Prophecy 5
& Epilogue – Wars Between
the North & South
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The
Sequence
Daniel
10:20-11:1
Then
said he, Knowest thou wherefore I
come unto thee? and now will I return
to fight with the prince of Persia:
and when I am gone forth, lo, the
prince of Grecia shall come. But I
will show thee that which is noted in
the scripture of truth: and there is
none that holdeth with me in these
things, but Michael your prince. Also
I in the first year of Darius the
Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to
strengthen him.{20} “Soon,
the kingdom of Persia will fill up
its cup of iniquity. The kingdom of
Grecia will overtake Persia and rise
to power.
{21} Michael,
the Prince of Heaven, manages the
rise and fall of earthly kingdoms.
{1} For
example, during the first year of
Darius the Mede, I was assigned to
protect him according to the plans of
the Most High. Now that Darius has
died, the Most High has determined
that his territory shall be given to
the Persian king, Cyrus. This
transition will resolve two difficult
problems. First, as king of Babylon,
Cyrus can set your people free from
Babylon. Second, as king of the
Trans-Euphrates territory, Cyrus can
give the land of Judea back to your
people.
Daniel 11:2
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.{2} “Three
more kings after Cyrus will rule over
Persia: Cambyses, Darius I Hystaspes,
and False Smerdis (also called
Bardiya). Then, a fourth king, Xerxes
(also called Ahasuerus, the husband
of the future Queen Esther) will come
to power. Xerxes will be far richer
than the other three. When Xerxes has
gained much power by his wealth, he
will irritate the newly developing
kingdom of Grecia with his conquests.
This will later prove to be the
undoing of Persia.
Daniel 11:3-4
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.{3} “About
one hundred years after the reign of
Xerxes, another mighty king,
Alexander the Great, will rise to
power in Grecia. The four wings on
the leopard beast in Daniel
7 represent the amazing speed of
his conquest. The great horn on the
goat in Daniel 8 represents this
unstoppable king. He will rule with
impunity and do as he pleases.
{4} He will
conquer western civilization in a
period of ten years and die an
untimely death. Remember how the
great horn on the goat was broken off
at the height of its power. Alexander
will die when he is strongest and his
empire will not go to his
descendants. His empire will be
divided toward the north, south, east
and west. His generals will not have
the military might that Alexander
exercised. Years later, the Grecian
Empire will fall into the hands of
the Romans. They will rise up and
rule a large territory with an iron
hand.”
To appreciate
the contents of this vision, three
matters must be kept in mind:
First, after
Noah died, God called Abraham out of
Ur (which was near Babylon) and
directed him to relocate to Canaan.
God did this because in the future,
He planned to put the descendants of
Abraham in a highly strategic
location.
Second,
because Abraham loved God to the
point of sacrificing his own son, God
chose the descendants of Abraham to
be the trustees of His gospel. God
wanted the world to learn about His
laws of love, His mercy and kindness,
and His promise of redemption from
sin. God did not steal the land of
Canaan from the Canaanites and give
it to the Jews. He waited until the
Cananites filled up their cup of sin,[7] then He
gave the land of Canaan to
Abraham’s descendants.[8]Incidentally,
the “full cup principle”
also explains why Canaan was taken
from the Jews in A.D. 70.[9]
Third, God
placed Israel in the geographical
center of many nations[10] because
trade caravans and armies often
passed through Canaan while on their
way to other destinations. This
natural exposure enabled people
living in other parts of the world to
hear about the marvelous God who
actually lived in a temple in Israel.
In fact, the queen of Sheba heard
about the fame and riches of Solomon
and she went to see him for herself.[11] God did
these things because He wanted the
world to learn about Him and His
character of love. This is why He
lavishly blessed the Jews. In turn,
He wanted the Jews to lavishly
distribute the riches of His graces,
taking the light of truth to the
Gentiles,[12] showing
them the quality of life that comes
from serving an infinite God who
loves righteousness and hates evil.
The land of
Canaan lies between two natural
barriers. The great sea (the
Mediterranean Sea) lies to the west
and the great desert (the Arabian
Desert) lies to the east. For
thousands of years, these natural
barriers forced northbound and
southbound travel through the
corridor of Canaan. When the tiny
nation of Israel crossed over the
Jordan and entered Canaan in 1397
B.C., it unwittingly became a nation
living between two giants. These
giants are described in this prophecy
as the “King of the North”
and the “King of the
South.” These titles make
perfect sense when viewed from
Israel’s geographical location.
Because the
book of Daniel contains Plan B, God
traced many well-known battles
between the north and the south
during the seventy weeks of Daniel 9.
He did this so that if Plan B should
become necessary, His people could
escape the destruction of Jerusalem.
Therefore, the first part of this
vision contains information which
early Christians could easily
decipher. In fact, shortly before His
death, Jesus directed His followers
to this prophecy![13]
Evidently,
early Christians understood Daniel 10:1 through Daniel 11:31 and
they fled Jerusalem before it was
destroyed in A.D. 70. Historians have
indicated that few, if any,
Christians perished. The good news is
that early Christians foreknew the
outcome of the Roman siege which
began in A.D. 66 and they were able
to escape in A.D. 68 when the siege
was unexpectedly lifted. (Nero died.)
Of course, the Jews were relieved
when the siege was lifted, but to
their peril, they did not accept
Jesus’ words. They would not
believe God would allow Rome to
destroy His city and His temple and
history reveals that their beliefs
had no effect on realities that
followed. The Roman army resumed its
siege in April and the city fell in
September, A.D. 70. The historian,
Josephus, wrote that 1.1 million
people were killed and 97,000 were
taken as slaves.[14]
This vision
also contains a segment for people
living at the appointed time of the
end. God wants His saints to know and
understand that they are going to be
caught between the devil (the King of
the North) and secular forces (the
King of the South) opposed to the
devil’s demands. The devil and
his forces will view God’s
people as part of the opposition and
millions of saints will die in the
process. (See fifth seal in Prophecy
6.) God has revealed this information
in advance so that His people will
not abandon their hope or their faith
in Him. It is a great shame that a
vast majority of Christians today do
not know that the saints will be
totally defeated during the Great
Tribulation.[15] There
will be a few believers living when
Jesus comes,[16] but
externally, the situation will appear
hopeless for Christians during the
sixth trumpet.
Now that we
have briefly discussed the parallel
between early Christians and
Christians during the Great
Tribulation, we will return to the
vision. Remember, this first segment
belongs to those who lived during the
destruction of Jerusalem.
Daniel 11:5-6
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 strengthened
her in these times.{5} “One
of Alexander’s generals, Ptolemy
I Soter, will become the king of
Egypt. As the King of the South, he
will become strong, but a second
general from Alexander’s empire,
Seleucus I Nicator, will become even
greater than Ptolemy. Seleucus will
extend his domain so that he will
rule over the north with great power.
{6} After a few
years, these two kings will die, and
their descendants will become allies
through marriage. Bernice, the
daughter of Ptolemy II, the King of
the South, will go to Antiochus II,
the King of the North, to make an
alliance. Antiochus II will
divorce his wife, Laodice, to marry
Bernice and they will produce an
heir. However, this alliance will not
last long. The vacillating Antiochus
II will divorce Bernice and reconcile
with his former wife, Laodice. After
Antiochus II and Laodice reconcile,
Laodice will kill Bernice, her royal
escort, and her son by Antiochus II.
Laodice will then kill Antiochus II
because he left her to support an
alliance with Bernice.
Daniel
11:7-10
But
out of a branch of her roots shall
one stand up in his estate, which
shall come with an army, and shall
enter into the fortress of the king
of the north, and shall deal against
them, and shall prevail: 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 sons shall be
stirred up, and shall assemble a
multitude of great forces: and one
shall certainly come, and overflow,
and pass through: then shall he
return, and be stirred up, even to
his fortress.{7} “Later
on, Bernice’s brother in Egypt,
Ptolemy III, will become King of the
South and take her place. To revenge
Bernice’s death, he will attack
the army of Seleucus II, the new King
of the North. Ptolemy III will fight
against Seleucus II’s army and
be victorious. He will plunder their
fortresses.
{8} He will
seize their gods, their metal images
and their valuable articles of silver
and gold and take them to Egypt. For
a few years, Ptolemy III will leave
the King of the North alone.
{9} After
several years pass, Seleucus II will
then invade the domain of the King of
the South to retrieve the gold and
silver that Ptolemy III took from
him, but Seleucus II will be defeated
and he will return to his own country
empty-handed.
{10} To avenge
the defeat of their father, Seleucus
III and Antiochus III, the two sons
of Seleucus II, will prepare for war
and assemble a great army. They will
sweep through the land of the King of
the South like the damage that comes
from an irresistible flood. The two
sons will carry the battle as far as
the area of Transjordan, which is to
be the fortress of the next King of
the South, Ptolemy IV.
Daniel
11:11-13
And
the king of the south shall be moved
with choler, and shall come forth and
fight with him, even with the king of
the north: and he shall set forth a
great multitude; but the multitude
shall be given into his hand. And
when he hath taken away the
multitude, his heart shall be lifted
up; and he shall cast down many ten
thousands: but he shall not be
strengthened by it. 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.{11} “Later,
Ptolemy IV will march out in a rage
and fight against Antiochus III, the
King of the North, at Raphia, and the
large army of Antiochus III will be
defeated.
{12} When
Antiochus III is shamed with defeat,
Ptolemy IV, the King of the South,
will become full of arrogance and
will continue with conquests. He will
slaughter thousands as his army moves
as far as the border of India, yet he
will not remain triumphant. Both he
and his wife will die mysteriously.
In their place, Ptolemy V Epiphanes,
their five-year-old son, will ascend
to the throne of the south.
{13} Meanwhile,
Antiochus III, the King of the North,
will muster another army, larger than
the first. After several years, his
forces will plunder Jerusalem and
advance toward Egypt with a huge,
well-equipped army.
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