Truth Matters: Daniel Chapter 11

Welcome to the weekend edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Hello, I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis, and we are nearing the end of the series of Daniel, beginning today in Chapter 11. Last time we talked, we covered Chapter 10, and we saw the importance of the power of prayer and how we can change situations in our life through the Word of God and by the power of prayer.

Daniel was a man of fervent prayer, and I think we can pattern ourselves after that, that if we gave prayer much more time than our cell phones, then we could see changes in our lives. So let's get into Chapter 11. Oftentimes, Chapter 11 is a difficult chapter as we deal with the North and the South, and it's predicting years of events that will happen in the future.

But we'll try to be very deliberate and be very clear as to what we will discuss today. Let's start with the first four verses of Chapter 11. Let's start with the timeline of the kings of Persia so that we can get into verse two as saying three more kings of Persia. Cyrus is king at the time. After King Cyrus, there are three kings that follow him. The first one is Cambyses, the second is Pseudos Mertes, who usurped the throne based on his looks, and the third is Darius of Persia. And in verse two, it says, And the fourth king shall be far richer than them all.

By his strength through his riches, he shall stir up the realm of Greece. And the fourth king is Xerxes, who's also known as Asherius. Asherius is one of the first of the four great kings of ancient history. Xerxes, also known as Asherius, is the king in the Book of Esther. He commanded one of the largest armies the world had ever known.

He wanted to defeat Greece, but was routed and sent home. In verse three, it says, Then a mighty king shall arise who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will. Who is this mighty king?

And we've studied him in previous chapters in Daniel. That mighty king is Alexander the Great. So if you think about four great kings in ancient history, Asherius is the first great king. The second great king is Alexander the Great. In verse four, And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled. In other chapters that we have learned, Alexander the Great, his kingdom was divided into the four winds of heaven or his four generals. He had an illegitimate child and a legitimate child born after his death.

He had a brother who was mentally handicapped. All were murdered after his death. The key point in verse four is that Alexander's kingdom was from Europe to India. It was divided into four kingdoms. First section, Macedonia. The second section, Asia Minor. The third section is Egypt, which is south of Israel, which will be key as we go through the rest of this chapter. But just remember that Egypt is south of Israel and Syria or the Seleucid Kingdom, which is north of Israel. Egypt is south of Israel. Syria or the Seleucid Kingdom is north of Israel. And we've got to remember that there is conflict around the north and the south in reference to Israel all throughout Chapter 11.

Egypt and Syria made life miserable for the Jews, and they were caught in the middle between them for centuries. Now that we've established some boundaries of the north and the south, this will help us in interpreting the rest of the chapter. Let's get to verses five through six. Also, the king of the south shall become strong as well as one of his princes, and he shall gain power over them and have dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion. And at the end of some years, he shall join forces. For the daughter of the king of the south shall go to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the power of her authority, and neither he nor his authority shall stand.

But she shall be given up with those who brought her and with him who begot her and with him who strengthened her in those times. This verse is pertaining to the third king of Syria, which, if you remember, Syria is the king of the south. The third king of Syria was Antiochus the god.

Another name is Theos. He reigned in 253 B.C. Antiochus the god is one of the four great kings of ancient history. Remember, the first one is Ashiwarius, the second one is Alexander the Great, and the third one is Antiochus the Great, or Antiochus the God, also known as. He decided to make a treaty with the king of the south and marry the daughter of the king of Egypt. And oftentimes, marriage was a form of political alliance, but the problem is, is that Antiochus the god, he was already married. And when he goes to take the new wife, his first wife murdered the new wife and all her attendants.

He took the wife back, his first wife back, but she ended up poisoning him. So he died, which moves us to verses seven through eight. But from a branch of her roots, one shall arise in his place, who shall come with an army, enter the fortress of the king of the north and deal with them and prevail. And he shall also carry their gods captive to Egypt with their princes and their precious articles of silver and gold. And he shall continue more years than the king of the north.

From the branch of her roots, one shall rise in his place and prevail. Actually, the brother of the murdered Egyptian princess started another war with the king of the north and won. Egypt and Syria are battling again, but they're fighting on Israel soil.

So constantly, when the north and south had battles, they trampled the nation of Israel, still continuing to leave their homelands in ruins. Let's move on to verses 10 through 19. However, his son shall stir up strife and assemble a multitude of great forces. And one shall certainly come and overwhelm and pass through. And he shall return to his fortress and stir up strife. And the king of the south shall be moved with rage and go out and fight with him with the king of the north, who shall muster a great multitude. But the multitude will be given unto the hand of his enemy. When he has taken away the multitude, his heart will be lifted up and he will cast down tens of thousands. But he will not prevail for the king of the north will return and muster a multitude greater than the former.

And shall certainly come at the end of some years with a great army and much equipment. Now, in those times, many shall rise up against the king of the south. Also, violent men of your people shall exalt themselves in fulfillment of the vision, but they shall fall.

So the king of the north shall come and build a siege mound and take a fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not withstand him. Even his choice troops shall have no strength to resist, but he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and no one shall stand against him. He shall stand in the glorious land with destruction in his power. 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 to destroy it, but she shall not stand with him or be for him. And this she shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall take many. But a ruler shall bring the reproach against them to an end. And with the reproach removed, he shall turn back on him. Then he shall turn his face toward the fortress of his own land.

But he shall stumble and fall and not be found. We know this to be Antiochus the Great, one of the four great kings of ancient history. He was the king of the north that attempted to unite Egypt and Syria. Antiochus amounted or mounted two armies, but still was not totally happy. He gave the king of Egypt his daughter. The king had hoped that his daughter would spy in the palace, but turns out she fell in love with the Egyptian king and forgot all about Antiochus the Great. And in verse 19, he was defeated by Rome and then his own people killed him.

He was found no more. Let's cover verses 20 through 28. There shall arise in his place one who imposes taxes on the glorious kingdom. But within a few days he shall be destroyed, but not in anger or in battle. And in his place shall arise a vile person to whom they will not give the honor of royalty. But he shall come in peaceably and seize the kingdom by intrigue with the force of a flood. They shall be swept away from before him and be broken and also the prince of the covenant. And after the league is made with him, he shall act deceitfully for he shall come up and become strong with a small number of people.

He shall enter peaceably even into the richest places of the province. And he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers. He shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil and riches. He shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but for only a time he shall stir up his power and his courage 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 devise plans against him. Yes, those who eat at the portion of his delicacy shall destroy him. His army shall be swept away and many shall fall down slain. But these king's heart shall be bent on evil and they shall speak lies at the same table.

But it shall not prosper for the end will still be at the appointed time. While turning to his land with great riches, his heart shall be moved against the holy covenant. So he shall do damage and return to his own land. These verses are covering the point of history of Antiochus Epiphanes, who was a king of the north. We covered him in chapter eight.

If you remember, the little horn came out of the one of Alexander the Great's kingdoms. The north and the south are continuing to battle. In verse twenty nine, the north and the south formed a peace treaty in Daniel.

Eleven twenty seven. But when he went to defeat the Roman army, he was defeated. He turned his wrath on the Jews in past chapters.

We have covered Antiochus Epiphanes and how brutal he was to the Jews. Let's move on to verses twenty nine through thirty five at the appointed time. He shall return and go toward the south.

It shall not be like the former or the latter for ships from Cyprus shall come against him. Therefore, he shall be grieved and return in rage against the holy covenant and do damage. This is Antiochus Epiphanes being routed back who will return in rage against the holy covenant.

This being the Jews and do damage to them. So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant and forces shall be mustered by him. And they shall defile the sanctuary forces and then they shall take away the daily sacrifices and place there the abomination of desolation.

Those who do wickily against the covenant, he shall corrupt with flattery. But the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. And those are the people who understand shall instruct many. Yet for many days they shall fall by the sword inflamed by captivity and plundering. Now, when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help, but many shall join with them by intrigue. And some of those who understanding shall fall to refine them, purify them and make them white until the time of the end, because it is still for the appointed time.

This speaks of the time frame in history of the Maccabees revolt. This was fulfilled in the time of the Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabean revolt, but will be fulfilled in the future as the language is parallel of the abomination of desolation of Antiochus Epiphanes when he slayed the pig over the altar. But in the future, when the Antichrist sets up himself in the tabernacle and places himself as God. And we move much more into the Antichrist in verses 36 through 39. Then the king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every god. He shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished for what has been determined shall be done. He shall neither regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall exalt himself above them all. In their place he shall honor a god of fortresses and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge and advance its glory. He shall cause them to rule over many and divide the land for gain. Moving on to verses 40 through 45, we'll round out the chapter, which a large part of these verses talks about the future battle of Armageddon.

And I know sometimes this is difficult to understand and difficult to see into the future. But if we follow through these verses, we'll understand the battle. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown. But these shall escape from his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. Also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him, therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents in his place between the seas and the glorious holy mountain.

Yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. Thank you for joining us for this weekend edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Next week, the Truth Train will take us into the final chapter of Daniel. Please join us as Dr. Davis will continue the prophecy series taking us into the book of Revelation. You can contact Truth Matters by email at CherylDavis at TruthMatters.com or connect with her on Facebook at Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis is a ministry of the Truth Project.