From our Sunday service on July 20, 2025, Daniel 11-12. This is part 11 of our Daniel series. Watch the full message: The Time of the End – Daniel Series #11 on YouTube.
Today we finish our Daniel series by covering Daniel 11 and 12. These chapters continue the prophecy that started in chapter 8, where Gabriel told Daniel what would come to pass. We have already talked about Antiochus Epiphanes, and about how Hanukkah came from that prophecy. Daniel 11 is the more detailed breakdown of everything that happened between the giving of the prophecy and Antiochus fulfilling it. There is not a lot of practical application from the history itself, except that God keeps His promises. God wants you to know that He always accomplishes His goals.
Four Kings, Summarized
Gabriel starts by reminding Daniel that he stood to confirm and strengthen Darius the Mede. Then he shows the truth: 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. These prophecies are so clear that, in my studies, no one really argues about who these people are, even though they were written hundreds of years before the fact.
I will summarize the rest rather than read it line by line. King one was Alexander the Great. A mighty king arises and rules with great dominion, but his kingdom is quickly broken and divided among four of his generals rather than going to his children. King two, Antiochus I, tries to create a political alliance with Egypt. It falls apart. Antiochus III later returns with a larger army, and a military occupation of Israel begins. King three is Antiochus III. He attempts another alliance by offering his daughter Cleopatra the First to Egypt. This is not the Cleopatra you are thinking of. She is not here yet. He later dies mysteriously outside of battle. Then king four shows up: Antiochus IV, also called Antiochus Epiphanes, whom we met in Daniel 8. He rises through intrigue and flattery. He is a smooth talker, and he foreshadows the Antichrist, who will also use flattery and do unpopular things while convincing people it is the right way to go.
He invades, wages war against Egypt, and finally, after Roman ships oppose him, he lashes out at the Jews. Those who forsake the law side with him, because he tries to enforce Greek culture. His forces desecrate the temple, remove the daily sacrifice, and set up the abomination of desolation. Wise teachers teach others, yet many are persecuted, killed, burned, captured, or plundered. The book of Maccabees records this chaos and how the faithful rebelled. God says some of them will fall, but it is not pointless. He will purge them and make them white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed. This is phrasing from forging metal. If you have impurities in your metal, it becomes brittle. You cannot make a sword out of iron mixed with impurities. God uses the pressure of this period to purify His people, to purge them and make them white.
To the time of the end is not talking about the end of the world. It is talking about the end of the period Daniel is prophesying about, the seventy weeks. What happens at the end of the seventy weeks? Jesus is ascended into heaven, the last prophecy comes in Revelation, and Rome rises up and tries to snuff out Christianity. Those first Christians face adversity for some three hundred years before the Romans accept Christianity as the official state religion. Nero will burn them alive and slaughter them. Before that, God sets up this difficulty so people are ready to fight for the truth when it comes. We too have to be ready, because the Bible says multiple antichrists will come. Antiochus Epiphanes is just the first of many before the final Antichrist.
The King Who Magnifies Himself
Verses 36 through 38 foreshadow the Antichrist even more. The king shall do according to his will, 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. 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. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces, and a god whom his fathers knew not. The king here is literally Antiochus Epiphanes. There is no debate. But he also typifies the Antichrist. Just as John the Baptist is said to come in the spirit of Elijah, so will the Antichrist come in the spirit of Antiochus Epiphanes.
A Resurrection During the Seventy Weeks
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
Daniel 12:1–3
At that time is not literally right after Antiochus’s death. It means the same general time period. Michael the archangel will stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. These verses confuse people, because they think the resurrection is the end times. But it does not say all that sleep in the dust will rise. It says many of them. So there should be a short-term fulfillment and a long-term fulfillment. When was there a resurrection during the seventy weeks? I propose the short-term fulfillment is in Matthew 27. When Jesus yielded up the ghost, the veil of the temple was rent, the earth did quake, the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. The long-term fulfillment remains: some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.
Michael Stands Up
I thought for sure I would see this mentioned in my study, but I could not find one commentary that mentions it. I always tell people when I teach something I do not find anywhere else. The only other place that talks about Michael this way is Revelation 12. I like to call that chapter the Revelation timeline. It resets in the middle of the book, goes back to the beginning of history, and tells us about the spiritual battle behind the scenes. Michael’s defense of the righteous is a fixed point for both Daniel and Revelation, so we can synchronize the prophetic timelines by comparing them. Both use three and a half times and a period of roughly twelve hundred days, and both use the phrasing like a flood. A woman clothed with the sun brings forth a man child who is to rule all nations, and her child is caught up unto God and to His throne, while a great red dragon, whose tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, waits to devour the child. The woman flees into the wilderness. The war in heaven is not a sideshow. It is the same conflict Daniel was shown, and it means that God is still defending His people.
Daniel Is Told to Seal the Book
God tells Daniel, Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Later, in Revelation 22:10, John is told the opposite: Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. John was living in the last week of the seventy weeks. Daniel is told to close the book because the time has not yet come. John is told to leave it open, because it is time to talk about what comes next. Daniel himself says he does not get the timeline, and God tells him he does not have to. He is not going to be here for all of it. From the time the daily sacrifice is 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. Despite the difficulty, Daniel can rest in death. He will not see the events unfold, but he will awaken at the end and stand in his place. Those who make it to the end are going to see Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, and everything is going to change. Daniel 11 and 12 pull back the curtain so God’s people can see that every rise or fall of kings and kingdoms, every persecution, every act of desecration or rebellion has failed to derail God’s plans. God always accomplishes His goals. He does so precisely, through specific rulers and sequences of events. He does so patiently, through persecution that He uses to refine the wise. He does so powerfully, setting limits and appointed times. And He does so pastorally. He does not leave us without hope. He promises a resurrection, a reward, and ultimate vindication. Antiochus Epiphanes is a pattern of an arrogant, self-exalting opposition that foreshadows the Antichrist. Yet even in his fiercest attack he only accomplished one goal, purifying the wise for what was coming. The Messiah anchors our final end. So live, serve, and endure in confidence that God will finish what He started. God wants you to know that He always accomplishes His goals.
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