The First 42 Months : 4 Series

The Prophecies of Daniel

Part 15: The First 42 Months (Daniel 11:29-35;44-45)

This morning is week 15 of our study of the Prophecies found in the Old Testament book of Daniel. Presently we are working our way verse by verse through the last half of Daniel chapter 11. If you brought your handouts back with you of the map and the parallel verses in the eleventh chapter of the book of Daniel that is great. If you weren’t here or don’t have a copy of them there are copies on the vestibule table should you wish to pick them up for yourself.

Before we begin, just a brief reminder. Daniel 11:21-45 are revealing to us the activities of the Antichrist during the first 42 months of the seven-year Tribulation period. References to the king of the North are speaking about the Antichrist and references to the king of the South are mentioning Egypt and the surrounding territories.

We are also interpreting these verses on the premise that the Antichrist will be a Muslim who will arise from the Middle East, most likely from within the Shiite branch of this religion. I also showed you how I believe that when the Antichrist does appear, he will be the long awaited Islamic prophet of the end times, their Mahdi. Because the Islamic beliefs concerning their Mahdi are eerily similar to the Bible’s prophecies concerning the final evil world ruler known as the Antichrist.

The verses we are going to look at this morning are verses 29-35 and verses 44-45. Looking at your handouts you will see that they are across from each other or side-by-side in opposing columns. Again this is because I believe they are prophecies referring to the same end time event or events. They compliment each other and give us greater detail concerning a single prophecy. Having said that let’s start with verses 29-30.

Daniel 11:29-30, “At the appointed time he [the Antichrist] will invade the South again, but this time the outcome will be different from what it was before. [30] Ships of the western coastlands will oppose him, and he will lose heart….”

Round Two

Okay, last week we saw a major battle take place between the king of the North [the Antichrist] and the king of the South [Egypt and the immediate surrounding areas]. In that battle Egypt was defeated because of traitors working within its own government or military. The Antichrist will be able to gain control of the treasures of the country and the important shipping lanes. With these two verses that we just read, we can see that there is going to be another battle between these two only the outcome is going to be much different.

At The Appointed Time

The first phrase we need to take note of is the phrase “at the appointed time.” This is a phrase that can be seen frequently in Bible prophecy. It denotes that God has a certain time in mind for all of the things He has revealed to come to pass. What that exact time is, is not often revealed to us, but we may be able to gain a clue from the Hebrew origin of this phrase. “At the appointed time” comes from the Hebrew word moed (mo – ade), which means “a designated time, season, or the tent of meeting.”

The Tent of Meeting was the Hebrew Tabernacle that traveled with the Israelites while they were wandering in the wilderness. It was the place of worship and sacrifice. It was the place where God came at moed, “appointed times” or festivals to meet with the people. The tent of the meeting was later replaced by the permanent Temple on Mt. Moriah and has never been used again. But the term moed is still closely associated with the Jewish feast days, because they all occur on appointed days, during certain season.

So, while we don’t know an exact timing of this second invasion of Egypt, I believe we can speculate that it will happen on one of the major Jewish feast days. Since moed is also associated with the Temple as a place of meeting, it may also be telling us that it has some connection with the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. In fact, it may occur about the time that the Temple is finished and just about ready to start receiving sacrifices again. This would be at the halfway point of the Tribulation. This theory can be supported in the next few verses, as we will soon see.

Ships of the West

But continuing with verse 30 we see that this battle isn’t going to go the way it did last time. In fact there may not be an actual battle at all when the Antichrist realizes that this time Egypt has reinforcements. It says that, “ships of the western coastlands will oppose him.” The KJV and the ESV are a bit more specific. They use the phrase the “ships of Kittim.” Kittim is the Biblical name for the present-day island of Cyprus. (I believe you can see it on your maps.)