Alright, Daniel chapter 7. Let me start out just by explaining to you what point we're at in the book of Daniel
because there's a major shift in the book of Daniel from chapter 6 to chapter 7.
The first six chapters basically are the part of Daniel that most people know the most about.
And that entails all the famous stories about Daniel.
In chapter 1, we saw him and his three friends as they were taken captive when he was just a young man,
not even an adult yet, children. We don't know exactly how old they were,
but they were probably teenagers. We saw that in chapter 1 where they stood up for what was right,
refused to eat the meat and the wine which the king was trying to give them.
And then in chapter 2, you remember Daniel interpreted the dream for Nebuchadnezzar.
Chapter 3 was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.
Chapter 4 was when Nebuchadnezzar's heart was changed into the heart of a beast
and he ended up being humbled before God and realizing that God was the only true God.
Then in chapter 5, if you remember, Belshazzar had that great party with the fingers of a man's hand,
handwriting on the wall. And then chapter 6 was where Daniel was cast into the lion's den.
So these are all really famous stories and they all moved throughout in chronological order.
Well, the second half of the book of Daniel is completely different.
Chapters 7 through 12 actually deal with prophecies that were given to Daniel
and they are relating to end times events, things that have not even happened yet,
things that are going to happen at the end of the world, as the Bible calls it.
And so that's what we're starting to get into in chapter 7.
Now, at the beginning of chapter 7, he tells us exactly at what point Daniel received this prophecy
because chapters 1 through 6 are in chronological order.
Well, chapters 7 through 12 are also in chronological order, but it starts with a different phonology.
Look at the first verse in Daniel 7.
It says,
So this prophecy came to Daniel in the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon.
Flip back, if you would, to 2 Kings chapter 25.
Go back in the Old Testament, about halfway between where you are and the beginning of your Bible,
and you'll find 2 Kings chapter 25.
I just want to give you an idea of where this takes place in the life of Daniel.
It says in 2 Kings 25, 27,
Now let me tell you right here that Jehoiachin went captive at the same time as Daniel did.
So 37 years into Daniel's captivity,
it says that,
So what I want to show you here is that 37 years into Daniel's captivity is when this king, Ebal Merodach, takes his kingdom.
And then his son was Belshazzar.
So we're talking about at least 40 some years, we don't know exactly how long,
but at least 40 some years into Daniel's captivity.
So at this point in his life, from chapter 7 and on throughout the rest of the book, he's a much older man.
I mean he's probably in his 50s, 60s, or even beyond that.
He's not the young man that we saw in the early chapters of the book of Daniel.
Look at the beginning of Daniel chapter 8.
And the prophecy in Daniel chapter 8 verse 1 says,
So chapter 8 is just 2 years after chapter 7.
And then if you look at chapter 9, it says in the first year of Darius, that's the next king.
That's what happens in chapter 6. Remember, Darius is the king.
And then in chapter 10, it says in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia.
And chapters 10 through 12 are contiguous.
So it's just that one final prophecy that was in the third year of Cyrus,
which was over 70 years after Daniel had been taken care of.
So at that point, he's in his 80s or beyond.
So I just want to give you that overview real quick.
So we're getting into the prophetic portion.
All of it's prophetic, but we're getting into the heavily prophetic portion of the book of Daniel here.
But before I get into that, what I want to point out quickly is just,
one of the great things about Daniel's life is the consistency.
I mean, look at this man, chapter 1 through 6.
And then all the way here, decades and decades go by.
This man is always the same.
This man is always standing up for what's right.
He's always preaching the truth.
He was so consistent, and there are so many people today that will serve God for a little while,
but they're not in it for the long haul.
The Bible says, let us not be weary in well-doing,
for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.
And the Bible says to be steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Look, so many people will serve God for six months or a year or a year and a half.
Just while it's fun, you know, until the newness wears off.
And whenever you join a new church, it's exciting at first,
and the preaching is exciting,
and you're excited about the soul, and you've never been soulless.
But then you can come for a long time, and the newness will begin to wear off.
That's where character is going to have to keep you serving God and keep you in the battle.
Because if you have a lack of character, it's not always going to be fun,
therefore you will by and by be offended and be gone.
It's true.
And so there are two kinds of Christians here in the auditorium tonight.
There are those who are in it for the long haul,
and those who will fade and be gone,
because they don't have the character to be instant in season and out of season.
And you see, it'll get fun again.
You know, you go through a phase sometimes, you go through low points,
but you've got to have the character to hang in there when it's out of season.
And that's what Daniel had, that's why Daniel was such a great man.
But let's look at this prophecy as we get into it tonight.
Daniel is having a dream, it says in verse number one,
he wrote the dream and told the son of the matter,
that's what we're reading, what he wrote.
Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night,
and behold the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea,
and four great beasts came up from the sea,
diverse, or that means different, one from another.
The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings.
I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked,
and it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet as a man,
and a man's heart was given to it.
Now, as we get into these beasts, we're getting into end times prophecy,
but this ties into something earlier in the book of Daniel.
Do you remember in Daniel chapter two,
when Nebuchadnezzar had the dream of a great image,
and the image had a head of gold,
and the chest was of silver and the arms were of silver,
the brass torso,
and you remember the legs were of iron,
and the feet were of iron mixed with clay,
and Daniel basically explained to him that it represented four kingdoms.
He said, thou Nebuchadnezzar art that head of gold, right?
He said, you are the first kingdom, the great Babylonian empire.
Then he's basically predicting the next kingdom that would take over the world,
the Medo-Persian empire, which happens in the book of Daniel.
Then the third kingdom of brass would be the Grecian empire,
and the Greeks would have the great empire of the world.
Then the fourth empire was going to be the Roman empire.
Do you remember that?
That was all laid out very carefully in Daniel chapter two.
Well, here, these beasts represent those same empires.
Now, the first beast represents the Babylonian empire,
which would be Nebuchadnezzar and also his descendants,
Belshazzar at this time.
That's why it says, the first was like a lion,
and had eagle's wings.
I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked.
This is talking about when Nebuchadnezzar was basically
stripped of his glory and royalty,
and he went out in the field and lived as an animal.
The Bible says he was given the heart of a beast,
but then it says it was lifted up from the earth
and made stand upon the feet as a man,
and as man's heart was given to it.
That's when he was restored to his kingly greatness.
Then we get into the next beast.
It says in verse five,
And behold, another beast, a second, like to a bear,
and it raised up itself on one side,
and it had three ribs in the mouth of it.
Between the teeth of it, and they said thus unto it,
Arise, devour much flesh.
That was the Medo-Persian empire.
Does anybody know what the modern day country is of Persia?
Does anybody know what country that would be today?
Iran.
Yeah, Iran is Persia.
Many people think that Iranians are Arab.
Iranians are not Arab.
They were converted to Islam by the Arabs,
but they are not Arab people, they are Persians.
And so it's a different ethnic group.
It says in verse number six,
After this I beheld, and lo, another,
this is the third beast, or the third kingdom,
like a leopard, which had upon the back of it
four wings of a fowl.
The beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it.
After this I saw on the night visions,
and behold, a fourth beast,
dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly.
And it had great iron teeth.
It devoured and break 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,
there came up among them another little horn,
before whom there were three of the first horns
plucked up by the roots, and behold,
in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man,
and a mouth speaking great things.
Look at verse nine.
I beheld till the thrones were cast down,
and the ancient of days did sit,
whose garment was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like the pure wool.
His throne was like the fiery flame,
and his wheels as burning fire.
Now let me explain this.
In chapter two, the prophecy that Daniel was giving
was a prophecy about things that were going to happen very soon.
The Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire.
He explains that.
But in Daniel chapter seven,
we're talking about end times events.
You see, Jesus Christ's first coming
was during the Roman Empire.
Do you remember that?
Right before Jesus came,
the Roman Empire had basically taken over the whole world,
and they were pretty much ruling most of the world at that time.
That's when Jesus Christ came on the scene.
Well, when Jesus Christ comes the second time
to set up his kingdom upon this earth,
there will also be a worldwide empire
that is ruling the entire world, according to the Bible.
And that's what Daniel's prophesying here.
You see, in Daniel chapter two,
you remember that the image was there
with the four sections,
and that there was a stone
that was cut out of the mountain without hands
in the king's dream,
and that stone crushed all four of the kingdoms.
Do you remember that?
Well, the Bible talks about that in the four Gospels.
Jesus said over and over that he was the cornerstone.
He said that the stone which the builders rejected,
the same has become the head of the corner.
And he said,
Whosoever shall fall upon that stone,
it will break him to pieces.
And it said,
Upon whomsoever that stone will fall,
it will grind into power.
So Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy
of being that stone that would come
and crush the other four.
But on Jesus Christ's first kingdom,
or his first coming, that is,
he didn't set up his kingdom on this earth, did he?
He came as the Messiah.
He came to die on the cross for the sins of mankind,
to be buried and three days later to rise again.
But he is coming the second time
with a rod of iron to rule the nations
to basically set up his kingdom upon this earth.
But before he comes,
there's going to be another worldwide empire
that's actually going to be more powerful,
diverse from any that have been before it.
More powerful than the Babylonian,
more powerful than the Medo-Persian,
the Greeks, the Romans,
because this will truly be a global empire of all nations.
And we'll see that in a little while.
In verse 9 here, it says,
I've been held till the thrones were cast down
and the ancient of days did sit.
That's referring to God the Father, okay,
whose garment was white as snow
and the hair of his head like pure wool.
His throne was like the fiery flame
and his wheels as burning fire.
Now before we get into the next part of the chapter here,
look, if you would, at Revelation chapter 13.
Keep your finger here in Daniel 7 and go to Revelation 13.
I'm going to show you something really interesting
about those four beasts that we saw.
Now let me just review for you.
The first beast was like a lion.
You remember that?
That was representing the Babylonians.
The second beast was like a bear, okay?
The third beast was like a leopard.
And the fourth beast was different than all the others
and it had seven heads, ten horns, okay?
Let's look at this in Revelation chapter 13.
This is about the Antichrist.
And if you remember, at the beginning of Daniel's dream,
he saw the sea and the wind was blowing across the sea
and these four beasts rose up out of the sea.
Well, look at Revelation 13.1.
And I stood upon the sand of the sea
and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,
having seven heads and ten horns,
and upon his horns, ten crowns,
and upon his heads, the name of blasphemy.
And the beast which I saw, now look at these animals,
was like to a leopard.
You remember that?
That was the third beast.
And his feet was the feet of a bear.
You remember that?
That was the second beast.
And his mouth is the mouth of a lion.
That was the first beast, wasn't it?
And the dragon, the dragon of course is Satan, the devil,
gave him his power and his seed and great authority.
And I saw one of his heads, as it were, wounded to death
and his deadly wound was healed.
And all the world wondered after the beast
and they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast
and they worshipped the beast saying,
Who is like unto the beast?
Who is able to make war with him?
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things
and blasphemies.
And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months
and he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God
to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle
and then that dwell in heaven.
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints
and to overcome them.
And power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations
and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him
whose names are now written in the book of life of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world.
We'll get back to that.
So we see the antichrist in Revelation 13.
This man who will come, he will die and be resurrected
according to Revelation chapter 17.
He'll die and then ascend out of the bottomless pit.
He's empowered by Satan.
He blasphemes God.
He's at war with the saints.
He's basically out to destroy the saints.
And he's put there by Satan.
He has a worldwide kingdom.
All the nations and tongues and peoples and families of the earth
are under his power.
A truly global government under the antichrist,
what we see in Revelation 13.
Look at the similarities back with Daniel chapter 7.
If you're back there.
In Daniel chapter 7, when we get to the interpretation of the dream,
we're going to go slightly out of order tonight
to make it easier to understand.
Look at verse 15.
It says, I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body
and the visions of my head troubled me.
So basically, Daniel saw these images of these beasts.
He saw God the Father on his throne.
He saw Jesus Christ come in the clouds.
We're going to get to that in a moment.
And he's not sure what it means.
He's troubled.
He's confused.
So it says in verse 16,
I came near unto one of them that stood by
and asked him the truth of all this.
He's saying, you know, what does this mean?
So he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things.
These great beasts, which are four, are four kings.
We already talked about that.
We already understood that from chapter 2.
Which shall arise out of the earth.
But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom
and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever,
after those kingdoms are over.
Then the saints will reign on this earth with Jesus Christ.
We'll get to that in a moment.
It says, then I would know the truth of the fourth beast.
So he says, you know, tell me more about that fourth beast,
is what he's saying.
Which was diverse from the others, exceeding dreadful,
whose teeth were of iron.
Remember the fourth medal of the image in chapter 2 was of iron?
And his nails of brass, which devoured, break in peace,
and stamped the residue with its feet.
And of the ten horns that were in his head,
and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell,
even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things,
whose look was more stout than his fellows.
I beheld, and the same horn did what?
Made war with the saints.
Now do you remember that from Revelation 13?
He made war with the saints.
Do you remember how he spoke?
There was given in him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies?
So it says here, he's speaking great things,
he's at war with the saints.
It says, the same horn made war with the saints, verse 21,
and prevailed against them.
So who won here?
He defeated them, right?
Because this is before Jesus Christ's second coming,
when he defeats the Antichrist.
First, the Antichrist is going to defeat the saints, defeat Christians.
He's at war with the saints.
Until the Ancient of Days came,
and the judgment was given to the saints of the Most High,
and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth,
which shall be divers from all kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth,
and shall tread it down and break it in pieces.
And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise,
and another shall rise after them, and he shall be divers from the first,
and he shall subdue three kings.
And he shall speak great words against the Most High.
Remember the Bible says there was given in him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies?
He opened his mouth to blaspheme God and his tabernacle,
and then to dwell in heaven.
It says here that he's blaspheming God.
It says he shall speak great words against the Most High, verse 25,
and shall wear out the saints of the most high.
So he's persecuting Christians, right? Saints.
And think to change times and laws,
and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Now, in Revelation 13, it said power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Well, the time, times, and dividing of time, let's say times, right, two,
and a time, and the dividing of time, or half a time.
In Revelation, it's called times, time, and half time.
What does that add up to?
Two plus one plus a half. What's that add up to?
Three and a half.
And three and a half years is forty-two months, okay?
So it's the same time period being described here.
Now here's what's interesting about verse 25.
It says that the Antichrist will think to change times and laws.
Now, it's funny because all the modern Bibles here,
they totally corrupt this whole doctrine of the end times and the second coming.
For example, they change the fact that in the King James Bible,
which is the word of God, by the way, the real Bible in the English language,
not like these other ones that are made because the love of money is the root of all evil.
It's funny, I just got a new cell phone because my cell phone finally gave up the ghost.
So I basically was trying to get a new phone, and I was like,
I don't want to spend a bunch of money, so I got this one for free.
I mean, yeah, I'm under contract till like 2057, but I got this new phone for free.
And the only thing is, it's totally different than my other phone.
It has totally different apps.
So I was trying to get my Bible app that I'm used to, and it wasn't there.
And the only one that was there was the NIV, and it was $19.99.
And it's funny because I looked up on my old phone, and the King James was free.
But the NIV was $17.99, and the New American Standard was $19.99, and the ESV was $9.99,
and the King James version with all these extra bells and whistles was $4.99
because of the fact that it's copyrighted, so they can charge you these really hyped up prices
because that's what's really behind.
You know who owns the copyright to the NIV, by the way? Rupert Murdoch, the world's largest pornographer.
The world's largest owner of pornography companies is Rupert Murdoch.
And guess where he goes to church? Saddleback Church, passing by Rick Warren.
I saw an article in the news this week where Christians everywhere were calling upon Rick Warren
to kick this guy out of his church to be selling pornography more than anyone in the world.
Hard porn is Rupert Murdoch, this filthy person who owns the NIV, which is why you have to pay $19.99.
You know, you couldn't pay me $19.99 thousand dollars, if that's even a number, to even read the thing
because it's garbage. But the NIV will change all this. It changes the Son of God in Daniel chapter 3.
So I was witnessing to a Muslim with Brother Garrett, I think, I don't know if I showed him this,
but I was showing him the Son of God in the Old Testament, a couple of places.
I talked to him for about 10 minutes, gave him the Gospel.
Now on the NIV, it changes it to a son of the gods. You know, a son of the gods.
But the NIV changes the mark that the Antichrist will put in their right hand or in their forehead
to on their right hand or on their forehead.
But the Bible says it will be in your right hand or in your forehead. Not you, of course, but
those who are taking the Mark of the Beast and worshiping the Antichrist.
But, why am I bringing up the NIV again?
What are we talking about? Oh yeah, change times the mark.
They change all the references of the Antichrist to the lawlessness, the lawless one.
Have you ever seen that before, the lawless one?
And you'll hear these preachers that are King James Bible preachers and they'll say,
you know, the Antichrist will be lawless.
You know, and they'll say this stuff, but hold on a second.
It doesn't say he'll be lawless. That's a false sign. It says he's the man of sin.
But the Bible says here in verse 25 that he'll think to change times and laws, not to eliminate laws.
It's not anarchy, my friend. Just eliminating all law.
No, he's going to be ruling with an iron fist. He's just going to change laws.
You see, this world doesn't eliminate law.
No one wants to eliminate all law except for Chris Robin.
Nobody wants to just eliminate all law.
You know, these people act like, oh yeah, God is so restrictive, let's get rid of God's rules.
No, they just want to put you under their rules.
The atheist today doesn't want to get rid of all rules and no rules.
No, they want to put you under their rules because they think that God's laws are too restrictive.
But isn't it amazing how the most atheistic regimes of this world want to control every facet of your life?
Look at the Soviet Union. Look at Communist China. They want to control your life.
And the more wicked our country becomes, the more our government wants to control and micromanage.
It has nothing to do with lawlessness. It's sin. It's laws that go against God.
Making laws against raising your own children and teaching your own children and having children, for crying out loud.
Like the one child policy that 1.4 billion of the people in this world live under in Communist China.
Today, in 2010. You see, it's not the lawless one. The NIB is corrupting it here.
It says here that it will change times and laws, not eliminate law. He's lawless.
I get tired of supposedly King James only preachers using NIB terms.
It's not the seven bowls. It's the seven vials of God's judgment, my friend. Not the seven bowls.
And it's not the lawless one. It's the man of sin or the son of perdition or the anti-Christ. Not the lawless one.
And you see, I contradict anyway. But look at verse 26. That was a message brought to you by the King James Version.
But anyway, verse 26 says, But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High,
whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
Okay, referring to Jesus Christ when he takes over. He's called there the Most High.
By the way, he is the Most High. Jesus Christ is the Most High because he's God in the flesh.
According to verse 27, talking about Jesus Christ's kingdom on this earth, calling him the Most High.
It says in verse 28, Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my cogitation, cogitations means thoughts,
much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me, but I kept the matter in my heart.
Let's go back and go through the portion that we skipped.
So we saw here the antichrist kingdom. We saw him speaking great blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name.
What was that word that kept coming up over and over again that he made war with the?
Saints.
And he wore out the?
Saints.
The saints. And who eventually got the kingdom?
Saints.
The saints. I mean, over, how many times in this chapter?
The saints, the saints, the saints, the saints, the saints.
You know, the saints is a very biblical word, and we don't use it much today.
We ought to use it because it's throughout the Bible and very heavily in the New Testament where you find the word saint.
You'll rarely find the word Christian. The word Christian is only found once in the book of Acts, and it's found in the book of 1 Peter, and that's it.
It's found just in two places. It says in the book of Acts that they were first called Christians at Antioch, and then in 1 Peter it says,
you know, if you suffer as a Christian, happy are you.
Both of them are talking about basically what they were called.
Basically a name that was given unto them by those that were persecuting them or those that were enemies.
They were called Christians by others.
But the word that God is constantly using to describe his people, the word that he uses to denote those that are saved are the saints.
All throughout the New Testament, scores of times, even in the Old Testament, as you see here.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. I'll just hit on this quickly because I already hit this in the sermon a few weeks ago.
But repetition is the key to learning, so there's certain points that I like to reinforce a little bit.
If you look up every time the word saints is used in the New Testament, it's very clear. We're talking about Christians. We're talking about all believers.
Now, many religions, such as the Catholic Church, will try to say, well, only certain people are saints.
You know, and it'll be like a sainthood, like they'll honor some saint and put them on a pedestal.
But the Bible says, in Jude, behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.
And it says in 1 Thessalonians 3, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
So I don't think that the Catholic Church has made 20,000 saints yet, have they? I doubt it.
And so that doesn't make any sense.
The truth of the matter is that all believers are saints. I'm going to prove it to you unequivocally here from 1 Corinthians 6.
It says in verse 1, dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints.
So here there's a contrast, right? The unjust and the saints.
Unjust is a synonym of the word unrighteous. It's used interchangeably in this passage.
It says in verse 2, and this ties in with Daniel 7, do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?
And that the world shall be judged by who? By you.
So he's saying, you are the saints, right? Keep your finger there, 1 Corinthians 6.
Look at 1 Corinthians 1-1. Or look at verse 2. Who's the letter being written to?
Unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus,
called to be saints with all that in every place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.
So how do you become a saint according to the Bible? You call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you're a saint.
You're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, in verse chapter 10.
But I'll prove it to you further. Keep reading in 1 Corinthians 6.
It says, you know, that the saints shall judge the world. If the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Verse 3, know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?
If then, ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
I speak to your shame. Is it so that there's not a wise man among you, know not one, that shall be able to judge between his brother?
So the Bible here is telling us that the least esteemed in the church, he said, you'd be better off having the least person in church judge you than the unjust heathen,
than the unrighteous, than the people out there in the world. So isn't he saying there that if you should be judged by the saints,
and then he says, hey, how about the least esteemed person in church, because guess what, they're a saint too.
The least esteemed Christian is still a saint, because the Bible uses the word saint as a generic word for anybody who is saved.
Saved equals saint. This is one perfect example, but you can study every time it's used and you'll find consistently that's what it always means.
I think 1 Corinthians 6 is the best example, because he flat out says, look, the least in the church is still a saint, you're still saved.
And so we'll go back to where we were in Daniel chapter 7. I wanted to show that to you because of the fact that the Bible said in Revelation 13,
and we're going to be going back and forth a little bit between Revelation and Daniel, so be ready to do that.
The saints is who the antichrist is making war with, right? He is at war with the saints. Look at Revelation 12.
I know I said Daniel 7, but you're going to go back and forth between the two, so just keep a finger in each.
It says in Revelation chapter 12 at the end, this is when the devil is cast out of heaven.
In chapter 12, there's a war in heaven and the devil is cast out of heaven. He's cast down to the earth.
And it says in verse 13, and when the dragon saw that he was cast out of the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
Look up at the verse before that, verse 12.
Therefore rejoice ye heavens that ye that dwell on them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea.
For the devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
So when the devil's thrown out of heaven, which has not happened yet, when that happens in the book of Revelation, he only knows he just has a short time.
And so he's going to go out and try to make war with the saints during that time. Look at the end of chapter 12. I'll show you that.
Chapter 12 verse 17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
So those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ are the saints.
That's why in the next chapter, verse 1, we see the antichrist come to power. Who gave him his power and his seed in great authority?
The devil. So the devil used the antichrist to make war against the saints, to persecute God's people.
It says in verse 7, Revelation 13, 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.
Remember how it said that he would defeat them in Daniel 7? It said he would make war against them and prevail against them?
Well it says it was given unto him to make war with the saints. Who are the saints?
And to overcome them, then power was given them over all kindreds and tongues and nations.
Now, he's persecuting the saints. Let me show you part of how he does that.
Look down, if you would, at verse number 15. Actually, let's start with verse 11.
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and he's fake as a dragon.
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and then the dwell therein,
then which dwell therein, to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.
And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.
Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword in his lip.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
So hold on a second. He's going to cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast will be killed.
So this is his persecution of the saints, right?
It says, and he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads.
In their foreheads, notice.
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that hath the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred three score and six.
Now, I have to condense for the sake of time, but in Revelation chapter six, the fifth seal is open, and it goes into detail about how there will be many, many saints beheaded for the cause of Christ.
And it says, because they have not worshiped the beast, neither his image, and neither have received his mark upon their forehead or in their hand.
We see that same group in chapter fifteen, we see that group in a lot of different places in the book of Revelation.
So basically, Christians, saints, we'll use the Bible word saints, the saints are going to be killed by the Antichrist for refusing to worship the Antichrist.
They will not worship him. They will not do it.
You say, well some Christians might fall for it. No, the Bible says in Matthew twenty-four that he said that he'll be so slick that he would deceive the very elect if it were possible.
See, it will be impossible for the elect to be deceived. Those who are saved will not be deceived.
The Bible says in second Thessalonians chapter two, that the unsaved will receive a strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
A lot of people, not everyone in the world, but many people will be deluded in their mind to actually believe that the Antichrist is God.
They'll think he's the second coming of Jesus Christ. They'll think that the Jews will receive him as their Messiah, according to the Bible.
The Muslims will accept him as, you know, whatever. The Buddhists will accept him.
I mean, really, he'll bring together all religions. You can already see the religions of the world trying to work toward this goal.
You can see even Christianity, so-called, merging and trying to figure out what we have in common with these other religions and so forth.
You can see how this would happen, where a man would come and claim to be the Messiah, claim to be the second coming of Jesus Christ, claim to be all these things, do a bunch of miracles, and people will believe him.
But no one who's saved will be Jews, according to Matthew 24. According to 2 Thessalonians chapter two, no one who's saved will believe it.
Now, that is why the devil institutes the mark of the beast, because you have to stop and ask yourself, why is the devil, why is the Antichrist making people get a mark in their hand in order to buy ourself?
He's not trying to get Christians to take the mark of the beast. That's not his goal. Because what is his goal? To kill all Christians. Are you understanding here?
His goal is that they would be killed. His goal is to make war against them, to destroy them, to eliminate them. So he's not trying to fool them.
And by the way, he already knows that they can't be fooled. His goal is that they would not be able to buy or sell. His goal is to isolate them. His goal is to persecute them, cause them to be outcast, cause them to not be able to buy or sell, cause them to starve or be beheaded, and to have to head for the hills, to run for the hills, that they might not interfere with his kingdom and his worldwide power that he's going to have, only for a short time.
He knows he only has a short time, but he's going to live it up, kill everybody possible, and just rule and reign for his short time and have his time in the sun. That's his goal.
Now, let me just ask you something. How is this consistent with what most churches are teaching today, that all the believers are going to be gone before the Antichrist even comes on the scene?
How is that consistent with this? No. It's not consistent with this at all. No. He's going to come on the scene to make war with the saints. So if all the saints are gone, that doesn't make any sense, does it?
And it's unbiblical on about 37 different levels that I could show you, but I can't for the sake of time tonight. I've preached plenty of sermons on why this Left Behind series and the Kirk Cameron and Tim LaHaye.
Basically, they have this all mixed up. It's a sensationalized Hollywood message. It's straight out of the Pentecostal Charismatic movement, and it's baloney. And if you're deceived by it, it just means that you don't know the Bible. That's all it means.
Because I just had some pastor challenge me on this recently, and I just said, show me one verse in the Bible. One verse to support what you're teaching. And he just said, oh, you need to understand the difference between the verses. I said, no, show me a verse. He had no verse.
That's right. All day.
He's just like, this is what he said, the whole book of 1 Thessalonians. It's like, if there's so many scriptures, show me.
The whole book of 1 Thessalonians is consistent with what the Bible is preaching tonight in Daniel and Revelation in Matthew 24. It all matches up. And I don't want to go into that tonight. I don't have time for that. If you believe that, I don't really have time for that. Sorry. You're going to live in ignorance for a while.
I'm serious. I'm sick of it. You know, I was 12 years old when I figured out that that was a false doctrine. But you know why? You know why I was when I was 12? Because that's when I picked up my Bible and started reading it. And I started in the book of Matthew because I wanted to finish the New Testament. I got to Matthew 24 and realized that, oh, wow, I'm being lied to in my Christian school. And I've never believed it since because it's false. It's unbiblical. Just read Matthew 24 and you'll see what I'm saying. That's all I can tell you.
But anyway, Daniel chapter 7. We've got to go back to the part that we skipped. I've got to hurry here. So we've got a picture, right, about the Antichrist. Who puts him in power? Satan. His kingdoms worldwide. It's an amalgamation of all previous world empires. Did you notice that? Because remember how the first beast was the lion, then the bear, then the leopard. He was like a leopard, lion, bear. I mean, it's like a total global system of all nations.
Not like the Babylonian empire where it was one nation ruling over everyone else. Or the Medo-Persians where it was one nation or two nations ruling over everyone else. Or the Greeks where it was one nation ruling over everyone else. This isn't going to be like that. This is going to be different than that. This is going to be the whole world joining together in a one world global government where everybody has a say. Everybody gets to come to the table.
It's funny. I saw on the news the Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, who is basically the king of Persia today, I guess. But anyway, he was in the United States just a couple of days ago. And he was in New York City for the big United Nations global summit and everything. And it's funny because you listen to Ahmadinejad talk and here's what he said.
And I don't watch TV. I haven't seen TV in like nine years. But I was reading this on the internet. I was studying this on the internet a little bit. And he was saying how the world is so messed up and he's describing all the problems of the world. He was right on. All the problems. He's talking about how the banks are manipulating and ripping everybody off and the financial stuff. He's right on. But you know what? He doesn't have the right answer.
He gets the problem. He saw all the right problems. But he's got the wrong answer because you know what he said? He said, we need a new world order where we have global governance where everybody has a say.
Where it's not just the United States but where everybody can join at the table. So he still wants a global government. He still wants this globalism. He just wants to have a little more authority in it instead of being the black sheep of the family like he is right now.
And so everybody in the world is pushing towards this. Do you see what I mean? The United Nations, this global government and so forth where they all join together and rule over the whole planet. Just a worldwide dominion, a worldwide empire.
But let's get off that. Let's get into the part about Jesus Christ coming back. Because we already saw the part where this beast comes and of course we know the Antichrist comes before Jesus Christ.
Because remember, the Antichrist had this kingdom until Jesus came back and the saints possessed the kingdom.
And just to be clear, I believe in the rapture. Of course I believe in the rapture. The rapture is a biblical doctrine. People try to say, oh the rapture is not real. Come on, there are so many scriptures in the Bible on the rapture.
Matthew 24, Mark 13, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15. I mean there are tons of scriptures on the rapture. It's just that I don't believe the rapture could happen at any moment.
Because first the Bible says other things have to happen first. That's all I was preaching again. Just to be clear on that.
And so no, Jesus will not rapture us before the service is over. Pass the offer and play one more time. You don't need your money. Jesus could come back before the end of the service. So just throw it all in and God will bless you for it.
Just kidding. I don't believe that. But anyway, the point is, look at verse 9. Daniel 7, 9. After the Antichrist and his worldwide kingdom, Jesus Christ of course will come in the clouds.
The rapture will take place. God will pour out his wrath for years and years of carnage upon this earth. And then he'll set up his thousand year reign.
And then it says the saints will reign forever because after the thousand year reign of Christ, then there's the great white throne judgment and then it says that we'll reign forever and ever in Revelation 22. A kingdom that will never end.
But let's look at this. This is really interesting. Daniel 7, 9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down. The thrones of whom? These earthly dictators that were represented by these other four beasts.
And the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him.
Thousands and thousands, they call those millions, ministered unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand, that's a hundred million, stood before him. The judgment was set and the books were opened.
I beheld them because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake. Remember the horn was the antichrist, he spoke great things and blasphemies against God.
I beheld even till the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. Keep your finger there in Daniel 7, go to Revelation chapter 19.
So what's going to be the fate of the antichrist? He's going to be destroyed. First he's going to be slain. It says his body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
The part that I want to emphasize there is these two words. His body destroyed. You got those two words from Daniel 7?
Look at Revelation 19. In Revelation 19 it says in verse 20, and the beast was taken. This is the antichrist, same man.
And with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he had deceived them which had received the mark of the beast and then that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. So there's the fulfillment of Daniel chapter 7 verse 11.
In Revelation it says that the antichrist is thrown alive into the lake of fire with the false prophet.
Now the lake of fire is different than hell in a sense because hell as we know it today, the Bible teaches, is located in the heart of the earth or in the nether parts of the earth.
That's taught in Ezekiel 30-31. That's taught in Matthew 12-40. That's taught in Ephesians chapter 4.
That's taught all throughout the Bible. It talks about how down into hell, the nether parts of the earth, the lower parts of the earth, the heart of the earth is where hell is located.
Well, the lake of fire is what's located in what's called outer darkness. Okay? Outer darkness.
Well, in Revelation 20, do you remember how it says that the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works?
So basically if a person dies without Jesus Christ, immediately they're in hell. They're burning in hell just like the rich man in Luke chapter 16.
Well, then after the millennium, they're going to be delivered up out of hell, stand before God as the great white throne of judgment, be judged according to their works.
You say, well, wait a minute. How do they go to hell without a trial? The Bible says he who believes not is condemned already. That's why the moment they die, boom, they're in hell.
So he's going to then be taken up out of hell, stand before the white throne, be judged for his works. Then the Bible says, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
So all those people, the dead, small and great, which stood before God to be judged that had come up out of hell are then thrown into the lake of fire.
Now, is the lake of fire called hell? Yes, it is because hell is moved to the lake of fire because death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Who is the first person to go to the lake of fire? The Antichrist and the false prophet in Revelation 19 are cast alive into the lake of fire.
They're the first ones to go. Then in Revelation 20 verse 10, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire where the beast and false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.
So hell is eternal, isn't it? It doesn't end at that white throne. No, it just gets moved because the new earth is not going to have hell inside of it, the new heaven and the new earth.
It's moved to an outer darkness place of the lake of fire. You say prove that the lake of fire, because people that belong to these cults such as the Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons will say,
When hell is cast into the lake of fire, it's just destroyed at that point. No. It's only being relocated because of the fact that no one's body is in hell right now. The soul is in hell.
For example, let's say that a man is not saved and he dies tonight. His body doesn't go anywhere. We're going to take the body and bury it in the earth.
But his soul is in hell, tormented in hell. Now the soul, we don't understand everything about this obviously, but the soul, basically it's not just some kind of a spirit thing where it has no shape.
No, the Bible talks about in Revelation 6, he saw the souls of those that were beheaded and it says that they wore white robes and all these different things.
And if you remember when the rich man was in hell, he said,
So it's still, he has body parts, it's just not a physical body. It's not a flesh and bone body. The Bible says a spirit, not flesh and bone. But still he can feel the flames, he still is in the likeness or similitude of a human being in hell.
But his body's not in hell. His body's in the grave. We see the body. Just as when you die, your body goes to the grave. Your soul and spirit go to heaven.
Well, Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 10,
Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
When will both soul and body be destroyed in hell? At the lake of fire. Because the bodies are standing at the judgment, because basically the bodies of the dead are resurrected in Revelation 20 at the white throne.
Their soul comes out of hell and the sea and death and the grave all deliver up the dead bodies and their dead body and their soul are reunited and they're cast with their body into the lake of fire for all eternity.
That's why he said that he'll destroy both soul and body in hell, which is not referring to the current hell inside the earth because no one's body goes there.
And you remember how when the antichrist was thrown into the lake of fire, what did it say in Daniel? Go back and look at it.
Daniel 7-11, halfway through the verse, I beheld even till the beast was slain. Slain means what? Killed.
So obviously, yeah, on the way into that lake of fire, he was thrown alive into the lake of fire but he wasn't alive for very long because he obviously died on the way in because it was fire.
And so it says here that he was slain and his body destroyed. Remember how it said he'll destroy both soul and body in hell? Do you see the consistency here in the Bible?
It says his body was destroyed and given to the burning flame. Just in case you're not sure whether the fire in hell is just a figurative flame.
Like, you know, for example, this girl that I dated could be called an old flame. Come on. It's burning flame.
I mean, it says over and over, roaring fire, flame, burning, flames, fire, furnace. I mean, what else do you have to say? It's real. Hell's real.
Hell's a real place. I got to hurry up here but let's go down as it says he's thrown into the lake of fire.
As concerning the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away yet their lives were prolonged for a season at a time.
This is referring to the nations that will go into the millennium but they're not the ones in charge anymore. Their dominion is taken away but they're still alive.
I saw in the night visions of the old. Keep in mind, you're reading the Old Testament here. One like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven.
So this is referring to the rapture when Jesus comes in the clouds, it says, and came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him.
And there was given him, talking about the Son of Man, talking about Jesus Christ, dominion and glory and a kingdom in all people, nations and languages should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Then verse 15 is where we picked up where he just interprets all the same things and we already went through all those verses.
One last point I want to make is this. The description of the ancient of days, is the ancient of days Jesus Christ or is it God the Father?
The reason we know it's God the Father is because the Son of Man comes in the clouds and he comes unto the ancient of days.
So we see the Father and the Son here. But here's the interesting thing, go to Revelation 1 and this is where we'll close.
Let's get a little bit of review from Sunday night. But go to Revelation 1.
And while you're turning to Revelation 1, let me give you the description one more time from Daniel 7.
He said, the ancient of days did sit. What did this ancient of days look like unto Daniel?
Whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like pure wool, his throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire, a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him.
Thousand thousands ministered unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him, the judgment was said and the books were opened.
So this ancient of days that's sitting upon the throne, hair white like wool, garments as white as snow, eyes like a flame of fire and in fact he's sitting upon the throne and there's just a burning river of fire coming out from under the throne.
Does that sound like the image that most people have of God? This lovable fuzz ball up in heaven.
He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.
Or there's a river of fire coming out from under the throne.
We think that God is Santa Claus today. People have confused the Lord Jesus Christ with Santa Claus.
I'm serious. I mean they think that God is not a holy, righteous, wrathful, vengeful God. But he is.
Now he's the most loving that you could ever imagine. God is love but it also says holy is the Lord.
He has supreme love. No one has greater love than God. But at the same time no one has greater wrath than God.
No one has greater power than God. No one is more glorious than God and no one is more terrible and dreadful are the two words that are used to describe scores of time throughout the Bible.
How can you use those words? Those are Bible words about God. You use scores of time, terrible and dreadful. God.
God is great as long as you're on his side. If you're one of the saints, it's great. As long as you're behind him when he's on the white horse, you're great.
If you're in front of him, it's not great. So get a clear view of who God is. Get a biblical view of who God is.
Is this the view at the community church that's being pronounced? Is this God even preached?
But you know what? You say, well that's God the Father. God the Father is this wrathful, vengeful God.
And it's Jesus that's always holding him back and Jesus is always making intercession for us.
And then if you're a Roman Catholic, they take it a step further. Jesus is kind of holding back God the Father's wrath and then Mary is kind of like holding back Jesus.
And then the saints are like telling Mary to calm down. It's a lie. Jesus Christ has the same nature as God. He is God in the flesh.
He said if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Let me prove that to you. Revelation 1, we're going to see a description of Jesus Christ.
You say, well how do I know that Revelation 1 is really talking about Jesus Christ? Well let me just prove to you that it's talking about Jesus Christ.
First of all, it says in verse 13, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto who? The Son of Man.
Okay, I'll prove it to you further. Look at verse number 18. This is what the Son of Man says here, Jesus Christ.
I am he that liveth and was dead. Did Jesus die? And he rose again three days later. He says, I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore.
Amen and have the keys of hell and of death. Let's go back where we saw the Son of Man, verse 13.
One like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the past with a golden girdle.
What's he look like in this vision of John? Verse 14.
His head and his hairs were white like wool. Sound familiar? As white as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire.
And his feet like unto fine brass as if they burned in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth when a sharp two-edged sword in his countenance was as the sun shineth and his strength is in.
Whenever the sun is at its brightest, that was the brightness of Jesus Christ.
And when I saw him, I just felt so comfortable to just, I could really just be myself around him.
You know what I mean? We could just really jam with him. You know what I mean?
He said, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.
I mean, this is John, one of the most powerful saints of the New Testament, one of the most powerful preachers of the New Testament, one of the most greatest men of God in the Bible.
He fell at his feet as dead and the Lord Jesus Christ literally had to pick him up and lay his right hand upon him saying unto him,
Fear not, I'm the first and the last. He said, I'm the beginning and the end. I'm the Alpha and Omega.
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ has all the power of God the Father, all the glory, all the image of God the Father.
Because the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, he said, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
I mean, it's one God just in three manifestations. That's why you see it's the same description.
But let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter in the book of Daniel.
I haven't been able to preach everything in the chapter, but I tried to hit the highlights, dear God.
I pray that you would just help everyone to keep coming and studying the book of Daniel.
I know the first six chapters were a little bit easier to comprehend,
but God, help everyone to come and get through these latter six chapters and to get these great riches of truth from your Word.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.