Table of Contents
World History Explained – Part 5
World History Explained – Part 5 is based on the book of Daniel, specifically Chapter 11. We will refer back to some of the verses listed below in Daniel 11, as well as other Bible references that help explain these concepts.
"1 Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.
2 And now will I shew 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.
3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
4 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.
5 ¶ 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.
6 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.
7 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:
8 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.
9 So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land.
10 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.
11 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.
12 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.
13 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.
14 And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall.
15 So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand.
16 But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed.
17 He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her: but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him.
18 After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many: but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him.
19 Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.
20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
22 And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
25 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.
26 Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.
27 And both these kings’ hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.
28 Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.
29 At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.
30 ¶ For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him."
Daniel 11:1-45 KJV
History Written Before It Happened!
Daniel 11 is the most detailed prophecy in the Bible. It is so exact, and so obviously fulfilled, that critics have insisted for centuries that it must have been written after the events took place!
Think about what that objection actually admits! It concedes that the chapter matches history so precisely that no honest reader can deny the match. The only question left is whether God can tell us the end from the beginning…and He says He can!
Persia, Then Greece
Verse 2 says three more kings will stand up in Persia, and a fourth who is “far richer than they all” who “shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.” That is Xerxes, whose enormous and expensive invasion of Greece guaranteed that Greece would one day return the favour!
Verse 3 introduces “a mighty king” who shall “rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.” That is Alexander the Great.
And verse 4 is remarkable! His kingdom shall be “broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity.” Alexander’s empire went to four of his generals, and his own sons were murdered. His family got nothing. It happened exactly as it was written, centuries in advance!
This is the same ground covered by the image in Daniel 2, the beasts in Daniel 7, and the ram and goat in Daniel 8. God repeats Himself because He wants us to be certain!
The King Of The South And The King Of The North
From verse 5 onward the prophecy follows two of Alexander’s four divisions: the Ptolemies in Egypt, which lay to the south of Jerusalem, and the Seleucids in Syria, which lay to the north. God’s people were caught in the middle, which is precisely why God tracked these two powers and not the other two!
The detail is extraordinary. Verse 6 describes a royal marriage alliance that ends in murder. Verse 17 describes a king who gives his daughter to his rival intending to corrupt the kingdom from within, only for the daughter to side with her husband instead! These are not vague predictions…they are specific enough to be checked!
Then verse 20 mentions “a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom.” Watch what that tax decree accomplished:
"1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed."
Luke 2:1 KJV
The prophecy named the tax that put Mary on the road to Bethlehem!
The Prince Of The Covenant Was Broken!
Verse 22 is the hinge of the entire chapter: “yea, also the prince of the covenant.” Broken.
Daniel 9 had already said that Messiah would be “cut off, but not for himself.” Here the same event appears again from a different angle. In the middle of a chapter full of kings and armies, the Cross stands at the centre!
Pagan Rome Becomes Papal Rome
From verse 23 the prophecy follows Rome, and Rome does not disappear…it changes form. Verse 31 says: “they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.”
Verse 33 then describes what happened to God’s people under that power: “they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.” Those “many days” are the 1260 years of Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 12:6…from 538 AD to 1798 AD.
And verse 36 could hardly be plainer: “the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods.” Compare that with what Paul wrote:
"3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."
2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4 KJV
Verse 37 adds “nor the desire of women”…an enforced celibacy that God never commanded. Verse 38 says he honours “the God of forces”, a god his fathers never knew.
Five Witnesses, One Power
Daniel 7, Daniel 8, Daniel 11, 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13 all describe the same power, from five different angles, written by three different men across seven centuries. God did not leave this to guesswork!
The Time Of The End
Verse 40 announces a shift: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind.”
“The time of the end” began in 1798, the year the 1260 years closed and the papal supremacy was broken. So who is the king of the north in verse 40?
Apply the plainest rule in all Bible study: do not change the subject unless the text changes it! The prophecy has been tracking one power since verse 23. Verse 36 called him “the king” who exalts himself above every god. Verse 40 says the king of the south pushes at him…and the word “him” has to point back to the last person the chapter was talking about. There is no new character introduced. The king of the north in these final verses is the same papal power described in verses 23 to 39!
So who pushes at him? In verses 5 to 20 the king of the south was Egypt. And the Bible tells us what Egypt stands for spiritually. When Moses brought God’s message to Pharaoh, Egypt gave the world its first great declaration of atheism:
"2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go."
Exodus 5:2 KJV
“I know not the Lord!” That is Egypt’s creed, and Revelation uses the very same symbol for the power that made war on God’s word:
"8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified."
Revelation 11:8 KJV
At the time of the end, the power that “pushed at” the papacy was atheism…the French Revolution and everything that has come out of it since. It is the same fight going on in our own day, between a church claiming authority it was never given and a godlessness that denies there is any authority at all.
Verse 44 is the one to watch: “tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.” What comes out of the east? The light does! It is from the east that the sealing angel ascends in Revelation 7:2. The tidings that trouble this power are the everlasting gospel and the three angels’ messages…and his answer to a message is fury. That is the final persecution.
Verse 45 then puts him “between the seas in the glorious holy mountain”…the final claim to sit in the very seat of God, exactly where Paul said he would sit. And then, suddenly, it is over: “yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”
Nobody helps him! Not one of the kings who supported him. Revelation tells us why:
"16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled."
Revelation 17:16, 17 KJV
The very powers that carried her turn on her at the end. That is what “none shall help him” looks like!
Now let me be straight with you about the limits of what I have just said. Ellen White, who wrote a great deal about Daniel, did not leave us a verse-by-verse explanation of these last six verses, and faithful students of prophecy have not all read them the same way…some of our own pioneers applied them to the Ottoman Empire instead. The identification above rests on the chapter’s own continuity, which I believe is solid, and not on anybody’s authority.
So be confident about who, and careful about the exact mechanics and timing. Be careful of anyone who claims to have all six verses nailed down to this week’s newspaper. That kind of certainty has embarrassed the church before, and every time it does, it makes honest people doubt the prophecies that are plain!
“The world is stirred with the spirit of war. The prophecy of the eleventh chapter of Daniel has nearly reached its complete fulfillment. Soon the scenes of trouble spoken of in the prophecies will take place.”
Ellen G. White · Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 14
Do Not Stop At Verse 45!
There is no chapter break in the vision. The angel does not pause between Daniel 11:45 and Daniel 12:1. The chapter divisions were added by editors centuries later!
So read it the way Daniel heard it: the persecuting power comes to its end and none shall help him…and at that time shall Michael stand up! That is where Part 6 begins.
