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Page Two --Daniel 11:24-36
Page Three --Daniel 11:37-12:3
The prophecies show the part that the nations would play in relation to God’s people, and God's covenant, right up to the time of the end. How would they respond to Christ's covenant and sanctuary truth, as it pretained to the earthly sanctuary, then as it was fulfilled by the Lamb of God, Who becomes the Great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, and as it relates to God's people at the time of the end. How would they respond to Christ's ministry and covenant? The alarming thing about these prophecies is the almost overwhelming success, not of God’s people, but of the princes of this world, which Revelation shows are the seven heads of the dragon. They show the progression of events leading to the end time scenes of history culminating with the restoration, followed by the final destruction of symbolic Babylon, (Rev. 17) and also the judgment of God and the deliverance of God’s people. Truth will triumph inspite of the warfare waged against it!
Babylon, beginning as early as Nimrod shortly after the flood and flowering into a powerful and elaborate empire forced a false worship system upon people which counterfeited the true heavenly worship (see Daniel 3 with its forced worship of an image and death penalty, and Daniel 6 with its forced command to divert prayer from God to a human being, again with a death penalty).
Babylonian kings also ruled over priests, in this capacity, they bore the title "Pontifex Maximus" or "Supreme Pontiff," meaning "supreme pathfinder" or "bridge maker," representing "the path or connection between this life and the next." (see Baker’s Pocket Dictionary of Religious Terms)
From the Persians came the cult which followed the god of the Light, called Mithras. Mithras, as the Sun-god was later carried into Rome and became the great rival religion to Christianity.
Many counterfeit religions surrounded God's people. God's people had been given the true religion and were to shine as a light from heaven. Instead, the counterfeit invaded the true, and the mystery of iniquity grew; the new Roman Pontifex Maximus takes his seat in Rome. The prince of darkness (Mark 3:22)working through human agents seeks to establish his throne above the throne of God (Isaiah 14:13) and seeks to set up his great city BABYLON in the place of God's kingdom, pretending to be God's kingdom.
This is the story revealed in Daniel chapter eleven.
11:2
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.
The Persian kings who followed Cyrus were; Cambyses (529-522) who conquered Egypt, Smerdis (522-521) Darius the Great(521-485), who started the wars against the Persians, and the fourth is Xerxes who ruled (486-465 B.C.)
Forty years after Cyrus decreed that Israel return to Jerusalem, most were still in Babylon, they were too comfortable in Babylon. However God wanted them out of Babylon. If freedom to leave would not get them out, God allowed Xerxes to issue a decree against them. A death decree! But God also made a way of escape for them. This decree of Xerxes is a type of the decree which will soon be issued by the beast of Revelation 13. The message is still “Come out of Babylon”.
Daniel 8:4 refers to the Persian kings as the Ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, who became great.
Both Darius and Xerxes attacked the Greek States. Darius’ attempt was not very successful, but Xerxes did stir up many forces ,advancing both by land and sea, against the Greek States. After winning several battles, the Persian fleet was all but annihilated and Xerxes retreated. The Persian land army was driven out of Greece a year later. The Persian’s hope of controlling the Aegean waters was completely defeated; meanwhile, the Greeks had tasted power. Thus the prophetic picture now leaves the Persian Empire in it's decline even though there are several more minor Persian Kings after Xerxes, and focuses on Greece.
11.3
And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
This text parallels with Daniel 8:5 and refers to the He Goat who came from the west with the notable horn between his eyes. The horn is identified in Daniel 8:21 as the first king of Grecia (Alexander 333-323 B.C) who defeats the Persian "ram".
11.4
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.
Alexander the Great is that mighty king. Daniel 8:5-8 speaks of this “he-goat”coming from the west and casting the ram (Persia) to the ground and trampling him. "The he-goat waxed very great and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds (four directions)of heaven. (Dan. 8:8)
Alexander’s vision of himself was to be more than human. Before embarking on his conquest against the Persians, he spent a week in the Sahara Desert at the shrine of Amon. Here he was greeted by the high priest of the temple as the son of Zeus-Amon. Alexander then started to claim for himself, divinity.
At the height of Alexander’s campaign of conquering the world, he died in the land of Babylon, probably as a result of intemperance and excess, and his kingdom was divided amongst his four generals. The four winds, or four directions of the compass:
Malachi Martin in his book "Keys of this Blood" reveals this same agenda of a papal led geopolitical structure for a new world order:
The Provincial Globalists of our age are destined to undergo a series of severe shocks and mutations as, willy-nilly, they adapt themsleves to the new globalism emanating from more powerful groups. There is no way that any one fo them will be able to maintain itself in any vibrancy and progessive strength unless it allows -- or suffers-- its provincialism to be enlarged .... inevitably, as groups they will have to face dire alternatives. Either they will become thoroughly and realistically globalized and therefore capable of collaborating in the building of a geopolitcal structure, or, as groups, they will remain in place, diminish in numbers and influence, and finally lose their identity as operative parts in a new world order." p. 291-293
Yet Alexander the Great did not succeed, for at the height of his power and swift conquest he was broken, like the tower of Babel, and his kingdom was divided.
11.5
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.
The Ptolemy dynasty in the south was strong. They reigned over their territory with an authoritative central power control, much like the ancient Egyptians. Their capital was set up in Alexandria, the city which Alexander had founded and which became one of the most magnificent cities of the ancient world. For a time it was the foremost commercial port on the Mediterranean which made them commanders of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
They reached out also into the Red Sea with their fleets, and from the Indian Ocean to the Hellespont, from Sicily to Syria; the Egyptian fleets brought wealth into the treasury of Egypt. They also took possession of Palestine and southern Syria.
But the kingdom above him,(the word prince can be translated as “general”)— the general Seleucus Nicator,(312-281) with the assistance of Ptolemy I Sotar, (323-280)took command of the northern territory, and gained the greater dominion. The Seleucids took over Syria and Asia Minor from Lysimachus, and thus had dominion in the north. They were the chief heirs of Alexander’s kingdom and held the larger part of his empire, extending from the Aegean to the frontiers of India. They planted scores of new Greek cities through Asia Minor, Syria, in Persia and far over on the borders of India. Their form of government was “city centered”, yet each city was answerable to the larger Seleucid kingdom. Greek life, took possession of much of the Euro-orient continent.
Though both the king of the North and the king of the South were spreading the Greek culture, they did not get along very well. The following verses describe the battles between these two “Greek kingdoms” as they feuded back and forth, with the land of Israel located in between.
How do all these wars affect the people of God?
Israel was situated in the middle of the feuding powers, and for the first 100 years was under the dominion of the Ptolemy. They often suffered under the constant wars. We read of Ptolomy IV Epiphanies entering Jerusalem and trying to offer sacrifices in their temple. Then, after the Seleucid king, Antiochus III the Great, took Palestine away from the Ptolemy, the Seleucid kings put considerable pressure on Jews to adopt Hellenistic culture. Later, Antiochus IV Epiphanies (175-164) forced desecrating religious practices upon the Jews, which caused the Jews to rally, under the leadership of the Maccabees, to fight against the Seleucids and gain a period of independence. Modern interpretations of prophecy tend to focus heavily on Antiochus IV Epiphanes acts of violence, however, Antiochus IV Epiphanes was not the Seleucid King who conquered Jerusalem-- his father Antiochus III the Great had taken Palestine away from the Ptolemy, Antiochus IV Epiphanes actually lost control of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem for the first time in years enjoyed a short period of independance. Also by the time Antiochus IV Epiphanes came along, Rome had already entered the scene and conquered considerable Seleucid territory in the west, in battles against Antiochus III. Indeed, as a child Antiochus IV Epiphanes had been taken a "hostage" to Rome, as a means for Rome to control his father Antiochus III Magnus (the great).
It is also true that the Jews themselves were involved with Greek culture and ideas before and after that particular low point in their experience.
Greek games were performed in Jerusalem itself, Greek names replaced the Jewish names in many instances, and intermarriage was common. The whole Jewish teachings were Hellenized, the truth of God mixed with heathen philosophy. The Greeks were an intellectual power, and revealed her strength in philosophy. Greece is known for her education and philosophy by which she gained a foothold in the world which, in the centuries following her time of power, lives on in the minds of men
The kingdom of Alexander may have resolved itself into two major divisions, yet both were Hellenized, and both spread the Greek philosophies, (the city of Alexandra, in Egypt, was a key cultural center) Yet it was the northern division which carried forward the work of the prophecy as it is the north that symbolizes the later Roman horn of Daniel 8 as the King of the North. Nevertheless, there will be throughout the ages until the end of time a power rising from the south and opposing the northern power. This will again be seen in the Islamic take over of the south during the Middle Ages when the stout horn of the fourth beast has supremacy in the North.
Why does the prophet receive such detail of these wars in the Greek kingdoms—could they be the working out of the principles by which the mystery of iniquity will be introduced in the future?
What would history have been like, IF the Jews would have been true to their mission. They were situated in the very middle of the two great kingdoms. The prophecy in Deut. 4.5-8 could have come true.
"Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.Instead, the Jewish nation accepted a counterfeit spiritual character! For Greek learning captured their minds, and enslaved them to its ideas. Greek Philosophy, modified and infused into their religion, counterfeited so neatly, so pleasantly, the spiritual teachings of the Old Testament, and so quietly, yet so surely, began to wean them away from the pure Biblical truths, until they were worshipping the creature and their religious forms, more than the Creator.
Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?"
So, instead of Israel taking the leading role in the world which God intended them to have, instead of preparing the world for the coming of Messiah the Savior from sin, they developed a Kabbalistic religion. Kabbalism IS an apostacy from The Jewish Faith. Rather than clinging to the scriptures, Kabbalists incorborated pagan, gentile, heathen religious ideas which are termed "Jewish mysticism". Due to these departures from truth, the people God had set apart for holy purposes fell under the control of the King of the North and the King of the South who were the controlling powers over Israel after their restoration from their Babylonian captivity.
11.6
And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's 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.
Here we see the Principle of intermarriage as well as the violation of God’s seventh commandment--.
In this case it was Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, (285-246) who was given in marriage to the king of the north, Antiochus II Theos, (261-246) in the hopes of bringing peace between the two powers. Antichus II Theos put away his own wife, Laodice, in order to marry Berenice. But as the prophecy states, Bernice lost favor in the eyes of Antichus Theos, who restored Laodice as his wife. However, Laodice was determined to have her revenge and arranged to have her husband Antichus Theos poisoned, as well as influencing the murder of Berenice, Berenice’s child by Antiochus Theos, and Berenice’s Egyptian attendants and supporters.
Interestingly, there is a similar problem in verse 17 when Julius Caesar gets involved with the beautiful, Egyptian ruler Cleopatra.
Daniel 2:43 shows this same policy is practiced as a means to try to unite the world, without success during the time of the ten toes.
“They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.”It appears that, in every stage of history, the attempt is made to bring the factions together through marriage. Yet in every stage, that type of alliance does not work!
11.7
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:
11.8
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.
11.9
So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land.
The treacherous act against Bernice aroused the royal house of Egypt, and a brother of Berenice, a shoot from her roots, advanced against the Seluicid kingdom with a large army. Ptolemy III Euergetes, (246-221) son of Ptolemy II Philadephus, is here described. He not only invaded Syria, but went to Babylon, where he found some of the Egyptian gods and molten images which Cambyses had captured during his war in Egypt. These Ptolemy returned. It is said that he carried to Egypt forty thousand vessels of silver and gold.. Ptolemy Euergetes, having gained control of much of Syria, then returned to his own kingdom, where he outlived Antiochus Callinicus, the son of Laodice.
11.10
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.
Two sons of Antiochus II Callinicus (246-225)undertook to regain the lost territory of the “king of the North” and redeem the honor of their father. The first was inefficient; but the younger, Antiochus III Magnus, (Antiochus the Great) (223-187) advanced speedily, regaining much of the lost territory and then took the Seluecid throne.
11.12
11.11
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 multitude shall be given into his hand.
And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it.
Ptolemy IV Epiphanes, the new Ptolemy ruler in the South, aroused by the prospects of an invasion of Egypt by Antiochus III Magnus (Antiochus III the Great) went forth to fight with him. Antiochus III (the king of the North) had come with a very large army, which Ptolemy IV defeated, casting down ten thousand soldiers. Yet nothing was gained by the battle, Ptolemy IV Epiphanes did not pursue the defeated King of the North. The continual feuds were but causing much suffering and merciless slaughter of human beings. It was simply a contest for power, motivated by vengeance and lust for control.
Ptolemy Epiphanes entered Jerusalem, and attempted to force the Jews to allow him to offer sacrifices in their temple. The restraint offered by the priests so angered him that when he returned to Egypt he killed several thousand Jews who then lived in Egypt. Those Jews who sought Egypt, either for protection or for the advantages of her schools and libraries, had not profited by seeking an advantage in the realms of Egypt.
11.13
For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.
For a period of fourteen years, there was peace between the Ptolemy and the Seleucids. When Ptolemy IV Epiphanes died, his son, Ptolemy V Epiphanes, who was still a minor took the throne. In the North, Antiochus III Magnus, took advantage of this seeming weakness in Egypt and made extensive preparations to invade Egypt with the design of taking over the Ptolemy kingdom. He made an alliance with Philip of Macedon, a successor to Cassander in the west, to make a joint attack on Egypt, whose possessions they would then divide.
But in verse 14 another power is rising. While Antiochus III Magnus came with a large army to defeat the king of the south, the Roman power is seen to be exalting itself, in this case they helped the young Egyptian king, and the plans of the Seluicid king were thwarted.
11.14
And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall.
While the heirs of Alexander's empire were carrying on their ceaseless feuds and wars, the power of Rome had been slowly rising in the West.
The little horn power in Daniel 8:9 is slowly growing to become EXCEEDINGLY GREAT!
A lesson here? Yes, unnoticed by many today "Rome" is again growing in power!
But back to the prophecy and it's fulfilment:
The Romans had fought a victorious battle in the Hannibalic War (Second Punic War)ending in 201 B.C. which made Rome a power to be reckoned with. In the First Punic War (264-241) they had gained Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. Now Rome is moving forward to conquer the whole Hellenistic World. In the same way that the prophetic emphases moved from Media Persia to the rise of Greece after Xerxes’ war with the Greeks (even though there were more Persian kings after that) even so the prophetic emphases now moves from the Greeks to the Romans after Rome first asserts her power against them. At this point the dominant power of the Greeks was over. Even though there were still many years of struggle before Rome fully conquered the Greek kingdoms, it was only a matter of time till they were part of the Roman Empire.
Isaiah 42.24Daniel 7 refers to the fourth beast (Rome) as devouring and breaking in pieces
Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Ez. 7.22,24,25
My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter it and defile it. I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
It was Pagan Rome that would “spoil” the land of Israel, and destroy it, and continue to fulfill the vision of the fourth beast with the stout horn in Daniel 7 speaking blasphemies, changing God's laws, and persecuting God's faithful.
Rome “robbed” its conquered territories. For example, Spain was made a subjected province; all the citizens were taxed; the silver and gold mines, the wealth of that country, were confiscated as state property, and no city was allowed to fortify itself without the consent of Rome. The inhabitants of Corsica and Ardinia were sold in the slave markets of Rome. After the conquest of Greece, one hundred and fifty thousand Greeks were sold as slaves, and the treasures taken paid all expenses contracted by the Roman armies for years.
11.15 In this drawing by John Wonsetler, the Romans are seen attacking a walled city by lowering themselves with platforms onto the walls of the city.
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 withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand.
So this new “king of the north”, Rome, who had emerged victorious in the Punic Wars, began to receive appeals for help from the Southern states against King Philip V of Macedonia. This Macedonian king appears to have cherished the dream of duplicating the career of Alexander the Great. In verse 13 we saw that he joined with the Seluicid King, Antiochus the Great (Father of Antiochus Epiphanies) in attacking Egypt. Since Philip of Macedonia had aided the Carthage leader, Hannibal, in the Punic wars, Rome saw him as a threat. Philip was defeated by the Roman forces in 197 B.C. and the Roman consul publicly announced that Corinth and the other Greek city states formerly under Philip were now free. The Roman armies then confronted the Seleucid king, Antiochus the Great (Magnus) and in 190 B.C. defeated him at Magnesia thus already reducing much of the Greek empire to vassal status to Rome.
Fifty years later, Rome moved with stronger measures to conquer the "walled cities".
Rome took the key cities of the former Greek Kingdom. Both Corinth and Carthage, commercial rivals of Rome, were pillaged and burned in the same year, 146 B.C.
As to Egypt, it too became a vassal of Rome in 168. Also “the chosen people” the land of Israel would be become vassals in 63 B.C.
This is the rise of the little horn of Daniel 8:9 which came up out of one of the winds (the west). The little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east and toward the glorious land. -- A king of fierce countenance... who prospers and practices mightly and destroys and lefts himself up in competition to God Himself.
11.16
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.
WHAT POWER is here emerging which would stand in the land of Israel and would CONSUME it and destroy it?
This new “king of the North” which comes against the king of the South, would do according to his own will, (dictators) and none shall stand before him.
Rome begins it’s rise to an empire with “one man power”.
In the early years, Rome was governed by a senate and assembly, not by an authoritative ruler. Because of general discontent over problems which Rome was having governing a growing empire, it seemed necessary to look to a “one man” power to govern. The commander who was popular with the people was Marius, an able soldier, who managed to bring some order into the growing empire. He won many important victories for Rome and was a favorite of the people. Then the Senate favored Sulla as consul, also a very successful soldier, but this resulted in civil war, with Sulla defeating the people’s armies and entering Rome as the master of the state. He forced his own appointment as dictator with considerable power (82 B.C.) Following the death of Sulla, Pompey was elected consul (70 B.C.)
Pompey repealed some of the hateful laws of Sulla, and won the respect of the people of Italy. This secured for Pompey a military command which was important for his conquests. In 67 B.C. the assembly of the people passed a law giving Pompey supreme command in the Mediterranean area. In forty days Pompey cleared the sea of Pirates and in the following year he set out to conquer the eastern front. He then moved on and crushed the remnant of the kingdom of the Seleucids and entered Jerusalem and brought the land of Israel under Roman control.
Rome was now standing (in control of) "the glorious land", the land that had been promised to Israel. Rome would control the Jewish lands, until 70 A.D. when they would "consume" Jerusalem and utterly consume their homeland by 134 A.D.
11.17
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.
It was Julius Caesar, a nephew of Marius, who first gained emperor status. First he was in a Triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus, but then after defeating Pompey, he made himself the supreme ruler of the Roman Empire. He lead his armies against Egypt. In Egypt, Julius Caesar met the beautiful Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies. He was victorious over the ruling faction in Alexandria and before leaving the city, nine months later; he placed Cleopatra on the Egyptian throne. Though he developed an intimate friendship with her, she did not stand by his side, but joined with Anthony, his rival.
11.18
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.
The isles could also mean "coastlands" or they could be the isles of Greece—following 47 B.C Julius Caesar overthrew his opponents in Asia Minor. He was equally triumphant in the African province behind Carthage, and finally also in Spain.
Despite all his victories Caesar had enemies. His "insolent" attempt to replace the Roman republican form of government with a personal dictatorship turned many against him.
11.19
Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.
Julius Caesar now launched into far-reaching reforms of the Roman administration. He sketched plans for the rebuilding of Rome, for building roads along the important lines of communication. His plans included far-reaching conquests into new lands. Had he carried out these plans Rome would have been a single sovereign over the whole known world. However, there were men in Rome who feared Caesar’s ambitions, accusing him of being a tyrant they struck him down. Thus they put an end to the "reproach" of his "tyranny", by assassinating him.
Green=Julius Caesar's Roman Empire
Yellow=Caesar Augustus' expansions
Pink= expansions after Augustus
11.20
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.
After Julius Caesar’s death, Rome was once again plagued with political rivalry, from which Octavian emerged the winner. Anthony and Cleopatra were defeated. Egypt became Roman territory. At last the unity of the Roman Empire was under the power of a single ruler. (30 B.C.)
Octavian was name Augustus Caesar and ruled for 45 years. Augustus means “divine”. It was during his reign that we read in Luke 2:1
… there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
The text points us Bethlehem. This is the time that the glory of God’s kingdom is to be introduced to the world. Christ, the King of kings and Lord of Lord’s is about to be born a Savior of mankind. The Prince of the whole universe would come into the world a helpless baby.
The tax laws brought the parents of Christ to Bethlehem. Caesar Augustus is made the agent for the fulfillment of God’s purposes. All the Bible tells us of this man who brought the Roman Empire to the pinnacle of its power, is that he was a raiser of taxes when the kingdom was at the height of its glory, and that after a reign of a few days, or years, he should end his career in peace.
11.21
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.
Christ’s ministry was during the reign of Tiberius, and while that “vile person” worked, planned, mistrusted and murdered the opposition, the HOLY ONE of Israel, Immanuel, God with us, walked among men, healing, teaching and revealing the love of God for mankind.
Tiberius was not a direct heir to the throne, yet through the help of his coniviving mother, he received the kingdom peacefully, without the usual fighting for the throne. Universally despised by the populace of Rome, Tiberius left the city and spent his last years on the lofty island of Capri, where he died (A.D. 37)
11.22
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.
What is emerging from the previous verses is NOT just another historical account of battles --
they SHOWED THE EMERGENCE OF ROME! Pagan Rome from which PAPAL will be seen to arise-- that is the earthly power upon which the focus of all the visions center!
The MAIN FOCUS OF COURSE is CHRIST--He is here seen in the MIDDLE of the vision.
But the earthly power opposing HIM upon which the visions of Daniel and Revelation center is ROME (pagan/papal)
The next verses actually parallel with Daniel 9.
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Daniel 11 11.21 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. 11.22 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. |
Daniel 9 9:25 ...from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks...(69 weeks, or 483 day/years) 9.26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 9.27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. | |||||||||||
Christ came to this earth to establish the covenant of salvation. Christ is the PRINCE OF THE COVENANT--
Daniel tells us HE confirmed the COVENANT--
We know HE CONFIRMED IT WITH HIS OWN BLOOD upon Calvary.
Matt. 26.28This corresponds to Daniel 9:24-27 where 70 weeks or 490 day/years were granted Israel following their restoration after the Babylonian captivity, to prepare themselves and the world for the coming Messiah.
For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.Hebrews 9.14-15
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Isaiah 53 tells us more:
The LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all...He was led as a lamb to the slaughter….He was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of My people He was stricken…He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied.Yes, they nailed the Prince of Life (Acts 3:15) the Prince of the covenant (Dan. 11:22) to the cross. The Jews planned the event but the Romans passed the condemning sentence and carried out the deed. The Prince of the everlasting covenant was crushed by those who sought to confederate together to “have no king but Caesar”. They chose the WRONG prince; they chose the prince of Rome.
John 19:12 “The Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend: whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”Daniel 9 continues to tell us this prince which they chose:
And he (Pilate) said unto the Jews, Behold your King!
John 19.15-16
But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified.
Jesus says-- forgive 7 X 70 times.
Israel had suffered 70 years of punishment for her sins when taken to Babylon--
She was forgiven 7 X 70=490 years. But Jerusalem refused her MESSIAH PRINCE.
In HIS place she chose the wrong prince of desolation -- ROME.
Thus-- as Christ said while weeping over Jerusalem-- "Your house is left unto you-- desolate."
BUT the overspreading of abominations continue much longer and involved much more. It did not end with the destruction of Jerusalem. ---"even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate".
The destruction of Jerusalem corresponds with the "first trumpet" judgment-- the first judgment to fall upon the rejectors of Christ's covenant. The destruction of Jerusalem is one example of the endtime judgment of the whole world which will once again choose the ROMAN PRINCE who is against the covenant, over the TRUE PRINCE OF THE COVENANT.
11.23
And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
The original word here translated "league is "chabar" meaning "to join selves together", "be coupled together", Daniel does not use the word "berith" which is the common word for "league".
So here we see a joining or coupling together, with the "king" who had sent the destructive flood. Deceitfulness is part of this union. The most deceitful coupling together in religious history was made—between the imperial Roman government and the Christian church. This coupling would greatly influence the flow of history to the end of time. This is what turned the "woman" (the church; the bride of Christ) into the harlot of Revelation 17, who, till the end of time commits fornication with the kings of the earth.
After Christ's ascension the truth of the great covenant, ratified by Christ's own blood, which God has established to redeem mankind--the wonderful story of redemption, spread. It was the growth of a new kingdom; a spiritual kingdom within the confines of earth’s strongest monarchy.
But the enemy of truth was not quietly sitting back even though he had suffered a crushing defeat just as it seemed he was winning. The prince of darkness had worked through every government for the destruction of truth in the Jewish race, and when that nation was at its lowest point, when true spirituality seemed dead; Christ came in person to establish HIS COVENANT with mankind. From the midst of the Jewish people, from the foot of the cross, a people arose to conquer the world for Christ.
However, the mystery of iniquity crept in even in Paul’s day, and was at work to cause the “falling away” that the man of sin be revealed, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thess. 2:3-4)
For nearly 300 years after Christ’s ascension, the powers of state, at first locally, as in the Jewish government before it’s destruction in A.D. 70., and more so, the Roman empire; followed a program of harassment and persecution towards the Christian believers.
Many of the followers of Christ were martyred.
To make matters worse, the constant Jewish uprisings against Rome caused them to be persecuted with even great fury. In Acts 18:2 we read that the emperor Claudius (41-54) commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. Twenty years later the Jews were besieged and their city destroyed by Rome. The apostolic church innocently suffered under the same stigma-- the Sabbath especially seemed to identify them with the Jews. Thus it seemed very expedient for survival for the Christians to remove from themselves any identification with the Jews. By also showing contempt towards the Jews, a number of influential Christians, like Justin Martyr, tried to lessen Roman antagonism against the Christians. A growing movement developed to get rid of all practices that might identify them with the Jews. But in breaking all ties with Judaism, they only prepared themselves to receive Paganism.
A second condition which prepared the Christians for their departure from truth and for their eventual union with Pagan Rome was the rise of Gnosticism. Gnosticism, or Oriental pagan mysticism, is the secret source from which the antinomian spirit--the spirit of lawlessness, and the spirit of spite against everything Jewish, emanated and flowed into the general church until her doctrines became completely permeated with it; this included the 8th day theory that was to spiritualize away the Sabbath and exalt the day of the Sun--Sunday.
Gnostism was already troubling the church in Paul's day, and after his death rose to considerable heights. Officially the more "strange" teachings of Gnostism were eventually "condemned" by the church, but the writings of Gnostic "fathers" are still the bases of "church teachings". Thus the church was prepared to unite with Pagan Rome.
During the years before Constantine, the Roman Empire was greatly weakened. It was not till 284-305 A.D. that Diocletian rose as a despotic emperor and brought a temporary end to the political confusion within the empire. He organized government so that one “Augusti” took care of the west, while he, the greater “Augusti” subdued the New Persians called Sassamians, in the east. He also elected two “Caesars” who were “in training” to become the next “Augusti”. Diocletian was also a ruthless persecutor of the Christians.
After Diocletian’s death, Constantine, who had been one of the “training Caesars”in the west, marched toward the east with the purpose of taking the throne of the Roman Empire. He realized that in order to win over his rivals as well as over the barbarians, he needed to bring greater unity to his empire. There were many Christians who refused to fight under a pagan banner. So Constantine sought to find "common ground" and make an agreement that united Christianity with Paganism.
According to Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia Constantine had a vision from the Sun God "Sol" while in a grove of Apollo in Gaul, in 310. Then on the eve of a battle against Maxentius, his rival in Italy,
in the year 312, he and his army are said to have seen in the sky a bright cross superimposed on the sun, with the words "in this sign, conquer," and it was said, that he had a dream that night in which Christ bade him take the sign of the cross for his standard. Constantine replaced the pagan emblem of the eagle on the standards of the Roman army with the Christian. He acknowledged the God of the Christians, and now the Christians agreed to fight in his armies, for now they were fighting under the banner of the cross!
Gibbon says: “This same symbol sanctified the arms of the soldiers of Constantine; the cross glittered in their helmets, was engraved on their shields, was interwoven into their banners; and the consecrated emblems which adorned the person of the emperor himself were distinguished only by the richer materials and more exquisite workmanship”
Yet the life of Constantine could hardly be called Christian. He united or joined Christianity with paganism and lifted Christianity up in the eyes of the pagan world. But the result was not the destruction of paganism; the result was the clothing of paganism in Christian garments.
The "deceptiveness" of Constantine's conversion was not a desire to be cleansed from sin, but a political move to strengthen his kingdom.
His (Constantine's) first religious sentiments, like those of his father, were essentially the new Platonic. He acknowledged one supreme God who had revealed himself in many ways among men, and honored Apollo, in particular, as the revealer of this being. As this idea of Apollo and the Christian Christ were obviously similar, so Constantine may have thought that he found in it very soon a point of union between Christianity and heathenism. (Gieseler, Church History 1868, vol. 1 p. 183)
Roman Emperor Constantine was a devout "universal" follower of the "Cult of Sol Invictus", whose motto was (is) "Soli Invicto Comiti"which is translated as, "Committed to the Invincible Sun".
History shows that pagan things were simply changed into Christian things, be it Easter, Christmas and other pagan celebrations of pagan gods given a Christian meaning. Idols representing various Hellenistic gods were renamed as Christian saints and martyrs and given prominent places in Cathedrals and churches.
For example: Statues of Isis and Horus were renamed Mary and Jesus. (The Story of Civilization, Vol. IV, page 73)
The statues of the gods from the Pantheon are now found in the Vatican Museum, with the exception of the great statue of Jupiter, which has been modified, retitled, and seated on a throne in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome as St. Peter. Thousands of pilgrims kiss the foot of Jupiter, while thinking it is the statue of Peter.
Thus began an era in Christian history when the Pagan emperors exercised jurisdiction over the ecclesiastical order and government of the catholic church. They controlled much of what happened in the church! They even called the church councils, and decreed church dogma. Yet the Bishop of Rome, who had already tried to assert himself over other bishops in the years before Constantine, was now elevated to princely status along side the emperor.
It was Constantine that signed the Sunday law, of the "veneral day of the sun" which appeared to him the significant and effective expression of the union between paganism and Christianity, thus making Sunday the legal institution of the Christian church.
Encyclopedia Britannica: The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in A.D. 321, enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to rest on Sunday (venerabili die solis) with an exception in favour of those engaged in agricultural labour..Only a short time elapsed until the general council of the church passed its first decree concerning the observance of Sunday, thus merging Christian sentaments with a pagan festive day.
Before Constantine, Christianity was still the religion of a minority of Roman citizens, but by the end of the century it was embraced by the majority, and Emperor Theodosius proclaimed it the official religion of the Empire in the year 380 A.D.
From this union or league first made by Constantine with the church, the papacy would grow great and finally assert it's primacy above the state.
The nominal conversion of Constantine in the early part of the fourth century wrought the union between Pagan Rome and Papal Rome. Now paganism, clothed in garments of righteousness, walked into the church. Now the mystery of iniquity which had been held in check by the former persecutions, progressed rapidly. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror in a most deceptive form. Her doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of professed followers of Christ.
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Daniel Two Gold Head (Babylon)
Silver chest Bronze Hips (Greece)
Iron Legs
Iron and Clay Feet |
Daniel Seven The Lion (Babylon)
The Bear The Leopard (Greece)
The terrible beast
The stout horn on the |
Daniel Eight Babylon is history
Ram Goat (Greece)
Four horns Great horn (Rome growing from pagan to papal power)
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Daniel Eleven Babylon is history 11:2 (Media Persia) 11:3 (Greece) 11:4-13 (4 divisions of Greece) 11:14-22 (Rome) 11:23- (Rome growing from pagan to papal power) |
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