The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Mighty Angels of Daniel 11: The Far Richer King

MP3: The Mighty Angels of Daniel 11 Continued
Hosts: Nathan Jones & Vic Batista

The Far Richer King

Vic Batista: We are continuing our Bible study of the book of Daniel, continuing in chapter 11. God’s mighty angel shares God’s prophetic message with the Prophet Daniel. Daniel 11 contains many incredible prophecies which were revealed as true as they were fulfilled throughout various periods in Intertestamental history.

Nathan Jones: Daniel 11:1 curiously finishes a thought from the angel who came to give God’s message to Daniel, starting back in chapter 10. So, 11:1 sounds a little weird, like half a sentence, which it is. I don’t know why the monks who added chapter and verse breaks over the centuries choose to break the angel’s thought between two chapters, but it is what it is.

This is how Daniel 10:21 goes. “But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince…” Then Daniel 11:1-2 finishes the thought. “Also in the first year of Darius the Mede, I, even I, stood up to confirm and strengthen him. And now I will tell you the truth: Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all; by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece.”

Vic Batista: Why is Daniel in particular privileged to be receiving these prophecies?

Nathan Jones: God has granted Daniel both prophetic knowledge and the ability to understand their cryptic imagery all throughout the book of Daniel. For example, back in Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar awoke from a dream where he saw a giant statue. Daniel prayed to God who granted him the interpretation of the dream, which swayed the king’s death sentence against all the wise men.

Daniel explained that the giant statue represented human kingdoms, particularly ones that held influence over Israel. The head of gold stood for Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire. Babylon would be taken over by the Medo-Persian Empire, which was represented by the chest and arms made out of silver. The thighs of bronze represented the Greek Empire. After the Greek Empire fell, the Roman Empire would rise up as the iron legs.. Then the statues description explains the ten toes made out of iron and clay, which represents ten kings who will one day rule over the revived Roman Empire. The Antichrist will arise as one of the ten kings and ascend to rule the entire world.

The statue exploded, destroyed by a giant stone that was not cut by human hands. This stone would fall from the sky and smash the statue, obliterating it to dust. The stone grew into a mountain, which represents Christ’s Kingdom. Christ’s Kingdom will suddenly arrive and crash down into that statue, destroying human government. Jesus will then rule and reign forever.

At this point in Daniel 11, God’s messenger angel, possibly Gabriel himself, reveals further details to the old prophet about the third empire in the statue — the Greek Empire. Daniel at this point was living during the time of the Medo-Persian Empire. In his youth, Daniel had been kidnapped by the Babylonians and ascended up the ranks during the short-lived Babylonian Empire. Now an old man, Daniel calls the Medo-Persian Empire his rulers. Daniel is now granted a series of very detailed prophecies concerning what will happen in the final years of the Medo-Persian Empire and on into when the Greek Empire has finally conquered the known world.

We’ll now go verse-by-verse through Daniel 11, reading the prophecies and revealing their stunning historical fulfillments. I am going to do so based on the teachings by Dr. John MacArthur from his audio series The Future of Israel and by Dr. Leon Wood’s book A Survey of Israel’s History.

The time period Daniel 11 addresses takes us through the Intertestamental time period, which is the time period between the final book in the Old Testament, Malachi, and the Gospel of Matthew, which starts the New Testament. Those intervening centuries often have been called the 400 Years of Silence, because God had no message at all to give to Israel during that time. Various Greek kings waged war back and forth the lands with Israel stuck in the middle of all that turmoil. Each prophecy the angel uttered to Daniel amazingly has absolutely come true. History and archaeology have confirmed that these detailed prophetic passages in Daniel were completely fulfilled throughout the Intertestamental time period. If that fact doesn’t help a person believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, then very little can.

In the last segment, we covered verse 2 which prophesies three kings who will rise to the throne of the Medo-Persian Empire, with a fourth who is far richer than the others. And, that is exactly what came to pass. Three kings rose to the throne, and then a fourth.

Cambyses, the son of Cyrus who was the conqueror of the Babylonian Empire, ruled from 530-522 BC. He was followed by Gaumâta, interesting enough, a pretender to the throne because he was a look alike to another brother. What a fascinating story that was, full of intrigue and betrayal! It was rather like the man in the iron mask story.

Darius Hystaspis of the Medes rose to power, followed by Xerxes. King Xerxes was the sublimely rich king that the angel described. Xerxes is best known in biblical history because he was the husband of Queen Esther from the book of Esther.

And so, these are the four prophetic kings rose to the height of the Medo-Persian Empire before it was destroyed. What was prophesied actually was what exactly happened. Bear in mind that when Daniel was receiving this prophecy, he served under King Darius, who was the governor or ruler over the city of Babylon, under King Cyrus. Cyrus and Darius were followed by the four prophesied kings, with Xerxes standing the tallest as the super-rich king.

Xerxes military actions against the Greeks would fundamentally affect the flow of history in the Middle East. Xerxes hated the Greeks and constantly warred against them. As a matter of fact, when reading the book of Esther, it’s surprising that he is even there in Babylon, because the king spent most of his time on the battle field fighting the Greeks.

Decades later, Alexander the Great had never forgiven Xerxes and the Persian Empire for attacking Greece, particularly in his Macedonian region. Xerxes’ malicious actions were like kicking a hornet’s next, stirring the Kingdom of Greece against the Medo-Persian Empire, just as Daniel 11:2 prophesied would happen.

Vic Batista: Wow, how amazing! Studying history, especially biblical history, reveals that our modern-day history books line up with what we are reading about in the Bible. Historical fulfillment confirms prophecy, proving the Bible is indeed the Word of God.

Historical fulfillment confirms #prophecy, proving the #Bible is indeed the Word of #God. Click To Tweet

In the forty-ninth segment of this series on the mighty angels of Daniel, we will be introduced to the greatest of the Greek Kings, the one and only, Alexander the Great!

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

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