News Flash
December 26, 2011
I told a visiting friend last month that I believed that US/NATO troops would soon be invading Syria. The reason I believe this is because the prophetic location of the King of the North is north of the Holy Land = Syria. Syria was ruled by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the King of the North who set up the Abomination that Makes Desolate (Abomination of Desolation) which was an idol of Zeus on the throne of Heaven. This he set up near the Altar of Sacrifice in the Holy Sanctuary of the Temple and polluted the sanctuary with pig’s blood.
The prophetic King of the South is Egypt which is south of the Land of Israel. The King of the South to come will be a leader (possibly called Caliph) of an Islamic confederation centered in Egypt. The King of the North is a little more difficult to perceive.
The Daniel 11 prophecy has a dual fulfillment. The first time it was fulfilled was in 167 B.C. when King Antiochus came down from Syria and attacked Jerusalem; looted the Temple; set up an idol of himself as Zeus and tried to force the Jews to worship his image (Abomination of Desolation). Some went along and others did not. Finally a family of Priests named the Maccabees led a rebellion and overthrew the Seleucid yoke.
The Seleucids were the descendants of Seleuchus, who was a general of Alexander and, after his death, claimed the quarter of his empire that included Syriaand Persia. The Seleucids ruled and were in constant rivalry with the Ptolemic Dynasty of Egypt (kings of the South.)
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| Map courtesy Wikimedia Commons |
Antiochus had grown up in Rome and came to consider himself the human incarnation of Zeus, the king of the gods. It was a statue of himself as Zeus that he set up in the Temple.
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Statue of Zeus Olympus in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
Picture courtesy Wikimedia Commons
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If you follow the outline in Daniel 2, you can see that each successive empire conquers and absorbs the previous one. Persiaconquered Babylon; Alexander (Greece) conquered and absorbed Persia; and finally Rome conquered and absorbed the Greek states that made up the Greek Empire, including the lands of the Seleucids. In each case, the city of Babylon became a part of the subsequent empire. First Alexander conquered Persia and Babylonwas made his capital. Then Seleuchus made Babylonthe capital of his empire.
Successive kings moved the capital to Antioch in Syria. Rome conquered and absorbed the remnant Greek empire of the Seleucids, inheriting Babylon with it.
Who controls Babylon today? NATO controls Babylon. Camp Babylonis the HQ of NATOs command in southern Iraq. Babylon was taken over first by US Marines and then turned over to NATO soldiers of Poland, Spain, France, Germany and the UK.
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Coin minted by Antiochus Epiphanes. Reverse shows his likeness as Zeus sitting on a throne.
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
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Jesus said in Matthew 24 we are to look for an Abomination to be set up once again to mark the beginning of The Great Tribulation period. Antiochus Epiphanes’ erection of an idol of himself as the king of the gods was just a rehearsal of what is to come. It will happen again.
Now the stage is being set. Looking at the news articles about what is going on in the Middle East tells me that a US/NATO led invasion of Syria based on the Libya model would appear to be eminent.
Here are some quotations from news sources:
13 Dec 2011
US troops surround Syriaon the eve of invasion?
A former official from within the ranks of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is reporting that US and NATO forces have landed outside of Syria and are training militants to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad…American soldiers are among the NATO troops that have mysteriously and suddenly landed on the Jordanian and Syrian border. According to her, several sources internationally have confirmed the news,… Additionally,… American and NATO forces are training Turkish troops as well, to possibly launch a strike from the north of Syria.
An Israeli news service reports:
Sun, December 25, 2011
Kislev 29, 5772
Report: Russia warships to enter Syria waters in bid to stem foreign intervention
Russian warships are due to arrive at Syrian territorial waters, a Syrian news agency said on Thursday, indicating that the move represented a clear message to the West that Moscowwould resist any foreign intervention in the country’s civil unrest.
It looks like the Russians already know where this is all heading. It appears to be a repeat of US/NATO intervention in Libya.
Rome – the Legs of Iron absorbed the Greek Seleucid Empire that included Syria. Many European leaders today seek to re-create the glory days of the Roman Empire that once controlled all the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, including Syria, Judea and Egypt. If I am analyzing the news reports correctly, there will soon be European soldiers in Syria – if they are not already there.
Keep watching world news and pray that you and your loved ones may escape the end-time fulfillment of Daniel 11.
Leon Sexton
