Truly, the Scriptures tell us that He is coming again. And as we’re looking at Daniel’s writing, and examining the prophecies that were given to Daniel to share, His Word tells us that this is a reality. We’re looking specifically at chapter 7. Last week, we looked at the beginning of Daniel’s vision.
Daniel had had the vision, this is Daniel’s vision, but it lines up perfectly with what the Lord had revealed to Nebuchadnezzar when Nebuchadnezzar saw the statue. Daniel sees four kingdoms. As we said last Sunday, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream or vision viewed things in one sense from man’s perspective.
Daniel’s vision views things from heaven’s perspective. One of the amazing things in the book of Daniel is the accuracy of his prophecies. A lot of times people say, how can I share my faith? How do I get people to believe that the Bible is real? The Bible is the only book that has prophecy sprinkled throughout it of all religious writings.
There’s over prophecies in Scripture dealing with the Messiah. The prophecies dealing with Jesus’ first coming, that He’d be born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, that He would be rejected, that He’d be crucified when crucifixion wasn’t even known at the time the prophecy was given, and that He would die and be buried and He’d rise again from the dead. All of that was prophesied, plus other prophecies.
And they all came true 100%. But there’s just as many prophecies dealing with His second coming. One of the reasons that the Jews and the Jewish religious leaders had a hard time believing Jesus was the Messiah is they were looking for Him to come and establish His kingdom on earth during His first coming.
And when Jesus stood before Pilate, and Pilate asked Him if He had a kingdom, and He said, My kingdom is not of this world. Jesus referred to the fact that His followers would not take power by swords and by force, for He had a totally different kingdom. His kingdom was a spiritual kingdom.
And He came the first time to establish those that would be His followers set free from their sin because He could have no spiritual kingdom had He not paid the penalty for our sin. Well, as people look at the book of Daniel, some of the people that are skeptics and scoffers say it’s so accurate, it’s 100% accurate, it must have been written hundreds of years after Daniel lived because it must have been written at the completion of the Medo-Persian Empire, at the completion of the Greek Empire, at the completion of the Roman Empire, because it speaks of Him exactly like things happened. Well, God knows the beginning from the end.
And one of the things that people want to deny the authority of the prophecies of Daniel is because it talks about a fifth kingdom. And the fifth kingdom is the kingdom that will have no end. The fifth kingdom is going to be established by God, and it’s going to be established for eternity after He comes with the great right throne judgment at the end of His millennial kingdom on earth.
Daniel speaks of this kingdom. And this morning I want us to just look briefly at the fourth kingdom, which is the Roman Empire. Then we’re going to look at the fifth kingdom and the promises given of that.
And you read the book of Daniel, and when you’ve read this you’ll see that it mentions the fifth kingdom twice in Daniel’s prophecy. And the way that Daniel’s prophecy is established, it’s as if God gives us an overview of the events that are going to transpire. He’s got the four earthly kingdoms.
He gives us a general overview. And then he talks about the establishment of God’s kingdom in a brief description. And then Daniel goes back and goes into greater detail on these four earthly kingdoms.
The Babylonian kingdom he doesn’t spend much time on. He spends some time on the Medo-Persian and the Greek kingdoms. But then he spends on the earthly kingdom the greatest time on the Roman Empire.
Because this is a kingdom that’s going to rise up twice. It’s going to appear to have vanished, but then it will rise again in the last days. And as we read in Daniel chapter 7, Daniel saw that this fourth kingdom was different than any of the other kingdoms.
Even though they all had a worldly philosophy that was based back at the Tower of Babel and all the way back to the Garden of Eden and the lies of Satan. The fourth kingdom was more fierce, more wicked, more evil than any of the others. And Daniel stood and was amazed.
Because this fourth kingdom wouldn’t be a regional kingdom. Babylon was a regional kingdom. The Medo-Persians were a regional kingdom.
The Greek kingdom was a regional kingdom, although the region got larger. The first Roman Empire really was a regional kingdom in the sense that it went all the way from Europe, from England, all the way to India, but it still was not worldwide. But when it would rise again, it would be different from any of the others.
Then it was going to be worldwide. Today, you and I have the privilege of living in an era where we are seeing all the events being put into place in fulfillment of the words that are given in Daniel’s prophecy dealing with this kingdom in the latter days. But just as sure as we are seeing these events, we are not to forget as Christians the greater event that is going to happen.
And that is that the Lord, first of all, is going to come for His church. And then at the end of all of Daniel’s weeks, which we’ll get into in depth later on, He’s going to come with His ten thousands of saints, as it says in Jude. And He’s going to come and He’s going to judge.
So let’s begin by looking and going back and reading again out of chapter 7. And I want us to pick it up. Well, let’s just pick it up at verse 4 and read from there. We read that last week, but we’ll read it again.
He’s speaking of these four kingdoms. The first was like a lion that had eagle’s wings,
I beheld, till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand upon its feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given unto it. And behold, another beast, a second like to a bear, and it had raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth, and between its teeth of it, and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo, another like a leopard, which had upon its back of it four wings of a fowl, and the beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it. After that I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth, and it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, were come up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots, and therefore it is this horn were eyes of the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and his hair on his head like the pure wool. His throne was like a fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him.
A thousand of thousands ministered unto him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened.
I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words of the horned spake, I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of the heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near him before him, and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all people and nations and languages would serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit, in the midst of my body, and the visions in my head troubled me. Daniel 7:4-15
Let’s just bow in prayer.
Dear Holy Fathers, we come before you. Lord, let us understand this overview, and let us understand the hope we have in Jesus. Lord, help us to realize that we are not to be deceived, but we are to realize that your word is true and your prophecies are real.
Lord, help us as Christians to look for that day where you shall come. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
It’s interesting today, many Christians don’t look at prophecy. When Roberta and I first got married, we started attending the prophecy conference up in Winnipeg, Canada. We attended for years.
Well, I didn’t start attending right away when we got married. Our girls were little. But we attended for years, and then during COVID, the conference stopped, and it’s never started again.
The conference every year would bring in speakers that had great understanding of God’s word. And they could relate it to current events that were happening in the world. And every year, you’d see that events were aligning more and more with Scripture.
We saw things happen like the persecution of Israel. We saw things happen like a one world government being the groundwork laid for it. We saw, I remember one year they came and they were showing how they were getting ready for a one world currency.
But as they got the one world currencies, they would all be interrelated so that you could have your own currency, but it would still be one world currency. And then in the latter years, when we saw all the electronic things coming into being, we saw that things that talked about this beast could really be true. He could control the economy of the world.
He could control people’s lives. And we saw more and more the reality of God’s word being lived out right before us. But today, there’s no interest in prophecy.
Or if there is an interest, it’s turned prophecy on its head. Today, you have people who refer to themselves as a new apostolic reformed. And what they do is they say that Jesus will not come and cannot come until those who say they are Christians have established his kingdom on earth for him.
And then he could come. I just read it and it sure didn’t sound like it to me. It sounded like this was originating in heaven, not on earth.
At the same time, just as the Jewish people didn’t understand that Jesus was two comings. The first time to redeem man. The second time to judge man.
The church today can’t understand or see that there is a rapture. And then, while that is going on in heaven, the earth is becoming a living hell for all the people that are left here. As you have a man, as we saw, who speaks great things and is a great deceiver.
The last few Sundays we have been looking in the adult Sunday school class at the book of Jude. This morning they were talking about one of the things of what is a deceiver. Well, he speaks great things.
He speaks grand things. He speaks, he’s got this voice that people listen to and they believe. And you see that in our world today.
Deceivers. And they sound so good. But their lies are so bad.
And he’s going to be the greatest of them all. Because he’s going to be inspired by Satan himself. But what I fear is that the church does not understand the fifth kingdom.
And if you don’t understand the fifth kingdom. The kingdom of God. And the events that surround it.
You can be deceived. Jesus himself said that the deception would grow so great at the end of the age. That if it were not for his return, the very elect could be deceived.
That’s how great the deception is. The deception was great the first time Jesus came. Because the people were looking for somebody who could throw off the yoke of Rome.
And Jesus did all these miracles. He healed people. He raised people from the dead.
And the Jewish people thought, wow. This has got to be the one who is coming to establish his kingdom. And throw off the yoke of Rome.
And make Israel great again. But they didn’t understand. They weren’t ready to receive him until he paid the price for their sin.
So they could receive him. He had to come the first time so he could come the second. Jesus is coming the first time for his church.
And there are a lot of deals that prophesy with that. In Thessalonians, Paul speaks to the fact that the Lord shall return for his saints. We see that Jesus himself, as we shared before, gave the example in John chapter .
That he goes to prepare a place for us in heaven. And he doesn’t go there just to prepare a place and never do anything with it. He goes to prepare a place for us in heaven that he may come again and gather us unto himself.
We are to be caught up to meet him in the air. And the signs of the times all around us show that the rapture could occur at any time. Now, what should our response be as Christians and how should we live our lives? Well, first of all, you and I should be filled with hope and joy and anticipation.
I know that when I was young and they would talk about the rapture, I’d say, Well, you know, I want to get married, I want to have kids, I want to have a job. But part of the thing is, we as Christians need to be starting to think as Christians. God called us to do all those things.
And we are to do them. He says, occupy till I come. He says, be a witness of faithfulness to me until I come.
That means, have a family, have children. Show the importance of what it is to be godly in character and godly in a godly home in a world that can’t understand that at all. It seems like the homes are becoming more and more ungodly.
Christian homes and Christian mom and dad and Christian kids should be an example to the world of the reality that Jesus is real. His Word is true. And if we live by it and have a relationship with it, we can walk in His power even in the wickedness of this world and we can have hope in the face of all the despair around us.
And so we should. Have children, have families, have hope. But never lose sight of the fact that this world is not our final home.
There’s a song that goes, This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through. My hope is laid up somewhere beyond the blue. As you look at all of the evil around us, and then to imagine being in the presence of Jesus, of righteousness, holiness, and purity.
We are never to lose that hope. That’s why we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, so we can remember what He paid the penalty for. It was the redemption of our souls and the redemption of our lives that we could be His and walk with Him.
Now it’s interesting. You look at, and like I said, we’ll get back to the fourth kingdom. I don’t want to emphasize that this morning.
This morning I want to emphasize the fifth kingdom. And it says here that in verse , And beheld, the thrones were cast down. The word cast down there really, in the Greek, means to be set up or placed where they were supposed to be.
And the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and his hair on his head was like a pure wool. His throne was like a fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. If you look to the book of Revelation, you will find a very similar example.
And it’s speaking of Jesus. It speaks of God the Father, and it speaks of Jesus. And this is where many people get confused.
We do not serve three gods. We serve one God who manifests Himself in three persons. And as you can see, it’s talking, it gives the example of Jesus standing before His throne in heaven in Revelation.
And it’s very similar to the description here given of the Ancient of Days, which would be God the Father. And I don’t know why Christians should be so fearful of the day that the Lord will return. Because you and I have the hope.
In Titus, if you would turn with me to the book of Titus, Titus tells us what our hope should be. He says that we are to have a hope within us. There is a hope that speaks of the coming Messiah.
In Titus . it says, In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. It also speaks of, in Titus, that we are to have a hope that’s within us, that is the hope of salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. We’re not to focus and be overwhelmed by the wickedness of the world, but we are to be light in the midst of that wickedness because we have this hope.
And we’re to understand that just as certain as it is in Daniel’s prophecies dealing with the first four kingdoms, which if you look historically are % accurate, even though they’re written hundreds of years before three of them existed, the Greek kingdom, the first Roman kingdom, and the second Roman kingdom, they’ll be the same but rising. We see that you and I are to have an understanding that just as certain as those kingdoms existed, and just as certain as we’re seeing all the events transpire, which shows that the Roman empire is rising again, more wicked, more powerful, and more fearful than the first one, there’s coming a day of hope because the Lord shall establish His kingdom. Back in Daniel chapter , it says that the Ancient of Days, it gives a description of Him and His purity, holiness, white as wool, fiery streams issued up and came forth from Him before Him.
Whenever you see that, and you see in the book of Revelation, it talks about the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ are as fire. He is there and He knows justice. He knows truth.
Today there can be no justice. I just read an article this last week about a man who was put and incarcerated for years for a crime he didn’t commit. They kept saying he didn’t commit it.
They didn’t believe him. And all of a sudden they found a man who could have been his twin brother, had the exact same name, and grew up very close to him in the same city, but they never met each other, didn’t know each other. And this guy had committed other crimes and ended up in prison.
And they found out about him, and the man who was free, who hadn’t done the crime, was finally set free. For years there was no justice. That’s just one example.
We can see innocent people who are murdered. We can see young kids that are lied to and taken down a stream that the depths of hell instead of towards Jesus. And where is the justice? But there’s coming a day where there will be justice. And Jesus talks about that.
And the hope that we have. And then I want us to look at the fact that it talks about him in verse, I’ll pick it up at verse , it says, and concerning the rest of the beasts that had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. Then it says, I saw in the night visions and beheld one like the Son of Man, and came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him.
It’s interesting, the Son of Man. What title did Jesus use for himself more than any other? He referred to himself always as the Son of Man. This was one like the Son of Man.
It was Jesus. This is referring to Jesus. He’s coming in the clouds.
And then he’s coming before the Ancient of Days into heaven. The Bible talks about the fact that Jesus will return. And he told his disciples, I will return as I left, as they watched him enter into heaven and disappear.
The Bible talks about the fact that the rapture is going to occur where the people will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The first time that Jesus comes for his people, he doesn’t ever touch the earth. The second time he comes, he comes to Jerusalem and his foot is planted on the Mount of Olives, and a whole series of events begin to transpire, which begins a judgment which leads into his millennial kingdom, which ultimately leads to the great white throne judgment.
But the first time he comes for you and I, why are we so afraid of heaven? You ever stop to think about that? We’re called with a mission to do while we’re here, but Jesus didn’t call to us establish a kingdom on earth. He called us to be a witness of what we celebrated this morning, that he had established a new covenant that was available to everyone if you but believe. He told his disciples as his final commission to them before he ascended into heaven, go ye therefore into the whole world, go into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and in the uttermost parts of the earth.
Those of you who have been studying with us through the Kings of Israel, you’ll understand why he said what he did. He said go to Jerusalem first. The Jews identified Jerusalem as the place where they had established their relationship with God.
It’s where the temple was, it’s where the authority of the Lord came, it’s where the Shekinah glory rested on the temple till he left when they rebelled against him. And Jerusalem was where the throne of the Messiah was to be established. It’s where the throne of David was established and it’s where the Messiah would come and rule and reign forever.
So he said go to Jerusalem first. Then go to Judea. Now Judea was the nation, the southern kingdom when they had the civil war in Israel and the northern kingdom became Israel, southern kingdom became Judah and Judah was the last kingdom that was before it was taken away into captivity.
Judah was also the one that was the last one to celebrate honoring the Lord in the temple but they’re also the last one to go into apostasy. But he said go to Jerusalem first, then to go to Judea, then go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria. Now what is Samaria? Samaria was the leftovers of the northern kingdom of Israel and the Samaritans were viewed by the Judeans as unworthy of anything because they established a different kingdom location, a different God to worship.
But he said take it to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and then what? To the outermost parts of the world. That’s you and me. He did not stop at Jerusalem nor did he stop at Judea nor did he stop at Samaria but he said the outermost parts of the world.
And he was to take this message and what is the message? The message was the fact that he had come and established a new covenant that was available for mankind that was not reliant upon our ability to keep it. We live in a world today that is so corrupt and wicked and so filled with deception. People think they’re doing good things when they’re doing evil things.
People think that they’re serving God when they’re worshiping Satan and that’s what happens when you try and build a religious system and a belief system and live your life on what you can do and you’ll never accomplish what you think you’re accomplishing. So the number one mission for us as Christians we’re to live our lives for the whole world to see. We’re to stand for truth in the face of wickedness and evil.
We’re to proclaim the reality of the importance that people would turn to Christ and follow him and his ways because that’s the only way they can be set free. But the most important thing that we’re to do is to share the gospel. I’ll just give you an example from our own town, community.
We’ve got people that really think they’re doing right for passing out drug paraphernalia. Are they helping anybody get out from underneath the control of their alcohol or drugs? The answer is no. But they think they’re doing good.
But even if you could bring in counselors that could somehow through manipulation and reduction in what their usage would be, get them weaned away from the drugs, would that solve the problem? The answer is no. Because the real problem, Jesus said, is a problem of the heart. The sin manifests itself in various ways.
It manifests itself in pride. It manifests itself in lust. It manifests itself in being addicted and making other things God.
It manifests itself in all kinds of ways. But it begins in the heart. And how do you or I transform a man’s heart? I can’t do it.
But God has given me the tools to do it. And he says, I’m going to come one day and show you the reality of my power in its fullness. But believe it today when I tell you my power is there for you.
When you go out and share the gospel with people and you see people come to Christ and a transformation in their life, you are preparing them to meet their Lord with a clean heart, walking in his righteousness. And there’s no greater thing that anybody can do. Why does God tell us to have families? Because they’re to be an example to the world of how you pass faith from generation to generation.
And Christ is introduced in kids’ lives so that they can grow up knowing who Jesus is. Jesus is coming again. Behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came with the ancient of days.
And they brought him near before him. And he was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom. And all people, nations, and languages should serve him.
Your life today as a believer in Christ is preparation for eternity. Did you know what we just read? What’s going to happen when Jesus returns? We’re going to serve him. He gives us the opportunity to serve him today where we’re at.
I don’t know about you, but I oftentimes fail. But the Bible tells us that I am to begin to rely on his power today, begin to serve him today, begin to realize who he is in my life today in a real sense, so that when he returns, I’m prepared. I’m prepared with ten thousands of ten thousands of angels to worship and honor him for who he is.
I wanted to try and give you a glimpse of the fact that this can be pretty scary stuff, these kingdoms and this last kingdom and what we’re seeing in the world today, but we have a hope. And God has given us not only a hope, but he’s given us the means to live that hope out in this life and to be an example to others. Let’s just close in prayer.
Lord, I pray that you would help us to understand this and look for the day of your appearing. To understand, as we see these various kingdoms come into reality, that your appearing is drawing ever closer for your church, your bride. Lord, may we long for that.
And Lord, may you help us to live our lives until that day occurs where we can be an example to a world of the reality of your power and saving grace and that we can be a witness to them that they would get saved. This we’d ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.