According to Daniel: The Antichrist

Introduction

As we come to the end of the book of Daniel, we see that Daniel is shown a final world leader at the “time of the end.”

In the past, when discussing messianic prophesies, we have shown the following figure:

From the prophet’s point of view, he sees a king messiah who also suffers, but he does not understand how much time is between the events that he sees. This should be a warning to all who have received visions or dreams from Adonai. We should not step outside of what God actually shows us.

The same principle is known as theoreo, which means to “to behold”, “to look at or on” as a spectator. We see that the King of the North that we covered last week and the final Antichrist are extremely similar. We could even say that Antiochus IV is a foreshadowing of the end-time Antichrist. Last week we read up until Dan. 11:35, and pointed out that every single detail has already been fulfilled. Today as we read, we will see that verses 36-39 were partially fulfilled by Antiochus IV, but not completely, and verses 11:40 to the end of Chapter 12 were not fulfilled at all.

So today we will read from Dan. 11:36 - 12:13 and then we will look at the individual sections.

Daniel 11:36–12:13 TLV

“So the king will do as he pleases, exalting and magnifying himself above every god. He will even speak outrageous things against the God of gods. He will prosper until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been decided will be done. He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or the one desired by women, nor will he show regard for any god, but will exalt himself above all. Instead of these, he will honor a god of fortresses—a god his fathers did not acknowledge he will honor with gold, silver, precious stones and costly things. He will attack strong fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will give them authority over many and will parcel out land for a price. “Now at the time of the end the king of the south will attack him, and the king of the north will storm out against him with chariots, horsemen and many ships. He will invade lands and pass through them like an overflowing river. He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many will be overthrown, but these will escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the chief of the sons of Ammon. He will extend his hand against other countries; the land of Egypt will not escape. He will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver, as well as all of the riches of Egypt. The Libyans and the Cushites will also be under his feet. But reports from the east and north will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. He will pitch his royal tents between the seas and the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will meet his doom with no one to help him.’ “At that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has never occurred since the beginning of the nation until then. But at that time your people—everyone who is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake—some to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse. And those who turn many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, close up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will run back and forth and knowledge will increase.’ Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others stood there, one on this bank of the river and the one on the other bank of the river. One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long until the end of the wondrous things?” Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised both his right and left hands toward heaven and swore an oath by Him who lives forever, saying, “It is for a time, times, and a half. Then when the breaking of the power of the holy people comes to an end, all these things will be finished.” Now I heard, but I did not understand. So I said, ‘My Lord, what will be the outcome of these things?’ Then he said: “Go your way, Daniel. For the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand. “From the time that the daily burnt offering is taken away, and abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Happy is the one who keeps waiting, and reaches the 1,335 days. But you, go your way till the end. You will rest and then at the end of days you will arise to receive your portion.”

He Exalts Himself

There is no doubt that Antiochus IV though extremely highly of himself. He named himself Epiphanes which means “God Manifest”.

We read about Antiochus from Diodorus Siculus, Book 34:4

To that end he sacrificed a great swine at the image of Moses, and at the altar of God that stood in the outward court, and sprinkled them with the blood of the sacrifice. He commanded likewise that the books, by which they were taught to hate all other nations, should be sprinkled with the broth made of the swine's flesh. And he put out the lamp (called by them immortal) which burns continually in the temple. Lastly he forced the high priest and the other Jews to eat swine's flesh.

This is abhorant, but the next verse by Diodorus seems to show something that is different from what Daniel wrote:

When Antiochus' friends had spoken about all these things, they earnestly advised him to root out the whole nation, or at least to abolish their laws, and compel them to change their former manner of living. 5 But the king, being of a generous spirit and mild disposition, received hostages and pardoned the Jews: but he demolished the walls of Jerusalem, and took the tribute that was due.

And while he did attempt to force the Jewish people to worship Zeus, the rest of the verses in Daniel do not seem to apply. And so I look at Antiochus IV as a prototype of the end time ruler.

What does the Antichrist believe?

The end-time Antichrist will be “a self-willed, self-exaulting one who exalts himself above every god, and most specifcally , blasphemes Yahweh, the one true God.”

In Dan. 11:37-38 we learn 4 things about what the Antichrist believes. These are:

He shows no regard (rejects) “the God of his fathers,”

He rejects “the desire of women,”

He rejects “every other god,” but

He honours and affirms “a god of fortresses.”

There is a big question about whether the Antichrist will claim to be the one, true God, and I think that what we will see that this is not the case.

God of his fathers

The term elohim ab is used throughout Scripture as a reference to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A perfect example is 2 Chron. 13:12. This was stated as a reminded to the Kingdom of Israel, that Adonai was protecting the Kingdom of Judah because of his promise to David.

2 Chronicles 13:12 TLV

So look, God is with us at our head, and His kohanim with the signal trumpets to sound an alarm against you. O men of Israel, do not fight against Adonai, the God of your fathers—for you will not succeed!”

Now some people might thing that because the Antichrist rejects the God of his fathers, that means that the Antichrist is Jewish, but we need to remember that Abraham had many sons. Right now we have the Abraham Accords, which are seeking to bring unity between many of the descendants of Abraham. It is far more likely, that just like Antiochus IV, the Antichrist will be from one of the other sons of Abraham, and specifically from the location of the ancient Assyrian Empire.

The desire of women

Some people have tried to say from this verse that, the Antichrist will be celebate, or even a homosexual, but neither of these interpretation fit the context. In fact when we just read the TLV, we see that they speak of rejecting the “one desired by women.”

In the context of rejecting the “god of his fathers”, and rejecting “any god” we find that the Anticrist rejects this other “one”. Who is the “Desire of women”, and how would Daniel have understood this passage?

We read in Luke 1:41-55

Luke 1:41–55 TLV

When Elizabeth heard Miriam’s greeting, the unborn child leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was completely filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh. She then cried out with a great shout, saying, “You are blessed among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Who am I, that the mother of my Master should come to me? For even when I just heard the sound of your greeting in my ear, the unborn child leaped with joy in my womb. Blessed is she who trusted that there would be a fulfillment of those things spoken to her by Adonai.” Then Miriam said, “My soul magnifies Adonai, and my spirit greatly rejoices in God, my Savior. For He has looked with care upon the humble state of His maidservant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One has done a great thing for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is from generation to generation to the ones who fear Him. He has displayed power with His arm He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down rulers from thrones and exalted humble ones. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty-handed. He has helped His servant Israel, remembering His mercy, just as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.”

It was the desire of all Jewish women, to be the mother of the Messiah, to be the fulfillment of Gen. 3:15.

So we see that, not only does the Antichrist reject the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but he also rejects the Messiah of Israel. This corresponds exactly with what John the Beloved wrote about the Antichrist in 1 John 2:22-23

1 John 2:22–23 TLV

Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? This one is the anti-messiah—the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; the one who acknowledges the Son also has the Father.

In fact it is very probable that John is summarising Daniel 11 when he wrote this in his letter.

Every other god vs god of forces

We then read in Daniel 11 that the Antichrist will reject every other god, but does this mean that the Antichrist will be an athiest? Well, no. Because of the the very next verse we see that he will actually be a monotheist, but rather a different god. The god that he worships is a god of war, of military might, and of armies. Some have tried to point to the god Mars, or some other god who demands war.

Now, no specific god is mentioned, but do any of you know of a religion that denies Adonai, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that denies the Messiah of Israel, that denies all other gods, and yet serves a god who demands war? There are not that many monotheistic religions in the world today, but Islam certainly fits the description.

Joel Richardson points out:

While Muslim apologists will claim the Allah of Islam is, in fact, one and the same as the God of Abraham, this is merely Islamic propoganda. The Allah of Islam has far more in common with Sin, the mood god whom Abraham left behind in the desert, than with the Father God of the Bible. ...[and] If Islam is the religion of the Antichrist, then the phrase “a god whom his fathers did not know,” could easily be understood as a reference to Allah, the moon-and-war god of Arabia.

Military Conquests

Daniel is now shown several military campaigns that will be led by the Antichrist. We see that he rewards loyalty by giving control to his followers. At some point in time we see that Egypt will wage war against him, and he will destryp Egypt with a massive army and navy.

But on his way, he will make a point to invade the Beautiful Land of Israel. We see that three peoples fall under his might, Egypt, Libya and Cuah. Now in Daniel’s day these kingdoms covered the entirety of the Nile River. Today we are looking at the countries of Egypt, Libya and Sudan. This corresponds to Dan. 7:8 where we see 3 nations falling initially to the little horn.

Daniel 7:8 TLV

“While I was pondering the horns, behold, another horn, a small one, sprang up between them, and three of the first horns were uprooted from before it. And behold, this horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking boastfully.

Now for some reason he will not attack Edom, Moab and Ammon (the modern state of Jordan), but we will watch many nations fall in the middle east, and fall quickly. But Adonai will draw him back to the land of Israel, and although he will come in as a victorious king, Adonai has another thing planned for him.

Time of Distress

It will be at this time that we will witness the greatest distress that has ever occured to Israel, and how I wish I could say that this was all in the past! But no, the next verse speaks of the last-days resurrection of the dead. We have not seen this, the resurrection of the righteous, and so we have not seen this time of distress.

The good news is that this will only last for “time, times and 1/2 a time” or in other words, 3.5 years, or in Dan. 12:11, 1,290 days (or 42.4 months, or 184 weeks & 2 days).

Revelation 11:3 TLV

And I will grant authority to My two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.”

The suffering will not go on forever. Thankfully as Yeshua tells us in Matt. 24:22

Matthew 24:22 TLV

And unless those days were cut short, no one would be delivered. But for the sake of the chosen, those days will be cut short.

Promices for the end

There are several promises in these last few verses.

There is the promise of everlasting life to thoes whoes names are in the book of life.

Those who disciple others and turn many to righteousness will shine like the stars.

This end time war will be at a time when knowledge and travel will increase without bound. Does that sound like today? It used to be said that the amount of knowledge in the world was doubling every 7 years, now it is 18 months!

Daniel was told that this this prophesy was sealed until the end. Daniel would not see it, he wouldreived his reward and his rest long before this would happen.

We are living in a time when we could watch these events occur very rapidly. We live in a time where the wicked are acting wickedly and can not understand what is going on. But we who are wise, who are purified, who are made spotless and refined, we do understand. And as it says in Dan. 11:32b

Daniel 11:32 TLV

The people who know their God will stand strong and prevail.