Daniel

[0:00] I know that you're with Hillsdale College. I have an article here. Some of you also get the imprimis, which is simply a Latin word that means in the first place. And it's a remarkable publication. They send it out free of charge every month. And there are almost 4 million people that get this each month. And this article is entitled, Do We Need Our Country Anymore?

[0:24] And on the surface, that sounds like a rather ridiculous kind of question. But as you read the article that was delivered by the president of Hillsdale College just within the last month, you'll gain an appreciation for what's taking place in the world scene.

[0:43] And I'm going to give you just an excerpt of it. And I have copies up here. I would urge you to take one with you before you go. This is in connection with President Macron of France and a speech that he delivered just recently in connection with the 100th anniversary, the ending of World War I.

[1:05] And it is quite remarkable because the scriptures make it very, very clear that in the end days, and we'll see this this morning in Daniel chapter 7, in the end days, there will be a one world government.

[1:24] And it will be conducted of a ten nation federation that will be presided over by the Antichrist. And we'll see this in Daniel 7 as well. It's very, very clear, I think.

[1:36] And it is unquestionable that the world is moving in the direction of globalism. And the reason for that appears very logical on the surface. Who can deny that the world has shrunk?

[1:55] I mean, it has shrunk dramatically over the last 50 years, especially in the area of telecommunications and nations being able to contact one another within seconds before we had the buffers of two oceans between us.

[2:15] And that barrier is virtually removed. Both of those barriers, you know, if you have to cross the ocean, you can still do it in a matter of hours. Whereas before it took weeks. But now everything has shrunk. And the logic, the logic and the rationale for constituting a one world government is going to be overwhelming. It's going to be so reasonable.

[2:45] And no doubt it will be presented in such a way as it will be seen as the salvation of humanity. For everybody to get together, surrender your nationalism, and become a citizen of the world so that every nation will have things in common.

[3:05] And this article is quite stunning. I guess I'm just amazed to see somebody actually put it in words. But the new president of France just did that. Listen to this.

[3:22] Nationalism, Macron argued, is the cause of war. Nationalism, Macron.

[3:57] Macron argued, is the cause of war. Nationalism is the reason so many died in the 20th century. The cure is to rid ourselves of nationalism.

[4:09] Macron spoke beautifully of the sacrifices of the soldiers who perished in World War I, of the misery in which they fought, of the lives they might have had. But as he mourned and honored them, he also conscripted them into the cause of transnationalism for which he says they fought.

[4:29] Here is the key passage that made this news. In those dark hours, he said, this is a quote from him. That vision of France as a generous nation, of France as a project, of France promoting universal values, was the exact opposite of the egotism of a people who look after only their interests.

[4:50] Because patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is a betrayal of it. Think of that.

[5:02] Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. You will likely recall the heat that President Trump took from the international community just a few weeks ago when he made the statement that my responsibility is to put America first.

[5:24] And he qualified that by saying, and the responsibility of the Premier of France is to put France first.

[5:38] And the responsibility of the Prime Minister of England is to put England first. Is there something wrong with that? Well, apparently, these who are fostering the globalism idea see a lot wrong with it.

[5:55] Because instead of putting your country first as the leader of the country, you are supposed to put the world first. And what this is going to boil down to, and we've heard here in our own nation of late about sharing the wealth and about income and wealth distribution, why should anyone be a millionaire or a billionaire when there are people who are living in poverty?

[6:24] And the name of the game is, share the wealth, and take from those who have and give to those who have not. In a sense, that sounds humanitarian, but in a sense, also, we know that it is completely contrary and does not compute with human nature being what it is, etc.

[6:43] Now they're talking about doing this, but on a global scale. That means no nation has the right to be a wealthy nation as long as there are impoverished or undeveloped nations.

[7:00] So it is the push to share the wealth internationally. Well, frankly, the United States has been doing this for quite some time. I don't know of anybody who has given away more billions and billions of dollars to other nations.

[7:14] Many times it's like pouring money down a rat hole, but we do it for the sake of international image. And now we are borrowing, we are borrowing billions of dollars to give to other nations, and we have to pay the interest on what we borrow to give to them.

[7:37] It's kind of maddening, really, when you stop and think about it. But, fellas, this is what is coming. And as I mentioned to our small prayer group last night, we don't know.

[7:49] There is a tendency to say, well, this is coming. Why fight it? Just roll over and play dead because the end times are predicting that this is the way it's going to be anyway. So, why fight it?

[8:03] And the only answer I can give you is, by fighting it, we may be able to hold off the effect for our kids or our grandkids. But eventually, it's going to come.

[8:16] And we don't have to win this fight that we are engaged in. We just have to fight a good fight. And that's what I trust we will be doing simply by informing and educating ourselves as to what is going on.

[8:30] And you know, Daniel foresaw this a long time ago. And as we open our Bibles to Daniel chapter 7, we'll look at what is laid out here for us. And there is some pretty remarkable stuff here.

[8:42] This has to do with the vision of the four beasts. And the question might very well be asked at the outset, why four beasts? Why is this image that was portrayed in Daniel chapter 2 portrayed as an image?

[8:58] Head of gold and then the silver and then the bronze and then the iron and all. Why that? Because when Daniel was receiving these images in these dreams that he had, they are descriptive of world powers and of governments.

[9:17] Now the question is, how would one go about depicting a world power in a dream to Daniel?

[9:30] How would God do that? How would he depict a world power? Think about that. What are you going to show?

[9:41] The geography of the map or what? And what did he choose to do in chapter 2? He used this image. The image of a colossal man, head of gold, Nebuchadnezzar, and then moves down to the Medes and the Persians, the silver and then the bronze, Alexander the Great and the Greeks, and then the ten toes and the feet, the Romans.

[10:07] There you have those four major powers. We're going to see the very same thing spelled out here. Only it isn't as a man in an image. It's four beasts. These are four large animals that Daniel is going to see in this vision, and each one represents a world power.

[10:29] So let's get into the text in chapter 7, verse 1. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed.

[10:44] Then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it. Now let me just inject something here. In addition to giving this information to Daniel so that he could record it, why did God do this?

[11:01] What's it for? Or who is it for? Very simply, it's for us. It's for us.

[11:13] It's for everyone who has lived, particularly in the body of Christ, from the time that Daniel saw this dream onward. This is prophecy.

[11:24] This is what God has been pleased to reveal, and it's going to be replicated in the book of Revelation. And those of you at Grace know that we already went through that. But all of this information is given so that we might, well, let me put it this way.

[11:43] Peter, in one of his epistles, says, seeing these things are coming on the earth, what manner of men we ought to be in light of that.

[11:57] In other words, this content and the understanding of it is intended to impact our lives, to have a practical effect upon us.

[12:08] It isn't just to give us some kind of inside knowledge so that we can go around saying, I know something you don't know. It is designed to affect our lives, our agenda, our values, our interests, everything about us.

[12:23] because this is a picture of what is coming. He related the following summary of it. Daniel said, verse 2, I was looking in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

[12:43] Many scholars are of the opinion that this phrase, the great sea, is a picture of the human race, humanity. the sea of humanity.

[12:54] And with the four winds being involved here, it is speaking of the totality of the globe. This thing is going to be worldwide.

[13:06] It's going to impact and affect everything, everywhere. That's replicated with the four winds here. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, that is, out of humanity, different from one another.

[13:24] They are going to have distinctive qualities about them that will distinguish each one from the others, and they are unmistakable as Daniel sees them and describes them. The first was like a lion.

[13:37] Now, he doesn't say it is a lion. He says it's like a lion. That's what it reminds me of. That's what it looks more like than anything else, is a lion. And of course, when you think of a lion, you think of strength and power and ferocity and daring and everything that goes along with a lion.

[13:55] But it had the wings of an eagle. Now, put these together, and it says to me, I don't know about you, but it says to me, the lion represents ferocity and great strength, but when you attach wings to it, what does that do?

[14:15] that adds speed to it, rapidity to it. There's something about wings that enables birds to take flight that makes them able to just dart from here to there to one another.

[14:32] And the wings and the power coupled together is very formidable. The first was like a lion, had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked.

[14:45] Now, that means, indicates that its speed is going to be halted. Apparently, it's going to use it for a while, but it's going to come to a screeching halt because its wings will be plucked.

[14:57] And it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man. A human mind also was given to it.

[15:08] Some translations render that a human heart was also given to it. And it's remarkable how the Bible uses the word mind and heart almost interchangeably.

[15:22] And as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Well, do you think in your heart or do you think in your mind? And you can see the interchangeability of those terms because there is a definite connection, biblically speaking, between the heart and the mind.

[15:40] And as we pointed out to you in the past, fellows, whenever the Bible uses the word heart, it is never talking about the blood pump in the chest. And that's kind of confusing because we tend to think of that when we use the word heart.

[15:55] But what it's talking about is the core of our being. In the same way that we speak of something being the heart of the matter.

[16:06] That means the very essence, the very inner core of it. And when you think in your heart, this is a combination of the mind and heart, which as we pointed out in the past, the Bible never uses the word brain.

[16:22] But it uses the term mind hundreds of times, indicating at least to me that there is a serious distinction between the brain and the mind.

[16:35] And the difference, the primary difference is the brain is very physical. Two to three pounds of gelatinous like putting. But the mind is not material at all.

[16:49] It is immaterial. And we can see someone's brain, but you cannot see someone's mind because it isn't subject to laboratory experiments.

[17:03] It is immaterial. So we've got a unique situation here. In verse 5, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear.

[17:15] And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth. And thus they said to it, Arise, devour much meat.

[17:26] Now these three ribs are going to refer to three different entities that are not yet identified. I cannot identify them.

[17:37] But they will be three holdouts to the Antichrist who will be seeking to consolidate world power by combining ten federated nations together.

[17:51] And these are principally referred to as the Federation of Europe. and there will be three that will be reluctant to come into the fold to comprise the ten.

[18:05] By the way, these ten will be the ten toes of Daniel's image. And these three will succumb to the wishes of the Antichrist either by force or by diplomacy, but eventually they will get on board.

[18:22] And then all ten of these will be active and the Antichrist will head it all up. Let's continue on in verse six. After this, I kept looking, and behold another one like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird.

[18:43] The beast also had four heads and dominion was given to it. What is it? You see, and by the way, let me just recap this a little bit. The lion is a takeoff of Nebuchadnezzar.

[18:55] He is the head of gold. This lion is in concert with that head of gold in the image. And the bear, ponderous, ponderous, huge, is speaking of Leeds and the Persians.

[19:14] That's the second. And this third, the leopard, is speaking of Greece. And who do we think of in connection with Greece? There's just one man that comes to mind.

[19:24] Alexander the Great. And Alexander the Great was known for having developed what later was picked up by Adolf Hitler in World War II, called the Blitzkrieg.

[19:38] And the Blitzkrieg was utilizing the German military to move into an area with lightning force and take over everything before people even knew what was happening.

[19:51] and he performed that brilliantly. And of course, it eventually got him into a lot of trouble too, especially when he went into Russia.

[20:03] But we all remember, well, we don't all remember, but we remember history, okay? September 1, 1939, and tanks began rolling into Poland.

[20:16] and, boy, World War II was underway. And everybody was amazed at how fast that German army moved. And nations were just virtually gobbled up before they even realized what was happening.

[20:32] And that is a picture of what Alexander the Great is going to do. He had the ability and the reputation to move his forces with lightning speed, so much so that the enemy was virtually caught off guard every time they came into conflict with him.

[20:49] That's the leopard. And you can see the speed involved with the leopard. Is there anything faster than a leopard? It's a cheetah belongs to that family, and they say they can run 90 miles an hour for a certain amount of time.

[21:01] So this is Alexander the Great. And had on its back four wings of a bird, which gives it, of course, great speed. And the beast also had four heads.

[21:13] And who were these four heads? These are representative of the four generals that succeeded Alexander the Great. When he died, Alexander the Great's kingdom, which was virtually everything in the Mediterranean world, when he died, this was all chopped up into four sections.

[21:35] And a section was deeded, if you will, to each of his four generals, and they took over from there and began ruling and reigning. And they are the four that are mentioned here, the four heads, and dominion was given to it.

[21:50] And after this, I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful, terrifying, extremely strong, and it had large iron teeth.

[22:06] It devoured crushed and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

[22:21] This is the Roman Empire. This came right after the Greeks, the Romans. All you have to do is look at history. You don't even have to look at the Bible.

[22:32] Just look at an encyclopedia. And it was Rome that came to power right after the Greeks were actually defeated. And Rome became the dominant power in all of Europe.

[22:46] And it was referred to as the Roman Empire. And it was very formidable. It had developed a reputation for being very vicious, very brutal.

[23:00] History is replete with individuals, and with nations that dared to stand against the authority of Rome. They were just crushed.

[23:12] And whenever there was a rebellion that surfaced like in Israel during the time of our Lord, or any time during that first century, if ever there was a patriotic rising of the Jews and a rebellion like under Judas Maccabeus or something like that, Rome had the reputation of moving in and they gave new meaning to the word overkill.

[23:37] They would think nothing of literally crucifying a thousand people and line the road with people crucified, moaning and groaning and crying out in pain.

[23:53] And you tell me that wouldn't make an impression on people? And the name of the game was, this is what happens if you dare stand against the authority of Rome. And they made that very clear and the Roman Empire is going to last for hundreds of years.

[24:08] So, and eventually, these ten horns are going to be this ten nation confederation. So, these are what have already transpired.

[24:23] But, and here is where the plot thickens and it becomes less easy to understand. What happened to these ten nations?

[24:36] What happened to Rome that is represented here with this great and terrible beast? The fourth beast. What happened to it? Well, it is, what shall we say, in limbo.

[24:53] It is not operative at the present time. this is why scholars, particularly those who belong to this particular school, which happens to be one that I belong to, which is pre-tribulation and pre-millennial, insist that there is going to be a revival of this Roman Empire.

[25:16] That that which has been done away with in the past historically is going to resurface in a new form and that will be the one world government, the globalism, the ten nations that will be a confederation will be headed up by the Antichrist.

[25:36] So let us continue reading because the next one that follows what we believe will be the revival of this Roman Empire is the coming of Jesus Christ.

[25:48] And it is described beginning in verse 9. I kept looking until thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took his seat. Well, that can only refer to one.

[26:00] The Ancient of Days. His vesture was like white snow. And by the way, you can see this in Revelation 1 where the description is given of our Lord in the book of the Revelation and it is virtually parallel to what we are reading here in Daniel.

[26:18] His vesture was like white snow. The hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames.

[26:29] Its wheels were a burning fire. And I don't understand the wheels and the significance of the wheels. That just escapes me. I'd be glad to entertain any ideas you may have.

[26:41] A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands were attending him and myriads upon myriads were standing before him.

[26:57] We look for a number to put on this, but all we get is thousands upon thousands and myriads and we aren't told how many they are, but I can tell you this much. It's a whole bunch of people.

[27:09] It is a number of the likes of which we cannot imagine. It is a number that is not specified here. You just get the impression that they are without numbers. Does this next verse or the end of this sound familiar?

[27:24] Myriads upon myriads were standing before him. The courts sat and the books were opened. You can see the books opened in Revelation 19. These are the same books that Daniel is getting a vision of.

[27:37] These books are in the presence of God. Daniel says, And I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking.

[27:54] And this horn is the horn mentioned in verse 8. This horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.

[28:06] This is the little horn. And he is none other than the Antichrist. He is spoken of as such in 1 John 2 and verse 22.

[28:18] And in chapter 11 of Daniel he will be referred to and will surface again as the one who does his own will. Who does as he pleases.

[28:29] 2 Thessalonians 2.3 will identify the same one as the man of sin and he will surface again in Revelation 11.7 in 13.1 in 17.11 and in 19.20 and in each of those references of Revelation he is referred to as the beast.

[28:51] The beast. He is the Antichrist. And the text goes on talking about the boastful words which the horn that is this little horn was speaking that's the Antichrist the Antichrist is going to have an ego that will surpass anything humanity has ever seen.

[29:20] And you know he is going to make incredible boasts and he's going to make good on them. And the horn was speaking I kept looking until the beast was slain.

[29:38] This is speaking of the death of the Antichrist. Remember we saw in Revelation he has a fatal wound and he will be brought back to life the Antichrist.

[29:52] And the one of course who will be bringing him back to life will be the superintendent of the Antichrist will be none other than Satan. You see there is an unholy trinity that is a copycat of the true triune God and it is headed by Satan who is the counterpart of God the Father and then there is the false prophet who is the counterpart of the Holy Spirit and then there is the Antichrist who is the counterpart of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[30:23] And all three of these are going to be operating as negatively as anything you can imagine with great lying wonders lots of deception lots of power raw power during this tribulation period.

[30:39] And the text goes on to say the beast was slain its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire as for the rest of the beasts that is the four that preceded these their dominion was taken away but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time and this appointed period of time we take to be synonymous with the time of Jacob's trouble which is the time of tribulation and that's when they are going to be very very active.

[31:21] And verse 13 says I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming and he came up to the ancient of days.

[31:35] Now remember keep this in mind this is a vision this is a vision that Daniel is viewing and describing and we have God the father being approached by his son who came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him this is the son being presented before the father and to him that is the son was given that is given by the father this reminds me of psalm 2 where where God the father said to his son sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for your feet.

[32:21] That's what's going to be transpiring here. And where is the son now? He is exactly where Stephen said he saw him when he was being stoned and looked heavenward and saw the vision and he saw the son of God standing at the right hand of the father.

[32:42] And some are of the opinion and I guess I agree that Jesus who was seated at the right hand of the father rose to his feet to welcome Stephen the first martyr into heaven and that may very well be.

[32:57] So the text goes on to say to him was given dominion glory and a kingdom that all the peoples nations and men of every language might serve him.

[33:08] His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. And what happened to those four before and to the one that is revived?

[33:22] They all pass away and all come to an end. They're all temporary. But this kingdom will endure forever. That is the eternal kingdom which Christ is going to establish when he comes.

[33:36] And there is so much guys in this chapter and I'm sure you probably have questions that we don't have time to entertain. But make note of any questions that you have and we'll do our best to treat them in our next session.

[33:48] And we'll try to finish this chapter because it is absolutely loaded with prophetic content and I think we'll be able to see how these things come together. So thank you all for being here this morning and enjoy your breakfast in the day ahead.