278    The Bible and the Future of the World 

The islands could refer to those island nations in the area around Australia. 

Or, it could refer metaphorically to  island nations,  that is, to nations 

which are not allied into a larger group of nations and which, in standing 

alone, are more easily seized. He succeeds in capturing lands and in 

deposing a leader who had been an adversary to him. 

{11:19} And he will turn his face to the empire of his own land, and he will 

strike, and will overthrow, but he will not succeed. 

Finally, this king of the North must return to his own land, to put down 

some type of rebellion. He overthrows the leaders of this rebellion, but he 

ultimately does not succeed in ruling again in his own land. His reign ends. 

{11:20} And there will stand up in his place one who is most worthless and 

unworthy of kingly honor. And in a short time, he will be worn out, but not 

in fury, nor in battle. 

The next king of the North is very unworthy of any leadership role. He is 

soon removed from power, probably by his own death, but not by being 

assassinated, nor by losing in warfare. He perhaps dies of old age or disease. 

{11:21} And there will stand up in his place the despicable one, and he will 

not be assigned the honor of a king. And he will arrive in secret, and he will 

obtain the kingdom by deceitfulness. 

This next king of the North is the Antichrist, the despicable one, the lawless 

one (2 Thess 2:3), who rules over the kingdom of the North, but not by 

being appointed king. He arrives in secret from another place; he is born and 

raised in the Middle East (according to St. Zenobius, he is born in Corazin, 

raised in Bethsaida, and begins to reign in Caparnaum; Lk 10:13 15). Since 

the Middle East is the South (formerly the southern part of the great 

monarch s kingdom) and continually at war with the North (Europe), the 

Antichrist arrives secretly and must obtain the kingdom by deceitfulness. He 

is not originally from the North and so cannot truly be king of that land, nor 

can he be validly chosen to rule over it. 

{11:22} And the arms of the fighting will be assaulted before his face and 

will be shattered, and, in addition, the leader of the federation. 

{11:23} And, after making friends, he will trick him, and he will go up and 

will overcome with a small people.