In today’s episode, we delve into the powerful prophecies of Daniel chapter 11, laying bare the unsettling truth about a future dominated by a leader who will defy all known gods and establish his own reign. David Hawking guides us through these scriptural passages with precision, drawing parallels to contemporary societal trends. Discover what these ancient texts reveal about our present world and the times to come.
Daniel 11.36 says, “…he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and speak blasphemies against the god of gods.” Is it not true that we already have the setup for this, even in our own culture? We are living in what I call a practical atheistic society, who out of one side of their mouth on their coins say, “…in God we trust,” but the truth is that most of them, on a daily basis, have no regard whatsoever for God. In fact, rule Him out. Over 90% of all professional media people, 9 out of every 10 people influencing our nation about world events, simply do not consider God at all in their thinking or vocabulary.
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This is Hope for Today, the Bible teaching ministry of David Hawking. If you thought Antiochus was bad in Daniel chapter 11, well, then hold on to your Bible. Daniel 11, 36 to 45, pulls back the curtain on a ruler unlike any before him. Today, David Hawking walks us through these jaw-dropping prophecies and why they point to a global leader the Bible calls the Antichrist. Get ready. This is day one of The Willful King.
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First, here’s David with a quick word. Folks, we have no church or organization behind us. We are dependent upon you and your precious gifts and, of course, your prayers that God would be glorified through all that we say and do. and that we might truly keep to the truth of the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. This is a Bible teaching ministry, and we are not ashamed of that. We are excited about it, and I hope you are too. We do need to know what the Bible actually says. Well, thanks again for all of you who help us. Doesn’t matter what the size of it is. Just pray for us and help us whenever you can. And thanks for listening.
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Well, thank you, David. And folks, if you’d like to make a contribution to Hope for Today, call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 1-888-75-BIBLE in Canada, or make a donation on our website, davidhawking.org. Let’s get into our study.
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Daniel chapter 11, beginning at verse 36, down to verse 45, the subject is the willful king. I don’t know how many books on Daniel you have ever read. I have a lot of them. And I have been deeply disturbed at how many people who write those commentaries do not see any future at all in Daniel 11 and 12. As a matter of fact, almost all of them believe that this has nothing to do with the future whatsoever, that it’s all past. But thank God there are some exceptions to that of men who take God literally and believe that this is future event time. Now from chapter 11, verse 1 to verse 35, that has all been fulfilled. And in verse 36, there isn’t any indication that anything is changing. But I have three reasons why from chapter 11, verse 36 to the end of the whole book of Daniel is still future. I have three reasons for it. But let’s read the text first. Then the king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the god of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished, for what has been determined shall be done.” He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall magnify himself above them all. But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses, and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge and advance its glory.” and he shall cause them to rule over many and divide the land for gain. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the glorious land and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape from his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt. Also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels.” But news from the east and the north shall trouble him. Therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. Three reasons why this is all future. First of all, let me tell you, there are many people who study the book of Daniel who believe that this is still talking about the past breakup of Alexander the Great’s empire. I have three reasons for saying no. And by the way, even Jewish commentators believe that there is a break between verse 35 and 36. That the way things are expressed, the differences are too noticeable. And it is very common in prophecy to do that. But let me give you the three reasons why Daniel 11, 36 to the end is still future from our time today. Number one, in verses 2 to 35, they are all fulfilled historic events. They can be proven. with great accuracy from history, that all of this is fulfilled. That it was the continual battles between the Seleucid, that is Syrian empire on the north, and the Ptolemies, or the Egyptian empire on the south, as they battled with one another, and of course constantly coming across the land of Israel. It’s a part of the indignation of God against His people Israel. They are suffering greatly from all these invasions and battles and so forth, and will even to the end of the time. It’s a part of the times of the Gentiles, which began in 586 B.C. and still exists today. The Temple Mount is still under the control of Gentiles. even though the Jews have conquered the entire land, so to speak. But in verses 36 to 45, nothing in past history corresponds to this section. Nothing. And it’s amusing to me to watch commentators who, from Daniel 11.1 to 35, speak with great accuracy because they know the details are in past history, But when they come to verse 36, they speak in general terms. Some of them don’t have any discussion about it at all, but simply say, well, this is still a part of the past. But they do not know how it is fulfilled. The truth is, there is nothing in past history that corresponds to what is mentioned here in verses 36 to 45. My second reason for believing it’s still future is the descriptions of Antichrist in other passages of the Bible correspond exactly to what is described here. And number three, in Daniel 11, verse 40, the phrase appears, the time of the end. And in Daniel 12, 1, it says, “…at that time.” And according to Daniel 12.1, there will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. Those are words quoted by Jesus Christ and describe the time of the coming tribulation. Turn please to Matthew chapter 24. And to me this is the crowning proof that settles the question. In Daniel 11.36 to the end of Daniel 12, the end of the book, is all future. Jesus Christ quoted those words from Daniel 12.1. Matthew 24, verse 21. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. Down in verse 29, the timing. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened. The moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven. The powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then, at that time, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. And then, at that time, all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. In my opinion, case closed. Daniel 11 and 12 is future from Daniel 11, 36 on. Will you go back there, please? And in outlining our message, I want you to see the character of this coming person we call the Antichrist, this willful king. And secondly, I want you to see the conquests of this king, what he actually does. And finally, the final consequence upon this coming king. The character of this coming king can be cataloged into six areas, I think, to help us in understanding. Let’s start first with his purpose. Verse 36 says, “…he will do according to his own will.” Apparently, the Antichrist is not subject to anyone else. He’s not listening to a cabinet, a council. He is doing according to his own will. That is his purpose. Now turn, please, to Revelation 13, and we find out that someone is causing this. Revelation 13… In Revelation 13, it describes this coming Antichrist as a beast rising up out of the sea. By the way, the sea represents the nations. I believe he’s a Gentile. Some think he’s Jewish. We’ll comment more on that in a minute. We read in verse 2, the last phrase, and the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. So all this is coming from Satan himself, who is empowering this man. Turn, please, to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 9. 2 Thessalonians 2.9 describes this Antichrist and says, “…the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan.” It is Satan who is behind this man. His purpose he’ll do according to his own will. My friends, it is Satan. who had the problem of will. It is Satan who, in his pride, said, I will be like the Most High God. And now he has empowered his Antichrist, his false Messiah, to do according to his own will. The desire of our culture to do what we want to do and we don’t want anybody else telling us what to do is only setting the stage for worship of somebody who will finally do whatever he wants to do and nobody will stand in his way and he will be worshiped and honored because of it. The second thing is his pride. Daniel 11.36 says he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and speak blasphemies against the God of gods. Now, his pride is incredible. You say, well, how will people go along with this? Well, number one, if you’re a pre-tribulationalist, you’ve got the fundamentalist Bible-believing Christians out of here. So they aren’t going to fight him or oppose him. There’s no one opposing it. But secondly, is it not true that we already have the setup for this, even in our own culture? Talk about blasphemy. It’s going on all the time. We are living in what I call a practical atheistic society, who out of one side of their mouth on their coins say, in God we trust, but the truth is that most of them, on a daily basis, have no regard whatsoever for God. In fact, rule Him out. Over 90% of all professional media people do not believe in the existence of a personal God by way of research and study.
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90%.
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It’s incredible. His pride, exalt and magnify Himself above every god. Turn back to chapter 7. In chapter 7… We have predicted what this man will be like and how he will talk. And it says of his pride in chapter 7, verse 25, he shall speak pompous words against the Most High. He’s going to speak against God. The ultimate blasphemy is to deny the existence of God at all. And that is exactly what he’s going to do. And to replace the eternal Creator with the creature. That is the blasphemy spoken of in Romans chapter 1, where we exchange the glory of the Creator into the creature, and we worship the creature. And that’s exactly what is happening in our society now. Back to Daniel 11 again. His purpose, his pride, also his prosperity. Interestingly, it says he shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished, referring to God’s judgment on him. And what has been determined, God is in sovereign direction, it’s all been settled already, shall be done. He is going to really prosper. He’s going to become the number one person in the world. He’s going to dominate the entire world scene. And he will continue until God’s wrath finishes him off. And according to the Bible, that will be settled at the end of the tribulation period. For at least that period of time of seven years, he’s going to go unchecked. And he is going to continue to prosper in every single way imaginable. Number four, his position. Verse 37. It says he shall regard neither the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any God, for he shall magnify himself above them all. His position that is rooted in his pride is he will literally place himself above everyone and everything else. He will show no regard for any other authority except himself. Interesting, the phrase, the God of his fathers, has caused people to believe that he’s Jewish. That the number one way that the Jews would be deceived into making a covenant with the Antichrist and the Western coalition of nations to confirm and guarantee their security is that he would be Jewish. But we’ve already seen that that’s not necessary at all. The Jewish people are not looking to a Jewish person. They’re looking to the President of the United States to protect their security. Is it not possible that a totalitarian leader can come in the midst of this environment and be accepted by all, and because he can bring peace and settlements to the difficult situations in the world, that all the world will indeed support him? Oh yes, all of this has happened, and we are now seeing it. The position of this man is total atheism. Think about it carefully. The word God does not need to be singular and capitalized in verse 37. The Hebrew word Elohim can refer to gods plural. What it is is he doesn’t regard the gods of his fathers. It doesn’t matter who it is or what kind of gods they serve. Doesn’t even care for the term for he himself thinks he is the Messiah. He doesn’t regard any religious background. He doesn’t regard any God at all. That’s very clear. Turn back to Daniel 7, 25 again. His authority is rather incredible. When you look at verse 25, it says, He’ll persecute the saints of the Most High and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. In a sociological journal, I was amazed to see an attorney write about the problem of the proliferation of our legal system into so many laws and based on human rights and so forth. And in this essay and discussion, it was interesting to me to see the point made that we need somebody who can turn the whole system around. We need somebody who has the courage to change all of our legal system. My dear friends, we are ripe for such a person. He’s going to change everything, and for a time, times, and half a time, it will look like even the saints and the believers are in his hand, as there will be much suffering that will occur in the tribulation. Turn, please, to Revelation chapter 13 again. Revelation chapter 13. And looking at the character of this coming king, we examine his purpose, his pride, his prosperity, his position. He’s over everything and doesn’t regard anybody else’s authority, certainly not religious authority. But he’ll be a deceiver. He will use the church as long as he needs it. We are told that a false prophet will be his buddy. And that false prophet will encourage all the religious peoples of the world to support him. But after he gets all he can from the religious system, the Bible teaches he will destroy the religious system. He is above it all in his attitudes about position and authority. In Revelation chapter 13… where we were a moment ago. Look at verse 5 and 6, please. He was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And he was given authority to continue for 42 months, three and a half years, the last half of the tribulation. He rises to power during the first half. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God. Watch this. To blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. Now, wait a minute. We’ve always had the concept throughout the religions of the world that there are angels in heaven. Why in the world is it necessary to blaspheme them? And why would he be concerned about all the believers of the past who’ve died, we’ve never seen any leader do that, to blaspheme against those who died many years ago? No, I think there’s something very significant about this statement. Could it not be that that statement is referring to the church of Jesus Christ that was raptured and now in heaven? Now blasphemy ultimately results in denying something. If you blaspheme God, you deny that He exists. If you blaspheme our Lord Jesus Christ, you deny that He is God. The blasphemy continues when you deny that there’s such a thing as the church that’s been raptured. Does it not infer, perhaps, that this man has to explain what happened to multitudes of people who disappeared from planet Earth? He will blaspheme those who dwell in heaven. I like the thought of it. Amen.
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That’s Bible teacher and author David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. And just before David wraps up today’s broadcast with some additional teaching, Matt’s here, and we have a special resource you won’t want to miss.
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Is it possible to understand the book of Revelation? Which view of the end times is correct? When will Jesus come again? These are just a few of the questions tackled in Revelation, Understanding the Future.
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Matt, this is a hardbound book by your dad, David Hawking, and it’s excellent and so very helpful to have on hand as we begin a series in the book of Revelation later this month. You know, Jim, you can open the book.
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You can easily locate any particular passage in Revelation that you might want to study in the easy-to-follow table of contents. If there’s a section that’s baffling to you or a bit complex.
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Or simply something you’d like to study more in depth and perhaps teach others. Yeah, exactly. Well, go to the table of contents, locate the section, head over to it, and you’ll see the text of that passage along with cross-references, outlines, David’s insights, explanations, and applications.
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All designed to help you understand the book of Revelation. That’s it. This is exciting. It’s a marvelous study that gives us hope for the future. Revelation, understanding the future is normally $25, but this month, We have it for you at just 20 bucks.
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And Matt, we also have your dad’s sermon notes and outlines for the upcoming Revelation series.
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And what a wonderful tool they’ll be helping you to get the very most of our daily study time in Revelation. Call us to order 1-800-75-BIBLE, 242-53.
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In Canada, call 1-888-75-BIBLE or at davidhawking.org.
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Before I forget, right now you can get David’s complete audio series through the book of Daniel. That’s our current radio series. And it’s just $30 for the full MP3 set. This is all 17 messages in our current series on radio. And you can order it by calling 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And Bible is 24253. Or order online at DavidHawking.com. Amen. Amen. Amen. When you give, you’re part of something eternal, delivering solid Bible teaching, free resources, a number of those on our homepage, online studies. We have a number of David’s teaching series in our media center streaming to those who need it most. Hope for Today exists for one purpose, to proclaim the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. And when you stand with us, you’re not just donating, you’re becoming a part of a mission to strengthen faith, reach souls, and lift up the name of Jesus in a world… this lost its way. You see that I do too. If the Lord is moving your heart to give in any amount, please know it matters and it makes a difference. Give by mail, writing to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO 7 Oaks, Abbotsford, BC, V2S 8P1. Or call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Or make a contribution securely online at davidhawking.org. Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for praying for us and giving as God might provide for you to do. As promised, here’s David.
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Thanks for listening to our study of Daniel chapter 11. Most all scholars now call Daniel 11 the most accurate account of the period of time that has ever been written. We’re looking at Daniel 11, 36 to 45, about the willful king. A lot of people are interested in that. He was very proud. He was prosperous also. But in his position, it was total atheism. He said, I’ll magnify himself above all. And his power, he honored the god of fortresses. War was his god, a huge military judgment. And he didn’t regard anybody as god. This man is not religious other than to have people worship him. And his plans, according to verse 39, involve military conquest, political reward, and dividing the land of Israel. Uh-oh. And in verse 40 to 45, we have the conquest of this king and his attack upon Israel, the protection of Edom, Moab, and Ammon, the punishment of Egypt and getting all of Egypt’s treasures. And he planted himself in Israel, according to verse 45 on Mount Zion. He’ll make Jerusalem his world headquarters. Well, I hope you can be with us for our very next broadcast.
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God bless you. Well, thank you, David. And on our next broadcast, the willful king takes center stage. He blasphemes the God of heaven, worships military power, and demands absolute loyalty. And the world, it isn’t interested in truth. It’s obsessed with worshiping the creature rather than the creator. Now, is this just a warning for someday or a window into our own time? Well, don’t miss day two of The Willful King. It’s bold, biblical, and exactly what this generation needs to hear. Amen. We’ll see you then on Hope for Today.
In today’s episode, we delve into the powerful prophecies of Daniel chapter 11, laying bare the unsettling truth about a future dominated by a leader who will defy all known gods and establish his own reign. David Hawking guides us through these scriptural passages with precision, drawing parallels to contemporary societal trends. Discover what these ancient texts reveal about our present world and the times to come.
