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
