The Book of Daniel – Number One Hundred Seventy Eight

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Prophetic Parallels: The Unfolding of Daniel 11 in the Last Days

 

Key Takeaways

This article delves into the prophetic narrative of Daniel 11:16-19, highlighting its significance in the context of end-time events. It draws parallels between historical fulfillments of the prophecy during the reign of pagan Rome and anticipated future fulfillments leading up to the Sunday law and the closing of human probation. The author suggests that the historical conquests of pagan Rome, including its interactions with the Jews and its ultimate downfall, serve as a prefiguration for Modern Rome’s (the Papacy’s) actions in the end times, particularly in Daniel 11:41-45. The discussion emphasizes that the entire chapter of Daniel 11 is a blueprint for the final events of earth’s history, suggesting that a deeper understanding of these prophecies is crucial for God’s people in the last days.

• Daniel 11:16-19 is explored as a prophecy initially fulfilled by pagan Rome’s conquests and eventual fall, serving as a type for future end-time events.
• The historical context includes Rome’s domination over the “glorious land” and its interactions with the Jewish people, climaxing in Caesar’s tragic downfall.
• The article posits that the historical narrative of verses 16-19, along with other segments of Daniel 11, will be repeated in the final unfolding of earth’s history, particularly from the Sunday law to the close of probation as outlined in verses 41-45.
• The parallels between the historical role of pagan Rome and the future role of papal Rome in the end times are emphasized, with the papacy expected to mirror pagan Rome’s strategies and ultimate demise.
• The historical conquests of pagan Rome over three geographical areas are highlighted as a precursor to papal Rome’s influence and control in the last days.
• The narrative of the Maccabean revolt and the subsequent “league” between the Jews and Rome is discussed as an early indication of the Jews’ eventual allegiance to Roman power, paralleling the final deception and apostasy in the end times.
• The 360-year reign of pagan Rome is presented as a typological precursor to the 1260-year papal supremacy, both periods culminating in critical end-time events.
• The sealing of God’s people and the final proclamation of the gospel are tied to the understanding and unsealing of Daniel’s prophecies, particularly the “portion of the prophecy of Daniel relating to the last days.”
• The article calls for a diligent study and understanding of Daniel and Revelation, emphasizing the importance of these books for God’s last-day people facing the impending crisis.

 

Verses sixteen through nineteen of Daniel chapter eleven represent the history beginning at the soon coming Sunday law in the United States, until Michael stands up and human probation closes. It therefore also represents the history of verse forty-one through verse forty-five of the same chapter.

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. 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. 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. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found. Daniel 11:16–19.

 

When Sister White addressed the final fulfillment of Daniel chapter eleven, she stated “that much of the history that has been fulfilled in this prophecy will be repeated.” Verses forty-one through forty-five repeat the prophetic history of these verses. The verses were fulfilled when pagan Rome took control of the world by first conquering three geographical areas.

“Although Egypt could not stand before Antiochus, the king of the north, Antiochus could not stand before the Romans, who now came against him. No kingdoms were longer able to resist this rising power. Syria was conquered, and added to the Roman empire, when Pompey, B.C.65, deprived Antiochus Asiaticus of his possessions, and reduced Syria to a Roman province.

“The same power was also to stand in the Holy Land, and consume it. Rome became connected with the people of God, the Jews, by alliance, B.C.162, from which date it holds a prominent place in the prophetic calendar. It did not, however, acquire jurisdiction over Judea by actual conquest till B.C.63; and then in the following manner.

“On Pompey’s return from his expedition against Mithridates, king of Pontus, two competitors, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, were struggling for the crown of Judea. Their cause came before Pompey, who soon perceived the injustice of the claims of Aristobulus, but wished to defer decision in the matter till after his long-desired expedition into Arabia, promising then to return, and settle their affairs as should seem just and proper. Aristobulus, fathoming Pompey’s real sentiments, hastened back to Judea, armed his subjects, and prepared for a vigorous defense, determined, at all hazards, to keep the crown, which he foresaw would be adjudicated to another. Pompey closely followed the fugitive. As he approached Jerusalem, Aristobulus, beginning to repent of his course, came out to meet him, and endeavored to accommodate matters by promising entire submission and large sums of money. Pompey, accepting this offer, sent Gabinius, at the head of a detachment of soldiers, to receive the money. But when that lieutenant-general arrived at Jerusalem, he found the gates shut against him, and was told from the top of the walls that the city would not stand to the agreement.

“Pompey, not to be deceived in this way with impunity, put Aristobulus, whom he had retained with him, in irons, and immediately marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. The partisans of Aristobulus were for defending the place; those of Hyrcanus, for opening the gates. The latter being in the majority, and prevailing, Pompey was given free entrance into the city. Whereupon the adherents of Aristobulus retired to the mountain of the temple, as fully determined to defend that place as Pompey was to reduce it. At the end of three months a breach was made in the wall sufficient for an assault, and the place was carried at the point of the sword. In the terrible slaughter that ensued, twelve thousand persons were slain. It was an affecting sight, observes the historian, to see the priests, engaged at the time in divine service, with calm hand and steady purpose pursue their accustomed work, apparently unconscious of the wild tumult, though all around them their friends were given to the slaughter, and though often their own blood mingled with that of their sacrifices.

“Having put an end to the war, Pompey demolished the walls of Jerusalem, transferred several cities from the jurisdiction of Judea to that of Syria, and imposed tribute on the Jews. Thus for the first time was Jerusalem placed by conquest in the hands of that power which was to hold the ‘glorious land’ in its iron grasp till it had utterly consumed it.

“‘VERSE 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.’

“Bishop Newton furnishes another reading for this verse, which seems more clearly to express the sense, as follows: ‘He shall also set his face to enter by force the whole kingdom.’ Verse 16 brought us down to the conquest of Syria and Judea by the Romans. Rome had previously conquered Macedon and Thrace. Egypt was now all that remained of the ‘whole kingdom’ of Alexander, not brought into subjection to the Roman power, which power now set its face to enter by force into that country.

“Ptolemy Auletes died B.C.51. He left the crown and kingdom of Egypt to his eldest son and daughter, Ptolemy and Cleopatra. It was provided in his will that they should marry together, and reign jointly; and because they were young, they were placed under the guardianship of the Romans. The Roman people accepted the charge, and appointed Pompey as guardian of the young heirs of Egypt.

“A quarrel having not long after broken out between Pompey and Caesar, the famous battle of Pharsalia was fought between the two generals. Pompey, being defeated, fled into Egypt. Caesar immediately followed him thither; but before his arrival, Pompey was basely murdered by Ptolemy, whose guardian he had been appointed. Caesar therefore assumed the appointment which had been given to Pompey, as guardian of Ptolemy and Cleopatra. He found Egypt in commotion from internal disturbances, Ptolemy and Cleopatra having become hostile to each other, and she being deprived of her share in the government. Notwithstanding this, he did not hesitate to land at Alexandria with his small force, 800 horse and 3200 foot, take cognizance of the quarrel, and undertake its settlement. The troubles daily increasing, Caesar found his small force insufficient to maintain his position, and being unable to leave Egypt on account of the north wind which blew at that season, he sent into Asia, ordering all the troops he had in that quarter to come to his assistance as soon as possible.

“In the most haughty manner he decreed that Ptolemy and Cleopatra should disband their armies, appear before him for a settlement of their differences, and abide by his decision. Egypt being an independent kingdom, this haughty decree was considered an affront to its royal dignity, at which the Egyptians, highly incensed, flew to arms. Caesar replied that he acted by virtue of the will of their father, Auletes, who had put his children under the guardianship of the senate and people of Rome, the whole authority of which was now vested in his person as consul; and that, as guardian, he had the right to arbitrate between them.

“The matter was finally brought before him, and advocates appointed to plead the cause of the respective parties. Cleopatra, aware of the foible of the great Roman conqueror, judged that the beauty of her presence would be more effectual in securing judgment in her favor than any advocate she could employ. To reach his presence undetected, she had recourse to the following stratagem: Laying herself at full length in a bundle of clothes, Apollodorus, her Sicilian servant, wrapped it up in a cloth, tied it with a thong, and raising it upon his Herculean shoulders, sought the apartments of Caesar. Claiming to have a present for the Roman general, he was admitted through the gate of the citadel, entered into the presence of Caesar, and deposited the burden at his feet. When Caesar had unbound this animated bundle, lo! the beautiful Cleopatra stood before him. He was far from being displeased with the stratagem, and being of a character described in 2 Peter 2:14, the first sight of so beautiful a person, says Rollin, had all the effect upon him she had desired.

“Caesar at length decreed that the brother and sister should occupy the throne jointly, according to the intent of the will. Pothinus, the chief minister of state, having been principally instrumental in expelling Cleopatra from the throne, feared the result of her restoration. He therefore began to excite jealousy and hostility against Caesar, by insinuating among the populace that he designed eventually to give Cleopatra the sole power. Open sedition soon followed. Achillas, at the head of 20,000 men, advanced to drive Caesar from Alexandria. Skillfully disposing his small body of men in the streets and alleys of the city, Caesar found no difficulty in repelling the attack. The Egyptians undertook to destroy his fleet. He retorted by burning theirs. Some of the burning vessels being driven near the quay, several of the buildings of the city took fire, and the famous Alexandrian library, containing nearly 400,000 volumes, was destroyed.

“The war growing more threatening, Caesar sent into all the neighboring countries for help. A large fleet came from Asia Minor to his assistance. Mithridates set out for Egypt with an army raised in Syria and Cilicia. Antipater the Idumean joined him with 3,000 Jews. The Jews, who held the passes into Egypt, permitted the army to pass on without interruption. Without this co-operation on their part, the whole plan must have failed. The arrival of this army decided the contest. A decisive battle was fought near the Nile, resulting in a complete victory for Caesar. Ptolemy, attempting to escape, was drowned in the river. Alexandria and all Egypt then submitted to the victor. Rome had now entered into and absorbed the whole of the original kingdom of Alexander.

“By the ‘upright ones’ of the text are doubtless meant the Jews, who gave him the assistance already mentioned. With out this, he must have failed; with it, he completely subdued Egypt to his power, B.C.47.

“‘The daughter of women, corrupting her.’ The passion which Caesar had conceived for Cleopatra, by whom he had one son is assigned by the historian as the sole reason of his undertaking so dangerous a campaign as the Egyptian war. This kept him much longer in Egypt than his affairs required, he spending whole nights in feasting and carousing with the dissolute queen. ‘But,’ said the prophet, ‘she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him.’ Cleopatra afterward joined herself to Antony, the enemy of Augustus Caesar, and exerted her whole power against Rome.

“‘VERSE 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.’

“War with Pharnaces, king of Cimmerian Bosphorus, at length drew him away from Egypt. ‘On his arrival where the enemy was,’ says Prideaux, ‘he, without giving any respite either to himself or them, immediately fell on, and gained an absolute victory over them; an account whereof he wrote to a friend of his in these three words: Veni, vidi, vici; I came, I saw, I conquered.’ The latter part of this verse is involved in some obscurity, and there is difference of opinion in regard to its application. Some apply it further back in Caesar’s life, and think they find a fulfilment in his quarrel with Pompey. But preceding and subsequent events clearly defined in the prophecy, compel us to look for the fulfilment of this part of the prediction between the victory over Pharnaces, and Caesar’s death at Rome, as brought to view in the following verse. A more full history of this period might bring to light events which would render the application of this passage unembarrassed.

“‘VERSE 19. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.’

“After this conquest, Caesar defeated the last remaining fragments of Pompey’s party, Cato and Scipio in Africa and Labienus and Varus in Spain. Returning to Rome, the ‘fort of his own land,’ he was made perpetual dictator; and such other powers and honors were granted him as rendered him in fact absolute sovereign of the whole empire. But the prophet had said that he should stumble and fall. The language implies that his overthrow would be sudden and unexpected, like a person accidentally stumbling in his walk. And so this man, who fought and won five hundred battles, taken one thousand cities, and slain one million one hundred and ninety-two thousand men, fell, not in the din of battle and the hour of strife, but when he thought his pathway was smooth and strewn with flowers, and when danger was supposed to be far away; for, taking his seat in the senate chamber upon his throne of gold, to receive at the hands of that body the title of king, the dagger of treachery suddenly struck him to the heart. Cassius, Brutus, and other conspirators rushed upon him, and he fell, pierced with twenty-three wounds. Thus he suddenly stumbled and fell, and was not found, B.C.44.” Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, 258–264.

 

The historical fulfillment of pagan Rome (the king of the north), being established upon the throne is a history that prefigures the history of Modern Rome’s enthronement at the threefold union which takes place at the soon coming Sunday law. The history is also typified in verses thirty through thirty-six, which identified when the papacy was first placed upon the throne in 538. Verses sixteen through nineteen, and verses thirty-one through thirty-six both represent the final rise and fall of the whore of Tyre. That history was also represented in verses five through nine, when the first king of the north was established after conquering three geographical areas. Thereafter he entered into a treaty with the king of the south, but broke the treaty, and in response the king of the south delivered a deadly wound, and the king of the north died in the captivity of Egypt.

Verses five through nine, verses sixteen through nineteen, and verses thirty through thirty-six provide three prophetic lines that are fulfilled in verses forty through forty-five. When Sister White identified that “much of the history that has been fulfilled in this prophecy will be repeated,” it actually meant that the entire chapter illustrates verses forty through forty-five. Verses twenty through twenty-two identify the birth and the death of Christ, thus representing the time of the end in both 1798 and 1989 by His birth, and then His death on the cross represented October 22, 1844, and the Sunday law.

Verse twenty-three identifies the league between the Jews and Rome, during the history of the Maccabean revolt. The “league” in that history is represented by the dates of 161 BC and 158 BC. The Maccabean history represents an internal line that finds its beginning with a “league” between Rome and the Maccabean Jews that was initiated by the Jews, and ultimately ended with the Jews pronouncing that they have no king but Caesar. Verse twenty-three of course follows verses twenty-one and twenty-two, and verse twenty-one identifies the birth of Christ, which is a prophetic time of the end, and verse twenty-two identifies the cross, which represents the Sunday law.

At the cross the Jews identified Caesar (Rome) as their king, and the “league” of verse twenty-three references the beginning of the Jews’ choice to serve Rome, right at the ending point of the Jews proclaiming their allegiance to Rome. The ending of the Jews, as represented at the cross, is followed by the beginning of the Jews’ association with Rome.

Verses twenty-four through thirty describe the three hundred and sixty years that pagan Rome ruled supremely from the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, unto the transfer of the capital from Rome to Constantinople in the year 330. The period of three hundred and sixty years typifies the twelve hundred and sixty years papal Rome ruled supremely, and together they represent the period from verse forty-one, and the threefold union that occurs at the soon coming Sunday law, unto the close of probation.

All the prophetic lines of history in chapter eleven, align with the last six verses of Daniel eleven, but it is the prophetic history from the time of the end in 1989, represented in verse forty through to the Sunday law in verse forty-one, that is “that portion of the prophecy of Daniel relating to the last days.” The history that is left blank in verse forty, is the Revelation of Jesus Christ that is unsealed when the time is at hand, just before probation closes.

We will continue this study in the next article.

“We have the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the spirit of prophecy. Priceless gems are to be found in the word of God . Those who search this word should keep the mind clear. Never should they indulge perverted appetite in eating or drinking.

“If they do this, the brain will be confused; they will be unable to bear the strain of digging deep to find out the meaning of those things which relate to the closing scenes of this earth’s history.

“When the books of Daniel and Revelation are better understood, believers will have an entirely different religious experience. They will be given such glimpses of the open gates of heaven that heart and mind will be impressed with the character that all must develop in order to realize the blessedness which is to be the reward of the pure in heart.

“The Lord will bless all who will seek humbly and meekly to understand that which is revealed in the Revelation. This book contains so much that is large with immortality and full of glory that all who read and search it earnestly receive the blessing to those ‘that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.’

“One thing will certainly be understood from the study of Revelation—that the connection between God and His people is close and decided.

“A wonderful connection is seen between the universe of heaven and this world. The things revealed to Daniel were afterward complemented by the revelation made to John on the Isle of Patmos. These two books should be carefully studied. Twice Daniel inquired, How long shall it be to the end of time?

“‘And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And He said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.’

“It was the Lion of the tribe of Judah who unsealed the book and gave to John the revelation of what should be in these last days.

“Daniel stood in his lot to bear his testimony which was sealed until the time of the end, when the first angel’s message should be proclaimed to our world. These matters are of infinite importance in these last days; but while ‘many shall be purified, and made white, and tried,’ ‘the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand.’ How true this is! Sin is the transgression of the law of God; and those who will not accept the light in regard to the law of God will not understand the proclamation of the first, second, and third angel’s messages. The book of Daniel is unsealed in the revelation to John, and carries us forward to the last scenes of this earth’s history.

“Will our brethren bear in mind that we are living amid the perils of the last days? Read Revelation in connection with Daniel. Teach these things.” Testimonies to Ministers, 114, 115.