Kings Of The North - Amazing Discoveries

THE KING OF THE NORTH AT JERUSALEM
Covenant, and force them back into a Palestinian setting as under the Old Covenant.
The prophecies cited above do not refer to a military conflict to be waged in Palestine, but are
graphic prophetic pictures of the great conflict between the forces of good and evil, couched in a
Palestinian setting. As shown later, Daniel’s last prophecy was given to reveal the great spiritual conflict.
Five times in this prophecy mention is made of “the covenant.” The first (Daniel 11: 22) points to the
crucifixion by the Romans of “the Prince of the covenant.” See Daniel 11: 22, 28, 30, 32. God’s covenant is
made with everyone who keeps His Commandments. See Deuteronomy 7:9; 11:13, 14; Jeremiah 31:33-37.
“To a people in whose hearts His Law is written, the favor of God is assured.” Desire of Ages 106. This, of
course, is possible only through believing in Christ. Those who join with the Lord in the spiritual conflict
are assured of God’s blessing and protection. In “Early Writings,” under the chapter heading, “Deliverance
of the Saints” (which deliverance of course refers to Daniel 12: 1), God’s servant says: “It was midnight
that God chose to deliver His people ... [they] hear the covenant of peace” that God makes “with those who
had kept His Law . . . God ... delivered the everlasting covenant to His people,” p. 285.
Having rejected the provisions of the covenant, the Jewish nation was destroyed by the Romans. In
the prophecy of Daniel 11 there occurs a change-over from literal Rome to spiritual Rome (verses 30, 31),
as there has been a change-over from the literal Jews to spiritual Israelites. It is significant that when the
prophecy passes from literal to spiritual Rome the covenant is referred to three times as “the holy
covenant”-see Daniel 11: 28, 30. There is no change in the covenant, but there is a change from literal to
spiritual Israel. Literal Rome co-operated with spiritual Rome in attacking “the holy covenant” between
God and His people. Daniel 11: 30. From these verses onwards (31-45) the prophecy must be interpreted in
relation to spiritual Rome and her spiritual foes-the true Israel of God who are faithful to the covenant,
Daniel 11: 32. The conflict described in the closing verses of this chapter, even though couched in a
Palestinian setting, must be interpreted in relation to the spiritual conflict over the Law of God. In Daniel
12: 1, those designated “thy people” are spiritual Israelites, even though the wording does not indicate it. In
previous parts of Daniel that term applied to- literal Israel, but here it refers to spiritual Israelites because
the New Testament has laid down the principle that all that belonged to national Israel now belongs to the
church. Similarly, the New Testament teaching is that the enemies of Israel and all prophecies which have a
Palestinian setting (and they all do in principle) have their world-wide fulfillment in relation to the church.
This is the principle that must guide in the understanding of Daniel 11:40-45. To interpret these verses in
relation to nations engaging in literal conflict in Palestine, is to forget the clear light that shines from the
pages of the New Testament and to misinterpret these grand revelations concerning the spiritual conflict as
if the Old Covenant concerning national Israel and her “land” (Deuteronomy 15:4; etc.) were still
functioning.
One of the noticeable features resultant from interpreting the prophecies according to the New
Covenant is that they are greatly, enlarged in their meaning and their scope. In the terms of the Old
Covenant, their fulfillment would have occurred in the literal land of Israel; in the terms of the New
Covenant they are applicable in all the world-the world becomes the spiritual land of Israel, for God’s
people are found in all the world.
Spiritual things are world-wide in scope, whereas literal things are limited in scope. For example:
when a prediction concerning Israel is applied in a literal sense to Palestine, that prophecy is limited to that
locality, and it is limited to a particular time. Take the prophecy of Joel 2: 23-27. Early and latter rains are
predicted to fall upon the “land” of Israel (see v. 18). Futurists apply this passage to literal rains to fall in
Palestine. This limits the prophecy in a material sense to both time and place. But the spiritual application is
world-wide and, in a limited degree, continuous in time, during this “dispensation of the Holy Spirit.”
Space alone forbids us pointing out that all prophecies pertaining to the last days which are
interpreted in relation to Palestine, are interpreted according to the terms of the Old Covenant. Satan
counterfeits by limiting to Palestine in relation to the Jews that which the Third Angel’s Message applies
spiritually in all the world.
Applying this principle in our present investigation of the prophecy relating to the king of the
north, we would like to point out that verses 36-40 of Daniel 11 are wrongly applied in connection with
events covering a few years of the French Revolution. In the New Testament these verses are applied as a
description of the Papacy throughout its long history. The same erroneous limitation is also noticeable
when Daniel 11: 40-45 is interpreted in relation to Turkey and limited to the region around the literal city of
Jerusalem; by interpreting these verses in relation to the Papacy and to the great struggle between the forces
of good and evil, the events described therein apply in any part of the world where the mark of the beast
will be enforced.
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