The Ancient of Days Is Still on His Throne: Daniel 7 and the Kingdoms That Fall

do me a favor get out your bibles if you brought them one of the descriptions of the Bible is a sword so get out your sword and hold it up in the air like you care if you brought your Bible hold it up and on the count of three I want everyone including those watching online and we've got many right now you can put it in the chat or the comments section I want everyone to shout word on the count of three one two three word we're getting into God's word so that God's word will get into us if you would like to hear God speak you've got to get into this book things are about to get weird I'm not talking about our government or the nation we live in we are in an interesting section of the Book of Daniel if you've got a Bible you can turn to Daniel chapter 7 Daniel is in the Old Testament one of the 66 books that makes up the Bible it's in the book

of prophets we've covered six chapters thus far these chapters have been storytelling we learned of these young men that were brought from Judah to Babylon slaves their Exiles in a foreign land we learn of Daniel who's resolved to serve his God no matter what condition he finds himself and even if he's in Babylon even if everyone else worships false gods and eats the food sacrificed to Idols he's going to be resolved to do what's right we learn of King Nebuchadnezzar who led Babylon at that time and he gets a dream that no one can interpret not the astrologers the divers of the day and so with God's help Daniel interprets this dream in Chapter 2 in chapter 3 we learn of these men who now have Babylonian names Shadrach mhach and

Abednego who were unwilling to bow down to a false idol and then in chapter four King Nebuchadnezzar gets another dream in which with God's help Daniel once again is able to interpret by chapter five King Nebuchadnezzar is now dead and his grandson Bel shazar throws a huge party meanwhile the MEO Persians move in and take over the Babylonian Empire and Bazar dies in chapter 6 the meido Persians are now controlling the world as we know it and Daniel has raised himself to an a level of elevation in the political uh realm and and there's a rule where you cannot worship any Gods but

darus and Daniel defies the rules and he prays and ends up in a Den of Lions and it's there that God meets him and preserves his life and now we take a turn we're shifting genres from storytelling to prophecy and it's pretty dramatic because it's not just ordinary prophecy this is apocalyptic prophecy the word apocalypse comes from the word apocalypsis it means to reveal it means Revelation so at the last book of the Bible is named after Revelation it just simply means apocalypse it's the revelation the revealing of Jesus Christ The Book of Daniel has been called the little Revelation for there are many parallels that you find in the Book of Revelation and in the Book of Daniel today we pick up in chapter 7 and

we'll see a massive switch from storytelling to this apocalyptic literature now now in apocalyptic literature there's a great use of imagery there's metaphors that we've got to read into so this this will not be ordinary writing we need to put on our spiritual hats and say what's actually being said said in this apocalyptic prophetic word it's it's a pretty dramatic switch it's like a an MMA fighter going from boxing to Jiu-Jitsu it's a big difference it's like when you watch a movie and it's just like this drama movie and you're kind of into it and it's okay and then all of a sudden it becomes a thrill and your heart starts racing you say what happened in this movie it's sort of like switching chapter 6 to chapter 7 is like a rapper going country

it's totally weird but it sort of makes sense we would have never thought that a few years ago but jelly roll he's doing really well with it and so although this may seem a little disorienting as we get into this at first it may be a little bit weird I'm just asking you to work with me here because at some point God's going to give you a revelation and it's going to make sense it's his word so he doesn't don't want it just to be confusing where you give up on it he wants you to get into it and pray and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you in this so as we Dive Right In here we've got to understand that that this is wild if there was one thing I want you to get out of this chapter today it is this that God is always God and never stops he will never stop no matter what we're going through no matter what the world's going through

and that that's easy when things are the way you want them to go but when the whole world seems to be falling apart financially your health politically relationally your family whatever it looks like God is still God and sits on his throne so the one thing that you can keep coming back to is he is Sovereign which means he's completely in control he's Supreme Over All and will never ever stop so we pick up in Daniel chapter 7 you've got to understand how this works up to this point the stories have been chronological the story starts with Daniel as a teenager and chapter 1 it ends in chapter 6 where he's around 86 years old now we're going to go into these visions that Daniel receives from God and we're going to go back to his earlier life so we're going to go back into his life where he receives the Visions but the Visions are of the future things that haven't happened yet

in Daniel's life he's actually going to talk about uh governments and kingdoms that haven haven't haven't ever existed in his life so we're going to go back then to the Future you got that Back to the Future so that's where we are in Daniel chapter 7 I need you to see that because if you're reading this book and you say what just happened Daniel was 86 in the Lion's Den at least according to the Bible if we look look at the times if you look at Art and history they always show Daniel as a young man man in the Lion's Den have you ever notice that but he wasn't a young man the older you get the more you have to face Lions it's in this place that it's not always easy in life but but the older you get the more mature you get the more you depend on God and he shows up and he fights your battles for you and and and he will do what needs to be done so I'm I was originally going to cover chapter seven and8 and then I realized by the end of the week there's no way I can even get

to eight and uh it will be with God's grace and help that by this afternoon we'll get through chapter 7 so I'm actually going to try to cover every verse in this chapter simply because it's that good chapter 7 has actually been called the most important chapter in The Book of Daniel some have argued that Daniel chapter 7 is the most important prophetic chapter in all the Old Testament this is a really important chapter that we begin to understand why did God give us this book why is it in the book of prophecies as we dive in we're going to see that God has a plan and no matter what happens no matter what the world looks like we can turn to him and we can trust him here we go Daniel chapter 1 I'm going to give commentary as we read periodically I might stop and preach uh but there will be some teaching as well as we try to understand what God's word says today in the first year of Bel shazar remember

that young arrogant guy that threw the party in the first year of Bazar so we're going back in time now king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed then he wrote down the dream and told the some of the matter now just stop for just a moment you ought to be writing down what's happening in your life no matter how weird it is uh if you get a dream or a vision I know it might not make sense but if you write it down you could test it you could test it with God's word you could test it with the Holy Spirit and you can test with other people but if you're like most people you'll have a dream and within a few hours of waking up you forgot about it the dream might have kept you up it might have been very Vivid at the moment but you need to write these things down God told the prophet habach write these things down you need to write down what God's doing in your life you need to write down the

prayers you're asking for right now the things that you're depending on because when you write them down you're able to see God work in your life the less you write them down the less you're going to see God working not only through your life but through history and it may not just benefit you it's going to benefit potentially generations to come this is why you need to write in your Bible that's why I say bring your Bible write in it underline it put dates in there what what God did you should be writing those things cuz when you're long gone your Bible will still be here and hopefully it can be passed on nobody wants your junk but somebody will want your Bible So Daniel he writes down these visions of what happened what were these Visions well here's the Visions starting with verse two Daniel declared I saw in my vision by night and behold the Four Winds of Heaven were stirring up the great sea let's stop there for a

moment the Four Winds always describe the uh the four directions that we have on the planet north south east west it shows that God is omnipresent he could be anywhere at any time we have a powerful God it really reflects the Judgment of God there's no place that God cannot go north south east west so when you see the Four Winds it's a description of almighty God now anytime you see the great sea or any sea in the Scriptures it typically reflects the chaos of the world we live in because when you're in the middle of the ocean you realize how small you actually are and when there's a great wind in the great sea it's terrifying there's not much you can do to change it you realize how small you are and how dependent you are on God to get you out of this chaos

so when you see the sea you've got to relate that apocalyptically metaphorically to the life that you're living in this life will be full of chaos now I've got some really good news for you if you fast forward to the Book of Revelation chapter 21 we're told in heaven there's going to be sea but it'll be like glass there's no chaos so so everything good that God did for us so I'm speculating this is just metaphoric I believe we're going to surf in heaven but uh in this particular place we Daniel gets a vision I want you to see here he gets a vision of the chaos the stirring of what's happening in the world are you still tracking with me okay cuz it's going to get weirder and four great beasts verse three and the and four great beasts came up out of the sea different from one another the first

was like a lion had Eagle's Wings then as I looked its wings were plucked off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man and the mind of a man was given to it and behold another Beast a second one like a bear it was raised up on one side it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth and it was told arise devour much flesh after this I looked and behold another like a leopard with four wings of a bird on its back and the Beast had foreheads and Dominion was given to him after this I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth Beast terrifying and Dreadful and exceedingly strong it had great iron teeth it devoured and broken

pieces and stamped what was left with its feet it was different from all the beasts that were before it and it had 10 horns I considered the horns and behold there came up among them another horn a little one before with which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things so we have this apocalyptic picture I want to paint it for you and go through each of these animals so that we would understand it this is speculation of what this means I say speculation because it's been 25 years and Scholars have been able to take Daniel's visions and prophecies and test them with what's happened in the world that we live in

Daniel has a vision of Kingdoms to come this chapter parallels chapter 2 when King Nebuchadnezzar has a vision that no one can interpret when Daniel Comes onto the scene with the help of intercessory prayer warriors like his friends Daniel gets an interpretation of this dream and it's of a statue and on the Statue you have these different elements and Daniel interprets what these elements mean on the Statue he starts with the head which is made of gold and Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar at this time he says you represent this gold head you're great you're mighty Babylon represents this head next you have a chest of silver and Daniel would explain this will be the kingdom after you next you have these hips of bronze this will be the kingdom after that next you have these legs of iron this will be the kingdom after that and those feet that are connected to the legs of iron are not just iron they're

made up of clay and iron now how many toes do you have on two feet come on somebody 10 toes so you got these 10 toes with the feet but this will be a divided Kingdom Jesus warns us that a divided Kingdom cannot stand so you have here this this parallel actually if we were to go back into the Greek understanding of this it would be a cross they're going to meet right in the middle Daniel has a vision of four creatures where King Nebuchadnezzar has a vision of these kingdoms that succeed one another most Scholars agree each of these animals represent a kingdom a kingdom that's coming let's let's go through these so that we better understand I'm going to give you some visuals so that you can see it as well we'll start with the lion most Scholars agree that the lion represents the kingdom of Babylon it was

a symbol of their strength in fact if you went to Babylon at the Ishtar Gates you would have these golden these yellow lions that would greet you lions are full of strength but this is no ordinary lion this lion has wings the wings of an eagle now is there a stronger bird than the eagle this represents that you can go anywhere at any time with this strength now Daniel prophesies something interesting in this vision of a of of a lion that this Lion's Wings will be plucked from it if you recall in Daniel chapter 4 when King Nebuchadnezzar gets a dream of this great big tree it's cut down and Daniel warns King Nebuchadnezzar that you are the tree and if you do not honor God and turn to him and trust in him you will be

cut down well King Nebuchadnezzar thanked Daniel for that Revelation and he did nothing about it this is a warning to you you will do one of two things with God's word you will obey God's word or you will ignore God's word those are you two your two choices too many times in America we think we can mix them we can sort of follow God and we could sort of do things our ways and then our lives are a mess and we wonder what's happening you either obey God or you ignore God and this case King Nebuchadnezzar hears the word of God and did nothing with it and in the moment he thought that there were no consequences many of us feel the same way in our lives we don't obey God and we ignore him and we think ah my life's the same as it used to be well my friends judgment is coming one year after that that Revelation from Daniel to King

Nebuchadnezzar King Nebuchadnezzar was on the patio of his Palace and by the way it was spectacular he created the Babylonian Gardens for his wife it became one of the Seven Wonders of the World and he looks out at the Babylonian Empire says look what I've done look at My Kingdom look at all my glory of what I did and in just that moment he went insane he went crazy and he ended up on all four legs it was as if that power that he had to take over the world was plucked from him but after seven years of crawling on his hands and his feet he eventually came to himself much like that son in Luke chapter 15 that ended up in the pig slop and finally Jesus says the son came to himself he realized what am I doing and got up on his feet

and do you know the moment King Nebuchadnezzar recognized the one true God Yahweh that there is only one God his sanity was restored which is what Daniel says in chapter 7 verse4 he says this lion although the wings will be plucked off he will be made to stand on two feet like a man which is what happened in neb Nebuchadnezzar he looked like an animal but he got himself up back like a man and the mind of a man was given to it so many scholars would speculate this Lon the first of the four beasts represents this Babylonian Empire in which at the time that Daniel received this Revelation he's living in now some people some 2500 years later would actually go so far as to say no no no these are modern prophecies for our days that we're living in and some would say this lion actually represents the

United Kingdom Great Britain for in in Britain they use the lion as a symbol of their strength and they now have in present day an alliance with another great nation which uses an eagle come on somebody and now you've got this lion and this Eagle in cahoots with one another to be this world strength leader I'm talking about Great Britain and the United States of America it's improbable but possible so we move on from The Lion and we move now to a bear many scholars would speculate that very clearly this bear represents the MEO Persians that would follow the Babylonian Empire remember the MEO Persians snuck in when Bazar was having his party now it wasn't just the Babylonian Empire that the

Persians took over these Persians became strong they were a mighty Empire they took over not only the Babylonian Empire they took over Egypt and they also took over the lydian Empire what we know as Asia Minor those represent the three ribs in the Bear's mouth are you guys still tracking with me I tried to use Graphics so that you can see what Daniel saw then finally the third Beast we have a leopard let's just do a pop quiz everyone needs to participate participate uh you're just going to shout out the answer are leopards slow or fast shout it up fast they're fast this third kingom is going to come in quickly it's going to be fast not only does this leopard not only is this leopard fast but it has four wings and it has

foreheads this is really oh wait wait we let's go back to the bear can we go back to the bear uh this is put on your add hat go back to the bear all right a modern scholars believe some of you might already see this already if you just picture pu on the back of it but modern Scholars would say that this bear represents Russia uh uh Bears have not only in our lifetime but for many centuries uh Bears have represented Russia with power and with strength and that they're going to be be a nation that takes over improbable but possible okay back to the leopard let's go back to thanks for taking the add moment with me the leopard has four wings and it has four heads and it's extremely fast it's going to slip in when no one thought it was going to come in this is really important that you see this is history but it's in the Bible it's important that you can trust the Bible it's God's word you can trust every single word of

this because God does exactly what he says his word will never fail before there was the Babylonians there was the Assyrians and everyone thought the Assyrians were so strong they could never be taken over but the Babylonians took over them the Babylonians were so big everyone thought no way can anyone take over the Babylonians but the medal Persians came came in and they took over the Babylonians the Persians were so big that everyone thought no one could take over the MEO Persians but Greece came in and took over them under the leadership of Alexander the Great who by the way was absolutely great he conquered the world I mean literally he took over more land in the world than any other Empire before him and he was young he was 20 year 22 years old when he got started 22 years old what were you doing at 22 and in 10 years he conquered Ed the world

and 10 years he never lost a single battle hence the name Alexander the Great now when Alexander the Great died died at the age of 32 they don't know if he died of poisoning or if it was natural disease or what it was it was not passed on the kingdom of Greece was not passed on to another king it was divided to his four generals and so we have four heads so here we have an allegiance of the four generals that were working with Alexander the Great which would help the Greek Empire grow unlike any other knowledge would increase wisdom would increase and we we would see the whole world Changed by this Beast of Greece now in modern interpretations of this prophecy some see this as as an alliance of Islamic Nations coming together working together possibly Iran uh a

nation in Africa and Asia it's an allegiance of Islamic Nations coming in and and they'll come in swiftly people won't see it they'll just to come in really quick and we won't even know what's happening but next thing you know they'll take over as as a a conquering Kingdom uh improbable but possible Now we move on to the fourth most terrifying Beast this one doesn't look like anything human in fact artist actually can't depict it if you start doing your own Google search of the fourth beast in Daniel chapter 7 there is no idea of what this looks like except for what your imagination does because it it's not a human animal it's not something you go to the zoo and see but this animal is unlike the other creatures because this animal has iron teeth which is reflective of a military might that it can Crush anyone in its way now this kingdom is unlike the others because this Kingdom has 10 horns not only does

it have 10 horns things go from weird to even weirder as he's watching this beast that's absolutely terrifying this this little horn comes out of it I need you to remember the little horn could you take mental note of the little horn this little horn takes over but but you need to actually use your YouTube Graphics of the day and this little horn has eyes which represents wisdom and a mouth which represents power and it loves to flaunt off both of them this is an image of the Antichrist that will come see anytime you see horns uh in in apocalyptic writing horns represent Authority and power it's typically a king or someone in charge so when you see a horn you wonder like what's up with the horns that you read about in The Book of Revelation this is apocalyptic imagery which is to help us in fact in the day it actually helped

the early churches they were were being persecuted no one knew what John was saying in the Book of Revelation but horns represent Authority they they represent power so you've got these 10 Powers these will represent 10 uh rulers um over the ages this is not a normal Kingdom this is a kingdom unlike any other in fact if we were to compare those 10 horns with the 10 toes of the feet we see that this is not going to last this is a divided Kingdom something's going to happen and that's when that one horn will raise up will be unlike the other horns everyone else will listen to that little horn because this kingdom is going to have power and established some would call that in modern interpretations today if we were say well what does that mean for us today that's the New World Order that's when multiple Nations possibly 10

Nations will gather together they'll be in Union together they'll be United together to say let's just work together we're more powerful together we're better together we have stronger armies let's put our money in together let's come up with the same common rules let's come up with the same common currency let let's come up with the same common language and then what's going to eventually happen is it's going to allow for a world leader to come up and dominate unlike any world leader has ever in the history of the world because now we have more technology than we've ever had before now we're able to communicate like we've never communicated before and someone read this and say improbable but possible so I want to identify here before we keep going in the Book of Daniel chapter 7 The Book of Revelation which you're going to see really similar

language from the Apostle John who at the time he gets his vision his revelation of Jesus he was on the island of Patmos and God gives him a vision of Revelation that sounds so similar to Daniel Revelation 12:9 and the Great Dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan oh so now we have a picture of what this weird looking strong terrifying Beast is it's a representation of Satan the deceiver of the whole world not some of the world the whole world but we're told he was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him some wonder about the Bible like how can we trust the Bible because the Bible gives answers that no other Faith or religion

can answer good and evil we understand that Satan was thrown out of Heaven because he wanted to be worshiped instead of worship God a third of the angels went with them and now they're demonic they are Fallen Angels they're absolutely evil these are armies of principalities now Satan is not omnipresent he cannot be anywhere at all times but he does have an army that's actually attacking God's people and we're going to see that in this book he wages war with God's people because according to Revelation chap 12 he knows his time is short we wonder why in the world does Satan get to do what he does well right now he's the prince of this world why does God allow him to do it I don't know but I do know this God's grace is so sufficient he gives every generation an opportunity to trust in him to receive his grace as a free gift through faith he gives us an opportunity

to trust in him that all that we go through every generation in all of history is to trust the Creator that made you and loves you has a purpose and has a plan for your life now John describes this beast in Revelation 13 verse 1 and two and I saw a beast rising out of the sea same vision he gets in Daniel 7 with 10 horns and seven heads and 10 dims those are crowns on its horns and blasphemous names on its head and the Beast that I saw was like this sounds real similar to the four beasts but now it's combined it was like a leopard its feet were like Bears its mouth was like a lion's mouth and to it the dragon gave his power and his throne great Authority so we see something spectacular here that Satan is going to use a beast that actually looks like all the leadership

of all the nations before Daniel said in Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns and behold there came up among them another horn a little one we see this as a representation of this beast that's going to lead like no others now at this point we're only up to verse eight but I want you to point out here Nations come and go leaders come and go and one might speculate if you're not thinking very clearly you know over the years we could look back back in history and we ought to get better as mankind I mean we ought to learn from Evil leaders we ought to learn from Nations that have fallen we ought to look at morality at what makes the nation succeed you would assume that humankind ought to look back in history and learn am I right but things don't get better they're going to get

worse some of us see that some of us know that and we do not need to get surprised or caught off guard or filled with anxiety or fear we've got to get into God's word and so we see in the midst of all these nations all of these rulers that will lead people as I looked Daniel says as I looked the Thrones were placed and the Ancient of Days took a seat so we go from the chaos of the sea to Simply Thrones and God that's the Ancient of Days he has no beginning and he has no end God sits on his throne from chaos to calm his clothing was white as snow this is a picture of purity of righteousness of holiness he's completely perfect in every way and the hair of his head like pure wool it doesn't mean white like he's old this is a representation of perfect wisdom it's

the same imagery we have of Jesus in Revelation chapter 1 a wisdom like no other his throne was fiery Flames this represents judgment only that with substance is going to last its Wheels were burning like fire wheels back in the Old Testament days represent power and authority we see Ezekiel gets a vision of these wheels with these angels and they move One Direction and another listen you only could move with wheels back in the day if you had some power and authority the poor people couldn't do that but we see God is one who has judgment he has Authority and it's ultimate verse 10 a stream of fire issued and came out from before him a thousand, served him and 10,000 time 10,000 stood before him let's just do that math real quick well actually back in the day this was an infinite number this means it's uncountable just think

of the Throne of God and look before God it is innumerable it's going to be awesome my friends and the court sat in judgment and the books were open God is going to judge justly we wonder what's happening in this world don't worry God knows everything and he's going to judge at just the right time verse 11 I looked in them because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking so that little horn that looked like it was so strong that all the other horns bowed down to the little horn was speaking are you guys picturing this imagery I told you it's weird the horn was speaking and as I looked that Beast was killed and his body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire as for the rest of the Beast their Dominion was taken away but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time I need

you to see the end of this here these beasts these kingdoms are no competition for the king of all Kings not now not never it wasn't then it isn't now and it is not forever more there are nations that look like they're strong there are leaders that look like they're going to last but they will not there is a king that's not like any others he is the Ancient of Days leadership changes Thrones will change but the Judgment of God and the authority of God will absolutely never change we see around him the worship of so many different people is uncountable you want to be a part of this and Daniel says in verse 13 I saw in the night visions and be behold everyone shout behold behold with the Clouds Of Heaven There came one like a son of man now if you ever see someone

surfing on a cloud it always points to God always so so it's an imagery just like the sea in the Bible represents chaos the world that we live in clouds represent the the almighty Majesty of God they're Untouchable he's high he's lifted up and I see someone coming on the clouds wait is that someone surfing on it yeah it looks like a man like a son of man and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him and to him verse 14 says was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples and Nations and languages should serve him and his Dominion is an everlasting dominions not temporary which shall not pass away in his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed now I want to pause here for

just a moment this is one of the most quoted scriptures in the new test Testament this is the scripture that got Jesus killed this is why they crucified him so many of the religious leaders of Jesus day did not like Jesus because he claimed to be the Christ but he did not come as they thought the Christ would come they thought the Christ would come as a conquering King someone that would take over Caesar someone who would conquer the Roman Empire but when the Christ came became compassionate loving in fact he loved people most overlooked and so the religious leaders of the day absolutely hated it and they despised him eventually at the age of 33 he was arrested and he was put on trial

before the great high priest who was questioning Jesus and we're told in Matthew chap 24 verse 63 but Jesus remained silent and the high priest said to Jesus I adure you by the Living God tell us if you are the Christ the son of God Jesus said to him you have said so but I tell you from now on and he's going to quote now Daniel 7:13 you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the Clouds Of Heaven this is what got Jesus killed if you read the very next verse they said this is blasphemy why was it blasphemy Jesus was claiming to be God this is what got him killed he's

claiming to be one with God he's claiming to be the Fulfillment of what was written in Daniel chapter 7 he's claiming that he has more power and authority than any Kingdom or any king that's ever existed and it was in that moment that the world was changed John when he gets the revelation of Jesus in Chapter 1:7 behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him even those who pierced him and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him even so amen Jesus in the book of Acts chapter 1 after sharing with us his final words he Saidi sending you on a mission to make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and I will be with you always to the End of the Age then

Acts chapter 1 tells us Jesus said you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you to be my Witnesses and then it says that Jesus ascended into heaven he went into the clouds and his disciples were looking he was gone in the clouds and then an angel spoke and asked them what are you looking for they went back to Jerusalem but Jesus promise he's coming back on the clouds just like when he went up he's coming back Revelation 14:14 says then I looked and behold a white cloud and seated on the cloud one like a son of man with a Golden Crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand he is the great judge so what was Daniel feeling when he saw all these images well Daniel was just a man like us as for me Daniel

verse 15 my spirit was anxious and the visions of my head they alarmed me so I approached one of those who stood there more than likely an angel and I asked him the truth concerning all this so he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things and this was the interpretation he received these four great beasts are Four Kings who shall arise out of the Earth but the Saints of the most high shall receive the kingdom of possess the kingdom forever forever and ever so he simply says these represent four kingdoms and Four Kings but don't worry the Saints win in the end and not just for a temporary time it will be forever and forever and forever which is forever it's is a long time now this sounds like a good interpretation this was a much shorter sermon than what I have already

given you but Daniel's like in verse 19 if we or if we keep reading he says yeah can we go back to that fourth Beast then I desired to know the truth about the fourth Beast could you give me a little more this one was was different from all the rest it was exceedingly terrifying with his teeth of iron and his claws of bronze which devoured and broke into pieces and stamped what was left with his feet and about those 10 horns that were on its head and the other horn that came up before which three of them fell the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke all the great things that seemed greater than its companions and as I looked Daniel says he he he gets he gets a vision of things to come with this horn the Antichrist as I looked verse 21 says this horn made war with the Saints and prevailed over them

if we could just stop there for a moment this is how we know this is the Antichrist the Antichrist will come against Christians will oppress them seek to stop them and ultimately kill Christians I know that be some people say Pastor you're getting a little extreme this is the truth of what's happening and will happen and we should be aware of what God has said we ought to be prepared for so that we're not caught off guard and surprised Peter says that that we ought to be sober minded we ought to be ready don't be surprised when you do suffer Jesus said it over and over he said they didn't hate you they hated me first you will suffer for me Jesus Jesus Promised these things so now we see this war waging verse 21 with the Saints and

prevailed over them it look like looks like the Antichrist wins until verse 22 tells us until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given for the Saints of the most high and the time came when the saints possess the kingdom someone say Amen Jesus wins in the end all the time we see it in Daniel we see it in the Book of Revelation it might look hard now but it's going to be good in the end thus he said verse 23 as for the fourth Beast there shall be a fourth Kingdom on the earth this is which will be different from all the other kingdoms this won't just be one nation this will be a reflection of this demonic spirit that will happen from generation and generation it shall Devour the whole earth and trample it down break it into pieces as for the ten horns coming out of the Kingdom 10 Kings shall arise and

another shall arise after them that's the horn he shall be different from the former ones and shall put down three kings he shall speak words one against the most high and shall wear wear out the Saints of the most high and shall think to change the times and the law and that shall be given into his hands for a time times and a half a time that's three and a half years but the court shall sit in judgment and his Dominion shall be taken away to be consumed and destroyed to the end and the kingdom and the Dominion verse 27 and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole Heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most high his kingdom shall be an everlasting Kingdom and all dominions Shall Serve and Obey him here is the end of the matter as for me Daniel I'm still tripping out my thoughts greatly alarmed me and

my color changed but I kept the matter in my heart let's go back to verse 25 for just a moment he shall speak words against the most high here's here's how we know we're in the end times if you really want to study this more 2 Timothy chapter 3 Paul talks about this he says in the last days in the end times this is what you should difficult days but verse 25 talks about the Antichrist he's going to blasphemy the name of God most high it's one of the Ten Commandments you shall not use the lord's name in vain if you just pause in the culture we live in with the English language the name that's used more for curse word than any other name is the name of Jesus it is used so flippantly that we hear and some of you don't even cringe you don't even think about it it's just a part of our cultural vernacular of the day people

stub their toe and they the name above all names people want to curse a word and add the FW with it they'll use the name by which you can be saved you'll see this in Hollywood you'll see it in your workplace you'll see it in the grocery store you'll see in little children that learn it from their parents and this is a sign of the Antichrist you say oh Pastor you're starting to sound even crazier but just think about this think about the world we live in there's no other Faith or religion by which we take a name and use it for a curse word no one does that with Buddha no one when they stub their toes says Muhammad we don't take any of the Hindu gods or any other religion in fact we have come to a world where we say we've got to be so tolerant of others we've

got to be so inclusive with the acception of Jesus Christ of whom we crucify every time we say his name in vain so I want you to consider that the times in which we're living and Daniel said these things will happen and you need to be aware of these things things because in the end we know which side wins and this kingdom is not temporary this is why this is the name of this church is Journey because this is not the end of the story you got to be living for something greater Romans chapter 5 he talks about the hope of glory you can rejoice in suffering now because it's going to produce something of substance that will last forever but the devil is a liar he wants to deceive you he wants you to think that somehow you have to find sustenance on this Earth so he gets you addicted and

obsessed with something with your eyes you think that some materialistic thing will satisfy you we actually start to put a a Messianic figure on political figures of our days church we need to wake up and pray no president will be our savior we live in such a great nation our forefathers knew this so they wouldn't last that long so if your person didn't get in in four years you get to help be a part of that change if you love this person right now don't get used to it cuz 4 years it's going to change your hope has to be in a kingdom that's greater than the kingdoms of this world because this kingdom is unlike any other kingdoms this kingdom is not going to survive in this kingom it's going to be divided and and I I just will close with this with just some thoughts of what what's in the New Testament Paul calls the Antichrist Christ the man of

lawlessness he says in second Thessalonians because he talked a lot about death to the Thessalonians he did not want us to be naive when it comes to death he says let no one deceive you in any way let let no one deceive you in any way for that day will not come unless the Rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of Destruction who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God so we know that we can be on the lookout for someone who claims to be God so many thought that this was Nero because after Caesar Nero came and all of the Caesars wanted to be called lord and Nero came and he took Christians and he crucified them he put them on stakes and put oil while they

were still alive and then burned them alive he took Christians and he threw them into a stadium and they would be devoured by lions for sport for entertainment for all the people to see and so some in the first century said this is the man of lawlessness this is it and then of course Generations would come and go and throughout the ages we've been looking for those 10 rulers that one's going to raise up and be even worse than the next some thought it was Stalin others Hitler still some think it's an American leader that's going to rise up and we can look though and say what begins to happen is a shift of worship you worship me not the one true God 1 John 21:18 if you read the book of First John it's really short it's the same author of the book of Revelation he

speaks often of the Antichrist and he's essentially saying there's either Jesus or Antichrist and you can choose Jesus and and in just a moment I want to give you an invitation to surrender your life to Jesus Children it is the last hour and as you've heard the Antichrist is coming so now many Antichrist have come there have been many leaders who have been anti the way of Jesus therefore we know that it is the last hour you need not be so concerned on who the person is than knowing the person of Jesus Christ Jesus said in his own words Matthew 2 4:44 therefore you also must be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect if I can just conclude here and

say Jesus has all authority and he does it in a way that's unlike any other king he will not force you to follow him he will not command you to follow him he invites you to follow him and when you do it absolutely changes everything and I have a a holy discontent in my heart right now it's it would be like a holy expectation that this is the time the church really needs to take Jesus seriously like I mean like a Great Awakening where you just are shaken where you get into the word you start writing things down you start doing things you've never done before you start getting bold and kind and loving and gentle but but just a defining line Jesus is coming soon now some have speculate well it's been 2,000 years

seems like quite a while while I tell you he'll come like a thief in the night it's going to happen quickly you want to be ready there's a promise with Jesus that you receive and inherit the gift of eternal life but apart from Jesus you will eternally be in the Lake of Fire it's the place reserved for Satan in the Book of Revelation it says that Satan will eventually be locked up in this place for eternity he can no longer torment the Saints he can no long longer roam wherever he will he will be locked up forever but for right now you have the choice will you follow the king of all Kings or the kingdoms of this world and for some of you you came into church today you didn't expect to see all these beasts and talk about the Antichrist but I I will tell you God can use anything at any time to get your

attention for me I was 15 years old and I had to learn about heaven and hell and I said I want Heaven you can be 15 or you could be 50 I'm so grateful for this church because we have people of all ages give their lives to Jesus I love it when I see a grown man that just looks tough and strong rais his hand and say I need Jesus and we have so many of those that have happened at Journey Church that's when you know it's the Holy Spirit God himself it is not a preacher it's not a person it's not even a church it's God and he's drawing men to himself right now he's getting you ready for his coming if you're suffering right now this is temporary your glory is coming it's coming so in the seriousness of this moment I'm going to invite the band up and I'm going to ask you to just close your eyes so you can just focus on Jesus in this serious moment right now would I

could I just ask you have you believed and received the grace of Jesus Christ when you believe upon the Lord Jesus you receive the power of the spirit of Jesus that's the Holy Spirit and if you've not done that you can receive the Holy Spirit right now by believing in Jesus God has always loved you and he won't love you more by you doing good things he loves you when you believe in him when you receive the gift of his grace the Forgiveness of your sins if that's you today and you say I want to be forgiven I want to receive the gift of Heaven could you just with eyes closed would you just raise your hand up nice and high and say that's me I'm saying yes to Jesus this is my day this is my hour today is the day of salvation praise God I love it amen come on this is the day you can remember this day November 10th put a steak in the

ground this is the day from this day forward you can know God's got a good plan for your life you're going to be a great leader you're going to change generations to come praise God anybody else if you raised your hand will you keep it up so I could see you just I I know there was a few more I don't want to miss this moment maybe there's even those watching online right now if that's you and you want to believe in Jesus I want to walk you through that right now it's going to start with prayer and continue in prayer prayer is conversation with god so I want to just ask in your heart right now if you would just believe these words and then repeat them after me it's not words that will save you it's not saying the right thing or praying the right prayer is believing in the right one that is Jesus Christ if that's you just repeat these words after me and anyone that's ever believed in Jesus can we do it

those praying for the first time today repeat after me Lord Jesus Jes I believe in you I believe you are the true king you are forgive me of my sins I receive eternal life I receive the Holy Spirit help me follow you especially when times are tough you're a great God in Jesus name Jesus amen