Daniel 11:36–37: “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.”

October 22nd, 2021 by Pastor Ed in devotional

These verses give us some details about the Antichrist of Daniel’s 70th week, which are not found anywhere else in Scripture. This arrogant, self-willed world leader will deceive most of the citizens of earth and exalt himself as god. He is here called a king who “shall do according to his own will.” This sounds very much like the picture of Satan presented to us in Isaiah:

For you have said in your heart: / “I will ascend into heaven, / I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; / I will also sit on the mount of the congregation / On the farthest sides of the north; / I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, / I will be like the Most High. (14:13–14)

The Antichrist will be very much like Satan in this sense, and will be the human epitome of self-absorption. Pride was the sin Satan first promoted in the Garden of Eden and is still promoting down to this day. We live in a world that says, “toot your own horn,” where people shout, “Look at me.” But the Bible warns against this sin of pride.

Pride goes before destruction, / And a haughty spirit before a fall. (Pro. 16:18)

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. (Rom. 12:3)

God’s gift of grace, which called Paul to be an apostle and spiritual authority, was the same gift that produced in him sincere humility. Paul is telling us to have a proper estimate of our capabilities and limits, not thinking too low or too highly about ourselves. In his book, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis suggests a starting point:

If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

A turtle in upstate New York wanted to winter in Florida. Since it was too far to walk, he convinced 2 geese to tie a rope around their necks and fly south while he hung on with his vise-like jaws clamped to the rope. As they approached Florida, some other geese joined the formation. Very impressed with the getup, one said, “Hey, who thought up this brilliant idea?” The turtle immediately opened his mouth to say, “I did,” and fell to his death.

“LORD, please help us, as we use today the gifts that You have given each of us, to remember that every good gift has come from You and You alone.”