Three Things to Know

Daniel 11:5-20 “The king of the South will become strong, but one of his commanders will become even stronger than he and will rule his own kingdom with great power. 6 After some years, they will become allies. The daughter of the king of the South will go to the king of the North to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last. In those days she will be handed over, together with her royal escort and her father and the one who supported her. 7 One from her family line will arise to take her place. He will attack the forces of the king of the North and enter his fortress; he will fight against them and be victorious. 8 He will also seize their gods, their metal images and their valuable articles of silver and gold and carry them off to Egypt. For some years he will leave the king of the North alone. 9 Then the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South but will retreat to his own country. 10 His sons will prepare for war and assemble a great army, which will sweep on like an irresistible flood and carry the battle as far as his fortress. 11 Then the king of the South will march out in a rage and fight against the king of the North, who will raise a large army, but it will be defeated. 12 When the army is carried off, the king of the South will be filled with pride and will slaughter many thousands, yet he will not remain triumphant. 13 For the king of the North will muster another army, larger than the first; and after several years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped. 14 In those times many will rise against the king of the South. The violent men among your own people will rebel in fulfillment of the vision, but without success. 15 Then the king of the North will come and build up siege ramps and will capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will be powerless to resist; even their best troops will not have the strength to stand. 16 The invader will do as he pleases; no one will be able to stand against him. He will establish himself in the Beautiful Land and will have the power to destroy it. 17 He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will make an alliance with the king of the South. And he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plans will not succeed or help him. 18 Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back upon him. 19 After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more. 20 His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor. In a few years, however, he will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle.”
 
IN brief, this affirms how Israel will consistently suffer foreign rule. Specifically, it speaks of Greece’s rule in verse 16: It may interest you to know the daughter referred to in verse 17 is Cleopatra, daughter of a Greek ruler. Her father (ruler of the North) arranged for her to marry an Egyptian ruler (South) to become a spy for her father. But she became loyal to her husband and foiled her father’s plans to conquer coastal cities.
    The last part of verse 20 refers to another Greek ruler. He sent a tax collector to Jerusalem for supposed uncollected funds. However, the tax collector, Helioduts, assassinated the ruler. This led to the rise of Antiochus IV. We will see this last Greek ruler was the worst of all,  “a contemptible person” (verse 21).
    One reason we learn this history is to know three things: 1) What God has done. 2) What God is doing. 3) What God is going to do. This knowledge will build your faith to boldly live for your eternal King.
 
John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”