Can you please explain Daniel 11:40 and what relevancy it has to today? Does it mean war? What is meant by king of the North and King of the south?
Answer
Daniel 11 is a very accurate and detailed history of the Greek and Roman periods as related to Palestine. Most specifically, it gives the history of the four generals who took over after Alexander the Great, and follows in great detail the Seleucid and Ptolemaic lines. The latter part of the chapter shows the Roman conquest of the Middle East, including Julius Caesar and Cleopatra VII. The King of the North is very clearly the Roman Empire (Julius Gaius and then Octavian Augustus Caesars), and the King of the South, in keeping with prophecies in general, is Egypt (or more technically, the Ptolemaic rulers).
The only relevance Daniel 11 has to us today is to teach us that when God tells the future, it is certainly going to come true. It is amazing how accurate a prophecy was made hundreds of years before it was fulfilled. Since it was fulfilled, we have no reason to expect another fulfillment of this prophecy. Everything Daniel was shown leads up to the coming of the Messiah, and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.