(Daniel 11:40-41a) “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. He will also invade the Beautiful Land.”

When Alexander the Great died his empire was parcelled out to his four main generals. The two main ones that Daniel focuses on were the Ptolemaic dynasty (headquartered in Egypt) and the Seleucid dynasty (headquartered in Syria). These two dynasties were antagonistic toward each other, and Israel was caught in the middle.

There were several historic wars between the two dynasties which we see mentioned in Daniel 11:1-35. From verse 21-35 the focus becomes the Seleucid Greek General Antiochus Epiphanes whose army came out of Syria and invaded Israel. Antiochus was a major type the future Antichrist.

Between verse 35 and 36 we have “a time leap” which relates to the time of the end, or to the end time (vs.40a). From verse 36ff we have the military campaign of the Antichrist described.

When comparing Daniel 11:36-37 with 2 Thessalonians 2:4 they are speaking about the one and the same person.

Daniel tells us this war will be between Egypt and its allies with Turkey and its allies coming out of Syria and sandwiched between the two armies will be Israel.

This battle I am inclined to think will bring about the Time of Jacob’s Trouble when this last king of the North will invade Israel and perpetrate the abomination of desolation in the temple as Antiochus Epiphanes did (Daniel 7:24-25; 8:9-12) (Matthew 24:15; 21-22) (Daniel 12:1) (Daniel 11:31).

In Daniel 12:1 we see the phrase repeated “At that time” being “the time of the end” when the war occurs between the last king of the south happens with the last king of the North (Daniel 11:40a).

Today Egypt is considered an important ally of the United States. The strategic ties between the two countries span nearly two centuries, rooted in shared interests and values.

Since 1978, the United States has provided Egypt with over $50 billion in military aid and $30 billion in economic assistance strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries and promoting regional stability.

Now the whole Islamic Jihadist world wants to possess Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jews and Egypt is no exception having attacked Israel along with other Islamic nations in 1948, 1967 and in 1973.

The conflict in the Middle–East centres on the Holy City. God is making Jerusalem a cup that is sending all the surrounding nations reeling (as though drunk) and that will see Judah (Judea) and Jerusalem besieged by these armies.

On that day, which is rapidly approaching when the nations of the earth will be gathered against the city, the LORD will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations and all who seek to move it will injure themselves (Literally in the Hebrew “to be ripped or torn apart”) (Zechariah 12:2-3).

We know from Daniel 11:42 that Egypt (the king of the South) will fall to the armies led by Turkey (the king of the North). El-Sisi the current president of Egypt rejects the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood which wants to see the world Islamised.

Erdogan is an advocate of the Muslin Brotherhood and wants to have control of Syria in his quest to resurrect the Turkish Ottoman Caliphate. If he can rule in Syria he will have direct access to Israel and to Jerusalem which he wants to invade and conquer for the whole Muslim world.

With Assad out of the way Erdogan is seeking to cease the opportunity to draw to his war banner the anti-Israel forces in Syria and Iraq.

Turkey has supported Syria’s de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and the rebel offensive led by Sharaa’s Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group once affiliated to al-Qaeda. Ankara has actually supported the Syrian rebels for the past 13 years.

While the man from Turkey has said publically that he wants to see a new Syria in which all ethnic and religious groups can live in harmony, the reality is that he is a past master of taqqyia (the Islamic art of spreading disinformation, misinformation and deception, allowed in a time of Jihad).

Erdogan undoubtedly has embraced Syria’s de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa as the means to have Turkey reign in Syria. The Kurds are the only real obstacle militarily speaking, and there are around 2.5 million Kurds living in Northern Syria and they are supported by both America and Israel.

Turkish military forces are already gathered just over the border between Turkey and Syria. Erdogan must first deal with the Kurds which have proven to be a thorn in his side.

Erdogan may seek to curry favour from President Trump for economic advantage in rebuilding Syria but for what purpose? Does President Donald Trump really understand the mindset of Islam?

Whether it is the Jihadist Islamists in Turkey, in Gaza, in Judea and Samaria, in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq, in North Africa, in Iran or in any other Muslim country they are not satisfied with just having Jerusalem and Israel but also a global empire of Islam subject to Islamic Sharia law.

The goal of the jihadist Islamic mindset is the extermination of the Jews, then the Christians and then to subjugate the western democracies to Islam.

As we see the military campaign of the Islamic Antichrist described in Daniel 11:36-45 it is clear that as the last king of the North his armies will come out of Syria, invade Israel, take Egypt and sweep through many nations in the Middle-East region (Daniel 11:40-43).

In this war it may well see Egypt (the last king of the South) and its allies America and other western nations entering a war with Turkey (the last king of the North) and its allies in Syria, Iraq and in the Islamic nations in North Africa.

It may well be that in this last war between the king of the South with the king of the North we will see the Ezekiel 38 invasion of Israel by the nations of the world that have turned on Israel and blamed them for all of the troubles in the Middle-Eastern region.

This war may well see the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, but Israel will be saved out of it by the return of the Messiah our Lord Jesus. As for the Antichrist who has made his headquarters in Jerusalem he will come to his end with no one to help him (Daniel 11:45).