Figures can't lie, but liars can sure figure.
Daniel 11:2 "Now I will tell you the truth."
In Daniel's final prophecy he lays out a history of conquering kings and warlords, “The vision concerns a time yet to come”. He files an account of Persian aggression against Greece (think about "The 300" ), and the Grecian invasion of Persia. He follows this with more detailed accounts of the centuries long war between the Ptolemy and Seleucid empires. And in fairly good detail he lays it all out with commentary about their various relationships and political reasoning and military actions. He prophesied about the Ptolemaic dynasty 1-5 and its various intrigues. And he elaborated about Cambyses, Pseudo-Smerdis, Darius I, Xerxes I, Seleucus I-4, Antiochus I-4, Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus and so on. The intent of this prophecy was to predict and enshrine in a prophecy about how wars will rage between many super powers (symbolized by the North and South kingdoms), and how little nations, especially Israel, will be crushed inbetween these powers. And finally the prophetic message shifts from these ancient kings to a tyrant in a far more distant future yet to have happened. A ruler who will be much like them all, but even more vicious, especially in his blasphemous form. He is predicted to bring about a one world religion. And again a great world war between the North and the South. And again Israel is crushed inbetween the warring powers.
And finally the focus of the historical story moves from the politics and military might of the blasphemous tyrant, to God’s final victory for his faithful worshipers. He predicts the names of the faithful saints will be found in the book of life. The dead in Christ will awake. The wicked ones are punished forever. The Beast (Revelation 19:19-21) will be defeated, and no one will help him (Daniel 11:45).
All this in detail Daniel writes down and seals it for posterity. Daniel does question the angelic messengers about the outcome of the battle and the fate of the holy people. But Daniel was to seal the record of these predictions and be satisfied that the saints will be purified in the end. The angels hint at the final outcome, but the saints must wait, and ultimately will be blessed, and of course God overcomes in the end.
And yet...here we are. Watching these North and South kingdoms at it again. And what looks like another round is coming, maybe that final round.
This chapter in Daniel's book contains some of the most specifically fulfilled prophecies of the entire Bible, he predicts with surprising accuracy a history of political and military power over some 375 years. And yet...the detractors cannot accept it, because of its incredibly accurate narrative. But the fact of the matter is, Alexander the Great’s empire and its divisions after his death were predicted long in advance in Daniel 11. Some will argue that it was written afterward and made to seem like it had been prophetic. The years Daniel mentions put this prophecy at around 535 B.C., but some question the dating. There are scholars who have suggested that the book of Daniel was written several hundred years later, during the 160s B.C. The prophecy is so accurate that these atheists refuse to accept the traditional date for the writing of Daniel. Since they don’t believe in God, they cannot believe that these prophecies were made before the fact. And their main reason for this opinion is that the prophecy is far too intricate and accurate knowing now what we know from non-biblical historical data. It just couldn't possibly be that accurate, without supernatural involvement. It should be noted that their unbelief regarding this prophecy is founded on no real empirical evidence, they simply believe that it is far too impossible that the prophecy could have been written before the events happened. In their great antifaith, they hold out in their atheist faith to the idea that it couldn't possibly be true simply because it was too true. They just can't accept the facts and figures of the prophecy. They have too much trouble doing the math, and believing the math.
As the old saying goes, "Figures can't lie, but liars can sure figure."
They deny the evidence of their own eyes. And building upon that intractable unbelief their bias overcomes the laws of logic and non-contradiction and leads them into a new kind of faith, the church of faithlessness.
For the faithful, Daniel 11 brings hope and joy for a future in which the wicked are finally stopped and peace in Christ will reign in the world. For the atheist, Daniel 11 just doesn't compute. It's the way of things.