The Prophecy of Now (Part 1)

We left off last we in vs 20 of Daniel chapter 11 were prophecy aligned with the poisoning of Seleucus IV by Heliodorous, who was assigned to levy the tax against the jews to pay tribute to the Roman empire.

Vs 21 -35 Depict the rule of Antiochus Epiphanes, interesting the name Epiphanes means God manifest, Im not suggesting or even referencing this man as being associated with God, rather highlighting the heresy of his name. let read through the verses

Daniel 11:21–35 NASB95

21 “In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue. 22 “The overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant. 23 “After an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people. 24 “In a time of tranquility he will enter the richest parts of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors; he will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time. 25 “He will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South with a large army; so the king of the South will mobilize an extremely large and mighty army for war; but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him. 26 “Those who eat his choice food will destroy him, and his army will overflow, but many will fall down slain. 27 “As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, and they will speak lies to each other at the same table; but it will not succeed, for the end is still to come at the appointed time. 28 “Then he will return to his land with much plunder; but his heart will be set against the holy covenant, and he will take action and then return to his own land. 29 “At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before. 30 “For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. 32 “By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. 33 “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. 34 “Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy. 35 “Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.

Epiphanes was known for his mistreatment of the Jews and campaigns in Egypt, and the preceding Maccabean revolt against him.

A New King

through the description of Antiochus Epiphanes, Daniel never refers to this leader as king, as a matter of fact vs 21 says

Daniel 11:21 NASB95

21 “In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.

So we can understand why most biblical scholars consider vs 36 as the beginning of a new topic, as we read consider who in history this could be

Daniel 11:36 NASB95

36 “Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.

11:36-12:2, in my eyes king refers to different person than that described in vs 21-35. The King will do as he please is a reference to the Roman Empire. the Roman empire viewed by Daniel was a ruler that would last until the indignation (unfair treatment)is finished. Up to this vs, Antiochus Epiphanes work hadn't been completed, so the expression is thought to be referred to the complete manifestation of the wrath of God on Jewish apostacy. However if we jump to 66-70 A.D. we find the righteous indignation of God fully manifested with the destruction of the temple. But the indignation continued to grow, which lends to the understanding the the completion must come in the final heptad, as Daniel eludes to in 9:27. As we know a king sometime is not a single person but a position held by many people over time.

Diving Deeper into this “king”

The will full king is thought by many of like mind as the antichrist. I know this is a touchy subject in escatology but he aligns with the first beast of Revelation 13

Revelation 13:1 NASB95

1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.

Now the beast have Ten horns is the same beast that Daniel Spoke of in Chapter 7 AKA the Roman empire, not a snap shot of a time for the Roman empire but the empire as a whole from beginning until today. Many of you might say but wait, the Roman empire collapsed many years ago. that is not the case, the Roman empire divided into 10 states, and is very much alive through the ancestry of those state, all except for the 3 horns that fell off Also known as: Heruli, Vandals, and Ostrogoths all of which are extinct today. All of which points to the Total completion of the indignation during the 70th heptad of Daniels prophecy or, the 7 years of tribulation.

Daniel 11:37–39 NASB95

37 “He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all. 38 “But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. 39 “He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.

Scirpture seems to point to the fact that this kingdom, the kingdom of now and then will not worship the God of their parents. it is not a concensus on what this means but, an argument could be made that this means people will create many gods unto themselves. the rulers will justify thier actions through what they have pleaded as morality,

vs 38 highlights that the king will worship with everything available to him. he will use all that is available to sell this god, to show this false as truth. I have the feeling that this god is much more than 1 thing, it will be an abundance of lies.

taking action with the help of a foreign god, is understood as creating a lie and selling it as truth and calling it law. This will cause them to rule over many. notice how Daniel says them in vs 39. The king will give authority to many who follow his ideology.. In the era spoken about in this vs, the world will be disguised by many false things. many false standards, ruled by many false morals, and many false idols of worship all supported by the many.

An Interesting Take

Many eschatological views proclaim that this king is a warmonger, set on building his army and using his army on his people. I think this might be a bit too obvious. the interpretation that i see is, this king will sell the romance of military authority, and standardize the people to willingly ask for it. As vs 39 say

Daniel 11:39 NASB95

39 “He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.

Im not sure this is a war monger, more of a charismatic leader.

The Breakdown

This scripture highlights the roman empire of today as the ideologies that have swept across the culture and have brainwashed the generations to reject the God who was worshiped by our parents. Ideologies like atheism, agnosticism, humanism, universalism and the list goes on, have perverted the objective truth of the one true God. The world leaders have sold this ideology and worshiped this ideology and paid tribute to this ideology to the extant that the belief in the one true God is sold as irrational, bigoted, and intolerant. As we have seen this far, the prophesy of Daniel is 100% accurate, so too the prophecy that is now and yet to come.