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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you all right, good morning everybody, welcome to Verity Baptist Church we'll go through a couple quick things in the bulletin and number one, let's count up any salvations from this past week did anybody have any salvations to report to me, any salvations I know a lot of people, three, all right anybody else, any extra salvations, five, all right anybody else all right, well great work everybody and we do have soul winning obviously this afternoon at around 2.15 pm, also this Friday we are having a soul winning marathon and I'm not sure all of the locations obviously we'll have one for those that live nearby the church we're having one in Pampanga but if you're a group leader or you'd like to be of certain areas perhaps in Bulacan, Laguna Cavite, let me know because we can give you money to provide for the events, you can do soul winning in that area, eat lunch together, make it a time of fellowship and everything, so just let me know after the service and this Friday, because it is people power anniversary from the Edsa Revolution or whatever and so hey, whether you're voting for Marcos or not or whatever, because you know, we're doing soul winning on Friday, I don't care what your political opinions are, right but anyways, why about Brother Raffi lead us in another song sing so so so so so so so so so so so so so so amen, first scripture reading, please open your Bibles to the book of Daniel Daniel chapter 2 second chapter of the book of Daniel Daniel chapter 2 and we will be reading the entire chapter as our custom Daniel chapter 2 please say amen if you're there amen Daniel chapter 2 verse 1 and in the second year of the reign of the Bukat Nizar, the Bukat Nizar dreamed dreams for which the spirit was troubled and his sleep breathed from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king and the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king and say, O king, live forever tell thy servants a dream and we will show the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, the thing is gone from me. If you will not make known unto me the dream with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made of dung hill. But if you show the dream and the interpretation thereof, you shall receive the gifts and rewards in great honor. Therefore show me the dream and the interpretation thereof. They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants a dream and we will show the interpretation of it. The king answered and said, I know certainty that you would gain the time because you see the thing is gone from me. But if you will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you. For you have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me till the time you changed. Therefore tell me the dream and I shall know that you can show me the interpretation thereof. The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king's matter. Therefore there is no king, lord nor ruler that ask it such things that any magician or astrologer are Chaldeans. And it is a rare thing that the king required. And there is none other that can show it before the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with the flesh. For this cause the king was angry and very furious and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And a decree went forth that the wise men should be slain and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard who had just gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon. He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Then Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would give him time and that he would show the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Ananias, Michel and his Arias companions. That they would desire mercies of the god of heaven concerning the secret that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was a secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the god of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. And he changed the times and the seasons to remove the kings and set up kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that no understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret things, he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee and praise thee, O thou god of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might, and has made known unto me now what you desire to be, for thou is now made known unto us a king's matter. Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus unto him, Destroy not the wise men of Babylon, bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation. Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah that will make known unto the king the interpretation. The king answered and said to Daniel, Whose name was Boteh Shazer? Are thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, The secret which the king hath demanded of the king, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king. But there is a god in heaven, to reveal its secrets, and make it known to the king that the god is our what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these. As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed. What should come to pass your rapture? And he that reveals its secrets, make it known to thee what shall come to pass. As for me, the secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. Thou, O king, sawest and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightest was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest so that a stone was cut up without hands, which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broke into pieces together, and became like the shaft of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away. That no place was found for them, and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, are the king of kings, for the god of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power and strength and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath given into thine hand hath made a ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall rise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces of all things, and as iron that breaketh all these shall break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with my clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with my clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not leave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountains without hands, and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, and the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to the past hereafter, and the dream is certain, and the interpretation there up-shore. Then the king the bukkadnazar fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, What truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he sat Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the appearance of the province of Babylon, but Daniel sat in the gate of the king. Blessed be God's word, let us pray. Lord God, in having we thank the Lord for the state that you've given to us, I pray that you would bless the Lord for this day, give us good weather for our soul, winning and fellowship later on, and I pray that you would also bless the preacher and the preaching of your word, Lord, this day. We love you, Jesus, and we pray. Amen. Alright, we're here in Daniel chapter 2. We're going to be finishing up Daniel 2, and if you remember last week, I talked about how to learn the deep and secret things of God, and the sermon here today, it's like I'm going to try to make it as simple as possible. It's deep. It's complicated. Quite honestly, there's going to be a lot of information that, you know, you maybe have never heard. I'd recommend taking notes and everything, because I'm going to kind of quickly fly through it and show you a lot of Bible throughout the book of Daniel, but even though Daniel gives the interpretation, it's still deep even after the interpretation, okay? There's a lot of chapters within Daniel that speak more about this, a lot of symbolism and everything like that, so we're going to look at the image of Nebuchadnezzar here today, so verse number 31, the Bible reads, Thou, O king, sawest and behold a great image. This great image whose brightness was excellent stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. So, when the Bible just says great image, that doesn't mean it's great as in it's like a good thing or a beautiful, it just means like it's powerful, it's big or whatever. You know, great means more of like power, okay? And you see this image and it's a powerful image, the brightness is excellent, and it says the form thereof was terrible. Now, the word terrible in the Bible doesn't mean like bad, like we would think in our modern day. The Bible says God's a terrible God. Of course, God's not a bad God, right? But terrible means striking terror or fear within someone. So if the image is terrible, you look at it, it's like whoa, and terror or fear comes upon you, because remember Nebuchadnezzar has a nightmare because of this great image, this powerful, magnificent, bright image and he's afraid, he has a nightmare, okay? And it says this image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Now, in verse number 32, you see it says his thighs of brass, the next verse is legs of iron. In our modern day, if we say leg, we oftentimes mean all the way down from the foot to the waist. Biblically speaking, though, your leg is actually below your knee, and your thigh is a distinction from your leg. So when it says leg, this part and then the thigh, this part, that's why the thigh is brass and then the leg itself was iron, it said. And so there's this distinction being made there. Then verse 34, thou saw'st till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold, broken to pieces together and become like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away that no place was found for them, and the stone smote the image and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. So this is the dream. This is the image that's seen. Now let's see what is the interpretation of this. This is the dream and we'll tell the interpretation thereof before the king. One thing to keep in mind is Daniel's giving an interpretation of this. Honestly, we can understand this better than Daniel could, though. Because modern day stuff, historically, all these things that have taken place, it actually sheds light on what Daniel's talking about. Daniel himself, many times in the book of Daniel, doesn't really know everything, right? He writes certain things and he asks God, can you help me understand this? I don't understand it. And then particularly one time, God said, just seal it up. It's reserved, basically, for those that live during the end. We can actually understand these things better today than Daniel could himself, because we look back and we see the pieces fitting together, whereas Daniel is preaching about something happening in the future. You don't necessarily know everything that's going to take place, okay? Verse 37, Thou, O king, art a king of kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power and strength and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beast of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all, thou art this head of gold. So the first that he sees, this head of gold, that is Nebuchadnezzar, that's the Babylonian empire. Wherever the animals are, wherever the birds are, you control everything. Basically, Nebuchadnezzar is the ruler of the world, pretty much, right? He is by far the most powerful man in the world, the Bible's saying. That's very easy to understand, because Daniel specifically says, thou art this head of gold. I don't know how you could misinterpret that, right? Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian empire, that's the head of gold, okay? Then it says this, and after these shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all the earth, and the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueeth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise. So the first kingdom is very obvious. What we've got to find out is what's the second kingdom, what's the third kingdom, and what's the fourth kingdom? Now here's the thing. If all we had was Daniel 2 to figure this out, we wouldn't be able to figure it out. It doesn't explicitly tell us. It gives us information that the second kingdom is going to be less strong or inferior, but it doesn't really tell us who the second kingdom is in Daniel 2 by itself. Yet this image is repeated in kind of a different way in the book of Daniel. Go to Daniel chapter 7, Daniel 7. The Bible speaks about rightly dividing the word of God, and sometimes people will say, well, you can't just take a verse by itself and just interpret it and form your doctrine, which I mean I agree with. One verse can be taken out of context. You've got to look at the passage. You've got to look at the whole chapter, but one thing people forget is you don't have to just focus on one chapter. Other parts of the Bible shed light on that chapter as well. Daniel 2 by itself, we would not be able to preach all the things that you're going to hear today. However, Daniel 7 sheds light on Daniel 2, and the Bible says comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So if you don't understand something in the Bible, sometimes the answer is in another part of the Bible. I mean, haven't you come across verses before and you don't understand what it's talking about? And then another part of the Bible, it's just like, oh, okay, makes perfect sense. But other parts of the Bible shed more light on some of the darker things, and Daniel 2 by itself, it doesn't tell us everything. Daniel 7 verse 3, and four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. So notice it says four great beasts. Remember the image had four parts that it mentioned, right? So this image here, these beasts, there's four different ones. I believe Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 are parallel, and basically the same beasts that are mentioned in Daniel 7 is going to fit with the image, okay? Verse number 4, the first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. Here's the thing. If I'm correct on this, then Daniel 7 verse 4 must be talking about who? Nebuchadnezzar. Because Nebuchadnezzar is that head of gold, right? So let's look at verse 4 of Daniel 7. Does this fit with King Nebuchadnezzar? Well, the first was like a lion. Well, I mean, a lion's the king of the jungle. Most powerful, right? That's the terminology the Bible gives for it. That makes a lot of sense. And it said it had eagle's wings. You say, what's significant about eagle's wings? Well, I mean, we haven't gotten there yet in the Book of Daniel, but in Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar is basically given the mind of a beast or of an animal, and basically he's acting like a crazy person, and he's eating grass like an ox, and it says his nails were growing and his hair like eagle's feathers. It specifically mentions eagle in Daniel 4. Is it a shock that it mentions eagle in Daniel 7 verse 4, and also in chapter 4 mentions eagle. And so it says the first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. That fits with Nebuchadnezzar. 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. Well, why would you have to stand up as a man? Because a beast's heart was given on to Nebuchadnezzar, and he was acting like an animal, right? I mean, if you read Daniel chapter 4 before, Nebuchadnezzar acts like an animal, okay? We're not going to look at that for sake of time, but basically the Bible says a beast's heart was given on to him. And when it speaks of heart, it's not specifically saying the organ, but basically the mind. He was acting as an animal, eating like an animal. I mean, he wasn't, you know, cutting his nails. They were growing like birds' claws and eagle's feathers, and it's like his hair was growing and everything like that. And he was acting like an animal, and here it says in Daniel 7 verse 4, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. Why is a man's heart given to it? Because he was acting like an animal before that, right? I mean, so there's no question Daniel 7 verse 4 fits with Nebuchadnezzar. It mentions eagle. It mentions a man's heart's given on to it. So with the images in Daniel 2, the first one is Nebuchadnezzar. No question about it. You'd have to be blind to read Daniel 7 verses 3 and 4 and say it doesn't fit with Nebuchadnezzar as well. It's obvious it fits with Nebuchadnezzar. Now, why are we looking at this? Because we're using Daniel 7 to shed light on Daniel chapter 2, okay? Now, that's the first kingdom. The question is, what's the second kingdom? What it said about the second kingdom is his breast and his arms of silver, okay? Go to Daniel chapter 8. Daniel 8. Daniel 8. We'll look at Daniel 8 chapter 1 because Daniel 8 just clearly tells us who it is. And there's not a huge amount of dispute about these four different ones, but I have read things online where they try to put in like Great Britain and other empires that have existed into this listing. It's obvious what the four are, and we're going to see that here today, okay? Daniel 8 verse 20, and it says this, the ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia, okay? Now, remember in the image it said his breast and his arms of silver. Well, we have two arms, and why that's significant is the fact that the Medo-Persian empire was a dual monarchy, meaning that there was two parts to that empire. They had joined together. Now, one side, the Persians were stronger than the Medes, but they had jointly ruled together to take power, and this is just historically known. Everybody knows that, that they were a dual monarchy, okay? What it said in Daniel 8 verse 20 is that these two horns mentioned in Daniel 8 are the kings of Media and Persia, and what we see in the book of Daniel is that the Medes and the Persians take over for the Babylonians, right? When we get to Daniel 5 in the Bible, you have Belshazzar and the writing on the wall, then you get to Daniel chapter 6, and who's the king? Darius the Mede, right? The Medes and the Persians take over in the book of Daniel. It's very obvious. Well, the Bible tells us in Daniel 8 verse 20 that this ram with two horns, it's the kings of Media and Persia, okay? Go to Daniel 8 verse 3. Daniel 8 verse 3. Daniel 8 verse 3. Now, look, I'm showing you a lot of deep things here today, and look, I don't have time to do a 10-hour seminar to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. I mean, I'm saying certain things. I hope we're going to go home and double-check. Read those chapters. Now, you're not going to understand everything, but I think these four are very obvious because if you read the book of Daniel and studied it, it directly mentions these four, okay? First are the Babylonians. Next are the Medes and Persians as a dual monarchy. This is the second. Daniel 8 verse 3. Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw and behold there stood before the river a ram which had two horns. Now, remember, the ram with the two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. So if I'm correct on this, Daniel 8 verse 3 should describe the Medo-Persian empire because that's what it's referring to according to Daniel 8 verse 20. Here's what it says, and the two horns were high. Two different horns. The Medes and the Persians. But notice this. But one was higher than the other. What's that signifying? One of those empires or one of those of the Medes and Persians was stronger or better or more powerful or higher than the other. So you have to look at it and see well, is that true? Are they equally the same or was one bigger than the other one? Right? Just using a secular example for those that know basketball. You go back to the 90s in basketball and you had the Chicago Bulls. Well, Michael Jordan was clearly the best player for the Bulls, right? And then Scottie Pippen was number two by everybody's standards. No question about who was number one, who was number two. But then you get to the Lakers like ten years later with Kobe and Shaq, it's more like it's a debate people have. Right? With the Bulls, there's no question. What's the same with the Medes and Persians? When it comes to the Medes and Persians, Persia was the Michael Jordan, okay? The Medes were the Scottie Pippen, okay? Persia was more powerful and any reading or any understanding of secular history, you know that King Cyrus the Great and Xerxes, these are very famous kings. Now, when we read the Bible, you might think of Darius the Me being really famous, but actually, he's not that famous in history. There's actually a Darius in Persia that was very famous, though. One of the most famous kings that ever existed. You can look online, 25 most famous kings. You're going to see Cyrus. You're probably going to see Darius as well or at least in the top 50. But with the Medes, they're not as powerful. They were powerful, but they're more like Scottie Pippen, right? Using a secular example. So it says one was higher than the other. Is that true with the Medes and Persians? It's absolutely true, but it also says the higher came up last. Well, what does that mean, the higher came up last? What it means is, though Persians were more powerful than the Medes, the Medes started earlier because the higher came up last. It would be like two trees. This one starts growing, but the other one just shoots by it. Do you understand what I'm saying? That's what it's saying in Daniel 8, verse 3. So according to this, if I'm correct, and this is the Medes and Persians, the Medes started first, and yet the Persians outgrew and became more powerful than the Medes. Does that fit with secular history? Here's what it says from this article. They're credited with founding Iran as a nation and empire, and established the first Iranian empire, the largest of its day, until Cyrus the Great established a unified empire of the Medes and Persians, leading to the Achaemen Empire. Basically, in secular history, you see that King Cyrus basically conquered the Medes, but he actually chose to make it a dual monarchy rather than just a solo rule. He decided that was the wise thing to do. So what you see is, according to this article, the Persians came up last, but they became more powerful than the Medes. Turn your Bible to Daniel 7. Daniel 7. When I was a kid, I hated history. I thought it was the most boring thing, but I'll be honest, I find Bible history very interesting, because it's actually applicable. When you take a class in school, sometimes you're like, what's the purpose of memorizing this date? I mean, is it really going to change my life if I memorize what date this took place or something like that? And yet, with Bible history, though, it's actually very applicable when you believe the Bible. It's written in the Bible. It makes it very interesting. It's the same reason why a lot of people hate math classes. They're like, when am I ever going to use calculus in real life? And that's largely true. I don't really use calculus in real life either, even though I was a math teacher, right? But with history, I always found history very boring, and yet I don't find this boring at all because it actually applies to something that actually matters. Daniel 7, verse 5. And behold, another beast because remember, Daniel 7 is the parallel to Daniel 2. And behold, another beast a second like to a bear. So this second one should be the Medes and Persians if my interpretation is correct. A second like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side. It had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it, and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. There's not a lot of information here in verse 5. When we get to Daniel 7, we will spend more time on it. But it does say it raised itself up on one side. Isn't that kind of similar to one horn was higher than the other? What it's signifying is one side was stronger than the other. And is that true with the Medes and Persians? That's what we see in the Bible, right? That's what you see in secular history. Okay? Of course, we have to be careful with secular history because it can be wrong. At the same time, it actually sheds a lot of light on what we're talking about here today. Go back to Daniel 2. Daniel 2. And so we also see this with the Medo-Persian Empire. The Medo-Persian Empire took over for the Babylonian Empire. In the Book of Daniel, we see that. Right? They are the ones that conquered Babylon, and they took over, and Babylon was the most powerful empire. Then the Medo-Persian Empire were basically the rulers of the world. King Cyrus was essentially the ruler of the world long after Nebuchadnezzar passed away once they took over. Daniel 2, verse 39. And it says in Daniel 2, verse 39, in another third kingdom of brass, so we get to the third kingdom, in another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. Okay? What we're seeing is this. Babylon was more powerful than the Medes and Persians, and yet both of them ruled the world. This third kingdom also rules the world as well. They rule over all the earth. What we're looking at are world empires that have existed. Okay? And so who is this third kingdom of brass? We'll go back to Daniel 7. Daniel 7. Daniel 7. Look, some things in the Bible are just deep things. You know, I try to make it as simple as possible, but this is something. I've heard sermons about it. I've studied it out. You know, you've got to just take the time to fully grasp this stuff, and what my hope is is that, you know what? You keep this in mind. You take notes. You go home. You double check things. Or maybe you re-listen to the sermon, and then the next time you're reading it, you catch more, and the things are fitting together. Okay? But it's just a deep sermon. We talked about last week how to learn the deep things of God. I personally am glad that the Bible is not just all surface level. Where basically you understand everything after one time reading. Because what's the point of continuing to read if you already understand everything? The good news is we don't understand everything. I mean, I'm giving you highlights from the Book of Daniel. I'll be honest with you. There's parts of Daniel I don't understand. Now, I hope to understand it before I preach it to you, but there's some parts where I'm like, I don't understand the symbolism that's being mentioned. Right? Maybe I just have an ignorance in some of the world history or something. There are deep things in the Book of Daniel. That's just the way it is. Okay? Daniel 7, verse 6. So we're looking at the third beast, and this should line up with the third kingdom of brass. It should bear rule over all the earth. Daniel 7, verse 6. After this I beheld and lo, another 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. Okay? Now, Daniel 7, 6 in and of itself doesn't really give us all the details of what this empire is. It is significant. It mentions four because what we'll see is this empire later on in the Book of Daniel we'll see when it broke apart it fell into four different, you know, rules instead of one empire ruling the world. But go to Daniel 8, and we'll see exactly who this is referring to. Daniel 8, verse 20. And look, when Daniel's writing this, this is prophesying about the future. It's predicting the future, and it's amazing how it just lines up history with what the Bible says. Daniel 8, verse 20. The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media in Persia. So this is the second empire. Verse 3. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now, the king of Grecia here mentioned in Daniel 8, verse 21, you can see from this chapter it takes over for this ram with two horns. So the question is, was there a king of Grecia that took over for the Persians and the Medes? Now, Grecia, Greece. The Macedonian Empire, or just say Greece is a simple way, technically the Macedonian Empire, but the king of Grecia. So is there a famous king from Greece that took over for the Persians? I mean, I'm sure everybody's probably heard of Alexander the Great. They make a lot of movies and TV shows about Alexander the Great. I mean, he is mentioned as this rough goat that's going to take over. Right? And in secular history, I mean, they take over for the Persians. They burn down Persepolis, which is the chief city of the Persians and everything like that. This happened in history. Alexander the Great. Go to Daniel chapter 2. Daniel chapter 2. Now, look, when I say Alexander the Great and Cyrus the Great, I'm not saying that they're great. Because the Bible calls God the great God. And God is the great king. I don't believe the Bible ever mentions any man-made king as being great. Now, they're powerful, but it's really a term more so for God. But technically speaking, Alexander the Great's the term people give, and if I just said Alexander, I mean, you might think it would be like the Alex from our church or whatever. It's like, Alexander the Great, the king of Greece, okay? Alexander the Great, Cyrus the Great, and so it mentions the first kingdom. We see the Babylonians very clearly. The second kingdom that's mentioned is the Medo-Persian Empire. It fits with Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 and also Daniel 8. And then the third one is the king of Grecia. It's the empire of... the Macedonian Empire with Alexander the Great, and the Greeks took over for the Persians. So what we see in secular history is the Medo-Persian Empire takes over for Babylon. The Grecian Empire, the Macedonian Empire, takes over for the Medes and Persians, right? Just basic historical fact. Well, when we're looking at this fourth kingdom, logic would probably tell me that whoever the fourth kingdom is took over for the Grecian Empire. Doesn't that make sense? If the second takes over for the first and the third takes over for the second, common sense would say the fourth probably takes over for the third, right? Notice what it says in Daniel 2, verse 40. And we're gonna spend more time on the fourth kingdom just because the Bible spends more time on it. Daniel 2, verse 40. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and so doeth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise. So, secular history will tell you that the Medo-Persian Empire takes over for Babylon, mentioned in the Bible. Secular history also says the Grecian Empire takes over for the Medo-Persian Empire, also mentioned in the Bible. Now, the fourth empire is not directly mentioned by name, but it's obvious when you look at all the information who it's talking about. Who's the empire that took over for the Grecian Empire in secular history that became the next dominant ruler after all the dominoes fell? Because the Grecian Empire falls into four parts, and eventually one big empire takes over, which is the same empire that existed and ruled the world at the time of Jesus Christ. Who is that? Roman Empire. They are the ones that took over and both history and the Bible confirm this to be true. So I would say this, the fourth empire is the Roman Empire. Does this fit the description of the Roman Empire? What says at the end of Daniel 2, verse 40 shall it break in pieces and bruise? So what does that mean? Okay. Well, you know, empires have been different in time periods. There's a lot of similarities, but there's also differences. You look at the Persian Empire, and we see this in the Bible itself, but also in secular history with modern archaeology has confirmed this, that the Persian Empire was a very benevolent and long-suffering empire. Meaning, they're actually pretty nice. King Cyrus? Not a bad guy. Right? When you read the Bible, King Cyrus is not a bad guy. Quite honestly, I mean, if you were here for the Esler series, I think I'd prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, Ahasuerus is not a bad guy. Who we know nowadays as Xerxes. Now, I know if you've seen the movie 300, which I definitely would not recommend, I mean, Xerxes is like some weird, creepy looking guy, like, you know, just this bald guy. I mean, it's like he's half man, half woman or something like that, and he's like this really evil character or something. It's like, that's not what I read in the book of Esther. I actually see a king that wasn't really that bad. Right? And so the Persian Empire, at least when they started, they were pretty long-suffering, pretty nice, pretty good, not so evil. Now, eventually, obviously, they become bad, which is why I believe they got taken over, but they're very benevolent. Well, is that true with the Roman Empire? No. The Roman Empire is known historically for being a very violent empire. They killed and tortured a lot of pieces. Well, it kind of makes sense when it says, shall it break in pieces and bruise because they destroyed a lot of people, they killed a lot of people, and look, let me help you out. The Roman Catholic Church is just coming from that Roman Empire. It's just time goes by, but look, the Roman Catholic Church was a political slash religious empire. It wasn't just a church. It was a political empire. You look at history at the Popes, these people ruled the world. They were powerful. It's not like in our modern day where Pope Francis, I mean, he's powerful religiously, but in the past, they were powerful politically as well. Go to Daniel 9. Daniel 9. And we'll go back in a little bit to Daniel 2, but I'm just going to show you that if you look at the Bible itself, it doesn't directly mention the Roman Empire. I think it's pretty obvious that it's referring to the Roman Empire. Number one, the Roman Empire was the next world ruler after the Grecian Empire, so it just makes common sense there. They were very violent. Shall it break in pieces and bruise? That fits. Daniel 9, verse 25. Daniel 9, verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore in two weeks the streets shall be built again and the wall even in trebleth times. So during the end times, there's an event known as Daniel's 70th week, right? People have probably heard that terminology. Where does that come from? Well, it comes from here. There's 70 weeks mentioned, but these 70 weeks are not just in a row because you're seeing here in Daniel 9 the Bible's making a distinction. It mentions seven weeks. It mentions threescore in two, which is 62. That leaves you one week, which we know is Daniel's 70th week, and look, when we get to Daniel 9, I'll explain these verses in more depth, but this is where we get Daniel's 70th week, which is that seven-year period during the end times that we talk about, okay? Verse number 26, and after threescore in two weeks shall Messiah be cut off. Now, what does it mean in the Bible to be cut off? To be killed? And so it's speaking about Jesus Christ the Messiah being cut off, right? And notice this, but not for himself. Now, when Jesus died, did he die for himself? No. He died for us, right? So it's making mention of, look, throughout the Old Testament you're seeing symbolism being mentioned of Jesus Christ. I mean, it all fits together. It's like a puzzle, but if you're just reading Daniel 9 by itself, you're not going to understand everything. Once you see the Gospels and Jesus Christ, it's like, okay, that makes perfect sense, right? He died, but not for himself. Then it says this, and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. So when was it that Jerusalem was destroyed? Well, it's known that it happened at 70 AD, and who's the one who destroyed them? Rome destroyed them. Now, the Jews are directly mentioned for killing Christ, although the Romans definitely had a part with that. But when it comes to destroying the city, you're looking at Rome destroying Jerusalem in 70 AD. And look, during that time period, a lot of people thought that the Roman empires were the Antichrist because they were very violent. I mean, they're torturing, they're killing, and for a thousand plus years it still happened. Even several hundred years ago, the Roman Catholic Church was still torturing people. You got baptized as a believer, they would murder you, they would kill you, because it wasn't just a religious empire, it was a political empire, and when a religion runs a country, if you disagree with the religion, you get put to death. That's the way it works. And it says, and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Now go back to Daniel 2. Daniel 2. Now look, if this is the first time you're hearing all of this information, it might feel like a bit of overload. And I'll be honest, if this is the first time you're hearing this information, you shouldn't just take for granted what I'm saying. Because honestly, when I'm explaining this, I believe with all my heart I'm correct in what I'm saying. However, if this was the first time I was hearing it, I would be like, I need to double check this stuff, right? How do I know that everything he's saying is correct? Because it all sounds good, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily correct. You should go home and study this. We're going through the Book of Daniel for a long time. I mean, hopefully you're reading this, and you're going to see that this is what the Bible's talking about. I never want you to just take my word for things. I want you to know your Bibles for yourself. Daniel 2, verse 41. And so as I said, we're talking about the Roman Empire, and notice what it says in Daniel 2, verse 41. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided. So according to verse 41, if this is the Roman Empire that it's referring to, this kingdom was divided, right? Because Daniel's preaching about the future shall be in the future. We're looking back. Was the Roman Empire divided? Well, the answer to that would be yes. It was divided into the western and the eastern portion, right? Now, the western empire fell in AD 395, so like 1600, 1700 years ago, right? 1600 years ago, a long time ago. But the eastern part stood until 1453 AD, which is less than 600 years ago when it fell to the Ottoman Empire. When you're looking at the eastern part, it's known as the Byzantine Empire, centered at Constantinople. Pretty famous historical events, right? So was the Roman Empire divided according to secular history? Yes, it was. It was divided with the western and eastern portion. Now, of course, when you're looking at stuff in the Bible and its symbolism, something might seem to fit, but you've got to double-check these things, because it might sound good, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's true. As I said, go home and double-check this. But the kingdom was divided. But there shall be in it of the strength of iron for as much as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And so what it says is the kingdom's divided, yet there's still strength in that kingdom. And, well, that's true because the eastern portion was very strong and powerful and lasted for a long time. The western portion, it just kind of fizzled out, right? So it's partly strong, partly broken, right? Part of iron, part of clay. I mean, it fits, doesn't it? Right? That's what we're seeing here, okay? Now, I do want you to realize this, though. I believe more time is spent on the Roman Empire because what we see is actually a dual prophecy, okay? And look, what a dual prophecy is, is basically when the Bible speaks about something, and it maybe has a direct application, but you can apply certain things to other events as well. For example, the book of Joel talks about the day of the Lord. Now, is the book of Joel really talking about the end times day of the Lord? Well, sort of. It's a secondary application because it's a dual prophecy, but the primary application is actually the people that were living during that time period, right? It's known as a dual prophecy. There's many things in the Bible where there's a direct application, but there's also symbolism to another event. This is not the only time the Bible does this with the Roman Empire. Now, in the Bible, you've got Revelation 17 and Revelation 18 that talk about the great whore of Babylon, the mother of harlots, right? Now, look, this is deep stuff, right? Those are probably two of the most confusing chapters in the book of Revelation. Now, let me say this, that, you know, when you're reading through Revelation 17 and 18, I believe with all my heart, Revelation 17 is the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, no question about that. Revelation 18 is not, right? You say, why would it jump around? Well, I mean, the same reason why in Daniel you've got the Roman Empire, but we're gonna see this actually applies to the end times as well. The reason why we know Revelation 17 is the Roman Empire is because of the fact it uses present tense to describe the sixth of the world empires. Now, in this image of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon is the first, but not really, because when you look at the whole Bible, there was two other empires that existed before the Babylonian Empire. In the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, he's that head of gold, but the question is, are there two major empires that existed before Babylon? Well, the answer is yes, Egypt and Assyria. No question when you read your Bible, it's Egypt and Assyria. Those are the two that rule the world, so Babylon would be third, the Medo-Persian Empire fourth, fifth is the Grecian Empire, sixth is the Roman Empire, and it's gonna directly mention then the seventh and the eighth, because it uses present tense to describe the sixth, and the seventh is gonna come and the eighth comes out of the seventh. You say, well, how do you know that's Rome? Because who was the empire that ruled when the book of Revelation was written? What would be the present tense empire during the time of the book of Revelation, or during the time of any of the New Testament? The Roman Empire. Rhyming Caesar Augustus made a decree that the whole world should be taxed. He ruled the world. Now, I don't believe they're as powerful as the Grecian Empire because of the fact they came from the Grecian Empire. There's a trajectory of less power even though Rome lasted for a long time. So when you're reading Revelation 17, you read that, the mother of harlots, it's like, yeah, you got the Roman Catholic Church and all these Protestant harlot churches running around. Fits perfectly. Right? All the colors that are mentioned, I mean, if you ever look at pictures online of Revelation 17, people line it up, it's like Roman Catholic Church. The scarlet color, the gold, everything fits with the Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church. But then Revelation 18 is not about the Roman Empire. Now, are there similarities between the Roman Empire and this end times empire? Well, yes, there's similarities. There's also differences as well. What I believe would be that end times empire, which would be number seven, I believe it to be the United States of America. You have to realize that it has to be the world's most dominant power because Egypt ruled the world, Assyria ruled the world, Babylon ruled the world, the Medo-Persian Empire ruled the world, the Grecian Empire ruled the world, the Roman Empire ruled the world. Well, if you're asking what country rules the world right now, I'm not being ethnocentric because I'm an American. America rules the world. There's no question they're more powerful than any country, and it's not even that close. I mean, I know they make comparisons with China, and in some ways you can compare. There's no comparison, okay? Many reasons why they make these comparisons like as if they're equal is because America wants to justify in case they decide to go to war with China, but there's really no comparison right now. Now, look, if 20 years go by and 50 years go by, then maybe somebody else will rise to power because empires rise, they fall. I will say, though, English is becoming more of a dominant language with each passing year. To me, it seems like it's definitely America when you look at Jeremiah and all the symbolism that's being mentioned, but if time goes by and another empire rises, then it could be somebody else, right? But what I'm saying is the Book of Revelation makes this distinction where it talks about Rome, and yet then it talks about the end times because there's going to be a lot of similarities from every world ruler, okay? Well, what I'm saying here in Daniel 2 is this, that there is also symbolism towards this end times empire. You say, what are you talking about, brother Sucky? Well, Daniel 2, verse 42, and as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. Let me ask you a question. How many toes do most people have? Ten. Now, there's exceptions, right? Goliath is, I mean, some of the things in the Bible had, usually, ten toes, right? Well, doesn't the Bible mention the ten kings in the Book of Revelation during the end times? And guess what? Of those ten kings, what I believe is some are going to be very powerful, very well known, and some are just kind of part of that committee. Now, when we're saying king, I don't believe we're necessarily saying, like, the king of England, because usually people don't take on that title now. I think it's more of a ruler, not necessarily what we'd say as the king. I mean, a president would be befitting of a king, would be very similar, okay? So ten kings during the end time, so ten toes, ten kings, I mean, it fits. Verse 43, and whereas thou saw'st iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. So iron and clay are both mentioned, and iron strong, and clay is so strong. However, it also mentions that they don't mix together, but what it said here in verse 43 is, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men. What I believe the symbolism being mentioned is that as we get to the end times and that end times empire, what you're going to see is it's a very intermingled country. You say, what do you mean? Here's what I mean. The vast majority of people in the Philippines are Filipinos. They look very similar, from the same country, same ethnicity. I mean, if you ever visit the United States of America, people are from all over the world, right? Now, I grew up in the whitest, I mean, what's known as the least ethnically diverse state is West Virginia. The whitest state is where I grew up in, okay? But then eventually I moved to California. California along with Hawaii are the most diverse. I mean, you go to California, there's over a million Filipinos, I think, that live in California. There's like a million people from India, a million people from Russia, millions and millions from Mexico. I mean, there's people from all over the world. There's an apartment complex by Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento. There's like a hundred doors in the complex and there's literally 25 countries represented in those hundred doors. I don't understand how that happened, and most of them do not speak English, at least not the adults. The kids do, but not the adults. But it's always entertaining. You knock on that door and what country do you think they're from? I mean, literally from Iran, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Russia, all kinds of European countries. I mean, literally people from all over the world. And literally they answer the door and you still don't know. It's like, you know, what language? You're just curious. Like, what country are you from? Sometimes they don't understand what you're saying by that, but you know, you're like, because they're literally from all over the world. Because when you go to the United States of America, now I believe that in the Roman Empire it was to a degree, because any world empire is going to have that, but not like modern day United States of America. I mean, when you go, when you're living in the United States, especially California and some of those states, people are from all over the world. Right? My wife has gotten people saved in America that they really didn't speak great English, but they spoke Tagalog. Because there's a lot of Filipinos that live there. Right? The church members in Sacramento, where Russian is their primary language, they preach the gospel in Russia, in Russian. Right? People from Verity Baptist in Sacramento, people from India. Well, I mean, in Sacramento, there are a ton of people from India. This is why I have a lot of stories about Hindus, because I have preached the gospel to many Hindus in my life. And look, those Hindus are not Americans by birth. They're from India. Right? Look, there's people from all over the world. Well, does this fit with what we see in Daniel 2? I believe when it says they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men. Very intermarried, intermingled. I mean, this is also what it prophesies in the book of Jeremiah, where it says, you know, you know, from thy country, the indication is people are from all over the world. Daniel 2, verse 44. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. So, well, the question is, if this also applies to the end times, which is what I'm saying, is it true that the kings that are being represented are going to be replaced by a kingdom that God sets up? Well, yes. You've got the ten kings. The Antichrist comes and becomes the ruler out of the seventh empire. The eighth is of the seventh. He's the ruler. And then eventually what happens? Well, you've got the Lord Jesus Christ ruling and reigning as the king in the millennial reign. That's different than when he came the first time. Jesus didn't come as a conquering king. But eventually, he's going to set up a kingdom. And it says, which shall never be destroyed. Is that true? It's true. Now, of course, we know at the end of the millennial reign of Christ, the devil's going to round up people and try to fight against the Lord. But, of course, he's going to lose again. And it says this kingdom that God sets up is never going to be destroyed. So, I believe it's pretty clear in verse 44 that there's a reference to the end times because God did not set up a kingdom 2,000 years ago which shall never be destroyed. Now, there are people that have some crazy views on Revelation and they'll say, well, the millennial reign is already happening now. And kind of the idea is, well, since it's already happening, the world's going to become more godly with time because Christ is ruling and reigning. Well, it doesn't really seem more godly to me as time goes by. I think you're misunderstanding some of the symbolism and parables and things such as that. But it's going to happen one day where Christ is going to rule and reign. Of course, if you know a basic understanding of Revelation and the end times, the Antichrist comes midway through Daniel's 70th week and then the abomination of desolation, 75 days, and then, of course, Christ returns the wrath of God and he's going to basically remove all of the wickedness and all these people and then he's going to set up his kingdom. And it says which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people. Because here's the thing, I mean, when you have a ruler or a king, eventually he dies and he leaves it to other people. Right? Nebuchadnezzar was very powerful, but his relatives passed down. I don't necessarily believe Belshazzar is his direct son, but maybe more like his grandson. I mean, he screws up, right? It's left to other people and it's destroyed. Alexander the Great dies, it's left to four different kings, it eventually just kind of dissolves, right? But when Christ sets up his millennial reign, it's never going to be destroyed, it's not going to be left to other people, okay? But it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever. No question, verse 44 is fitting with this end times empire where the Lord Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning. So there's got to be a transition from the Roman Empire to the end times, okay? Because it's not like Rome is still in power today. They have fallen a long time ago. They're no longer a major empire in today's world. Verse number 45. For as much as thou sawest the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, and of course we know that Christ is the rock, you know, the stone that was cut out of the mountain, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is certain in the interpretation thereof sure. Now it says the dream is certain in the interpretation thereof sure because, you know, sometimes God says Nineveh is going to be destroyed. But it doesn't get destroyed because the people actually turn to God. What God says is, you know what? It's certain. There's nothing that's going to change this. There is no question that these empires would rise up. There's also no question that the book of Revelation, all of those events, they are going to happen. Just as it says. Make no mistake about it, midway through Daniel's 70th week, the Antichrist is going to declare himself to be God in the temple of God, and the abomination of desolation is going to be set up. Nothing can change that, right? Now look, I'm not saying we don't have free will in the actions we do, but I'm just saying we're headed down that course, and those certain events, those are for sure. Those are certain, okay? Verse 46, Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and notice this, and worshiped Daniel. Now notice he doesn't worship God. He worships Daniel, right? It kind of reminds you of when Cornelius bowed before Peter, and he worships Peter, and Peter says, hey, I'm not the first pope. Stand up. I myself also am a man. Right? Well, what we're seeing here is that Nebuchadnezzar does not yet understand who the true God is. I personally think that he's probably already heard the gospel or snippets of it, because he had to hear it at some point. You don't get saved without hearing the gospel. I think Daniel probably already kind of approached the subject. Maybe not, though, but at this point, there's no question he doesn't understand who the true God is because he's worshiping a man. He's not worshiping God. He does not yet consider the God, the true God, as his God. I mean, he talks about in Daniel 3 about how, you know, you're God, right? He doesn't attribute it to himself until Daniel 4, which is when he has the heart of a beast for seven years. Okay? And it said in verse 47, it also says this here, it says he worshiped Daniel, verse 46, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him. So they're basically worshiping Daniel almost as if he's like a God-man sort of creature. The king answered unto Daniel and said, of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods. So it's very clear he doesn't consider it his God. I mean, he seems to have this idea that there's either he believes in like polytheism or he kind of looks at it as there's one God represented in different ways, but it's just like I don't worship the same God or in the same way as you do. He says your God is a God of gods, and it's like, well, that is true. The true God compared to all of these other false gods, I mean, I just read this morning, their rock is not as our rock. I mean, they're false gods. There's no comparison between Shiva and the true God. No comparison whatsoever. And he's right about that, but he's also indicating that he hasn't made this his God yet, right? You can't be saved if you believe in multiple gods or if you don't put all of your faith on the one true God. You can't say, well, this is true, but also this. It doesn't work that way. Your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets. Seeing now could reveal the secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man and gave him many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon, but Daniel sat in the gate of the king. Now, one other thing we can see in verse 49 is the importance of a good testimony and a good relationship with your boss because Daniel does have this, and he says, Hey, can you make Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego also powerful in the kingdom? And he gets his friends put into a position of influence, right? He requests of the king, and then the king puts Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a powerful position, right? So look, Daniel 2, and I understand this is complicated. You say, Brother Stuckey, I don't even understand. You know, look, as I said recently, this is how you learn. It's okay if you don't understand everything that you hear preached. Look, I've been in church, I've heard sermons, and sometimes I'm just like way over my head. Or sometimes you hear things and I think, man, I need to just take time to sit home, study this out for myself, and double check it. I'm not mad at you if you do that. In fact, I want you to do that. The Bible says about the Bereans, they were more noble than those in Thessalonica and that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so. When you hear something preached in church, there can kind of be a couple reactions. I've been in church and I've heard things where I've said, I know that's true. I already knew 100%. For example, if I preach a sermon that salvation is by grace through faith, hopefully you say, Amen, that's definitely true. I already know that. Then there's certain things I've heard preached in church where I've said, I don't agree with that. Right? Even if there's somebody you respect, I've been in a lot of different churches. Look, if you've read your Bible, you might hear me say things where you say, I just have a different opinion. I've heard a different interpretation of that verse or of that chapter, and you know what? I just have a different opinion. I've been in church where I've heard things preached or I've listened to sermons online and I already had an opinion about something or had already studied something out and I just said, I have a different opinion. I'm not saying that makes me right. I'm just saying, I've heard things in church and I agree with it. And then there's other things where you hear it and it's like, I don't know. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. I haven't put in the time to study it so I don't know for sure. Right? So look, if you don't understand everything in the sermon, I just encourage you, go home, read Daniel 2, the last 20 verses, look at it and you can go back and listen to the sermon and see and you want, I believe it all fits just like a glove on a hand. Babylonian empire, he is that head of gold. Second, the breast and the arms of silver, Medo-Persian empire, I mean, it mentions it later on in the book of Daniel. As I said before, you don't just take one chapter to determine stuff because people try to take Daniel and just dissect it into like 50 different books in one. It fits together, right? The third empire, the Grecian or Macedonian empire, Alexander the Great, and then the fourth is the Roman empire. Let's close in on a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us today and getting to see your word in this topic and help us just to understand these things and help us to learn the deep things and to just always study our Bibles and continually learn and not give up or not be intimidated, but just slowly learn, slowly read, and add on to our knowledge. God, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .