The People Who Know Their God

Daniel 11 is one of the most confusing and amazing chapters in all of Scripture. It is a prophetic vision telling the story of the Greek Empire in vivid detail, including the rise of the kings of the south and the north. For centuries, these two kingdoms will constantly battle for power, with current-day Israel as the pawn in the battles. With vivid detail, Daniel predicts around 150 years of very difficult history for Israel, including constant oppression and violence as these rulers vie for the most important plot of ground on the planet. These kingdoms and their oppression of the people of God comes to a head in the person Antiochus Epiphanes and an awful event called the Abomination that Causes Desolation. Yet, even these events are nothing more than a preparation for a final leader who is to come at the end. For two millennia Christians have been asking about the identity of the Antichrist, this last world ruler. Be certain, anyone who claims to know the identity does not. Yet, every generation has those who rule in the spirit of antichrist, and the call to every generation of Christ-followers is the same---to stand firm and take action (v. 32), knowing that the purpose of God with His people in times of persecution is "so that they may be refined, purified, made white, until the time of the end for it still awaits the appointed time."