominion (remember what we talked about yesterday at Men’s Breakfast, gentlemen). A quick side note for you gentlemen in the room:

How many of you men were at breakfast yesterday? Awesome. One application to what we talked about yesterday to challenge us, and those who weren’t there yesterday: Might doesn’t necessarily make right. God has given you authority in your home not so we can lord it over our wives and force her compliance, to always get our way because of our God-given position in the home. The point is that God get His way in your home through you exercising godly dominion—sacrificially nurturing and protecting your family, loving especially your wife the way Christ has loved the church (Eph 5:25-26). If you lord your position over your wife and force or manipulate her into submission as your regular mode of doing things, you don’t look like Jesus. You look like the opposite. Don’t be a despot in your own home, guys. And we’re going to be looking at Foundations for Godly Manhood at Men’s Breakfast every month through May, so guys: come and check it out and get connected to other guys walking through the same things.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming:

The antichrist will be a despot. And when the world has had enough of his tyranny, it will rise up against him. And then he will become the third characteristic we see in Daniel 11: He will become a destroyer.

3: Destroyer (40-43)

By calling the antichrist a destroyer, I do not mean that he will ultimately be victorious (which we will see in our fourth point). What I mean is that for a time, it will look that way. This is why people ascribed the title of antichrist to Hitler (and he did look and act the part in many ways), and certainly, Hitler had the spirit of antichrist. But when the final antichrist arises to power, the world will not be able to stand against him.

Daniel 11:40–43 CSB

40 “At the time of the end, the king of the South will engage him in battle, but the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships. He will invade countries and sweep through them like a flood. 41 He will also invade the beautiful land, and many will fall. But these will escape from his power: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of the Ammonites. 42 He will extend his power against the countries, and not even the land of Egypt will escape. 43 He will get control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the riches of Egypt. The Libyans and Cushites will also be in submission.

Here, the antichrist is still being referred to as the king of the North. Gabriel tells Daniel that the king of the South (see last week’s sermon for more context on this), which will likely be a coalition of nations including Egypt, will attempt to wrest power from antichrist’s grasp, but antichrist will be too powerful. He will defeat countries with his massive army, and will invade and take Israel itself (the “beautiful land”). Those who were historically Israel’s enemies, listed here as Edom, Moab, and Ammon, will “escape” him, possibly because they will already be on his side when the time comes. He will plunder the wealth of the nations that he invades, and bring even those who he had previously not been at war with (here listed as Libya and Cush) into submission.

Another reason that we can be confident that this vision isn’t talking about Antiochus IV is that, while he desperately wanted to conquer Egypt, we heard last week about how his last campaign to do so ended in embarrassment in fulfillment of the prophecy in 11:30. But when the true antichrist comes, this battle will be the sign of the beginning of the end. Look at how Jesus speaks about this in the Gospel of Mark:

Mark 13:14 CSB

14 “When you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be” (let the reader understand), “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.

Mark 13:19–20 CSB

19 For those will be days of tribulation, the kind that hasn’t been from the beginning of creation until now and never will be again. 20 If the Lord had not cut those days short, no one would be saved. But he cut those days short for the sake of the elect, whom he chose.

This reference in Mark to the “abomination of desolation,” (something that desecrates the temple) is quoting from Daniel 11:31, which referred to the time of Antiochus. However, Jesus is referring to it as a future event in the first century AD. It will occur when antichrist is allowed to overpower Israel for a time in the last days.

But again, the character of antichrist in Scripture is juxtaposed against the character of our Messiah, Jesus Christ. Where the antichrist will be the destroyer of nations, the Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the source and sustainer of everything in creation, including life itself:

Colossians 1:16–17 CSB

16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.

John 5:26 CSB

26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son to have life in himself.

In the book of Acts, when Peter and John were sharing the truth of the Gospel through the miraculous healing of a lame man in the temple courts, they even referred to Jesus as the source of life:

Acts 3:15 CSB

15 You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.

Antichrist destroys. Jesus creates. Antichrist is a source of great evil and death. Jesus is the source of life.

And finally, there is one more characteristic that we see about antichrist in this passage. It is that antichrist is doomed.

4: Doomed (44-45)

Antichrist will deceive people into following him. He will force and manipulate people into following him. He will even conquer nations in order to cement his position as the ruler of the world. But the Scripture testifies that his position will not last. He is ultimately doomed.

Daniel 11:44–45 CSB

44 But reports from the east and the north will terrify him, and he will go out with great fury to annihilate and completely destroy many. 45 He will pitch his royal tents between the sea and the beautiful holy mountain, but he will meet his end with no one to help him.

With all his might and power, he will still (like all despots, I suppose) be afraid that one day he will lose it all. And when he hears of a threat (or threats) to the east and the north, he will respond with the intent of destroying them. But the battle will come to him in Israel, according to Daniel’s prophecy.

One last reason that this can’t be referring to Antiochus IV. The Bible clearly says that antichrist will meet his end in Israel. Antiochus didn’t die in Israel. He died in Persia.

Antichrist will go out and gather all of the armies under his authority to take a stand against these threats in Israel at the Valley of Megiddo, also known as Armageddon, according to Revelation 16:16

Revelation 16:16 CSB

16 So they assembled the kings at the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

But they will stand in vain against Jesus Himself, the rider on the white horse of Revelation 19, and there antichrist, the beast, will meet his end “with no one to help him.”

Revelation 19:11–16 CSB

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself. 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. 14 The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. 15 A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. 16 And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Revelation 19:19–20 CSB

19 Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against his army. 20 But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with it the false prophet, who had performed the signs in its presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image with these signs. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

In one final contrast between the antichrist and our Lord Jesus, we see that Jesus is anything but doomed! It may have seemed that way for a minute at His crucifixion, but instead of meeting His end in death, He put an end to death! Instead of being defeated by sin and the grave, He has taken our sins upon Himself and beaten the grave! Instead of being defeated by antichrist in the future, he will destroy antichrist with the breath of his mouth and bring him to nothing, according to 2 Thes 2:8!

2 Thessalonians 2:8 CSB

8 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.

And not only that, but He said that He is alive forever and ever, and holds the very keys of death and the grave in Rev 1:17-18:

Revelation 1:17–18 (CSB)

17b "I am the First and the Last, 18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

In Jesus alone is salvation. Going the way of the antichrist will doom you with the antichrist. Only Jesus can set you free from sin, death, and the grave, because only He has defeated them. Believe this morning that Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:3-4), so that you can be forgiven, restored to a right relationship with God through faith, and receive the guarantee of the Holy Spirit and the promise of eternal life. Surrender to Christ this morning.

Closing

My prayer this morning is that I have not in any way glorified the antichrist, but have brought glory to the Lord Jesus by demonstrating from the Bible that He is the truth as opposed to the deceiver; the gracious Lord as opposed to the brutal despot; the source of life as opposed to the destroyer of it; and that He will be victorious over the doomed antichrist at the end of all things.

Have you surrendered to Jesus? He’s the only source of eternal life, the only means of forgiveness of our sins, the only hope for salvation. If you’ve never believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then you are doomed, trapped in your sins. The Bible says that God wants everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Pet 2:4) because He loves us and made us for relationship with Him. Trust Christ and surrender to Him as Savior and Lord this morning. And let us know so we can celebrate with you.

Baptism

Church membership

Prayer

Giving

PRAYER

Closing Remarks

Bible reading (1 Chr. 17, Ps. 44)

Pastor’s Study tonight at 5:30, hopefully finishing through verse 21

Prayer Meeting this Wednesday, led by Rich

Instructions for guests

Benediction

Something a little different for benediction this morning. Grab your hymnal and open up to hymn 28 (I think… To God Be the Glory). This hymn just kept on going through my heart and mind while I wrote this sermon this week. Let’s sing this great hymn together as our benediction today.

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