“‘Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done.’”
“Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done.”
All events of this chapter, to this point, are history to the twenty-first century. Now beginning with this verse, the prophecy moves to a future date – to the twenty-first century. Antiochus Epiphanes could not have fulfilled the prophecies of this section of chapter 11 because he did not do many of the details of this section. However, he did foreshadow the kind of person who would come in the last days.
This verse shifts to the prophetic figure of the Antichrist (vv. 36-45) and the distant future of Israel (11:36-12:4). Daniel 11:1-35 is history to the present time. Daniel 11:36-12:4 is the future to the present time. These passages fulfill the last of the seventy heptads, the seventh seven (9:27). This is the last seven-year period, the period of Tribulation, before the Second Coming of Christ.
Mt 24:21, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
Verses 36-39 set forth the coming Antichrist, a ruler in the Tribulation. This ruler will have the power to do “according to his own will.” His power is supernatural, and he has the capacity to exalt himself “above every god” demanding worship. He will renounce the true God.
Re 13:11-12,-4, “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”
This Antichrist ruler will prosper for a period in the seven-year Tribulation. All this happens under the sovereignty of God – “what has been determined shall be done.” God will set a limit to the duration of his rule. God will mete out judgment to him in the end (Dan. 7:11, 26; 9:27; Rev. 19:19-20).
PRINCIPLE:
The future Antichrist will deceive the religious world.
APPLICATION:
The coming Antichrist will be autonomous of any authority apart from himself. He “shall do according to his own will.” This ruler will exercise the authority given to him by the ten kings of the Revived Roman Empire in the middle of the Tribulation (Re 17:12-13).
This person will make himself the highest religious authority in the world. He will “exalt and magnify himself above every god.” The world will worship him because of his ability to perform miracles.
2 Th 2:3 “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
