Ships

What do ships represent in Scripture, especially looking at Daniel 11: 40.

And the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over.
Daniel 11:40

What do the ships represent?

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psalm 107:23-26

Ships in scripture are linked to the ocean, or the “great waters.” And this makes perfect sense, right? I mean you can’t have ships without water.

And we know that waters have a connection to people.

“The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

Revelation 17:15

We can now say, the King of the North is coming with people. Think about it. The King of the North is coming with chariots, but we don’t really care about chariots. Chariots alone are not scarry. It’s the fact that chariots carry the army. Soldiers. The army is the real threat, not just wooden or iron chariots. And Scripture told us who the army was, right? Angels.

So the same goes here. We don’t really care about a military invasion with ships. It’s the fact that there the navy, or sailors, are coming on the ships. It’s the navy, the sailors that are the real threat. It’s not really the “ships,” but the “waters” associated with that, which is the threat. And what are “waters?” People.

So the King of the North, i.e. Satan, is coming to impersonate Christ and he is bringing people with him.

What kind of people? Well let’s look at scripture again. What kind of water are we talking about when we say ships? Streams, ponds, drops, lakes? What kind of waters?

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep [tehomot]. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psalm 107:23-26

Ships are associated with “great waters,” or the “the deep.” What kind of people do “the deep” represent.

Jonah gives us the answer. Remember he was swallowed by a great fish (maybe a whale). Where does he say he was?

Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly,  And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell [Sheol] cried I, and thou heardest my voice.  For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about,  the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.
Jonah 2:1-6

Jonah calls the place he was trapped both “the deep” and the “belly of hell [Sheol—the place of the dead].

So the deep is connected to the idea of where the dead are, Sheol—the place of death and the grave.

Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death. Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies, the hairy crowns of those who go on in their sins. The Lord says, “I will bring them from Bashan; I will bring them from the depths of the sea,
Psalm 68

Now, we are not done with Jonah. Jesus actually agrees with Jonah. He confirms what Jonah was doing, namely, equating the deep with death.

Jesus relates the deep to His own death. We can identify Psalm 69 as speaking for the Messiah, or Jesus. How do we know that? Notice the phrases about “zeal of thine house” [compare with John 2:17]. And notice verses 20-21 are talking about His crucifixion [compare with John 19-28-29].

And now that you can see that Psalm 69 is a Messianic or Jesus psalm, and further when you see it is in context of his crucifixion, you understand that He is relating “the deep” to his own impending death.

Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Psalm 69        

In the New Testament, Jesus even makes it more clear that Jonah’s experience and His own death were connected in symbolism.

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:40

Ok, now if Jesus says it’s so, then it’s so. But still, we have more evidence we can look at. Let’s compare two Bible texts. One written in Hebrew in the Old Testament.

For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, thk,at thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deuteronomy 30:11

Now what really helps us unlock the symbolism is that Paul quotes this verse in the book of Romans, but of course he translates it into Greek. Looks how he translates it

But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach
Romans 10:6-7

Comparing the two texts, we see that “the sea”/”the deep” is equated with “the dead.”

Is that right? How about this verse?

For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
Psalm 88

Notice above that “the deep” is associated with “the grave,” the “pit,” and the “dead.”

So I think it’s pretty clear now. When Daniel tells us that the King of the North is coming with ships, we can understand that he is coming with people associated with the dead.

The King of the North is coming with a whirlwind (imitating the coming of Jesus Christ). He is coming with chariots and horsemen (his demons masquerading as Jesus’ angels). And he is coming with ships.

• Ships have a connection to waters, i.e. people
• Ships have a connection to the deep, i.e. the place of the dead

The ships therefore are coming with people, people connected to the place of the dead, the grave. Which people is that? Remember, Satan is trying to pretend he is Christ coming to the earth. And what dead people are associated with Jesus’ second coming?

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Satan is trying to pretend that as Christ he has resurrected the righteous and that they are with him. He will certainly use and twist the meaning of these verses to his advantage:

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1 Thessalonians 4:14, KJV

To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
1 Thessalonians 3:13

Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Jude 14

So for now, we can say pretty clearly. Satan is coming pretending to be Jesus. And as part of the great masquerade, he will attempt to make it look like he has resurrected the righteous people.

But of course, Satan has no power to raise the dead, much less the dead saints. These are not resurrected people, as he will have the world believe, but they are demons masquerading as the risen “dead in Christ.”[i]

So what are the above three verses really talking about then. We’ll cover that in a separate chapter called, “Who comes with Jesus?”

But for now, understand that the demons will pretend to be God’s people from all ages that have come to life with Christ. Revelation describes this as part of the spirits like frogs:

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the eart and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Revelation 16:13-14

The demons will not just appear to people, as sometime people experience demons today, like when someone says, “my dead aunt appeared to me last night in my room.” No, these people appear with “Christ” and come to stay.

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Revelation 18:2

The demons have come not to simply appear here and there. No, they have come to stay, to inhabit, to live among us. The world has become their habitation.