“At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through” (Daniel 11:40).

A two-day hi level diplomatic summit meeting has just concluded in the Southern Israel town of Sde Baker in the Negev. Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid hosted his counterparts from the United States, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain. They had met to discuss the ongoing security threats in the middle-East and it was obvious that they were concerned about Iran even though, as I understand things, the subject of Iran was kept ‘low-key.’

The summit was held under the framework of the Abraham Accords in 2020 and through which the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco normalized ties with Israel. It is clear that Prime Minister Naftali Bennet through favouring such a summit was looking to strengthen the Abraham Accords by scheduling regular diplomatic meetings with member countries as well as to expand the agreements to include additional countries. While Saudi Arabia refrains from joining the other member nations of the Accord they are not disinterested as they are also aware of the Iranian nuclear threat just across the gulf.

On the agenda of the summit was discussing their common enemies being Iran and its proxies but apparently it was not really highlighted. Of course the irony related to the Biden Administration represented by Antony Blinken at this summit meeting is that the Biden Administration is all for going ahead with the Iranian Nuclear Deal which in stark reality shows their disregard for Israel’s security. Whether Naftali Bennet sees this fact remains obscure in the so called ‘euphoria’ as it were of seeing Israel normalise relationship with its Islamic neighbours in the so called ‘moderate’ Arab world.

It is interesting to note that during a speech given by the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry that he mentioned the two-state solution with East Jerusalem being the capital of the so called ‘Palestinian state’ and also spoke about the two state solution that would see Israel going back to its pre-’67 borders which would make the Jewish state absolutely vulnerable to attack especially from the Golan Heights which Israel currently controls and holds against the Hezbollah militants, not to mention the Iranian, the Syrian and the Turkish forces in Syria all wanting to see Israel demolished as a nation if the truth be known!

Hopefully Naftali Bennet will not ‘cave in’ on this so called two-state solution from hell! The fact that the Egyptian Foreign Minister mentioned the pre-’67 borders shows that Islam as a whole does not want Israel to remain as a sovereign nation. You cannot make peace with Islam. There is no ‘moderate’ Islam but only Islam!

In the Book of Daniel Chapter 11:36ff we have the military campaign of the last king of the North who will come out of Syria as did Antiochus Epiphanies, a major type of the Antichrist in scripture. Daniel 11:1-35 describes the series of wars that occurred historically between the Seleucid kings of the North with the Ptolemy kings of the South. The description of these wars ends with its focus on the Seleucid Greek General Antiochus Epiphanies, a major type of the Antichrist in the Bible. Much of what Antiochus did foreshadows what the Antichrist will do when He arises out of Syria as Antiochus did. One of the Antichrist’s titles in the Bible is “the Assyrian” but he will not be ethnically Syrian but his army will come out of Syria and attack Israel (Micah 5:5b).

In Daniel Chapter 11 there is a time leap between verses 35 and verse 36 and from verse 36-45 we have described the Antichrist and his military campaign. It will be the war between the final king of the North with the final king of the South. We know from verses 36-37 that this king of the north will exult and magnify himself above every god and will say monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation (God’s foreordained purposes of judgement) is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. The Antichrist will show no regard for the gods (God) of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all” (Vs.37).

There are several things to note about this man. He exults himself above every god and everything that is called god. This is an exact match to 2 Thessalonians 2: 3-4 where he is described as, “the man of sin who opposes and exults himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped and the one even sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” We are also told that his god is the god of fortresses, a god of war which describes Islam today (Vs. 38). On Islamic banners and flags you have the emblem of the crossed scimitars pointing upwards denoting conquest by the sword. Islam is the ideology of the sword and religion is a component of Islam.

We are also told that his ‘god’ is “a foreign god” and with the ‘help’ of his ‘god’ attack the mightiest of fortresses (Vs.39). This foreign god is not the God of his forefathers but a different ‘god’ than the God of the Bible. He will have a vast army that will come out of the North and fight with the king of the South and his armies which will come out of Egypt and be a coalition of Arab nations led by Egypt. The king of the North and his armies will prevail and Egypt will lose the war including those nations that have aligned themselves with Egypt (Vs.42).

The king of the North will invade many nations not confined just to the Middle-east but also into North Africa and into some of Europe as the Turkish Ottoman Empire achieved at the zenith of its power. These nations will fall to military might of the king of the North and he will make his headquarters at Jerusalem where the last abomination of desolation will occur in the temple which will have been constructed at least to the point where animal sacrifices and offerings can be offered up on the altar. It is at Jerusalem where the Islamic Antichrist will be completely destroyed (Vs.44).

I would like to suggest that the king of the south will be Egypt in league with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and possibly Yemen, Qatar and possibly Saudi Arabia and even an American contingent. As for the king of the North I would like to suggest he will come out of Turkey. In Ezekiel Chapter 38:1-6 five of the eight nations mentioned that will attack Jerusalem that are marked on ancient maps of the Middle-East, are all located within modern day Turkey. Gog of course in the Antichrist and he is from the land of Magog which today is located in modern day Turkey along with Meshech, Tubal, Gomer and Beth Togarmah. The Antichrist will have backing him Iran, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and North African kingdoms such as Libya, Somali and the Sudan and Ethiopia. Added to this you have the Turkic speaking Islamic states located in Southern Russia that were a part of the former Soviet Union. These would align themselves with Turkey.

In the light of scripture and history this last king of the North will be the final Mahdi of Islam. An Islamic army of 200 million would be possible once these Muslim nations are united. We are told that this army will cross the dried up Euphrates River (Revelation 9:13-16). They are the Kings of the east (Revelation 16:12). When you look at all of the nations and geographical regions related to end-time prophecy in the Bible they are virtually all Islamic today. All of the armies of the nations that go down into the pit of Hades are specifically named and are all Islamic nations today (Ezekiel 32:18-32).

Once the Antichrist has arrived on the world’s stage he will command the allegiance of the whole Muslim world. At present all eyes are on Russia with its invasion of Ukraine and on China with its expansionist agenda concerning Taiwan, the South China Sea and the South Pacific region and both of these nations are potentially or possibly on the brink of kick starting WWIII. Even Kim Jong-Un of North Korea has now launched another ballistic missile landing not far from Japan. We are seeing wars, rumours of wars, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom on a global scale but the end is not yet. The ‘birth pains’ have begun and are increasing in frequency and intensity as the birth of the Messianic kingdom on earth draws near! (Matthew 24:6-7).

However, the rise of Islam is being ignored primarily in the mainstream media and by the political leaders of the western democracies turning ‘a blind eye’ as it were to the real threat of Islamic ideology globally. The ‘Trojan Horse’ of Islam is already ensconced within the walls of Europen cities and in all of the western democracies and Muslims are holding key positions in western governments including the Biden Administration. The real threat to the western democracies and to Israel, to the Church and to the whole world for that matter is not primarily Russia or China but Islam!

One of the amazing things is how political leaders in America or the leaders of Europe can even countenance a nuclear deal with the rogue nation of Iran? What do you think Iran will do to the west and to the moderate Arab States on the Saudi Arabian Peninsula once they achieve nuclear weapon capability? I am sure the Saudis, the other moderate Arab kingdoms on the Saudi Peninsula and the Israelis know full well what Iran will do once they go nuclear even if the EU, the UN, Great Britain, and the United states choose not to know!

The two-day hi level diplomatic summit meeting that has just concluded in the Negev had this whole situation of regional security in the middle-East on the agenda. And so it seems we are seeing this coalition of nations forming  because of the threat of Iran to the whole of the Middle-Eastern Region.  It would seem that the king of the South, being Egypt and the other kingdoms on the Saudi Arabian Peninsula, are starting to unite at an embryonic stage at least and that others will join them primarily to decide how to deal with Iran.

However, Iran is not the sole problem when you consider the forces the Islamic Antichrist will have at his command! As a result of this summit we may well be seeing the formation of this southern coalition of nations that will not only have to face Iran but the king of the North and the hordes of Islam and Jerusalem will be at the centre of this conflict. The time is coming when at the end of this present age, which is rapidly coming to its close, we are going to see the king of the South and his forces colliding with the king of the North and his military forces, a conflict in the air, on land and at sea, as the king of the North storms out against the king of the South with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and that this king of the North will enter countries, overflow them and pass through.”

For the sake of His elect saints, for the rescue of Israel and for the very survival of the whole planet God will cut those days of tribulation short and send the Messiah our Lord Jesus back to destroy all opposition and to inaugurate His Messianic Millennial Kingdom! (Matthew 24:21-24) In that day we are told in God’s Word that when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet that there will be voices in heaven shouting loudly and announcing that the kingdom of the world has become  the kingdom of our Lord and of His anointed Messiah, and He will reign for ever and ever! (Revelation 11:15).