All players in the final crisis are present in the world today. Those with spiritual discernment can see events foretold in the last part of Daniel 11 unfolding before them. We are entering the final crisis...
Daniel Chapter 11Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, [even] I, stood to confirm and to strength- en him.
2 And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than [they] all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. 3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those. 5 And the king of the south shall be strong, and [one] of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion [shall be] a great dominion. 6 And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the kingʼs daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in [these] times. 7 But out of a branch of her roots shall [one] stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail: 8 And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, [and] with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue [more] years than the king of the north. 9 So the king of the south shall come into [his] kingdom, and shall return into his own land. 10 But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and [one] shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up, [even] to his fortress. 11 And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, [even] with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multi- tude shall be given into his hand. 12 [And] when he hath taken away the multi- tude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down [many] ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened [by it]. 13 For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the for- mer, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. 14 And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the rob- bers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall. 15 So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not with- stand, neither his chosen people, neither [shall there be any] strength to withstand. 16 But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. 17 He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her: but she shall not stand [on his side], neither be for him. 18 After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many: but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach he shall cause [it] to turn upon him. 19 Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found. 20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes [in] the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. 21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. |
23 And after the league [made] with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do [that] which his fathers have not done, nor his fathersʼ fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: [yea], and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time. 25 And he shall stir up his power and his cour- age against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him. 26 Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain. 27 And both these kingsʼ hearts [shall be] to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end [shall be] at the time appointed. 28 Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart [shall be] against the holy covenant; and he shall do [exploits], and return to his own land. 29 At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter. 30 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. 31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily [sacrifice], and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. 32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do [exploits]. 33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, [many] days. 34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 35 And [some] of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make [them] white, [even] to the time of the end: because [it is] yet for a time appointed. 36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall pros- per till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. 37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fa- thers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge [and] increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain. 40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. 41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many [countries] shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, [even] Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethio- pians [shall be] at his steps. 44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. 45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. |
OVERVIEW
Daniel 2 showed the image of a man made up of various metals representing the four great world kingdoms. Daniel 11 describes the men who reigned over those kingdoms, and follows the same outline of history through to the final crisis. Babylon is omitted because it had passed away by the time this vision was given.
Verses 1-2: Persia
The angel Gabriel gave this prophecy to Daniel. See introductory notes in Daniel 10. This vision was given in the reign of the Persian king Cyrus (Daniel 10:1). The kings which followed him were:
1. Cambyses II 530-522BC
2. False Smerdis alias Gaumata. Reigned part of 522BC, and hindered the work of rebuilding the sanctuary in Jerusalem.
3. Darius I 522-486BC.
4. Xerxes I, the Great, (486-475BC. This is the Ahasuerus of Est 1:1-7). He was “richer than all” and with his wealth he raised a huge army to conquer Greece. His defeat was a turning point in world power. Attention moved to Greece...
Verses 3-4: Greece
Greece was the next power to do accord- ing to its will. After the death of Alexander the Great Greece was divided among four of his generals (cf. Dan 8:8, 22).
1. Cassander
2. Lysimachus
3. Ptolemy
4. Seleucus.
Verses 5-15: The Greek divisions
Finally two powerful divisions of the Grecian Empire remained - The Ptolemies to the South (Egypt) and the Seleucids to the North, (Syria). For about 150 years these powers fought each other in the Syrian- Egyptian wars. A notable marriage alliance is mentioned in verse 6 but it failed to bring peace. History records the accurate fulfillment of the continuing conflicts.
Verse 16: Rome enters the glorious land and does according to his will
The phrase “do according to his will” applied to prophetic superpowers (cf. Dan 8:4; 11: 3, 36). Rome is here introduced as the next superpower to become the king (kingdom) of the north and continue the tradition of persecuting Godʼs people. Rome conquered Palestine, the “glorious land.”
Three successive Caesars & Christ
Verses 17-19: Julius Caesar stumbled and fell (assassinated 44BC) when he returned to his own land after military campaigns.
Verse 20: Augustus followed and under his taxation Christ was born (Luke 2:1). Augustus died of illness, not battle, in AD14.
Verses 21-22: Tiberius was the vile Caesar when Christ, the “Prince of the covenant,” was crucified in AD31 (cf. Daniel 9:24-27).
Verses 23-28: Having taken us through the secular events of the empire to the end of the seventy weeks, the prophecy, in verse 23, takes us back to the time when the Romans became directly connected with the people of God by the Jewish league, in which the Jews requested Roman assistance to deal with Syrian harassment. At this time the Romans were a small people but destined to become exceeding great.
Verse 24: Rome did what had not been done by the fathers; namely acquiring territory through peaceful means by the custom previously unknown, of kingsʼ leaving by legacy their kingdoms to Rome. Those who thus came under Roman dominion also benefitted, receiving kindness leniency and protection It was like having the prey and spoil distributed among them.
For “a time (360 days representing 360 years Eze 4:6; Num 14:34) Rome plotted and schemed. This period apparently begins with the events described in verse 25.
Verse 25: The Battle of Actium 31BC
Verses 24-25 reach from 161BC, to the time when Rome had acquired universal dominion. Verse 25 describes a notable campaign against Egypt. Such was the battle of Actium involving Octavius (called Augustus in v 20) and Mark Antony. Antony took the South (Egypt) and Octavius took the North. They pretended friendship (“speaking lies at one table”) but each wanted to conquer the other (“both these kings hearts shall be to do mischief.”). In the Battle of Actium in 31BC, Octavius won and took the title Augustus, becoming undisputed ruler of the Roman world. After defeating Antony, Octavius brought vast riches from Egypt to Rome. Under various leaders, Rome warred against the plan of salvation and in AD70 the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.
Verses 29-30: Barbarian attacks on Rome
For various reasons, including Barbarian excursions (“ships of Chittim”), the Roman emperor Constantine shifted the capital from Rome to Byzantium (renamed Constantinople, today called Istanbul) in AD330. Shortly afterwards the Western Roman Empire began to collapse, dividing into the nations of Europe. The bishop of Rome (Pope), being the only powerful figure remaining in the city of Rome, took the power, seat, and authority formerly possessed by the Roman Emperor (cf. Rev 13:2).
Verses 30-31: Union of Church & State
Apostate church leaders entered into an alliance with the State. This began with the so-called conversion of Emperor Constantine (~AD312). This Church-State union resulted in Papal Rome, which continued on in the seat of the Caesars, and in the role of the “King of the North.”
Verse 31: Arms take away the “daily” in order to establish the “abomination that maketh desolate” - the Papacy. “Arms” [Heb. zeroah] refers to military forces in Daniel 11:15. The word “sacrifice” is not in the Hebrew. The word translated “daily” is elsewhere translated “continual.” “Take away” is from the Hebrew "suwr" and means “remove” while the thing removed still exists but not in its original setting. It is used as in putting off garments (Gen 38:14); removing a cover (Gen 8:13); a man turned aside from the commandments (Deut 17:20).
“Arms” took away the “daily” (or continual) in order “to set up” the “abomination that maketh desolate” - Papal Rome (Daniel 12:11 margin).
In 2Thess Paul guardedly called the “daily” the “withholder,” that existed in his day and said that it would be “TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY” to reveal the “man of sin” - Papal Rome. What power existing in Paulʼs day withheld the rise of Papal Rome and had to be taken out of the way by military force of “arms” in order to reveal Papal Rome? The answer is the Paganism of the Rome of the Caesars, the spirit of self exaltation. The “daily” thus represented the “continual” spirit of self-exaltation in its Pagan form which was taken away by military arms in order to set up the same spirit in its Papal form. Forces fighting on behalf of the Papacy took away or removed all anti-papal self exalting opposition while the Papacy took up (Heb. ruwm Daniel 8:11) the same paganism disguised beneath the cloak of Christianity.
The Franks (French), under their king Clovis, were the first barbarian nation of Europe to pledge their support to defend and establish the Catholic faith. Their military “arms” overthrew competing forms of self- exaltation, namely Paganism and Arianism and helped “place” (“set up” Daniel 12:11 margin) the “abomination that maketh desolate” - the self-exalting church/state power known as the Papacy.
See “The Daily” in the Appendix to Daniel 8.
The abomination of desolation is NOT Antiochus Epiphanes.
As Jesus said “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel” would appear AFTER His time (Matt 24:15), it cannot refer to Antiochus Epiphanes, as many claim, because Antiochus died 164 years BEFORE Christ.
Verse 31: Arms polluted the sanctuary of strength
The word “sanctuary” is from the Hebrew “miqdash,” which can refer to pagan temples (Isa 16:12; Eze 28:18.) The word “strength” is from the Hebrew maowz, which is repeatedly used to refer to the forts and fortresses, the leading cities, of pagan powers. (See Dan 11:7, 10, 19, 38, 39). The temple of Pagan Rome was polluted by the arms of Papal Rome. Incidentally “Rome” in the Greek New Testament is from the Greek “Rhome” and means “strength.”
Verses 32-33: Corruption, exploits, and persecution many days
Apostate Papal leaders corrupted many, but the faithful, who knew God, witnessed at great peril to their lives; people such as the Waldenses, the Hugenots, the Albigenses and some Reformers like Wycliffe, Huss, Jerome, and Luther. Many of those whom Papal Rome could not corrupt she slew, burned, or imprisoned during the “many days” she held power (1260 “days” which symbolize 1260 years Eze 4:6; Num 14:34. The 1260 days, 42 months or 3 1/2 times is mentioned in Dan 7:25; 12:7; Rev 2:6, 14; 13:5).
Verse 34: Little help
For centuries the faithful found refuge in the wilderness (cf. Rev 12:16). Later on German States which accepted Protestantism provided a little help to the faithful.
Verse 35: Fall to try them
Many were tried in the furnace of affliction maintaining their faith unto death, clothed in the white garments of Christʼs righteousness.
Even to the time of the end - 1798
The “many days” (v 33) of Papal supremacy, (1260 years. See on Daniel 7:25) were to reach to “the time of the end.” As the Papal supremacy ended in 1798, “the time of the end” began in 1798.
“Berthier [The French general] entered Rome on the 10th of February 1798, and proclaimed a Republic...The aged Pontiff [Pope] refused to violate his oath by recognizing it, and was hurried from prison to prison in France...he died...No wonder that half of Europe thought that with the Pope the papacy was dead.” J. Rickaby, The Modern Papacy, p1
Having brought us to “the time of the end” in verse 35 the prophecy goes back in time in v 36 to add further identifying points, bringing us back to the “time of the end” in verse 40. (See chart).
Verse 36: The King shall do according to his will
In the Hebrew the definite article “THE” precedes the word “king.” This implies that the king here brought to view is the power referred to in the preceding verses - namely the Papacy, there called the “abomination that maketh desolate.” The phrase “according to his will,” is only applied to powers which had total control over Godʼs people: (Medo-Persia Dan 8:4; Greece 11:3; Pagan Rome 11:16). Following Pagan Rome, Papal Rome alone had such power during its 1260 year supremacy.
Verse 36: He shall exalt himself...above every god
Paul referred to this power as the “man of sin”... “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God.” 2Thess 2:4. This power is also the Little Horn of Dan 8:11, 25 which did “magnify [himself] in his heart.” See chart.
“The prophecy in the eleventh of Daniel has nearly reached its complete fulfillment. Much of the history that has taken place in fulfillment of this prophecy will be repeated. In the thirtieth verse A POWER is spoken of that “shall be grieved...And the king shall do according to his will. [verses 31-36, quoted.]” E.G. White, Manuscript Release Vol. 13, p 394.
The power spoken of in Dan 11:30-36 is Papal Rome and the Bible foretells a repetition of her persecutions in the future.
verse 37: Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers
The apostles likened themselves to fathers of their converts (1 Cor 4:15; 3 John 4; Phil 1:10) Note: We are not to call any man our spiritual Father. Matt 23:9
By commanding unbiblical doctrines the Papacy shows that it does not regard the God of its ʻfathers.ʼ
Verses 1-2: Persia
The angel Gabriel gave this prophecy to Daniel. See introductory notes in Daniel 10. This vision was given in the reign of the Persian king Cyrus (Daniel 10:1). The kings which followed him were:
1. Cambyses II 530-522BC
2. False Smerdis alias Gaumata. Reigned part of 522BC, and hindered the work of rebuilding the sanctuary in Jerusalem.
3. Darius I 522-486BC.
4. Xerxes I, the Great, (486-475BC. This is the Ahasuerus of Est 1:1-7). He was “richer than all” and with his wealth he raised a huge army to conquer Greece. His defeat was a turning point in world power. Attention moved to Greece...
Verses 3-4: Greece
Greece was the next power to do accord- ing to its will. After the death of Alexander the Great Greece was divided among four of his generals (cf. Dan 8:8, 22).
1. Cassander
2. Lysimachus
3. Ptolemy
4. Seleucus.
Verses 5-15: The Greek divisions
Finally two powerful divisions of the Grecian Empire remained - The Ptolemies to the South (Egypt) and the Seleucids to the North, (Syria). For about 150 years these powers fought each other in the Syrian- Egyptian wars. A notable marriage alliance is mentioned in verse 6 but it failed to bring peace. History records the accurate fulfillment of the continuing conflicts.
Verse 16: Rome enters the glorious land and does according to his will
The phrase “do according to his will” applied to prophetic superpowers (cf. Dan 8:4; 11: 3, 36). Rome is here introduced as the next superpower to become the king (kingdom) of the north and continue the tradition of persecuting Godʼs people. Rome conquered Palestine, the “glorious land.”
Three successive Caesars & Christ
Verses 17-19: Julius Caesar stumbled and fell (assassinated 44BC) when he returned to his own land after military campaigns.
Verse 20: Augustus followed and under his taxation Christ was born (Luke 2:1). Augustus died of illness, not battle, in AD14.
Verses 21-22: Tiberius was the vile Caesar when Christ, the “Prince of the covenant,” was crucified in AD31 (cf. Daniel 9:24-27).
Verses 23-28: Having taken us through the secular events of the empire to the end of the seventy weeks, the prophecy, in verse 23, takes us back to the time when the Romans became directly connected with the people of God by the Jewish league, in which the Jews requested Roman assistance to deal with Syrian harassment. At this time the Romans were a small people but destined to become exceeding great.
Verse 24: Rome did what had not been done by the fathers; namely acquiring territory through peaceful means by the custom previously unknown, of kingsʼ leaving by legacy their kingdoms to Rome. Those who thus came under Roman dominion also benefitted, receiving kindness leniency and protection It was like having the prey and spoil distributed among them.
For “a time (360 days representing 360 years Eze 4:6; Num 14:34) Rome plotted and schemed. This period apparently begins with the events described in verse 25.
Verse 25: The Battle of Actium 31BC
Verses 24-25 reach from 161BC, to the time when Rome had acquired universal dominion. Verse 25 describes a notable campaign against Egypt. Such was the battle of Actium involving Octavius (called Augustus in v 20) and Mark Antony. Antony took the South (Egypt) and Octavius took the North. They pretended friendship (“speaking lies at one table”) but each wanted to conquer the other (“both these kings hearts shall be to do mischief.”). In the Battle of Actium in 31BC, Octavius won and took the title Augustus, becoming undisputed ruler of the Roman world. After defeating Antony, Octavius brought vast riches from Egypt to Rome. Under various leaders, Rome warred against the plan of salvation and in AD70 the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.
Verses 29-30: Barbarian attacks on Rome
For various reasons, including Barbarian excursions (“ships of Chittim”), the Roman emperor Constantine shifted the capital from Rome to Byzantium (renamed Constantinople, today called Istanbul) in AD330. Shortly afterwards the Western Roman Empire began to collapse, dividing into the nations of Europe. The bishop of Rome (Pope), being the only powerful figure remaining in the city of Rome, took the power, seat, and authority formerly possessed by the Roman Emperor (cf. Rev 13:2).
Verses 30-31: Union of Church & State
Apostate church leaders entered into an alliance with the State. This began with the so-called conversion of Emperor Constantine (~AD312). This Church-State union resulted in Papal Rome, which continued on in the seat of the Caesars, and in the role of the “King of the North.”
Verse 31: Arms take away the “daily” in order to establish the “abomination that maketh desolate” - the Papacy. “Arms” [Heb. zeroah] refers to military forces in Daniel 11:15. The word “sacrifice” is not in the Hebrew. The word translated “daily” is elsewhere translated “continual.” “Take away” is from the Hebrew "suwr" and means “remove” while the thing removed still exists but not in its original setting. It is used as in putting off garments (Gen 38:14); removing a cover (Gen 8:13); a man turned aside from the commandments (Deut 17:20).
“Arms” took away the “daily” (or continual) in order “to set up” the “abomination that maketh desolate” - Papal Rome (Daniel 12:11 margin).
In 2Thess Paul guardedly called the “daily” the “withholder,” that existed in his day and said that it would be “TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY” to reveal the “man of sin” - Papal Rome. What power existing in Paulʼs day withheld the rise of Papal Rome and had to be taken out of the way by military force of “arms” in order to reveal Papal Rome? The answer is the Paganism of the Rome of the Caesars, the spirit of self exaltation. The “daily” thus represented the “continual” spirit of self-exaltation in its Pagan form which was taken away by military arms in order to set up the same spirit in its Papal form. Forces fighting on behalf of the Papacy took away or removed all anti-papal self exalting opposition while the Papacy took up (Heb. ruwm Daniel 8:11) the same paganism disguised beneath the cloak of Christianity.
The Franks (French), under their king Clovis, were the first barbarian nation of Europe to pledge their support to defend and establish the Catholic faith. Their military “arms” overthrew competing forms of self- exaltation, namely Paganism and Arianism and helped “place” (“set up” Daniel 12:11 margin) the “abomination that maketh desolate” - the self-exalting church/state power known as the Papacy.
See “The Daily” in the Appendix to Daniel 8.
The abomination of desolation is NOT Antiochus Epiphanes.
As Jesus said “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel” would appear AFTER His time (Matt 24:15), it cannot refer to Antiochus Epiphanes, as many claim, because Antiochus died 164 years BEFORE Christ.
Verse 31: Arms polluted the sanctuary of strength
The word “sanctuary” is from the Hebrew “miqdash,” which can refer to pagan temples (Isa 16:12; Eze 28:18.) The word “strength” is from the Hebrew maowz, which is repeatedly used to refer to the forts and fortresses, the leading cities, of pagan powers. (See Dan 11:7, 10, 19, 38, 39). The temple of Pagan Rome was polluted by the arms of Papal Rome. Incidentally “Rome” in the Greek New Testament is from the Greek “Rhome” and means “strength.”
Verses 32-33: Corruption, exploits, and persecution many days
Apostate Papal leaders corrupted many, but the faithful, who knew God, witnessed at great peril to their lives; people such as the Waldenses, the Hugenots, the Albigenses and some Reformers like Wycliffe, Huss, Jerome, and Luther. Many of those whom Papal Rome could not corrupt she slew, burned, or imprisoned during the “many days” she held power (1260 “days” which symbolize 1260 years Eze 4:6; Num 14:34. The 1260 days, 42 months or 3 1/2 times is mentioned in Dan 7:25; 12:7; Rev 2:6, 14; 13:5).
Verse 34: Little help
For centuries the faithful found refuge in the wilderness (cf. Rev 12:16). Later on German States which accepted Protestantism provided a little help to the faithful.
Verse 35: Fall to try them
Many were tried in the furnace of affliction maintaining their faith unto death, clothed in the white garments of Christʼs righteousness.
Even to the time of the end - 1798
The “many days” (v 33) of Papal supremacy, (1260 years. See on Daniel 7:25) were to reach to “the time of the end.” As the Papal supremacy ended in 1798, “the time of the end” began in 1798.
“Berthier [The French general] entered Rome on the 10th of February 1798, and proclaimed a Republic...The aged Pontiff [Pope] refused to violate his oath by recognizing it, and was hurried from prison to prison in France...he died...No wonder that half of Europe thought that with the Pope the papacy was dead.” J. Rickaby, The Modern Papacy, p1
Having brought us to “the time of the end” in verse 35 the prophecy goes back in time in v 36 to add further identifying points, bringing us back to the “time of the end” in verse 40. (See chart).
Verse 36: The King shall do according to his will
In the Hebrew the definite article “THE” precedes the word “king.” This implies that the king here brought to view is the power referred to in the preceding verses - namely the Papacy, there called the “abomination that maketh desolate.” The phrase “according to his will,” is only applied to powers which had total control over Godʼs people: (Medo-Persia Dan 8:4; Greece 11:3; Pagan Rome 11:16). Following Pagan Rome, Papal Rome alone had such power during its 1260 year supremacy.
Verse 36: He shall exalt himself...above every god
Paul referred to this power as the “man of sin”... “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God.” 2Thess 2:4. This power is also the Little Horn of Dan 8:11, 25 which did “magnify [himself] in his heart.” See chart.
“The prophecy in the eleventh of Daniel has nearly reached its complete fulfillment. Much of the history that has taken place in fulfillment of this prophecy will be repeated. In the thirtieth verse A POWER is spoken of that “shall be grieved...And the king shall do according to his will. [verses 31-36, quoted.]” E.G. White, Manuscript Release Vol. 13, p 394.
The power spoken of in Dan 11:30-36 is Papal Rome and the Bible foretells a repetition of her persecutions in the future.
verse 37: Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers
The apostles likened themselves to fathers of their converts (1 Cor 4:15; 3 John 4; Phil 1:10) Note: We are not to call any man our spiritual Father. Matt 23:9
By commanding unbiblical doctrines the Papacy shows that it does not regard the God of its ʻfathers.ʼ
KING OF THE NORTHDaniel 11:36 “...HE shall EXALT himself... ABOVE EVERY GOD”
Daniel 11:36 “...and MAGNIFY himself above every god...” Daniel 11:36 “HE...shall SPEAK marvellous things AGAINST the God of gods...” Daniel 11:36 “...and shall PROSPER” Daniel 11:37 “...nor [regard] the DESIRE OF WOMEN...” Daniel 11:37 “nor regard any god: for he shall MAGNIFY HIMSELF ABOVE ALL.” Daniel 11:38 “...shall he honour with GOLD, and SILVER and with precious STONES, and PLEASANT THINGS.” Daniel 11:38 ...as for the Almighty GOD, IN HIS SEAT he shall honour yea, he shall honour a GOD, whom his fathers knew not. |
PAPAL ROME2Thess 2:4 “...[the MAN OF SIN] EXALTETH himself ABOVE ALL that is called God.”
Dan 8:11, 25 “He [the little horn] shall MAGNIFY himself in his heart...” Dan 7:11, 25; Rev 13:5 THE BEAST “shall SPEAK [great] words AGAINST the most High...” Dan 8:12, 24 “...[the little horn] practised, and PROSPERED...” In Isa 4:1 Christ is represented as the DESIRE OF WOMEN (churches Jer 6:2). The Papacy does not desire Christ as shown by the fact that it has rejected His teachings. Literally the Papacy enforces priestly celibacy: 1Tim 4:1-3 “...in the latter times some shall depart from the faith... forbidding to marry.” 2Thess 2:4 “Who opposeth and EXALTETH HIMSELF ABOVE ALL that is called God, or that is worshipped...” Rev 17:4 “...[the whore of Babylon] decked with GOLD and precious STONES and PEARLS...” 2Thess “he [the man of sin] as GOD SITTETH in the temple [Gr. naos] of God, shewing himself that he is GOD.” In Eph 2:21 naos (temple) refers to the church. |
verse 37: ...nor the desire of women
In Isaiah 4:1 Christ is represented as the desire of women. Women symbolize churches (Jer 6:2; 2Cor 11:2). In the end- times many churches desire to be called by Christʼs name while doing what they want. The Papacy has not regared Christ, the desire of churches, in that the Papacy has done contrary to Christʼs word - the Bible. Incidentally marriage might also be called the desire of women, (Gen 3:16) and this is also forbidden the Catholic clergy and the Nuns.
“Although celibacy is not expressly enforced by the Saviour...the [Catholic] Church felt it her duty to lay it down as a law.” The Faith of Our Fathers, James Cardinal Gibbons, (Roman Catholic) 1917 ed., p 401.
verse 37: ...nor regard any God for he shall magnify himself above all
The Papacy thus disregards:
1. God (God the Father), by breaking His Law.
2. The Desire of "women" (The Son), by doing contrary to His teachings.
3. The Spirit of God by claiming to be the Vicar (representative) of Christ and the only infallible interpreter of Scripture, when the Holy Spirit is Christʼs Representative and infallible Interpreter.
The Papacy magnifies itself.
Papal quotes show their self exaltation:
“The pope is crowned with a triple crown as king of heaven, and earth, and purgatory.” Ferrarisʼ Promptta Bibliotheca, Vol. VI, p 26, article “Papa.”
“What only God can do by his omnipotence, the priest can also do...Indeed it is not too much to say that in view of the sublimity of their office the priests are so many Gods.” Dignity and Duties of the Priest, Alphonsus De Liguori, p 35.
“The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or inter- pret even Divine laws...THE POPE CAN MODIFY DIVINE LAW, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts in the place of God upon earth.” Lucius Ferraris, “Papa,” art. 2, in Prompta Bibliotheca
“The pope has power to change times, to abrogate [change] laws, and to dispense [do away] with all things, even the precepts of Christ.” Decretal, De Translantic Episcop.
verse 38: Honouring the god of forces sitting in Godʼs seat.
Verse 37 said he regarded no God except himself. The God of forces must therefore be himself.
The word “forces” in this verse is from the Hebrew “mauwz” which means STRENGTH. The word “Rome‚“ in the New Testament is from the Greek “Rhome” and means “STRENGTH.”
In the place of God, the Papacy worships the GOD OF FORCES - the GOD OF ROME, the Pope.
The marginal reading of v 38 says, “...as for the Almighty God, IN HIS SEAT he shall honour yea, he shall honour A GOD, whom his fathers knew not.”
Paul called this power the “man of sin” “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God SITTETH IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD, shewing himself that he is God.”
The temple (Gr. naos) in which he would sit is the Christian church, more specifically, the church of God, through the doctrines of the Trinity and the denial of Jesus Christ coming in the FLESH. See Eph 2:21-22.
verse 38: Cause them to rule over many.
He causes “them,” the succession of Popes, to increase in glory, wealth and power in the most strong holds, or leading cities of the nations.
verse 38: Gold, silver, precious stones etc.
Claiming to hold the keys to heaven or hell, Rome has had a captivating control over kings and nations.
Revelation 17 speaks of the whore of Babylon who fornicates with the kings of the earth and is decked in GOLD, PRECIOUS STONES stones etc.
verse 39: Divide the land for gain.
Wealthy dioceses and archdioceses offered opportunity for personal gain and self-aggrandizement. These were obtained by those who promised to pay their Church superiors the most. The Papacy also helped settle territorial disputes between nations in such a way that the church benefitted. The merchandizing spirit in the church is mentioned in the 3rd seal of Revelation 6:5-6. cf. Mic 3:11; Eze 34.
verse 40: At the time of the end - 1798
In Daniel 11:30-35 the period of Papal supremacy is described as lasting “even to the time of the end.” As the Papal supremancy ended in 1798, the time of the end began in 1798.
verse 40: In 1798 the King of the South attacked the Papal State
As shown, the time of the end began in 1798. To “PUSH” is to attack and conquer as the Ram pushing in Daniel 8:4 represented a kingdom conquering others. If history testifies to a power attacking the Papacy in 1798, it would be conclusive proof of the correctness of the application.
Exactly as foretold France attacked and abolished the Papacy in 1798.
“The ULTIMATE HUMILIATION of the Church came when Pius VI was driven from Rome by the French armies in 1798.” Encʼ Britannica, 1989, Vol. 26, p 938.
“In 1798 he [Berthier]...made his entrance into Rome, ABOLISHED the PAPAL GOV- ERNMENT and established a secular one.” The Encʼ Americana, 1941 ed.
The prophecy said that the power which “pushed” or attack the Papacy was “the king of the south.” In what way can France be called “the King of the South?”
Who is the King of the South?
In the first part of this chapter the king of the South was Egypt (Daniel 11:8-9). However there is a prophetic principle that literal Old Testament things represent global spiritual things in the end times.
The literal & local typifies the global & spiritual
Literal localized things that affected literal Israel represent spiritual global events that affect the world-wide church. Israel was a miniature world in which God illustrated His way of dealing with sin. What happened to Israel are types, or figures, illustrating world-wide events in the experience of the church. (1Cor 10:6, 11; Rom 15:4).
While there is a change from literal to spiritual Israel, there is no change in the language. The Old Testament terms are kept but they refer to the Church worldwide and her enemies. (Matt 21:43; 1Pet 2:9; Rom 11:17-21; Gal 3:28-29. See Dan 9). In the same way the enemies of literal local Israel, such as Babylon to the north and Egypt to the South, are used to represent end-time global spiritual powers.
What spiritual / global power does the King of the South represent in the end-time?
What was the spirit of Egypt, the king ofthe south? Pharaoh, the original “king of the SOUTH,” defied and denied Godʼs existence, saying:
“Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go.” Exo 5:2, A.R.V. This is ATHEISM, and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the living God and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance.” E.G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., p269.
In the 1790s this God-denying spirit arose in France. During the Revolution, in 1793, “the world for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which manʼs soul receives, and RENOUNCE UNANIMOUSLY THE BELIEF AND WORSHIP OF DEITY.” Sir Walter Scott, Life of Napoleon, Vol. I, ch. 17
“France stands apart in the worldʼs history as the single state which, by the decree of her Legislative Assembly, pronounced THERE WAS NO GOD, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement.”
Blackwoodʼs Magazine, Nov, 1870.
In France the Bible was banned and France plunged into the most bloody and licentious scenes ever seen in Europe, known as the Reign of Terror.
The rise of atheism in France was the fruit of years of Papal influence. By following Papal policy and crushing out the Reformation, France destroyed liberty and reforms that would have blessed the nation. Rome had misrepresented the character of God, and the people of France, thinking that Romanism was Christianity, rejected both the Bible and its Author. Men like Voltaire spread their infidelity everywhere. The masses, long trampled on by Rome, rose up against the oppressor with fury. The guillotine was set up on the very spot where Rome had set up the first stake for the Reformers. In rejecting Roman Catholicism as a deception, the French were led by Satan to regard all religion as a deception.
verse 40: In 1798 the King of the South attacked the Papal State
In 1798, at the very beginning of the time of the end, the atheistic French, seeing the Pope as an obstacle in their efforts to rule Europe, attacked (“pushed” cf. Dan 8:4) the Papal State, abolishing it; giving it a deadly wound (cf. Rev 13).
“Berthier [French general] entered Rome on 10th February 1798, and proclaimeda Republic...No wonder that half Europe thought... that with the Pope the papacy was dead.” Lectures on the History of Religions, Vol. 3, lec. 24, p1. J. Rickaby or The Modern papacy, J. Rickaby (a Jesuit) p 9.
“The PAPACY was EXTINCT: not a vestige of its existence remained; and among all the Roman Catholic powers not a finger was stirred in its defence. The Eternal City had no longer prince or pontiff; its bishop was dying in foreign lands; and the decree was already announced that no successor would be allowed in his place.” C. Trevor, Rome and Its Papal Rulers, p 440
The “king of the south” is hereafter used to refer to the God-defying Atheistic State. Following France, the Communist state became atheismʼs most powerful supporter. The French Revolution was the birthplace of atheistic Communism (See on Revelation 11). Conflicts have continued as atheistic states and ideologies have continued to press back Roman Catholicism.
“The COMMUNIST movement would never have taken form as it did except for the prior occurrence of the FRENCH REVOLUTION.” Palmer, Revolution, p11-12
“The connection between the absolutist REVOLUTION OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY and the MARXIST MOVEMENT of the next century presses for recognition... [It] is THE DIRECT OFFSPRING and heir...A RELIGION OF ATHEISM... coupling scientific ideas with the greatest political hopes that man has ever entertained, the absolute hopes that animated the FRENCH REVOLUTION.” The Dignity of Man, R. W. Davenport, p163-9.
verse 40: ...and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind.
Who is the King of the North?
The king of the north is the last power in Daniel 11. Based on the principle that the prophecies in Daniel repeat and enlarge the last earthly power in Daniel 11 is Rome:
Last earthly power in Daniel 2 - Rome
Last earthly power in Daniel 7 - Rome
Last earthly power in Daniel 8-9 - Rome
Last earthly power in Daniel 10-12 - Rome.
Just as the “king of the SOUTH” refers to the Atheistic State, the “king of the NORTH” refers to the Apostate Christian State. This same power is called Babylon in the book of Revelation. Literal Babylon was literal Israelʼs northern enemy. (Jer 1:14; 4:5-7; 6:1; 10:22; 13:20; 16:15; 23:8; 25:9, 12).
As literal Israel suffered at the hands of Babylon in the NORTH and Egypt in the SOUTH, so today the true church suffers at the hands of Apostate Christianity (which spiritually is Babylon in the north) and Atheism (which spiritually is Egypt in the South). These two systems are really similar:
One is antichrist the other is antigod. Catholicism breeds Atheism. (eg. the French Revolution). Atheism breeds Catholicism (Many countries where Catholicism is strong become atheistic communist. Today as a backlash to atheism Christians are attempting to gain political power. The papal system is on the rise. The deadly wound the Papacy suffered in 1798 is slowly healing. The Lateran Treaty in 1929 restored to the Papacy the Vatican State.
Headlines:
“Mussolini and Gaspari Sign Historic Pact... HEAL WOUND of Many Years...” San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 12, 1929.
The last part of verse 40 describes how the “king of the NORTH,” the Christian State, counter-attacked the king of the SOUTH, the Atheistic State. Papalismʼs counterattack occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By this time the most powerful supporter of Atheism was Soviet Communism - a party pledged to Atheism.
verse 40: The Christian State attacked the Atheistic State like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with- many ships...
Ships = ECONOMIC power (Ps 107:23; Rev 18:17, 19; Eze 27:24, 25)
“Chariots & horsemen” = MILITARY power. Whirlwind = FAST (Amos 1:14; Jer 4:13). This language is borrowed from a description of literal Babylon, “his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles...” (Jer 4:13). Literal Babylon was a type of the end-time king of the north.
Atheistic Russiaʼs collapse was so rapid it stunned the world. It was as prophecy had foretold, “like a whirlwind.” Newsweek magazine unconsciously used the very words of prophecy when it entitled its article on the collapse of Atheistic Communism: “DAYS OF THE WHIRLWIND.” Newsweek, Dec. 25, 1989.
“Nobody believed the collapse of communism would happen this FAST.” Time, Feb. 24, 1992.
The Papacy formed an alliance with the USA and is using ECONOMIC and MILITARY pressure to overthrow the atheistic Communist State.
Time magazine, 1992, describing the collapse of the Soviet Union, was entitled: “HOLY ALLIANCE: How Reagan and the Pope conspired to assist Polandʼs Solidarity movement and hasten the demise of Communism.” It describes the MILITARY and ECONOMIC means used to ovethrow the atheistic State:
“This was one of the great secret alliances of all time...he [Reagan] saw the collapse [of Communism] coming and he PUSHED it -hard.ʼ During the first half of 1982, a five part strategy emerged that was aimed at bringing about the collapse of the Soviet ECONOMY...
1. The U.S. defence buildup already under way, aimed at making it too costly for the Soviets to compete MILITARILY with the U.S. Reaganʼs Strategic Defence Initiative - Star Wars - became a centerpiece of the strategy...
2. FINANCIAL AID to Warsaw Pact nations calibrated to their willingness to protect human rights and undertake free-market reforms.
3. ECONOMIC isolation of the Soviet Union and withholding of Western and Japanese technology from Moscow. The Administration focused on denying the U.S.S.R. what it had hoped would be its principle source of hard currency in the 21st century: profits from a transcontinental pipeline to supply natural gas to Western Europe.” Time, Feb. 24, 1992.
Time magazine called this event “...the 20th centuryʼs most dramatic SPIRITUAL WAR, a conflict in which the seemingly irresistible force of COMMUNISM battered against the immovable object of CHRISTIANITY.” Time, Dec. 4, 1989.
“Gorbyʼs bow to the Roman legions.” Title in the U.S. News & World Report.
The Sunday Oregonian ran an article entitled, “The Power of a Prophet: Pope John Paul II, with extraordinary insight into the present, has become more influential than any world leader.”
A subheading read: “Bringing down Communism.” and went on to say:
“This is a man with an aura. He shapes history. His words and prayers cut like knives into the heart of Karl Marxʼs GODLESS philosophy. With no army he did what tanks could not, destroy the Evil Empire. Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader, said as much when he wrote, ʻEverything that has happened in Eastern Europe in these last few years would have been impossible without the presence of the pope and without the important role that he played on the world stage.” The Sunday Oregonian, October 15, 1995.
verse 40: he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
The language seems to be borrowed from the Assyrian army marching south to overflow Egypt (cf. Isa 8:7-8). The Apostate Christian State is to dominate world affairs.
“The Triumph Of John Paul II-The TIDE of freedom WASHING OVER EASTERN EUROPE answers his most fervent prayer.” Life, Dec. 1989.
“While Gorbachevʼs hands-off policy was the immediate cause of the chain reac- tion of liberty that has SWEPT THROUGH EASTERN EUROPE in the past few months, John Paul deserves much of the longer range credit.” Time, Dec. 4, 1989.
“...In the spacious ceremonial library of the 16th century Apostolic Palace, the CZAR of WORLD ATHEISM, Mikhail Gorbachev, will visit the Vicar of Christ, Pope John Paul II...The moment will be electric, not only because John Paul helped inflame the fervour for freedom in his Polish homeland that SWEPT like bush fire across Eastern Europe. Beyond that, the meeting of the two men symbolizes the end of the 20th centuryʼs most dramatic SPIRITUAL WAR, a conflict in which the seemingly irresistible force of COMMUNISM battered against the immovable object of CHRISTIANITY.” Time, Dec. 4, 1989.
verse 41: Papalism enters the glorious land
“Glorious,” Hebrew, tsebee, is translated “pleasant” in Daniel 8:9 where it referred to literal Israel which Pagan Rome captured. “Land” need not refer to physical territory. It often represents peoples (See Lev 18:3; Hos 1:2; Joel 2:18-21; Amos 8:8). In the latter parts of Daniel 11 physical places, e.g. the lands of the North, the South refer to ideologies.
Like the lands of the north and south, the glorious land also represents an ideology - it represents the true church. As Pagan Rome entered the literal “glorious land” of Palestine (v 16), so Papal Rome enters the global / spiritual “glorious land” - the true end-time church. The word “countries” is not in the Hebrew text. Through Catholic theology many in Godʼs church are, and will be, overthrown.
“As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angelʼs message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition.” E.G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., p 608.
Just prior to Christʼs return, because of the purification which results from persecution, the church will change from the “GLORIOUS LAND” (v 41) into the “GLORIOUS HOLY MOUNTAIN”(v 45).
Christ will present the church to Himself as “a GLORIOUS church...HOLY and without blemish.” Eph 5:23. cf. Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; Zech 8:3; Isa 11:9.
verse 41: Escape for Edom, Moab and Ammon
As literal Edom, Moab & Ammon no longer exist, this confirms that the countries in the latter parts of Daniel 11 are symbolic. These three peoples were related to Israel. Edom were the descendants of Esau.
The whoredoms Israel committed with the Moabites (Num 25:1-3) typifies the ecumenical apostatsy Godʼs end-time church is entering into with the fallen churches of Babylon.
Moab and Ammon were Lotʼs sons through his daughters (Gen 19:36-38). Moab and Ammon escaped the destruction of Sodom in their Father, so to speak (cf. Heb 7:9- 10). They represent the remnant of Godʼs people in the various denominations who escape the religious clutches of the king of the north by coming out and joining the true people of God. (cf. Rev 18:4).
“The Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people...they shall lay their hand upon EDOM and MOAB; and the chief of the children of AMMON shall obey them.” Isa 11:11-16.
This is being fulfilled in the call to come out of Babylon:
“September 23, the Lord showed me that He had stretched out His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people [Isa 11:11-16 above], and that efforts must be doubled in this gathering time.”
E.G. White, Early Writings, p 74. Bracketed comment supplied.
“Company after company from the Lordʼs army joined the foe and tribe after tribe [Edom, Moab and Ammon?] from the ranks of the enemy united with the command- ment keeping people of God.” E.G. White, Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 8, p41. Bracketed comment supplied.
Amos 9:11-12 compared with Acts 15:16, 17 shows that Edom and the heathen who follow God, represent “the residue of men.”
When enlightened with the truth and the call to “come out of her my people,” multitudes of Godʼs people presently in Babylon - in the king of the northʼs hand, will separate from the fallen churches and unite themselves with the remnant. (Amos 9:9-13; Isa 56:6-8; Jer 40:11-12).
“I saw that this message will close with power and strength far exceeding the midnight cry. Servants of God, endowed with power from on high with their faces lighted up, and shining with holy consecration, went forth to proclaim the message from heaven. Souls that were scattered all through the religious bodies answered to the call, and the precious were hurried out of the doomed churches, as Lot [Moab & Ammon being yet in Lotʼs loins] was hurried out of Sodom before her destruction.” E.G. White, Early Writings, p278-279. Bracketed comment supplied.
verse 42: The land of Egypt shall not escape
Atheistic states worldwide will yield to the religious requirements of the Christian nations. All the world is to worship the beast (Rev 13:8). Forms of religion will continue (GC11, p615) but all except the commandment keepers (Rev 14:12) will receive the mark of the beast. We can expect atheistic communist China to open its borders to ʻChristianityʼ either through economic or military pressure.
The cover of Time magazine, June 19, 1989, said, “Revolt against Communism - China, Poland, USSR.”
The article caption said:
“Defiance rocks the Communist world. China resists while Moscow and Warsaw struggle to reform.” The article itself said, “It has been a given among experts for some time that part of the challenge to the U.S. and its allies is to bring GLOBAL COMMUNISM in its decline to a soft landing rather than let it crash and burn....Ronald Reagan spoke of Marxism as ʻinherently unstableʼ and doomed. But in the policies that went with this confident rhetoric, he, like his predecessors, concentrated on the task of matching Communismʼs strength and deterring its expansion, not on the more subtle and relevant dilemma of coping with the consequences of its weakness, decay and retrenchment. George Bush seems to see the problem clearly. He has said that the industrialized democracies, led by the U.S., should move ʻbeyond containmentʼ and ʻintegrate the Soviet Union into the world order.ʼ”
In the New York Post Jackson Martindell, the president of the American Institute of Management, was quoted as saying: “Either Communism will rule the world or the Catholics will prevent it.” New York Post, Aug. 22, 1962. The Catholics, allied with the apostate Protestant US, are preventing it!
verse 43: Power over the treasure that no man might buy or sell
The king of the north will soon have such economic “power over the treasures of gold and of silver” that none but those who receive the mark of the beast will be able to buy or sell (Rev 13:17).
“Those who are loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off.” E.G. White, Desire of Ages, p 121.
v 43 “...the Libyans and the Ethiopians [shall be] at his steps.”
To be at someoneʼs steps is to be a follower (Ps 37:23; Job 23:11; Exo 11:8 margin; 1Kings 20:10 margin; 1Pet 2:21-22). These peoples represent those who support the Papacy.
verse 44: The gospel tidings out of the east
The saints, filled with love for others and realizing that many are not ready for the Lordʼs Second Coming, will arise to give the Loud Cry of Rev 18:1-4, the gospel “TIDINGS.” (Isa 52:7; Isa 61:1). Read Isa 59:19-60:3.
Out of the East and North:
That these tidings come from the East and North shows them to be messages from God:
(a) The heralds of Christʼs first Advent came from the East (Matt 2:1).
(b) The angel having the seal of God is said to come from the East Rev 7:2. As the seal of God does not come from the literal east, the points of the compass are not to be understood literally.
(c) God came from the North in Eze 1:4.
(d) Cyrus, who was a type or forerunner of Christ came from the East & the North (Isa 41:2, 25; 46:11; Jer 50:3, 9). He dried up the literal Euphrates River, conquered literal Babylon, and delivered Godʼs people. What Cyrus did to literal Babylon, Christ will do to spiritual Babylon.
(e) One day men will seek Godʼs Word but it will be too late. They are presented as looking for it in the north & east, the very places from which it is represented as having come. (Amos 8:11-12). See also Matt 24:27.
verse 44 Tiding trouble him therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
The faithful will give the gospel, calling souls out of Babylon, and calling men to keep Godʼs commandments instead of the mark of the beast (Rev 14:6-12). This will infuriate the King of the North (alias the beast) who will go forth with great fury to destroy the faithful (cf. Matt 2:1-13). “
“The two armies will stand distinct and separate, and this distinction will be so marked that many who shall be convinced of the truth will come on the side of Godʼs commandment-keeping people. When this grand work is to take place in the battle, prior to the last closing conflict, many will be imprisoned, many will flee for their lives from cities and towns, and many will be martyrs for Christʼs sake in standing in de- fense of the truth...You will not be tempted above what you are able to bear. Jesus bore all this and far more. . . .” E.G. White, Sellected Messages, Vol. 3, p 397-398.
Finally a universal Death Decree will be passed on all those who keep the commandments of God instead of the mark of the beast. (Rev 7:2; 13:15).
verse 45: He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace...
Tabernacles can refer to military tents.
Daniel 11:45 borrows from Psalm 83:1-18, which describes the TABERNACLES of a confederacy of Evil, the ENEMIES of Israel coming to overthrow Godʼs people who will be HIDING in the wilderness at that time. God will rise up and destroy them.
“For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy HIDDEN ONES They have said, Come, and let us CUT THEM OFF from [being] a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with ONE CONSENT [one mind]: they are confederate against thee:
The TABERNACLES of Edom...Moab... Ammon...etc...Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession... Let them be confounded and TROUBLED for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish.”
“Satanic agencies have been moved from beneath, and they have inspired men to unite in A CONFEDERACY OF EVIL that they may perplex, harass, and cause the people of God GREAT DISTRESS. .....because they will not yield homage to the PAPACY, by honoring Sunday, the institution of this anti-Christian power. It is the purpose of Satan to cause them to be BLOTTED FROM THE EARTH, in order that his supremacy of the world may not be disputed.” E.G. White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 08-22-93.
verse 45: between the seas in the glorious holy mountain...
Those who have refused to join those who keep the commandments of God will gather in purpose under Papalism for the last great battle against the people of God.
They will ʻsurroundʼ (Luke 21:20; Matt 24:15) the purified “glorious” and “holy” church worldwide (Eph 5:27), intending to destroy her. The same thing will happen again at the end of the Millennium (Rev 20:7-9).
Another way of looking at Verse 45 is and as mentioned earlier, the whoredoms Israel committed with the Moabites (Num 25:1-3) typifing the ecumenical apostatsy Godʼs end-time church is entering into with the fallen churches of Babylon.
When one deciphers the various symbols then what we have is this:
- Seas represent peoples.
- Glorious Holy mountain refers to God's church.
- To plant is to to establish something.
- Tabernacles refers to a holy dwelling such as God's.
- Palace is a place where a King dwells and governs his people from.
- Hence one can consider Tabernacles & Palace as symbolising Church & State.
- Church & State laws, doctrines or principles if you like.
Hence the planting of the Tabernacles of his Palace can refer to the establishing of doctrines (false ones) among the peoples of God in God's church. Therefore this King "sits" in the temple of God, ie the church of God, showing himself to be God. And how does he do this? By implanting his false antichrist doctrines in the church. (See 1John 2:18, 22, 1John 4:3, 2Hon 1:7) This king does not have to be sitting in the temple literally but doctrinally.
verse 45: yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him...
However, just when the apostate church looks set to destroy the saints, its supporters will turn upon it and it shall come to its end, and none shall help it. (See Isa 47:15; Rev:16-17)
Daniel 12:1 Deliverance
“And at that time [Heb. eth. Period of time] shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a TIME OF TROUBLE such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be DELIVERED, every one that shall be found written in the book.” cf. Matt 24.
WHAT CAN WE LEARN?
1. To see the future, look to the past. Scenes similar to those which brought the Papacy to power in the past are repeating. The pressure on atheistic Communism, Islam and other anti-papal powers is the fulfillment of prophecy occurring before our eyes. Malachi Martin S.J., outlined this struggle in his book, The Keys of this Blood: The struggle for world dominion between Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev & The Capitalist West.
The preface contained these words:
“Willing or not, ready or not, we are all involved in an all-out, no-holds-barred, three way global competition. Most of us are not competitors, however. We are the stakes. For this competition is about who will establish the first one world system of government that has ever existed in the society of nations. It is about who will hold and wield the dual power of authority and control over each of us as individuals and over all of us together as a community; over the entire six billion people expected by the demographers to inhabit the earth by the third millennium. The competition is all-out because, now that it has started, there is no way that it can be reversed or called off. No holds because, once the competition has been decided, the world and all thatʼs in it - our way of life as indi- viduals and as citizens of the nations; our families and our jobs; our trade and com- merce and money; our education systems and OUR RELIGIONS and our cultures; even the badge of our national identity, which most of us have always taken for granted - all will be powerfully and radically altered forever. No one can be exempted from its effects. No sector of our lives will remain untouched.” Malachi Martin (Roman Catholic), preface, The Keys of this Blood. [emphasis added].
2. The Papacy is regaining her power, supported by the so-called Protestant nations (America, England).
3. Soon persecution will once again break upon those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
QUESTIONS
As the territories at the beginning of the chapter were literal why interpret the same territories as symbolic at the end of the chapter?
Some argue that a chapter which begins literally must be interpreted literally throughout.
1. There is no Biblical rule that a chapter which begins literally must end literally.
2. The existing chapter divisions were not inspired. The chapter breaks where not given by God but added centuries after the Bible was finished so any argument based on the chapter divisions is unbiblical.
3. It is a principle that end-time prophecy is given in Old Testament terms but applies in a worldwide way. For this reason the terms remain unchanged. See on v 40.
Could Turkey be the last power of Daniel 11?
Those who hold this view accept that the power of Daniel 11:31-35 is the Papacy. They believe that the king of verses 36-39 is France, which in the 1790s became officially atheistic, disregarded the permanence of marriage (verse 37), honoured the goddess of reason (verse 38), and sold off church property to fund its wars (verse 39). France attacked Egypt in the South in 1798 and Egypt resisted. This resistance is seen as the king of the South pushing at him. (verse 40). The French army then moved north passing through Palestine. Turkey, the kingdom to the north of Palestine, firmly repelled the French, causing the French to retreat to Cairo in Egypt. The Turks pursued them, passing through Palestine. This is seen as the king of the north (Turkey) entering into the glorious land. (verse 41). The Turks conquered Egypt and demanded annual tribute (verse 42-43). Tidings or threats from Persia and Prussia troubled Turkey (verse 44) which went to war with Russia in the Crimean War (1853). It is believed that Turkey will attempt to move its capital to Jerusalem, between the seas - the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, but come to his end without help. (verse 45).
While many details seem to fit, and many years ago Turkey was a significant nation, there are reasons to reject this view:
1. The last earthly power in Daniel chapters 2, 7, 8 & 9 is Rome. The principle of repeat and enlarge therefore indicates that the last power in Daniel 11 is Rome.
2. All the identifying points given in Daniel 11:36-40 are found elsewhere in Scripture and refer to the Papacy, not France.
3. In the Hebrew, the King of verse 36 is preceded by the definite article “the.” This indicates that the king of verse 36 is the king discussed in the previous verses, namely the Papacy.
4. The power of verses 30-35 and verse 36 are the SAME power - the Papacy, not two powers.
“The prophecy in the eleventh of Daniel has nearly reached its complete fulfillment. Much of the history that has taken place in fulfillment of this prophecy will be repeated. In the thirtieth verse A POWER is spoken of that “shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.” [Verses 31-36, quoted.]” E.G. White, 13 Manuscript Releases, p 394.
5. The King of verse 36 would do “according to his will.” This term is applied to those nations which had total power over the people of God. (cf. Dan 8:4; Dan 11:3; Dan 11:16). France never had such power.
6. To magnify oneself above God (verse 36) does not necessarily imply atheism. 2Thess speaks of the power of Daniel 11 exalting himself above God. This power is the “man of sin.”
7. The French disregarded the permanence of marriage but not women (Dan 11:37). See comment on verse 37 to see how this fits the Papacy.
8. While the French did honour reason and personified it by a woman, nothing is said about France ever honouring either the woman or reason with “gold and silver, and precious stones, and pleasant things” as the verse necessitates.
9. Daniel 11:40 speaks of the king of the South “pushing. To “push” means to attack and conquer. (See Daniel 8:4). In 1798 Egypt did not attack and conquer France; it was the exact opposite! (See on verse 40).
10. In 1798 Egypt was actually a state of the Turkish Empire! Therefore in 1798 Egypt was actually a part of what the Turkey view calls the King of the North!
11. In 1798 Palestine was not the “glorious land” or the “glorious holy mountain,” for God had rejected the Jewish nation centuries earlier in AD34 because of their unbelief. Only Godʼs presence makes a thing holy.
12. The King of the North in Daniel 11:40-45 is represented as a significant power which grows from strength to strength, whereas Turkey is of no great significance today.
13. In other end-time prophecies, events and terms such as Jerusalem, Babylon etc. are all to be spiritually applied. See General Introduction. To read the last portions of Daniel 11 literally is out of harmony.
14. The SOP nowhere supports the belief that Turkey is the King of the North. The largest chapter of the Great Controversy - The French Revolution, doesnʼt once refer to Daniel 11:36-40, which the Turkey view claims is referring to atheistic France.
15. James White taught that the King of the North was the Papacy till the day he died. Ellen White never told him he was in error.
16. The vision was given “to make thee understand what shall befall THY PEOPLE in the latter days...” Daniel 10:14. It was not given to show what would befall Turkey. Obviously Godʼs people must be involved in the latter portion of Daniel 11.
Some also claim that Turkey has already fulfilled the first part of Dan 11:45, in that she has planted her palaces in Jerusalem, namely the Dome of the Rock and El Aska. However, these buildings were not ʻplantedʼ in the time of the end, i.e. after 1798, as the prophecy demands, but over 1100 years before, in AD691. Neither were these buildings “planted” by Turkey, but by Omar, the Arabian Moslem.
An attempt has been made to bolster the application of Turkey as the King of the North by including with Turkey the Islamic religion. If the King of the North is taken as a symbol for Islam then the king of the South, the glorious land, etc. should also be taken as symbols. This inconsistency argues against this view.
Themes in the book of Daniel
Daniel 2: Restoration of the Kingdom. (God wants to restore His Kingdom).
Daniel 7: Restoration of the King. (The Kingdom needs a King).
Daniel 8-9: Restoration of the Sanctuary (Christ must cease His work as Priest before He can return as our King).
Daniel 10-12: Restoration of the people. (Before Christ can cease His work as Priest His people must cease sinning. They will become the “GLORIOUS HOLY mountain.” Dan 11:45).
Interesting Parallels with the Book of Esther
In Isaiah 4:1 Christ is represented as the desire of women. Women symbolize churches (Jer 6:2; 2Cor 11:2). In the end- times many churches desire to be called by Christʼs name while doing what they want. The Papacy has not regared Christ, the desire of churches, in that the Papacy has done contrary to Christʼs word - the Bible. Incidentally marriage might also be called the desire of women, (Gen 3:16) and this is also forbidden the Catholic clergy and the Nuns.
“Although celibacy is not expressly enforced by the Saviour...the [Catholic] Church felt it her duty to lay it down as a law.” The Faith of Our Fathers, James Cardinal Gibbons, (Roman Catholic) 1917 ed., p 401.
verse 37: ...nor regard any God for he shall magnify himself above all
The Papacy thus disregards:
1. God (God the Father), by breaking His Law.
2. The Desire of "women" (The Son), by doing contrary to His teachings.
3. The Spirit of God by claiming to be the Vicar (representative) of Christ and the only infallible interpreter of Scripture, when the Holy Spirit is Christʼs Representative and infallible Interpreter.
The Papacy magnifies itself.
Papal quotes show their self exaltation:
“The pope is crowned with a triple crown as king of heaven, and earth, and purgatory.” Ferrarisʼ Promptta Bibliotheca, Vol. VI, p 26, article “Papa.”
“What only God can do by his omnipotence, the priest can also do...Indeed it is not too much to say that in view of the sublimity of their office the priests are so many Gods.” Dignity and Duties of the Priest, Alphonsus De Liguori, p 35.
“The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or inter- pret even Divine laws...THE POPE CAN MODIFY DIVINE LAW, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts in the place of God upon earth.” Lucius Ferraris, “Papa,” art. 2, in Prompta Bibliotheca
“The pope has power to change times, to abrogate [change] laws, and to dispense [do away] with all things, even the precepts of Christ.” Decretal, De Translantic Episcop.
verse 38: Honouring the god of forces sitting in Godʼs seat.
Verse 37 said he regarded no God except himself. The God of forces must therefore be himself.
The word “forces” in this verse is from the Hebrew “mauwz” which means STRENGTH. The word “Rome‚“ in the New Testament is from the Greek “Rhome” and means “STRENGTH.”
In the place of God, the Papacy worships the GOD OF FORCES - the GOD OF ROME, the Pope.
The marginal reading of v 38 says, “...as for the Almighty God, IN HIS SEAT he shall honour yea, he shall honour A GOD, whom his fathers knew not.”
Paul called this power the “man of sin” “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God SITTETH IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD, shewing himself that he is God.”
The temple (Gr. naos) in which he would sit is the Christian church, more specifically, the church of God, through the doctrines of the Trinity and the denial of Jesus Christ coming in the FLESH. See Eph 2:21-22.
verse 38: Cause them to rule over many.
He causes “them,” the succession of Popes, to increase in glory, wealth and power in the most strong holds, or leading cities of the nations.
verse 38: Gold, silver, precious stones etc.
Claiming to hold the keys to heaven or hell, Rome has had a captivating control over kings and nations.
Revelation 17 speaks of the whore of Babylon who fornicates with the kings of the earth and is decked in GOLD, PRECIOUS STONES stones etc.
verse 39: Divide the land for gain.
Wealthy dioceses and archdioceses offered opportunity for personal gain and self-aggrandizement. These were obtained by those who promised to pay their Church superiors the most. The Papacy also helped settle territorial disputes between nations in such a way that the church benefitted. The merchandizing spirit in the church is mentioned in the 3rd seal of Revelation 6:5-6. cf. Mic 3:11; Eze 34.
verse 40: At the time of the end - 1798
In Daniel 11:30-35 the period of Papal supremacy is described as lasting “even to the time of the end.” As the Papal supremancy ended in 1798, the time of the end began in 1798.
verse 40: In 1798 the King of the South attacked the Papal State
As shown, the time of the end began in 1798. To “PUSH” is to attack and conquer as the Ram pushing in Daniel 8:4 represented a kingdom conquering others. If history testifies to a power attacking the Papacy in 1798, it would be conclusive proof of the correctness of the application.
Exactly as foretold France attacked and abolished the Papacy in 1798.
“The ULTIMATE HUMILIATION of the Church came when Pius VI was driven from Rome by the French armies in 1798.” Encʼ Britannica, 1989, Vol. 26, p 938.
“In 1798 he [Berthier]...made his entrance into Rome, ABOLISHED the PAPAL GOV- ERNMENT and established a secular one.” The Encʼ Americana, 1941 ed.
The prophecy said that the power which “pushed” or attack the Papacy was “the king of the south.” In what way can France be called “the King of the South?”
Who is the King of the South?
In the first part of this chapter the king of the South was Egypt (Daniel 11:8-9). However there is a prophetic principle that literal Old Testament things represent global spiritual things in the end times.
The literal & local typifies the global & spiritual
Literal localized things that affected literal Israel represent spiritual global events that affect the world-wide church. Israel was a miniature world in which God illustrated His way of dealing with sin. What happened to Israel are types, or figures, illustrating world-wide events in the experience of the church. (1Cor 10:6, 11; Rom 15:4).
While there is a change from literal to spiritual Israel, there is no change in the language. The Old Testament terms are kept but they refer to the Church worldwide and her enemies. (Matt 21:43; 1Pet 2:9; Rom 11:17-21; Gal 3:28-29. See Dan 9). In the same way the enemies of literal local Israel, such as Babylon to the north and Egypt to the South, are used to represent end-time global spiritual powers.
What spiritual / global power does the King of the South represent in the end-time?
What was the spirit of Egypt, the king ofthe south? Pharaoh, the original “king of the SOUTH,” defied and denied Godʼs existence, saying:
“Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go.” Exo 5:2, A.R.V. This is ATHEISM, and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the living God and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance.” E.G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., p269.
In the 1790s this God-denying spirit arose in France. During the Revolution, in 1793, “the world for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which manʼs soul receives, and RENOUNCE UNANIMOUSLY THE BELIEF AND WORSHIP OF DEITY.” Sir Walter Scott, Life of Napoleon, Vol. I, ch. 17
“France stands apart in the worldʼs history as the single state which, by the decree of her Legislative Assembly, pronounced THERE WAS NO GOD, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement.”
Blackwoodʼs Magazine, Nov, 1870.
In France the Bible was banned and France plunged into the most bloody and licentious scenes ever seen in Europe, known as the Reign of Terror.
The rise of atheism in France was the fruit of years of Papal influence. By following Papal policy and crushing out the Reformation, France destroyed liberty and reforms that would have blessed the nation. Rome had misrepresented the character of God, and the people of France, thinking that Romanism was Christianity, rejected both the Bible and its Author. Men like Voltaire spread their infidelity everywhere. The masses, long trampled on by Rome, rose up against the oppressor with fury. The guillotine was set up on the very spot where Rome had set up the first stake for the Reformers. In rejecting Roman Catholicism as a deception, the French were led by Satan to regard all religion as a deception.
verse 40: In 1798 the King of the South attacked the Papal State
In 1798, at the very beginning of the time of the end, the atheistic French, seeing the Pope as an obstacle in their efforts to rule Europe, attacked (“pushed” cf. Dan 8:4) the Papal State, abolishing it; giving it a deadly wound (cf. Rev 13).
“Berthier [French general] entered Rome on 10th February 1798, and proclaimeda Republic...No wonder that half Europe thought... that with the Pope the papacy was dead.” Lectures on the History of Religions, Vol. 3, lec. 24, p1. J. Rickaby or The Modern papacy, J. Rickaby (a Jesuit) p 9.
“The PAPACY was EXTINCT: not a vestige of its existence remained; and among all the Roman Catholic powers not a finger was stirred in its defence. The Eternal City had no longer prince or pontiff; its bishop was dying in foreign lands; and the decree was already announced that no successor would be allowed in his place.” C. Trevor, Rome and Its Papal Rulers, p 440
The “king of the south” is hereafter used to refer to the God-defying Atheistic State. Following France, the Communist state became atheismʼs most powerful supporter. The French Revolution was the birthplace of atheistic Communism (See on Revelation 11). Conflicts have continued as atheistic states and ideologies have continued to press back Roman Catholicism.
“The COMMUNIST movement would never have taken form as it did except for the prior occurrence of the FRENCH REVOLUTION.” Palmer, Revolution, p11-12
“The connection between the absolutist REVOLUTION OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY and the MARXIST MOVEMENT of the next century presses for recognition... [It] is THE DIRECT OFFSPRING and heir...A RELIGION OF ATHEISM... coupling scientific ideas with the greatest political hopes that man has ever entertained, the absolute hopes that animated the FRENCH REVOLUTION.” The Dignity of Man, R. W. Davenport, p163-9.
verse 40: ...and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind.
Who is the King of the North?
The king of the north is the last power in Daniel 11. Based on the principle that the prophecies in Daniel repeat and enlarge the last earthly power in Daniel 11 is Rome:
Last earthly power in Daniel 2 - Rome
Last earthly power in Daniel 7 - Rome
Last earthly power in Daniel 8-9 - Rome
Last earthly power in Daniel 10-12 - Rome.
Just as the “king of the SOUTH” refers to the Atheistic State, the “king of the NORTH” refers to the Apostate Christian State. This same power is called Babylon in the book of Revelation. Literal Babylon was literal Israelʼs northern enemy. (Jer 1:14; 4:5-7; 6:1; 10:22; 13:20; 16:15; 23:8; 25:9, 12).
As literal Israel suffered at the hands of Babylon in the NORTH and Egypt in the SOUTH, so today the true church suffers at the hands of Apostate Christianity (which spiritually is Babylon in the north) and Atheism (which spiritually is Egypt in the South). These two systems are really similar:
One is antichrist the other is antigod. Catholicism breeds Atheism. (eg. the French Revolution). Atheism breeds Catholicism (Many countries where Catholicism is strong become atheistic communist. Today as a backlash to atheism Christians are attempting to gain political power. The papal system is on the rise. The deadly wound the Papacy suffered in 1798 is slowly healing. The Lateran Treaty in 1929 restored to the Papacy the Vatican State.
Headlines:
“Mussolini and Gaspari Sign Historic Pact... HEAL WOUND of Many Years...” San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 12, 1929.
The last part of verse 40 describes how the “king of the NORTH,” the Christian State, counter-attacked the king of the SOUTH, the Atheistic State. Papalismʼs counterattack occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By this time the most powerful supporter of Atheism was Soviet Communism - a party pledged to Atheism.
verse 40: The Christian State attacked the Atheistic State like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with- many ships...
Ships = ECONOMIC power (Ps 107:23; Rev 18:17, 19; Eze 27:24, 25)
“Chariots & horsemen” = MILITARY power. Whirlwind = FAST (Amos 1:14; Jer 4:13). This language is borrowed from a description of literal Babylon, “his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles...” (Jer 4:13). Literal Babylon was a type of the end-time king of the north.
Atheistic Russiaʼs collapse was so rapid it stunned the world. It was as prophecy had foretold, “like a whirlwind.” Newsweek magazine unconsciously used the very words of prophecy when it entitled its article on the collapse of Atheistic Communism: “DAYS OF THE WHIRLWIND.” Newsweek, Dec. 25, 1989.
“Nobody believed the collapse of communism would happen this FAST.” Time, Feb. 24, 1992.
The Papacy formed an alliance with the USA and is using ECONOMIC and MILITARY pressure to overthrow the atheistic Communist State.
Time magazine, 1992, describing the collapse of the Soviet Union, was entitled: “HOLY ALLIANCE: How Reagan and the Pope conspired to assist Polandʼs Solidarity movement and hasten the demise of Communism.” It describes the MILITARY and ECONOMIC means used to ovethrow the atheistic State:
“This was one of the great secret alliances of all time...he [Reagan] saw the collapse [of Communism] coming and he PUSHED it -hard.ʼ During the first half of 1982, a five part strategy emerged that was aimed at bringing about the collapse of the Soviet ECONOMY...
1. The U.S. defence buildup already under way, aimed at making it too costly for the Soviets to compete MILITARILY with the U.S. Reaganʼs Strategic Defence Initiative - Star Wars - became a centerpiece of the strategy...
2. FINANCIAL AID to Warsaw Pact nations calibrated to their willingness to protect human rights and undertake free-market reforms.
3. ECONOMIC isolation of the Soviet Union and withholding of Western and Japanese technology from Moscow. The Administration focused on denying the U.S.S.R. what it had hoped would be its principle source of hard currency in the 21st century: profits from a transcontinental pipeline to supply natural gas to Western Europe.” Time, Feb. 24, 1992.
Time magazine called this event “...the 20th centuryʼs most dramatic SPIRITUAL WAR, a conflict in which the seemingly irresistible force of COMMUNISM battered against the immovable object of CHRISTIANITY.” Time, Dec. 4, 1989.
“Gorbyʼs bow to the Roman legions.” Title in the U.S. News & World Report.
The Sunday Oregonian ran an article entitled, “The Power of a Prophet: Pope John Paul II, with extraordinary insight into the present, has become more influential than any world leader.”
A subheading read: “Bringing down Communism.” and went on to say:
“This is a man with an aura. He shapes history. His words and prayers cut like knives into the heart of Karl Marxʼs GODLESS philosophy. With no army he did what tanks could not, destroy the Evil Empire. Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader, said as much when he wrote, ʻEverything that has happened in Eastern Europe in these last few years would have been impossible without the presence of the pope and without the important role that he played on the world stage.” The Sunday Oregonian, October 15, 1995.
verse 40: he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
The language seems to be borrowed from the Assyrian army marching south to overflow Egypt (cf. Isa 8:7-8). The Apostate Christian State is to dominate world affairs.
“The Triumph Of John Paul II-The TIDE of freedom WASHING OVER EASTERN EUROPE answers his most fervent prayer.” Life, Dec. 1989.
“While Gorbachevʼs hands-off policy was the immediate cause of the chain reac- tion of liberty that has SWEPT THROUGH EASTERN EUROPE in the past few months, John Paul deserves much of the longer range credit.” Time, Dec. 4, 1989.
“...In the spacious ceremonial library of the 16th century Apostolic Palace, the CZAR of WORLD ATHEISM, Mikhail Gorbachev, will visit the Vicar of Christ, Pope John Paul II...The moment will be electric, not only because John Paul helped inflame the fervour for freedom in his Polish homeland that SWEPT like bush fire across Eastern Europe. Beyond that, the meeting of the two men symbolizes the end of the 20th centuryʼs most dramatic SPIRITUAL WAR, a conflict in which the seemingly irresistible force of COMMUNISM battered against the immovable object of CHRISTIANITY.” Time, Dec. 4, 1989.
verse 41: Papalism enters the glorious land
“Glorious,” Hebrew, tsebee, is translated “pleasant” in Daniel 8:9 where it referred to literal Israel which Pagan Rome captured. “Land” need not refer to physical territory. It often represents peoples (See Lev 18:3; Hos 1:2; Joel 2:18-21; Amos 8:8). In the latter parts of Daniel 11 physical places, e.g. the lands of the North, the South refer to ideologies.
Like the lands of the north and south, the glorious land also represents an ideology - it represents the true church. As Pagan Rome entered the literal “glorious land” of Palestine (v 16), so Papal Rome enters the global / spiritual “glorious land” - the true end-time church. The word “countries” is not in the Hebrew text. Through Catholic theology many in Godʼs church are, and will be, overthrown.
“As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angelʼs message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition.” E.G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., p 608.
Just prior to Christʼs return, because of the purification which results from persecution, the church will change from the “GLORIOUS LAND” (v 41) into the “GLORIOUS HOLY MOUNTAIN”(v 45).
Christ will present the church to Himself as “a GLORIOUS church...HOLY and without blemish.” Eph 5:23. cf. Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; Zech 8:3; Isa 11:9.
verse 41: Escape for Edom, Moab and Ammon
As literal Edom, Moab & Ammon no longer exist, this confirms that the countries in the latter parts of Daniel 11 are symbolic. These three peoples were related to Israel. Edom were the descendants of Esau.
The whoredoms Israel committed with the Moabites (Num 25:1-3) typifies the ecumenical apostatsy Godʼs end-time church is entering into with the fallen churches of Babylon.
Moab and Ammon were Lotʼs sons through his daughters (Gen 19:36-38). Moab and Ammon escaped the destruction of Sodom in their Father, so to speak (cf. Heb 7:9- 10). They represent the remnant of Godʼs people in the various denominations who escape the religious clutches of the king of the north by coming out and joining the true people of God. (cf. Rev 18:4).
“The Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people...they shall lay their hand upon EDOM and MOAB; and the chief of the children of AMMON shall obey them.” Isa 11:11-16.
This is being fulfilled in the call to come out of Babylon:
“September 23, the Lord showed me that He had stretched out His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people [Isa 11:11-16 above], and that efforts must be doubled in this gathering time.”
E.G. White, Early Writings, p 74. Bracketed comment supplied.
“Company after company from the Lordʼs army joined the foe and tribe after tribe [Edom, Moab and Ammon?] from the ranks of the enemy united with the command- ment keeping people of God.” E.G. White, Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 8, p41. Bracketed comment supplied.
Amos 9:11-12 compared with Acts 15:16, 17 shows that Edom and the heathen who follow God, represent “the residue of men.”
When enlightened with the truth and the call to “come out of her my people,” multitudes of Godʼs people presently in Babylon - in the king of the northʼs hand, will separate from the fallen churches and unite themselves with the remnant. (Amos 9:9-13; Isa 56:6-8; Jer 40:11-12).
“I saw that this message will close with power and strength far exceeding the midnight cry. Servants of God, endowed with power from on high with their faces lighted up, and shining with holy consecration, went forth to proclaim the message from heaven. Souls that were scattered all through the religious bodies answered to the call, and the precious were hurried out of the doomed churches, as Lot [Moab & Ammon being yet in Lotʼs loins] was hurried out of Sodom before her destruction.” E.G. White, Early Writings, p278-279. Bracketed comment supplied.
verse 42: The land of Egypt shall not escape
Atheistic states worldwide will yield to the religious requirements of the Christian nations. All the world is to worship the beast (Rev 13:8). Forms of religion will continue (GC11, p615) but all except the commandment keepers (Rev 14:12) will receive the mark of the beast. We can expect atheistic communist China to open its borders to ʻChristianityʼ either through economic or military pressure.
The cover of Time magazine, June 19, 1989, said, “Revolt against Communism - China, Poland, USSR.”
The article caption said:
“Defiance rocks the Communist world. China resists while Moscow and Warsaw struggle to reform.” The article itself said, “It has been a given among experts for some time that part of the challenge to the U.S. and its allies is to bring GLOBAL COMMUNISM in its decline to a soft landing rather than let it crash and burn....Ronald Reagan spoke of Marxism as ʻinherently unstableʼ and doomed. But in the policies that went with this confident rhetoric, he, like his predecessors, concentrated on the task of matching Communismʼs strength and deterring its expansion, not on the more subtle and relevant dilemma of coping with the consequences of its weakness, decay and retrenchment. George Bush seems to see the problem clearly. He has said that the industrialized democracies, led by the U.S., should move ʻbeyond containmentʼ and ʻintegrate the Soviet Union into the world order.ʼ”
In the New York Post Jackson Martindell, the president of the American Institute of Management, was quoted as saying: “Either Communism will rule the world or the Catholics will prevent it.” New York Post, Aug. 22, 1962. The Catholics, allied with the apostate Protestant US, are preventing it!
verse 43: Power over the treasure that no man might buy or sell
The king of the north will soon have such economic “power over the treasures of gold and of silver” that none but those who receive the mark of the beast will be able to buy or sell (Rev 13:17).
“Those who are loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off.” E.G. White, Desire of Ages, p 121.
v 43 “...the Libyans and the Ethiopians [shall be] at his steps.”
To be at someoneʼs steps is to be a follower (Ps 37:23; Job 23:11; Exo 11:8 margin; 1Kings 20:10 margin; 1Pet 2:21-22). These peoples represent those who support the Papacy.
verse 44: The gospel tidings out of the east
The saints, filled with love for others and realizing that many are not ready for the Lordʼs Second Coming, will arise to give the Loud Cry of Rev 18:1-4, the gospel “TIDINGS.” (Isa 52:7; Isa 61:1). Read Isa 59:19-60:3.
Out of the East and North:
That these tidings come from the East and North shows them to be messages from God:
(a) The heralds of Christʼs first Advent came from the East (Matt 2:1).
(b) The angel having the seal of God is said to come from the East Rev 7:2. As the seal of God does not come from the literal east, the points of the compass are not to be understood literally.
(c) God came from the North in Eze 1:4.
(d) Cyrus, who was a type or forerunner of Christ came from the East & the North (Isa 41:2, 25; 46:11; Jer 50:3, 9). He dried up the literal Euphrates River, conquered literal Babylon, and delivered Godʼs people. What Cyrus did to literal Babylon, Christ will do to spiritual Babylon.
(e) One day men will seek Godʼs Word but it will be too late. They are presented as looking for it in the north & east, the very places from which it is represented as having come. (Amos 8:11-12). See also Matt 24:27.
verse 44 Tiding trouble him therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
The faithful will give the gospel, calling souls out of Babylon, and calling men to keep Godʼs commandments instead of the mark of the beast (Rev 14:6-12). This will infuriate the King of the North (alias the beast) who will go forth with great fury to destroy the faithful (cf. Matt 2:1-13). “
“The two armies will stand distinct and separate, and this distinction will be so marked that many who shall be convinced of the truth will come on the side of Godʼs commandment-keeping people. When this grand work is to take place in the battle, prior to the last closing conflict, many will be imprisoned, many will flee for their lives from cities and towns, and many will be martyrs for Christʼs sake in standing in de- fense of the truth...You will not be tempted above what you are able to bear. Jesus bore all this and far more. . . .” E.G. White, Sellected Messages, Vol. 3, p 397-398.
Finally a universal Death Decree will be passed on all those who keep the commandments of God instead of the mark of the beast. (Rev 7:2; 13:15).
verse 45: He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace...
Tabernacles can refer to military tents.
Daniel 11:45 borrows from Psalm 83:1-18, which describes the TABERNACLES of a confederacy of Evil, the ENEMIES of Israel coming to overthrow Godʼs people who will be HIDING in the wilderness at that time. God will rise up and destroy them.
“For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy HIDDEN ONES They have said, Come, and let us CUT THEM OFF from [being] a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with ONE CONSENT [one mind]: they are confederate against thee:
The TABERNACLES of Edom...Moab... Ammon...etc...Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession... Let them be confounded and TROUBLED for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish.”
“Satanic agencies have been moved from beneath, and they have inspired men to unite in A CONFEDERACY OF EVIL that they may perplex, harass, and cause the people of God GREAT DISTRESS. .....because they will not yield homage to the PAPACY, by honoring Sunday, the institution of this anti-Christian power. It is the purpose of Satan to cause them to be BLOTTED FROM THE EARTH, in order that his supremacy of the world may not be disputed.” E.G. White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 08-22-93.
verse 45: between the seas in the glorious holy mountain...
Those who have refused to join those who keep the commandments of God will gather in purpose under Papalism for the last great battle against the people of God.
They will ʻsurroundʼ (Luke 21:20; Matt 24:15) the purified “glorious” and “holy” church worldwide (Eph 5:27), intending to destroy her. The same thing will happen again at the end of the Millennium (Rev 20:7-9).
Another way of looking at Verse 45 is and as mentioned earlier, the whoredoms Israel committed with the Moabites (Num 25:1-3) typifing the ecumenical apostatsy Godʼs end-time church is entering into with the fallen churches of Babylon.
When one deciphers the various symbols then what we have is this:
- Seas represent peoples.
- Glorious Holy mountain refers to God's church.
- To plant is to to establish something.
- Tabernacles refers to a holy dwelling such as God's.
- Palace is a place where a King dwells and governs his people from.
- Hence one can consider Tabernacles & Palace as symbolising Church & State.
- Church & State laws, doctrines or principles if you like.
Hence the planting of the Tabernacles of his Palace can refer to the establishing of doctrines (false ones) among the peoples of God in God's church. Therefore this King "sits" in the temple of God, ie the church of God, showing himself to be God. And how does he do this? By implanting his false antichrist doctrines in the church. (See 1John 2:18, 22, 1John 4:3, 2Hon 1:7) This king does not have to be sitting in the temple literally but doctrinally.
verse 45: yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him...
However, just when the apostate church looks set to destroy the saints, its supporters will turn upon it and it shall come to its end, and none shall help it. (See Isa 47:15; Rev:16-17)
Daniel 12:1 Deliverance
“And at that time [Heb. eth. Period of time] shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a TIME OF TROUBLE such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be DELIVERED, every one that shall be found written in the book.” cf. Matt 24.
WHAT CAN WE LEARN?
1. To see the future, look to the past. Scenes similar to those which brought the Papacy to power in the past are repeating. The pressure on atheistic Communism, Islam and other anti-papal powers is the fulfillment of prophecy occurring before our eyes. Malachi Martin S.J., outlined this struggle in his book, The Keys of this Blood: The struggle for world dominion between Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev & The Capitalist West.
The preface contained these words:
“Willing or not, ready or not, we are all involved in an all-out, no-holds-barred, three way global competition. Most of us are not competitors, however. We are the stakes. For this competition is about who will establish the first one world system of government that has ever existed in the society of nations. It is about who will hold and wield the dual power of authority and control over each of us as individuals and over all of us together as a community; over the entire six billion people expected by the demographers to inhabit the earth by the third millennium. The competition is all-out because, now that it has started, there is no way that it can be reversed or called off. No holds because, once the competition has been decided, the world and all thatʼs in it - our way of life as indi- viduals and as citizens of the nations; our families and our jobs; our trade and com- merce and money; our education systems and OUR RELIGIONS and our cultures; even the badge of our national identity, which most of us have always taken for granted - all will be powerfully and radically altered forever. No one can be exempted from its effects. No sector of our lives will remain untouched.” Malachi Martin (Roman Catholic), preface, The Keys of this Blood. [emphasis added].
2. The Papacy is regaining her power, supported by the so-called Protestant nations (America, England).
3. Soon persecution will once again break upon those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
QUESTIONS
As the territories at the beginning of the chapter were literal why interpret the same territories as symbolic at the end of the chapter?
Some argue that a chapter which begins literally must be interpreted literally throughout.
1. There is no Biblical rule that a chapter which begins literally must end literally.
2. The existing chapter divisions were not inspired. The chapter breaks where not given by God but added centuries after the Bible was finished so any argument based on the chapter divisions is unbiblical.
3. It is a principle that end-time prophecy is given in Old Testament terms but applies in a worldwide way. For this reason the terms remain unchanged. See on v 40.
Could Turkey be the last power of Daniel 11?
Those who hold this view accept that the power of Daniel 11:31-35 is the Papacy. They believe that the king of verses 36-39 is France, which in the 1790s became officially atheistic, disregarded the permanence of marriage (verse 37), honoured the goddess of reason (verse 38), and sold off church property to fund its wars (verse 39). France attacked Egypt in the South in 1798 and Egypt resisted. This resistance is seen as the king of the South pushing at him. (verse 40). The French army then moved north passing through Palestine. Turkey, the kingdom to the north of Palestine, firmly repelled the French, causing the French to retreat to Cairo in Egypt. The Turks pursued them, passing through Palestine. This is seen as the king of the north (Turkey) entering into the glorious land. (verse 41). The Turks conquered Egypt and demanded annual tribute (verse 42-43). Tidings or threats from Persia and Prussia troubled Turkey (verse 44) which went to war with Russia in the Crimean War (1853). It is believed that Turkey will attempt to move its capital to Jerusalem, between the seas - the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, but come to his end without help. (verse 45).
While many details seem to fit, and many years ago Turkey was a significant nation, there are reasons to reject this view:
1. The last earthly power in Daniel chapters 2, 7, 8 & 9 is Rome. The principle of repeat and enlarge therefore indicates that the last power in Daniel 11 is Rome.
2. All the identifying points given in Daniel 11:36-40 are found elsewhere in Scripture and refer to the Papacy, not France.
3. In the Hebrew, the King of verse 36 is preceded by the definite article “the.” This indicates that the king of verse 36 is the king discussed in the previous verses, namely the Papacy.
4. The power of verses 30-35 and verse 36 are the SAME power - the Papacy, not two powers.
“The prophecy in the eleventh of Daniel has nearly reached its complete fulfillment. Much of the history that has taken place in fulfillment of this prophecy will be repeated. In the thirtieth verse A POWER is spoken of that “shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.” [Verses 31-36, quoted.]” E.G. White, 13 Manuscript Releases, p 394.
5. The King of verse 36 would do “according to his will.” This term is applied to those nations which had total power over the people of God. (cf. Dan 8:4; Dan 11:3; Dan 11:16). France never had such power.
6. To magnify oneself above God (verse 36) does not necessarily imply atheism. 2Thess speaks of the power of Daniel 11 exalting himself above God. This power is the “man of sin.”
7. The French disregarded the permanence of marriage but not women (Dan 11:37). See comment on verse 37 to see how this fits the Papacy.
8. While the French did honour reason and personified it by a woman, nothing is said about France ever honouring either the woman or reason with “gold and silver, and precious stones, and pleasant things” as the verse necessitates.
9. Daniel 11:40 speaks of the king of the South “pushing. To “push” means to attack and conquer. (See Daniel 8:4). In 1798 Egypt did not attack and conquer France; it was the exact opposite! (See on verse 40).
10. In 1798 Egypt was actually a state of the Turkish Empire! Therefore in 1798 Egypt was actually a part of what the Turkey view calls the King of the North!
11. In 1798 Palestine was not the “glorious land” or the “glorious holy mountain,” for God had rejected the Jewish nation centuries earlier in AD34 because of their unbelief. Only Godʼs presence makes a thing holy.
12. The King of the North in Daniel 11:40-45 is represented as a significant power which grows from strength to strength, whereas Turkey is of no great significance today.
13. In other end-time prophecies, events and terms such as Jerusalem, Babylon etc. are all to be spiritually applied. See General Introduction. To read the last portions of Daniel 11 literally is out of harmony.
14. The SOP nowhere supports the belief that Turkey is the King of the North. The largest chapter of the Great Controversy - The French Revolution, doesnʼt once refer to Daniel 11:36-40, which the Turkey view claims is referring to atheistic France.
15. James White taught that the King of the North was the Papacy till the day he died. Ellen White never told him he was in error.
16. The vision was given “to make thee understand what shall befall THY PEOPLE in the latter days...” Daniel 10:14. It was not given to show what would befall Turkey. Obviously Godʼs people must be involved in the latter portion of Daniel 11.
Some also claim that Turkey has already fulfilled the first part of Dan 11:45, in that she has planted her palaces in Jerusalem, namely the Dome of the Rock and El Aska. However, these buildings were not ʻplantedʼ in the time of the end, i.e. after 1798, as the prophecy demands, but over 1100 years before, in AD691. Neither were these buildings “planted” by Turkey, but by Omar, the Arabian Moslem.
An attempt has been made to bolster the application of Turkey as the King of the North by including with Turkey the Islamic religion. If the King of the North is taken as a symbol for Islam then the king of the South, the glorious land, etc. should also be taken as symbols. This inconsistency argues against this view.
Themes in the book of Daniel
Daniel 2: Restoration of the Kingdom. (God wants to restore His Kingdom).
Daniel 7: Restoration of the King. (The Kingdom needs a King).
Daniel 8-9: Restoration of the Sanctuary (Christ must cease His work as Priest before He can return as our King).
Daniel 10-12: Restoration of the people. (Before Christ can cease His work as Priest His people must cease sinning. They will become the “GLORIOUS HOLY mountain.” Dan 11:45).
Interesting Parallels with the Book of Esther
ESTHER King Ahasuerus
Vashti - disobedient queen divorced. Esther - Means “Star”. She replaced Vashti as the kingʼs wife. Purification (Esther 2:9) Haman - Means “magnificent.” Law to bow before Haman (Esther 3:2, 5) Gallows to hang Mordecai on (Esther 5:14). Death Decree on Jews in all provinces (Esther 3:12-13) Appointed a day the Jews were to die (Est 3:13) Ahasuerus looking in books and found Mordecai written in book (Esther 6:1-2) Rewards given Mordecai (Esther 6:8-10). King stands up (Esther 7:7) Haman pleading before Esther (Est 7:8) Decree to slay the Jewsʼ enemies 10 sons perish |
END-TIME EVENTS Christ - King of kings
The Jews - disobedient people cut off. The Church - replaced Jews. Faithful will shine as stars (Daniel 12:3). Church Purified with trials The corrupt church “magnified” itself against God. Law to worship the Beast & his Image (Rev 13) Peoples of the world which support the beast & image. Universal Death Decree on church (Daniel 11:44; Rev 13:15) Appoints a day the saints are to die (Rev 13) Christ examining the books in the investigative judgment (Daniel 12:1; 7:10). Rewards to be given to the saints Michael stands up (Daniel 12:1) Wicked worship at saintsʼ feet (Rev 3:9) Decree to slay the wicked 10 horns perish (Revelation 17) |
May God bless you in the blessed hope of the soon coming of His son, Jesus.
Living Waters Mission School.
Living Waters Mission School.