Editor’s note: In the book “Daniel and the Revelation,” Turkey (at that time the Ottoman Empire) was Uriah Smith’s best guess as to the identity of the “King of the North” during the time of the end (Daniel 11:40 through 11:45).
Most Adventists have moved on from a literal interpretation of the latter part of Daniel, realizing that the Israel of God in prophecy is not literal Israel or the Jewish nation, but rather spiritual Israel, the true Christian church.
Lately, some have been increasingly insistent in teaching that we must agree with Uriah Smith and other pioneers of the Advent movement in their opinion that Turkey “shall enter also into the glorious land” (which is interpreted as Israel or the “Holy Land”) (11:41) and the Turk “shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain (11:45) (the “glorious holy mountain” being interpreted as Jerusalem).
They believe that their view has received the imprimatur of the Spirit of Prophecy, based upon Ellen White statements urging people to read “Daniel and the Revelation,” and upon statements where Ellen White notes great interest in preachers addressing the “Eastern Question,” which was the issue of who was the “King of the North” in these verses in Daniel 11.
But Ellen White’s endorsement of the book “Daniel and the Revelation” does not imply that that work was inspired or somehow without error. It clearly is not inspired and is not without error. And it is beyond absurd to interpret observations such as “brother so-and-so’s preaching upon the eastern question drew large crowds” as implying that everything that brother said was correct.
The basic error of this view is that the Israel of God in prophecy is not the physical Jewish nation but rather the Christian Church. The physical city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel do not figure in any Bible prophecy having its fulfillment after 70 A.D. They are no longer prophetically significant.
Moreover, Ellen White made some very strong statements that both the Jewish nation, for rejecting Christ, and the city of Jerusalem, for the terrible deeds done there, are still under a curse to this day. There is no way that Israel can serve prophetically as “the glorious land” or the “glorious holy mountain” of Daniel 11.
This video presentation, produced by Marko Kolic, is well worth the time it takes to view it. It discusses these Ellen White statements and shows how Turkey cannot be the “King of the North.”