BIBLE PROPHECY ON MIDDLE EAST

Bible prophecy is actually history written in advance. The Author is none other than the Almighty God of the universe, written by His chosen prophets! God is working out His supreme plan on earth. Sadly, except for a very small group chosen by God, the rest of mankind is totally ignorant or being deceived of the real truth. God has His Master Plan for mankind working out through His prophecy in history. The Middle East play a key part in that events unfolding there will affect all of humanity whether they know/believe it or not.

The prophet Daniel was given this prophecy over 2,500 years ago (Daniel 10:1) that involves powerful earthly kingdoms with events and conflicts that will culminate in our time. During Daniel's time, he could not understand the prophecy as it was closed and sealed till the time of the end (Daniel 12:8-9). We are now living in that 'time of the end', for the angel told the Apostle John that the words of the prophecy of this book (Revelation and Daniel are interlinked in prophecies) are not to be sealed, for the time is at hand (Revelation 22:10)!

One main keys I learnt about bible propehcy is to let the bible interprets the bible. Another is that many bible prophecies have dual events, usually one had been fulfilled and another yet to occur. This longest prophecy in the Bible is about the Middle East and is found in Daniel chapter 11. Of the forty five verses, many had already been fulfilled. It prophesied of two competing kingdoms and two powerful kings which play a big role in setting the stage for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ!

The archangel Gabriel (Daniel 9:21) told Daniel that this prophecy is the truth (11:2) - meaning it will surely come to pass as recorded. Since Jesus Christ said that no scripture can be broken (John 10:35) it had indeed stand the test of history and will continue to be fulfilled for the remaining portion of the prophecy.

Daniel 11:2-3 speak of the four kings with the fourth being the mightiest and richest of the four. History tells us that the four kings are, in order of rule, Cambyses, Smerdis, Darius of Persia and Xerxes, who instigated war with Greece. The 'male goat' in Daniel 8:5 was the Greek Empire, initially ruled by King Philip of Macedonia with ambition to defeat the Persian Empire. After his death, his son Alexander the Great defeated the Persian army at the Battle of Issus in 333 B.C. (Daniel 8:2, 5-6).

In 331 B. C two years later, Alexander the Great completely defeated the Persian army and destroyed everything from Middle East to India as prophesied in Scriptures! His untimely death at the young age of thirty-two left him with no heir apparent and his kingdom was divided to be ruled by his four generals just as prophesied in God's Word (Daniel 11:4). The four generals were - Ptolemy ruled Egypt, Judea and part of Syria, Seleucus ruled Syria, Babylonia and regions east of India, Lysimachus ruled Asia Minor and Cassander ruled Greece and Macedonia.

Of these four, the first two were strong kingdoms and prophecy tracked them all the way. The Syrian kingdom represents the 'king of the north' - since it is north of Jerusalem. The Egyptian kingdom represents 'the king of the south' as Egypt is south of Jerusalem (11:5). These two kingdoms were always at war with one another, mostly over the land of Palestine and Jerusalem. Control passed back and forth between these two kingdoms depending on the victory of the last battle fought between them.

Daniel 11:6 is an incredible verse as far as prophecy goes. Some half a century later, Antiochus II (called Theos) who was the king of the north ruling Syria then, divorced his wife Laodice to marry Bernice, the daughter of the king of the south just as it was prophesied in verse six! In amazing details as written by historian Rawlinson, both Bernice and her father Ptolemy Philadelphus (him who begot her) together with her husband king of the north came to tragic end. Through Laodice's influence, war broke out between the two kingdoms and Ptolemy Philadelphus (king of the south) was killed. Thereafter, Antiochus divorced Bernice in favor of his former wife Laodice. Later on, Laodice had Antiochus and Bernice murdered to avenge her anger.

Following in verse 7, it reads, 'But from a branch of her roots (Bernice's parents) one shall rise in his place ( Bernice's brother Ptolemy Euergetes the III, eldest son of Philadelphus took to the throne as king of the south) shall come with an army ( invaded Syria in 245 B.C.), enter the fortress of the king of the north, and deal with them and prevail. (conquered the land to avenge for the death of his sister Bernice and took everything away). Verse 8 speaks of the exploits of the conquest that Ptolemy III took silver and gold vessels after capturing the port city of Antioch (capital) and Seleucia. These were precious items that the northern king Cambyses had taken earlier in 526 B.C. from the southern kingdom (verse 9). History shows that Ptolemy reigned four more years (died in 222 B.C.) than his northern counterpart Seleucus II who died in 226 B.C. (verse 8).

After the death of Seleucus II, the northern kingdom was succeeded by his two sons. (verse 10). Each of the two brothers, Seleucus III and Antiochus III, successively raised up great armies to fight Egypt (southern kingdom) and recover the port of Seleucia to avenge the honor of their father. Thereafter, Ptolemy IV (king of the south) gathered an army of 20,000 to fight Antiochus the Great (king of the north) in fulfillment of verse 11. Ptolemy IV also fulfilled verse 12 because he killed tens of thousands of his enemies. However, his mistake was to make a hasty peace with Antiochus and retreated too soon back to Egypt and hence, 'did not prevail' in consolidating his victory (217 B.C.)


Antiochus the Great returned twelve years later in 205 B. C to take advantage of Egypt, when the king of the south died and his baby son Ptolemy Epiphanes was given the throne. Antiochus defeated Eygpt was a fulfillment of verse 13 of Daniel chapter 11. Antiochus' conquest included Egypt, Sidon, Phoenicia and eventually capturing the land of Judea (Glorious Land or Holy Land) in 198 B.C. (verse 14-16).

In 198 B.C. Antiochus arranged to have his daughter Cleopatra (not the famous Queen of Egypt in 31 B.C,) married the boy king Ptolemy Epiphanes of the southern kingdom. His plan was to take control of Egypt but it backfired as Cleopatra deceived her father and the plan failed (verse 17). He next planned to take control of the coasts of Asia Minor, including the surrounding islands. But the Roman general Lucius Cornelius defeated and destroyed his army. (verse 18). Verse 19 goes on to record that Antiochus next turned his attention to his own fortresses - the Oriental Temple of Belus in Elymais. He was killed in 187 B.C. while trying to consolidate all his possessions in fulfillment of verse 19.

Seleucus IV Philopator wanted to raise money through taxes in Judea (Glorious Kingdom - verse 20). So he tasked Heliodorus to do it but was eventually poisoned by Heliodorus. As Seleucus IV had no heir, his younger brother Antiochus IV (also known as Epiphanes) took control of the northern kingdom through deceit and flattery (vile person - verse 21). With the help of his aid, Eumenes, Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) became the king of the north. The following verse in 22 prophesied that Antiochus Epiphanes attempted to remove the Jewish High Priest ('prince of the covenant'- verse 22) and in favor of someone loyal to him.

Verses 23-26 talk about the character and personality of Antiochus Epiphanes, full of deceit and flattery, and he used them to great advantage to gain supporters and power. He offended the Jews by sweeping into Lower Egypt and Galilee, and was threatened with war by ministers of the king of the south - Ptolemy Philometor - who claimed Palestine under their jurisdiction. Continuing his hatred of the Jews, Antiochus Epiphanes sacked the Temple at Jerusalem and carted away golden vessels (verse 28). He returned to Egypt another time but was not as successful as before because Ptolemy Philometor had sought help from Rome (verse 29).

After his defeat by the Roman general Popillius, Antiochus Epiphanes vented his anger at the Jews by offering favor to the Jews who would renounce their belief and practices ('show regard for those who would forsake the holy covenant' -verse 30). In 167 B.C. Antiochus sent in troops to Palestine and destroyed the Temple and its sanctuary, casting off the daily sacrifice (see Daniel 8:11) and even put a slaughtered pig on the altar as a sacrifice thus fulfilling verse 31 with 'the abomination of desolation'. This prophecy is a type of things to come. As in Luke 21:20, Jesus prophesied that Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies and know that its desolation is near. In A.D. 70, the Roman army invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple just as the Lord Jesus said it would. The Almighty God often uses duality in prophecy to show what would likewise happen in future as a warning to those who would take heed!

Antiochus Epiphanes' attempt to destroy the Jewish religion gained some momentum because of his faltteries and corrupt favoritism. 'But the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits' (verse 32). They represent those of the Maccabees who resisted Antiochus' style of corruption, deception and brutality. The duality of this is that they represent a type of the 'last days' saints who would build His church in the face of flatteries (where itching ears love to hear), deception (the lawless system of corruption of this world) and brutality (widespread wars, killings and abuse of power).

Would you be like prophet Daniel to stand tall and fearless amongst all the kings and power to be of this world but fear the God Almighty Who will usher in His Kingdom on earth at the time of His appointment! For only the wise (like Daniel who fear God) shall understand (Daniel 12:10). You can be counted in if you believe and obey His laws and commandments.