Day 22 – the Message that the Demon Wanted to Squelch

Read Daniel 11: 1 – 9

In Chapter 11 God unfolds to Daniel detailed revelations concerning the nation of Israel covering the next 300 years. Skeptics reject the book because the prophecies are so detailed that they reason Daniel must have been written after the events actually occurred. They refuse to believe that the Bible is supernatural in nature and deny that it could actually provide specific details about events that have yet to take place. If we believe that our God is omniscient about the future, we have no problem believing God can give us details from the future to encourage our faith and demonstrate that the Bible is God’s Holy Word. In Daniel 11 we find a variety of predictions outlined historically around a series of kings whose names all start with the letter “A”. Daniel faithfully recorded God’s prophecy and historical records give us the details to see how incredibly accurate they were.

In Daniel 11:2 a prophecy is recorded concerning the Persian government. A fourth king would “stir up all against the realm of Greece.” We know from history that Cyrus was succeeded by three sons and was then followed to the throne by a king named Ahasuerus – the fourth king. King Ahasuerus (sometimes called Xerxes) is also mentioned in the Book of Esther and he commanded one of the largest armies in ancient history. He would indeed go to war with Greece but was soundly defeated. Alexander is the second king and he comes on the scene 150 years later. Alexander the Great conquered the known world but upon his death, his brother and two sons were all murdered within a matter of months, his kingdom was divided between his four generals as prophesied in verses 3 and 4. General Ptolemy took Egypt which is to the south of Palestine and General Seleucus became king of Syria which is to the north of Palestine. God told Daniel that Israel would experience great difficulty for 200 years because of the fighting of the armies to the North and South.

Read verses 6 – 8 in light of the facts we know from history. A daughter from the southern kingdom would go north for an arranged marriage but she and her attendants would be poisoned by the northern king’s first wife. We also know that a southern son would become king, come north to defeat the armies of the north and carry their valuables back to Egypt.

Q1. Look up the word “prophecy” in a dictionary. What is the definition?

Q2. Do you believe God can know and reveal future events?

Q3. What purpose is served by revealing and fulfilling prophecy? Why does God reveal future events?

Final thought: Many scholars concur that the book of Daniel was completed in 530 B.C. Skeptics argue that long-range predictive prophecy is impossible and therefore Daniel had to be written much later, after all the described events had actually happened. Literary style evidence from the dead sea scrolls (parts of Daniel were written in Aramaic and parts in Hebrew) along with other objective evidence provides strong proof that Daniel was indeed written hundreds of years before the prophesied events.