Can we exalt ourselves above God?
Upvote:2
Certain ones have certainly tried to exalt themselves above the God of heaven. Consider the people who tried to build a tower reaching up into heaven, to make a name for themselves by disobeying God's command to spread out over the Earth. This was surely an attempt to thwart God, to defeat God and elevate themselves above him. God simply had to confound the one language of the people so that a myriad of languages came about, they could not understand one another's speech, and so God scattered them (Genesis 11:1-9).
Consider Herod Antipas, who accepted the worship of the people who declared him to be a god, and not a man. God struck him down for not giving the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died (Acts 12:21-23).
The Daniel 11 passage you point to is linked to other prophecies, as Jesus showed in his prophecy in Matthew 24:15. That, in turn is linked to the risen Christ's further prophetic words on the subject in Revelation 13 with visionary language about a symbolic beast with features very similar to those in Daniel. This applies to shortly before Christ returns:
"And all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth to blaspheme against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb..." Revelation 13:1-8 A.V.
That rather puts Herod's arrogant acceptance of divine exaltation in the shade. Still, even this infinitely more awful would-be-usurper suffers everlasting worms, amongst other things, once Christ gives him eternal judgment. And it is because Christ is King of Kings, and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16) that all who would exalt themselves against God, and his anointed one, shall be broken by them. Psalm 2.
Oh, they can try, and throughout history some have tried, but where are they today, and where will the ultimate would-be-usurper be at Christ's return? See Revelation 20:9-10.
"Can one exalt and magnify themselves above YHWH?" you ask. Of course not, though several writers of various books of the Bible state that some have tried, and that Satan the devil, the dragon of Revelation, will make the final attempt, only to be smashed by the only true, living God.
Upvote:8
The highlighted expression is explained in the next clause; "He shall speak marvellous things against the God of Gods". He is exalting himself above God in his own mind and in his conversation. Anybody can do that. The meaning of "exalting" here is "to consider oneself to be above God", so the state of being above God doesn't become a reality.
The general theme of Daniel is that this is exactly what human authority tends to do. The images in ch3 is being exalted above God in Nebuchadnezzar's mind. Nebuchadnezzar is made like a beast in ch4 because in his mind he has been exalting himself above God (ch4 vv28-32). Belshazzar in ch5 is exalting himself above God when he mocks what belongs to God. The king in ch11 is just the climax of the sequence.
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