Angels and End Times - Part 2 (Daniel 11:6-19)

Prayer for Understanding Daniel’s Prophecy

Let's open in prayer.

Father, there isn't one part of your word that isn't fantastic and a blessing to each and every of your children that reads it and studies it. And today we're looking into one of those sections of scripture that is just amazing as all of your word is, but it's the part we're in today.

And so we ask for your blessing on the reading and the understanding of what you have for us regarding history and the future. Let us not step one step outside of your communication to us and let us be blessed, we pray, Lord, that we would be blessed by what you communicate to us and what you require of us to do because of that information.

We thank you for the word. We thank you for your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the word, the living word. Might we here today and be changed, reformed, corrected, instructed to go forth as your emissaries to a world that needs the Lord Jesus Christ.

We thank you for that in Jesus' name, amen. So as we're going through this section of Daniel, I don't know if I'll stress this every week, but remember that this is things that Daniel was told that happened hundreds of years later and some that are going to happen thousands of years later.

This is so amazing. I don't ever want to lose the wonder that strikes me when I'm reading through sections of scripture and it's exactly right, exactly perfect, exactly what is needed for the world today, for the believers in the world today and for the unbelievers.

Daniel was given a message that he didn't fully understand, but he understood enough of it and he was given the understanding of enough of it that it both amazed, I guess it multiple amazed, terrified and delighted him.

Israel will be restored and he was delighted about that,.

But he was probably discouraged to some degree,.

Although how can you say that, but I'm trying to choose words here and I don't have my thesaurus up here, discouraged in some ways about what Israel was going to have to go through to get there when they finally turn back to the Messiah.

And that's what this section of scripture is suffused with. And so as we're reading through it, just keep reminding yourself, this stuff was predicted to happen hundreds of years later and it came true exactly as predicted because the sovereign God of the universe predicted it.

So I think for our purposes this morning, we're gonna read through the entire chapter, chapter 11. Just wanna get a full flow context because the first 35 verses deal with history that we can look back on and read about in Encyclopedia Britannica.

And guess what? Britannica is forced to agree with the scripture, whether they like it or not. And then after verse 35, we begin to get a picture of what's to come. And are you not comforted that it is going to be just exactly as he has said,.

That it's going to be?

Prophecy is for a comfort. One of the things it's for is for comfort. And I personally am comforted knowing that what he has said has been and what he has said for the future will be. So with that, let's read through Daniel chapter 11.

This is the angel speaking still from chapter 10, remember? He said, in chapter 10, he said, "'However, I will tell you what is inscribed "'in the writing of truth,' verse 21. "'Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me "'against those forces except Michael, your prince, "'and in the first year,' verse one of chapter 11, "'and in the first year of Darius the Mede, "'I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him.

"'And now I will tell you the truth. "'Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. "'Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them. "'And as soon as he becomes strong enough "'through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire "'against the realm of Greece.

"'And a mighty king will arise "'and he will rule with great authority "'and do as he pleases. "'But as soon as he has arisen, "'his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out "'toward the four points of the compass.

"'Though not to his own descendants, "'nor according to his authority which he wielded, "'for his sovereignty will be uprooted "'and given to others besides them. "'Then the king of the south will grow strong "'along with one of his princes "'who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion.

"'His dominion will be a great dominion indeed. "'And after some years, they will form an alliance "'and the daughter of the king of the south "'will come to the king of the north "'to carry out a peaceful arrangement, "'but she will not retain her position of power, "'nor will he remain with his power, "'but she will be given up "'along with those who brought her in "'and the one who sired her "'as well as he who supported her in those times.

"'But one of the descendants of her line "'will arise in his place "'and he will come against their army "'and enter the fortress of the king of the north "'and he will deal with them and display great strength.

"'And also their gods with their metal images "'and their precious vessels of silver and gold, "'he will take into captivity to Egypt "'and he on his part will refrain "'from attacking the king of the north for some years.

"'Then the latter will enter the realm "'of the king of the south, "'but will return to his own land. "'And his sons will mobilize "'and assemble a multitude of great forces "'and one of them will keep on coming "'and overflow and pass through "'that he may again wage war up to his very fortress.

"'And the king of the south will be enraged "'and go forth and fight with the king of the north. "'Then the latter will raise a great multitude, "'but that multitude will be given "'into the hand of the former.

"'When the multitude is carried away, "'his heart will be lifted up "'and he will cause tens of thousands to fall, "'yet he will not prevail. "'For the king of the north will again "'raise a greater multitude than the former.

"'And after an interval of some years, "'he will pass on with a great army and much equipment. "'Now in those times, "'many will rise up against the king of the south. "'The violent ones among your people "'will also lift themselves up "'in order to fulfill the vision, "'but they will fall down.

"'Then the king of the north will come "'and cast up a siege mound "'and capture a well-fortified city. "'And the forces of the south will not stand their ground, "'not even their choicest troops, "'for there will be no strength to make a stand.

"'But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, "'and no one will be able to withstand him. "'He will also stay for a time in the beautiful land "'with destruction in his hand. "'And he will set his face to come "'with the power of his whole kingdom, "'bringing with him a proposal of peace, "'which he will put into effect.

"'He will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it, "'but she will not take a stand for him or be on his side. "'Then he will turn his face to the coastlands "'and capture many. "'But a commander will put a stop "'to his scorn against him.

"'Moreover, he will repay him for his scorn. "'So he will turn his face "'toward the fortresses of his own land, "'but he will stumble and fall and be found no more. "'Then in his place, one will arise "'who will send an oppressor "'through the jewel of his kingdom.

"'Yet within a few days, he will be shattered, "'though neither in anger nor in battle. "'And in his place, a despicable person will arrive "'on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, "'but he will come in a time of tranquility "'and seize the kingdom by intrigue.

"'And the overflowing forces will be flooded away "'before him and shattered, "'and also the prince of the covenant. "'And after an alliance is made with him, "'he will practice deception, "'and he will go up and gain power "'with a small force of people.

"'In a time of tranquility, "'he will enter the richest parts of the realm "'and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, "'nor his ancestors. "'He will distribute plunder, booty, "'and possessions among them, "'and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, "'but only for a time.

"'And he will stir up his strength and courage "'against the king of the south with a large army, "'so the king of the south will mobilize "'an extremely large and mighty army for war, "'but he will not stand, "'for schemes will be devised against him.

"'And those who eat his choice food will destroy him, "'and his army will overflow, "'but many will fall down slain. "'As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, "'and they will speak lies to each other at the same table, "'but it will not succeed, "'for the end is still to come at the appointed time.

"'Then he will return to his land with much plunder, "'but his heart will be set against the holy covenant, "'and he will take action, "'and then return to his own land. "'At the appointed time, "'he will return and come into the south, "'but this last time it will not turn out "'the way it did before, "'for the ships of Chitum will come against him, "'therefore he will be disheartened, "'and will return and overcome, "'and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action, "'so he will come back and show regard "'for those who forsake the holy covenant.

"'And forces from him will arise "'and desecrate the sanctuary fortress, "'and do away with the regular sacrifice, "'and they will set up the abomination of desolation, "'and by smooth words he will turn to godlessness "'those who act wickedly toward the covenant, "'but the people who know their God "'will display strength and take action.

"'And those who have insight among the people "'will give understanding to the many, "'yet they will fall by the sword and by flame, "'by captivity and by plunder for many days. "'Now when they fall, they will be granted a little help, "'and many will join with them in hypocrisy.

"'And some of those who have insight will fall "'in order to refine, purge, and make them pure "'until the end time, because it is still to come "'at the appointed time.'". And then here's where the scene changes.

"'Then the king will do as he pleases, "'and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, "'and will speak monstrous things against the god of gods, "'and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, "'for that which is decreed will be done.

"'And he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers, "'nor for the desire of women, "'nor will he show any regard for any other god, "'for he will magnify himself above them all. "'But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, "'a god whom his fathers did not know.

"'He will honor him with gold, silver, "'costly stones, and treasures, "'and he will take action against the strongest "'of fortresses with the help of a foreign god, "'and he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him, "'and he will cause them to rule over the many, "'and will parcel out land for a price.

"'And at the end time, the king of the south "'will collide with him, and the king of the north "'will storm against him with chariots and horsemen, "'and with many ships, and he will enter countries, "'overflow them, and pass through.

"'He will also enter the beautiful land, "'and many countries will fall, "'but these will be rescued out of his hand, "'Edom, Moab, and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. "'Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, "'and the land of Egypt will not escape, "'but he will gain control over the hidden treasures "'of gold and silver, "'and over all the precious things of Egypt, "'and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels, "'but rumors from the east and from the north "'will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath "'to destroy and annihilate many, "'and he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion "'between the seas and the beautiful holy mountain, "'yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.'".

An awful lot of information. And so as we're traveling through it this morning, some of it at least, it's well to remember that all the kings and all the nations we'll be talking about, the north, the south, Egypt, Syria, which is what we call it today, but they called it the north back then, were but tools in the hand of God to prepare Israel, to turn back to their Messiah.

There is nothing that happens in history that isn't perfectly within the exact sovereign will of our God. And that too should be a comfort. So as we go through this, remember, and I was trying to think of an analogy, and I'm just not really good at coming up with analogies, but Israel would have been right in the middle of these pitched battles back and forth, back and forth over centuries.

And what do you think happens to a land that's caught in the middle of two opposing magnificent huge armies? Picture my, this is gonna sound silly, but just pretend with me, Montana and Oregon fighting over the ownership of the Northwest, and Idaho's caught in the middle, and we have been disarmed.

Is that gonna happen? Probably not, but we're pretending. And so the battle pitches back and forth, and where do you think they get their food and their supplies? They're gonna get it from the innocent, the people who can't fight back.

So Israel was consistently, even though it talks about plundering this kingdom and plundering that kingdom, they had to ravage across Israel. And Israel got beat up again and again and again. And unfortunately, as we all well know, sometimes this is what it takes for God to get our attention.

For those of the elect, our journey to being regenerated by the Holy Spirit was one of difficulty, was it not? This is Israel. I'm not gonna try and draw too many metaphorical analogies, just that's kind of the human condition.

We're idiots, let's face it. What God has said is true, whether it's in Genesis 1 or Revelation, the end of Revelation, it's all true. And as we go through this, let's keep that in mind. These are things that Daniel is hearing that are going to happen to his beloved, beautiful land, the Holy Land.

That's what he called it. That's what it was rendered as in those days, the beautiful land. And this had to just rest his heart, rend his heart, I guess I would say. But also knowing what finally comes, that Israel would return.

All of Israel who studied the scriptures knew that they would return to their Messiah. They just didn't know exactly how. And so Daniel's gonna give us some of those details. And with that, we looked at the first five verses of Daniel chapter 11.

And I gave you this kind of cheat sheet, if you will, to try and keep track of the kings as we go. And remember, some of the kings are named, many of the kings are not named. And there were kingdoms and kingships in between some of this history that the angel provides to Daniel that are not mentioned at all.

And that's fine. God mentioned what was necessary for our teaching, for our understanding, for our comfort, for our instruction. And so everything that is in the scriptures is exactly what we needed to know.

The interesting thing about this is in years to come later, people could look back on history, look at Daniel chapter 11 and say to themselves, wow, it happened exactly as he said. And they've been saying that for a couple thousand years now.

So let's get started with Daniel chapter 11, verse six. So the last verse, I guess I should say, verse five. Let's see if I can find my place. Then the king of the south will grow strong. And that would have been Ptolemy, one of the Ptolemies.

We're gonna meet Cleopatra today. How many have heard of Cleopatra? Did you know there were seven of them? And it was the seventh that did the Mark Anthony thing. We won't get to her. So then the king of the south will grow strong along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion.

His dominion will be a great dominion indeed. And at that we looked at, we identified the various kings. Ptolemy won, Seleucus won. And when Antigonus was defeated in 312 BC, Seleucus returned to the north and took control of Babylonia, again, Syria and Media.

And his kingdom is the one that's referred to here that did become indeed strong. And just as scripture said. Verse six, after some years, they will form an alliance and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north.

South is Egypt, north is Syria or what Daniel called the north to carry out a peaceful arrangement. But she will not retain her position of power nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up along with those who brought her in and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.

Let's always remember that collateral damage people are what are caught up in the destruction of kingdoms. It's people. And then there's a lot of damage that goes along here that forms the undergirding of all the alliances and breaking of alliances and treaties and breaking of treaties that occurs throughout the centuries following.

So in about 250 BC, Egypt and Syria allied. Ptolemy I died in 283 BC. And Seleucus died in 281 BC. So this is 250 years or more, 250 years after Daniel wrote this. Ptolemy I's son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, brotherly love, go figure, was king in Egypt.

The grandson of Seleucus, Antiochus II was king of Syria. It is important to note that Syria, and I've said this before, Syria is never mentioned. Rather, just the direction north is mentioned. At this time in history, this area was not called Syria.

And so Daniel records it in a manner that will be understandable to the people of his time. Antiochus II's father is not mentioned in this history. History records that Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Antiochus II Theos fought for many years, but just as this verse says, they did finally ally.

The details of the alliance were typical for rulers of the time. And Walvert explains this in his commentary. He says, the expression after some years means after a lapse of several years. And you can look at 2 Chronicles 18 .2 and Daniel 11 .8, which we will get to, and 13.

In the passage of time, it was natural that there would be intermarriage for political reasons between Egypt and Syria. And such is pictured in verse six. The participants were the king of the south, Ptolemy II, and his daughter, Bernice, who was married, daughter Bernice, who was married to Antiochus II, about 252 BC.

Passed over without mention is Antiochus I Soter. The marriage was consummated at the demand of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who required Antiochus to divorce his wife, Laodicea, or Laodice, in order to facilitate this marriage.

Ptolemy Philadelphus's intent was to provide a basis of agreement between the two nations. As verse six indicates, however, the union was not successful in that she, who did not retain her position of power, she did not retain the power of her arm, is the actual translation.

That is physical or political power, and neither of the male participants, the kings,.

Prospered.

He who supported her in those times means he who obtained her in marriage, her second husband. Within a few years of the marriage, Ptolemy died, and Antiochus then took back his wife, Laodicea. To gain revenge, however, Laodicea murdered her husband, that's some serious revenge, as well as his Egyptian wife, Bernice, killed them both, and the infant son of Antiochus, Bernice, killed that child.

In reference to he who supported, or he who fathered her, is, of course, to Ptolemy, too, whose death precipitated.

All these murders.

So this is the intrigue that went on, and Israel would have been caught in the middle of this. So I'm gonna, if there are any questions or concerns, go ahead and just raise them, but this is kind of history, so we're gonna move through it as quickly as we can.

The exciting parts to come, actually, it's all exciting. Okay, verse seven. But one of the descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he will deal with them and display great strength.

So this one who arised, this is a reference to a sprout, or a branch, of Bernice's lineage. It does, in fact, refer to her brother, Ptolemy III, Yurgates, or a beneficent one, benevolent one. He was also, he was the son of Ptolemy Philadelphus.

Ptolemy III attacked the north, but was unable to save his sister. He did, however, capture Laodice and put her to death. He proceeded deep into the heart of the north, as the verse says, and even as far as the Tigris River.

His campaign was successful. He went wherever he wished, and he was largely unopposed after the initial battles. The king he defeated, Seleucus II, cholinicus, which means beautifully triumphant, although he was defeated, who retreated to the interior of Asia Minor.

So Seleucus retreated into Asia Minor. Once Ptolemy returned to Egypt, he was able to regain much of his kingdom that he had lost, and that would have included Israel. So now Israel bounces back to Egypt.

It's like a basketball being bounced between opposing teams. That had to be just discouraging and uncomfortable and horribly destructive. Verse eight, also their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, he will take into captivity to Egypt, and he on his part will refrain from attacking the king of the north for some years.

So in keeping with this massive victory, Ptolemy III plundered the northern kingdom and took gold vessels, idols, captives, and much booty. This was even part of the reason why he received the title benefactor.

He brought the stuff back home. Jerome, following periphery, said of the conquest, he came up with a great army and advanced into the province of the king of the north, which would have been Seleucus cholinicus, in your information there, who together with his mother, Laodice, was ruling in Syria and abused them.

And not only did he seize Syria, but he took Cilicia and the remoter regions beyond the Euphrates and nearly all of Asia as well. And then when he heard that a rebellion was afoot in Egypt, he ravaged the kingdom of Seleucus and carried off booty, 40 ,000 talents of silver.

I did some calculations on that, and depending on which banker you talk to, that was between one and $4 billion, just the silver, which is a lot of money to anybody but Elon Musk. 40 ,000 talents. He also took precious vessels and images of the gods to the amount of 2 ,500.

Among them were the same images which Cambyses had brought to Persia when he conquered Egypt. The Egyptian people were indeed devoted to idolatry for when he brought back their gods to them, after so many years, they called him Euergetes, benefactor, because he brought back their gods.

And he himself retained possession of Syria, but he handed over Cilicia to his friend Antiochus that he might govern it. And the provinces beyond the Euphrates, he handed over to Xanthippus, another general.

So he starts parceling out some of the land that he's been given, probably because he couldn't carefully or intentionally rule it all. So he handed it to people who would oversee it, governors, as it were.

And then it says, he will refrain from attacking the king of the north. This phrase is more accurately rendered, he shall stand some years against the king of the north. Some translators believe this is a reference to the fact that Ptolemy lived longer than Seleucus, and indeed he did live six years longer.

Others believe it is a reference to the fact that he would not attack Syria again for some years. And this is what this translation references. Kiel considers that it means that Ptolemy stood against Seleucus without defeat at any time.

So as the scripture says, they stood apart for some time, no more, for a while, there was a trembling peace, if you would call it that. Keep in mind, as we're talking about all these different kings, Israel is caught in the middle of this mess and has been for centuries.

Then the latter, verse nine, will enter the realm of the king of the south, but will return to his own land. So history records that this king, the one referred to in verse eight, Seleucus Callinicus, after Ptolemy's campaign, Seleucus regained his position in the north, Syria.

In 240 BC, he attempted revenge in Egypt against Ptolemy, but he was unsuccessful and returned home, having failed in his bid. This revenge campaign, however, did commence the back and forth attacks between the north and the south, setting the situation up for Israel to come back under the domination of Syrian or northern forces, northern control.

This opened the way also for many persecutions of Israel by Antiochus Epiphanes, which are detailed in chapter 11, verses 21 through 35. So this is setting the stage for even worse persecutions. Verse 10, his sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces, and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through that way, that he may again wage war up to his very fortress.

So Seleucus II Callinicus had two sons, an older son, Seleucus III Saronis, which means thunderbolt. He must have been a humble guy. And the younger Antiochus III the Great. Seleucus III was killed on a campaign in Asia Minor after ruling for a very short time.

This one should note is why the plural his sons, in this verse, is changed to the singular that he may again, in the verse. Antiochus the Great ascended to the throne at about 18 years of age. The word mobilize is a translation of the word that carries the idea of becoming excited or angry.

So this was an angry mobilization, possibly a hurried one. I have no information to that, just a suggestion. The two sons did indeed assemble a great multitude, but Seleucus III having been killed in Asia Minor meant that only Antiochus III the Great remained to move on Egypt.

His multiple campaigns went pretty much unanswered by Ptolemy IV. This was the prelude to the main battle which occurred at the fortress, which is probably in Raphia. And that would be where that happened, on the south eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea.

Verse 11, the king of the south will be enraged and go forth. And just remember how exciting this is to people reading it later. These predictions came true. This happened. And as we look back on it in history, I spent a little bit of time studying through Encyclopedia Britannica to see how they commented on this stuff.

Pretty much just, I wonder how much crow they had to swallow. Maybe none, maybe none, maybe I'm just assuming. But it's amazing that the histories are recorded exactly as Daniel predicted, as the angel predicted.

And this is what was so hard for later scholars to swallow. How could this be so accurate? It's the word of God. The king of the south, verse 11, will be enraged and go forth and fight with the king of the north.

Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be given into the hand of the former. We're about to talk about a big battle. Ptolemy four was described by one commentator. Get this, this is an interesting description.

A dilettante voluptuary ruled by vile ministers, quote unquote. Translated into regular English, this refers to an amateur lecher with evil men who were actually in control of the kingdom. He was just all about serving himself and doing perverted, he was a pervert, just an incredible, what we have going on in the world today is just what has been going on forever.

They just had different names for it back then. Translated, he was an evil lecher. His description in Encyclopedia Britannica is fairly telling, and this is one of those things that was just encouraging to me as I read it.

Classical writers depict Ptolemy as a drunken, debauched reveler, completely under the influence of his disreputable associates, among whom Sosibius was the most prominent. At their instigation, Ptolemy arranged the murder of his mother, his uncle, and his brother.

How would you like to have a relative like that?

Maybe you do.

And there's just too many laws in place to prevent what they wanna do. But this guy was just horrible. So nothing new under the sun? Thank you, thank you, Solomon. So when Ptolemy IV finally did respond, accompanied by his sister, sister, sister wife, Arsinoe, did you get that?

His sister wife. What a disreputable time. It is said that he put together an army of 70 ,000 infantry, 5 ,000 cavalry, and 73 elephants and began the march against Antiochus. Antiochus assembled 72 ,000 infantry, 6 ,000 cavalry, and 102 elephants.

In 2017 BC, they fought at Raphia. The south, Egypt, soundly defeated Antiochus. Antiochus III. It was reported that Antiochus III lost 10 ,000 soldiers and had 4 ,000 more captured. Antiochus III had allied with Philip V of Macedonia.

There were also many violent Jews who assisted the northern king, Antiochus III, in Syria in the campaign. Egypt returned to control over Israel after this battle. So now Egypt has gained control again of Israel.

As Leon Wood mentioned in his commentary, it's difficult to determine which multitude was given into which hand by the text, but history records that Antiochus lost. The prediction of a battle with such specificity over 300 years before it happens is an example of why liberal critics have such a problem with the Book of Daniel.

But not only is it a beautiful and incredible testimony to the sovereignty of God and his omniscience, but it is a demonstration of just how God used ancient kingdoms and battles to set the stage for coming events in Israel, events that will have incredible, far-reaching historical effects.

Ptolemy IV did, as a result of this battle, reacquire all of Palestine. Verse 12, when the multitude is carried away, his heart will be lifted up, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall, yet he will not prevail.

Upon his decisive victory, Ptolemy IV, who was already nauseatingly proud, was elated and proud of the victory. The statement that he will cause tens of thousands to fall is essentially a repeat of the end of verse 11, which says a multitude will be given into the hand of the former.

Ptolemy's victory resulted in 10 ,000 dead infantry, 300 dead cavalry, and five dead elephants, which, as mentioned before, 4 ,000 prisoners. With this great victory, a position of immense strength was available to Ptolemy IV, but he did not follow up, and thus he did not truly prevail.

After the battle, he returned to Egypt to live in extravagance and sloth. His debauched lifestyle was a source of disgust to his own people, and he ended up weaker after the victory than before. These are some of the things that happened in the history that leads up to the Antiochus Epiphanies.

So if you were looking back, and the history would have been written at this time, and you were looking back as a king to be at what your predecessors did with no conscience, no Holy Spirit to guide you, no sense of the righteousness of Jehovah God, I can do that and more, you'd say to yourself.

And that's what happens. That's what happens with this kind of worldview. By the way, it should be acknowledged that the words translated as tens of thousands come from a Hebrew word that translates to myriads, and it just means a very large number.

It's not like the Hebrews counted and said there was tens of thousands. Daniel was recording that this was a massive number. That's a big number, 10 ,000 people dying in one battle.

Boy.

Verse 13, for the king of the north will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and after an interval of some years, he will press on with a great army and much equipment. Do you see how specific this is?

In 201 BC, Antiochus III, the king of the north, instigated a series of attacks on Egypt, the south. Before that, between the years 212 and 204 BC, Antiochus III crusaded as far as the Caspian Sea in the border of India.

He amassed wealth and strength for another attack on Egypt. Meanwhile, in the south, Egypt, Ptolemy IV Philopator had a son, Ptolemy V Epiphanes in 210 BC. Around November 205 BC, Ptolemy IV and his sister wife died mysteriously.

No comment.

Probably murdered by the clique of favorites he had gathered around himself. By the way, when you gather around yourself evil people, the only thing that will keep them from doing evil to you is if you are more evil and more powerful.

That's it. If they'll lie for you, they'll lie to you. If they'll misuse your powers against others and they get the chance, they'll misuse your power and your trust against you. This is the nature of satanic influence.

At any rate, this left the five-year-old Ptolemy V a king. I think we have one like that.

Oh no, wait a minute, he's in his 80s.

This was likely a scheme of Seleucibius and his clique. This created an advantageous time for Antiochus III to move on Egypt, as mentioned in 201 BC, he did. So after an interval of some years, the scripture says, about 14 years after his defeat by Ptolemy IV, Antiochus moved on Egypt.

This was a larger army than the previous time and it was fully supplied. Antiochus retook the land he lost as far as Gaza, which is just northeast of Raphia, the site of the battle that lost him that land,.

Right up in there.

So he's back in where? Israel. So if a battle is fought in your country, it's going to have a lot of effect on you. If Montana and Oregon meet at Rathdrum, everybody around there is going to be affected.

The crops will be burned, the animals will be killed,.

Pollution will occur.

I mean, I can't even begin to think of all the depredations that occur in a battle of that size, a pitched battle of that size. So this was a larger army. At any rate, many commentators remark here about the incredible exactness of the scripture's inspired predictions.

Incredible exactness. Antiochus III is also mentioned in the Maccabean Chronicle. Verse one of chapter 10 of 1st Maccabees says, and there came out of... And remember, this is history, but this is not scripture.

This is good history, but not scripture. And there came out of them a wicked root, Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king, who had been a hostage at Rome and he reigned in the 137th year of the kingdom of the Greeks, and then chapter eight, verse six through eight.

How also Antiochus, the great king of Asia, that came against him in battle, having 120 elephants with horsemen and chariots and a very great army, was discomfited by them, and how they took him alive and covenanted that he and such as reigned after him should pay a great tribute and give hostages, and that which was agreed upon.

And the country of India, and Media, and Lydia, and of the goodliest countries which they took of him and gave to the king, Eumenes, Eumenes. So verse 14, I'm gonna try and make it through verse 16 today.

Now in those times, many will rise up against the king of the south, the violent ones among your own people. Remember that, remember this. Does God need our help in determining history? So we, I mean, shouldn't we get involved and do as whatever we can to cause what God has said in Revelation to come to pass?

Shouldn't we do that? No, no, we need to occupy and serve until he comes. Now in those times, many will rise up against the king of the south, the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down.