In the book of Daniel, Daniel shared how Gabriel told him, “the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land. But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress. And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand. And when he has taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it”, and in chapter eleven and verse thirteen of his book Daniel shared how Gabriel said, “the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former” where we read,
For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former,
and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.
The verse reads, “For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, …” Daniel began with the words, “for the king of the north” or “because, since and on account that the royal ruler and leader belonging to the northern direction” “shall return” which means “will come back”, “and shall set forth a multitude” or “and will raise up and take a stand with a massive crowd of forces” “greater than the former” which means “larger and greater in number compared to his previous army”. Daniel shared how the “northern royal ruler” would come back and assemble an amount of forces that was larger than his original one.
The verse goes on to say, “… and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.” Daniel continued with the words, “and shall certainly come” or “and will assuredly enter and be enumerated” “after certain years” which means “following some amount of annual sets of days” “with a great army” or “alongside and accompanying a large in number, more mighty and and stronger military force” “and with much riches” which means “and accompanying a great and numerous amount of property, goods and possessions”. Daniel said the royal ruler from the “north” would assuredly be enumerated following some “years” and would be accompanied by a massive group of forces and a great amount of property and goods.
When we consider the words in this verse, we learn through Daniel how Gabriel told him the “king of the north” would go back to his location, assemble an even greater number of military forces than his previous one, and return to the battle following some “years” with a massive “army” and a large amount of property and goods. Matthew Henry wrote, “The king of the north, Antiochus the Great, shall return with a greater army than the former; and, at the end of times (that is, years) he shall come with a mighty army, and great riches, against the king of the south, that is, Ptolemaeus Epiphanes, who succeeded Ptolemaeus Philopater his father, when he was a child, which gave advantage to Antiochus the Great. In this expedition he had some powerful allies”, and we remember again that these are prophecies which were unknown to Daniel at the time, but we have the advantage of a historical record to verify their validity. God wants us to know that He is well aware of the future of the world and our future as well. He knows without a “Savior” our sins will lead us into an eternal separation from Him. (See Romans 6:23) For this reason God sent His Only Begotten Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind, and when we yield our lives to Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and give us the power of His Holy Spirit to be assured that God has every ruler and nation in control and we have no need to fear no matter how many forces and riches they obtain.
Next time Daniel shares how Gabriel told him, “in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
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