Atlantic Lyman conf.1972-02 Studies in Daniel 11 — Joseph Balsan

Well, it's good to see you all out tonight. As our brother Bruce mentioned, tomorrow night is the last night of the meeting. You know, that's the way it is with all things down here. They come to an end.

Everything eventually is going to come to an end, and eventually we're going to come to the end of this age that we're speaking about, and we're going to come to the end that the Lord speaks about. So, it's a good thing to make sure about what our end is going to be.

Daniel 11 and the Prophecy of Persia and Greece

I would like to return to Daniel chapter 11, Daniel chapter 11, and verse 1. Also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him. And now will I show you the truth.

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 Grisha. I might mention that we want to notice the first 35 verses that we're going to read.

We're going to read this whole chapter because I'm not going to comment on the chapter, and I think you should read the chapter. In these first 35 verses that we have brought before us in Daniel chapter 11, we have that which is past at the present time, but it was future yet in the days of Daniel.

There are 200 years of human history here, a history of conflict between two empires or two states, one which is the king of the south, which is Egypt, and the other one, the king of the north, which is Syria.

You remember that when we were speaking on the eighth chapter of Daniel, we mentioned how we saw a vision first of a ram with two horns, one horn a little longer than the other horn, and this horn, this ram of course, pictured the Medo-Persian Empire.

And then he saw a goat with one single horn in the midst of its head, and this horn, this goat came with such rapidity that it did not even touch the ground. And it smoked the ram and destroyed it, and the horn, the chief horn was broken off, and four horns grew in its place.

That picture's for us. According to the interpretation that was given to Daniel, that the Medo-Persian Empire would be succeeded by the Grecian Empire, and the leader of that Grecian Empire would be Alexander, of course.

And then when he died, his kingdom would be divided into four kingdoms, and amongst those four kingdoms, one kingdom was prominent and emphasized, and that was pictured for us in Antiochus Epiphanes, who was an enemy of the people of Israel, and he foreshadows a personage who is going to appear in this northern empire, north of course, in relation to Palestine.

When it speaks of the king of the south and the king of the north, it is in relation to the land of Israel, north of Israel, which was Syria, and south of Israel, which was Egypt. And we have brought before us here, in this eleventh chapter of Daniel, part of this last vision.

Daniel 10–12 as One Prophetic Vision

As I mentioned last night, the tenth and eleventh and twelfth chapters of Daniel, they form one complete prophecy. In the tenth chapter of Daniel, we have the circumstances in which Daniel was when this prophecy was given to him, and he received the communication from an angel who started on the journey as soon as he began praying, but it took him twenty-one days to get to Daniel because there was an unseen force, an enemy, a prince of Persia, who we know, according to the Bible, are celestial beings that are under the control of Satan, and he withstood him until Michael came to his aid, and he was able to get through to Daniel and bring before him, as we have in the fourteenth verse of the tenth chapter,.

Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people, the people of Israel, the people of Daniel, in the latter days, for yet the vision is for many days. And what we have here in this eleventh chapter which we began reading is the account of this angel, and he goes back.

Of course, there was still future, or rather it was backward in the days of Daniel because he was already in the third year of Darius the Mede, and he says,. Also in the first year of Darius the Mede even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him, and now will I show thee the truth.

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 Grisha. And a mighty king shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.

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.

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. 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 strengtheneth her in these times.

But out of a branch of a root 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, 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.

So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land, but his son 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.

And the king of the south shall be moved with cholera, 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. 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.

Well let's go down to the twentieth verse. Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of his kingdom, but within few days he shall be destroyed neither in anger nor in battle. And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come impeacably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

Then notice the thirty-fifth verse. And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed.

And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the god of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished, for that that is determined shall be done.

Neither shall he regard the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honor the god of forces, and the god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver, and with precious stones and pleasant things.

Thus shall he do in the most strongholds with the strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain. And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape, but he shall have power over the treasures of gold, and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt.

And the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps, but tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him. Therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many, and he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

May the Lord bless to us the reading of his word. Now as I said, the first 35 verses of this 11th chapter of Daniel, which we have not read in detail because it would take too much time, and also because we don't have the time to go into the detail of events that would transpire in those 200 years that are represented, you might say, in the first 35 verses of this 11th chapter of Daniel.

We have only two of those four nations, or two of those four kingdoms, you might say, brought before us in the 11th chapter of Daniel. Now you notice that here, in the third and fourth verses of this chapter, why we are carried back to the time, we are carried to the time when Alexander is going to stand up, he is going to rule with great dominion and do according to his will.

If we take the second verse, for instance, you notice it says, Now will I show thee the truth. 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 Grisha. Now in these first 35 verses, we have a number of prophecies that were future at the time that Daniel recorded them.

And being future at the time that Daniel recorded them, they were to be fulfilled in 200 years. Now this is one of the remarkable things about this book of Daniel. That is why there are those who, when they compare history with the first 35 verses of this 11th chapter of Daniel, they say that the things were written were certainly written after these events took place by a man who represented himself as Daniel, but really wasn't Daniel.

But we know that that is not so, because the book of Daniel was already in the hands of the people in the time of Alexander the Great. Because I remind you of the story that I told that was recorded by the book of Josephus, how that he said when Alexander's general was marching against Jerusalem, Alexander and his armies, while the high priest dressed in white linen, and with him there were other priests, and they came into the presence of Alexander, and they turned him to this book of Daniel and showed him how this book of Daniel foretold that he would be the emperor who would overcome and destroy the Medo-Persian empire.

And the result was that Alexander spared the city of Jerusalem. Alexander brought them under his dominion, but nevertheless he allowed them to live because they showed him the prophecy concerning himself.

So if they could show him the prophecy concerning himself, it is very evident that the things which followed after certainly were also recorded before they ever happened, and that, of course, is one of the great proofs of the inspiration of the Bible, the inerrancy of the Bible, that you and I can absolutely depend upon it, that what God records for us, he is certainly going to fulfill to the very letter.

And if you, for instance, want to compare this 11th chapter of Daniel with history, or if you want to read an account of how these various events were fulfilled, why all you have to do is get a book like Mr. Ironside's book on Daniel, and he goes into detail to show how these things were literally fulfilled and to the very letter.

The Kings of the North and South in Israel’s History

Now I'll just touch on a few of the things and show how they were fulfilled, but I won't go into detail. But the thing that we want to get is this, that when it speaks of the king of the north and the king of the south, it doesn't speak of only one king on either side.

This was a succession of kings, all of whom were entitled either the king of the north or the king of the south. The Bible doesn't go into detail and say, well, this man died and that man died and the other man died, because that is not the purpose.

The purpose of the history is to show us and the reason why only two of those four kingdoms, the Grecian kingdom or the Macedonian kingdom and the other kingdom, which was the Asia Minor kingdom or Thrace, is not mentioned in this 11th chapter of Daniel and is lost sight of for the simple reason that God only mentions those two kingdoms, which are going to be vitally related in the history and in the lives of the people of Israel.

And it is because these two nations, the king of the south, and of course, if you notice in the eighth verse here, it says, he shall also carry captives into Egypt. And so we know that Egypt is the king of the south and the king of the north, which is Syria.

These are the two nations that vitally affected the children of Israel in the past, and they are also, as we are going to see when we come to the end of the chapter, they are also going to deal with the nation of Israel in the future.

And that is why God mentions these nations. Now, for the sake of young believers here and young people who might perhaps read history in school and study ancient history, to me, that was one of the most interesting of subjects that I found in high school, the ancient history of Carthage and Hannibal and all of these great characters.

We don't find them in the Bible. Why don't we find them in the Bible? Why do we find other nations which, humanly speaking, didn't seem to be very important and are not recorded in secular history? Why don't we read about those nations in our history books?

And why do we read about certain nations in the Bible and don't read about other great nations? Well, the reason is this, because the Bible is dealing with the history of Israel, and only those nations which had to do with Israel are mentioned in the Bible.

And nations which may have been great nations and powerful nations like Carthage in the days of Hannibal and others, they were great nations and great kingdoms, but they're not mentioned in the Bible because they never touched or had anything to do with the people of Israel.

And that's why we have in this book of Daniel, on the 11th chapter, we have the king of the north and the king of the south mentioned. And if we were to examine these things, we would find that these things are accurately and to the very letter fulfilled what God says he will surely fulfill.

And God will never go back on his word, and God will never deny his word, so that if you and I take God at his word, why you and I can depend upon God fulfilling his word. Now we know that was true in relation to the Lord Jesus, wasn't it?

God promised hundreds of years before he came that he would come. He promised that he would be born of a virgin. He promised that he would be born in Bethlehem. He promised that he would be born of the nation of Israel.

He foretold how he would be rejected, and he foretold how on the cross he would be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. How Christ was going to die on that cross for our sins, and how he was going to rise again from the dead.

And my friend, everything was fulfilled to the very letter. God fulfilled every prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and God fulfills every promise. He tells the soul today who hears the gospel, if you believe on my son, if you receive my son.

Prophecy, Gospel Promises, and the Authority of God’s Word

Oh, I like that verse in John chapter 1. I remember one time I was preaching in Waterloo on the chart Two Roads and Two Destinies, and it was on a Friday night. And of course, I was going home after the meeting that Friday night, as I did last Friday night, and planning to come back Sunday morning.

And you know, there was, as I came out of the meeting that night, why people were standing outside, and there was a lad there by the name of Jack. And I says, well Jack, how do you like the meetings? He says, I don't care for them.

I don't, you don't care for them? He says, no. I says, why don't you care for them? He says, because of that chart. Well, what don't you like about that chart? He says, it tells me where I'm going. Well, Jack, where are you going?

He says, I'm going to hell. You're going to hell. Why are you going to hell, Jack? I'm going to hell because I'm a sinner, and I've never been born again. I says, well, do you want to go to hell, Jack?

He says, no, I don't. Do you want to go to heaven, Jack? He says, yes, I do. Well, I says, if you want to go to heaven, you go home, and you read John 1 and verses 12 and 13, and you do what they say, and you'll be on your way to heaven.

And I didn't think anything more of it. I just got into my car, and I went home. Saturday night, we were sitting at our table eating supper when the phone rang in Des Moines. And as I lifted up the receiver, why, they said, this is Jack.

I says, Jack? Jack who? Why don't you remember me? He says, you talked to me. He says, I did just exactly what you did. He says, I'm saved. It's as easy as eating a piece of pie. That's exactly the words.

I says, it's as easy as eating a piece of pie. What do you mean? Well, he says, you remember you told me to read John 1 and 12 and do what it says? Well, that's what I did. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

He says, I've received him. I've believed on him. I'm saved. I know I'm going to heaven. It's as easy as eating a piece of pie. Well, several years later, I was there, and they told me this lad was preaching, and he was giving his testimony.

And I'm thankful to say that he's still going on. He took God at his word. I wonder tonight, have you taken God at his word? Have you received his word? When God says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life, he means exactly what he said.

Have you taken him at his word? Because remember, my friends, he also says, He that rejects me, and receives not my word, has one that judges him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last days.

My friends, God's word can be depended upon. God's word is absolutely true. God's words are inspired, purified seven times, and you and I need to make sure we're depending upon what God says, not what we think, not what we feel, but by what God says.

The Persian Kings and Xerxes’ Failed Invasion

And so he says here, notice he says, Also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I stood to confirm and strengthen him. The angel is speaking. He says, Now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than they all.

You know, it's remarkable that in the book of Ezra, the fourth chapter, we have the names of those three kings that were yet to arise. They were mentioned there, Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, and Darius, not Darius the Mede, but a man who is called Darius Histopses.

That's quite a name, isn't it? Histopses. And it says, The fourth shall be far richer than they all. And of course, this has been fulfilled in history in Xerxes the Great, who was perhaps the richest king that the Persian empire ever had, and who was so filled, you might say, with his riches and his wealth and his power, that he led an army of two and a half million against the Grecian people.

And as it tells us here,. And by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grisha. But instead of conquering Greece, he suffered an ignominious defeat. But the invasion that he had launched against Greece so infuriated the Grecian people that they never forgot it.

And when Alexander became the leader, you remember we read when we spoke about this, how that this goat was moved with fury and color against the ram. In other words, it was more than just one empire fighting against another.

There was intense anger and fury because they had been insulted by Xerxes when he launched that tremendous invasion, which, however, failed. But they never forgot the insult that Xerxes had imposed upon them.

And so in the third and fourth verses we have brought before us, Alexander in the third verse, a mighty king shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will. 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. And then it begins the history of the kings of the north and the king of the south. It says the king of the south shall be strong and one of his princes, and he shall be strong above him and shall have dominion.

His dominion shall be a great dominion. Now you notice here we have the wars of the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae. Now, of course, every Egyptian king was called Ptolemy or Ptolemy. And, of course, the Seleucidae were the Syrians who were led by the king of the north.

Now when that empire was split into four, why the king of the north seems to have been inferior to the king of the south for a little while. But because of his energy, the king of the north eventually became stronger than the king of the south and had dominion.

And his dominion shall be a great dominion. And then it says in the sixth verse, and in the end of years they shall join themselves together. The king of the south realizes that he's inferior to the king of the north.

And if I was to give you the names, of course, you wouldn't remember them. And so there's no use mentioning them. But notice it says, the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement.

The king of the south made an agreement with the king of the north that he would give his daughter, whose name is easy to remember, her name was Bernice. And he promised her to the king of the north on condition that the king of the north would get rid of his wife, which he did.

He got rid of his wife by setting her aside and he took Bernice to be his wife. But you notice it says here, 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.

The woman who was set aside had a number of faithful followers and friends in the court, and so they arranged to poison Bernice and poison her followers. And the king took her back, and so when he took her back, he she proceeded to poison the king of the north himself, her husband, and her son was brought into the place of authority.

The Ptolemies, the Seleucids, and the Fulfillment of Daniel 11

But you notice the seventh verse says, but out of a branch of her roots, that is out of a branch of Bernice's roots. Now what were Bernice's roots? Why of course that was her father and mother. And a branch out of her roots would be her brother.

And she did have a brother who succeeded to the empire who became the king of the south. And so he in determination to revenge his sister and avenge her death, it says 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.

And his brother of hers followed by the army of Egypt, his name was Ptolemy Eurgates, he was followed by his army and he was so powerful and so such an invincible force that he went right into the king of the north's territory, overcame him, and not only overcame him but also carried a number of captives into Egypt, their gods with their princes with their precious vessels of silver of gold, and he shall continue more years than the king of the north.

And he did, he outlived the king of the north. And it says so the king of the south shall come into his kingdom and shall return into his own land. Now the king of the north had two sons and these two sons, they determined that they were going to avenge and they were going to get the kingdom back.

So they launched an attack against the king of the south. One of these, the older of the two, he lived only two years and he died. And you notice how accurately the scripture mentions it. It says, but his son shall be stirred up and shall assemble a multitude of great forces and one shall certainly come and overflow and pass through, then he shall return and be stirred up even to his fortress.

And the king of the south shall be moved with cholera 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 hands.

Now, if you and I were to follow each incident here, you might even notice here that we have the queen who was known as Cleopatra brought before us. Here you notice it tells us in the 17th verse, we'll just jump down to it.

It tells us here, 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 before him.

Now, the king of the north had a beautiful daughter by the name of Cleopatra and so he arranged for her to marry the king of the south and he corrupted her. That is, he wanted her to be his ally and to be on his side while she was married to the king of Egypt.

But you notice the Bible says, but she shall not stand on his side, neither before him. Though the father wanted his daughter Cleopatra to be for him and work for him while she was married to the king of Egypt, she was true to her husband and she stood for her husband and she stood with her husband even against her father who was the king of the north.

Now, just think of how accurately the Bible foretold tells all of these things. You and I today, we live today and we see these things. You turn, for instance, down to the 21st verse and you have the one of whom we have been speaking in Daniel chapter 8, Antiochus Epiphanes, and you can read about him from the 21st through the 35th verses and you find how the people of Israel stood against him and you notice it tells us, if you were to follow this 11th chapter of Daniel, how he gained victories by cunning, flattery, dispensing prizes and gifts and rewards.

And you notice in the 30th verse, for instance, it says, for the ships of Chittim shall come against him, therefore he shall be grieved and return and have indignation against the holy covenant. Now the ships of Chittim are the ships of Rome.

Rome by this time is strong and as Antiochus Epiphanes, as he is going through the land of Palestine and also winning victories there in the Middle East, the power of Rome is beginning to assert itself.

Now when he comes against Palestine, the people of Israel appeal to the Romans for help and so the Romans send their fleets. And history tells us that one of their leaders and a group of his men, while they arrange a conference with this Antiochus Epiphanes and said that Rome had decreed that he should not battle against Israel, they should abide and hold the peace and recognize the authority of Rome.

And of course he says, well, he says, well, give me time to think about it. And the general just drew a line right around him and he says, you decide before you step out of that circle. And he did. He had to decide that he was going to do what Rome says.

And in his fury against Israel, because they had done this, why he desecrated their temple, and you read about it here in the, from the 30th through the 35th verses. But now when we come to the 36th verse, we come to something that is future.

The Future King and the Antichrist

And that's what we are interested in right now. We are interested in that which is future because the Bible gives us an account of these kings of the north and the king of the south who battle back and forth.

And as they battle back and forth, of course, they battle through the land of Palestine. So that the land of Palestine was a veritable battlefield. At one time they were under the king of the north if he was victorious.

At another time they were under the king of the south if he was victorious. And so we're like a pawn between these two empires, between these two kingdoms, the kingdom of the king of the north and the king of the south.

And of course, the last king of the north that is mentioned here is Antiochus Epiphanes. And we see the reason for that. Because Antiochus Epiphanes, in desecrating the temple of Jerusalem, in profaning it, in setting himself up as the object of worship, in doing away with their religious observances and their religious services, he foreshadowed this Antichrist who is going to come and this political head who is going to come.

In other words, this Antiochus Epiphanes, he foreshadowed all three of these individuals that we're going to speak about for a little while tonight. Now we have looked at the of the political western power, the little horn, the king, the ruler who is going to rise, the prince that shall come, the beast of Revelation 13, 1 to 10.

We have also looked at the Grecian little horn, and that is a man who foreshadowed, who is of course, the king of the north, pictured for us in Antiochus Epiphanes. But when we come to the 36th verse of this 11th chapter of Daniel, we come to a third individual who is going to be in the end time.

It is a person who is spoken of as the king. Now this is not the king of the north, and this is not the king of the south, because if you look at the 40th verse, it says, and at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him, and the king of the north shall come against him.

So he is neither the king of the south, and he is not the king of the north. He is not the king of Egypt, and he is not the king of Syria. He is another king. Who is this king that we read about in the 11th chapter of Daniel, the 36th verse?

Starting with the 36th verse. In the 35th verse, we have the intimation of the time of the end. That is between the 35th verse and the 36th verse, we have a long period of time, just like we have between the 26th verse and the 27th verse of Daniel chapter 9.

There have been 2 ,000 years that have taken place between this 35th verse and this 36th verse, because we know that we are not yet in the time of the end. The last end, as it tells us here in the 36th verse, you notice, the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the god of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished.

Now, this person is going to be in the last end of the time of indignation, which is the time of wrath. It is the time of the end. Now, who is this third king that we're going to look at for a little while tonight?

Who is this? Well, this is a person who is known as the end to Christ. The end to Christ. Now, I'm sure that many of us have heard about the end to Christ. The teaching about the end to Christ has been something that has been in the church for hundreds of years.

Unfortunately, the understanding of who the end to Christ has been very different. The Roman Catholic Church, for instance, has believed that the end to Christ was Mohammed, and he was the one who brought in a false, deadly teaching in Islam.

Protestants like Luther, they believed that the end to Christ was the pope, the papacy, and that he was the one who is the end to Christ. But friends, neither of these is so, for the simple reason that Daniel knew nothing about the church.

And as far as that is concerned, while the Roman Catholic Church is anti-Christian, in many ways it is not the end to Christ. The pope is not the end to Christ. The end to Christ, as we notice here, has to be a Jew.

Christ was a Jew, and the Jews would only receive a Jew as their Christ. Now, I know that some have said, we will receive any man who will help us as our Messiah, but the nation as a whole would not accept anyone unless he was a Jew.

And we find that this person is a Jew. How do we know that? Well, notice in the 36th verse it says, the king shall do according to his will. In other words, he is a self-willed person. He doesn't recognize the will of God.

He doesn't recognize any other will. He does his own will. And he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of God. Now, I want you to notice, here is a man who is against God himself.

He exalts himself above all gods. In other words, here is a man like Darius who deifies himself. We remember that Daniel was cast into the lion's den because he dared to pray to God when Darius had made the decree that there should be no prayers to anyone but himself.