Daniel 11.36b-The Prophecy of the Antichrist Deifying Himself
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday July 1, 2014
Daniel: Daniel 11:36b-The Prophecy of the Antichrist Deifying Himself
Lesson # 355
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 11:36.
Daniel 11:36 “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.” (NASB95)
“And he will exalt and magnify himself above every god” presents the result of the first prophetic statement in Daniel 11:36 that a unique king will do according to his desire.
Therefore, this unique king will deify himself as a result of achieving absolute military and political power.
“He will exalt himself” is the verb rûm (רוּם) (room), which denotes that this unique king will become arrogant as a result of being able to do according to his desire or in other words, it denotes that he will become arrogant as a result of achieving absolute power militarily and politically.
“And magnify himself above every god” presents the result of the previous prophetic statement that this unique king who will achieve absolute military and political power will exalt himself or in other words, he will become arrogant.
Therefore, this indicates that this unique king will exalt himself as a result of achieving absolute military and political power “with the result that” or “so that” he will magnify himself above every god.
“Magnify himself” is the verb gā·ḏǎl (גָּדַל) (gaw-dal´), which indicates that this unique king who will exalt himself as a result of achieving absolute military and political power will “magnify himself” above every god or in other words, he will deify himself.
“Above every god” is composed of the preposition ʿǎl (עַל) (al), “above” and it is followed by the noun kōl (כֹּל) (kole), “every” which is modifying the noun ʾēl (אֵל) (ale), “god.”
The noun ʾēl means “god” referring to a deity worshipped by an unregenerate person which is not the true God but employed by Satan and the kingdom of darkness to lead the unregenerate away from worshipping the God of Israel, which the New Testament identifies as Father, Son and the Spirit.
This word is modified by the collective singular construct form of the noun kōl which functions as an adjective because Hebrew nouns in construct relationship to one another, function the same as the English adjective “all” or “every.”
This word kōl is used in a distributive attributive sense and means “each and every” expressing the concept of totality.
The noun ʾēl is the object of the preposition ʿǎl which means “above” since it is functioning as a marker of the object over which someone exercises authority or control.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates that this unique king who will achieve absolute military and political power will as a result exalt himself so that he will magnify himself above every deity.
Daniel 11:36 “Then, a unique king will do according to his desire. Consequently, he will exalt himself so that he will magnify himself above every deity. Consequently, he will exalt himself so that he will magnify himself above every deity.” (My translation)
As we noted, the first prophetic statement in Daniel 11:36 by the elect angel of God reveals that a unique king will do according to his desire.
This language was used to describe Alexander the Great in Daniel 11:3 and Antiochus Epiphanes IV in Daniel 11:16.
In each instance, it refers to the absolute political and military power of these two individuals.
Here in Daniel 11:36, this first prophetic statement speaks of the absolute political and military power of this unique king.
The character and actions of this king described in Daniel 11:36-45 do not correspond to any king in history but rather corresponds to the descriptions of the character and actions of the Antichrist during the seventieth week which are recorded in Daniel 7, Matthew 24-25, 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13.
In other words, the description of the character and actions of this king in Daniel 11:36-45 correspond to the prophecies of the Antichrist in Daniel 7, Matthew 24-25, 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13.
This unique king does not refer to Antiochus Epiphanes IV.
Those who believe that this king is a reference to Antiochus Epiphanes IV argue that by stopping the sacrifices and offering a pagan sacrifice Antiochus fulfilled the prophecy in Daniel 11:36 that this king will magnify himself above every god and speak monstrous things against the god of gods.
Some argue that when Antiochus gave himself the title “God Manifest” he was fulfilled this prophecy in Daniel 11:36 but Antiochus did not set up an image of himself to be worshipped or demand the world worship him as will be the case with Antichrist according to Revelation 13.
Antiochus simply set up an image of Zeus and never magnified himself above every deity worshipped on the earth at that time in the second century B.C.
The prophecy in Daniel 11:37 that “he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers” was not fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes IV since his policy was to compel the Jews to worship the god of his fathers or be executed.
The prophecy in Daniel 11:38 that “he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know” was not fulfilled by Antiochus since he was devoted to the god of his country Zeus who was the god of his fathers.
Furthermore, the king mentioned in Daniel 11:36 is clearly distinguished from the king of the north who is mentioned in Daniel 11:40 and we know from history that Antiochus Epiphanes IV in Daniel 11:21-35 is the despicable king of the north.
Now, in Daniel 11:36, the angel communicates a second prophetic statement which presents the result of this unique king achieving absolute military and political power.
The angel declares that this unique king will exalt himself so that he will magnify himself above every deity.
The angel is telling Daniel that this unique king will become arrogant as a result of possessing such enormous power which will lead him to deify himself.
This second prophetic statement in Daniel 11:36 corresponds to the prophetic statements in Daniel 9:27, 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and Revelation 13:14-15 that the Antichrist will deify himself.
Daniel 9:27 “Then, he will establish a firm covenant with the leaders, which will be one unit of seven years. However, he will cause the sacrificial offering to stop in the middle of this unit of seven years while between the wings which results in abominations, he will cause desecration. Indeed, until a decreed complete destruction is poured out against the desecrater.” (Author’s translation)
In Daniel 9:27, Gabriel informs Daniel that the coming leader who is the little horn in chapter seven and the Antichrist in Revelation, will cause the temple to enter into the state of desecration in the sense that his sinful actions will defile the temple and make it ceremonially unclean.
He will defile the temple between the wings of the cherubim on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant which results in abominations and this act constitutes making oneself God.
This corresponds to the second prophetic statement recorded in Daniel 11:36 that a unique king “will exalt and magnify himself above every god.”
It also corresponds to Paul’s statement in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 that the Antichrist will take his seat in the temple of God and display himself as being God.
“Between the wings” refers to the location in which the Antichrist will sit and display himself as being God.
The “wings” are a reference to the wings of the cherubim overshadowing the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant.
This prepositional phrase in Daniel 9:27 coupled with Paul’s statement in 2 Thessalonians suggests that the Antichrist will sit on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant since the divine presence in the Old Testament was said to be seated on the Mercy Seat between the cherubim overshadowing the Mercy Seat.
“Abominations” speaks of two events with the first referring to the Antichrist taking his seat in the temple and sitting on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant between the cherubim while displaying himself as being God.
The second is mentioned in Revelation 13:14-15, which teaches that the false prophet will set up an image of the Antichrist and will compel the whole world to worship it.
By sitting between the cherubim, the Antichrist will declare himself as God which results in another abomination, namely the false prophet erecting an image of the Antichrist and demanding the world to worship this image.
One leads to the other but the first, namely sitting on the Mercy Seat between the cherubim and declaring himself to be God will result in the erection of the image of himself.
This first abomination produces destruction since it results in God’s judgment which the Lord Jesus affirms in Matthew 24:15.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:4, the apostle Paul also refers to the Antichrist’s desecrating the temple and declaring himself God and demanding the worship of the world.
Paul’s statement in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 that Antichrist will “take his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as God” is a reference to the statement in Daniel 9:27, “on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate.”
The statement in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 also corresponds to the second prophetic statement in Daniel 11:36 that a unique king will exalt and magnify himself above every god.
Revelation 13:14-15 also mentions Antichrist exalting himself as God and receiving the worship of the world as such.