The Time of the End

Devotional

Day 1: The King Who Exalts Himself Above Every God

The passage describes a ruler consumed by self-deification, rejecting all gods to magnify his own power. This figure embodies humanity’s oldest temptation: autonomy from God, echoing Eden’s lie that we can become our own authorities. His defiance is not mere rebellion but a grotesque parody of divine authority, claiming what belongs only to the Creator. Yet his reign is bounded—he prospers only until God’s appointed time. The text anchors hope in sovereignty: evil’s rise is measured, its end certain. [07:11]

“The king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished, for what is decreed shall be done.”
(Daniel 11:36, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you subtly claimed autonomy from God’s authority this week? How does this passage reframe your view of personal control?

Day 2: Sovereign God Over History’s Chaos

Amid descriptions of wars and shifting powers, a quiet truth emerges: God’s decrees govern even the most chaotic events. The “indignation” against evil has a fixed limit—no rebellion outlasts His timeline. This king’s destructive path, though terrifying, is tethered to divine permission. The passage invites trust not in understanding every detail, but in the One who writes the story’s end. Earth’s empires rage, yet their collapse is guaranteed. [15:30]

“He shall come to his end, with none to help him.”
(Daniel 11:45b, ESV)

Reflection: What current event or personal struggle feels uncontrollable? How does God’s boundary around evil’s reach reshape your anxiety?

Day 3: Prophetic Visions in Contemporary Terms

Daniel’s imagery of chariots and ancient kingdoms challenges modern readers. Just as prophets described future realities through their era’s lens, we must discern timeless truths behind time-bound metaphors. The real conflict isn’t about literal geography but spiritual allegiance—the Antichrist’s war against God’s people transcends any historical moment. Scripture’s symbols point to enduring realities: human pride, divine judgment, and ultimate deliverance. [23:09]

“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:9-10a, ESV)

Reflection: How might over-literalizing biblical prophecy blind you to its present spiritual warnings? Where is the “spirit of Antichrist” active today?

Day 4: The Antichrist’s End With None to Help

However formidable evil appears, its defeat requires no human effort—Christ destroys it “with the breath of his mouth.” The Antichrist’s demise contrasts sharply with Christ’s resurrection: one ends in isolated ruin, the other in triumphant life. This dichotomy exposes the futility of self-exaltation and the security of trusting God’s deliverance. No ally rescues the enemy; every knee will bow to the true King. [30:57]

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:8, ESV)

Reflection: What personal “battle” do you need to stop fighting in your strength? How does Christ’s effortless victory redefine your approach to spiritual warfare?

Day 5: Christ’s Kingdom Standing When Empires Fall

Daniel’s visions culminate not in human empires but God’s unshakable reign. Earthly powers—whether ancient kings or modern ideologies—rise and fall like theater props. The church’s hope isn’t in avoiding conflict but in the King who pitches His tent among us (John 1:14), enduring every storm. His kingdom needs no chariots; it advances through crucified love and resurrection power. [34:57]

“The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”
(Daniel 7:27, ESV)

Reflection: Where are you tempted to equate God’s work with political or cultural power? How does Christ’s eternal reign free you to serve in humility today?

Sermon Summary

Daniel 11:36-45 stands in one of the hardest parts of a daunting book, and the text refuses to let the reader lose the big picture. Daniel holds out the promise that the sovereign God who has delivered and does deliver will deliver his people from opposition, persecution, and even the extreme persecutions at the very end of time. God will raise his people from the dead, and they will reign with him forever in his glorious kingdom.

The shift at verse 36 introduces “then the king,” and that little word points beyond Antiochus Epiphanes to another king and another period of time. The earlier history gives a prototype, but the later verses give the horrible full-grown reality. The abomination that makes desolate, as Jesus uses Daniel in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, reaches beyond Antiochus and the destruction of Jerusalem to the final embodiment of opposition to God. The king in Daniel 11 is therefore best understood as the ultimate rebel, the Antichrist, the man of sin.

This king “shall do as he wills.” The text paints complete autonomy, complete self-absorption, and the old lie from Genesis 3 in monstrous dimensions. The lie says that man may be like God, answerable to no one, refusing the God who speaks from his Word. The same spirit has already appeared in Daniel in Nebuchadnezzar’s image and in Babylon’s boast, but now the charcoal sketches become a full horrible Technicolor portrait.

The king magnifies himself above every god, combines blasphemy with inhumanity, and honors the “god of fortresses.” Power, might, control, warfare, flattery, and political favors become his religion. The phrase about “the one beloved by women” may even indicate contempt for the foundational elements of God’s created order in male and female. This is beastly life, anti-God life, humanity curved inward until it becomes inhuman.

The final conflict is described in the language of ancient geography and warfare, with kings of north and south, chariots, horsemen, ships, Edom, Moab, and Ammon. The text should be read literally, but not literalistically. Prophetic vision views the future in the terms of its own day, and the point is not speculative mapmaking but the certainty that hatred against the people of God will reach a final cataclysmic reality. Yet the final word belongs to God. The Antichrist will come to his end with none to help him. Christ will destroy the lawless one by the breath of his mouth and bring him to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

Key Takeaways

1. God’s sovereignty steadies hard prophecy. Daniel’s hard words are not given to feed esoteric curiosity but to steady battered people under the hand of God. The decreed wrath has a limit, and evil only prospers “till the indignation is accomplished.” The details may perplex, but the melody line is plain: the God who has delivered and does deliver will deliver. [05:02]
2. Autonomy becomes beastly in the end. The king who “does as he wills” is not merely a political monster; he is the old Eden lie grown up into public power. The desire to be one’s own god may begin in private preference, but Daniel shows its final shape as blasphemy, inhumanity, and contempt for God’s order. The Antichrist is a final personage, but the spirit of that rebellion is endemic in the heart of man. [15:48]
3. Prophecy is literal, not literalistic. Daniel’s chariots, horsemen, ships, and ancient borders should not be flattened into wooden predictions or fanciful headlines. Prophetic visions view the future in terms of the contemporary, and careful reading must recognize symbolic language without abandoning the truth of the text. Literalistic readings may sound more faithful, but they can actually miss how Scripture itself speaks. [22:51]
4. Christ ends evil without panic. The final rebel gathers power, frightens nations, and rages against the people of God, yet Daniel says simply that he “shall come to his end, with none to help him.” Paul says the Lord Jesus will kill the lawless one with the breath of his mouth and bring him to nothing by his appearing. Evil may go out looking immense, but before Christ it ends “not with a bang, but with a whimper.” [30:24]
5. The church must look to Jesus. Daniel’s vision does not invite cold speculation while the church forgets its risen Lord. Christ was opposed, crucified, buried, raised, and now present with his people as they face the same ancient conflict from Genesis 3 onward. Confidence, conviction, and compassion belong together when the church turns its eyes upon Jesus. [35:13]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:15] - Reading Daniel 11:36-45
[02:25] - Prayer for the Book to Live
[05:02] - The Big Picture of Daniel
[06:01] - From Antiochus to Another King
[08:18] - The Antichrist and the Abomination
[13:18] - The Ultimate Rebel Described
[15:13] - Evil Under God’s Decree
[18:31] - Contempt for God’s Created Order
[20:17] - The Time of the End
[22:51] - Literal, Not Literalistic
[26:05] - Ancient Geography and Final Opposition
[29:03] - The Antichrist Comes to His End
[33:22] - Christ, the Church, and Persecution
[35:13] - Turning Eyes Upon Jesus

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Daniel 11:36-45
“And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done. He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price. At the time of the end the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. He shall come into the glorious land, and tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. He shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.” [00:15]

2 Thessalonians 2:8
“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

Matthew 24:15
“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),”

Genesis 3:5
“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Observation questions

In Daniel 11:36-39, what repeated actions and attitudes show what kind of ruler this king is? [13:44]
According to Daniel 11:36, what two statements remind the reader that this king is still under God’s control, even while he prospers? [15:13]
In Daniel 11:40-45, what details are given about conflict, movement, and destruction at “the time of the end”? [20:17]
What final statement closes the whole description of this king in Daniel 11:45, and why does that ending stand out after all his power? [29:03]

Interpretation questions

Daniel 11 shifts from Antiochus Epiphanes to “then the king.” What features in the passage make it reasonable to see this as pointing beyond Antiochus to a final enemy of God? [07:25]
Genesis 3:5 speaks of the desire to “be like God,” and Daniel 11 describes a king who exalts himself above every god. How does Daniel show that human autonomy does not stay small or private, but grows into something destructive and beastly? [15:48]
Matthew 24:15 shows that Jesus applied Daniel’s language of the abomination of desolation beyond Daniel’s own day. How does that help explain why Daniel 11 should be read with both historical fulfillment and a future fulfillment in view? [08:50]
Daniel 11 describes chariots, horsemen, ships, and ancient places. What does it mean to read prophecy literally but not literalistically, and how might that approach keep a group from either wooden readings or wild speculation? [22:51]

Application questions

The spirit of this king is the desire to “do as he wills.” Where does that same impulse show up in ordinary life—in decisions, relationships, speech, or private habits—and how can it be recognized before it hardens? [34:09]
Power, control, flattery, and advantage can become a kind of religion. Where is the pull of those things strongest right now—in work, family life, politics, ministry, or online—and how can a Christian resist honoring the “god of fortresses”? [18:55]
God’s sovereignty is meant to steady battered people. When life feels confusing or hostile, what truths from Daniel help the heart stay settled instead of panicked? [05:02]
Evil may look immense, but Christ brings it to nothing. What fears about the future most need to be brought under that truth, and how would daily life look different if that confidence really took hold? [30:24]
Hard passages can tempt people either toward endless argument or toward avoidance. Which danger feels more natural here, and what would it look like to discuss difficult prophecy with humility, patience, and confidence? [32:21]
The conflict described in Daniel is not only “out there” in the world but also in the human heart. Where has the struggle to submit to God’s Word been especially sharp lately, and what would repentance look like in that area? [34:06]
Jesus is not merely a memory to admire but a risen King who is present with his people. What practices help turn the eyes toward him in a steady way, especially when the world feels dark or confusing? [35:13]

Sermon Clips

In other words, we can be absolutely confident that the Antichrist will end not with a bang, but with a whimper. He won't go out with a bang. Eventually, he will be completely neutralized. Why? Because God is God. Because Christ is king. Because he's working everything out according to the eternal counsel of his will. [00:31:28]

And it's for that reason that we do what Jesus said to do. We're not here to revere his memory. We're here to celebrate his presence. We're here to affirm his resurrection. And we desperately need God to enable us and help us as a church as we seek to live out what it means to hold to these things with confidence, with conviction, and yet with a genuine sense of compassion so that others might come to love Jesus, too. [00:35:11]

Well, it's the lie of the devil in Genesis 3. Uh the only reason that God has told you this about this tree is because he knows that you will be like God. You don't have to listen to him. And the great appeal of that is an appeal which runs throughout all of history, and each of us has a temptation to megalomania to our own degree and in our own little context. [00:15:47]

Um the promise of Daniel is that our sovereign God who has delivered and does deliver will deliver his people from opposition, from persecution, and from the extreme persecutions that will come at the very end of time. His promise is that he will raise his people from the dead and that they then with countless millions will reign with him forever in his glorious kingdom. [00:05:06]

So, to the extent that we stand far enough back from it to say, "Okay, well, we can disagree over Edom and we can disagree over chariots and and so on. But what can we not disagree on?" We cannot disagree on the fact that the animosity, the vitriolic hatred against the people of God will reach a final cataclysmic reality before the end of time, before the resurrection of the people of God, before Jesus wraps things up. [00:29:22]

We want to be able to decide what we're going to do, with whom we're going to do it, when we're going to do it, and we don't want anybody, no God telling us anything at all, and certainly not from that book the Bible. So the spirit of the Antichrist is endemic in the heart of man. [00:34:15]

After Christ's coming, the national and geographical boundaries of the kingdom were exploded. Because Jesus was sending his followers out into all the world to make disciples of all nations so that the company that would be put together, that would be assembled, that would be opposed by the Antichrist, would be the church. And where would the church be? Not somewhere in near Egypt. The church would be in the entire world, all over the place. [00:27:11]

The idea that there will be an end to history as we know it. That it will come to an end. Because you don't think of things really coming to an end. You think of your life eventually coming to an end. But history itself as we know it being wrapped up. That God will eventually intervene as he's done before and will bring everything to a complete denouement. [00:20:49]

This character has no concern for any other god himself. He is, if you like, god. And he will speak astonishing things against the god of gods. But you will notice that he will only prosper until the indignation or the wrath is accomplished, for what is decreed shall be done. And that again, as we saw this morning, is just one of these little hints in the text to remind the reader that God is sovereign over these things. [00:15:06]

But you must notice that the big issue that is conveyed to us is that at the end of the day when he pitches himself in the in the context of animosity to the people of God, all of a sudden, unexpectedly, but definitely, he will come to his end. And there will be none to help him. [00:28:58]

It's all the continued struggle between that which God has ordained and that which is in opposition to him. And at the most fundamental and basic level it is the struggle in each of our hearts. Because by nature we want to be our own God. We want to have absolute autonomy. [00:33:54]

Because, if you update it to what I'm saying, the Antichrist is not going to attack the enemies of the church. The Antichrist will not attack those who are attacking the church. Those who are attacking the church, those who are the enemies of the people of God, will be the allies of the Antichrist. [00:28:06]

And when that one came, he was then opposed. He was then crucified. He was then buried. But God raised him up. The spirit was poured out on the church. The church sets out to do what it's to do. And what happens? Immediately persecution. Immediately hatred. Immediately the church is opposed. Stephen is stoned. [00:33:25]

In other words, he's the greatest. He combines blasphemy with inhumanity. And they are revealed in this horrible figure. It's no surprise, is it, that this kind of notion that has run throughout Daniel has been described in beastly-like activity? The individual has often been described as a beast, whatever that beast might be. And here, in the blasphemy of the person and in the inhumanity of the person, and in the magnifying of himself, uh you find these things. [00:16:26]

Again, you're sensible people, you can figure it out. Then we're told that he will honor the god of fortresses instead of these. In other words, power and might and control are his great deifying feature. Warfare and political favors combine in order to draw people around himself. [00:18:50]

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