Daniel 11:36

The King At The Time Of The End (Daniel 11:36).

‘And the king will do according to his will'.

The question is, which king does this refer to? Antiochus Epiphanes has never been called the king. He is ‘the contemptible person to whom had not been given the honour of the kingdom'. And he is simply referred to as ‘he' throughout (see especially Daniel 11:32 where it is after a break). It is true that he is included as such secondarily in the phrase ‘both these kings' in Daniel 11:27, but he is never called ‘the king', not even ‘the king of the north'. The phrase which was so readily on the author's lips previously is now no longer used. This is quite blatant. He is the usurper.

Furthermore such phrases as ‘king of the north' and ‘king of the south' can move from king to king without meaning the king mentioned previously. So this simply means ‘whoever is the king at the time being spoken of'. And the time being spoken of is the time of the end (see also Daniel 11:40). We thus see the term ‘the king' as signifying someone not yet spoken of who arises at this time.

Thus to say as some do that ‘there is no indication of a change of subject' is quite short-sighted. There is a clear change of subject. This new one is a genuine king, not a usurper. (Whereas earlier when there was a change of king the change was not always clear, such as ‘the king of the south' in Daniel 11:5. No one would suggest that the king of the south is the same one all the way through).

‘And the king will do according to his will, and he will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and will speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and he will prosper until the indignation be accomplished. For that which is determined shall be done.'

That this king is a parallel, and more, of Antiochus must be granted, but to say that there is no change of subject is unwarranted. Antiochus, the bogus ‘king', has been replaced by a true king. Antiochus' persecution had been the time of the end of the indignation against Israel described in chapter 8. Here this king is the end of the indignation against the people of God at the end of time. We have a similar comparison to that between the two horns in chapter 8 and chapter 7. There is a similarity but they are not the same.

The king of the end time ‘will do according to his will', just like the mighty king had done in Daniel 11:3 and the invincible king of the north had done in Daniel 11:16. Both those kings were called ‘the Great'. So here is another to be called ‘the Great'. But both had been humbled. So here was another one to be humbled.

‘And he will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and will speak marvellous things against the God of gods.' Antiochus had likened himself to Zeus, king of the gods, but so had others before him. He merely exalted himself as some other kings had in the past. But this one goes even higher, he exalts himself above the God of the gods. To Daniel this can only refer to Yahweh. But Antiochus had not even considered Yahweh. He had dismissed him as a local god. However, this one knows Yahweh and opposes Him. He challenges the Most High (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

We should note that while Antiochus did take his belief in his own divinity very seriously, it must have taken a very serious blow when the Roman general made him stand in a ring, and would not allow him to step out of it until he had agreed to leave Egypt. It is difficult to believe that after that he could think of himself as so exalted, and even less that his army could.

‘And he will prosper until the indignation be accomplished. For that which is determined shall be done.' As the indignation against Israel was removed from the holy remnant by the purifying which took place through the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, so will the indignation of God against His people again be removed by the persecutions in the end days. We have no right to put this all on physical Israel. There is little doubt that God is also indignant about the behaviour of the church of Christ. They too need to be purified. And the king of the end days will prosper until that is accomplished (may even be prospering now). For God's determined purpose must be fulfilled.