Daniel-Wayne Barber/Part 15
| By: Dr. Wayne Barber; ©2006 |
| Some of you may wonder, “Why do we go through all this historical stuff in the Word of God? What do I care about Babylon and these other kingdoms?” |
Hang on, Brother, the King is Coming (Daniel 7:1-8; 24-28)
Turn with me to Daniel 7. Somebody asked the question: How do you eat an elephant? Well, you eat it one bite at a time. You don’t try to swallow the whole elephant. And as we go through Daniel, you’ll begin to notice how one scripture will shed light on another scripture. And we’ll just inch our way forward. It’ll be a little frustrating to some of you, I’m sure. You want to get the whole picture and hurry up and get at it. But we want to take it slow and make sure we understand it and make sure it’s God’s Word speaking to our hearts.
The title of our message is “Hang on, Brother, the King is Coming.” Hang on, He is coming. Some of you may wonder, “Why do we go through all this historical stuff in the Word of God? What do I care about Babylon? What do I care about Medo-Persia? Why do I care about Greece? What do I care about early or ancient Rome?” Well, folks, listen. This is when it gets real personal. If you don’t care about Babylon or Babylonia and Medo-Persia and Greece, if you don’t care about those things, then you don’t realize that He’s already told you what He was going to do among those nations and He’s done it. Now He’s told you what is going to happen in the latter days. As He has done it here, He’ll also do it as He says in those latter days. So it’s a very personal message if you’ll allow it to be that.
Now, as we start chapter 7, something you need to know. Chapters 1-6 are chronological. In other words, it starts at 605 BC and you can see it progress all the way down until really up to 500 or early 500 BC. So it starts at 605 and goes all the way down. It’s chronological; not year after year, but in a chronological sequence. Chapters 7-12 are not chronological, and you can get very confused studying Daniel if you don’t know that.
Let’s go back to review what we’ve seen so far and show you how it’s chronological. Chapter 1, 605 BC, verse 1 of chapter 1 when Nebuchadnezzar moves in and his first siege of Jerusalem takes place. That’s when Daniel and his friends are taken out of his homeland and taken over into Babylonia. That’s in verse 8 of chapter 1 when Daniel says, “I will not defile myself.” Obviously Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said the same thing; or Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, as is their real Hebrew names. They all make the statement: “We will not defile ourselves.” Folks, do you realize that we wouldn’t even have the book of Daniel and all the revelations that are there if they had not made that vow? It’s because Daniel made that vow that God honored him and gave us what we have now in the book of Daniel. Very critical chapters.
Well chapter 2 is when Nebuchadnezzar has his first visible encounter with the Holy God, the most High God, our God. And God gives him a dream, and this dream really causes him turmoil and trouble. Daniel interprets that dream. In that dream he sees a statue. Now you have in your bulletin this morning a little sheet of paper. You’ll need this before we get through. I’ve colored a little bit on mine, but you’ll need this before we get through. On the left side is Daniel 2, what I’m talking about right now. This is the statue that was revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, and of course, as we’ve already studied, it was four kingdoms that God was revealing to Nebuchadnezzar about and He was telling him what was going to happen in the latter days. Basically all the Gentile pagan nations of the world have their conclusion right here in this statue. He said the head of gold is Babylon; the upper torso of silver is the Medo-Persian Empire, which by the way comes in to effect in chapter 5 of our study. Belly and thighs of bronze, that’s Greece, the Greek Empire, you see the dates there. The legs and the feet, the legs of iron and the feet of iron and baked clay are the fourth kingdom, the Roman Empire.
Now you also remember that He wasn’t just referring to the legs of the statue, He wasn’t just referring to the feet of the statue. He was referring to the toes, verse 42 of chapter 2 of Daniel. The toes, the ten toes, there’s something about those ten toes that He’s referring to: the latter days of Rome. We’ve never seen that time yet in history: that’s the latter day part of the prophecy given to Nebuchadnezzar.
If you go back to chapter 2 just for a second, let’s remember some things here. Chapter 2:34, after he gets the statue, you see it pictured for you on your little insert in the bulletin. Verse 34, “You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.” Now, who was that stone? We believe that’s the Lord Jesus Christ, made without hands, obviously born of a virgin, the God-man. And verse 35 says, “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”
Now for those people who believe that we’re in the Kingdom now, that there’s not going to be an earthly kingdom, you tell me how that this has been fulfilled. Because there are other kingdoms on this earth and we’ve never seen the ten nations of Rome that’s taken place that’s also prophesied in Daniel 2. There’s going to be an earthly kingdom set up on this earth and the Lord Jesus Christ, the King, will set up His kingdom right here on this earth. That’s what He’s telling us. Verse 36 goes on and says, “This was the dream; now we shall tell its interpretation.” So we see then that the stone will come.
Now look at verse 44, “And in the days of those kings,” what kings? Back up, verse 42, the toes of the feet, all of those are kings and the days of those kings, when there’s a United States of Europe, when all those ten nations will come together, individual nations, but one. In the days of those kings something is going to take place: the King is going to set up His Kingdom. Now, that’s the latter day prophecy that is revealed in chapter 2.
Well, that’s chapter 2. Chapter 3 tells us about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, how God delivered them and the fire did not touch them, only burned off that which bound them.
Chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar has another dream, only this time it has nothing to do with the nations of this world, the empires of this world. It has to do with Nebuchadnezzar and his pride and God tells him about a tree and that tree is his kingdom and to cut that tree down but leave the stump there with the roots in the ground. In other words, He’s going to salvage his kingdom, but He’s going to do something in the life of Nebuchadnezzar to humble Nebuchadnezzar. Look in verse 37 of chapter 4, the key verse to that whole chapter. It says, “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.” Seven years He humbled Nebuchadnezzar. Made him eat like an animal: he ate grass for his food. He would wake up in the morning with dew all over him just like the cattle in the field. He had a form of insanity for seven years and finally at the end of seven years chapter 4 says he looked up and when he looked up he began to praise God as the God, the One who rules. He doesn’t rule any longer, but God rules. He’d been humbled. And this is the dream and the story of Daniel chapter 4.
Well, in chapter 5 we see another Babylonian king being humbled, only this time the whole kingdom comes down. And this is Belshazzar, a distant relative of Nebuchadnezzar, and he sees the handwriting on the wall in the midst of a drunken feast. He’s taken the vessels of gold and silver that were taken out of the temple of God in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and he fills them full of wine. They have a drunken orgy, and in the midst of this drunken orgy and sacrilege to the things of God, ghostly fingers appear on the wall and they write a message: “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. Thou has been weighed in the balances and you’re found lacking,” and therefore judgment came. And the last verse of chapter 5 says, “So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.” So we see the fall of the Babylonia Empire.
Now we see the second kingdom, the upper torso, silver, we see it coming into existence: the Medo-Persian Empire. Well, chapter 6, Daniel is an old man now, up in his early eighties. He’s in the lions’ den now and we see how God spared him in the lions’ den. Well, that’s chapter 1 through chapter 6, and chronologically you can see it just go right on down, ending up in the first year of Darius who is the Medo-Persian king who ruled along side of Cyrus.
Now we get into chapter 7 and this is going to be, I think, an exciting chapter. We’re going to be here for several weeks in this chapter because I want you to see it a piece at a time. Now in this chapter we’re going to see Daniel having a vision. It’s different now. Not a pagan king, we’re through with them. Now we see Daniel having a vision. Look at 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.” Now watch what he does. He does something different than the pagan kings. When they had their dreams they called for somebody to interpret them. What did Daniel do? “Then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it.” Aren’t you glad he wrote it down? We have it now to look at, and God the Holy Spirit, working through His prophet Daniel gave him a dream, its interpretation, and we have it today written down for our benefit.
Well, verse 2, “Daniel said, I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven,” the atmospheric winds of heaven, north, south, east, and west, the tumultuous winds, “the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.” Now, be real careful: there are some people who interpret the great sea as the Mediterranean Sea. But as I studied in Isaiah and other places, to me the emphasis is many, many times, and more than not, it is used as the sea of nations. So out of this sea of nations, out of the Gentile world, the sea of nations, there’s a stirring going on, a turmoil going on in this earth. And up out of those Gentile nations it says in verse 3, “And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.” So one after the other, four great beasts come up out of the Gentile nations of this earth; being stirred up by the four winds of heaven.
And so we get into these beasts. Now right here, on your little insert, write the lion, the bear, the leopard, and then that fourth beast unlike any of the other three. I want us to look at it this morning. I doubt real seriously anybody will jump up and go to the mission field after this message, but we’re doing spade work folks. If we’re going to understand it we’re going to have to go through messages like this. We’re just going to have to dig in and we’re going to have to understand it the way it is put down. So you bear with me, pray for me. It’s God’s Word and God’s Word is alive. Is that not correct? His Holy Spirit will do a work in our hearts if we’ll just listen to what He’s saying.
Alright, the first beast, corresponding to the head of gold. Now before we even look at that, look at verse 17 to make sure you understand. Daniel 7:17, “These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.” That’s why I believe that sea terminology there is referring to the earth; so four great beasts that are rising up out of the earth. And remember one other thing, and this is going to help you; boy, when you get to Revelation it will really help you. You cannot separate a king from his kingdom. Now you remember that. Remember Daniel 2? Nebuchadnezzar is used as the head of gold. No, it isn’t! It’s Babylon: one and the same. You cannot separate kings from the kingdom. That will really help you later on. Four kings: four kingdoms is what he’s talking about, raised up from the sea of nations upon this earth.
Alright, the first one. He says in verse 4, “The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, 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.” Now what is that first nation? We have, I don’t believe any doubt whatsoever, that it is Babylon, corresponding to the head of gold. This is Daniel’s vision, this is Nebuchadnezzar’s vision. Nebuchadnezzar saw a statue; Daniel saw four beasts which is the true character of this statue. The nature of the statue is the heart of the beast. Blasphemous names, Revelation tells us, were written upon the forehead of all the kingdoms of this earth; the beastly characteristics of these kingdoms. And the first one is a lion representing Babylon. Now, it said it had wings on that lion. Well, what are the wings for? Wings make you swift to do something. A lion is powerful, it’s dominant, but it’s also swift because it’s given that ability to move quickly.
Now there are three reasons why I believe he’s talking about Babylon, and perhaps you might agree. First of all, in chapter 2:37-38 as Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he says, “You are the one, the head of gold. You are the king of kings.” Now he didn’t mean the king of kings; he meant the king of kings on this earth. “It is you who has all this superiority on this earth. You’re the top dog. You’re the head man.”
Well, think about it for a second. A lion is the king of beasts and the eagle is the king of all fowl of the air, and so there is no other above them, just like it was with Nebuchadnezzar: none above him. To me it has to be Babylon that he’s referring to in this first beast. Well, the second reason I believe it’s Babylon is because of the winged lion. Now we have some things to help us out. We’re looking back at Daniel; Daniel is looking this way; we’re looking back. As a matter of fact, you get to Revelation and it lists the beast in backwards order. Isn’t that beautiful? John saw them from this side in. Daniel saw them from over here looking that way. One of the things I see in it is what the archeologists have come up with. They have discovered winged lions gracing the royal palaces that were in Babylon. And it has already been decided by secular people, we don’t have to worry about them, but they have already given credence to the fact that the winged lion was a symbol of Babylon. Jeremiah, as a matter of fact, spoke of Babylon as both a lion and an eagle. And I’ve got the scriptures there but I won’t bother to read them all to you. Ezekiel spoke of it as being an eagle in 17:3. Habakkuk spoke of it as being an eagle in 1:8. So we see the contemporary prophets of Daniel also calling Babylon both a lion and an eagle, so we see then the winged lion being Babylon.
I want you to notice something else that is even more powerful in this verse. Notice the change that takes place in this beast. Verse 4, “I kept looking until its wings were plucked,” no longer had that swift capability, “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.” In other words, the whole characteristic of a beast with its power was taken away from it and it was rendered to stand on its hind legs like a man, even to the mere thinking of a man. Does that remind you of anybody that was king of Babylon? Who? Nebuchadnezzar, that’s right. What did God do to him? Buddy, you talk about humbling a man, taking his wings off of him, taking the power away from him. God took that away from Nebuchadnezzar. Made him a mere man; as a matter of fact, rendered him so peaceful that he became very humanistic in the right sense. It became very humanly oriented in what he would do: be concerned with human concerns. No longer the conquering beast anymore. He became like a man, thought like a man, very reasonable in his old age before God finally allowed him to die. And so we see then the lion with two wings being Babylon, equal to the head of gold on the statue revealed to Nebuchadnezzar.
Well, the second beast we come to resembles a bear. Verse 5, “And behold, another beast, a second one,” comes after the first, “resembling a bear.” And the next few things are just incredible. “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!’” Now how do we know that that’s Medo-Persia? Well, first of all, since we know it’s four kingdoms, we know from the book of Daniel that it has to be Medo-Persia; I mean, it tells you in chapter 5, the kingdom that overthrew Babylon. But there are other ways.
You know a bear is more massive in size that a lion. But it’s a lot slower than a lion. If you’ll study the history of the Medo-Persians, they were a much more vast empire than Babylon, but yet they moved much slower than Babylon had moved, and it took a lot longer for that empire to cover the territory it finally encompassed. But, you see, bears are brutal. I want you to look with me in Isaiah 13. It’s speaking of this empire and it shows you the brutal characteristics of the Medo-Persians. Isaiah 13:17-18, to show you the brutal characteristics of this empire he’s speaking of, the second beast. It says in verse 17, “Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold, and their bows will mow down the young men [now watch], they will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, nor will their eye pity children.”
Like the brutal characteristics of the bear, the Medo-Persians will move in and plunder and rape the land. Listen, years ago I used to study about bears. I was just enthralled; I couldn’t get enough of them. Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, anything I could read about it. I’d read the stories about how they’d kill a man, become obsessed with human blood, and how they would use animals as decoys to kill other men. And how they would get in these big parks and then I couldn’t sleep all night. But I’d read about the brutal characteristics of a bear. And all of that came to haunt me when I was over in Romania last year, because we were walking down the road in the mountainous area. Somebody yelled, “Look out! Look out!” I said, “What’s wrong?” And I looked up and it was about dusk and I looked up and there was a brown bear standing in the road as close to me as this piano right here. Now the brown bear wasn’t really after me, he was after the garbage cans in the motel behind me. But I had a sneaking suspension that he was not going to allow me to intimidate him whatsoever.
And I didn’t know what to do, so I yelled, “Boo!” And he backed up about two steps and thought, “Who is this dummy thinking he can scare me by yelling boo?” One of the guys with us, one of the pastors from Bucharest, had a sack and in the sack was apple strudel. I’m glad that bears enjoy apple strudel and not human flesh, because he took the apple strudel and threw it up on the bank. The bear got a whiff of it and walked over and decided he like that and walked up in the woods and we were able to get by that bear. But I tell you what: bears are brutal.
The bears. There are three things about this bear that I want to show you that I think will be interesting. Alright, first of all, in verse 5, it was raised up on one side. Now, you’ll never find a time in the Medo-Persian Empire, two kingdoms now that have come together, where one of them does not somehow dominate the other. As if one side of that bear is more powerful and raised up above the other. As a matter of fact, in Daniel 6 we find that the Medes were much more powerful than the Persians. If you’ll look with me in Daniel 6:8 it tells us by the way it denotes the names there. It says, “O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the law,” now watch this, they always put the predominant one first, “of the Medes and Persians.” So you see in the raising up of the side of the bear at that point it was the Medes.
But look with me at Esther 1:19. This is several years later than the other one was written and notice what it said, “If it please the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media.” Turned around. And so we see that there was never a time that they were equal. That bear raised up on one side.
But go back to verse 5 of Daniel 7. Look what it says, “and three ribs were in its mouth.” Now, I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t take too much to figure that out. If he’s got three ribs in his mouth at one time, those ribs belonged to something. Now he has three bones in his mouth. What does that tell you? It means there must be three conquests somehow. He’s got the bones in his mouth. History tells us, and thank you history for we so appreciate you stepping in at this point, we don’t need history but it sure documents and it doesn’t have to document, but the Word of God stands on what it says. History documents there were three kingdoms that this powerful nation conquered. One was Babylon, we know that; one was Lydia, Lydia is modern day Turkey; and then Egypt. All three of these were the three ribs in the mouth of the bear.
And then the third thing he says, “and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’” It’s incredible as you read the history of the Medo-Persians how they were insatiable with a desire to conquer more and more and more and more and more land. And so, as it says, this is the Medo-Persian Empire. The second beast.
Alright, let’s go to the third beast. Verse 6, “After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back [not two wings like the lion] four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.” Now, right now you think a lot of what I’m saying is speculation, but wait until we get to chapter 8 and some of the other chapters. It tells you that it’s Medo-Persia; it tells you that it’s Greece. But right now we’ve got to settle; we’re not over there yet. So this nation has to be the nation of Greece. “Like a leopard;” and you know a leopard is known for how swiftly it can make its attack. And the key general of all the Greek Empire was Alexander the Great, and it is told in history of how he made overnight moves. He would march his men day in and day out just to make a swift surprise attack on someone. He conquered more land, more empires than any general ever known in the history of man. It came to a point that he thought he had conquered it all and sat down and wept because there were no more kingdoms to conquer. And at 32 years old, after a drunken orgy, he got a fever and because of that fever he died. Thirty two years old!
And what does the verse tell us? It said the beast also had four heads and dominion was given to it. Do you know what his kingdom was divided into? Four parts; as he died it took four kings to take over all the land that he had conquered. Lysimachus took over Greece. Cassander took over Macedonia; Seleucus took over Syria and Babylonia; and Ptolemy took over Egypt.
That’s the four heads that took over his kingdom when Alexander the Great died. So we have Babylon, a lion with two wings; we have Medo-Persia, a bear; we have Greece as a leopard with four wings, swift and can move quickly. And we see those empires. Now we come to the one that concerned Daniel. Folks, I’m telling you! You say, “This is not personal to me this morning!” Oh, buddy, you better believe it’s personal this morning. That fourth beast, you’d better look at it and look at it close.
Look what it says in verse 7, “After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast.” You see, up until now we’ve had history document everything the Word of God said. We know God did exactly like He said He was going to do. Watch this: “and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong.” The words dreadful and terrifying mean there that it was fearless. Why was it fearless? Because it was extremely strong; it had nothing to fear. As a matter of fact it goes on to say, “it had large iron teeth.” Of course that iron corresponds to those legs of iron that we saw on the statue in Daniel 2. “It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different,” now watch this, “it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.”
Now before I go any further, let me show you something here. What we’re seeing is Rome in three dimensions; basically in three time periods. First of all you see ancient Rome when it was like legs of iron, when it’s here with its teeth of iron and it crushed and it trampled. We know that took place and you’ll see on your statue over here the Roman Empire ended about 476 AD. That’s when ancient Rome goes away. We’re not talking about ancient Rome. Everything that the Bible says about its being with iron and crushing and trampling is exactly the way it happened. That’s the way Rome was. As a matter of fact it fell from within; nobody conquered it, it fell from within, from moral decay from within.
But we see a second stage of Rome, and the world has not yet witnessed this. Remember the ten toes of chapter 2? What does it say again in verse 7, the last part? “and it had ten horns.” Ten horns: we know that those ten horns—matter of fact look over in verse 24, it tells you what they are. It says, “As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise.” Can you separate a king from his kingdom? No! The ten kingdoms, the ten kings. There’s going to come a time, like I said, there’s going to be like a United States of Europe, when ten nations are going to come together. Folks, everybody is watching the Middle East. You’re looking the wrong way! Look at Europe! Something is going to happen in Europe long before something happens over in the Middle East. There’s going to be a conglomeration of ten nations that are going to come together, loosely federated, and yet they’re going to be a world power; not to conquer, those things have gone out. What’s it going to be for? You write it down: for the mighty dollar. You write it down.
Napoleon, Charlemagne, tried to recreate the Roman Empire; they could not do it. No man has ever been able to do it. God alone is going to allow this to happen. He’s going to bring up these ten nations and they’re going to come right out of the old ancient Rome. It’s going to come out of that part of our world. Ten nations loosely federated together but united as one kingdom. That’s the second stage of Rome; we’ve never seen that. That’s the latter days, folks. We’ve never seen that. History says nothing about that. I’m telling you, when you think about what’s going on in Europe right now, you ask any European what excites him more than anything else and he says, “1992, 1992.” Over here in America we’re sound asleep. We don’t even realize what God has said and what He’s doing over there in Europe.
You know what’s going to happen in 1992? One passport, one currency, that’s when those nations are going to come together to form that European Common Market for the purpose of economics in this world. I want to tell you something: if they choose any kind of currency other than ours, what do you think is going to happen to the dollar overnight? And all the people in America thinking nobody can break us, we’re financially wealthy. You watch what God can do. Lot of speculation right now, so I’m going to get away from it. There’s going to be another stage when ten nations come together.
But there’s yet going to be another stage. Actually, you can look at it as one or you can look at it as two. Something else is going to happen. Out of those ten nations something is going to appear. Now this is when we get to a part it doesn’t even talk about in Daniel 2. Look at verse 8, “While I was contemplating the horns,” ten horns, ten toes, we see that, “behold, another horn.” Now, if you’ll look on your beast, that’s an ugly thing isn’t it? Right here on the front of the forehead is a little nub: that’s the eleventh horn, that the little horn that’s going to rise up, right here on the forehead. Now watch what he says in verse 8, “behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots.” In other words, how’s he going to come to power? He’s going to conquer three of the ten somehow. I don’t know how. “And behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth uttering great boasts.”
Now folks, we need to concentrate on this little horn. Some people say it’s a man. Well, yes, it is. But you can’t divorce a man from the powers behind it, and next week I’m going to show you in Revelation that explains the thing so clearly that nobody can miss it. There will be a power behind it, but there will also be a man in front of it. Who do we know this man as, being the little horn? What would we call it? The Antichrist, you best believe it. And when is this all taking place? Latter days, all of this is in the latter days.
Now watch and this is very important to God’s people, the Jews. Look at verses 24-25, “As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. And he will speak out against the Most High,” watch the next phrase, “and wear down the saints.” The word for “saints” there is simply the word that means “the Holy Ones.” Always attributed to Israel in the Old and attributed to the Christians in the New. So I believe what he’s talking about here is Israel, God’s people, His covenant people. As a matter of fact, from chapter 8 through chapter 12, we deal with Israel. Up to now we’ve dealt with the Gentile nations.
Now watch: “and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law.” In other words, he’ll be lawless. He’ll make his own laws, “and they will be given into his hand.” They? Who are the “they”? Those people, the saints, Israel, “will be given into his hand for a time [the word “time”’ means year], times [two years, three years now], and half a time.” How long is that? Three and a half years.
Now folks, that’s the last three and a half years of this age. He’s telling you what’s going to happen. Something is going to take place. Oh, I want to preempt next week. We’re going to get into Revelation. And we’re going to see what’s going to happen as the woman and the male child and the dragon, but I can’t get there yet. We’re in chapter 7. But something is going to happen in the last three and a half years of this age and there’s going to be one who is going to do battle against the saints of God, the holy ones of God, Israel! You see, this begins to take shape now. Now don’t jump ahead of me. It will all fit if you’ll just go with me as slow as we’re going to go.
Alright, look again in verses 26-27. We read in 24-25 of how he’s going to be given power for three and a half years to subdue the saints, but it says in verse 26, “But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.”
How is he going to be destroyed? Remember the stone of chapter 2? What is it going to do? Crush the statue. “Well, Wayne, does it mean that all those kingdoms will be present at that time?” Well, wait a minute, wait a minute. When Medo-Persian conquered Babylon it didn’t destroy it; it just conquered it, it absorbed it into itself. When Greece conquered Medo-Persian it didn’t destroy it; it absorbed it into itself. When Rome conquered Greece it absorbed it into itself. All the kingdoms that have ever been known on the face of this earth will all be wrapped up in this particular individual and the kingdom behind it. And that kingdom ultimately will be destroyed and nothing will be left, not even a trace. And remember what chapter 2 said? And His kingdom will fill up the whole earth and no one will be there to overtake His kingdom.
Now for those that believe we’re in the kingdom now, personally I just believe you’ve missed it. I’m sorry, love you to death, you’ve just flat missed it. You tell me we’re in the kingdom right now, but let me ask you a question: does righteousness prevail and are there other kingdoms on this earth that would be evil at all? And have you ever seen the ten nations come together? Have you seen any of this take place? No! It will be in those days that the kingdom will come. It will be an instantaneous setting up of His kingdom on this earth. The kingdom of grace that we’re in right now is a progressive kingdom. His kingdom will be instantaneously set up on this earth. It will be on this earth and Jesus will be the King of that kingdom.
So hang on, brother, the King is coming. Along with the king is His kingdom. And we’ve got a lot more. Now don’t you jump in there and try to read between the blanks, don’t pick up Hal Lindsay and everybody else and try to figure it all out. Don’t you do that! Let the Bible speak for itself. We’re going to inch our way through this. Next week we’ll take a little bit more about this little horn; a little bit more understanding of who he is. The following week we may do something on the kingdom that is to come, what we can look forward to on this earth. But we’re just going to inch our way through.
Everybody has been trying to get me to force interpretations on this thing; I’m just not smart enough to do that. I do know what it says and we’ll stay with that. But I do know one thing: the King is coming.
You know, I was up in Pennsylvania at a retarded children’s home one day and I tried to preach. And I couldn’t think of the right words to say but every time I mentioned “Jesus” I noticed something. All those precious about 300 crammed into an auditorium, every time I’d say Jesus, they’d go, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” These big old tears would get in their face. I noticed every time I said “Jesus,” or every time I read a verse about God loving us. And the Holy Spirit gave me a leading and I threw away everything I was going to say. He said, “Now just repeat yourself and repeat the verses that build our faith.” I started going through them, John 3:16 and the different verses, and every time I’d read one of those verses they’d go, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” and those tears would just stream down their face. And then they stood up, they stood up and raised their hands and said, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” I tell you what, I wonder sometimes who is retarded. When they come together and hear the name of Jesus it just pulls their inner being out because they love Him and they worship Him.
There’s a little retarded children’s home in Kentucky. Remember “retarded” is in quotes. Preacher went there one day and told them about Jesus and he said, “Now listen, He’s going to come again, He’s going to come again. I want you to watch the eastern sky.” They said the next several weeks they couldn’t keep the windows clean on the eastern side of the building because every time they had recess, every time they had lunch, anything else, they’d run to those windows and they’d put their face up against those windows and they’d say, “Is it today? Is it today Jesus is coming? Jesus is coming.”
Well, folks, do you believe He’s coming? You go back to the history books and it’ll tell you it exactly happened in Babylon, in happened the same way the Bible said it in Medo-Persia, happened the same way with Greece, happened the same way with Rome. And God says, “It’s going to take place the way I say it’s going to take place. And when I say it’s going to happen.” And I don’t know about you, but I’m a part of the group that believes that the church is not even in Daniel at all. He didn’t even understand the church. I believe as we get to chapter 9, of the 69 and the 70th week, I think we’re a little parenthesis in there and in the mean time we’re here and we’re taken up and we’re gone and then He has those last seven years. That’s what I believe, I don’t know, you may disagree with me. If you want to stay here, help yourself, I’m going with the first bunch. There’s going to be a group of us going out of here. There’s going to be a group of us going out of here.
Jesus is going to come for His church and then one day as He establishes His kingdom, destroys the nations of this world, He’s going to come with His church, we’ll be with Him, and He’ll come riding on a horse with a sword in His hand and He won’t be the weak little man on a donkey riding into Jerusalem. Buddy, He’ll be the King, the King of Kings, and He’ll set up His kingdom on this earth. Amen!
