Long before there were treaties or accords, long before briefing rooms and glowing maps, Daniel wrote down what he saw: two kings, two coalitions, two regional powers locked in a collision course over the covenant land.
We’re continuing to dive into the details of what Jesus summarized on the Mount of Olives. He didn’t share anything new. He shared the core of the end times — a regional conflict in the Middle East with Israel at its center. In the last couple of articles, we’ve looked at the details surrounding Jesus’ words, “when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies…” (Luke 21:20 ESV).
The Old Testament was specific about those armies. The prophets had talked about the campaign that those armies would engage in. Daniel gave him greater detail on the buildup before this campaign and the final assault. Daniel 11 provides some of the clearest details of those events.
At the time of the end, Daniel said, “…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. He will also invade the Beautiful Land” (Dan. 11:40-41 NIV).
That’s not a metaphor — that’s geography. The king of the South rises first, striking north. The king of the North answers with fury, sweeping through nations, overrunning Jerusalem, desecrating the temple and setting up his throne in God’s city.
From the lists we’ve already seen of who the final armies are, it’s clear that it’s more than just two kings. These kings represent two coalitions. The two coalitions that Daniel described aren’t vague concepts — they’re real alliances of real nations, and they’re already here.
Other prophecies in Ezekiel we looked at show a group of nations invading Israel from the north — from Syria and Turkey. Ezekiel also shows that Egypt isn’t in this coalition aimed against Israel, nor is Saudi Arabia. There are Middle Eastern nations left out.
More than that, evidence of the identity of these modern nations involved in the coalitions comes from Ezekiel. It’s obvious because of aspects of Daniel 11 that have been fulfilled that he was writing about the Ptolemaic Empire, ruled from Egypt, and the Seleucid Empire, ruled from Syria.
Through these end-time coalitions, these nations are reborn in a sense. In thinking about how this may look in reality, I didn’t need to dream up what this might look like because I’ve seen it.
Not long after the 10/7 attacks, I was in a briefing room in Tel Aviv with Israel’s head of strategic command. He’d been at every treaty table with the Israeli delegates since the days of President Clinton, and you could hear that history in his voice. As he spoke, he lit up the screen with a map of the Middle East.
Blue glowed first — nations that had signed peace treaties or normalized relations with Israel — Egypt, starting in 1979; Jordan, in 1994. Then, decades later, the Abraham Accord nations — United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. Even Saudi Arabia, he noted, is warming to the idea. Together they form a formal or informal bloc of southern nations, bound by diplomacy, economics and a common interest in countering Iran.
Then the map shifted to red.
The threats came to life on the screen — Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Turkey and its Turkic allies beyond. Together they formed a clear axis of hostility — a northern coalition already aligned in its hatred of Israel and its readiness for war.
As I sat there, staring at that map, I realized what I was watching wasn’t just a briefing. It was Daniel 11 coming alive.
The king of the South is blue — Egypt and its allies, Jordan, the Gulf states and the Abraham Accord nations. The king of the North is red — Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon. Two coalitions are already aligning. They were already staring at each other across the battlefield. And Jerusalem is caught squarely in between.
What was evident from his presentation is that all of these accords and treaties we have heard the world broker with Israel haven’t been repeats; they’ve been steps setting the stage for these coalitions.
And it’s more than just two powers jockeying for position; they will go to war. Daniel 11 tells in simple terms that the coalition of the north will win, but the Book of Revelation speaks to it as well, but gives more vivid language. Revelation presents two end times entities at the end of the age, the beast (which is the Antichrist/King of the North/Coalition of northern nations) and Mystery Babylon. Mystery Babylon is left, well, a mystery, but incredible details are given. There are many theories, but I believe the most accurate is about Saudi Arabia and in particular the center of Islam — Mecca.
Revelation 17-18 tells of this Mystery Babylon, a decadent, wealthy power that rises alongside the beast, only to be betrayed and burned. “The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked…” (Rev. 17:16).
The two rise together and then turn against each other. Revelation isn’t revealing something new but rather retelling the story found in Daniel 11 in a different way. This suggests that the southern coalition mercantile bloc, which is rising with Israel’s favor, will collapse under the northern onslaught. If so, Daniel’s vision and John’s vision fit hand in glove. Two regional powers rise — One strikes first and one crushes the other, turning its fury fully on Jerusalem.
Though we’re not completely there, these alliances are already glowing on the map. Jesus said it clearly: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies…” Not armies conjured from thin air. Armies that have been building all along, signing treaties, forging alliances and plotting their next moves.
We’re not waiting for the pieces to appear. We’re watching them fall into place.
