4. DANIEL'S TENTH THROUGH TWELFTH CHAPTERS
I will refer to Daniel 10-12 as one chapter, as they tell one story, one prophecy. There should be no chapter divisions here, especially between chapters 11 and 12.
Daniel 8 tells of one whose ancestry goes back to Alexander’s kingdom and who later arises as the antichrist. Daniel 11 tells us that the ancestor and the antichrist are the same man. Some preliminary details for study are in order for this chapter also.
First it will be necessary again to employ the “gap” thinking that we have seen in chapters eight and nine. Though a narrative unfolds and takes the reader from beginning to end, first time readers usually need to be told that somewhere in the story there is a huge gap in time. When they see it for themselves they are left with the problem that has had Bible students scratching their heads for centuries. Closing the gap is the object of this book. The explanation that is confirmed by reading the book of Revelation and picking up other clues here and there is not comprehensible by the human experience. I will still maintain that this is what the Spirit is saying to the churches in our time and forward. I believe that more and more people will see this as the time for His appearing draws near.
A second concept must be grasped before Daniel 11 can be understood. Put simply, history does repeat itself. We have seen it happen already in the discussions of this book. Consider the ways there have already been repeats of events, just in regards to Jerusalem:
• Armies encircle the city. 163 B.C. and 70 A.D. to name only two times.
• In those same 2 occasions, the Temple is desecrated, then destroyed.
• The people of Israel are scattered to other nations, by Assyria, Babylonia, Rome.
• An evil anti-Semitic king or emperor or dictator surfaces and wreaks havoc.
• Someone seeks to kill all Jews: Haman, Raamses, Hitler, and others.
History does repeat itself. Consider also:
• While a Father looks on, a Son climbs a hill carrying the wood on which he is scheduled to die: 2000 B.C., Abraham & Isaac. But also 33 A.D., Jehovah and Jesus.
• A man climbs the ascent called the Mount of Olives, crying. His people have rejected him, and are trying to kill him and take away his throne. His best friend has just betrayed him. Yet many of the people walk along crying with him. 1000 B.C., David. 33 A.D., Jesus. Many events can come around to be replayed, proving that the first ones were only shadows and prefigures.
There is a section of chapter eleven that I have struggled with for some time. I am forced to believe that this small group of verses can only be explained in the light of repeated history. To me there is no question that at least most of that portion of the text has already happened. But there seems to be equally strong evidence to support the notion that it will happen again.
And thirdly, it is important for us to understand the concept of the preservation of life. All life is preserved, though most of it is behind the scenes. All human lives have an appointment with death, and then receive a new body that will be eternally with God or suffering apart from Him. You will recall perhaps that there are two men of the Bible account who never died, but have an appointment with death, and will return to the planet as prophets in the end time. Many say they are Elijah and Enoch, and they are prophesied both by Zechariah and John as future invaders of our planet. God is able to preserve lives, and cause them to re-appear. They will come, die, leave us again, to meet us in the air when Jesus comes back.
With Antiochus Epiphanes a similar principle is at work. He already died. But he is scheduled to receive a new body. It is with that glorified body that he returns. The pattern for all three of these men is not unusual, but the placement before our eyes is strange. All three die, then are hidden from us, then get a new body and re-appear.
Let’s look now at the last prophecy of the now 91-year-old man of God, Daniel the prophet, still following the lead of Jesus who told us that we are to be in search of the abomination of desolation mentioned by this man.
I have written in great detail about Daniel 10-12 in a book called The Last Message of Daniel. I will not be sharing all the specifics of the rulers and the intrigues that are brought out in prophetic manner by the prophet, but refer my readers to that earlier work for this. Here I will summarize a lot, to get us to the salient points of the prophecy.
One note to recall here: Daniel 10, 11, and 12, are all a part of one long prophecy. There is extensive preparation, followed by the prediction itself, then some follow-up questions to deal with.
10:1. We cannot get past the first verse without commenting on the phrase “the appointed time.” The Spirit wants us to know that the time of this fulfillment will be “long”. Later, the “time of the end” is re-introduced. All of this points us back to chapter eight and reminds us of the incredible unity in the plan of this book (See Appendix C).
After a period of sorrowful fasting over some unknown issues, probably longing to know more of the plan of God (verse 12), Daniel sees a vision much like John will about 600 years later on the island called Patmos. The first person he sees seems to be the Son of God. Mixed in with messages from this Person are those of the angel Gabriel, who tells Daniel that once more he has been sent to him, but was involved heavily in spiritual warfare with demons controlling Persia and Greece, the two nations that were the subject of chapter 8! This latter piece of information points us to Gabriel as opposed to Jesus. As in Revelation, there is some confusion about who is being seen, who is talking.
But whoever is talking, it seems as though this message to Daniel is being opposed in a mighty way. After all, if Daniel receives this message and passes it on, the Enemy’s plan will be exposed for the whole world and church to see. But although the angel prevails, and the message is recorded, the book of Daniel has been hit so hard by “scholars” that in many circles it is totally discredited. Those who do believe it is the very word of God find that most churches just aren’t interested. After all, merely to read the book is to name names of people and nations. It is not politically correct to preach from it. Those who take it seriously have relegated all its prophecies to the past, making it true but irrelevant. We have the word of angels to the contrary, but thus will the book remain “sealed” until the time is upon us (12:9). What wisdom of God! How the Enemy must have thought he had ripped this book from the Collection. But he will be exposed in due time!
In the remaining verses of chapter 10, Daniel is encouraged, strengthened, so that he can take in the predictive details of the following message, nearly every one of which certainly happened in history. But it is the way that history blends into prophecy that is the fascination of this message. Before you have heard it all, you too may need time to regain your strength. Are you ready for this?
11:2-4 is nothing more than chapter 8:3-8 retold. We should be ready now to understand Daniel’s style. He starts with familiar ground, and leads into greater detail. Remember Persia? It shall rise. It shall be great. A Persian king (we call him Xerxes) will stir up trouble with Greece (remember the push west?). Indeed the march of Xerxes’ armies westward was rivaled in history only by the subsequent eastward march of Alexander the Great, mentioned here in verse 3. Verse 4 then tells of the breaking up of Alexander’s Kingdom among his four generals (not among family members, adds this chapter’s vision). All known facts, right?
11:5-20 . The Spirit then travels ahead to the kingdoms that arise from Alexander’s heritage. He lets us know that they have been established now, and are in competition. But his focus has narrowed already from four to only two. Later it is one that will be at center stage, the one from whence comes “the little horn.” For this is where the angel is leading us…
Verses 5-20 are about two of the horns, one in the North, one in the South. Let us look at the South first. Here is where Alexander’s general Ptolemy arrived and over the years got himself entrenched with the Egyptian people and other nations of that region. “Ptolemy”, at first a family name, soon came to carry the same weight as “Pharaoh”, a title of honor given to all the following rulers of Egypt for many years.
Egypt proper was never satisfying enough a territory to rule, and the Ptolemies, kings of the South, were forever reaching north, sometimes as far as Syria, but nearly always to Israel, for more ground. In doing this they were in constant conflict with the king of the North, originally General Seleucus, who considered his domain to be from Israel and Syria to points east. And of course, Egypt, if he could manage it. Sometimes he actually did, either by force or marital intrigues.
Sixteen verses tell, ahead of time, the actual details of this tug of war between North and South, the jockeying for power, the shifting loyalties of Israel in the middle. But lest we think that the Spirit is only interested in giving us a history lesson, in verse 21 there is a zooming in on the reason for all this lineage being shared. In Daniel 11:21 we are introduced to a vile man who inherits the throne by deceit. He was not next in line to receive it, he surely was not fit for it. Some say he was mad. And the writer of Daniel’s prophecy never once calls him “the king of the North.” His name is Antiochus Epiphanes. Epiphanes, the manifested one. Later Antiochus himself would add the term “Theou…” A manifestation of God. That’s blasphemy. In his very name. Many of his subjects referred to him as “Epimanes” , the mad one.
I want to remind us again here that from verse 15, dealing with Epiphanes’ father Antiochus the Great, the term “King of the North” is not used again until we are into the clearly prophetic portion of this passage. Though the vile Antiochus truly seems to be taking the place of kings who rule in the North, it seemed good to the Spirit not to confuse the reader with this title. I believe that it will become clear later, why.
Early deceitful dealings with Israel are mentioned in verses 22 and 23, establishing his way of working with the Jews early in his career. In verse 25 his complete mastery of the South (Egypt) is foretold, but also the whittling away of that power at conference tables (26-27). Also see in verse 27 another mentioning of “the appointed time” as though the Spirit is readying the reader for something unusual. Though these two liars sit at the same table and make their schemes for annihilating the other in public, it is God who rules over the affairs of men, and the plans He has made for Israel will happen His way, and at His time.
In verse 28 we see a rich and powerful Antiochus, happy about how life is treating him, going into Israel to add to his riches by stealing from the Temple treasury .
But in verse 29 there is an immediate reversal. Antiochus returns. And from here until verse 35 is a troubling series of verses. Most historians agree that Antiochus did make a second excursion approach toward Egypt. Surely the incident of verse 30, his rebuff by a Roman commander, has been documented. His subsequent desire to dump on Israel has been verified also. The ensuing martyrdom and exploits of the Maccabees can all be made to fit into this passage.
But there are some curious features about what is said from 29-35 also. The passage begins with “at the appointed time.” From Daniel 8:19 to 10:1 to 11:27 and later to 11:35, and 11:40, the “appointed time” or “time of the end” is where the Divine Originator seems to be going.
“He shall return” gives one pause also. Yes, he returned to Egypt, or tried to. Is it possible that hidden in this text is the idea that he shall return to earth?
He approaches Egypt but the writer tells us that it will not be like the “former” (time he came here) , that is, he will not succeed this time. He also says that it will not be like the “latter”. What does that mean? That can only mean that another trip is in view by the angel. Indeed, such a campaign is mentioned in verse 40. And by the time we get to verse 40, no one doubts that we are talking about an end-time series of events. Our only struggle is 29-35, when it could be that history must be repeated.
The ships from Cyprus of verse 30 remind me of the ongoing evacuation this very week of American citizens to that island from Lebanon, where there is a struggle being funded by a king of the North of our own day in Iran. I am not stating that antichrist lives now in Iran. I only suggest that situations of ancient days can easily be re-lived in our own.
It is verse 31 that gives us the largest clue that this passage, fulfilled already or not, must come again to the world stage. Another look at chapter 8:11-13 which has already been defined by Gabriel as an end-time scenario, and a comparison of phrases used there to ones used here in 11:31 will remind us, I hope, that we are in search of “the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel” which was future in Jesus’ day and cannot therefore be tied to history already passed. Look at what is said:
8:11, “by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. 11:31, “ they shall defile the sanctuary fortress… then shall they take away the daily sacrifices…
8:12, “Because of transgression, an army was given over to him to oppose the daily sacrifices…11:31, “Forces shall be mustered by him…
8:13, “… transgression of desolation…” 11:31, “...the abomination of desolation.”
Historical, you say? Already done in history, you say? Yes, that can be proved. And it was done again in A.D. 70. And history will repeat itself one more time…Jesus said that when we see the event Daniel spoke of, it’s quitting time. And that same event is here before us. The army. The defiling. The removal of sacrifices. The abomination in place. The chaos. The desolation. The martyrs. The heroes. Daniel spoke of end time events here and in chapter 8 and 9 and 12. To be consistent, I suggest that the events of verses 29-35 will be back.
Consider: Antiochus, like his father of the same name, is out to conquer the world. He is stopped by Rome and Jewish desire for independence. He dies an utter failure, diseased and heavily in debt. It seems to me that his return is very significant to him and it makes sense that one of his first moves will be “South”, to pick up where he left off. This time he must conquer Rome, control it, and claim the planet as his own.
Perhaps the reason we have had such difficulty in the past identifying the man of sin is because he has been hiding in plain sight in the book of Daniel. Nowhere is this more true than in these few verses. Notice that nowhere, even yet, are we told exactly what the abomination is! Checking history you will find a pig and an idol. But Daniel does not say that. He deliberately keeps the end-time option open. We’ll not know exactly what it is until we hear Paul’s revelation at the end of this work (Yes, I said Paul’s).
Verses 32-35, referring to the way antichrist uses the Jewish people, and the suffering of other Jews who will not compromise, can easily be seen historically or prophetically. A savvy leader knows how to win people to his cause, in any generation. But God’s people will forever be strong and creative, whether they are called Maccabee or modern saint. And as throughout church history, the Lord’s army is willing to die at the hands of those who hate them.
Verse 35 is yet another key to the dual role of this passage. It is linked by word usage to chapter 12, verse 10. Look at them:
11:35, “...those of understanding shall fall to refine them, purge them, and make them white…” 12:10, “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined…”
Yes, chapter 12 is in the column of end-time events. The linkage between chapters 11 and 12 is important. Another such link is 11:31 and 12:11. Between these two passages we learn of the abomination of desolation, its happening, its duration, its placement at the end.
From verse 36 on through the rest of chapter 11 and 12, there is general agreement among Bible believers that the subject is the end of history. Our job now is to find clues that the man being described from 36-45 is the same man as was pointed out from verse 21. And once that is established, our crisis is no longer one of understanding, but believing.
The traditional line of thought here is that Daniel is referring in the earlier verses to Antiochus Epiphanes, a great “type” of the antichrist, but that the last verses are the antichrist himself, totally disassociated from the prior verses. It is that thinking I am asking readers to challenge, based on the text itself, and some mysteries that the book of Revelation and the letter to Thessalonica point out.
Yes, I am saying that Antiochus Epiphanes is the antichrist, not just a type of him.
To the evidence in Daniel:
Remember the gap idea first. As in Daniel’s visions, as in the 490 years, chapter 11 is moving along smoothly when suddenly we jump thousands of years and wind up nearly in the Millennium. Do you remember when you first read this passage, knowing nothing of history? Did it not seem to you a smooth narrative that told the life story of an ancient king? The translators blocked our thinking by making a chapter division at the end of chapter 11. We went on glibly to 12, thinking a new story was starting. But it was the same event. The Tribulation, the judgment, the resurrections, tied irrevocably to the story of the ancient king.
Troubling. But the scholars assured us that two kings were being described, one that just looked like the other one, but was a different man. But what if it is the same man?
Historically we know that Antiochus did fill the role of king of the North. The Spirit has brought us to the geographical portions of the understanding, and we must stay with that. He is called a king in verse 27. He is never called in the prior section “king of the North”, just a king. So why should he not still be called that in verse 36? Could not the Spirit, the angel, the prophet, have been clear with us that a change in identity was intended?
Is there a change? Or is there an exaggerated capability of the same old Antiochus, who is troubled with the Jews and their God? Antiochus, the first king in history to assume and announce his own deity on the common coinage of his day. Antiochus, a madman who cares about power and property and money. Is he not the same, yet empowered differently from verse 36? Why must he be a different man?
Finally in verse 40 “the king of the North” is mentioned. It is possible to read this verse in two different ways. One could say Egypt attacks “the king”, then the (same) king, that is “the king of the North” attacks Egypt. Or one could imagine that by this time in history, the “king” (antichrist) has graduated from king of the “North” to world dictator, and both the South and the North attack him, but to no avail, for he is Satan-empowered.
Yes, now, whether the title “North” applies or not, he is acting, not as one of the four original horns, but as the “fifth” or “little” horn. It is not until “the latter time of their [the four horns’] kingdom” that the “king” with fierce features arises, the little horn.
He has arisen in our text now. Same man. Re-grown. Re-planted. Dead and resurrected. Infested with Satan himself. Of the fourth but the fifth. In Revelation, the “eighth” but one of the seven. New, yet old. Never been here before, not like this, but lived in a similar body centuries before. King of the North, but maybe graduated to King over all. The old “manifested one” seeking to be “God manifest in the flesh” as the Enemy he hates so passionately, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The enigma has been with us all these centuries. They mystery itself helps to solve the mystery. The fact that it seems so unexplainable but sits there unchanging should tell us to accept it like it is. God Himself, knowing how difficult these things are for us to understand, could have carefully explained the gap, the repeat of history, the preservation of lives, but He allowed the mystery to remain hidden in this text and that, assuring that most will not solve the riddle.
His plan and the course of the war that ends all wars is laid out from verses 38 to 45. There is an indication that things military will be his god. He will be attacked by Egypt and perhaps Syria. He will retaliate with great force and take over other countries. Some will escape, some will not. From the east and north come rumblings of approaching trouble, perhaps China and Russia in a united front, as they often are. In a last mad dash toward world conquest he arrives, perhaps, at Armageddon. But his time runs out. He is unceremoniously picked up “by the scruff of the neck” and thrown by King Jesus into his eternal home far from the love of God.
I have not covered in detail the dealings of antichrist in our future because that is not the purpose of this present work. Much of what could be said would be speculation anyway. I have desired to specify who Scripture has highlighted as the man of sin. In chapter 11 of Daniel I believe it is clear that the Spirit led Daniel to review in prophecy pre-Roman history so as to show us one man, an evil man, a man who desired but never obtained world prominence. A man who passed off the scene for many centuries but who returned, invigorated by demonic power to finish in the end time what he began earlier: the elimination of the Jewish people, and the enthronement of himself in the place of all gods.
Chapter 12 paints the added touch we need to complete this picture. The angel relates to Daniel that it is at the time of the reigning of “the king”, that the unparalleled time of tribulation occurs, spoken of also by Jesus as the forerunner to His own approach.
Finally in the book of Daniel, the prophet himself needs attention. He is told to seal the book until the time of the end, in response to his many questions about the future. I am not sure how Daniel and the Spirit sealed this work but it is a fact that men through the ages have not had access mentally to it. It has been literally a sealed book. Incomprehensible. Under attack. Rejected. Until recently, as more and more people get a grasp of what this book really means. That could only mean that the time of the end is upon us, for that time was to be the time when the sealing would be over, and the book made available (12:9).
Lastly there is a question of timing, after which the book abruptly ends. The phrase “time of the end” blends into verse 10 and lets us understand that from the time of the abomination of desolation, the event we have been tracing at Jesus’ advice, coupled with the taking away of the daily sacrifice, which happens at the same time, until the very end of all the suffering, shall be 1290 days, a little over three and one half years. In forty-five more days, something blessed happens. By then, are we in the Millennial reign, at the wedding banquet, the Coronation? And by then, Satan is punished, the world is liberated, we come into our own.
And Daniel will be there, says the last verse of his book. Rising from the dead with the saints who are raptured from earth will be the revered prophet, his new body strong and intact, his questions all answered. And I for one look forward to meeting him! The announcement of his presence there, by the way, confirms to us that his entire prophecy was indeed about the “end of days.”
