Prophecies of Daniel 11, Part 14

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Getting back to Daniel 11, we pick things up from verse 36, since we covered verses 34-35 in our last installment. Beginning with verse 36 to the end of the chapter, Daniel is essentially looking far ahead to the future, to the very last few years of human history prior to the physical return of Jesus to earth. Goosebumps!

“Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done,” (Daniel 11:36).

The word “then” signifies to us that we are moving to a different period of time. Antiochus Epiphanes IV – the subject of the previous verses up to verse 36 – did not do this. Please note that the “king” in verse 36 will be around until the “indignation is finished.” What does that mean? Simply put, it is the grand fulfillment of what we read about in Daniel 9:24-27.

“24 Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

In general, the entire “indignation” started with the “times of the Gentiles” when Babylon was allowed to finish up what the Assyrians started. From Babylon, the baton went to the Medo-Persians, and from there, to the Grecian Empire under Alexander, and then to the Roman Empire. But Scripture tells us that even though the Roman Empire “died” out in history, something very much like it (but worse) would rise from its ashes during the final portion of the end times during which the final man of lawlessness would rise among the 10 kings of Revelation 17 to become chief ruler over the entire earth during the final seven-year period (the last “week” of the 70 “weeks”).

The final portion of the “indignation” here is the seven-year Tribulation, which is still in front of us. Once that begins (when “he” brokers a covenant with “the many,” Daniel 9:27), there is only seven years of man’s rule before God calls an end to it. It is during this time that this final “king” will do whatever he pleases, as noted in Daniel 11:36.

This king – the Antichrist – is the subject of Daniel 11:36. God specifically allows this king to have almost total and complete control. He is allowed to do whatever he desires. In the process he will present himself as a god, above all other humans. It will eventually mean that people will submit to his rule (and alleged deity) or die. He will blaspheme God at every turn and he will prosper in that nothing will be able to come against him.

Why does God allow this? It goes back to Satan’s promises made as recorded for us in Isaiah 14. Those five “I will” statements there, ending with “I will be like the Most High,” (Isaiah 14:14b) are what this is all about.

It is likely that those five “I will” statements made by Lucifer before he fell (Satan, afterward) were made before man was place on earth. Those statements were the ones that God saw in Lucifer’s heart and were the result of pride. Satan not only fell and was dethroned as it were, but once he was kicked out of his given place in heaven and took one-third of the angelic host with him, he ended up attacking man, who had been created in God’s image (unlike Lucifer). Satan’s immediate goal was to cause man to fall, but when he did, Satan became inextricably bound up in our timeline and chain of events.

Satan wanted man in order to fall to prove God wrong and to gain control of earth and this realm. This is what occurred with the fall, giving Satan the title deed to earth (from Adam, who actually had it beforehand). The entire unfolding drama of redemption was not simply to save and restore humanity, but to restore all of God’s Creation. This is why Revelation 5 is so very important. It’s not just some measure of pageantry taking place in heaven. It’s pageantry involving the process by which Jesus (the Lamb) is seen to have successfully regained the title deed to earth (the seven-sealed scroll). In heaven, as John watched, nothing could move forward until the Lamb was found to have been “worthy” of regaining that title deed. Without it, Satan would be victor.

Satan lost and is on borrowed time. His final push is toward the one-world government that the Bible tells us is clearly coming. It will be during this time that Antichrist will martial all of his forces the world over for one purpose – in a paltry attempt to keep Jesus from touching down on planet earth! This is why His physical return to this planet is so important and why it bothers me so much when people dismiss His second coming as allegorical or something that already happened in AD 70 when God judged Israel.

This “king” in Daniel 11:36 is going to be allowed by God to have every opportunity (he will prosper) and to do whatever he pleases, all in a final effort to overcome God and to prove that he (Antichrist, powered by Satan), can become “like the Most High.”

The most interesting thing is that Satan’s failure will be seen by the entire world and the entire universe unlike his first act of rebellion, which was only seen by those in the heavenly realms. The future failure of Satan will be so clear, so obvious, that all will see it. The animal kingdom, the angelic hosts, people the world over – everything in God’s Creation will witness the fact that God is God and there is no other like Him.

We’re going to stop here, but will pick it up with Daniel 11:37 next time when we learn that the coming Antichrist has no regard for the gods of his fathers.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective