Step by Step Through Daniel/Program 1

By: Dr. Jimmy DeYoung; ©2010

As Christians, we believe that God has told us about certain events that will take place in the future in the Bible. We want to know what God has to say before it happens. That is why there is such a great desire among Christians to understand biblical prophecy, especially the Book of Revelation.

Contents

Introduction

Announcer: Today, one out of every four Christian adults believes Jesus could return in their lifetime. The Old Testament prophet Daniel gives us the skeletal outline of all future Bible prophecy and is the key to understanding the book of Revelation. Jesus Christ himself quoted from Daniel, assuring us of its truths. This book contains Daniel’s predictions of four world empires that will rise and fall, his predictions of a final world empire that will be led by a new and powerful global leader, and his warning of an alignment of nations that will come against the nation of Israel in the last days.

Where do we find ourselves in the events Daniel describes? How do Daniel’s prophecies fit into such events as the rapture, the tribulation, the battle of Armageddon, and the second coming of Christ? Today we will take you step-by-step through the book of Daniel to help you understand its message and the events God foretells are up ahead. My guest is journalist and prophecy scholar Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, who has lived and reported from Jerusalem since 1991 and has interviewed every Israeli prime minister over the last 15 years. Join us for this special edition of The John Ankerberg Show.

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Dr. John Ankerberg: Welcome to our program, we’ve got an exciting one for you today. You know, as Christians, we all believe that God in the Bible has told us about certain events that will take place in the future. Well, we want to know what God has to say before it happens, right? I believe that’s why there is such a great desire among Christians to understand what God has to say in the book of Revelation.

But you might be amazed to learn that the prophet Daniel is the key to understanding the book of Revelation. Further, that Daniel gives us the outline of all future biblical prophecy 500 years before Jesus ever lived.

Well, my guest today is Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, a journalist who has lived in Jerusalem since 1991 and interviewed every Israeli prime minister and knows all of the key religious and political players. Jimmy, we took the folks step-by-step through the book of Revelation, and now we want to take them step-by-step through the book of Daniel. How does Daniel fit hand and glove with the book of Revelation? Start us off.

Dr. Jimmy DeYoung: You know, John, when you look at the book of Revelation, you have to realize that there are 350 references to other locations in the Bible. Now, most of those locations will be found in the book of Daniel. Second Peter 1:20, the apostle Peter, talking about Bible prophecy, said “there’s no prophecy of private interpretation,” but every prophecy in the word of God must fit like a hand in a glove, into their understanding of what’s going to happen in the end times. So, Daniel is key to basically getting the overall view and more details about the book of Revelation.

Ankerberg: Yeah, I just find it interesting that six centuries before John wrote, Daniel was already saying some of these things. But people want to know, we got these pillars up here, and you got pillars back there. What are these pillars up here? Refresh people’s minds on… These stood for key events in the book of Revelation. What were they?

DeYoung: That’s exactly correct. There are three pillars. And starting at the left side, you’ll see the first pillar, which represents the rapture of the Church. Jesus shouts, archangel shouts, trump of God sounds, and we that know Christ are caught up out of this location, to be with Him in the heavenlies forevermore. Then there’s a space between the first and second pillar. That would be the seven year tribulation period, followed by the return of Jesus Christ, the middle pillar there. And that’s followed by a 1000 year period of time, which is the kingdom. And then the retribution, the Great White Throne Judgment, before we enter into eternity future, new heaven, new earth and new Jerusalem.

Ankerberg: Aright, now document that. Take us through the chapters.

DeYoung: Well, let me just, before I do that.

Ankerberg: Yeah.

DeYoung: We’ll walk through the book of Revelation. But to make it very simple for those watching today, let me remind them that the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, chapters 1, 2, and 3, lead up to the rapture of the church. The last three chapters, chapters 20, 21, and 22, are after the return of Jesus Christ back to the earth. So you have then, the first three chapters, the last three chapters, dealing with before and after the Tribulation. That seven year period of time has 16 chapters of detailed information about that terrible time of judgment, the Great Tribulation period, or as the Jewish people call it, the time of Jacob’s trouble.

In chapter 1, you have the person and the power of Jesus Christ – before that first pillar on your left there. And then in chapters 2 and 3, you have the messages to the seven churches of Asia Minor in the time when John wrote the book.

Chapter 4, verse 1, John hears, as it were, a trumpet talking with him, which is indication of the rapture. John leaves this location and goes into the heavenlies. John, there’s a very interesting phrase in chapter 4, verse 1, the last phrase. It says, “And I will show ye things which must happen hereafter.” That indicates that the rapture is before the seven year Tribulation period.

Chapter 5, as we move into the area between the first and second pillars, would be God giving Jesus the title deed to the earth. What the Tribulation is all about, is John giving information of how the Lord will bring the earth under subjection and earth dwellers under subjection.

And then when you go back, you look in chapter 6, where you see the seven seal judgments take place. From that point in time, we also have to slip over then, chronologically, to chapter 11, verse 3 and following, where you have the two witnesses that will preach for 1260 days, or 3 ½ years. During that time as well, the Antichrist will appear as the first of the judgments in the Tribulation period. After he confirms a peace agreement, he goes to Rome, Italy, and establishes an ecclesiastical Babylon, a false church.

I want to remind you that Jesus Christ Himself will be opening the seals. Chapter 6, verse 1, “and the Lamb opened the first seal;” chapter 6, verse 3, “and the Lamb opened the second seal.” By the way, that second seal, the red seal, is a seal of war. The man is given a sword to take peace from the earth. This will play into what the book of Daniel talks about during that seven year period of time, and the events that will unfold.

At the end of the first half of the seven year period of time, there’s going to be a battle in the heavenlies, when Satan and all of his evil angels will be cast upon the earth, come down to the earth to try to destroy the Jewish people, which ultimately would lead to God failing, and the Antichrist and his energizer, Satan, being able to then become God.

In the last three and a half years, you have the seven trumpet judgments, the seven vial judgments, culminating with the kings coming out of the east, to join the Antichrist, to fight the battle of Armageddon.

The middle pillar has Jesus Christ returning to the earth. That would be chapter 19, verses 11 and following. And then you will see that Satan is bound, chapter 20, verses 1, 2, and 3. Satan will be bound for a 1000 year period of time. And during that time Jesus Christ will set up His kingdom and rule and reign from a temple that He builds in the city of Jerusalem. At the end of the 1000 years, Satan is loosed for a season, captured again by God, he’s thrown into the lake of fire. Then the earth disappears, it fades away, it slips into obscurity because it’s going to be burned up; 2 Peter 3:10 says it will be completely destroyed, not refurbished, destroyed. And then Jesus Christ will create new heavens, new earth and a new Jerusalem, after the Great White Throne Judgment when He is the judge, and sentences all of those who’ve rejected Him into the lake of fire. Then new heavens, new earth and new Jerusalem into eternity future.

Ankerberg: Now, what’s amazing to me is, having studied the book of Daniel here for a month, and very detailed, is that when you tell people what Daniel said 600 years before John wrote this stuff, how much of this stuff flows from Daniel and is repeated by the apostle John. I mean, it’s just astounding.

DeYoung: Actually, to tell you the truth, John, that seven year period of time could not really be understood without studying the book of Daniel. Here we have four pillars, instead of the three, and these represent the four main chapters in the book of Daniel. This one representing chapter 2, chapter 7, chapter 9, and chapter 11. After the break, we’ll explain what these particular chapters tell us about the time of terrible trouble, the judgment on the earth. Let me just remind you before we go to break, every single prophecy has been fulfilled before the rapture to take place. There’s no prophecy that has to be fulfilled before the rapture happens. Everything we’re going to be talking about on the rest of this program and the rest of this series, happens during the Tribulation period.

Ankerberg: And now, just let me say, too, folks, that what Jimmy just did in terms of going through the book of Revelation, we took five programs to do that and fill in the blanks with all of the verses. And if you want that, that’s in our Step-by-Step Through the Book of Revelation. But what we’re going to do in this series is we’re taking you step by step through the book of Daniel. And through these four pillars on both sides, he’s going to put all the chapters. In fact, we’re going to give you a quick review of the whole book when we come right back from our break. Stick with us.

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Ankerberg: Alright, we’re back. And in this segment, we’re going to take you through the entire book of Daniel chapter by chapter, give you a quick overview, and then we’re going to tie it to the book of Revelation. So, Jimmy, start us off.

DeYoung: John, let me just remind everybody that between the first and second pillars, that seven year period of time, called the Tribulation. Now, the book of Revelation has much detail, in 16 chapters, about what’s going to happen there. But there’s greater detail in the book of Daniel, thus the reason for the four pillars here that I’m standing behind now.

This first pillar will represent the first major chapter of prophecy. See, the book of Daniel is a practical book, but it’s a prophetic book as well. And this is chapter 2; this is where the Revived Roman Empire is revealed, the prophecy given to Daniel 2500 years ago about a structure, a political economic structure coming into power in the last days. This tells us all that we need to know about that Revived Roman Empire.

Then we have the seventh chapter. Out of the Revived Roman Empire, referred to here in chapter 7 as the ten horns in verse 7, from those ten horns, which would be the Revived Roman Empire, verse 8, comes the little horn. That’s one of 27 names for the Antichrist. Chapter 7 deals with that personality who will be energized by Satan to lead the Revived Roman Empire in the future and during that seven year period of time.

Then we come to chapter 9. There are three elements that can be found in the first six months of that seven year period of time. Those three elements would be a tyrant, a treaty, and a temple. Chapter 9 deals with that last seven years before Jesus Christ comes back to the earth, and we get all the details from chapter 9.

Followed by chapter 11, of course, in the book of Daniel. Daniel presents five personalities in this chapter 11, one of the most prophetic passages in all of Scripture. The last personality is the Antichrist. And he tells how he begins his activities and somewhat as the Messiah, howbeit a false Messiah, for the Jewish people and moves out to protect the Jewish people, as the alignment of the nations come against the Jewish State of Israel. That’s chapter 11 of the book of Daniel.

Ankerberg: Alright, Jimmy, to let them know what we’re doing. We’ve got the pillars, white pillars, up in the front. These are the guideposts for the book of Revelation. Your brown ones are for the book of Daniel. And our outline, again, for Revelation is the first pillar is the rapture, the second one is the second coming of Christ, the third one is the final judgment.

Here, in Daniel, your brown ones, you’ve got the Revived Roman Empire, you’ve got the appearance of the Antichrist, you’ve got the Tribulation time period, and you’ve got the alignment of the nations.

Alright, now take us through the chapters that surround the brown ones. Give us the full outline.

DeYoung: John, there are 12 chapters in the book of Daniel. The prophet Daniel was inspired of the Holy Spirit to write this book while he was in the captivity in Babylon itself, and a leader of the Babylonian Empire, actually. In chapter 1 of the book of Daniel, we see Daniel being taken into the captivity along with three of his Hebrew buddies by King Nebuchadnezzar, who is returning to take over the leadership of the Babylonian Empire, the most powerful man in the world at that time. And Daniel and his three buddies – we refer to them as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; their true names, godly names, were Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael – these men were trained up to be wise men in the council for Nebuchadnezzar.

Chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. He calls his wise men in. Nobody can give him the dream, thus he does not want to hear what their interpretation is. But Daniel prays to God, and God gifts Daniel with the ability to give Nebuchadnezzar the dream and the interpretation of the dream.

Ankerberg: Yeah, let me just say, you know, that Daniel and his buddies, they’re probably 15 years old and they’re taken away from their home. And when Daniel is called on to interpret this dream, he’s probably 18 years old….

DeYoung: Isn’t that amazing?

Ankerberg: …which is amazing.

DeYoung: It certainly is. And young people watching this telecast must realize that God can use them as well as some of us old guys here on the broadcast today. But in chapter 3 of the book of Daniel, we see in focus those three young men: Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego), and they are told that they had to bow down to a statue, probably a statue of Nebuchadnezzar, about 9 feet at the base, 90 feet tall. When the music would sound, they were to bow down or they would be thrown into the fiery furnace. Well, those three young men purposed in their heart they were not going to bow down. Ultimately, they were thrown into the fiery furnace. But there was a Son of God down there, looking as the fourth man in the furnace with them when they came to see if they had died. Indeed, they did not. They were raised out of the fiery furnace and given positions in the Babylonian Empire after that.

Ankerberg: Tell the folks what they told the king. I think that’s important for Christian living.

DeYoung: You know, it is so exciting to think of that particular verse. They said, “Our God will take care of us.” But the next verse says, “But even if He doesn’t, we’re not going to bow down.” That should be our mode of operation for our Christian life as well.

We come to chapter 4 now. Nebuchadnezzar has another dream. He calls Daniel to interpret the dream. This one is to tell Nebuchadnezzar that if he does not get over his pride, as the leader of the known world at that time, God was going to reduce him to all fours, crawling around like an animal. When it would rain, his long hair would be like the wings of an eagle, it would mat together. He would have fingernails that would grow long. And for a seven year period in time, that’s how he would be, until he got his heart right with God. That’s chapter 4.

Now, as we come through the first six chapters, it’s all historic. In chapter 5, we see the Babylonian Empire destroyed. The city of Babylon was not destroyed. That’s very important as it relates to the Tribulation period in the book of Revelation. But the empire was destroyed by the Medes and the Persians, and that is recorded in chapter 5. Belshazzar, who was the leader, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, is killed that night when the Medes and the Persians come in.

In chapter 6, we see Daniel now under the Medo-Persian Empire. And, as was his custom, he would go to the window, facing Jerusalem, and pray three times a day. Some of the other governors that had a responsibility to answer to Daniel wanted him out of the way. And so they put together a scheme to say, “If you don’t pray to the king, you cannot pray to anybody.” Daniel went ahead praying every day, three times a day, towards Jerusalem. He ends up in the lion’s den. By the way, those who threw him in the lion’s den, they and their families all were eaten up by the lions. Daniel comes out after a lovely evening with the pussycats there in the lion’s den.

Ankerberg: Yeah, I always love it. When he’s 15 to 18 years old he’s tested in that first chapter of Daniel, and he stands the test. He won’t bow down to the food laws of the Babylonians. And over here, he’s probably 80 years old and he’s tested again, and they throw him into the lion’s den. You just say, “Come on, Lord! I mean, do you have to be tested one more time?” Daniel was, and he went through that, the Lord saved him. And then what happened?

DeYoung: You know, John, it seems like Daniel was tested throughout his entire life. And that’s the record of this book, a man named Daniel, that has not one negative statement made about him in the entire Bible. Well, he now comes, at probably around 80-82 years of age, to chapter 7. In chapter 7, we switch now to the prophetic passages that are going to unfold in the last six chapters of the book of Daniel. Chapter 7 is a record of the appearance of the little horn. That’s one of 27 names for the Antichrist. In chapter 7 he is referred to as the little horn. In chapter 9, and verse 26, he’s referred to as the prince that shall come. In chapter 11, he’s referred to as the willful king, and he is the Antichrist that’ll be here.

Chapter 8, Daniel has a vision of a ram and a goat. And the ram is destroyed by the goat, the ram being the Medo-Persian Empire and the goat being the Grecian Empire.

Chapter 9 is talking about that period of time, the seven year Tribulation, and basically the first six months of the Tribulation, when there are three main things that happen, three elements: a tyrant, a treaty and a temple here.

Chapter 10, showing how, indeed, Satan dispatches evil angels to control world leaders, political leaders and religious leaders, especially in the time of the end.

Chapter 11, the alignment of the nations. And Daniel talks about the first nation to make a move against Israel, which is Syria.

Chapter 12, it’s talking about that time of terrible trouble which, if God did not bring to an end, the Jews would be destroyed. In fact, He even has to dispatch Michael the archangel to come protect the Jewish people.

So, thus, the 12 chapters of the book of Daniel.

Ankerberg: I can hardly wait for us to get into each of these pillars and put in some of the surrounding material that we left out today. But, folks, I just want you to know that what you’re hearing is the grand overview of Daniel. And now, what we’re going to start with is, we’re going to go next week to a historic event. Jimmy, set this up for us. Pillar number 1, the Revived Roman Empire that Daniel talks about in chapter 2, why is this so important?

DeYoung: Because we are living in that day. Next week I want to talk about what our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, when she said the most historic event in probably the last 50 years took place in November of 2009. It was the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and the setting in place of the European Union, which is, I believe, the infrastructure to what Daniel was talking about in Daniel chapter 2.

Ankerberg: Yep. Daniel prophesied there’s going to be a world empire that’s going to come at the last time. It’s going to have a leader that’s going to lead that. It’s going to be in a specific time period, and the alignment of nations are going to come against Israel. And, folks, we’re going to get into all of that and we’re going to tie it into current events, what you’re reading in the news today. Okay, so please join us next week.

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