The Syrian King Of The North — Keith Malcomson

Daniel 11 and the Syrian King of the North

Praise God, we're turning to Daniel chapter 11, and this is part 12 of our Daniel series. We're continuing with our series, The Heavens Rule, and if you haven't been with us up to this point, you've lost a lot of ground.

We pray that we won't lose you tonight in this message, and we pray that the Lord will speak to you. But we're going to Daniel chapter 11, Daniel chapter 11, and this is part 12 of our series, such a vital series that we've already dealt with in the book of Daniel, and I believe it's for this hour, for this time in church history.

It's a remarkable point in history that we have come to. Read in Daniel chapter 11 and verse one. I'm only going to read four verses here. You've read the chapter before you came into the meeting, and I'd ask that you read it again afterwards, but some of you who have read this chapter will be glad that I'm not going to read the whole chapter here, and you'll be worried about what I'm going to preach and teach from it.

But Daniel chapter 11 and verse one. Also, I 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 Grecia, 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 should be divided towards 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 these.

We're here tonight in this message, part 12 of our series, but we're dealing with Daniel 11. This is my message title tonight, an unusual title, but if you understand this chapter, you'll understand why I gave it this title, the Syrian King of the North.

That's my message here tonight. Please pray with me as we come to this Bible study. Father, we pray that you'd make this chapter applicable, that you'd open it up, that you'd make us to understand it, that you'd make it simple, that you'd make it clear, that you'd make us to stand in awe tonight concerning Bible prophecy.

Don't let it be a hidden thing or a covered thing, but Father, I pray that you'd even dissolve every false teaching that would surround Bible prophecy, that you'd set aside and scrap, nor God, all the theories of men, as we consider what the Holy Spirit teaches us in this precious prophecy.

My God, will you even astound us and shock us tonight? Will you open up this chapter that we might stand in awe of the God of prophecy, the God of history, and the God that rules from heaven? We submit ourself tonight.

We believe in your divine authority. We believe that you're in control. We believe that you're working in history. We believe that there's prophecies that are gonna be fulfilled in our day. And we're praying for these prophecies to come to pass.

We're praying for your church to prosper in this hour. We're praying, oh God, that you'd bring your plans concerning Israel and Jerusalem to pass in a way that's gonna shock the nations of the world. In Jesus' mighty name, amen.

Amen. God bless you. Welcome to this Bible study here tonight. As we begin again, another message. My message, the Syrian King of the North. Don't let the title scare you. Don't let the contents of this chapter scare you.

It is a remarkable prophecy in the Bible. In fact, I'll go as far as to say, this is one of the most detailed and remarkable prophecies of the Bible. Yet I have no doubt it is one of the most neglected, one of the most obscure, one of the most set aside, and maybe one of the most unpreached prophecies in all of the Bible.

Yet it is the most detailed, comprehensive prophecy in the entire Bible. As we said last week in our message, beginning in chapter 10 through to chapter 12, we have the fourth and last vision of Daniel, the prophet.

We saw in Daniel chapter 10, concerning the spiritual warfare behind the events of history. We see in chapter 10 that the curtain was drawn back and we saw a warfare in heaven, as well as a man called Daniel on the earth praying.

He was praying for God's will to be done. As he is praying in the city of Babylon, we saw that the angels of heaven are literally involved in a spiritual warfare. It says here, we're looking at Daniel 11, but if you go back to the previous chapter and to the end of chapter 10, to the end of what we dealt with before, listen to what it says in verse 21.

And this is the angel Gabriel, I believe, speaking to Daniel. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. And there is none that hold us with me in these things, but Michael, your prince.

Notice how chapter 10 finishes and chapter 11 begins. Don't separate them. There's no chapter separation. It is all one vision. Chapter 11 is a continuation of chapter 10. And what we have there is the angel saying that he's going to reveal things concerning the scripture of truth.

What he is revealing is biblical. It is biblical prophecy. It is scripture opened up that is revealing what is gonna happen in the future. That's what Bible prophecy is. It is history revealed before it happens.

And there's only one that can reveal history before it happens. And it is God himself. Chapter 10 actually ends with this angel speaking. And again, he is speaking at the beginning of chapter 11. Please follow with me as we open this message tonight.

Verse one, also I, this is the angel speaking to Daniel. And he says, also I, in the first year of Darius the maid, even I stood up to confirm him and to strengthen him. Now I want you to notice that this fourth vision of Daniel that begins at the beginning of chapter 10 is given in the third year of Cyrus's reign.

That's very important for you to note here. So this entire vision, chapter 10, 11, 12 is given in the third year of Cyrus's reign. But at the opening of chapter 11, look what he says here. He refers to the first year of Darius the maid.

And we know that Cyrus and Darius reigned together and that Cyrus put Darius over the city of Babylon. They were ruling together. And Cyrus actually gave Darius power over the city of Babylon. But notice here what the angel is saying.

He is revealing the fourth vision to Daniel in these three chapters, but he refers back two years previous. And he said two years ago, now notice verse one, also I, in the first year of Darius the maid, he is talking to Daniel about two years previous.

And he said back there two years ago, even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him. Do you realize two years before this, this angel had stood up to strengthen Darius the maid. Now, why did he do that two years before?

Why is it that this angel is now telling Daniel two years ago, I stood up and I strengthened this physical king. Do you know why? Because the plan of God, the purpose of God and the prophecies of God were actually in danger.

Do you remember two years before we are taken back to the event of Daniel being cast into the den of lands? That's what happened two years previously. Two years previously, there was a conspiracy and Darius's kingdom in the city of Babylon against Daniel the prophet.

It was actually there to stop the Jews, to remove Daniel from a position of influence and to in fact, manipulate Darius, this new great ruler to stop the plan of God. But do you know what? It was actually the prince of the power of Persia.

In other words, a spiritual angel, a fallen angel that was working behind the events. And this angel tells Daniel two years ago, I stood up to strengthen this king, Darius the maid. I actually stood up to strengthen him.

If I hadn't have strengthened him, if I hadn't have confirmed him, history would have played out very, very differently. But do you know what? Behind the events of that conspiracy against Daniel, there were spiritual forces of God at work.

And I want to show you, that's what's happening in our day and generation. It may seem the enemy is against us. There is a conspiracy against the church of this generation, but I assure you the angels of God stand up to affect the politics of this hour and generation.

What do we read about in Daniel chapter six? That in the lion's den, an angel from the Lord was sent to close the mouth of the lions and they could not touch Daniel. And we knew the next morning, Darius the maid come rushing in and he was so glad to see Daniel alive.

The conspiracy was broken. Daniel went free. And the men that were trying to destroy him got through him in the den of lions. Do you see what would have happened here without this angel of the Lord standing up in answer to Daniel's prayers?

If he hadn't have shut the lion's mouth, if he hadn't have worked upon Darius the maid, everything would have happened very differently. Also that same year, a decree was issued by Cyrus concerning the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.

Now, here, I'm bringing you to this fourth vision. Now, two years later, the work of God is at a standstill. Daniel is hearing this and he's fretting. But do you know what this angel's saying? Did I not stand up two years ago to strengthen the king, to bring about the plan of God, to bring forth the prophecies of God?

Don't you realize, saints, that the angels of heaven are actually acting in world politics? That might be very hard for us to believe and understand, but I promise you in this wicked evil hour, in this year, when we see so much happening, the angels of God go forth to make sure Bible prophecy is gonna be fulfilled absolutely accurately.

You see, this angel is now focused upon now. He wants Daniel to see the bigger picture. There is something greater behind political events, historic events, behind the commands of kings. Even God is working, sending his angels to bring about his will.

It also says previously in chapter 10 and verse 20, and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia. There is a warfare that is actually going on. It's been going on for two years now in Daniel's life.

And he says, and when I have gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. It's gonna still be 200 years before Greece arises. It's gonna be 200 years before the prince of Greece or an angel, a fallen angel sent from hell is going to come and try to affect the new empire of Greece and to stop the plan of God.

This is what's being revealed to Daniel that in 200 years time, the devil is gonna stop God's plan. But you know what? This same angel that was there to stand on behalf of Daniel and to send back the people to Jerusalem again.

He says in 200 years, I'll be here in this battle to make sure that that prince of Grecia doesn't affect the first king of Greece. Isn't this remarkable that our God, the God we pray to, the God who answers our prayers, the one who watches over the church in this generation, he has always worked throughout church history.

Do you think God is finished working in this hour? Absolutely not. I assure you, God is revealing something to us here to encourage us in our day and generation. It may seem like in that hour, Israel will not survive.

God's plan is gonna be wrecked. Bible prophecy cannot be fulfilled, but you know, God will work, but he's looking for a praying people in this hour. Let me bring you to this chapter on this fourth vision of Daniel.

This remarkable prophecy. And can I give you a remarkable insight to this prophecy that is being revealed to Daniel? It is an hour of warfare, but God is revealing his plan and his purpose. I believe that this is a dark hour, an evil hour, but if you listen closely enough and study the scripture, God is going to reveal his divine plan to you and you through your prayers are gonna be a vital part of it.

In Daniel chapter 11, from verse one through to verse 35, we actually have a period of 365 years. In 35 short verses, we have 135 accurate predictions involving nations kings and events. That actually means there's about four details per verse over the next 35 verses.

This is one of the most detailed and accurate prophecies that have already been fulfilled in history that we find in the Bible. This chapter is a remarkable chapter. If I was to go verse by verse and I'm tempted to do it, if you don't watch out tonight, I'll just go through verse by verse, prophecy by prophecy and keep you here through to midnight.

But I don't wanna do that tonight because I want you to understand this chapter. I don't want you just to receive facts. I wanna stand back and I want you to stand with me and I wanna show you the overall chapter, this prophecy that extends through 365 years.

And that's only the first 35 verses. There's more after that. But I wanna take you through the season and show you why God has given this prophecy. Only at the end of the prophecy, do you realize why God gives such a detailed prophecy.

Most of you aren't interested in this historically. Most of you won't know much about it, but I assure you it is connected. All that I'm gonna cover in a 365 year period has a very important message for a short seven year period that's just ahead of us, not far ahead.

And it's gonna be accomplished, I believe in our generation or the young generation that's arising now. All of those old fulfilled prophecies actually have a message to teach us what is just about to happen in our world in certain nations, in certain areas and with certain persons.

And if you understand history, you'll understand the future. I assure you that a good historian becomes a prophet. I'm fully convinced that whether out there in that world or in the church, someone who knows Bible prophet or Bible history becomes a prophet.

All the Old Testament prophets were historians. They knew their history. They had studied history, every single one of them. They had a remarkable insight into what God done in the past. And do you know what?

That was used of God for them to speak concerning the future. Let me bring you to this prophecy tonight. And I've got four points I wanna give you here tonight if we manage it. My first point, the rise of grace, the rise of grace.

The Rise of the Grecian Empire

We're gonna begin looking here in verse two. Read with me in this first point, the rise of grace. Remember, this is 200 years before the rise of grace. Now the angel is revealing to Daniel the process in history so that grace will be the next empire to arise on the world scene.

It won't happen for 200 years. And yet God is revealing it to Daniel. And he's gonna give the details of how it is gonna happen and the area of where it's gonna happen. Look at verse two. And now will I show thee the truth.

This is what the angel's saying. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia. In other words, he's saying, after the king that's in place now, there's gonna be another three, yet three kings in Persia.

When the angel is speaking to Daniel here, Cyrus the Great is the king of Persia. He is the first king of the Medo-Persian empire. But the angel is now giving a prophecy to Daniel and saying, after Cyrus, there's going to be another three kings arise.

You see, he wants to show him something and to teach him something of what's gonna come. Do you realize Jews, although Daniel never lived to see all of this happen, there were gonna be Jews or Bible believers living in every single generation who are gonna read this and recognize it.

They would be able to look in future history and find out, be encouraged in their generation that prophecy was actually coming to pass. And it says there's gonna be three kings that arise up after Cyrus.

Who were they? First of all was his son, Cambyses. The second one was another young man who only reigned for about eight months. His name was Smyrdas. The third one was Darius the Great. He was the third one.

But look at the prophecy. Three kings are gonna rise up in Persia. Count them. Well, we've just counted them. The third one was Darius the Great. Then he goes further in verse two. And the fourth shall be far richer than they all.

Who was this fourth Persian king to arise after Cyrus? It was Xerxes the Great. He was a remarkable king. And do you know what history tells us? He was the richest Persian king that ever sat on the throne.

Isn't that what Daniel? All this time before is prophesying, king by king, what's gonna happen? But that fourth king he prophesied here is gonna be richer than all of them that come before him. Do you know that Xerxes had the single largest hoard of gold in the world?

He was the richest Persian king that sat on the throne. He taxed all the nations that he ruled over and even began to create his own tongues. He stole the idea from one of the Turkish nations. And this was the first empire that had its own coins that it began to publish across the entire empire with his head upon it.

It also says here that this king that's going to be the richest, that by his strength and through his riches, notice that it talks about his strength and his riches. He's gonna be a uniquely strong and a rich king.

He'll be the richest king and the strongest of the kings. There's a prophecy here about him. And it's very important. What's my first point? The rise of Greece. You may say, what's this got to do with Greece that's gonna rise in 200 years?

Why are we receiving a prophecy about a Persian king that's gonna reign in 50 years? Just watch and you will see what happens. Who was Xerxes? He is the king depicted in the book of Esther. He became the king who married Esther and she became the one that stood by his side.

It's a remarkable story. What we're reading about here. It says by his strength, through his riches, notice what's gonna happen. He shall stir up all against the realm of Gratia. This is 50 years after Daniel is receiving this revelation.

There's no way he could have known this or predicted this. Gratia was not a nation yet. It had more than a hundred different kings scattered across it. Small tribes, peoples, city-states, they all fought one another.

They had the same language, the same culture, and yet none of them could agree together. It was city against city. They were the most ununified people on the Mediterranean. And yet here's a prophecy that this fourth richest king, the richest of all the Persian kings, he is gonna take all of his great wealth and he's literally gonna use that wealth to stir up everybody against Gratia.

Who could ever have prophesied this or imagined it? And the prophecy says that this fourth king, who was Xerxes, is gonna use his great wealth to stir up all of his forces and all of his army against Gratia.

Do you know, just a couple of months ago, or three months ago, on Christmas night, Candace went to bed early and I was just sitting there flicking through the channel. I was up in the north and usually I'm not in a situation with access to television.

It was Christmas night, there was nothing on. All of it was rubbish and trash. And I was flicking through and I came to the History Channel. All of a sudden, now I'm studying this for this entire series.

I'm reading through Daniel 11. And that night, Christmas night, talk about providence. As I stopped on the History Channel, here came this entire two-hour history, military documentary about Xerxes stirring up his entire empire.

The richest king, the strongest king, stirring up his entire empire against Gratia. As I sat there, I think Candace walked through the room a couple of times. I hardly saw her. I was so fascinated by this.

I went, this is the Lord in this. This is the Lord sitting before me. One small verse, one small verse in my Bible predicted beforehand. And I'm watching a two-hour documentary of everything Xerxes done in throwing it against Gratia.

Utterly amazing. Do you know that Xerxes raised an army of at least 500 ,000? Some say a million, others say 200 ,000. So I'll go for the middle way and say 500 ,000. He stirred up an army of 500 ,000 men.

They were well-trained. He prepared himself very carefully. And he marched his way across present-day Turkey when he reached the water to go across to Greece. If he marched round, it would take him a year.

Do you know what he done? He bought up all of these sailing ships and he built a bridge right across into Greece. Saints, this was prophesied to Daniel beforehand. Now, Greece was in utter disunity and Xerxes knew he had marched on through the nation without much opposition at all.

Have any of you ever heard of the story of the 300 Spartans that defended Greece? This is when it actually happened. Xerxes brought his great army into Greece, into Macedonia, and began marching down through the nation.

But there were 300 Spartans that decided to make their stand at the Pass of Thermopylae and they stood there, 300 of them. They had several thousand other soldiers help them for a time, who then escaped.

And these 300 soldiers stood in the gap for three days. It was a narrow pass and the entire force of Xerxes' army marching against them. I mean, you couldn't see the end of his army, but here's 300 dedicated Greek soldiers.

Do you realize prophecy is being outworked? Do you realize something is happening here that's gonna lead to the rise of Greece? This is not natural events. There were spiritual powers going on behind it.

Now, those 300 Spartans were eventually beaten and destroyed by Xerxes' armies going through the mountains and coming in behind them, and they were defeated. But those three days actually saved Greece.

Next was the Battle of Siamese. It was the greatest sea battle in world history. Xerxes sent his sea fleet. It was a massive military sea fleet. And this was gonna be the greatest battle on the seas that had ever happened.

Do you know what happened? Do you know who won? The Greeks only had a small fleet of boats, but Xerxes had this massive army. Do you know who won? It was the Greeks. Do you realize what a shocking thing that Xerxes was actually defeated?

This is about Esther chapter one. This is when it actually happens in the books. In the Straits of Salamis, the Greeks triumphed, although the Persians came and burnt the temple at Athens. In that one event, the Greeks would never forget what happened.

Spartans joined with Athenians. In fact, Greece united together for the first time ever in its history and stood as a Grecian people together. It had never happened before. It was remarkable that God was using this to prepare the next empire.

Xerxes didn't realize what he was doing, but God is working in all of this. Xerxes pulled back his forces, discouraged, disappointed that he would be defeated, and Greece carried on for the next hundred years with many small civil wars until it was united under King Philip, who was father of Alexander the Great.

Saints, I'm telling you of something remarkable here. In Daniel's prophecy, it now jumps from that event, the stirring up against Grecia by Xerxes. It's very important you understand this because the very next verse jumps 150 years.

It doesn't bother mentioning another Persian king. None of them again came against Greece. None of them had the wealth of Xerxes. None of them had the military power of Xerxes. Xerxes alone had that position.

And do you know what? Something was going to happen 150 years later that was stirred by that attack of Xerxes. Look with me at verse three. Now we go 150 years later. Verse three, and a mighty king, and a mighty king shall end up.

Do you know who that is? Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great, 150 years later. Do you realize all this was revealed to Daniel in advance? Looking down through the corridors of time, don't you know our God is in control?

You wonder if he sees you and understands your battles and understands what's going on in your heart. You maybe say, Lord, do you see what is happening? I assure you, our God knows everything. He sees everything.

His hand is working in this generation. And so we see, a mighty king shall rule dominion and do according to his will. This Alexander the Great, he stood up proudly. He stood up with great dominion and he did according to his will.

And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken and shall be divided to the four winds of heaven. Do you see again what it's talking here? This great prophecy about Daniel. Again, there was a spiritual warfare going on concerning Alexander and God's plan in the nations.

This great king rose up and in a short period of 12 years, he conquered the entire known world. He actually, the history books tell us that about 3 .30 p .m. on the 11th of June, in the year 323, he died in the city of Babylon of a fever.

He had his whole future ahead of him. He had many plans to conquer many other regions, but look at this victorious young man. He died unexpectedly at the height of his power, only 10 years after his campaign to conquer the entire world.

Utterly remarkable. Daniel knew that 200 years before. Daniel was given the inside details, the accurate prophecy, 200 years concerning Grecia, how it would rise to power about its first king that would lead it to triumph.

What a remarkable thing here. But notice in verse four, what else it says. He'll be broken, cut off, in other words, suddenly killed. He'll suddenly die at the very height of his power and his kingdom shall be divided to the four winds of heaven.

We knew that that happened. Remember the leopard with four heads, it represented these four regions. Remember the four notable ones, the four winds of heaven show that Alexander's Grecian empire will be split in four.

Do you know when Alexander died, there was about 25 years of war. There were four civil wars between four of the regions. And it finally took 40 years before the four regions of the Grecian empire settled down with their line of leaders over them.

Daniel knew this 200 years before, but when Alexander died, there was a ferocious civil war for power. Look what else is told to Daniel here and not to his posterity. In other words, his own children will not rule.

No one of his bloodline is gonna rule over those four regions. When Alexander died, he had a half brother who actually was mentally retarded. He had a four-year-old son who was born to a Persian mother.

And in fact, she was his concubine. His name was Hercules, young four-year-old Hercules, but it wasn't a legal marriage. Neither was he chosen to be the heir by Alexander. And again, Alexander had three wives, but they weren't Greek.

None of them were Greek. One of them, Roxanne, was pregnant with his child when he died, and they had to wait for this child to be born. Do you know all of these heirs were killed? There was no seed of Alexander the Great.

How unlikely, three wives, one concubine, a half brother, all of these family members, but none of your children are gonna reign. You know what? That kingdom is gonna be divided up. And so it was divided up.

Since I'm showing you something and I'm taking you somewhere, you might say, what in all the world is this prophecy about? Where has Malcolmson taken us here? And I'm only getting started here tonight, but I'm showing you in this first point, there was a prophecy, and it was very important, about the rise of the Grecian Empire, then how it would be split into four.

Wars Between the Kings of the North and South

Now, my second point, we go to just two of those regions. Point two, wars between the kings of the North and the South. That's my second point. Not only the rise of the Grecian Empire, but now we're gonna concentrate.

We've already covered four verses. We've got the rest to cover now. From verse five through to verse 35, there are only two of the regions of the Grecian Empire dealt with, the Northern region and the Southern region.

So from verse five to verse 35, it concentrates on two of the regions, either side of the small nation of Israel. The Northern region is to the North of Israel. The Southern region is to the South of Israel.

In fact, in these next verses, the word North is mentioned eight times. The word South is mentioned 11 times. We begin to read here in verse five about the King of the North and the King of the South, all the way through to verse 35.

Since I'm showing you a prophecy that's gonna lead us into the last days, and there's gonna be some important information here that's gonna affect the last days just ahead of us. If you understand what I say in this prophecy, if you begin to see it in your mind, you are going to understand what's gonna happen in world events, in world politics, and in world leadership.

In this generation, everything is being prepared. And I assure you, Daniel was shown it accurately, just as he was about the rise of the Grecian Empire. He moves on and he gets another revelation here concerning these two regions and the wars that are gonna take place between them.

First of all, there's the King of the North. And second of all, there's the King of the South. And Israel is caught between them. Sometimes the King of the North would rule over Israel. Then other times the King of the South would rule over Israel.

And in fact, at the time, just before verse five, Jerusalem changed hands about six times in a short period of time. War was gonna rage around the small nation of Israel. So from verse five to verse 35, we have another period of 162 years.

This goes all through the third and the second centuries. If I was to go through this verse by verse, you wouldn't be blamed if you would think it was a tedious list of names, dates, battles, marriages, political intrigue.

And you'd be saying, what has this got to do with the Lord Jesus Christ? You know, the Holy Spirit has given us chapters like this. Do you know this chapter is very important? And I believe it's gonna take on a great importance in our day and generation.

It's not just boring details. Why is it that the Holy Spirit is now forgetting about two of the regions and just dealing with two? And he's specifically gonna concentrate in upon the King of the North.

That's gonna be very important. And he's gonna trace the King of the North right down to the very last days. Do you know, in this period of 162 years, there's over a hundred prophecies in this short period of time.

It's remarkable, but it's very selective. There are certain things missed out. Let me give you an example. Between verse five and verse six is a gap of 30 years. It's jumped over without mention. And yet over the next 162 years, there's a hundred prophecies concerning the King of the North, the King of the South.

This nation called the Northern Kingdom and this nation called the Southern Kingdom. Do you know that there was in the second century or third century after Christ, there was a pagan author or writer called Perprophry.

He was a backslidden Christian, but a practicing pagan. You know, when people turn against Christ in the gospel, they become very violent. If they were once a Christian, they become very antagonistic.

Well, this pagan philosopher settled on the island of Salisbury and wrote 15 volumes against Christianity, against the church. In volume 12, he wrote entirely against the book of Daniel and Daniel's prophecy.

And in that 12th volume, he dealt with Daniel chapter 11. Remember, he's trying to discredit the Bible. He's trying to discredit the history in prophecy. He began to write and he said, I believe Daniel 11 was only history written after the events.

It wasn't prophecy written in the days of Daniel. And do you know the number one reason why he believed that from verse five to verse 35, it had to be written afterwards and not before. Do you know his number one reason against it?

He said it is too accurate. In fact, in his volume, trying to disprove Daniel and the Bible, he went through this prophecy, every person, every event, and he was able to trace it accurately over a period of 162 years.

And he come to conclusion, this prophecy is so absolutely accurate, it cannot be prophecy, it is history. Out of the mouth of a pagan skeptic, this prophecy is absolutely accurate. Now I've got you worried that you think I'm gonna go into every verse here.

I'm not, I'm not. I'm gonna give you the overall. Someday we'll teach and preach this, but I won't do it tonight. But in verse five, it begins to deal with the first king of the south and the first king of the north.

Let me explain what is happening here in this prophecy. And then let me lead you to where it's taken us. In verse five, there's a prophecy about the first king of the south, and he's mentioned there. His name is Ptolemy I of Egypt.

He was a cousin of Alexander, and he was the first king of the south. This is one of the four regions of the Grecian empire that after the 25 to 40 years of warfare, it arose as a great empire in its own self.

In verse eight, it's spoken about as Egypt. In the year 305, Ptolemy actually took the title of king for himself, and he became the king of the south. That's very important. And he ruled out of the city of Alexandria.

And all of these four regions, they kept the Greek language, they kept the Greek culture, they kept the Greek learning, and yet they ruled over Egypt, over Turkey, over Greece, over Syria. That's what they'd done.

But Ptolemy actually started a dynasty that would reign for 300 years, right down to the very last heir of the throne before Rome conquered them. That was Cleopatra. She was the very last queen of this Egyptian region of the Grecian empire.