Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

Transcript:


Daniel chapter 11 verse 5, let's look at some of these prophetic events that take place. And then the next point that we will concentrate on is the king of the north and all of that connotes.

Chapter 3 describes the disintegration of the Greek empire, chapter 11, 4, rather, then verse 5, and the king of the southern division of Alexander's empire “shall be strong.” His name was Ptolemy Lagus, but one of Alexander's generals “shall be strong above him,” Seluceus Nicator. He shall be even stronger and have dominion which shall be great.

And after some years, verse 6, “they shall join themselves.” Ptolemy Philadelphus, and Antiochus Theos, he has lived right in the middle of the third century, “shall join themselves” in a pact. “For the king's daughter of the south,” her name was Berenice, the daughter of Philadelphus shall marry Theos, the king of the north, to confirm the agreement. But she, Berenice, “shall not retain” her influence. “Neither shall he stand”, nor shall Theos stand for his faction. “For those who brought her”, notice that at the end of verse 6.

And as the margin says, the son that she begot, a little baby, “and he that strengthened her in those times” “shall be given up.” “But out of a branch of her roots”, from the same root that she came, Ptolemy Philadelphus, a relative of hers from Egypt, “shall come with an army, and … enter into the fortress of the king of the north”, came up, fought against Seleucus Callinicus, “and shall deal with him and shall prevail” the end of verse 7, “and shall also carry captives into Egypt, their gods.” [verse 8] Now the gods of Seleucus with their molten images and golden vessels and silver vessels, Euergetes carried as a booty into Egypt. Euergetes  shall reign four years longer than Callinicus, “and he shall continue more years than the king of the north.” [verse 8] So shall, in verse 9, Euergetes, “the king of the south”, enter into his own kingdom and return to Egypt. Verse 10, “but the sons” of Seleucus Callinicus, who are called Seleucus Ceraunus and Seleucus Antiochus Magnus shall war.

See, they assembled a great multitude of great forces, and Antiochus “shall certainly come and overflow.” [verse 10] Fight against Ptolemy's fortress, Pelusium, that was in the year 217.

Verse 11, “and the king of the south”, Ptolemy Philopator “shall be moved with anger, and shall come forth and fight” against Antiochus Magnus, the king of the north.

But Antiochus…and Antiochus Magnus “shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into [Ptolemy Philopator's] hand.” He’ll lose.

And when he, verse 12, Philopator has “taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up” [with pride]; and he shall cast down tens of thousands.” The historian says 40,000 Jews, “but he shall not be as strengthened by” this atrocity.

Verse 13, “For the king of the north”, Antiochus Magnus “shall return and set forth” an army “greater than the former.” And at the end of years, Antiochus Magnus shall certainly be victorious with a very great army gaining much riches.

Verse 14, in those days, “many shall stand up against the king of the south”, Egypt. And among these, “the robbers of thy people”, the attackers, the destroyers of the Hebrew people, Rome, “shall exalt themselves to establish the vision.”

The last two verses of Daniel 9 said, “the people of the prince that shall come”, that would cut off the Messiah, you know, in the midst of the week, shall cause the abomination of desolation to be set up in the holy place.

Jesus in Matthew 24, told the disciples that when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand.

So here is the explanation is given, in verse 14, we are informed that these robbers of God's people will come. They will cause the abomination of desolation to be established in the holy place to confirm or to endorse or to validate the vision, but they too, Rome, shall fall.

This gives the king of the north opportunity to come to attack the best defenses, defensed cities, Antiochus attacked Jerusalem, Sidon, and other Palestinian cities.

Egypt the king of the south and its chosen allies are there nothing to stem this onward advance. They could not stand.

Verse 16, “but he that cometh”, Rome, determined to resist all comers and establish his own authority. “None could stand against him”, for he proved invincible. Finally Pompey, the Roman general, set foot in the glorious land, which by his hand was defeated.

So Rome took the position heretofore occupied by the king of the north.

I think verse 14 and verse 16 are very important to bear in mind.

Verse 17, Rome, under Julius Caesar set its face to throw the full force of its power into the struggle for the dominance over the king of the south. Egypt ruled over by Ptolemy the golden Auletes and eventually established the Roman law. Rome gained her own way. Ptolemy Auletes died, leaving the kingdom of the south to his children Ptolemy and Cleopatra. “And he shall give him the daughter of women corrupting her.” Cleopatra married Julius Caesar.

Now let's stop a moment and look at Cleopatra. Cleopatra is one of the most maligned women in history. She has not been helped by Hollywood.

The rulership of the Egyptian pharaohs passed through the daughter. Can you put that somewhere in the computer in your mind?

The man that married Pharaoh's daughter became Pharaoh. Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Now this caused great complications.

Take for example, Hatshepsut years before. She was married to her father, her brother and her son. The only way they could be Pharaoh.

This idea crossed over into Israel. What did Jonathan say to David when David had married Michal, Saul’s daughter? When you become king I will be next to you. [1Sa 23:17]

You will remember that I use this word as it used in the Episcopal, ecclesiastical, vocabulary, relic. They don't say a vicar's widow, they say a vicar's relic. Old English.

The last lady that David left, David's relic, was called Abishag. You will remember one of Solomon's brothers said to Solomon I'd like to marry Abishag. Do you know what Solomon said to her? He said to him? do you want the kingdom also? [1Ki 2:22] Oh no, no, no.

Why now the Ptolemy who left his kingdom, the Cleopatra who was older than the son Ptolemy, knew that the two would marry. That's the only way his son could be made pharaoh if he married Cleopatra.

Now in Julius Caesar came into Egypt, the only way he could be proclaimed pharaoh was to marry Cleopatra. So he told Ptolemy, Ptolemy, the fishing is good in the Caspian Sea. I suggest a vacation in Asia Minor. And Ptolemy understood perfectly well the Latin he was told.

When he took off for the Tule, Julius Caesar married Cleopatra.

When Anthony wanted to be proclaimed pharaoh of Egypt, he likewise forcibly married Cleopatra.

When the next Roman general came to conquer Egypt and wanted to marry Cleopatra, she had had enough and committed suicide.

The liars in Hollywood please read their history. Now this Bible says that when Julius Caesar came there, “he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her” [verse 17]. Hollywood said she did the corrupting. Amazing how people like to twist the facts. Either in their ignorance or by malevolence.

This is the picture that is given here: “but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him” [verse 17]. In that forcible abduction there could be no cooperation. But “after this he shall turn his face unto the isles [verse 18]. Attack the Greek isles, overcame, sent back his dispatch to veni, vidi, vici – I came, I saw I conquered – and went back to Rome and was declared unanimously to be dictator for life.

“But a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered to him to cease” [verse 18]. Brutus and Mark Antony persuaded the Senate that their authority was being over undermined by the arrogance and the claims of Julius Caesar. And so he was murdered there in the building of the Senate. 

It’s interesting to go to Rome and see that same old red brick building 2000 years old standing there still.

Verse 19, and “he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land:” and “shall stumble…fall and be not found”, assassinated.

Some “shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes” [verse 20]. That raiser of taxes was called Caesar Augustus. He reigned in his place from BC 27 to AD 14. He raised taxes and during one of those taxation campaigns in Palestine Joseph and Mary were commanded to return to the city of their birth. Since they were Judeans they came to Bethlehem of Judah.

“Within a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle” [verse 20]. That of course was a remarkable thing for a Caesar. Caesar Augustus died in bed. Just went to sleep and didn't wake up. “Neither in anger, nor in battle.”

Verse 21, “and in his estate shall stand 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”. His name was Tiberius, who was born a slave but he had been a slave in the most important houses in Rome. He knew how to behave, he knew how to act, he was very personable, very flattering. He was granted the honor of kingship in spite of the fact that he had been born a slave. He wormed his way into authority peaceably and obtained the emporship by flatteries. We could have said that in verse 21 under one heading, he was a politician.

Verse 22, “and with the arms of a flood shall they be overthrown.” Because of his vileness the Romans rose against Tiberius Caesar. He roused himself sufficiently to raise a large army to defend his throne only to be smothered by the Praetorian prefect Marco.

This Tiberius liked the island of Capri. He spent the last years of his life there constantly intoxicated. In one moment of lucidity he was told that the army was rousing against him so he got some of his bodyguard to take him to the mainland and he was going to stage a battle. But he was still nine sheets under and when he roused himself one of his bodyguard put some pillows over his head. I don't know whether he sat on the pillows but the pillows took care of Tiberius.

Story behind these, if one takes time to go into them, is at least fascinating.

Verse 23, but in spite of the divine plan made with him–“the league”–the purpose, the design that God had for Rome, the leaders of the empire worked “deceitfully” and developed into a “strong” world power while still comparatively few [small people]. That of course had been done by Alexander before him.

Verse 24, during the time of the peace of the world lasted after Augustus for some time, the influence of Rome girdled the fairest places of the land. “He shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor any before him, fathers’ fathers”, the Persians, nor the Greeks had done before him, Rome accomplished. Then the lust for luxury, “the prey, and spoil, and riches”, caused Roman extravagance to lead to all kinds of pillage.

The seventh chapter it said as iron break it so he has claws and he breaks in pieces and subdues [Dan 7:23-24].

And this prestige of Rome, notice at the end of that, he shall scatter among the prey and the spoil, where he “shall forecast his devices against” [verse 25] the storm even for a time. Three hundred and sixty years from the battle of Actium 31 B.C. to the end of the empire when the capital was moved to Constantinople in 330. And that began to mark the beginning of the end, if not the end of the beginning.

Verse 26, the very supporters of the Jews betrayed them and multitudes were slain.

Now verse 25 I should read, Rome stirred up forces against Judea. Judea fell and Jerusalem was destroyed. That final destruction was A.D. 135 when Bar Kokhba was slain. The very supporters of the Jews, verse 26, betrayed them, multitudes were slain.

Verse 27, both Rome and the king of the north and the king of the south set themselves to do mischief by lying and deceit. They played one against the other for about a century and a half.

Rome turns its attention to its own affairs. Verse 27, gained riches, prosperity. This was the best setting to make them independent of God, to resist his covenant. Verse 28, verse 29, then shall he return unto his own land with great riches.

This is a picture of the Roman Empire withdrawing itself in the 4th century from the corners of the known world.

Why they did it? who knows? Some people say it was because one quarter of the population was taxed to give a living wage to the three quarters who were on the dole.

They came in from Scotland, they came in from England, they came in from Germany, they came in from North Africa, they came in from the east. All the soldiers were withdrawn.

In our lifetime we've seen the same thing happen to the British Empire.

“Then he shall return into his own land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant” [verse 28] Here again, he shall do exploits and return to his own land, and at the time appointed, after the 360 years, he shall return and come toward the south, but lack the power that it possessed in the beginning, “not be as the former” [verse 29].

For the ships of the Vandals from Carthage, “Chittim shall come against him”, shall attack the Roman Empire, “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. [vss. 30].

So here we see a movement that withdraws to Rome and now concentrates on fighting the things of God. This takes us back to the eighth chapter of Daniel, and the points that are mentioned in verse 10, 11, and 12. “Waxed great, even to the host of heaven; cast down some of the host and of the stars of the ground … magnified himself against the prince of the host, and by him the daily was taken away, the place of his sanctuary cast down. And an host was given him against the daily … [because of the] transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered” [Dan 8:10-12].

Now how did this come about?

Now the angel Gabriel has taken Daniel step by step through 350 years of the AD era besides 500 years of the BC era. He shown the main events that cluster around the attack against God, against God's people, against God's place.

It was from Rome that the attack came. The little horn that grew out politically in chapter 7. It was from Rome that the attack came. The little horn of chapter 8 that grew out of the philosophy of Greece. The ruthlessness in the organization of pagan Rome, the subtlety of reasoning in the philosophy of ancient Greece combined to form a Rome that was different, diverse. A Rome that turned itself against the holy people, against the holy covenant, and against the prince of the covenant.

The wars, the pillage, the ruthlessness, the materialism, the selfishness, the pride. All these give rise to the Rome that would destroy the covenant, that would destroy the prince of the covenant, that would take away the daily and shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

Now Jesus used these two ways. Remember he talked in the Matthew 24 about the fall of Jerusalem, and about the end of the world.

There was an abomination that made desolate in AD 70.

There was an abomination that made desolate in the year 395.

In that year, as far as I have been able to gather, the first sacrifice that took deliberately the place of the communion service was installed, 395.

No longer was Calvary the sacrifice, but on mortal sin you had to go Sunday by Sunday to another sacrifice, a substitute sacrifice. They took away from Christ, his sacrifice. They turn means minds to unearthly sacrifice. They took away means minds from the fact that once Jesus died, to believe a falsehood that he would have to die whenever that organization, a worst kind of sacrifice was inaugurated.

This is the historic truth basis by which this truth is brought to our mind. Here again we see the great controversy, the prince of the covenant, the new covenant, the greatest covenant, the everlasting covenant, rejected, brushed aside to establish a substitute. This has always been the case in the great controversy.

This is the option that we have too today as we review this history. Materialism, pride, prosperity, wealth, ease, we don't need the new covenant. We don't need grace, we don't need divine power. We despise the people of the covenant. We turn away from the sacrifice of Christ.

This is the tragedy of apostasy in every age.

This is the tragedy of apostasy in this age.

But the prince of the covenant, with the everlasting covenant, with his free grace, with his wonderful sacrifice, is waiting for our acceptance.

The last section of Daniel 11 deals with the king of the north. There has been a great amount of study given to this topic. There is a great amount of speculation concerning this topic. 

What I am going to suggest now is for your delectation and cogitation. Some of the events that are described in Daniel 11 have not yet taken place. When one talks about predictions that have not taken place and one explains them, one then assumes the mantle of Prophet. That mantle I don't possess. So what I say is tentative. My students and I had an unwritten understanding that every time I flicked my fingers off the top of my forehead, they knew what I said, that after was off the top of my head. And that I then did not need to give any footnotes to validate it. So if I do that once or twice today, you will have to understand that that's from the top of my head.

The king of the north is a biblical passage. And since it's a biblical passage, the Bible should give us some insight into what it means.

If you took it purely geographically and say now Daniel is in Babylon, north of Babylon is what? Well, look at the map and see. But then you have to ask the question when? At what period? And I would submit to begin with that the term king of the north has got nothing to do with geography; nothing to do with geography.

So bear that in mind when we read what we read. Now I hope you have your Bible and would turn to Jeremiah 1 verse 11. We're going to look at several passages.

In fact, I wondered how many I would suggest we look at because we can spend the whole evening just looking up passages. You do it in your concordance, look up north.

Jeremiah 1:11, “The word of the Lord came unto me saying, what seest thou? And I said, I see the rod of an almond tree.” and he says, good, you've seen well, “for I will hasten my word to perform it” [verse 12].

I'd have to go into the exegesis of this. The word play on the word saqed in Hebrew. I have seen “the rod of an almond tree” and the Lord said, I'm watching over you.

Then the word of the Lord came to him in verse 13 and said, “What sees thou?” He says, I see a boiling pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.”

And “the Lord said unto me, Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, … set every one on his throne at the entering into the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah” [Jer 1:14-15].

So the north has to do with kingdoms of the north, that come and set up their thrones against the walls and against the thrones and cities of Judah.

Now of course these all sign language, thrones, governments, the thrones of the kingdoms of the north are set up in opposition to the kingdom of Judah.

Fourth chapter of Jeremiah verse 6, “set up the standard toward Zion, retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way [Jer 4:6-7]. Now the lion, of course, there is Babylon.

The seventh chapter of Daniel, notice he comes from the north, but if you take a Bible atlas or if you've got a map at the back of your Bible, you will discover that Babylon is not to the north of Jerusalem. It's to the east, a little bit north but mainly to the east.

Chapter 5 verse 15, “Lo, I bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: … mighty nation, … ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not.” Now this is a nation that came like a lion.

Chapter 6 verse 1, “children of Benjamin, gather themselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, set a sign of fire and Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a [dwelling at home] delicate woman” [Jer 6:1-2], beautiful woman, not a street walker.

“The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her;” to “pitch their tents against her” [Jer 6:3], prepare war against her. 

So on one side you've got Zion, likened to a stay at home, honest, honorable wife, attacked by a kingdom from the north, “an evil appeareth out of the north.”

Verse 22, “Thus saith, the Lord, Behold a people cometh from the north country, a great nation shall be raised up from the sides of the earth. … shall they hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; they ride upon horses, set in array as men of war against thee, O daughter of Zion” [Jer 6:22-23]

Chapter 10 verse 22, “Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.” So the dragon is going to overrun the cities of Judah” [Jer 10:22]

And that's a good verse to bear in mind when you study about the dragon in Revelation 12 and other parts of the Bible.

13, 20, “Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” [Jer 13:20]. Now that beautiful flock is obviously Zion.

You've heard other texts that expiate upon that point. It's against the flock that the enemy comes from the north.

Now let's skip several chapters to 47. Jeremiah 47 verse 2, “Thus saith the Lord; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein; then the men shall cry, all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.”

Hold your finger there and turn back to Isaiah 8. This water comes from the north and in 8 verse 5, thus saith the Lord “Foreasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of [Shiloh or] Shiloah] that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; Now therefore behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory” [Isa 8:6-7].

So here Assyria and all its glory likened to waters that overflow.

Chapter 50, Jeremiah, these come from the north. Verse 2, “Declare among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken…. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her” [Jer 50:2-3].

Now get the significance of this. This is a message to Babylon: “Declare among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; and conceal not: say Babylon is taken.” This is a long time before Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces, for out of the north there come up a nation against her which shall make her land desolate.

Now who destroyed Babylon? Medo-Persia. Where do the Medes and the Persians come from? Due east of Babylon and a little bit south, but they are said to come from the north. Now you begin to get a picture.

[Jeremiah] chapter 51, verse 48, “Then heaven and the earth, and all that is therein shall sing for Babylon: for the spoiler that cometh unto her from the north” [Jer 51:48].

See Babylon is going to fall and the message is given in the 50th and Fifty-first chapters of Jeremiah, come out of Babylon my people.

This is echoed of course in Revelation 18 because all this is written for our admonition.

And so the enemy that destroyed Babylon was the king of the north.

And the enemy that destroyed Israel was the king of the north.

Joel chapter 2, the second chapter of Joel verse 20, “I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, in his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things” [Joel 2:20].

So here is a northern army. I think that's enough. I've got many more texts here and you can easily get them from the concordance. There are many texts that describe and of course Joel is 200 years before Jeremiah. And so the northern army, 200 years before the army of either Babylon or the army of the Medians and Persians that came later refer to another army.

Now why is the king of the north equated with the enemy of God's people?

Now if you can imagine a map of Palestine, can you imagine the Mediterranean sea, Eastern seaboard runs almost north and south, not quite, leans a little towards the east. But on the north of the Mediterranean you have Spain and part of France, and then you have Italy and then you have Greece and then you have Asia. And then the Mediterranean bends sharply south and slightly west. On the south side you have Africa and then Egypt and then it bends up just a, to Suez and goes up at an angle. The eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean is the bridge between Europe and Asia and Africa. It's a narrow strip of land, it's between the Mediterranean and the Arabian desert.

All the enemies that attacked Jerusalem came from the north except, the main one was Egypt from the south. But the Israelites had comparatively very little trouble with Egypt.

They had a lot of trouble from the north. The Assyrians, the Syrians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Hittites, all these forces came from the north.

And so in the mind of the prophets the king of the north was the term applied to the enemy of God's people.

In Isaiah 14 you get a picture that I think will take us one step further in our comprehension of this thought. The 14th chapter of Isaiah speaks of Lucifer. We won't go into the details of the exposition of this chapter tonight but Lucifer is a name for Satan. It gives to us the function of Satan. He is the bearer of light, looks and setal, Lucifer.

His function was to bear light.

His character is called cherub.

kᵉrûwb, [ker-oob], inseparable preposition like and the last part of it, the revered father from which you get rambhan or ravai, krabi.So kᵊrûḇ is the one like the rambhan, like the revered father. So his character was like the revered father. Ezekiel 28 is called the cherub, kᵊrûḇ . His function was the bearer of light, Lucifer. He was next in Christ most like the father. And his function, because of that, was to spread the knowledge of the light of the glory of God throughout the universe. If I may say this very reverently, he was the PR representative of the Trinity. It was his function and privilege to take the light of the knowledge of the glory of God and disseminate it throughout the ends of the illimitable creation of God.

Notice what he says. This one who started off being most like the father of all created beings whose function was to disseminate light.

Verse 13 of Isaiah 14, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation” – That's where Christ sat. He said, I will also sit there – “in the sides of the north.” 

“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like [ʿelyôn, like] the most High [God]. [Isa 14:14]

So his aspiration was to set his throne in the north. And here again is the picture that is given in the scriptures of the one who becomes the adversary of God's people. Satan was the first being who was the enemy of God's people. He comes out from the north.

Let's find Ezekiel 38.

Ezekiel 38 describes, Ezekiel 38 and 39 describe the battle of Armageddon before and after the millennium as I understand it.

Ezekiel 38 verse 15, God is talking to Satan under the heading of Gog. And he says to him, “thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:”

Every time you read a horse in the Bible, you think of war. A horse is never used for ordinary transportation in the scriptures. To my knowledge, there is not one use of the horse other than war. And so here, Gog, Satan, rides upon the army and comes from the north.

And you get that also in the 32nd, 39th chapter in the second verse.

Talking about Gog, he says, “I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:” [Eze 39:2] Now 39 is still future. 

When God destroys Gog and Magog who come against the city of God in Revelation 20, they are described as coming from the north.

Now what is the south? The south? 

The south is the right hand. It's used as the right hand several times.

Why could the south be the right hand?

The whole way Israel oriented itself was looking east. Now when you orient yourself in a map, you look north. In all the maps that we look at, the top part goes north.

In the scriptures, every time Israel oriented itself, Israel was looking east. The sanctuary looked east.

And whenever you look, the person who is doing the looking has got the left and the right. For example, when the priest had on his breast the breastplate, the urim was on the right, his right, the thummim was on the left, his left.

And so the priest looked out of the sanctuary eastward, on the right hand was the south. On the left hand was the north.

Now in the holy place, if you are looking out, on the left hand or the north was what? What piece of furniture was located there? Table of Showbread.

And when David with inspired insight, realized what he was looking at, he said, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: … my cup runneth over” [Psa 23:5].  There was a table of Showbread and the wine that stood on the floor by its side. There was bread and wine put in there all the time. They were part of the daily.

They were to the north of the holy place. Therefore, they were put in sight of mine enemies.

On the south side was the right hand. Now this left hand, left hand, right hand, north, south deal is found, for example, in the 25th chapter of Matthew.

Who did Jesus Christ put on his left hand?

Who did Jesus Christ put on his right hand?

Where did the good go? They went to the right hand. They went to the south.

To the wicked he put them to the north and he said, depart from me. See, that's where the enemy goes.

So this left and right, north and south goes all through the Scriptures.

I think that's enough to give us some measure of orientation of this 11th chapter. So let's look for a moment at the paraphrase; starting from verse 32; Daniel 11:32, 

And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries. Now here was a power that turned against the holy covenant in verse 30, that forsook the holy covenant in verse 30, this holy covenant is the new covenant. It's the second covenant, it's the covenant of grace that was ratified in Christ blood. And in that upper room, nineteen hundred years ago, good Friday, Jesus lifted up his cup and said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sin.

The same power that was against the covenant, verse 31, polluted the sanctuary, took away the daily, set up the abomination that made desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt with flatteries.

But the people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

Now here there are two classes of people. They are differentiated by their relationship to the covenant, to the prince of the covenant, to the sanctuary of the covenant, to the daily connected with the covenant. One party is on the side of the prince of the covenant, they accept the principles of the new covenant, the other side do wickedly against the covenant, and thereby their flatteries corrupt many, turn them away.

But the people that know their God, they do a strong and carry out exploits. 

And they that understand, now this term, they that understand is very similar to the one that we find in verse three of chapter twelve, they that be wise, they that understand. So we could say in verse thirty three, those who are wise among the people, instructed many.

So while there was a apostasy against the new covenant, nor it stood for as righteousness by faith, pointing to Jesus Christ, as the power of grace that affected men in keeping the commandments, those who understood instructed many, yet they shall fall by the sword, by the flame, by captivity, by being despoiled for many days.

Chapter seven explains those days as twelve hundred and sixty years. Revelation six describes the coming of that pale horse, during which time multitudes were put to death.

Now when nations fall, when the inquisitors were burning and racking and cutting up and destroying and starving and nations removed against them, now when nations fall they shall be holpen with a little help. That what rescued, that stayed, the encroachments of the inquisition was the reformation.

But many shall cleave to them with flatteries, situation, circumstances, the flattering prospect of some material success. Some of them of understanding even shall fall, to try them, to purge them, to make them white, even to the time of the end, seventeen ninety-eight, because it is yet for a time appointed.

And the king, the king, the man of iniquity, the king is a little horn–king that understands his dark sentences shall arise, that's chapter eight verse twenty-three.

In a lot of time of their kingdom, when transgressions have come to a full, a king of fierce countenance, claiming to understand the secret of God, shall stand up.

Now what will the king do? First of all he will do according to his will, absolute autocracy. He shall exhort himself, full of megalomania. You magnify himself above every god. He moves into the realm of religion. He shall speak marvelous things against the god of gods. He usurps the positions, the titles, the prerogatives, the authority of God himself. He shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished.

This term we found in chapter eight, “what is determined shall be done”

Another clue neither shall he regard the god of his fathers.

Move away from the original forms of New Testament worship, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall magnify himself against all.

But in his estate he shall honor the god of force. That is far as his affairs go, he will try to dominate by force.

And a god whom his fathers knew not he shall honor with gold, silver, precious stones, and pleasant things.

Thus shall he do in the most strongholds with a strange god whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory. And he shall cause them to rule over many and divide the land for gain. 

He moved into the realm of politics, he played one kingdom against another, and he carried out his will for gain.

And at the time of the end, 1798, shall the king of the south push at him, the king of the south. Now here is the problem in this chapter.

If you take this king of the south as Egypt, then you must explain Egypt as it is explained in Revelation 11, Sodom and Egypt where also our lord is crucified.

And Egypt there, if you can look up in great controversy, is atheism, while Sodom is licentiousness.

So here even atheistic forces fight against him, and the king of the north shall come against him. Here is one of tremendous conflict.

Now this king of the north comes against him, the king of the south. Chariots and horsemen ships enter into the country and overflow.

Now I don't think verses 40 to 45 have been fulfilled. This is a conflict that is yet future.

He shall enter into the glorious land. The glorious land is Palestine and by extension the church of God. Many country shall be overthrown, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Egypt, verse 43, Libyans, Ethiopians.

Now these proper names have caused much trouble to commentators. Now I am going to take the gordian knot and cut right through them.

Whenever the prophets mention Moab, Edom, Egypt, Philistia, Syria, Babylon, Ammon, they are not talking about people. They are talking about characters; relatives, Edom was a twin brother Jacob. Ammon and Moab were sons of Lot who were great nephews of Abraham. The Egyptians were allies of Israel for centuries. The Babylonians were the ancestors from which Abraham came.

So as I take these names as they come in other prophetic books, you get all these in Ezekiel, in Isaiah, in Jeremiah, when you think of these you come to the conclusion that what he is talking about here is the mustering of those who were close to Israel, against her.

And this raises echoes in the book of great controversy, the greatest enemies of God's people are those who were once members of God's people. The greatest persecutors of God's people have been the relatives of God's people. That's what Moab, Ammon, Edom, all these people round about were. They were all relatives. They knew enough and they decided against it.

And so here in this picture there is an attack made, from the north, by all these people who used to be in a great conflict.

Verse 44, “tidings out of the east.”

That's the same as Revelation 16, the sun rising. [Rev 16:12] The king of kings and the lord of lords who comes as the sun rising out of the east, referring to Jesus Christ and his followers shall trouble him.

Therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make waste.

Now this I think is the application that we see in the 17th chapter of the book of Revelation. The last few verses, he knows that he is defeated. So he rises himself, rouses himself in a tremendous effort to destroy God's people.

And he shall plant his tabernacle of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain. Right in the midst of the seas, the nations in the very center of what might be looked upon as an earthly Zion, whatever is meant by that, but he shall come to his end and none shall help him.

So if I may peer into the future in prophecies not yet fulfilled, I see a picture of the rise of the papacy to untold heights that in face of the catastrophe of the second coming in the destruction of this planet, seek to destroy God's people.

And in that attempt, reach up and attain a pinnacle of world dominance, at which point they will come to an end with nobody helping them. No hand, no power of man, but the power of him who comes as king of kings and lord of lords from the east.


Eternal Father, again we thank thee for the privilege of searching thy word. And seeing the detailed insight that thou hast given to us of the affairs of mankind, that in spite of rebellion and sin, of frustration, of evil, of the destruction of thy son, thy compassion does not fail.

We love thee for thy love. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Daniel 11 — Part 2                                                                        

By L. Hardinge

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