Who Is The Antichrist? Daniel 10-12 Series

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.