you
All right good morning everybody welcome to Verity Baptist Church
Let's go through a couple quick announcements. Were there any salvations to report this past week anybody?
Outside of ones I already know I know a lot of people told me and messages and everything all right two all right
anybody else any salvations
All right, well I've so many of course this afternoon the first sermon lasted a little bit long
So we'll try to be ready by 2 15 p.m.. We'll see a couple other things to mention
I changed the wording in the Bible memorization
so any chapter you memorize perfectly you get a prize for and as I mentioned briefly in the first sermon or in the
First announcements that if you make minor mistakes
It's okay to me like if I were to judge you and you said on two verses two
I would still count that but you know I guess it depends on who you're quoting it to some people are really you mispronounce it
Right you're memorizing Daniel will spell Nebuchadnezzar. It's like what?
Okay
Some people are pretty harsh
But I would say let's be lenient with people just to try to motivate people to memorize also for the kids
We're going to change it all have in the bulletin next week that if they basically do memory verses that they'll get a prize for
It and so upcoming activities so next week is the big chess tournament, so who's excited. I'm excited right
Yeah, sorry Franklin. I'm missing in the first announcements if you've tested positive for COVID in January
I'm just kidding right and
So but also
We've been having chess on Thursday nights if anyone wants to join and so Thursday nights is not really like a competition
It's more like practice to get better obviously next week is a competition everyone's trying to win
But you know if you want to count on Thursdays, we want to do it online
You know we can send you the link we'd love to have you
We're gonna have I think we had seven or eight people last Thursday a couple people from Pampanga are planning to join this Thursday
So we have a lot of people I mean a lot of people like chess
It's more popular here than in the US, but if you want to it's a great source of fellowship
We'd love to have you in that so just let us know and then in a couple weeks
We have our married couple sweetheart banquet, so I think everybody had a great time last year
And so it's a lot of fun, and so now's the time to start training and memorizing
right so memorize your openings now for chess and then after you know next week start memorizing those basic questions about your
Spouse and everything like that and then also of course we do have our New Testament vibrating challenge
So keep up with that if you read the entire New Testament in January you're welcome to get a prize
And if you already read it you're welcome to get your prize now. You know candy or chips or whatever's back there
You're welcome to get one so I believe that's it for announcements at this time while brother Rafi lead us in another song
Number 21
Oh
You
Oh
Verse 1 in
The third year of the reign of joy came king of Judah came to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Jerusalem and besieged it and
The Lord gave you and the Lord gave joy came king of Judah into his hand with part of the vessel to the house
of God
Which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his
God and
The king spake unto Aspen as the master of his eunuchs that he should bring certain of the children of Israel
And of the king's seed and the princess
children in whom was no blemish but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and
understanding science and such as that ability in them to stand in the king's palace and
whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans and
The king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat and the wine which he drank
So nourishing them three years that at the end thereof they might stand before the king
Now among these were all the children of Judah
Daniel and Anaya Michelle and Azariah
unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names for he gave unto Daniel the name of belteshazzar and
to an Anaya of Shadrach and to Michelle of Meshach and to Azariah of Abednego
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat nor with a wine which he drank
Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself
Now
God brought Daniel into favor and tender love with a prince of the eunuchs and a prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel
I fear my lord the king who had appointed your meat and your drink
For why should he see your face worse like worse liking than the children which are of your sorts?
Then shall you make me endanger my head to the king
Then said Daniel to Melzar whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel and Anaya Michelle and Azariah
Prove thy servants I beseech thee ten days and let them give us posts to eat and water to drink
Then let our countenance be looked upon before thee and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat
And as thou sees deal with thy servants
So he consented to them in this matter and proved them ten days
And at the end of ten days their countenance appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of
the king's meat
Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat and the wine that they should drink and gave them pulse
as for these four children
God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams
now the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in
before Nebuchadnezzar and
The king communed with them and among them all was found none like Daniel and Anaya Michelle and Azariah
Therefore stood day before the king and
In all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them
he found them ten times better than all the magic magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm and
Daniel continued even into the first year of King Cyrus
Let's read of God's word
All
Right we're in Daniel chapter 1 and we're starting a new book and as I mentioned
I think last week the main reason why I wanted to start a new book is just because a lot of the events in Daniel
Are kind of applicable to our modern day and not so much speaking about the prophetical stuff
But just kind of the first half of the book of Daniel with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace
Daniel in the lion's den a lot of the rules and the problems with the things going on
So I think it'll be helpful for us to look at our modern day and see what's going on in the book of Daniel to
Make some comparisons now
This sermon is more of an introductory sermon and whenever you have introductory sermons some of the information
Some people are like I've heard that a million times. I already know that brother Stuckey
I've listened to all these sermons online
I get that right but a lot of people have never heard this information and of course
It's good to be reminded of stuff especially with a deep book like Daniel
A lot of the stuff is not surface level now the first half of Daniel is pretty simple
Right famous stories that we all know the second half of Daniel. It's like whoa
I mean Daniel 6 in the lion's den Daniel 7 what's going on, right?
So we're gonna learn these things through this series, but first off with the book of Daniel
Let me talk about the timing and location of the events of the book of Daniel
Verse number one the Bible reads in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar
King of Babylon on to Jerusalem and besieged it
So you'll notice in the first verse that the Bible gives you a timeline or a time frame of these events
And this is something that a lot of other holy books don't do they don't tell you specifically when these things took place
Because here's the thing the truth fears no investigation and if what the Bible is saying is true
It's not afraid of it being tested and the things that are mentioned in the Bible are historically scientifically. They're accurate
They're correct the Bible tells you very clearly in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah
So what does that mean in the third year? When was that location? Right? When was that time?
Well, let me just help you out with how the Old Testament is written. Some people might start reading the Old Testament
Maybe you're new at church and you might just kind of assume that Genesis to Malachi is just in order chronologically
Right, that might be the first thing people assume but that's actually not the case
Okay, but the 39 books in the Old Testament are not just random
Okay
There's actually a technique the Bible uses and what the Bible does is it divides those 39 books into sections
each of the sections is
Chronological but then you'll go to a new section and it's it's completely different you go back in time to earlier events
So basically Genesis through Deuteronomy is known as the law
Now it's known as the law because the Bible calls it the law, right?
I mean they had the law of God in the Levitical law we think of but Genesis through Deuteronomy is
Kind of classified as the law. Okay
Obviously Exodus through Deuteronomy you have Moses who's the main man in charge, but those events are basically chronological
So Genesis 1 1 is the creation of the world and then of course you get later on and it's going further in time
Now, of course when you tell stories sometimes you recap the book of Deuteronomy is really recapping events
But you're going in order basically Genesis to Deuteronomy and Moses dies near the end of Deuteronomy, right?
Then you go to the next book, which is Joshua
Joshua all the way through Esther is known as the historical books
Okay, now really Genesis through Esther is all chronological for the most part
Now first and second Chronicles recap first Samuel through second Kings
But basically from Genesis all the way to Esther you're going roughly in chronological order
Of course, you know if you tell stories or write a book
Sometimes you go back in time to explain something or give details
We understand that but generally Genesis all the way through Esther is in chronological order
You have the law and you have the historical books you say brother second. Why do we do these classifications?
One reason is because it's helpful, right? This is how the Bible is written in different classifications
But the Bible also talks about the law and the prophets
Right, and the law is basically Genesis through Deuteronomy and then you got the prophets. Well, here's the thing you have
basically the law
Historical books you have the books of wisdom then you have the major prophets and the minor prophets
Okay, so you get to the book of Esther and at the end of Esther you go to the book of Job
Well, the book of Job goes way back in time, right?
Way back in time before Esther because it's the start of a new section the books of wisdom
But think about Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Solomon. Well Psalms was primarily written by King David and
He's the father of King Solomon who wrote
Ecclesiastes Solomon and I just said it Proverbs, right?
So basically those books are also chronological basically from Psalms all the way to the Song of Solomon
Right now, of course Song of Solomon. I mean Solomon wrote multiple books
So who knows if he pinned it all down at one time?
We understand that what I'm saying is Job is before and then you get to the Song of Solomon
After that you get to the book of Isaiah and if you've noticed reading your Bible if you've read your Old Testament
Sometimes you get to a new book. It's completely different because sometimes you're in your completely different section
Okay, the Song of Solomon I understand now I'm in Isaiah like what is he talking about?
Right because you're dealing with the prophetic books now Isaiah starts what's known as the major
Prophets you say why is it known as the major prophets because Isaiah is this long?
66 chapters right and then you've got Jeremiah Jeremiah's 52 chapters, but it's actually longer than Isaiah
Right. The next book is lamentations. You say well lamentations is a short chapter
But it's written by Jeremiah. So Jeremiah is a major prophet. It's just one of his two books, right?
Then you've got Ezekiel. It's a really long book
Then you've got Daniel and see Daniel is the one that people debate about
Is it a major prophet or a minor prophet? Because it's obvious that the Old Testament is divided into major prophets and minor prophets
It's obvious because the timeframe does not just go in order. So the question is well, where does Daniel appear?
Well, go to Isaiah chapter 1 verse 1
Isaiah 1 verse 1
And as I said and I'm sure a lot of this information some of you are like yeah
I know this brother's stucky, but you know, it's good to be reminded about stuff
And even if you know it it's good to be reminded
So you're able to teach other people because if somebody gets saved yesterday or today and they start reading their Bible
There's gonna be a lot of things that go over their head, right?
I
Remember when I first got saved, you know, the phrase gave up the ghost is referencing to someone dying
But I was like what in the world's going on? Somebody gave up the ghost. I'm like, I know you can't lose your salvation
It's not saying that I didn't know what I mean because it was new to me, right? I hadn't heard it preached. So
Obviously people are new to church all this stuff. It's good to be reminded of stuff. Isaiah 1 verse 1
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah
Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah kings of Judah now go to Hosea 1 verse 1 right after Daniel and
Remember either keep your finger in Isaiah 1 verse 1 or remember we said Uzziah Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah kings of Judah
Okay, Hosea 1 verse 1
and
The Bible reads the word of the Lord that came on to Hosea the son of Biri in the days of Uzziah Jotham
Ahaz and Hezekiah kings of Judah in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel
Do you notice how Hosea 1-1 and Isaiah 1-1 are very similar?
It's written during the same time period
What this is known as is contemporary prophets where two prophets are appearing at the same time, right?
They're both preaching or writing at the same time their ministries overlap, right?
Well, those events are happening at the same time
But all the books between Isaiah and Hosea are not happening at the same time, right?
Obviously when you're reading it, you can tell that it's not all happening at one time
They have all these prophets see Isaiah starts the major prophets
Hosea starts the minor prophets and it's roughly the same time and then you're gonna go in order chronologically with both of those
So the question is well, I mean is Daniel appearing, you know, when is it appearing on the time frame?
well
Look at Daniel 1 verse 21 Daniel 1 verse 21
Daniel 1 verse 21
And if you remember Hosea, I mean I preached through it on Wednesday nights
Have you heard some of those sermons and what God says in the book of Hosea is that the kingdom of Israel has been rejected?
But the southern kingdom of Judah had it been rejected yet. Not yet. It was warrant, right?
God was warning it like you know what you're gonna get what's coming to you
Right, you know you're seeing what's happening
Israel's being rejected because of their wickedness and see they had not been fully rejected yet
Although it was obvious it was going to take place when you're reading it, right?
The Bible is warning about these things. And so here's the thing in the book of Daniel
Have they been taken captive yet? Well, yes, we just read that in Daniel 1 verse 1, right?
They're taking captive by Nebuchadnezzar and see they've already been rejected. See Daniel is taking place after the book of Isaiah and
It's taking place after the book of Hosea in terms of time frame, right when you're looking at what's being written
So basically you have Isaiah to Daniel and then you have Hosea to Malachi
okay, and Daniel is the end of the major prophets notice what it says in verse 21 and
Daniel continued even on to the first year of King Cyrus
Well, if you know basic history King Cyrus comes after King Nebuchadnezzar
Because the Babylonian or Chaldean Empire is taken captive by the Medes and Persians and King Cyrus is the top guy
Right that takes place later in the life of Daniel and we're gonna read about that
We're gonna talk about that but those events are taking place later on
So Daniel started with Nebuchadnezzar when they're first taken captive all the way to King Cyrus
And of course you see Cyrus earlier in the Bible and Ezra and everything
so what I'm saying is that the Bible is divided into sections and
Daniel is attached to the end of the major prophets. It's not attached to the minor prophets
Now the reason why people question Daniel is because Daniel is not a super long book. It's not Isaiah
It's not Jeremiah and it's not Ezekiel now Hosea has more chapters and Zechariah has more chapters
But Daniel is quite a bit longer you say brother Succion
Why is Daniel attached to the major prophets because Daniel is is more major or more?
Significant than the minor prophets. I mean think about growing up in Sunday school or in church or whatever
Everybody knows Daniel in the lion's den, right?
Daniel chapter 6 everyone knows Daniel chapter 5 the writings on the wall, right? That's a phrase people use
Daniel 4 is the story where Nebuchadnezzar goes crazy very famous
Daniel chapter 3 is Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace
Right Daniel 2 is the great image that Nebuchadnezzar has and of course Daniel 1 is where we based that song dare to be a Daniel
Daniel purposed in his heart. He's very well known. He's very famous. But yet the book of Daniel is actually pretty short
I'd say a lot of people would be surprised considering it's so famous
But it's attached to the major prophets because he's significant not just in the fact they're famous stories
But King Nebuchadnezzar is a very famous person in history
King Cyrus is a very famous person in history
You can go to Google and look up the most famous kings that have existed
Both of those kings are going to be on the list somewhere, right? He's he has a very significant ministry
So it's attached to the major prophets, right?
The location is in modern-day Iraq
Now when we're reading the Bible one thing that can be tricky is the geography and the timeline, right?
You're reading through
You know first and second Kings and all these Kings names are appearing and they all start with the letter J
Right where they all start with the letter A and you're like who is this person and you're getting the names confused
And you're like, where are these locations?
Because if the Bible was written in the modern day and you heard like France and Poland and Germany and Australia
Even if you're not good at geography, you have a general idea. Sometimes you're reading the Bible though. You're like, where is this taking place?
Right. Well, this is what's modern-day Iraq is and of course Iraq's not a super significant country now compared to others
But a lot of these events are taking place in areas that aren't as famous now. It's in modern-day Iraq
So go to Isaiah chapter 13, Isaiah 13
Isaiah 13
First we looked at the timing and location of the Chaldean Empire in Babylon
Secondly, let's look at the termination of Babylon
Now when I was a kid
I
Remember if you had asked me when I was a kid of five years old six years old seven years old if you asked
Me the question who is the most evil man in the world?
Everybody in America would say Saddam Hussein every single person now some of you are younger than me
So Osama bin Laden's the name you think of but Saddam Hussein was kind of Osama bin Laden before Osama bin Laden, right?
Those are kind of the two top dogs of whatever right there kind of the two famous, you know
Muslims that have you know caused a lot of terror or whatever but Saddam Hussein when I was a kid was the most famous but
I remember in America being taught that Saddam Hussein believed he was King Nebuchadnezzar reincarnated
Now that's what we were taught when I was a kid now
I believe that some of that is American propaganda
Because obviously the u.s. Went to war with Saddam Hussein now don't misunderstand what I'm saying Saddam Hussein was an evil person
I have not changed my mind on that obviously was unsaved. He did a lot of wicked things
Whether he was the most evil man in the world while there's a lot of evil people. So how do you even compare?
But I don't believe it's 100% American propaganda
because never connect or Saddam Hussein tried to rebuild Babylon and
He looked at himself as being like a successor to King Nebuchadnezzar
He's trying to really build back that empire and be the most famous and powerful man in the world now
Let me show you first in Isaiah 13, then I'll read you a few things from some articles
Isaiah 13 verse 19 and
Babylon the glory of kingdoms the beauty of the Calities excellency shall be is when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
It shall never be inhabited
Never be inhabited means no one's going to live there right and the Bible says Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed
No one's going to live there. It's never going to be inhabited neither shall it be dwelled in from generation to generation
Neither shall the Arabian pitch pitch tent there neither shall the net shepherds make their fold there
And so God basically says Babylon is going to be destroyed never going to rise again, right?
Now symbolically speaking the word Babylon is used in the Bible, but the actual location of Babylon
Eventually gets destroyed and according to the Bible. It's never going to be inhabited never going to be rebuilt now
Here's the thing about this when you're looking at prophecy you can misinterpret stuff
Okay, you're looking at something from Isaiah 13
let me just say this though that Saddam Hussein tried to rebuild it into a
Location and a territory for people to live and into an empire and he failed right let me read you this article
Which says Saddam Hussein's attempt to rebuild Babylon the ancient city was the capital of the Mesopotamian dynasties
It's final glory was as capital of the kingdom of Babylonia under King Nebuchadnezzar the second who ruled from 605 to 563 BCE
During his reign most of the buildings represented by the surviving ruins were constructed including two grand palaces
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar for his wife Amethyst are remembered as one of the seven ancient wonders of the world
Probably many people have heard of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. They actually can't prove that those are real
It's just a lot of people have written about it
Because Babylon was destroyed and they don't have any evidence of it actually being real but a lot of people wrote it
I'm sure it probably was real
But you know and we have modern-day constructions like this is actually let me see
I've got a picture of this the modern-day construction of supposedly what the Hanging Gardens of Babylon look like and
That might be true, but they don't necessarily know because it's just been written about in history
And of course, you never know with history outside of the Bible how accurate is or how perfect it is, right?
And it says this he also expanded his territory by forcing thousands to relocate
Starting the first exile in Jewish history Babylon's remains mounds of mud brick buildings spread over about 30 square kilometers are in present-day
Iraq south of Baghdad starting in 1983 Saddam Hussein imagining himself as heir to Nebuchadnezzar
so basically
He looked at himself as the heir apparent like he was supposed to be the next king because if you know through the book of
Daniel the successors to Nebuchadnezzar were kind of Bobo right they really kind of screwed up because Nebuchadnezzar
I'm not saying he was a godly person, but he was successful. He was obviously smart. He was obviously a good military leader
afterwards the Empire just tumbles, right and
It says like Nebuchadnezzar Hussein had his name inscribed on the bricks which were placed directly on top of the ruins
some 2500 years old a sample in strict inscription translates to in the reign of the victorious Saddam Hussein the
President of the Republic
May God keep him the guardian of the great Iraq and the renovator of its Renaissance and the builder of its great
Civilization the rebuilding of the great city of Babylon was done in 1987
Hussein also added huge portraits of himself and Nebuchadnezzar at the entrance of the ruins
So Saddam Hussein basically put a big picture of himself and Nebuchadnezzar and he wrote this stuff
How he's the one who rebuilt the civilization, but the thing is nobody ever lived there, right?
I mean he spent a lot of time and effort to build these buildings
but what the Bible said is it's never going to be inhabited and it never did get inhabited because
the US went to war with Iraq and let me read you from this article and
It says the 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq war
The invasion phase began on March 19 2003 and March 20 2003 on the ground and lasted just over one month
Including 26 days of major combat operations in which a combined force of troops from the u.s.
The UK Australia and Poland
Invaded Iraq Saddam Hussein overthrown in 2003 and killed in 2006 and it says in
2019 unesco
Designated Babylon as a world heritage site to visit back to visit Babylon today. You have to go to Iraq
55 miles south of Baghdad, although Saddam Hussein attempted to revive it during the 70s. He was ultimately
Unsuccessful due to regional conflicts in Wars
So he put in a great effort in his life to rebuild
Babylon because he looked at himself as being the heir to Nebuchadnezzar he failed
Here's the thing. I could have told you he's gonna fail
I mean unless I'm misinterpreting Isaiah 13, the Bible says Babylon's gonna be destroyed
It's never gonna be inhabited never was inhabited, right?
I mean he built up the buildings spittle spent a lot of money, but it's still 55 miles from civilization
They didn't actually build it into an area where people lived he failed
Right. I mean his goal was to become this
Modern-day King Nebuchadnezzar this world conqueror. I mean he failed he was unsuccessful
Now some of the things from Babylon and maybe some of the reason why God wanted to destroy it
One of them is known as the Great Ziggurat and this is a construction of the Great Ziggurat picture
I saw online some people say this is the Tower of Babel or a reconstruction or built meant to be like the Tower of Babel
Here's what it says about the Great Ziggurat
It says the ziggurat itself is the base on which the white temple is set
its purpose is to get the temple closer to the heavens and
Provide access from the ground to it via steps the Mesopotamians
Believed that these pyramid temples connected heaven and earth
In fact, the ziggurat at Babylon was known at Etimanenki, which means house of the foundation of heaven and earth in Sumerian
So basically this Great Ziggurat was was meant to be like the Tower of Babel to connect heaven and earth
Right now when I was a kid, I picture the Tower of Babel is almost like straight up in the air
But I don't think that's really what the Tower of Babel was like
But it was meant to be something where somehow they merged heaven and earth together, right?
Well, it's not a surprise that God destroyed Babylon then right? I mean, obviously there's a lot of wicked things with Babylon
One of the other famous things with Babylon is known as the code of Hammurabi
Who's heard of the code of Hammurabi? A few people?
People mentioned the code of Hammurabi and this is what the code of Hammurabi looks like. I couldn't get the picture to print, right?
So this is the top of it. Okay, and this is the rest of that image and if you go closer
There's actually words and letters inscribed in this with all of their laws
So basically it's like a law book and people try to say that this is like the Old Testament law. It's like the Bible
It's like you guys believe the same thing, right? The code of Hammurabi, the Bible. It's the same thing
Same laws and what they'll do is they'll go to certain verses in the code of Hammurabi and they'll say we'll see
That's what the Bible teaches. Well, there are some verses that are the same or very similar
Let me read you from the code of Hammurabi
number 196
If a man put out the eye of another man his eye shall be put out
Sounds similar to the Bible, right? An eye for an eye
Here's what you need to realize
Every country in the world has laws that we agree with
Every country. I promise you. What about North Korea? I'm sure North Korea has some laws we agree with
I don't know all the laws of North Korea
But I'm sure probably a lot of them if not most of them
Right because most laws are just kind of general laws
Is it really a shock that every country has a law against murder, right?
I mean it makes sense a law against stealing
Of course
They're gonna have laws against these things just because you find a similar law an eye for an eye doesn't mean the whole code of
Hammurabi is like the Bible. I didn't read the code of Hammurabi
But here's one example because that was number 196 on the list. Here's number eight, right?
So if they have a Ten Commandments of the code of Hammurabi, this is in it right number eight if
Anyone steal cattle or sheep or an ass or a pig or a goat if it belonged to a god or to the court
The thief shall pay thirtyfold therefore. So if you steal something you owe thirty times back what you stole for
That's a lot more than what the Bible says, right?
If it belongs to a god now, I don't really know what that means. But
If they belong to a freed man of the king, he shall pay tenfold
So if you just steal from a normal person and not a god then it's tenfold
If the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death
So basically if you steal something and you can't pay back tenfold or thirtyfold you get killed
Look most people steal
Because they need to steal
It's like I stole a loaf of bread because my family doesn't have any food
It's like well, we're gonna put you to death, right? I mean that doesn't even make sense
Right, but that's the code of Hammurabi. That doesn't sound a whole lot like the Bible to me. I
Mean yeah, you know what an eye for an eye and probably many things we agree with but oh you steal something you get put
To death now what the Bible teaches is if you steal something you do owe back, you know, depending on what it is
You know a fourfold punishment or whatever fourfold pay it back if you cannot pay it back. You don't get killed
You don't get an arm chopped off. You don't get a hand chopped off
You basically have to be a servant to pay it off and I'll tell you what
I've never heard that before except from the Bible and it makes perfect sense
Right. I mean especially in the US because the Civil War is like a big issue people talk about with slavery and everything like that
So people are really like oh a servant that's terrible. It actually makes sense. You owe a debt and you can't pay it
Well going to prison doesn't pay off that debt
Right. It actually makes perfect sense. I mean imagine that God's laws actually make sense. They actually work, right?
You have a punishment you can't you have a fee you can't pay back when you steal something you basically sell yourself into being
A servant. Well, most people don't want to be a servant. It's not worth the risk, right?
Go to Daniel chapter 8 Daniel 8 Daniel 8
So point number one we looked at the timing and location of these events point number two
We looked at the termination of Babylon that God said Babylon would be destroyed and never be built back up now
When Babylon is taken over by the Medes and Persians, they're not immediately destroyed, but eventually it is destroyed
You say why would God do that? Well, because God wants to wipe out the memory of this civilization
Right. That's the reason why and you know when a society is very wicked God oftentimes wipes it out
So there's no memory and no remains of that civilization because he doesn't want us to wonder in our heart about it
It's like I'll be honest with you, you know, some of these pictures the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. They look pretty cool. Looks beautiful
Right. I mean they got the Ishtar Gate
I mean, it looks pretty cool, but it's associated with a false religion and things like that
I mean even their great ziggurat, I mean, it's a cool looking building
I mean many of the false religions in the world they've got buildings that look pretty cool
They spend a lot of money on them. They look pretty amazing
I mean you catch them with your eye and your sight just beholds them
But
Babylon was wicked and God wanted to wipe out the memory of it because he didn't want us to have that in our hearts or
in our minds
Number three, let us talk about the transition from Babylon to Persia
What you're gonna see in the book of Daniel is that the Chaldean Empire which is centered at Babylon or the Babylonian Empire
They end up being taken over by the Medes and the Persians, okay?
Daniel 8 verse 8 and
There's actually kind of a technique God uses when a when a society gets taken over notice what it says in Daniel 8 verse 8 and
in Daniel 8 verse 8
It says therefore the he goat waxed very great and when he was strong the great horn was broken and for it came up
Four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven now Daniel 8 verse 8 is not about the Medes and Persians
This is actually about Alexander the Great and Alexander the Great's not mentioned by name because he doesn't exist yet
But it talks about the Grecian King in the book of Daniel and this is a reference to Alexander the Great
And what it says here is when he was strong the great horn was broken
Well, if you know about the life of Alexander the Great he died a very young man, right?
I mean he died when he was roughly 30 31 years old
He died as a very young person and there's different opinions on how he died. Some people say he drank himself to death
He got a disease got poison. There's a lot of different opinions about that, but he died at a very very young age
Okay. Well, here's the thing when he died. He was very strong
He was the most powerful man in the world
And what you see is God will take something at its peak when it's really strong and then boom
They're destroyed just overnight and he is strong and then he's broken immediately
And what it says is when he's broken it says four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven
You say what does that mean brother Stuckey? Well when you're 30 years old, you don't expect to die
Right, you're not prepared for it, right?
I mean, you know people make wills of how they're gonna leave their money or their inheritance
You usually don't write your will when you're 30 years old because you don't expect to die at 30 obviously, you know
That does take place
We understand that but generally you expect I'll worry about that when I'm older because I'm only 30 and it's just like
You know what?
My kids are young when they're grown and then I'll make my will when I'm in my 50s or 60s or whatever
So when you're 30 years old, you don't prepare for your death usually right? Well, Alexander the Great wasn't prepared to die
I mean, he's the most powerful man in the world. He's like, I'm strong. I'm mighty
What could happen to me and then boom God killed him because he's a wicked person, right?
What took place is his kingdom did not have a successor his kingdom gets divided into four
Separate kingdoms and this is part of just general world history that you read and the Bible is prophesying about it now
Obviously, I'm briefly mentioning this verse when we get to Daniel 8 we're gonna cover it and everything like that
But basically Alexander the Great he's strong and then he's broken
My reason for saying that is God's method is taking an empire when they're very strong and then just boom
They're destroyed overnight and they don't expect it, right?
I mean, isn't it true during the end times when they shall say peace and safety and they're strong and they're powerful then boom
They're destroyed right in Sodom and Gomorrah things were going well, right? They had all the money in the world
They were wealthy. Everything was great and then boom. They're just destroyed out of nowhere. That's the technique
God uses same thing with Babylon because you start with the book of Daniel and
Babylon's very powerful
It's like how could this this, you know?
Kingdom ever be destroyed and then overnight they're just destroyed. It's the same thing in our modern day
You know
I personally believe that if you look at the end times that the United States of America will be that end times Babylon that's referenced
However, I would never make the statement that America is too strong to be destroyed because that happens all throughout human history
A culture is big. They're powerful and then boom they're destroyed right now
America is here and there's no country anywhere near in terms of power
I mean China is way way way way way below US in terms of influence and power
However, if America is not the end times Babylon
They could just be destroyed overnight and then just become like any other location like nothing
It's happened all throughout human history happens in the book of Daniel. It could happen today now go to Daniel 5
Daniel 5
And in Daniel 5 verse 28, it's part of the story of the writings on the
Expression
Erez by kingdom is divided and given to the needs and purses
So the Chaldean Empire which is the main name for the Babylonian Empire
They get destroyed and they're taken over by the needs of the Persians now the needs of the Persians are what's known as a dual
Monarch, they're basically two independent kingdoms operating together and King Cyrus
Was the leader of Persia he's the most powerful man, but the needs during that time period were considered a very useful
So even though King Cyrus was more powerful, basically they said let's just combine forces and we can do more
And so what's known as a dual monarch so in Daniel 2 we're gonna see later on that we never have that image
It says the breast and the arms of silver and it makes sense
There's two sides where the Bible speaks about the bear that lifted itself up on one side because one side was stronger than the other
Because there's two different kingdoms that is a dual monarch now, which was the one that was stronger. Well the Persians they were strong
In history Austria and Hungary were dual monarchies for 51 years
Between 1867 and 1918 they were known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Where basically they operated independently, but in many ways they were together in terms of man and culture of power
verse 29
Then commanded Belshazzar and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold on his neck and made a proclamation concerning him
That he should be the third ruler of the kingdom and that night was Belshazzar the king of Calvary the same
And Darius the mediator of the kingdom being about 3.2 years old. Now notice in verse 31
It mentions Darius the mediator
Okay
It doesn't say Darius the first now the reason why this is important or it can be confusing is
Because in history one of the most famous kings was named Darius from Persia
but
That's not verse 31 because it doesn't say Darius the first this is a different person. In history there's a very famous Darius
This is not that various. The very famous Darius in history is a person. And it makes sense because King Cyrus is a very powerful person
His chief city was Persepolis
So basically they ruled this Babylonian Empire. They've taken it over, but it doesn't mean he wants to change location
He's perfectly happy to dwell in Persepolis and they control Babylon and Darius the mediator is the one that's kind of like the boots on the ground
But the persons were more powerful than the beings in history
Now turn to Hebrews chapter 1
Now that can be kind of important because there's a famous Bible contradiction with the timeline of the kings in Persia that doesn't seem to match with secular history
And it's important to understand the difference between that Darius that's mentioned in Ezra versus the Darius mentioned in the book of Daniel
That's going to draw your time. You know, sometimes you read the Bible and there's the same game mentioned
A lot of people have the same first name. If you're like me, a lot of times you wish they had last names in your life
It's like you assume it's the same person, but it's not. And many times it's not the same person and they are actually different people
Now if you watch the movie 300, you're probably all out with your first name, right?
That was a famous movie in the U.S.
Xerxes won like this crazy evil reprobate
But actually it has the words he's not that bad of a guy when you look at Esther
The way they make you have to be in the movie
And the reason why that movie is so morphed and messed up is because the name comes from the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus
Well if the Greeks captured the Persians, what the Greeks will have to say about Persians is probably going to be pretty bad
Doesn't that make sense? Don't they say history is written by the winners?
Right? In America they call Samuel Adams the father of the American Revolution
But here's the thing though, if America had lost that war he'd be known as the biggest terrorist we've ever visited
Right? Because history is written by the winners
And I'll take this, I don't want to go into it for the sake of time, I mentioned it in the series we did on Esther
That Herodotus, one of the reasons why he said Persia was such a wicked society and so uncivilized and like barbarians
Herodotus, the Greek historian said they didn't have any homosexuality or pedophilia in the kingdom
And us Greeks, we introduced that to Persia
He said that for why Greece was good
In his own words he said no, he had a lot more pedophilia than them
It's like that's the person you're going to trust, his opinion on morality in Persia
Because here's the thing, people would say that we're very immoral people
Right? People would say we're wicked people because we preach hate
Isn't that true? That's what Herodotus said about the Persians
Yet if you read the book of Esther, Persia's the nicest and most inevitable
I mean, King Cyrus is a pretty good guy when you're reading the Bible, he's not a bad guy
Right
And that's what the Greeks said about the Persians, but just because they said that and people adopted it
It's actually been disproven these last few years because through archaeology they found a lot of stuff
And it turns out, well actually Persia was pretty nice, not like what they said in history
Because he was just a liar, he was just a son
So point number one, we looked at the timing and location
Point two, we looked at the termination of Babylon
Point three, the transition from Babylon to the Persian or lead of a Persian empire
Point four, let us talk about the teaching of Daniel
What is the book of Daniel about?
Right
Hebrews 1, go to Hebrews chapter 1
Hebrews 1, we should have used this first, Hebrews 1
God who had sundry times, verse 1, Hebrews 1, verse 1
God who had sundry times in a diverse manner spent in time past some of the boggled by the prophets
After these last days spoken of just by his son, we have to plan arable things by whom also he made the world
What the Bible says is that in sundry times, different times, God's faith in different ways
Diverse manners, different ways, God's faith by the prophets
Well here's the thing
I got this sermon by reading the Bible and preparing notes
I didn't get some dream
Daniel has a lot of dreams that he's interpreting
That's not how God speaks to me
The way God speaks to me is I read the word of God and I learn things
And I hope that's how you say you're getting your knowledge
It's like, brother Stuckey, I believe this, but I had some dream
It's like whoa, in a council church nearby somewhere
We learn in our modern day because in times past God's faith by the prophet in different ways
So sometimes it was a dream, sometimes God actually came down, the son of God in the Old Testament and actually spoke to man
I mean in different ways and in different times
But in these last days he's spoken of just by his son and Jesus went up to heaven
And what we have now is a finished word of God
The way he speaks to you now is you pray to God and he answers you to the truth
Why would we leave a church that's preaching the truth?
But there's not a modern day prophet that's proclaiming and predicting the future
Now what a prophet in our modern day is, because the Bible used that terminology
Is someone who's prophesying about things that are already written
For example, I can preach about the book of Daniel because it's already been written
What I cannot do, though, is just say, well, I had a vision that in 2047, 417, he had a interactive experience
I can't do that, it's funny, right?
But what I can do is show you what the word of God actually says
So here's the thing, with the book of Daniel, you're going to see that Daniel gets dreams, he interprets dreams and these various certain things
That's not how God is going to operate today
And what Daniel does is he sees dreams and various things and he actually foretells the future
Right, he foretells what's going to happen, I mean he foretold about what means
Go to Daniel 12, Daniel 12
Daniel 12
One thing that's crazy about this is that we can understand the book of Daniel better than Daniel 12
To me that's kind of a crazy thought
Because Daniel doesn't know about Alexander the Great
Everybody in the world, pretty much, I mean, Alexander the Great's a pretty famous character in history, right?
You don't know much about him, there's movies about him, TV shows, pretty famous guy
Well, Daniel didn't know about that, he wrote about him, but it didn't mean that he didn't know who Alexander the Great was
He didn't watch any of those movies
And so it's crazy, but we can actually understand the book of Daniel better than Daniel 12
Now, one mistake people make is they look at end times prophecy and they say, wow, it's prophetical, so I can't understand it, therefore I'm not going to read it
Look, there are events in the book of Revelation, the book of Daniel, that we're not going to fully grasp until we get closer
But there are many things that you can actually understand
I just want to set up a Daniel 12, I'll put it this way
Daniel 12 verse 8
And I heard, but I understood not, then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
And he said, Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end
And what Daniel says is, I hear this stuff, I don't understand what he's talking about, though
And what you'll see is Daniel didn't understand a lot of what he wrote about
Why is that? Because he's writing about something in the future, right?
You look at the book of Revelation, you look at the abomination of desolation and things like that
These are things people would not have understood a long time ago
There were no cell phones
There was no modern technology
There was no TV
You're not going to understand how one man could be broadcast everywhere in the world
And everyone would have to bow down
It doesn't logically make sense
In our modern day, it starts to make sense
I mean, the mark of the beast seems kind of crazy
Nowadays, though, Sweden just made it mandatory
Like, this is your vaccine passport, it's in their hands, right?
It's in their arms, so they're literally
And what people do is they get it because it's a lot easier
And I admit, it's a lot easier than making sure you don't lose your vaccine card and everything like that
And it's like, that's what they're doing now
So we start to see the modern day technology just advancing to the point these things are making more sense
And here's the thing
As we get closer to the end times, we're going to understand more
Things are going to line up, it's going to make sense
But there are many things that are very surface level that we can understand right now
Daniel 12, look at verse 4
Daniel 12, verse 4
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book even at the time of the end
Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased
What the Bible says is that knowledge is going to be increased as we get toward the end
You're going to have more understanding of these things
And look, the book of Revelation should make more sense to you than it did to people a long time ago
Look, a hundred years ago, probably most Christians in the world were a bit confused
Because they were like, man, I thought World War I and the Spanish flu was
Wasn't that 1918, if I remember correctly?
And it's like right around that time frame, just after a hundred years
I would have thought it was the end times
I'll be honest with you, famines, we got that, pestilences, we got that, we got wars
I would have thought, okay, when's the Antichrist coming?
But then it didn't happen, right?
Or many times throughout history, people looked at the Roman Catholic Church
And they said, hey, this is Babylon, it's taking place
Because obviously the Roman Catholic Church was killing a lot of people
That's what people thought hundreds of years ago and in the past
And there are many things they didn't fully grasp
But as we get closer to the end times, we're going to get a better picture
It's also the general reason why I don't think the end time is going to come during our life
Because people have always thought it would
So I just kind of figure, yes, I see the pieces fitting together
But the pieces were fitting together a hundred years ago, too
So I just kind of assume by mathematical probability
It's probably like a 10% chance or something, I don't know
That's my opinion, I could be wrong
But knowledge is going to be increased as we get toward the end
Verse number three, notice this
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament
And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever
And what the Bible says is, because it says the wise shall understand
Actually, I forgot to read it, look at Daniel 12, verse 10
Daniel 12, verse 10, I skipped over that
Daniel 12, verse 10
Many shall be purified and made white and tried
But the wicked shall do wickedly
And none of the wicked shall understand
But the wise shall understand
Look, the wise are able to understand the events in the end times
This is what the Bible teaches
When somebody tells you, I don't understand anything about the end times
I mean, the rapture, I have absolutely no idea
I mean, it doesn't make any sense
I mean, it's like, how can you know it's in the future?
What they're saying is they're not wise
Because the Bible says the wise shall understand
Now look, there are things that I don't know about in the future
What's going to take place
But the general timeline and general understanding
Of the book of Revelation and when the rapture takes place
It's actually just stated in the Bible
The Bible actually tells you
Right, when I was in church in the US
There was this popular joke at Baptist churches
There's the independent Baptist churches
Which are pretty much all pre-trib
The other Baptist, though, would be pan-trib
You say, what's pan-trib? Well, this is actually a joke
They'll say, well, you know, what do you believe about the rapture?
I'd be like, post-trib?
They say, well, some people think post-trib
Some people think pre-trib
Some people think mid-trib
I believe pan-trib
And then they got that smile on their face
Like, it's like a knock-knock joke
It's like, okay, what's pan-trib?
Well, I don't know, but it's all going to pan out in the end, brother
It's like, that's not a funny joke
But it's like, that's what you always hear
They say, well, you know, and I've heard Baptist pastors tell me this
We could bring a pre-trib person in here
They preach a sermon, you'd be dogmatic, it's pre-trib
We bring in a mid-trib, you'd be dogmatic, it's mid-trib
We bring in a post-trib, you'd be dogmatic, it's post-trib
We don't know, right?
Well, I don't agree with that
Because what the Bible says is the wise shall understand these things
And look, if somebody says they don't understand anything about the end times
Because they don't understand anything about the end times
They have no idea when the rapture's taking place
They're stating they don't know much about the book of Revelation
Because here's the thing
The book of Revelation starts with the revelation
It's being revealed, right?
It's like a baby reveal, right?
A gender reveal, right?
It's like, you're going to know after the reveal
Whether it's a boy or a girl, right?
You've got the blue balloon or the pink balloon, you're going to know
Well, the Bible's saying the revelation, right?
It's being revealed to you
When these events are taking place
And the basic idea
So look, we can understand these things
I'm not saying we've got everything figured out
But we can understand the basics
Because we're not in darkness
That that day should overtake you as a thief
As the same person, we have the word of God
We have the Holy Spirit
We're saved, and we can know these things
And even though the book of Daniel is more complicated than Revelation
We can actually understand the book of Daniel as well
Look at verse 3
What does it mean to be wise?
How do you know if you have wisdom, right?
How are you going to know?
One thing is Daniel 12 verse 3
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament
And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever
This is a reference to going soul winning and getting people saved
And the Bible says the wise person is a soul winner
He that win in souls is wise
One of the major aspects of having wisdom is being a soul winner
That's what the Bible teaches
And that's proof of wisdom
But I also believe God imparts wisdom to the person that is a soul winner
And the Bible says that if you are a soul winner
You're a wise person
You're going to understand these things
And of course the other aspect is reading the Bible
Listening to preaching on it
Memorizing the Bible
And guess what? As you study it, you're going to learn it
Look, when you study something, you get wisdom on the topic
And it's not something we have to be in darkness about because it's been revealed to us
Look at verse number 10 again
And it says this
Many shall be purified and made white and tried
But the wicked shall do wickedly
And none of the wicked shall understand
But the wise shall understand
Now, here's the thing
Daniel is not going to understand everything that's being talked about here
We though can understand this
But the knowledge is being increased
And we have the whole word of God in our modern day
What does it mean to have the wise shall understand?
Well, verse 11
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away
And the abomination that maketh desolate set up
There shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days
So the Bible says
Starting at the daily sacrifice being taken away
And the abomination that maketh desolate
The abomination of desolation
The mark of the beast
So basically the Jews are not looking for a spiritual savior to come back
They're looking for basically a political rise
And they're going to love the antichrist
But then the antichrist will turn on the Jews
And the daily sacrifice is actually taken away
The Jews are waiting for the temple to be rebuilt
So they can make sacrifices
Of course we believe that Jesus was that sacrifice
But they're waiting to
They say we can't do sacrifices until the temple is rebuilt
Well, the Bible is indicating it's going to happen
They're going to eventually make sacrifices
But then when the antichrist takes over
He's already risen politically
He's going to basically demand worship
Where no, no, no, you fall down and worship me
And the sacrifice is taken away
And the abomination of desolation is set up
And around the world, if you don't take the mark of the beast
What's going to take place?
You can't buy or sell
And basically you're going to be put to death
If they catch you, right?
The Bible says from that time period
There shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days
Okay
Now look, I don't have time to prove it right now
But we're going to talk about it in this series
Everybody I've ever heard believes that the antichrist is midway through
Daniel 7th week, three and a half years in
Okay
So three and a half years in
And look, I'm not saying down to the second
I don't personally believe that
Or down to the minute
I know people that do believe that
I don't think it's down to the second or minute
I think it's just roughly three and a half years
Very, very, very close
But kind of like rounding, right?
0.98 to the nearest whole number is one
But it's going to be midway through
Daniel's 70th week, okay?
Now one thing you have to understand
In the Bible, how many days are in a month?
30 days
No exceptions to that
30 day months, right?
You don't have this 28 days and then 31
That's just kind of weird
But here's the thing though
You can't do 30 day months forever
Because 30 times 12 is 360
And what takes place is you're going to end up
Having missing time because that's
365 and a quarter days per year
So what would take place is
As years went by, some years
Would be a 13 month year
They'd add a month
And look, around the world
People keep time differently
It's not all the system of 365 and a quarter days
Except every 400 years
Is an exception or whatever it is
So basically they'd have
30 day months
12 months during the year
But then after a time frame
They'd have to have an extra month
So basically the end times is
Divided up into 42 months
For the first half
And 43 for the second half
You say, why?
Because time has gone by
They have to have an extra month
So one of those years was a 13 month year
So you have 42 months and 43 months
So 3 and a half years is 42 months
But sometimes it's going to be 43 months
Because there's that missing time
If that makes sense
Well what the Bible says is
That when it starts, the abomination of desolation
Is going to last for 1290 years
Well ask yourself
How much is 1290 years?
360 days in a year
Plus 36720
Plus 360 is 1080
Half of 360 is 180
1080 plus 180 is 1260
But yet the Bible says
1290 days
You say, why? Because there's an extra month
In the last half of Daniel's 70th week
I hope that makes sense
What I'm saying here with Daniel's 70th week
That's the reason why it's 1290 and not 1260
Now people see that verse
And it makes sense because they say, well it starts
During the middle part
But then they get confused on verse 12
Notice what it says
Lesson is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1305 and 30 days
So a lot of people look at this
And say, okay there's 1290 days
Then there's 45 extra days on the end
But that's not what the Bible is saying
Verse 11 is telling you
That from the abomination of desolation
To the end is 1290 days
43 months, three and a half years
But then it's kind of going backwards
And explaining
Lesson is he that's not attached to verse 11
It's saying, blessed is he that waiteth
And cometh to the 1305 and 30 days
And what it's saying is
Blessed is he that comes to the rapture
Aren't we waiting for the glorified body
That comes to the rapture?
That's what it's a reference to
When Daniel's 70th week starts
It's going to be 1335 days when the rapture takes place
Here's the thing
We aren't going to know when Daniel's 70th week starts
But what we will know
Is the abomination of desolation
Because that's 1260 days in
See, you could actually be in the end times
And not be aware of it
I mean, I said during the World War I
I would have thought we were in the end times
But I would have known the abomination of desolation
Didn't happen
Because there was no mark of the beast
But I would have thought we got wars and famines
And pestilences
I would have thought personally we're during the end times
Maybe you wouldn't have
But all those things seem to line up
Well that could be the start
The first three and a half years
The beginning of sorrows of Daniel's 70th week
However, once the abomination of desolation takes place
Guess what?
You're going to know the clock is ticking
1335 minus 1260
75 days
Once again, not down to the second
Not down to the minute
To be honest, I think we're going to probably lose track of time
During that time period
Because it's not going to be your number one focus on what's going on
But basically 75 days
So look, when the abomination of desolation takes place
What it's going to signal us is
We're in an all out sprint to serve God until the end
And what's going to take place
Is either, you know, you get martyred
And then you go to heaven
Or God allows you to miraculously survive
And be able to eat
And live and just get people saved along the way
It's no time to just try to hide
I want you to understand
Of course we don't just
Openly try to get killed
You're running to go to an area
Where you can freely preach the gospel
It's kind of like we go soloing in certain areas
They might say, hey, this is off limits
There's a certain apartment complex
They lock in and say, you're not allowed in
Us personally, at least at this church
We don't try to jump in
We say, well, there's many areas we can go to
And that's okay
It's going to be the same thing during the end times
A lot of areas are going to be off the market
I mean, in the heart of the city
Is probably not the best place to preach the gospel
But what you're going to do is basically
Be on the run and just try to preach
To as many people as you can
No need to worry about saving up for retirement
No need to worry about all these other things
And look
I personally think we should prepare
For our future
Because we don't know what's going to take place
But
Once the abomination of desolation takes place
There's no point to preparing
I don't think we're going to be meeting for church
When the abomination of desolation
I mean, are we going to live stream
After the abomination of desolation? No, probably not
It's probably not going to
Hey, we're going to be bold
We're meeting at this location
If you want us, come in and get us
That would be pretty dumb
Sometimes being zealous can be a stupid thing
We're going to be on the run
But preaching the gospel
Not just to try to survive to the end
We're going to try to survive in order to preach the gospel
There's that balance, right?
There's no need to just say, well, I'm going to try to survive
And just make it to the rapture
There's no point at that time
It's 75 days
Well, here's the thing
I understand this
It's what Daniel 12 says
You say, why?
The wise understand these things
There's going to be a lot of Baptists here
When the abomination of desolation takes place
They're like, what's going on?
We should have already been out of here
Am I not saved?
They'll be like, am I saved?
I thought I believed
I tried to do good
But they're not going to understand these things
You say, why?
Because they're being taught this preacher rapture
They're being lied to
What the Bible says is this
We are waiting for that day
It doesn't mean it can happen at any moment
The Bible gives a specific amount of time
1335 days
Well, you've got to think that means something
So, whatever you think
It's not just an imminent rapture right now
No matter what your belief is
There's something we're waiting for
There's a time period that goes by
What I'm telling you is at the start of Daniel's 70th week
Basically, you've got three and a half years
1260 days
75 more days
And the second half is 1290 days
The Bible's simple thing
No, it's not
This is a bit complicated
But everything I said was true
It's what the Bible directly speaks
How can you say that?
How can you be so bold to say you know and understand these things
And when it's going to be
Well, I can say that because the wise shall understand
And that's not a statement to say
Arrogantly
Look, if you're a soul winner and read the Bible
You can understand these things
You understand these things
Many of these things I'm saying
I learned from sermons and it made sense
I read my Bible and I was like you know what
That's exactly what the Bible says
Makes sense
Because these verses at the end
They're a bit confusing
It's confusing when you look at verses 11 and 12
But when you have it explained
It's like well actually that makes perfect sense
The first time I heard that phrase
I was like yeah that's exactly what it says
It makes perfect sense what the Bible's saying
Look, the wise can understand these things
Daniel's preaching about the end times
But it's something we can understand
Now the last thing I want to mention is this
When it comes to the book of Daniel
I wanted to preach through the book of Daniel
Not really for the prophetical stuff
We've already preached through Revelation
And we've preached through some minor prophets
Although Jonah's not really like
Not really like a minor prophet
As in like prophetical deep end time stuff
But we've preached through Hosea and stuff like that
But I wanted to preach through Daniel
Not really for the aspect of the end times
But really just for the political situation
Because I mean someone's being thrown in a fiery furnace
Right in Daniel chapter 3
For not bowing down to that image
Now what's interesting about this is
The first half of Daniel is
About all this political oppression
These famous stories
The second half is the deep prophetical stuff
That's confusing
But what's interesting is
They mesh together perfectly
Now the book of Revelation is divided up
First 11 chapters and then last 11 chapters
And basically the timeline starts over
The book of Daniel is similar
First 6 chapters and then the second 6 chapters
And also the time goes back as well
What's interesting though is this
When you have that story of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace
Think of this story
And think of if you can see the end times applications
They have to bow down to this image
And if not they get killed
Boy that sounds like the mark of the beast
Isn't it interesting the second half of Daniel
Is all the same
Isn't it interesting the second half of Daniel
Is all this prophetical stuff
And yet the stories mesh perfectly together
And here's the thing as we get to the end times
What are we going to have? Political oppression
We're going to be forced to sin
And do wrong and sin against our own conscience
Now we're not at that point yet
To that extreme
But that's the sort of thing that you're seeing
In Daniel chapter 3
And it's not about the end times
But certainly you can make symbolism
And so definitely these stories
They definitely help us understand the prophetical
Stuff as well
These things are deep, they're complicated
God gave you, if you're a saved person
The Holy Spirit of God inside of you
The spirit of truth and wisdom
That can help you interpret the word of God
And look this is why
We want you to read
The New Testament in January
Because the New Testament sheds light in the Old Testament
I want you though starting in February
To get started on your new Bible reading plan
That you're going to do
I mean next week we're going to bring Bible reading plans for you
We'll put them in the group chat as well
You know PDF if you want to just download them
Or whatever, put it on your phone
Just to motivate you every day to read the Bible
So basically you wake
Because here's the thing, in January right now
You say okay what am I going to do today
What am I going to read
Okay I'm reading these chapters
Makes it easy doesn't it
Well guess what, you should do that the whole year
And if you don't do that the whole year
You're going to find a lot of books like Daniel you never read
And here's the thing, the wise are going to understand these things
If you don't know these things though
You're going to be confused
And let me explain something to you
When the abomination of desolation takes place
If that happens in our life
That's not the time to start doing a deep dive on Bible prophecy
To understand these things
Right
I mean I hope
I hope that if this happens in our life
We'll still be able to have Bibles to read
But throughout the world and throughout history
A lot of people have not been able to have Bibles
A lot of oppression
It is very possible that we will not have access to the scriptures
I don't know
I hope that's not the case
I hope we still do have access to the scriptures
We might have to go soloing by memory
Right
I mean if they catch a Bible outside
You might get put to death
I mean it might be a time where it's very difficult
Things are going to be different
You need to make sure you're already prepared for those events
And look that's what we're waiting for
We're waiting for those 1335 days
We're waiting for that final day
When it's like okay
I've got a lot of people saved during the great tribulation
Now I'm raptured
And here's the good news about this
The book of Daniel actually shows us this
And we can use the New Testament
To understand some of these deep
Prophetical things
Your Heavenly Father
Thank you for allowing us to be here today
And help us to understand these things
And read these things
And know them and memorize them
And give this application to our lives
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen
Just lean
First hands are ready
Sing
Come on