Daniel Unlocked #84. Daniel’s Last Prophecy. (Part 4)
AS we read Daniels 7 and 8 we learnt a lot about the Little Horn, which now in Daniel 11 is “the king of the North. In the Book of Revelation this power will take on the name of “the Beast.”
Daniel 11 has introduced us to another key player in the end times drama. One of the key points in Islamic published material is the appearance of the Mahdi who will appear and establish the final Kalif. All Islam awaits this. He will rule from the temple mount with armies carrying black flags, that no one will be able to stop. The goal of Islamic is to rule from Jeruslam. This will require a genocide against the Jewish people.
As I read v43 I watch with baited breath over the current situation and how it will play out. Those that “shall follow at his heels” are mentioned as the Libyans and Ethiopians. These are countries that surround the heart of Islam and represent moderate or secular Islamic areas or people that will follow the Papal alliance rather than be killed or overthrown. Revelation 13:3 declares that “all the world followed the beast” and then in vs 13-16 they will receive the mark of the beast. He will have control of the wealth of this world. He will control the entire money markets of the world at that time. Libya and Ethiopia will surrender to him—he will have control of Africa.
Just before Jesus comes from the east (Matt. 24:27) Jesus sends a final warning message known as the “loud cry” Rev.18:4-20. (The North is also the place of God’s throne, (see Ezek.1:4, Isa. 14:13 and Ps. 48:2.) This would then make Jesus the final and true Divine King of the North as He sets up his kingdom in “new” Jerusalem. (Rememeber the stone kingdom of Daniel 2). This makes sense because Daniel 2, 7, and 8 are listings of the powers that are from the north and the stone representing God’s kingdom are the last of the list. These “tidings” or “loud cry” will anger the Babylonian alliance causing him to enforce its mark (Rev.13:13-17). See also Ezek.43:1-9 & 44:4-9
In opposition to this is the everlasting Gospel which is proclaimed as God’s last warning message to the world.
(Revelation 14:6-12). The final contest is set between the message of salvation by works vs salvation by faith alone. Babylon is an ancient system of works and rebellion against God. In the end times it is symbolised by 2 false man made Sabbaths. Sunday (the first day of the week – Luke 23:54 – 24:1) is the institution, or Mark of the Little Horns authority, The little horn openly claims to have changed it by her authority as DAN 7:25 foretold it would. Friday is the Mark of Islam’s defiance to the true Sabbath of Creation, and then there is the third true Sabbath which is the true memorial of Creation and embodied in the fourth commandment as the Seventh Day (Exodus 20:8-11.)
At creation God made the world and then rested on the seventh day. When Jesus came to save us and remake us, He died on the sixth day, and just as at creation declared from the cross, “It is Finished. Then just as God did at creation He rested in the tomb on the Sabbath, and then started working again for us on the first day of the week. So, at both the Sabbath at creation and the Sabbath at our redemption, He rested. The rest is now a symbol of the completed sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We don’t do it on our own! He does it for us. It becomes the outward sign of the inward condition of those who are resting in a finished work of savation.
The Sabbath is not a sign of works but rather of righteousness by faith and resting in His works. In the last days the Sabbath represents those who are trusting God for their salvation. Those under the banner of the fourth commandment are truly resting in the finished work which Christ achieved on their behalf at the cross. They rest physically on the seventh day according to the commandment and spiritually as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Under Christ’s proclamation from the cross when he said “It is finished,” they rest in a finished work of salvation. Our salvation is finished and complete at the cross, and there is nothing we can do to add to or improve it. In the final days of the rebellion, those under the banner of the false sabbaths (Sunday and Friday) are trusting in the dictates of men and the doctrine of salvation by works. (see Mark 7:6-9)
The King of the North alliance will plant itself in, or take control of, Palestine and the spiritual, worldwide Israel, the church. V45 may indicate the Papal Church moving its headquarters to Jerusalem! The king of the North will come to its end at the coming of Christ. Dan.7:22,27; 8:25; 2Thes 2:8; Rev 19:20
There remains but one last climatic event to finish what Daniel has spent his whole life writing about under the direction of the angel Gabriel.