“At the time of the end the king of the South will
engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against
him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade
many countries and sweep through them like a flood.” (Daniel 11:40)
According to Daniel 11 the End of the Age would see two Middle Eastern
power blocks, which he called the King of the North and the King of the
South, and both of them would challenge the anti-Christ for control of
Jerusalem. Today, although they appear to be allies, two countries from
the former Seleucid Empire, the first King of the North, are openly
competing for the right to be the Bible’s End Times King of the North.
They are Turkey and Iran.
The vision of the Kings of the North and South in Daniel 11 was given in
536BC and begins with an angel telling him what would happen to the
Persian Kingdom, that had just conquered the mighty Babylon. He said
after 3 more Persian Kings, a fourth would arise, an especially rich and
powerful King. This Persian King, who we know as Xerxes I, took as his
queen the Jewish woman Hadassah, called Esther in the Persian language
(Esther 2:16-17). He put together a mighty army and mounted an
unsuccessful attempt to conquer Greece in 480BC. About 150 years later
the tables would be turned and a King from Greece would conquer the
Persian Empire. (Daniel 11:1-3) This prophecy was fulfilled by Alexander
the Great.
After Alexander’s death in 323 BC, the Greek Empire was broken up into
four parts by the generals who had run his army (Daniel 11:4). Cassander,
who was Alexander’s brother-in-law, took the home lands, Greece and
Macedonia. Lysimachus took Thrace and Asia minor, which is roughly
equivalent to Bulgaria and Turkey today. Seleucus got the area now
occupied by Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Ptolemy
took Israel, Jordan, the Gaza Peninsula, and Egypt.
Within about 40 years Seleucus had regained the lands of Cassander and
Lysimachus and controlled everything but Egypt, Jordan Gaza, and Israel.
For the next 200 years or so the history of the known world was composed
of the ongoing battles between the Seleucid Empire in the North and the
Ptolemies in the South (Daniel 11:5-35). Looking back through history we
can see that these 35 verses contain 135 prophecies, all of which were
fulfilled by these two kingdoms just as the angel had foretold. Through
out Daniel 11 they’re called the King of the North and the King of the
South.
History To Prophecy
Beginning in Daniel 11:36, the balance of the chapter is devoted to
things that are yet future to us as the Kings of the North and South
return to the world stage for the grand finale, also known as the Great
Tribulation.
Until recently it seemed like Syria and Iran would combine to take the
title King of the North, but now there’s a new kid in town due to
Turkish PM Erdogan’s vision of resurrecting the Ottoman Empire into the
leader of the Moslem world. The Ottoman Empire ruled the region from the
late 13th Century until World War 1.
Next to controlling Jerusalem, which is the ultimate prize, there are
three qualifications to meet in a bid for this title. Being seen as the
friend to the Palestinians and the enemy of Israel are the first two,
and pushing the US around is the third. That’s why Iran muscled Saudi
Arabia aside as the major supplier of money and arms for Hamas a few
years ago, even though Hamas (Sunni) and Iran (Shiite) are not in
agreement from a religious perspective. That’s why Ahmadinejad makes his
outrageous statements against Israel, and that’s why Iran has positioned
itself as the spoiler in any effort to achieve peace in Iraq and
Afghanistan. One unintended consequence of American diplomatic policies
toward Iran is that Pres. Ahmadinejad is now correct in saying that the
only way for Pres. Obama to solve America’s problems in the Middle East
is to enlist Iranian support.
This also explains why Turkey has made such a dramatic change of course.
Signs of a coming change first appeared about the time of the war in
Iraq when Turkey refused to allow US overflights for aircraft bombing
Iraq. It became more obvious when Turkey criticized Israel’s retaliatory
incursion into the Gaza strip to shut down the daily barrage of rocket
fire into Israel. Then came several subsequent and highly publicized
diplomatic offensives against the Jewish nation. And now there’s
Turkey’s support of the bid to break the Gaza blockade, something that
was totally unnecessary given the humanitarian objectives that were used
as justification. Through all of this Turkey has had to defy US wishes
and risk losing its long held status as the top western ally in the
region, next to Israel.
News reports say support for Turkey is now at an all-time high in the
Arab world. The last time Turkish flags were carried through the streets
of Middle Eastern capitals was during the first world war, as people
took to the streets in continued support for the Ottoman sultan-caliph
against the western powers. Thanks to Turkish government support for the
recent blockade-running mission, they are flying once again. Today, no
ruling Arab leader is as popular as the Turkish prime minister, Recep
Tayyip Erdogan.
Not to be outdone, Iran immediately announced its willingness to provide
naval support for the next batch of ships who try to break the blockade.
One “aid”ship from Iran has already set sail with the intention of
breaking the blockade and another will arrive in the Eastern
Mediterranean next week. Maybe the competition is heating up.
What About The Others?
At this point, no one is challenging Egypt’s position as King of the
South, but Arab leaders in the region are very concerned that Turkey and
Iran, both non-Arab nations, are enjoying such popularity with the
masses. For several reasons they see Turkey as the lesser of two evils,
so following the Arabic principle that “the enemy of my enemy is my
friend” Saudi Arabia has taken the unusual step of publicly announcing
it has opened an air corridor to help Israeli aircraft execute a bombing
run on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Saudis have even conducted air
defense drills to make sure Israeli planes are not accidentally targeted
when they pass through Saudi airspace. They’re all but begging the US
and/or Israel to attack Iran, because as much as they dislike Israel,
they are deathly afraid of a nuclear Iran.
According to Daniel 11:40, the King of the North and the King of the
South will team up in an effort to prevent the anti-Christ from taking
Jerusalem, which as I said is the ultimate prize. But he’ll defeat them
both and take up residence in the Lord’s city as if to defy His right to
it. It’s a losing strategy, of course, and the Lord will have him thrown
into the lake of fire for it (Rev. 19:20).
Currently, the world still sees these two countries as part of the same
team, and it’s still too early to guess which one will come out on top.
But the first time I heard about PM Erdogan’s vision of a renewed
Ottoman Empire, I knew that Turkey and Iran would eventually be competing
with each other for the title of King of the North. You can almost hear the
footsteps of the Messiah.