The First 42 Months : 3 Series

The Prophecies of Daniel

Part 14: The First 42 Months (Daniel 11:25-28; 40-43)

This morning is week 14 of our study of the Prophecies found in the Old Testament book of Daniel. Daniel was a Jewish man who received visions from God concerning what has been come to be called the Times of the Gentiles and the end times. And he received these visions of the future while he was a captive in the Babylonian and Medo-Persian Empires.

Presently we are working our way verse by verse through the last half of Daniel chapter 11. If you brought your handouts back with you of the map and the parallel verse in the eleventh chapter of the book of Daniel that is great. If you weren’t here or don’t have a copy of them I did include all the verses we will be looking at this morning in your bulletins so you will be able to follow along with us. There are also copies of the original handouts on the vestibule table should you wish to pick them up for yourself.

Before we begin, just a brief reminder. Daniel 11:21-45 are revealing to us the activities of the Antichrist during the first 42 months of the seven-year Tribulation period. References to the king of the North are speaking about the Antichrist and references to the king of the South are mentioning Egypt and the surrounding territories.

We are also interpreting these verses on the premise that the Antichrist will be a Muslim who will arise from the Middle East, most likely from within the Shiite branch of this religion. I also showed you how I believe that when the Antichrist does appear, he will be the long awaited Islamic prophet of the end times, their Mahdi. Because the Islamic beliefs concerning their Mahdi are eerily similar to the Bible’s prophecies concerning the final evil world ruler known as the Antichrist. (If you haven’t been with us the past few weeks to hear these teachings, I encourage you to pick up copies of this sermon series so that you can understand where I am coming from.)

The verses we are going to look at this morning are verses 25-28 and verses 40-43. Looking at your handouts you will see that they are across from each other or side-by-side in opposing columns. Again this is because I believe they are prophecies referring to the same end time event or events. They compliment each other and give us greater detail concerning a single prophecy. Having said that let’s start with verses 40-43.

Daniel 11:40-43, “At the time of the end the king of the South [Egypt] will engage him [Antichrist] in battle, and the king of the North [Antichrist] will storm out against him [the king of the South] with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. [41] He will invade the Beautiful Land [Israel]. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab, and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. [42] He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. [43] He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Nubians [Sudanese and Ethiopians] in submission.”

Okay, the last two weeks we have seen the Antichrist rise to power from somewhere in the Middle East. We speculated based on all of the Biblical prophecies found within the book of Daniel that the most likely area for him to arise from would be the country of Iraq. From there he will begin to build he base of power in the ancient city of Babylon. (Dan. 11:21)

We then saw in verse 22 how the Battle of Gog and Magog would occur and pave the way for the Antichrist to rise to prominence in the Middle East. He would be forced into signing a peace treaty, v. 23, which he has no plans of ever keeping, and then he will turn his attention to gaining his strength and power and wealth in the Middle East region.

Last week we saw in verse 24 that he will specifically turn his attention to gaining control over the oil-rich nations and thus not only gaining wealth, but also effectively gaining control of the world’s economy as a whole. Basically, if you don’t do business with him, you don’t do business period. The rising fuel prices and the impact they have been having on our way of life is just a small sample of what life will be like when the Antichrist gains control of the oil wells of the Middle East.

We also learned through the original Hebrew interpretation of the word “province”, which is medyinah or Medina that it is likely that Saudi Arabia will be one of the first countries he focuses upon.