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Welcome to the Cross References podcast on the Book of Ezekiel. In this study, you learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and most importantly, how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
Whether you’re a newbie Christian or a veteran Bible reader, my goal is that God’s Word will make more sense to you after every episode.
Host: Luke Taylor
The Future of Egypt
Daniel 11
30-Minute Theology
Hitler Wanted to be the Antichrist
Adolph Hitler hoped and prayed that he was this antichrist that the Bible spoke of. Hitler may have been a deranged maniac; he did at least know a thing or two about what the Bible said. And as he went through Europe swallowing up nation after nation, he was convinced more and more that he would be this man.
(it’s funny; he wanted to fulfill the scriptures that spoke of the antichrist’s power; I wonder how he thought he would then stop the scriptures that spoke of Jesus returning and casting the antichrist into hell. but like I said, Hitler was deranged.)
The book Hitler’s Cross by Ewrin Lutzer: Hitler offered himself as a messiah with the divine mission to save Germany. On one occasion, he displayed the whip he often carried to demonstrate that “in driving out the Jews I remind myself of Jesus in the temple.” He declared “Just like Christ, I have a duty to my own people.” He even boasted that as Christ’s birth had changed the calendar, so his victory over the Jews would be the beginning of a new age. “What Christ began,” he said, “I will complete.”
Well, Hitler didn’t get his wish. Not that he didn’t accomplish a lot of evil. 6 million Jews murdered. 1/3 of all the Jews in the world. I’ve spoken on this podcast before about why the devil wants all of the Jewish people dead. And the devil is going to keep trying, whether that means working through Hitler or working through the future antichrist.
Now, the Antichrist isn’t going to win, either. He’ll be successful in killing 2/3 of the remaining Jews during the seven-year tribulation. But he won’t succeed. As he is conquesting the land of Israel during that time, he will be attacked by another nearby nation. A nation we’ve been studying quite a bit here lately on the podcast: Egypt.
So on today’s episode, you’ll learn six things about the Antichrist, including hints about his nationality and his love life. You’ll also learn about God’s plan for Egypt in the end times.
There is actually a plan for Egypt during the Great Tribulation. And the plan involves opposing the Antichrist. Have you ever heard about this before? If not, you will today on the Cross References Podcast.
[theme music]
The Daniel 11 context
Welcome to the Cross References podcast, a Bible study where we learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
My name is Luke Taylor, and I read Revelation and Daniel side-by-side, because I think these are the two key books to understanding God’s plan for the future and the end of the world. I don’t think you can understand one without the other.
And three key chapters that you have to understand if you want to understand the antichrist are Daniel 8, 9 and 11. Chapter 11 in particular is the most specific chapter on Bible prophecy in the entire Bible. Daniel 11 talks about many things that have actually already happened. But it talks about them in such detail that many people refuse to believe it could have possibly been written during Daniel’s lifetime.
In Daniel 11, a messenger angel named Gabriel brings Daniel news of 5 future kings. For us in 2024, four of those kings have already lived and died- Ahaseurus, Alexander the Great, Antiochus the Great and Antiochus Epiphanes. The fifth future king has not yet taken control, so he is still future.
One interesting tidbit is that all their names start with A. Ahasurues, Alexander, Antiochus the Great and Antiochus Epiphanes. And the fifth one will as well; it wasn’t Adolph; it’s the Antichrist. So we’re going to skip over the Daniel 11 verses that talk about the first four kings, because that portion has already been fulfilled. We’re going to skip to verse 36, where it starts giving specific details about the Antichrist, some of which can’t be found anywhere else in the Bible.
I honestly think- if you haven’t studied this portion of scripture already- that you may think about the antichrist a little differently after tonight than you did before because of the new things you’ll learn about him.
6 Identifiers of the Antichrist: (which is fitting seeing as he quite likes the number 6)
HIS BIG MOUTH
There is one aspect of the antichrist that shows up every single time there’s a passage that describes him, and that’s his mouth. His ego. His pride. His love of talking about himself.
Daniel 11:36
“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.
He will have such an ego that he will magnify himself above any others. This is perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the Antichrist.
It’s very fitting because pride is probably the first sin ever committed. Pride made the devil the devil. And the most prominent description of the antichrist in the Bible is his insane ego.
To such a degree that he blasphemes all other gods and proclaims himself mightier than any god, including the True God.
I do not believe that the antichrist will be any American president or come from America whatsoever. But I do get very uncomfortable when I hear politicians and presidents who constantly brag on themselves. And only want to talk about themselves. We’ve had two or three in a row now who had that trait. To me, that goes right along with an antichrist spirit. Even if they are not THE antichrist. But I think it shows a spiritual corruption.
“what has been determined shall be done” = This antichrist will be such a powerful figure that many on the earth will pray against him because he’ll seem so unstoppable that only God can stop him, but God has already said that he will be given the world for seven years.
HIS NATIONALITY
Daniel 11:37
He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.
I want to break this down into two parts, and I’ll come to the desire of women thing in a moment:
“the God of his fathers.” The book of Daniel basically leaves open two possibilities for the nationality of the antichrist: We see this in Daniel 9:26, and without going on a tangent there, I’ll just say that it says the Antichrist will derive from the people who destroyed the Temple in 70 AD. There are two people you could pin that on: the Romans who ordered it, or the Middle-eastern people who carried it out. You could argue it either way, which is why I say that the Antichrist has to basically be European (of Roman descent) or Muslim (of Middle-eastern descent). Now, Daniel 11:37 says that he won’t regard the god of his fathers.
So basically this comes down to whether you consider the end-times false religion that rises up to be Islam or Catholicism. And the Antichrist will come from one of those roots.
It makes the point, however, that he’ll regard himself higher than the God of Catholicism or the Allah of Islam. Honestly, it could go either way. I don’t see this as evidence of one over the other because the point of this verse is not that the Antichrist is a specific nationality, only that he doesn’t respect the god of his ancestors as much as he thinks of himself.
His nationality = European or Middle-Eastern
HIS LOVE LIFE
“nor the desire of women” = It also makes a comment on the Antichrist’s sexual desire here. This can be taken one of two ways: that he doesn’t care about the affection or women, OR some people see this as a hint that the Antichrist will be homosexual.
People have wondered this a long time, and I’m not discounting it as a possibility. 30 or 40 years ago, maybe not even 20 years ago, the idea that the world would fall into line behind an openly gay leader seemed implausible. Homosexuality was still too taboo and looked down upon even by non-Christians. And now today it’s become very accepted by the world at large. In America just four years ago, one of the top candidates for POTUS right now is a gay man. He’s now in the presidents cabinet.
My personal take: this isn’t hinting that he’s gay, it’s just stating that he’s so self-absorbed that he doesn’t care about anyone else.
His love life = apathetic or homosexual
HIS RELIGION
in verse one one three eight here…
(Daniel 11:38-39)
But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.
But wait, you said he didn’t care about anyone’s god? That’s true, which makes this very difficult to understand. It tells us that the Antichrist does honor a god of fortresses.
My theory on this is that in order to appease some group of people, he will show respect to their god as a way to get them to partner with him.
A kind of confusing verse and this is the only verse in the entire Bible of the antichrist showing any kind of regard or respect for another god, so I don’t have another scripture to help me shed more light on this. Just my theory.
Who would a god of fortresses be? Perhaps if he’s of a European descent, he partners with a Muslim nation in some conquest and gives credit to Allah for it?
Another theory I’ve read about the “god of fortresses” is that it means that the antichrist will place all his hope in his military power. I don’t exactly buy that idea but I will mention that in the battle of Armageddon in Revelation, there’s a moment where Jesus returns and the antichrist directs all this armies to point their guns at Jesus. I’m like, “What? You think that will work?” That makes no sense- unless all his hope for power is placed in his military.
his religion = a god of fortresses
HIS ENEMIES
This is some information that may surprise you: not every single nation on earth will fall in line behind the antichrist. There will be some who stand up to him and refuse his rule. I don’t think it’ll be a large number; I imagine that about 80 or 90% of the nations in the tribulation will follow him- but some won’t. And they’ll be punished for it.
[this is what the parable of the sheep and the goats is about in Matthew; the sheep and the goats are nations who followed the antichrist or opposed the antichrist in Revelation]
Daniel 11:40
At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.
So perhaps you’re wondering who the King of the South is. Well, it’s actually undeniable when you read Daniel 11:40 in the context of Daniel 11, because as I said before, it already gave us specific information about 4 kings of the past. When Daniel 11 was written, Ahasuerus and Alexander the Great and the Antiochuses had not been born yet.
But today, they have. They were all kings of the North, and they had conflict after conflict with the Kings of the South. And in those stories, the South was Egypt. So when we read these verses at the end of Daniel 11 as the Antichrist goes to war with the King of the South, we can easily understand who it’s talking about: Egypt.
So Egypt will actually be one of the countries that stands against the antichrist and actually attacks his territory. To be consistent, this would mean that the Antichrist is in Syria.
But Egypt is gonna be put down hard; “like a whirlwind”
Daniel 11:41-42
He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
The Glorious Land is Israel. Since Israel is right in between Syria and Egypt, this gives the Antichrist an opportunity to invade Israel. So I would place this in the last half of the tribulation, because the midpoint of the tribulation is when the Antichrist turns on the Jewish people and tries to conquer Israel.
Then it mentions that he overthrows some countries, but there are three that are unaffected: Edom, Moab and Ammon. And I can tell you why.
Edom, Moab and Ammon were frequent problems for the Israelites in the Old Testament. In modern times, their land makes up just one country: Jordan.
According to other books on prophecy in the Bible, the land of Jordan will be the one safe place for the Jews to hide from the Antichrist. (this is when Jesus says when you see the abomination of desolation, flee to the mountains)
Israel & Jordan signed the “Treaty of Peace” in 1994 which stated that if either nation is attacked, the inhabitants of that nation can flee to the other for safety. Bible prophecy is being fulfilled.
We are also seeing this alliance right now. When Iran struck out at Israel a couple weeks back, it was interesting to see the Muslim nations around Israel become actually protective of Israel: From a news article on DW.com called “Why did some Arab countries appear to help Israel?” It says: “But what got a lot of attention was the fact that the Jordanian air force also stepped in to help. Jordan opened up its airspace to Israeli and US planes, and also apparently shot down drones that violated its own airspace.”
(That’s not Daily Wire, btw; it’s a German news organization)
Iran had told Jordan not to help, but Jordan helped anyway. We see an alliance right now between Israel and Jordan that the Bible says is going to hold true in the end times. The Antichrist will turn on the Jews and starting trying to kill them, but Jordan is going to say “we’ll protect you.”
Isaiah says that during the tribulation, the Jews will go and hide out in a city in Jordan called Petra. It’s the most heavily protected city in the world. It was in Indiana Jones 3.
(Revelation 12) The Antichrist will try to smoke them out (or flood them out) but he won’t be able to do it. If they can make it here, they’re safe.
Here’s something I found interesting as I did the math on the number of Jews in the world:
At the time of Nazi Germany, there were 18 million Jews on earth. Hitler killed 1/3 in the holocaust, bringing them down to 12 million. Since then, it’s been 80 years, their population has grown to about 14 million.
14,000,000
-1% of saved people is 13.86 million
-25% from seal judgments is 10.39
-33% from trumpet judgments is 6.8
-67% killed by antichrist persecution (Zechariah 13:8)
Leaves 2.26 million
Which is interesting because I read that Petrah, the most naturally heavily protected city in the world, can hold about 2 million people.
Those are just estimates. Don’t worry guys, I’m sure it’s all coincidence. The amount of Jews that Petrah could hold are basically the same amount of Jews who would be left if the tribulation started right now.
Don’t worry guys, I’m sure it’s all coincidence.
So, something we learn about the Antichrist from these verses:
His enemies = Egypt and Jordan
Israel and Jordan signed the Treaty of Peace in 1994. From Wikipedia’s entry on the Treaty of Peace: The signing ceremony took place at the southern border crossing of Arabah on 26 October 1994. Jordan was the second Arab country, after Egypt, to sign a peace accord with Israel.
The same two nations that Daniel 11 says will oppose the Antichrist.
Don’t worry guys, I’m sure it’s all coincidence.
[music]
HIS PALACE
Daniel 11:43-44
He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many.
News from the East- probably China. The second-to-last judgment in Revelation is the Euphrates river drying up, paving the way for the kings of the East (most likely China, and maybe some other nations like Japan and India) to bring an attack against the Antichrist.
Or, China is making a play for Israel. And the Antichrist doesn’t want to let them have it.
So the idea of the tribulation is not that this Antichrist gets 100% of all nations on the earth to join him against Israel. This is what many people think because of a verse in Zechariah 12, which I think they’re taking a little too literally. That’s not the testimony of the rest of Scripture. There will be numerous nations who resist the Antichrist.
Because God has handed the world over to the Antichrist for 7 years, they will not win against him. But they won’t submit to him either. And it appears that he actually looks pretty weak by the end of the tribulation, he’s probably panicking, and at that time, China makes a play for Israel.
Lots of people question where the USA is in Bible prophecy, because we aren’t there, and that’s a little interesting considering what a powerful nation the USA is. But China is a pretty powerful nation, too, and I think China is referred to here as one of the Eastern nations that crosses the Euphrates river. So the Antichrist panics over this and goes back to confront them and fight over Israel, which I believe will be the battle of Armageddon. Armies of the earth all gathering together.
Daniel 11:45
And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.
This verse gives one minor detail about the antichrist- right at the end of the tribulation, he sets up a palace in Israel near Jerusalem. But it’s a very temporary palace- it’s called a tent-palace.
And it’s not getting finished because once he meets up with China at Megiddo, the Battle of Armageddon takes place and that’s the end. Jesus shows up and it’s all over. The Antichrist is obliterated. China is obliterated. And prophecy is fulfilled.
Housekeeping/Mailbag
So we’ll close down in a moment. I am now done talking about Egypt. WE’ve talked about it a lot over the past two months. Now I’m going to start preparing for where I go next in our study of Ezekiel: chapter 33, and this opens up a huge section of Ezekiel which will be much more positive and looking to the future. That will start in June.
In the month of May on this podcast, I’m going to share a conversation with Nate Vainio.
I have spent so much time inspecting the trees, Nate took be back out to look at the whole forest.
There are insights in this conversation I hadn’t considered when I worked through Ezekiel on my own over the past few years.
Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
I will take off the holiday week of Memorial Day. And then come back in June as we start into the next major section of Ezekiel with chapter 33.
Email: crossreferencespodcast@gmail.com
Closing Thoughts
In closing, I want to read this quote from Bible teacher John Walvoord: “Taken as a whole, Daniel 1136-45 is a description of the closing days of the times of the Gentiles, specifically, the great tribulation with its world ruler, world, religion, and materialistic philosophy. In spite of its satanic support, the world government fragments into sectional disputes, and a great world war, which climaxes with the second advent of Christ. This brings the times of the gentiles to close with the destruction of the wicked rulers who led it.”
And Pastor David Jeremiah also says this about the chapter: “God gave us Daniel 11 to demonstrate in one little section of prophecy that when he says something is going to happen, it will happen exactly as he says it will.” Daniel 11’s prophecies have already been proven by the past, so we’ll know we can trust what it says about the future.
One thing we won’t know, unfortunately, as much as we study the antichrist, as much as we’ve heard sermons and read books on the antichrist: we probably won’t know who the antichrist is.
I feel like our work in studying the antichrist has not been for us; it’s been for the people who will be left behind during the tribulation, to be left for them as a warning and an alarm not to follow this man and take his mark.
Perhaps someone during the tribulation will find this podcast episode, learn about what’s happened and what’s coming.
Once the trumpet sounds and we’re caught up into heaven, we probably won’t even care about who the antichrist is. Because while the chaos is unfolding down on earth, we’ll be attending something called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And we’re going to be so joyous and happy that we probably won’t even want to open the basement door and peer down into what’s going on down on earth.
(and maybe you can if you still want to; I’m just positing that heaven will be so wonderful that we won’t care)
Have you ever been so happy and in love with Jesus that you could just throw on a worship song and kick back and you don’t care how much money you owe in bills or who the president is, you’re just happy and contented?
That’s how I think we’ll be in heaven.
So I hope you’re ready for heaven. I hope you’re ready for the rapture. I hope you’re ready for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
The question that should be on our minds as we think about the tribulation is not “Who is the Antichrist?” The question on our minds is, “What are we having for dessert?”
Thanks for listening to the Cross References Podcast. This has been Luke Taylor, and I hope the Bible makes more sense to you after this episode.