Here we have another example of prophecy jumping ahead from the near future to the far away future. Most of Daniel 11 is about the defeat of the Persians by the Greeks and the division of the Greek empire after the death of Alexander. The last part of chapter 11 predicts the rise of Antiochus, the Ptolemaic ruler who desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem. The end of chapter 11 predicts his fall to the Jews, led by the Maccabees. But then in Chapter 12 we are transported ahead to the Beast who will once again apparently desecrate or destroy the Temple in Jerusalem.
At least that's the way it seems to me. I could be completely wrong. The prophets show us that God views things differently than we do. He takes things that we don't seem to think are a big deal very personally, and things that we view as very important He is seemingly oblivious to. His designs and plans for our world are so perfectly formed that we can't comprehend them. That's the main lesson I learn as I study the prophets. Our place is not to debate over the little details. Our place is to humble ourselves before the great God of the universe who knows all of history, knows everything about us, yet still loves us enough to have a relationship with Him forever.
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