“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” (Daniel 11:40a).
Two days ago it was reported in the Edition of the Cyprus Mail online that Cyprus, Greece and Egypt signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to connect their respective electricity grids in Athens on Tuesday, with the Greek premier calling the emerging alliance among the three nations a “beacon of stability” in the eastern Mediterranean. “Energy is becoming the bridge connecting Egypt to Europe,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a joint news conference after the 9th Trilateral Summit. “In an era where we seek energy diversification, Egypt can become a supplier of electricity generated mainly from the sun,” Mitsotakis added.
Separately, Nicosia and Athens have recently signed preliminary deals with Egyptian authorities to link their power systems to Egypt’s via a subsea cable. The interconnector will transmit power produced by renewables in North Africa to Europe. The leaders called the planned electricity interconnection a project which “strengthens our economic cooperation and the security of energy supply not only of the countries involved, but also of Europe.” The project is said to be an important component of the development strategy of the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Corridor, providing an alternative source of energy supply from the region to the European Union and vice versa. In his own remarks, President Nicos Anastasiades stressed that trilateral associations in the region exclude no one, not even Turkey, provided that countries respect international law and the sovereignty of nations. “Unfortunately,” Anastasiades added, “Turkey displays a revisionist and expansionary policy, making it a ‘troublemaker’ in the region.”
Prior to the signing of the MoU, the three leaders and their delegations held talks covering regional politics and security. The declaration of the 9th Trilateral Summit of Greece-Cyprus-Egypt sends a message to Ankara to refrain from provocations and unilateral actions that violate international law, such as the harassment of research vessels licensed by Greece or Cyprus. The three leaders also rejected illegal drilling and seismic surveys by Turkish vessels within the Cyprus continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in regions of the sea that have already been demarcated in accordance with international law. They also condemned the continuing violations of Greek airspace and all other illegal activities in areas within the Greek continental shelf, in violation of international law.”
Turkey is not going away anytime soon in its dispute with Greece over who has the rightful jurisdiction and maritime rights in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Last month a Turkish warship issued a warning to a Greek research vessel to prevent it entering what Turkey considers its territorial waters. The showdown came a year after tensions in the eastern Mediterranean threatened to escalate into open conflict between the neighbours and NATO allies. The Nautical Geo survey ship was confronted by the Orucreis frigate as it attempted to enter Turkey’s continental shelf. The ship in question was radioed and warned not to enter the Turkish continental shelf. There was no physical intervention. At the time Turkey’s Defence Ministry condemned Greece’s ‘intrusion’ as “unlawful, provocative and expansionist initiative” under the guise of scientific research and said Turkey was “determined to protect and defend its rights and interests.”
In the Book of Daniel Chapter 11 we have the historical account of the wars between the king of the North with the king of the South. These were a series of wars between the Seleucid Greek Dynasty located in Syria with the Ptolemy Dynasty located in Egypt. We have these wars described in Daniel Chapter 11:1-35 that culminate with the Seleucid Greek General and despot Antiochus Epiphanies the king of the North, a major type of the coming Antichrist mentioned in the Bible. Antiochus at first was resisted by Rome and then after that in fury he turned back with his military forces to invade Israel (Daniel 11:29-30). What he did in Israel around a 160 years before the birth of the Lord Jesus teaches us about what the Antichrist will do in Israel at the end of this present age (Matthew 24:15-22) See also (Daniel 8:9-12, 23-26).
Antiochus desecrated the Temple by slaughtering a pig on the altar of sacrifice and by erecting an image to the Greek god Zeus in the Temple. He abolished the daily sacrifices, conspiring with the Jewish turn coats in Israel. He forbade the reading of Torah. He killed all who opposed his mandates and he sought to do away the Jewish laws and customs and replace them with Hellenistic laws and culture. Antiochus and his military forces were resisted by the Maccabee patriots who waged a war with the forces of Antiochus and eventually drove the Seleucid Greeks out of Israel and reconsecrated the Temple, an event celebrated today by the Jewish people called Hanukkah.
History has shown the prophet Daniel to be 100% accurate in what he saw in the future. Now in Chapter 11 between verses 35-36 we have a time leap or time gap which is often found in other Biblical prophecies. From verses 36-45 we have a future account of the final war between the last king of the North with the last king of the South. This last king of the North is the Islamic Antichrist whom will do as he pleases and exult and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard of things against the God of gods (Vs. 36) (See also (2 Thessalonians 2:4). He will honour a god of fortresses. Like Antiochus, the man of sin will come out of Syria with a military force and wage a war against the mightiest of fortresses with the help of his foreign god Allah (Vs.39).
At the time of the end the king of the South (Egypt and its allies) will engage him in battle and the king of the North (with his allies from the Jihad-minded Islamic world) will storm out against him (Vs. 40a). It will be an all-out battle not only on land but also on the sea which may well be the Eastern Mediterranean although the name of the sea is not mentioned. We do know from the Book of Revelation Chapter 13 that John sees the last beast empire coming up out of the Sea which geographically would be the Mediterranean Sea (Revelation 13:1). At the end of this battle Egypt will be defeated and invaded and its allies forced to retreat. Not only will this king of the North take Egypt but many other Middle-Eastern countries as well (Vs.40-43). He will be alarmed at threats from the east and the north (Vs.44). His main campaign will be against Israel, where, after three and a half years of despotic rule, he will meet his demise with no one to help him (Vs 45).
Now the Apostle John also tells us in the Book of Revelation that the seven letters the Lord Jesus wrote were to seven literal assemblies of New Covenant believers located in modern day Turkey and in his letter to the assembly at Pergamum specifically mentions “the city where Satan has his throne and where Satan lives” (Revelation 2:13). Coming back to Daniel Chapter 11:36-45 we can see that this letter to Pergamum applies to what we see happening in relation to Turkey today.
Lets’ briefly consider these facts…
#1. The man from Turkey wants to be the supreme Caliph of the Muslim world and it is very clear this is on the agenda for his resurrected Turksih Ottoman Empire. He wants the ‘top job!’ The Antichrist will exult himself as God and above all other deities and ultimately set himself us in God’s Temple at Jerusalem. We saw a foreshadow of this when Erdogan lead the prayers in the Hagia Sofia which for many centuries was the Vatican of Eastern Christendom. Now it has been re-converted into a Mosque at the behest of the Turkish leader. His desire is to take Jerusalem and the Temple Mount for Islam. Sometime ago he publically called on all Muslims in Israel to storm the Temple Mount for Islam. We are also told that the Antichrist will not regard the rights of women which is also a main characteristic of Islam (Vs. 36-37).
#2. The man from Turkey honours a god of fortresses which was also the mark of his Ottoman forebears and the mark of Islam historically which we see in the emblem of the crossed swords pointing upwards denoting conquest by the sword. His ‘foreign god’ would be Allah (Vs.38-39). Added to this he is a firm adherent to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood whose goal is a world dominated by Islam.
#3. The man from Turkey clearly is planning to invade Israel once his forces have taken out the Assad regime. When Erdogan’s military forces advance into Israel out of Syria as Antiochus did, the forces of the Turkish leader, the king of the North, will also attack the forces of the king of the South being Egypt and its allies. Egypt will fall along with its allies most likely including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. As for Libya and Sudan they will already be under the control of the Turkish king of the North. Israel will be “the meat in the sandwich” (Vs.40-43).
#4. The man from Turkey will be alarmed because East of Turkey is China and north of Turkey is Russia. These nations will disturb the man from Turkey causing him to ‘up the ante’ on his Jihad with vigour and despatch (Vs.44).
#5. The man from Turkey will make his headquarters at Jerusalem and he and his forces will meet their demise at Jerusalem. Satan had his first defeat there and will also have his last defeat there! (Vs.45)
God’s Word must always be our guide in matters related to Bible prophecy. We do not try to make the Bible fit into one’s system of Eschatology but look at current events and examine them in the light of God’s Word. As we see Egypt entering into a very lucrative economic deal with Greece and Cyprus related to the Eastern Mediterranean, and in light of the maritime conflict brewing in the eastern Mediterranean, it is little wonder that the man from Turkey wants to own the Eastern Mediterranean and all of Cyprus. This new economic alliance between the three nations being Egypt, Greece and Cyprus may well be the catalyst for the coming war between the king of the South (Egypt) with the king of the North (Turkey) This battle will occur at the time of the end (Daniel 11:40a) and time is running out!
