Summary:

In the middle of Daniel’s 70th week, Michael will take a “stand” (v. 1) by booting Satan out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-12), causing “great wrath” (v. 12) on earth. Verse 1 says it will be the worst time ever, the “great tribulation” (Mt. 24:21). But Jews will be “delivered” (v. 1) or “saved out of it” (Jer. 30:7) by the Lord’s victory at the battle of Armageddon (Zech. 9:14-16).

But only Jews “written in the book” (Dan. 12:1), i.e., the book of life (Rev. 20:15), saved Jews. Unsaved Jews will fight and die on the side of the beast at Armageddon. The kingdom will then begin with a resurrection (Dan. 12:2). The Lord quotes this verse to say that the unsaved will rise to “damnation,” but Daniel 12:2 says they’ll rise to the resurrection of shame and eternal contempt because in the kingdom the “pit” of hell (Isa. 14:13) in the heart of the earth will be an open pit, and believing Jews will abhor men in hell (Isa. 66:23, 24). These resurrections will be separated by a thousand years (Rev. 20:4, 5 cf. 7, 11-15).

The “wise” (12:3) are soul-winners (Pr. 11:30) who’ll shine “as the firmament” (v. 3 cf. Gen. 1:14-16; Mt. 13:43).

The best way to define what it means to “shut up the words and seal the book” (Dan. 12:4) is to notice the Lord told John not to do that (Rev. 22:10) because the time was “at hand” for the things in his book to come to pass. That means Daniel was being told to shut and seal the book because the things he prophesied were not about to come to pass. But when they do, many will run to and fro increasing the knowledge of God (Mt. 24:14).

Once Gabriel finishes talking, Daniel sees an “other” angel in verse 5, standing by the “river” he saw in Daniel 10:4. He asked the Lord (v. 6 cf. 10:4 cf. Rev. 1:13-15) a question, exemplifying I Peter 1:10-12.

The One who “lives for ever” (Dan. 12:7) is God the Father (Deut. 32:36-40). The Lord swears by Him because He wants to be believed, and He knows men confirm things with oaths (Heb. 6:13). Here He swears the great tribulation will last no longer than three and a half years. During that time, the antichrist will scatter the holy people of Israel by persecuting them. At that time, God will have had enough, and will bring an “end” (v. 7) to the beast at the Lord’s coming.

When Daniel asked about the details of the Tribulation, the Lord reminded him the book was shut and sealed, so he wouldn’t live to see them, so he didn’t have to understand the details.

The word “tried” (Dan. 12:10) refers to the “fiery trial” that Jews heading into the Tribulation were enduring before the mystery interrupted it (I Pet. 4:12). Notice verse 10 says Jews are “purified” by obeying God’s command to believe and be baptized (I Pet. 1:22), and then “tried” by the Tribulation. Only the nation gets purified by the trial of the Tribulation (Zech. 13:8, 9). Once individual Jews are purified by faith, they will do what God says and endure to the end of the Tribulation without taking the mark of the beast. But un-saved Jews will “do wickedly” (Dan. 10:10 cf. Rev. 16:8-11).

1290 days (Dan. 12:11) is a 30-day difference from the 1260 days of the last half of Daniel’s 70th week. Daniel 9:27 says Antichrist’s abominations happen “in the midst” of the week, but here they are said to happen 1290 days before the end of the Tribulation. So many things are said to happen in the “midst” of the 70th week they’ll take 30 days to transpire.

1335 days (Dan. 12:12) is 75 days different from the 1260 days, suggesting that that’s how long Revelation 19:17-21 will take before the kingdom can begin. Finally, Daniel is told he’ll “rest” (12:13) in death (cf. Rev. 14:13), but rise from the dead someday and “stand” in the “lot” of his tribe in the Promised Land.

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: Michael Takes a Stand – Daniel 12:1-13

Summary:

Antichrist will do “according to his will” (v. 36),  but the Lord came to do His Father’s will (Jo. 6:38). He’ll exalt him-self over “every god,” including the ones Satan tempted Eve with (Gen. 3:5), the fallen angels.  She wanted to be like them because men are lower than angels (Ps. 8:4, 5) and she wasn’t satisfied with that.  Antichrist won’t be either (Ezek. 28:2), so he’ll exalt himself over the angels, just as Lucifer wanted to do (Isa. 14:13).  Those “stars” are angels (cf. Rev. 1:20).

“The God of gods” (v. 36) is the Father (Deut. 10:17).  We’re not told how Antichrist will “speak against” Him, but the only time we’re told anyone spoke against God and we’re told how, it was by saying He couldn’t protect His people (II Chron. 32:17).  That’s blasphemous (cf. Rev. 13:5)!

Antichrist will “prosper” (v. 36) or get rich (cf. Ps. 73:12) by controlling the world’s commerce with his mark (Rev. 13:16, 17).  God will be indignant about his words, and “accomplish” it when he finally puts an “end” to his blasphemy.

Since Antichrist will try to convince Jews he is their messiah, his “fathers” (Dan. 11:37) will be Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (cf. Acts 3:13).  He won’t regard their God, nor “the desire of women.”  That’s Christ!  After the Lord told Eve her seed would bruise Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15), she began to desire to bear that seed.  And after God told Abraham a Jewish woman’s seed would bear Him, every Jewish woman desired Him.  Antichrist won’t regard Him, he’ll “magnify himself above all” (v. 37) by saying he is God (II Thes. 2:3, 4).

The word “forces” is used of military forces (Jer. 18:21; 40:7, 13).  So “the God of forces” is the Father, the head of heaven’s “armies” (Rev. 19:14).  He’ll probably honor Him by saying he won his military victories (Rev. 6:2) because the God of forces helped him.  Of course, verse 36 said he won’t regard the Father (v. 36), but he’ll have to honor Him “in his estate,” i.e., in his estate as king of Israel (cf. Esther 1:19).   But he’ll also honor a god that “his fathers knew not,” Baal.  Israel’s kings were always worshipping God and Baal (cf. I Ki. 16:31, 32).

He’ll worship Baal with gold and silver, etc. (v. 38), just as Jews did in the past (Hosea 2:8), in the “strong holds” of the governments of the earth.  He will increase their “glory” (their riches, as in Isaiah 61:6), by cutting them in on the profits from the religious system he’ll establish in Babylon.  That system will traffic in riches “and the souls of men” (Rev. 18:2-13), just as Rome did for centuries.  They’ll also “rule over many” as Rome did.  Babylon will be a political power as well as a religious power, just as Rome was.

Antichrist will divide “the land” (v. 39) of Israel among his 10 kings.  They will be kings of kingdoms in the Mideast (Ps. 83:1-8) who have always coveted Israel’s land.  He’ll make all those angry Arabs happy by giving them each a slice.  It will be a reverse of what God did when He divided the nations to Israel (Deut. 32:8) to rule over in the kingdom.

But Egypt isn’t mentioned in Psalm 83, so they don’t get a slice of Israel, so Egypt attacks Antichrist (Dan. 11:40), causing him to counterattack (v. 41).  He attacks Egypt from Syria, where he moved after selling Israel to his 10 allies.  So why would he also invade the “glorious land” of Israel?  Why turn on his allies?  It is because they burn his Babylon (Rev. 17:1-17).  So 10 of those “many countries” Antichrist is said to overcome in verse 41 will be his former allies.

But he won’t be able to overcome Moab (v. 41) because they will hide Jews from him (Isa. 16:3, 4), and the indication is that Edom and Ammon will too.  So God will “bless” them that bless the Jews (Gen. 12:3) by sparing them from him.

Those “tidings out of the east” (v. 44) will be the reports he’ll hear about those ships from Chittim (Europe) we saw in verse 30.  The tidings out of the north will come from Russia.  Many commentaries say the king of the north is the king of Russia, but there’s nothing north of Russia that could trouble Antichrist if he were king of Russia!

The two “seas” (Dan. 11:45) are the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean.  Jerusalem lies between them, and that’s where the beast will plant his throne (Ezek. 28:2), and that’s where he’ll be when he meets his “end” from the Lord (Joel 2:20-22).

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The King of the Tribulation Jungle – Daniel 11:36-45

Summary:

The king of the north in Syria will die (v. 19 cf. Ps. 37:35, 36) and be replaced by a king who will raise taxes “in the glory of the kingdom,” i.e., the “glorious kingdom” of Israel (cf. 11:16).  When you conquer a people, you don’t tax your own people (cf. Mt. 17:25, 26)!  His mysterious death is probably caused by Antichrist, whom Gabriel mentions in the next verse (v. 21).  He won’t kill him to become Syria’s next king, but to rise to prominence so he can become king of Israel, the kingdom he’ll obtain “by flatteries,” not murder.  We know Psalm 55:21 speaks of him because of what it says in verse 20.  He may use the type of flattery that a type of Antichrist used in II Samuel 15:2-6, and say to Israel, “It’s not good or right that the people of God should be taxed by Syria.  If an Assyrian like me were made king of Israel, I’d put a stop to it!”  But in the middle of the Tribulation, this Assyrian will “flood” Israel with armies since they refused the “soft waters” of Christ (Isa. 8:6-8).  But since Bible prophecy always jumps around in the timeline of history, in verse 23 Gabriel says he will first work “deceitfully” before he floods Israel with armies.  He can’t deceive the very elect, but he’ll deceive enough people to raise a “small people” of followers (cf. 8:9).  When he “peaceably” (v. 24) makes that covenant guaranteeing Israel’s peace, Jews will be so grateful they’ll give him the “fattest” lands in Israel.  Obtaining the kingdom of Israel peaceably is something verse 24 says his fathers were never able to do.  They obtained it by war (11:16).  He’ll “scatter” the “spoil” of the riches he takes from Israel among his fathers in Syria, then begin to forecast some devices against the strongholds (v. 24).  The dictionary says that means he’ll start scheming up schemes against the strongholds in Egypt to the south (v. 25), who will somehow be vastly rich in that day.  With that much money, Egypt will raise “a very great and mighty army.”  So how come they lose the war to Syria, who only has a “great” army?  Because the specific device Antichrist will forecast against the king of Egypt will be to get his trusted friends to kill him (v. 26).  Once he’s dead, his armies will “overflow” into the streets in the chaos that often follows a king’s assassination and “many” will be the “slain” in Egypt.  But we know the king of Egypt will just be reaping what he sowed, for in verse 27 Gabriel jumps back into his past to show that he was as sneaky as Antichrist!  They’ll sit at a “table” to discuss how to bring peace to the world, but “mischief” will be in their hearts (cf. Ps. 28:3).  No plan for world peace will “prosper” until the “end” when the Prince of Peace establishes His kingdom.  Before Antichrist leaves Egypt, he connives her king out of some of his “riches” that he’ll “return” to Syria with, but he’ll be back for more.  But he gets enough to do exploits, which is defined as something that makes you famous—like turning on a nation you promised to protect!  We know that’s the exploit he’ll do because verse 28 also says he’s tiring of the covenant he made promising to protect Israel.  “At the time appointed” (v. 29) —midTrib—he’ll go back to Egypt, but not like the former time when he went with a great army, and not like the latter time when he went sneakily to connive the king out of some riches.  When it says he’ll go “toward the south” instead of “toward the king of the south,” we know he’ll attack Egypt this time by conquering Israel to the south on his way.  It will start when ships from “Chittim” come against him.  Chittim is named after Kittim in Europe, where Japheth settled (Gen. 10:1-4).  When Balaam predicted this attack, he said Egypt will also attack “Eber” or Israel (Num. 24:24).  Wanting to protect Syria more than Israel, he’ll join Egypt in that attack on Israel.  His “intelligence” agents will find Jews willing to forsake the covenant (v. 30), and the ten kings who’ll side with him will take up arms for him (v. 31).  With Europe, plus 10 kingdoms, plus traitors in Israel siding with him, Israel won’t stand a chance.  That vast host will be given to Antichrist to take away the daily sacrifice (v. 31 cf. 8:12).  Saved Jews will do “exploits” of their own (v. 32), like the ones the Lord sent the 12 to do before the mystery interrupted all this, i.e., casting out devils and healing, etc., exploits that will make them as famous as they made the Lord.  They’ll also “instruct” or teach people what the Lord sent the 12 to teach (Mt. 28:20).  As they begin to “fall” God will “holpen” or help them (v. 34) by causing the earth to swallow up that “flood” of armies (Rev. 12:15, 16).  That’s when Antichrist’s persecution will go underground as he causes spies to “cleave” to the Jews (v. 34 cf. Rev. 2:9).  Israel will need the purging of verse 35, for not all the Jews doing those exploits will be saved (Heb. 6:4-6).

Summary:

You’re Not Gonna Believe Your Eyes… when you read Gabriel “strengthened” an unsaved king.  But he did it (11:1) to help him conquer Babylon, because Babylon conquered Israel (Gen. 12:3 cf. Jer. 51:11).  We’re not told how he strengthened him, but it was probably the same way God “strengthened” Gideon (Judges 7:10), by assuring him the battle was as good as won.  God revealed to Gideon how scared the Midianites were of Israel, and he probably revealed to Darius how scared Belshazzar was of him after Daniel told him he’d die that night in Daniel 5.

But why is Gabriel telling Daniel he strengthened Darius?  Because Daniel needed strengthening (cf. 10:8, 16, 17), and Gabriel will end this discussion with Daniel by telling him Israel’s battle was good as won (12:7).  So after telling Daniel the truth about how he strengthened Darius, he told him, “And now will I shew thee the truth” (Dan. 11:2).

Daniel was seeing this vision of Gabriel “in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia” (10:1), and here learns that Persia will have 3 more kings.  History says they were Ahasuerus, Artexerxes, and another Darius.  The “fourth” was Xerxes.  He did what verse 2 says and got the Persians stirred up against Greece.  So when they got a “mighty king” (v. 3) named Alexander, he conquered Persia, but was “broken” (v. 4) soon after he stood up, i.e., he died young

In Chapter 8, we saw that his 4 generals divided up his empire, as we see again here.  Normally, a dead king’s kingdom goes to his son, but Alexander’s kingdom didn’t go to “his posterity” because those four kings murdered his son.  And “his dominion” (his subjects) had no say in who took over either.  Those four generals just “plucked” it up.

Everything in Daniel 11:1-4 is past, and everything from verse 5 on is future.  That’s why some KJVs put a paragraph mark before v.5.  This prophecy was interrupted by the mystery.  The king of the south in Egypt in those days (Ptolemy) would have done the things in 11:5-45, but now another king will rise in Egypt to do them after the Rapture, just as John the Baptist would have been Elijah (Mal. 4:5, 6 cf. Mt. 17:10-13; Lu. 1:16, 17), but now another Elijah will have to come.

The details of Daniel 11:6 are inscrutable, but they’ll be clear when they happen (cf. Joel 2:28; Acts 2:4-17).  Saints then will be as filled with the Spirit as Peter was and will “know all things” (I Jo. 2:20, 27).  But we don’t have to understand this, for we’ll be raptured before it happens!

The daughter of the king of the south will raise up a son who will raise up an army to attack Syria to the north (Dan. 11:7). He’ll sack Syria and kill her king (v. 8, 9), angering his sons.  “One” of the sons will mass an army to counterattack Syria (v. 10), but Syria hears about it.  But her great multitude is given into the hands of the Egyptians (11).  This causes the king of Egypt to get cocky and conquer thousands more (v. 12), but we know he won’t be “strengthened” by his victory because Syria starts to threaten them again (v. 13), and the other nations of the Mideast join her (v. 14).  They’re called the robbers of Daniel’s people because they’ll sack Israel to finance their own war on Egypt.  They’ll be trying to “establish” the “vision” of Ezekiel 20:19 that predicts the fall of Egypt by Babylon, who will be in league with the Assyrian Antichrist (cf. Rev. 17, 18).  “Mounts” (Dan. 11:15) were dirt that was piled up outside city walls so armies could scale them (Isa. 29:3; Jer. 6:6).  That means either modern weapons will be gone by then (cf. Ezek. 39:9) or modern weapons will have ancient names, like Tomahawk missiles.  The king of Syria will conquer Egypt and stand in the “glorious land” of Israel (11:16), his real desire.  His “whole kingdom” (v. 17) will now include those other nations of the Mideast who won’t be able to “stand” against him, but his lust to conquer will cause him to look to the “isles” (v. 18).  With that kind of power, you’d think he’d be the Antichrist, but he comes along in Daniel 11:19-21.

Summary:

Daniel retired from his position as one of the king’s advisers in the first year of Cyrus (1:20, 21), but God still wanted him to act like a prophet here in the third year of Cyrus (10:1).  The reason he had to say the thing is true is that he was writing this years later and the thing hadn’t happened yet, and wouldn’t for a while because “the time appointed is long.”

Daniel was probably “mourning” (10:2, 3) because in the third year of Cyrus, work was stopped on the temple (Ezra 1:1-3 cf. 4:23, 24).  But if the Jews were released from captivity, why was Daniel hanging around a Babylonian river (v. 4)? Well, when God told him he’d stand in his tribe’s “lot” (12:13) after he rested in death and God raised him from the dead, he took that to mean he shouldn’t go home and stand in his lot now.  He should stay and minister to the many other Jews who’d gotten too comfy in Babylon to return to Israel.  They might have been unfaithful, but God was no longer mad at them now that they’d served their 70 year sentence.

Daniel 10:5, 6 shows a vision of Christ in Tribulation judgment (cf. Rev. 1:9-18).  The men with him didn’t see the vision but were probably frightened by the same light that frightened the men who were with Saul, who didn’t see his vision (Acts 22:7-9).

Daniel’s “comeliness” (v. 8) was his handsomeness, and the most comely thing about him was his holiness.  But one look of the Lord in judgment convinced him that his holiness was corrupt, and he deserved to be judged like anyone else.

We think the angel of Daniel 10:9-12 is Gabriel, since he spoke to Daniel earlier.  He came “for” Daniel’s words, i.e., on account of them.  Daniel had been praying and chastening himself (v. 12) with fasting (v. 3), so God sent Gabriel to answer his prayer.  But the prince of Persia held him up 21 days.  That had to be a fallen angelic prince, since no earthly prince could withstand an angel for 21 seconds!

He’s called the prince of Persia because there’s a Persia in heaven, as there is a Jerusalem in heaven (Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22).  God divided the world into 12 sections (Deut. 32:8) in Genesis 11:8, 9.  Those sections were obviously named after similarly named sections in heaven. Greece had a prince too (Dan. 10:20), as did Israel (v. 21).    All 24 princes are represented in heaven (Rev. 4:1-4).  Earth’s rulers are corrupt, and so are most of heaven’s (Eph. 6:12, 13).  The prince of Persia “withstood” an angel delivering a message from God to His people, and today we are to “withstand” (Eph. 6:13) fallen angels who try to keep God’s grace message from His people by withstanding us with “doctrines of devils” (I Tim. 4:1) that they inspire pastors to teach.

Gabriel had come to tell Daniel about the “last days” (Dan. 10:13), i.e., the last days of Israel in the Tribulation (Deut. 4:30, 31).  The vision made him “dumb” (Dan. 10:15), but an angel restored his speech (v. 16, 17).  Daniel calls him “my lord” out of respect (cf. Zech. 4:4), not because it was the Lord Jesus.  The angel “strengthened” Daniel (Dan. 10:18) by telling him how loved he was (v. 19) and that he had nothing to “fear” because he had come in “peace” (v. 19).

If you’re looking for spiritual strength, read Paul’s epistles to learn how loved you are in Christ (Eph. 1:7) and how you have nothing to fear because you have “peace with God” (Rom. 5:1) “through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20).  But be sure to use the strength you get from knowing these things to do what Daniel did and ask to be taught the Word (v. 19).

God didn’t strengthen David (Ps. 138:3) in some miraculous way that you don’t have access to.  He did it with His Word (v. 2).  That angel in Gethsemane didn’t strengthen the Lord in some miraculous way that a man who was God in the flesh didn’t have access to (Lu. 22:43).  He did it by quoting Scripture to Him!  And you can strengthen yourself and others too in the same way, if you learn the Word well enough to do it.

When Gabriel tells Daniel that he’s about to tell him what it says in the Scriptures (v. 21), and then tells him what it says in the Scriptures in Chapter 11, how did he do that if Daniel hadn’t written Chapter 11 yet?  This is an indication that God wrote the Bible before the creation of the world and then later spoke it through men.