Good morning to everyone. We are getting to the end of the book of Daniel, so we're kind of wrapping things up here and putting things together. This is a very interesting text, a very important text, so I want you to put your thinking caps on and pay attention. No naps this morning. And then at the end of the time, we'll have a little time of discussion or questions if you have them. We don't have a live stream this morning, so we don't have to worry about the microphone. But if you have questions as we go along or thoughts you want to discuss something, kind of make a note of that.

Well, we are continuing in Daniel this morning, and we've come to the climax of the book, the final prophecy concerning the kingdoms of men in the last days, culminating in the kingdom of Christ on this earth. We have moved into the last part of chapter 11, and we're going to move into chapter 12, those first three verses this morning, with a prophecy about the willful king who will come at the end, and we see the amazing events of the king of the north and the king of the south coming against the willful king in these last days.

Well, we set up this context in the first 35 verses last time, as we saw the end of Alexander the Great, the division of his kingdom, and the establishment of the long-running battles between the king of the north and the king of the south that span history and set stage for the events of the last days. I'd like to begin this morning by asking you to turn to Ezekiel chapter 38. Go back one book to Ezekiel chapter 38, please, and we'll read a good part of this chapter.

Verse 1, now the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, set your face against Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal, and prophesy against him. And say, thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, the great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet. Gomer and all its troops in the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops, many people are with you. 

Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you, and be a guard for them. After many days, you will be visited. In the latter years, you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud. You and all your troops and many peoples with you. 

Thus says the Lord God, on that day, it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind and you will make an evil plan. You will say, I will go up against a land of unwalled villages. I will go to a peaceful people who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, having neither bars nor gates, to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited and against the people gathered from the nations who have acquired livestock and goods who dwell in the midst of the land. 

Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish and their young lions will say to you, have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder? Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, thus says the Lord God, on that day, when my people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it? Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. 

You will come up against my people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know me when I am hollowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes. Thus says the Lord God, are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them? 

And will it come to pass at the same time when Gog comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, that my fury will show in my face? For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath, I have spoken, surely in that day, there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at my presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. 

I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all my mountains, says the Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his brother. And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus I will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord."

Well, this is a parallel passage to our text this morning and speaks of the same time in God's salvation history. Gog represents the North coming from the far North with many nations, a coalition in the last days. We're going to see this foretold in Daniel 11 as well, and we notice some important details as we put many scriptures together this morning. For example, in Ezekiel 38, we see that Israel is dwelling in peace at this time with unwalled villages. Can you imagine Israel without walls, without military protection, without fear, living in peace? Not in history, not in our time, but in the last days. 

We're going to see these two kings, the central characters of chapter 11 up to this point, the king of the North and the king of the South. But in verse 36, we see a third king introduced, the willful king.

And this is the Antichrist who will rise to full power after the events of Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 13 and so many other scriptures that speak to these end time events. So we approach our text in this context, and we need to ask ourselves, what time do these verses speak of? This is the crucial truth to understand. When will these events take place? 

We've seen that in the first 35 verses, as Mark mentioned, they were fulfilled in amazing and profound detail in the years from Daniel approaching the time of Christ, much like the other prophecies that we've studied. They concerned the Seleucid kings in the North and the Ptolemaic kings in the South and men like Antiochus Epiphanes and the events of the Maccabees and the battles back and forth that often took place in the land of Israel. 

But in our text today at verse 36, we see the familiar transition in all of the prophecies and visions and that which is common to nearly every prophet of the Old Testament, a move from temporal fulfillment to the end time promise, the last days foretelling of the events that bring the coming of Christ and the kingdom and display of the glory of God in Israel. That's the point, just like it said at the end of Ezekiel 38 in verse 23, thus I will magnify myself and sanctify myself and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord. 

My friends, this is really the key to understanding why God will keep his promises to Israel and will fulfill all that he has said in his word and his prophets for his great namesake so that the nations will know that he is the Lord. These salient truths are consistent throughout all of our studies. The pattern is clear, the visions are clear and consistent. God was working in Israel in the Old Testament times, a nation of people, believers and unbelievers, not like the church today. 

The church today is not a nation. The church today is not made up of unbelievers, but only believers by definition. So in the Old Testament times, he was working through Israel. They were to be a witness to the nations. That's why he separated them out so that the nations would know that he is the true God. And many of the days of the Lord judgments that we've looked at in the past and famines and pestilences and captivities were about chastening Israel to bring them back to himself. 

And God accomplished many things in Israel in these temporal fulfillments. But in every prophet, certainly in Daniel, we see a far off fulfillment yet to come for Israel. Think of Joel 2 and 3 at the end of chapter two and 28 and then going through three. We see this kind of transition. We see promises related to the last days, to the coming kingdom, to the second coming of Christ, to judgment, even resurrection in our text today, and the exalting among the nations of the name of our God. 

His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven in the context of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel. And his intent will be fulfilled for that nation as they are a witness to all the nations. And our text this morning is no different. It's consistent in this very pattern. That's the way we're going to approach this. 

Let's look at our text, Daniel 11, verse 36. We introduce a new third person here. Daniel 11, 36, then the king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every God, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished for what has been determined shall be done. 

He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any God for he shall exalt himself above them all. But 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, and he shall cause them to rule over many and divide the land for gain. 

Now, I don't want there to be any confusion at verse 40, because this is an important verse. We're going to get into this in detail. I'm just curious about the versions that you guys have in your hands this morning. Who's using either an ESV, NASB, New King James, or King James? Who's using another translation such as a Good News or New Living or NIV? 

Okay, so what I want you to understand when you're studying the word of God, when we think about translations, the ESV, the NASB, the New King James, the King James are what we call literal translations of the original manuscripts. So they're word-for-word translations. When you get into, the NIV is a bit of a paraphrase. It's not a word-for-word, not as literal as the others. And then when you get into like the Good News, the New Living, the Message, those kind of things, these are simply commentaries. They are paraphrases. 

And there's an important note here in verse 40. We've read 36 to 39, and it clearly is outlining the willful king, talking about him. It says him and him and him. That's talking about that king in verse 36. When you get to verse 40, it says, at the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him. Who's him? The Antichrist, the willful king that we've been talking about. 

And the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind. So how many people do you have there? Three, you have the king of the north attacking the Antichrist, you have the king of the south attacking the Antichrist. If you have a New Living or a Good News Bible, it'll say the king of the south attacked the king of the north. Now that's a whole different trajectory that you're on now, right? And it becomes very confusing in an already fairly complicated text. 

So I just want you to be aware of that. The original language, the literal translations all agree that the king of the south is attacking this willful king and the king of the north is coming against him. Is that, everybody clear on that? Is that okay? All right. Something to bear in mind when you're studying the word of God. Try and use a literal translation. 

So verse 40, 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, 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 of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end and no one will help him. 

At that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time, and at that time, your people shall be delivered, everyone who's found written in the book, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. 

All right, I've given you five points on your outline this morning. First, what do the words say? Second, the willful king. Third, the king of the north. Fourth, coming to power. And fifth, God's final plans for Israel. So whenever we study God's word, we want to start with the words. We want to be careful to set them in their context and consider their intent, and this is especially important in difficult texts such as Daniel 11. We need to maintain this discipline if we're going to rightly understand what God is saying. 

Come to verse 36 and following into chapter 12, what do the words say? And what has been the consistent pattern of Daniel's words to us in this book concerning the visions and prophecies that God gave him? Well first we must remember that every one of these revelations have been concerning the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. This is made clear again and again. God is giving Daniel revelations so that he might understand what will happen concerning his people and his holy city. That is a consistent theme throughout the book and sets the context and audience in God's intent. 

It is impossible by exegesis, taking out what it says from the text, it is impossible to put the church anywhere in the vicinity of Daniel's prophecies. The other consistent theme we've seen since chapter 2 and in chapter 7 and 8 and 9 and 10 and 12 is that these prophecies about what will come for Israel concern the kingdoms of men, particularly four kingdoms of men, what Jesus called the times of the Gentiles. 

So throughout the course of Israel's history, in fact to the end and the consummation, she is in bondage to the Gentile kingdoms, to Babylon, to Medo-Persia, to Greece, to Rome. And what we see in the end time portions of these visions is that Jesus will come and judge and wipe out all vestiges of any of these kingdoms of men and establish his kingdom which will fill the whole earth. We saw that in chapter 2 and then it was developed in more detail in 7 and 8 and 9 and now in 11. 

And it is in this context that Israel will be delivered as we see in chapter 12 this morning and God's promises will be fulfilled for his glory. Now think about this simple truth with me, if this is true and it is, then the kingdom of Christ that is spoken of by the prophet Daniel cannot exist now because we still have these kingdoms of men ruling on this earth, operating in our world. We have Satan as the ruler of this age overseeing and those spiritual warfares are still going on and we do not see the earthly kingdom of Christ. 

In order to come to such a conclusion that the kingdom is now that Daniel's talking about, we have to take all of the painstaking details of hundreds of thousands of days and events foretold and all of the hundreds of prophecies fulfilled concerning these kingdoms of men in history foretold in the book of Daniel, fulfilled to the jot and the tittle, and then when we come to the kingdom of Christ, we must spiritualize it along with all the details foretold about it. 

There's no reason whatsoever in the words, in the context, guided by the audience and their understanding and the intent of God to do such a thing and it does violence to the meaning of these texts. So what do the words say? That is the question for us to answer to determine in our study and it takes a little effort, it takes a little pondering and chewing of the cud and careful discipline to follow through these verses and maybe even a little grammar, but this text is consistent with the rest of the book. 

All the revelations and the ways we have highlighted, it is about Israel, it's about Jerusalem, it's about God's final plans for His people, for His glory, and it concerns the coming of Christ and His kingdom which will fill this entire earth where He will rule and reign in righteousness from David's throne and all the nations will know that He is the Lord. I'm not sure that all the nations know that He is the Lord today. I'm not sure that every knee is bowed and every tongue confessed. But they will know that. 

Verse 36, let's see what the words say. Then the king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished. For what has been determined shall be done, shall come to pass. He shall regard neither the god of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall exalt himself above them all. 

But 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, and he shall cause them to rule over many and divide the land for gain. And at that time, 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, with many ships, and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.

Now as we said, up to verse 35, we've seen historical fulfillment of the battles of the kings of the north and the kings of the south. You can go back in history and study all of this and look at this and all of these things, there's over a hundred prophecies in chapter 11 verses 1 to 35 that were fulfilled in that time. This is the area of Syria and the Seleucid kingdom in the north, and the area of Egypt and the Ptolemaic kingdoms in the south. There have been two kings all the way through verse 35. 

But in verse 36 we see transition to another time, it says, then, and we transition to another king, a third king, a king who does according to his will, the willful king. So how do we know this is another time and another king? Well the words tell us, there are many timing words, it says, until the wrath has been accomplished, for what has been determined shall be done. Verse 40, at the time of the end, chapter 12 verse 1, at that time Michael shall stand up. 

What's going to happen at that time? Well it says, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time, and at that time your people shall be delivered. Now how could Daniel have understood that? His people who? Israel. Will be delivered. What does that mean? The promise is fulfilled, salvation, delivered from the hands of the Gentiles. 

Look at verse 2, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. When is that? I think that's like right at the end, right? Not only are there many clear words pointing us to the time of the end and the consummation of all things, but there are clear words that this is a third king. Look at verse 40 again. 

And if you're holding one of those paraphrased translations, look at your neighbor's Bible now, okay? Because it would be very confusing. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come against him. So who is the him here? The king of the south attacks him, the king of the north comes against him. Well, the him has to be someone other than the king of the north or the king of the south, a new king introduced. 

The covenant theologians say that Antiochus Epiphanes fulfilled these words in history. But my friends, Antiochus Epiphanes was the king of the north. Now this speaks of a future king of the north and his coalition as well as the king of the south who come against a third king, who our text calls the willful king. And what does it say about that time when these things will occur? If you go back to 12.1, it says, there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time, your people shall be delivered, everyone who's found written in the book. 

These words undeniably speak of the end times. Jesus used the exact same words in Matthew 24. Turn to Matthew 24 with me. Matthew 24 at verse 15. Now remember the context here is disciples had come to him and they'd said, what will be the sign of your coming, the second coming? Verse 15, therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. 

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house and let him who's in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days and pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulations such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 

Jesus uses the same words to describe a future event. In fact he says, not you guys, you disciples that I'm talking to who just asked me about the sign of my second coming, not you understand. What does he say? Let him who reads understand. I believe he's speaking to those who live in this treacherous time after the abomination of desolation committed by the Antichrist when he comes to full power as we're going to see in our text. 

Those who are alive then, those who read these things, Jesus' words, you better go back to the prophet Daniel and understand what is going on and you better get out of the city. I keep telling my daughter in Minneapolis, Jesus says, flee the city, right? It's a good idea, get out of the city, but at this time you better get out of the city. But clearly Jesus speaks of a future event related to his coming. That is the context of his words in Matthew 24. 

When did Antiochus Epiphanes live in relation to Jesus? 150 years before Jesus, right, before, is that BC, before Christ? So why is Jesus still speaking of these words of Daniel being fulfilled in a far-off future time, the end times at the time of his coming, if verses 36 to 45 are fulfilled in history in Antiochus Epiphanes? What do the words before us tell us? You have to deal with all of the words and all of the details and put them together. 

They tell us that they are speaking of the end times, the last days, the deliverance of Israel, even the resurrection and the second coming and the kingdom on earth. They also tell us in this time, particularly the time that Jesus speaks of, the great tribulation after the abomination of desolation will occur. There will be the rise of a third king who will rule and reign over the whole earth. 

But first that king, the Antichrist, must deal with the king of the north and the king of the south who come against him. So we see what the words say, we see the willful king. Now let's look closely at the king of the north. The coalition, actually, as we read in Ezekiel 38, the coalition of nations that will exist under Gog in these last days and come against Israel and the Antichrist. 

Now we see some interesting details about the willful king in verses 36 to 39. He will worship the God of war, basically. His God will be conquering and ruling the world. His ambition will be to take control of the world and eliminate God's people. He will not regard the God of his fathers, nor have normal affection for women or perhaps family.

It's not surprising for the Antichrist, empowered by the devil, he is abnormal, perhaps a homosexual, but certainly lacking familial affection and regard for the nuclear family, natural love for the family and for women, as Paul also speaks of in Timothy of the last days. He might be a Jew, he does not have regard for the God of his fathers. The question is whether that word God is singular or plural. We can't really say for sure from these words. 

Revelation says he will rise from the sea, indicating Gentile nations, but he could be a Jew living in a Gentile nation, having no regard for the God of his fathers. But what I want you to focus in on is the events that begin in verse 40, at this time, the time of the end, the time of the taking of complete authority by the Antichrist and the beginning of the Great Tribulation. 

Verse 40 again, 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, with many ships, he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them and pass through. Now we've noted that the hymn in verse 40 must be this third king of verses 36 to 39 because the king of the south comes against him and the king of the north as well. The hymn in verse 40 is the willful king, the Antichrist. 

But be careful as you follow the words into verse 41. Many have seen the following verses as describing the Antichrist and his demise, but what we actually have here is the rise of the Antichrist to full power. And if you follow the words, we see that the hymn in verse 41 is the king of the north describing the events of Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 13. 

Verse 40 again, the king of the north shall come against him, against the Antichrist like a whirlwind, chariots, horsemen, ships, and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them and pass through them. He, the king of the north, 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. 

Now stop here for a moment, I want to make sure everybody's following. The king of the north shall come against the Antichrist, the willful king, in the glorious land. You see, at this time the Antichrist is in Israel. He has established peace in the Middle East in that first part of the tribulation time. We've covered this in Revelation 6 and Daniel 9. 

Ezekiel 38 describes this time, when Antichrist is in Israel and there is peace and the Jews have their temple and are worshiping and living in peace in unwalled villages and it's the king of the north, Gog, Russia, Syria, Persia, a coalition of nations that come against the Antichrist and the people of Israel from the north. And they overwhelm them, it says in Ezekiel 38 and in Daniel 11, and I believe according to Revelation 13, kill the Antichrist. 

We're bringing it all together here, my friends. Cutting all the pieces straight, putting them together. Go to Revelation 13 with me. Revelation 13 verse 1. Notice the language familiar to Daniel. Then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 

Now these are words straight from Daniel's prophecies about the final form of the final kingdom of man. Verse 2, now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, his mouth like the mouth of a lion, the dragon gave him his power, his throne and great authority. What do we see there if you're a student of Daniel? We see a conglomeration of all the kingdoms in that final form of the final kingdom of Rome and the beast, the Antichrist. 

Notice verse 3, and I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled and followed the beast. Now here's the key. All the world marveled and followed the beast. We're seeing in Daniel 11 how the willful king comes to full power, and God gives us all the details from Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation, Jesus' words. All we have to do is start with the words and put the pieces together. 

Verse 4, so they worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast saying, who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for how long? 42 months. This is the Great Tribulation, three and a half years, 42 months, 1260 days, all mentioned in Daniel and Revelation. The Great Tribulation that Daniel 12 and Matthew 24 describe in great detail. 

Now those who hold an alternate view on this just say that all those days and all these details and what Jesus said and what Daniel said, it's all just spiritualized in the church age. It's just not doing justice to the words. Why would he tell us 1260 days, three and a half years, 42 months, in several different places? And when we look at Daniel 9, what we've studied recently, and we come up with a hundred and eighty-some thousand days, and every theologian agrees that that was all fulfilled to the coming of Christ, to the detail, but then when you go to the next verse, all of a sudden we're just going to spiritualize the whole thing and say, well, this is talking about the church being persecuted, and these days are just long periods of time. I don't understand it. 

Verse 6, then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life. I don't think the Maccabees were worshiping Antiochus Epiphanes. What does it say? All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life, and the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 

So we see that the beast, the Antichrist, was mortally wounded, killed. I believe this is captured in our text. Go back to Daniel 11, verse 40 again.

At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, Antichrist, and the king of the north shall come against him, Antichrist, like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships, and he, the king of the north, Gog of Magog, shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He, the king of the north, 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 land of Egypt shall not escape. 

Now this is interesting, because he's formed an alliance with the king of the south, Egypt, to attack the Antichrist, right? They both come against him at the same time. But after he overcomes the glorious land, where the Jews are living in peace and have no defense, and the king of the north kills the Antichrist, then he turns on his ally, his old foe of the south, this Ptolemaic king, and he conquers Egypt, settling that ancient score. 

Verse 43, he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, over all the precious things of Egypt, also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heel. Now watch this, verse 44, 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 of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end and no one will help him. 

Where's he at? He's in Egypt, right? He's overtaken the glorious land, he's overtaken Egypt, he's south and west of Israel. News from the north and east shall greatly trouble him. What is this? I believe, according to Revelation 13, that this is the resurrection of the Antichrist, the wound that was healed. The king of the north comes through the Holy Land with all his allied nations, and the Antichrist, the beast, is mortally wounded, and the king of the north continues to Egypt and conquers it and possesses all its treasures. 

He's on top of the world, ready to rule the whole world, he's the only king left, he's defeated the other two powerful kings, and then he hears rumors. Rumors from the north and the east, the glorious land. The beast is alive. The Antichrist lives. He's infuriated, filled with wrath, he marches north and east, and here's the key phrase that ties it all together, verse 45, and he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end and no one will help him. 

This is the king of the north, Gog of Magog. Go back to Ezekiel 38, verse 14, prophesy against and say to Gog, thus says the Lord God, on that day when my people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it, then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company, a mighty army, you will come up against my people Israel like a cloud to cover that land. 

It will be in the latter days when I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know me when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes. Thus says the Lord God, are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them? And it will come to pass at the same time when Gog comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, that my fury will show in my face. 

What's going on here? The king of the north come back and set his whole army up between the Mediterranean Sea and the holy mountain on the outskirts of Israel to attack the Antichrist and kill him. And what happens? Verse 19, for in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken, surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, so that the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at my presence. 

The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. I will call for a sword against Gog throughout my mountains, says the Lord God, every man's sword will be against his brother. I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed and rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 

What do the people see? They see the enemy of Antichrist with all his armies. Remember, he's already killed him and now he's risen from the dead, and they see all his enemies lined up on the edge of town, and all of a sudden fire and brimstone come out of heaven and destroy them all. The final king of the north will set up on the outskirts of Israel to attack in fury, fury at the beasts whom he conquered and yet now is alive, fury against Israel and God's people, and as he's camped, prepared for battle between the seas and the glorious holy mountains set to fight the willful king, God will miraculously destroy his entire army. 

But the people, the people of the world will see this as the power of the resurrected beast, and they will worship him and all the world will follow him for he was and was not and now is, it says in Revelation 13, and he can call down fire from heaven and destroy the great army of the king of the north with a word. They will cry out, who is able to battle the beast? Who can make war with him? Revelation 13. 

And my friends, it is this event of Ezekiel 38 and Daniel 11 and Revelation 13 that will exalt the willful king to full power over the whole earth and initiate the great tribulation with the abomination of desolation. We see it in our text in Daniel 12, Daniel 12 1, at that time, the time when God wipes out the king of the north, the Antichrist declares himself to be God, sets up the abomination of desolation, and begins the great tribulation. 

At that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time. And at that time, your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. 

In Matthew 13, in the parables, you know the parables of the wheat and the tares. If you look at that text, Jesus is describing the judgment at the end of time. And it says he will separate the wheat from the tares. In the last verse of that parable, it says, and then the righteous will shine like stars in the kingdom. It's just what Daniel says here. 

When's the kingdom? After the second coming and the judgment. When will Israel be delivered? At the second coming and the judgment. When will the righteous shine forth in the kingdom? After the second coming and the judgment. These are the same words Jesus uses in Matthew 24 to describe the abomination of desolation, the great tribulation, and his coming. 

The beast is given a short time, 42 months, to rule on the earth before Jesus comes and judges and destroys the beast and the kingdoms of men and establishes his kingdom on earth and delivers his people Israel, keeping his covenant and bringing glory to his name. All the nations will know that I am the Lord. 

Now, my brothers and sisters, there are dozens and dozens of other scriptures that we could relate to these events and spend many more sermons building this case from all the prophets to the Gospels to the Epistles to the book of the Revelation. But it is clear from the book of Daniel in every revelation concerning the end times, the second coming, the kingdom of Christ on this earth, that God still has plans for the nation of Israel and that he will keep his promises for his namesake. 

And it's nowhere more clear than in this great book of the prophet Daniel. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you that you give us your word. We thank you for the truth of John 3 16, the simplicity of Christ that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 11. We thank you for the truth of the gospel and our salvation. 

We also thank you for all the details that you have told us, that you have revealed to us the end, that we know what's going to happen. We thank you that you care for your people and tell them the truth, give them promises, give them hope through prophecy. 

Thank you that Jesus is coming again and we look forward to that time and the time when you will bring all things to consummation in Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen.