Competing For The Title “King of the North”

                   Competing For The Title “King of the North” 

This Week's Feature Article by Jack Kelley

"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." (Daniel 11:40)

According to Daniel 11 the End of the Age would see two Middle Eastern power blocks, which he called the King of the North and the King of the South, and both of them would challenge the anti-Christ for control of Jerusalem.  Today, although they appear to be allies, two countries from the former Seleucid Empire, the first King of the North, are openly competing for the right to be the Bible's End Times King of the North.  They are Turkey and Iran. 

The vision of the Kings of the North and South in Daniel 11 was given in 536BC and begins with an angel telling him what would happen to the Persian Kingdom, that had just conquered the mighty Babylon. He said after 3 more Persian Kings, a fourth would arise, an especially rich and powerful King. This Persian King, who we know as Xerxes I, took as his queen the Jewish woman Hadassah, called Esther in the Persian language (Esther 2:16-17). He put together a mighty army and mounted an unsuccessful attempt to conquer Greece in 480BC.  About 150 years later the tables would be turned and a King from Greece would conquer the Persian Empire. (Daniel 11:1-3) This prophecy was fulfilled by Alexander the Great.

After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the Greek Empire was broken up into four parts by the generals who had run his army (Daniel 11:4).  Cassander, who was Alexander's brother-in-law,  took the home lands, Greece and Macedonia. Lysimachus took Thrace and Asia minor, which is roughly equivalent to Bulgaria and Turkey today.  Seleucus got the area now occupied by Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Ptolemy took Israel, Jordan, the Gaza Peninsula, and Egypt. 

Within about 40 years Seleucus had  regained the lands of Cassander and Lysimachus and controlled everything but Egypt, Jordan Gaza, and Israel. For the next 200 years or so the history of the known world was composed of the ongoing battles between the Seleucid Empire in the North and the Ptolemies in the South (Daniel 11:5-35).  Looking back through history we can see that these 35 verses contain 135 prophecies, all of which were fulfilled by these two kingdoms just as the angel had foretold. Through out Daniel 11 they're called the King of the North and the King of the South.

                   History To Prophecy

Beginning in Daniel 11:36, the balance of the chapter is devoted to things that are yet future to us as the Kings of the North and South return to the world stage for the grand finale, also known as the Great Tribulation. 

Until recently it seemed like Syria and Iran would combine to take the title King of the North, but now there's a new kid in town due to Turkish PM Erdogan's vision of resurrecting the Ottoman Empire into the leader of the Moslem world. The Ottoman Empire ruled the region from the late 13^th Century until World War 1.

Next to controlling Jerusalem, which is the ultimate prize, there are three qualifications to meet in a bid for this title.   Being seen as the friend to the Palestinians and the enemy of Israel are the first two, and pushing the US around is the third.  That's why Iran muscled Saudi Arabia aside as the major supplier of money and arms for Hamas a few years ago, even though Hamas (Sunni) and Iran (Shiite) are not in agreement from a religious perspective.  That's  why Ahmadinejad makes his outrageous statements against Israel, and that's why Iran has positioned itself as the spoiler in any effort to achieve peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. One unintended consequence of American diplomatic policies toward Iran is that Pres. Ahmadinejad is now correct in saying that the only way for Pres. Obama to solve America's problems in the Middle East is to enlist Iranian support.

This also explains why Turkey has made such a dramatic change of course.  Signs of a coming change first appeared about the time of the war in Iraq when Turkey refused to allow US overflights for aircraft bombing Iraq.  It became more obvious when Turkey criticized Israel's retaliatory incursion into the Gaza strip to shut down the daily barrage of rocket fire into Israel.  Then came several subsequent and highly publicized diplomatic offensives against the Jewish nation. And now there's Turkey's support of the bid to break the Gaza blockade, something that was totally unnecessary given the humanitarian objectives that were used as justification.  Through all of this Turkey has had to defy US wishes and risk losing its long held status as the top western ally in the region, next to Israel. 

According to reports, support for Turkey is now at an all-time high in the Arab world. The last time Turkish flags were carried through the streets of Middle Eastern capitals was during the first world war, as people took to the streets in continued support for the Ottoman sultan-caliph against the western  powers.  Thanks to Turkish government support for the recent blockade-running mission, they are flying once again. Today, no ruling Arab leader is as popular as the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 

Not to be outdone, Iran immediately announced its intention to provide naval support for the next batch of ships who try to break the blockade.  Warships from Iran have already set sail to meet new blockade runners, due to arrive in the Eastern Mediterranean next week. Maybe the competition is heating up.

                   What About The Others?

At this point, no one is challenging Egypt's position as King of the South, but Arab leaders in the region are very concerned that Turkey and Iran, both non-Arab nations, are enjoying such popularity with the masses.  For several reasons they see Turkey as the lesser of two evils,  so following the Arabic principle that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” Saudi Arabia has taken the unusual step of publicly announcing it has opened an air corridor to help Israeli aircraft execute a bombing run on Iran's nuclear facilities.  The Saudis have even conducted air defense drills to make sure Israeli planes are not accidentally targeted when they pass through Saudi airspace.  They're all but begging the US and/or Israel to attack Iran, because as much as they dislike Israel, they are deathly afraid of a nuclear Iran.

According to Daniel 11:40, the King of the North and the King of the South will team up in an effort to prevent the anti-Christ from taking Jerusalem, which as I said is the ultimate prize. But he'll defeat them both and take up residence in the Lord's city as if to defy His right to it.  It's a losing strategy, of course, and the Lord will have him thrown into the lake of fire for it (Rev. 19:20).

Currently, the world still sees these two countries as part of the same team, and it's still too early to guess which one will come out on top.  But the first time I heard about PM Erdogan's vision of a renewed Ottoman Empire, I knew that Turkey and Iran would eventually be competing with each other for the title of King of the North.  You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 06-12-10

The Outer Darkness

The Outer Darkness - This Week’s Feature Article by Jack Kelley – www.gracethrufaith.com

I’ve received several emails lately asking for clarification of the term “Outer Darkness.” It’s mentioned a total of 4 times in the New Testament, three by name and one by implication, and always by Jesus. The term is not used anywhere else, Old Testament or New, by any other writer. Those who ask want to know if it’s another name for the place of eternal punishment, or if it’s some place different. And they want to know who’s going there.


The problem I’ve had in researching this is there’s no general agreement among scholars as to what it is, where it is, or for whom it’s intended either. There’s also no agreement as to whether it’s a physical location or a state of being. The phrase outer darkness literally means, “outside, where there’s no light”. The Greek word for darkness can be used metaphorically to mean obscurity, which is the condition of being unknown. And there’s also a sense in which spiritual ignorance or blindness can apply. An accompanying phrase describes it as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, which denotes extreme anguish and utter despair. No matter what else you think about it, the Outer Darkness is definitely not a nice place to be.

For many generations it was simply thought to be another name for Hell. But Hell, or more accurately Hades, is not a permanent destination. It’s a temporary one that will be thrown into the Lake of Fire at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:14). To me, the concept of utter despair denotes permanence.

So let’s take another look at its four appearances to see if we can answer some of the lingering questions about the Outer Darkness.

Matt. 8:12.
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”

Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 8:5-12)

In His first reference to the Outer Darkness, Jesus was clearly speaking to and about Israel. He was criticizing the Jews for letting a Gentile Roman soldier demonstrate a stronger faith in Him than they had. He said that their lack of faith would result in people from all over the world (Gentiles) inheriting the Kingdom, while the Jews, who were the Kingdom’s subjects, would be thrown into the Outer Darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Israel was then (and will be again) God’s Kingdom on Earth. The Lord repeated His warning to them in Matt. 21:43 when He said, “Therefore I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” It’s obvious that the Lord believed they were the subjects of the Kingdom or else why would He threaten to take it away from them?

So in His first mention of the Outer Darkness the Lord warned the Jewish people that at the End of the Age Gentile believers, like the Centurion, would join their patriarchs at the Wedding Feast while they themselves sat outside in the darkness for failing to recognize their Messiah.

Matt 22:13
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (Matt. 22:1-14)

This is the parable of the Wedding Banquet, and there are three things to keep in mind here. First, the bride is never mentioned in this parable. Second, a bride is not considered a guest and could never be thrown out of her own wedding. And third, the banquet follows the wedding, so in the context of the parable the wedding has already taken place.

To accept the view that this parable is about the Church you have to start with the belief that some in the Church will become the Bride of Christ while others will not. But the Bible never even hints of that. It’s a man made conclusion without any Biblical support. If we’re saved, we’re in the church and are the Bride of Christ. If we’re not, we’re not.

In parables everything is symbolic of something else, and the Bible always explains what they stand for. Isaiah 61:10 explains that the wedding clothes represent righteousness;

I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Here’s how I see it. In Rev. 16:15, just after the 6th Bowl judgment and long after the church has departed, the Lord said, “Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

He was alluding to the fact that the Doctrine of Eternal Security expires with the Rapture, a fact that Jesus taught in the Parable of the 10 Virgins. Tribulation believers will be saved by faith, just like everyone else, but will be responsible for keeping themselves saved, or as John said, keeping their clothes with them. Rev. 14:12 says they will do this by obeying God’s commandments and remaining faithful to Jesus.

The man ejected from the banquet was a last minute guest. He represents tribulation survivors who are not part of the Church. He was trying to receive the blessing of those invited to the wedding feast that occurs at the time of the 2nd Coming (Rev. 19:9). But He either hadn’t remained faithful and had lost his salvation, or never was saved at all. Remember the servants invited both the “good” and the “bad” and it isn’t clear whether this man had wedding clothes and lost them, or never had them in the first place. When he tried to gain entrance into the banquet, he was discovered and ejected.

So the 2nd reference applies to unbelieving survivors from the Great Tribulation who will be denied a place in the Kingdom for lack of the righteousness that comes by faith, and banished to the Outer Darkness instead.

Matt. 24:51
Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 24:45-51)

The Parable of the Servants has only an implied reference to the Outer Darkness, calling it a place for hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Since that phrase accompanies every other mention of the Outer Darkness, I think it’s safe to include it in our study. The timing of this parable was established as early as Matt. 24:29-30 which makes every thing that follows pertain to those on Earth at the time of the 2nd Coming. As a matter of fact, all the Olivet Discourse parables describe the destinies of Tribulation Survivors. You can easily confirm this by also looking at Matt. 24:36-37, Matt. 25:1, and Matt. 25:14.

This parable is about those who will have held positions of spiritual leadership during the Great Tribulation. In the Millennial Kingdom, the Lord will elevate to a place of authority leaders who have kept the word of God through the intense hardship and persecution of the times, and have taught sound doctrine to the flocks entrusted to them. (Remember, no Tribulation survivor will enter the New Jerusalem, but will dwell on Earth during the Lord’s Millennial reign.)

But having forsaken the truth, the wicked servants no will longer be watching for the Lord’s return, ignoring the obvious fulfillment of prophecy all around them and ridiculing those whose child-like faith sustains them. They are the worst of all enemies because they’ll look and sound like friends. They’re like the one John describes as appearing to have the authority of the Lamb but who speaks the words of the Dragon (Rev. 13:11). The Greek word translated hypocrite was often used to describe an actor or pretender, someone who appears to be something he’s not. So for the third time we see the Outer Darkness as a place for unbelievers. In this case it’s those who have betrayed the trust placed in them.

Matt. 25:30
The Lord’s final reference to the Outer Darkness appears at the end of the Parable of the Talents.

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

” ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matt. 25:14-30)

For a more complete treatment of the Parable of the Talents click here . The relevant points for this study are that like the other Olivet Discourse parables, the timing is after the 2nd coming, the judgment is on Earth, and the man who had his only talent confiscated demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge of and faith in his master. He thought of Him as a hard man who accepted credit He didn’t deserve and he was afraid the master would treat him unfairly. No believer feels that way about Jesus. His punishment was to be consigned to the outer darkness.

So in all four cases, the ones being judged are unbelievers and their punishment is to live in a state of total obscurity where they will experience extreme anguish and utter despair. The fact that there’s no expanded teaching on the outer darkness elsewhere in the Bible leads me to believe the Lord was speaking of a place we’re already familiar with, but describing it in a way that helps us understand how it will feel to be there.

Remember, the words obscurity, extreme anguish and utter despair are associated with the phrase Outer Darkness. To be there is to be cut off from the presence of the Lord and everyone else, existing in total obscurity. The dictionary defines anguish as excruciating or acute distress, suffering, or pain, and despair as a state of utter hopelessness.

That, my friends, is the consequence of unbelief. Whether you call it Hell, Hades, Gehenna, the Lake of Fire, or the Outer Darkness, it’s all the same and you wouldn’t want your worst enemy to spend even an hour there.