A Look Back at the Future
Sermon Transcript
0:00:14.0
If you’re a history buff, you love living in the State of Virginia. Cathryn and I and the kids left the promised land, the State of Texas, well over a decade ago. We came to Virginia in 2007, landed in northern Virginia, as many of you know. We were in the D.C. area for nearly a decade. And then we came south here to Virginia Beach. But one of the things we love about Virginia is the history. Starting in the nation’s capital, I mean it’s like a living history museum. We loved all the sites. We loved all the places to visit- the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial. When friends would come, I’d always tell them, “You’ve got to go to Mount Vernon.” It was one of my favorite locations and sites there, George Washington’s beautiful home on the Potomac River there. I mean, the nation’s capital, the White House, Capitol Hill, all of it is there. It’s exciting if you love history. Then we came south here to Virginia Beach. And as you’re coming into the Virginia Beach area traveling east on I-64 you pass Williamsburg and Yorktown. More history for the history buffs, right? And it’s just a great place to be and to live and to be a part of history as it is being made. We’re making history every day, right? Somebody will write about the times in which we live just as much as we go back in time and we live through the pages of history.
0:01:45.9
And that’s an exciting thing to do to go back in time and walk through the pages of history. But equally, if not more exciting and thrilling is to go forward in time through the pages of Bible prophecy. Any Bible prophecy enthusiasts here today who love the study of Bible prophecy? I hope you do, because the book of Daniel is full of it. And we’ll get a little glimpse of it even today in Daniel 2, the latter half.
0:02:14.7
Daniel 2 gives us a glimpse backwards in history and a glimpse into Bible prophecy. That’s why I call it a look back at the future, because we’re going to go back 25, 2600 years ago to a time when God gave to a king named Nebuchadnezzar, who was king of the Babylonian empire, a dream, a dream that frightened him. And Daniel—God’s man in a godless culture, God’s man in that Babylonian culture—was a man who could interpret visions and dreams and all of that. Much of the prophecy that we’re going to look at today for Daniel was all future. It was prophecy except for the present kingdom, which was the Babylonian kingdom in which he was living at that time. But all the other kingdoms, the rise and the fall of the major world empires that this prophecy envisioned was future to Daniel. We look back at the future and see much of it as ancient history. We now have the history books to confirm in great detail what the prophecy envisioned, and that’s a pretty exciting thing.
0:03:30.1
The book of Daniel is, of course, a biblical biography at its best. The title of this series is “Standing Strong,” and we learn so much about standing strong in our faith from Daniel and his three Hebrew friends. But again, this Old Testament treatise also contains breathtaking glimpses into the future through these intriguing Bible prophecies, these divine prophecies. And in chapter 2, for example, God reveals His plans and His purposes through a panorama of world empires. And Daniel saw from that time forward.
0:04:07.3
If Daniel were living today, he might say to us, “Hi, my name is Daniel, and I’m standing strong in ancient Babylon by interpreting dreams and visions and prophecies revealed to me by the God of heaven.” And before we get specifically to Daniel 2, the latter part of it, I want to just ask and answer the question, why study Bible prophecy? Why does Bible prophecy matter? Because a lot of people, when you start talking about Bible prophecy, they kind of roll their eyes or they shrug their shoulders and…you know, they kind of think it’s a waste of time. I couldn’t disagree more for the following reasons.
0:04:45.4
First of all, what is Bible prophecy? Well, prophecy is the foretelling of future events. There are a lot of people throughout history, even in our time today, who think they can predict the future. Can anyone really know the future? That was a question that came to the king, King Nebuchadnezzar. He had a dream, and the dream didn’t inspire him; it frightened him. And he called together all of his wise men and his counselors and his enchanters and his astrologers and all the Chaldeans, the wise men of Chaldea. And he says, “Tell me what I dreamed, tell me the interpretation of the dream.” They couldn’t do it. News came to Daniel. Daniel bought some time, remember, and came into the presence of the king. And he says, “I’m sorry, king, no man on earth can do what you asked him to do. Can anyone really know the future, let alone what you dreamed?” And then Daniel goes on to say, “But there is a God in heaven who is a revealer of mysteries.” Can anyone know the future? Not apart from God. But the God of the Bible predicts the future in stunning detail, not just, “Hey, you're gonna have a nice day today,” like the average horoscope does. Stunning detail. This is this area we know as Bible prophecy.
0:06:04.7
Number two, nearly 25% of the Bible as prophecy when it was written. That’s why you study Bible prophecy. If you don’t want to study Bible prophecy, if you think it’s a waste of time, then you think that 25% of the Bible when it was written in a waste of time. And I know you don’t think that way. You’re on the edge of your seats as much as I am in the study of this. This is fascinating stuff. 40-45% of the prophecies or predictions made in the Bible have already come true, again, in stunning detail that makes you sit on the edge of your seat just realizing what an awesome God is the God of the Bible who is a revealer of mysteries.
0:06:48.8
Number three, prophecy also helps us understand history. It’s a look back to the future, as I like to say. Dr. John Walvoord was the president and, later, chancellor of one of my alma maters, Dallas Theological Seminary. And in the 20th century before he passed away, he was considered one of the experts in Bible prophecy. He would appear on various news organizations when there were world events that intrigued us as it related to Bible prophecy. He said in his book about Daniel, “Among the great prophetic books of scripture, none provides a more comprehensive and chronological prophetic view of the broad movement of history than the book of Daniel.” All right. Prophecy helps us understand history.
0:07:39.2
And then finally, Bible prophecy authenticates the Word of God. This is the reason to study Bible prophecy. You will have more confidence in this book we call the Bible the more you know about Bible prophecy. Because here is the standard to which God holds Himself when He predicts the future. He says…and I’m paraphrasing…horseshoes isn’t a play here. You know, close counts in horseshoes. If you’re almost accurate or almost true in your prophecies, does that count? He says, “Anybody, any prophet of mine who speaks on My behalf and for whom I predict the future, the standard is 100% accuracy.” Close only counts in horseshoes, not in Bible prophecy. If you’re 99% true and 1% false, you’re a false prophet. That’s the standard in scripture. So throw out Nostradamus. Throw out astrologer Gene Dixon from the previous generation. Throw out the Long Island Medium, Teresa Caputo. Only the God of the Bible is a revealer of mysteries, and He gives us a glimpse here and glimpse there. It authenticates His Word. This truly is the Word of God. And I’m so glad that He preserves even these stories like the story from the book of Daniel.
0:09:11.5
So let’s return to Daniel 2. Where we left Daniel last week was standing in front of the king saying, “King, there is nobody who can do what you’ve asked them to do. There is no man on earth, no enchanter, no diviner, no astrologer, no wise man who can tell you what you dreamed, let alone the interpretation of that dream. But there is a God who reveals mysteries.” And Daniel says, “Can you give me a little time, king, and I’ll come back with what you dreamed and the interpretation.” Then Daniel calls that prayer meeting together, remember, with his three friends. And they pray, and God reveals to Daniel the dream, the mystery, the interpretation. And we left it there last week.
0:10:03.4
Let’s pick it up in verse 31 when Daniel returns to the king, and he now reveals and summarizes the details of the dream. Verse 31, “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Daniel tells the king what the king dreamed. And he says, “King, you dreamed of this great image.” I think we’ve got a picture of this. Something a little like this. A great image, a terrifying image. Now, the interpretation of the dream took longer. But, you know, in less time than it took to deliver the Gettysburg Address, in less time than it took to read the Ten Commandments…I think I counted…in 155 words Daniel told the king what his dream was.
0:11:59.6
And before we get to the interpretation, which will take some time and some detail, we need to summarize what Daniel summarized to the king that he saw, this great image. And he says this image was made of gold. The head was of gold. The chest and the arms were silver. The belly and the thighs were made of bronze. The legs were made of iron. And then he goes all the way to the feet that he says is a mixture of clay and iron.
0:12:40.2
And what Daniel sees here in this image and the image that God gave to the king in this dream was a sweeping span of world history that pictured the rise and the fall of the great Gentile empires from about 600 B.C. all the way to the end of the age, to the second coming of Jesus Christ. It’s a huge span of time. Now, again, for Daniel, except for the top and the present empire, the Babylonian Empire, which was the head of gold…and we’ll explain that in a moment…all the rest of it was future. It was prophecy. We look at most of this, and we can go through ancient history and confirm this was spot on. This is amazing. There are things in this image here that Daniel would never have known unless God had revealed it to him. And so in verses 36-45 we get the interpretation of the dream.
0:13:53.8
Now, before I go into this, keep in mind, Daniel summarizes what the king saw. Remember, the king was, like, “You’ve got to tell me what the dream was and the interpretation.” His astrologers, his sorcerers, all of that, said, “You never asked that before. King, you tell us what you dreamed, and then we’ll tell you the interpretation.” Well, of course you would. You can come up with your own interpretation, right, if you know what I dreamed.” The king says, “No, I need to know that you guys aren’t a bunch of frauds, because I’m kind of thinking you are.” These were probably the wise guys that his father had put in place, and he didn’t really trust them.
0:14:29.1
Daniel comes along. He tells him the dream. But before he goes on with the interpretation, he doesn’t do this. He doesn’t say, “King, have I got it right? Are we tracking here? Is this the image that you saw?” No, Daniel has such confidence that he had a word from God, he doesn’t need the confirmation from another human being. He doesn’t even ask the king, “Have I got this right?” because the king…I just kind of picture him with his eyes wide open and his jaw dropping to the floor.
0:14:59.9
And Daniel moves right into the interpretation. Let’s read this beginning in verse 36. He says, “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold. Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
0:17:03.4
I love Daniel’s confidence there. “I got it right, king. No discussion. I don’t need any confirmation from a human source.” That’s a pretty detailed description here. Let’s break it down. Let’s take a look at this image again. And what we have as Daniel interprets this is, again, the sweeping flow of Gentile human history and the rise and the fall of Gentile empires from about the time of 600 B.C. all the way to the end of the age.
0:17:42.0
It starts with the head of gold. And Daniel is very clear about interpreting this head of gold and this empire as the Babylonian Empire. He says, “You, O king, the king of kings.” Now, he’s not the king of kings, Nebuchadnezzar is not, like Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But what Daniel is saying is, “King, there is no king like you on planet earth right now.” And that was true of the Babylonian Empire. This was the superpower of its day, the Babylonians were. They came to Jerusalem in 605 B.C. and besieged Jerusalem and took back for 70 years of captivity the Hebrew people and the best and the brightest among them, including Daniel and his three friends. But they were the superpower of that time, and King Nebuchadnezzar was the man. He was the king of kings. And Daniel says in no uncertain terms, “You are the head of gold.”
0:18:43.7
Historians tell us that the Babylonian Empire in Babylon itself glittered with gold. Nebuchadnezzar loved gold, and everything was covered in gold. It as the “bling bling” of the ancient (0:19:00.1) 5th and 6th century before the time of Christ. It lasted from about 605 B.C….we’ll date it there…to 539 B.C., at which time we go from the gold to the silver, from the Babylonian Empire…now this is ancient history. We can confirm this in our history books. This was prophecy at the time. You go from gold to silver. You go from the Babylonian Empire to the Medo-Persian Empire. And it’s pictured here as the chest and two arms. Why? Because it was two empires, the Medes and the Persians, who came together to form the Medo-Persian Empire. This empire lasted from about 539 B.C. to 331 B.C. Most historians refer to it as an inferior empire even though it covered a larger geography than the Babylonian Empire. It was inferior. (0:20:00.0) Just as silver is inferior to gold, so the Medo-Persian Empire had some inferior qualities to the Babylonian Empire. But Darius the Mede in 539 B.C. overtook the Babylonians. We know that from history. Daniel prophesied it.
0:20:18.3
And then comes the Greek Empire. We go from gold to silver, now to bronze. The bronze covers the belly and the thighs. And we look back in history, and we see the Grecian Empire led by Alexander the Great from about 331 B.C. to 146 B.C. Historians tell us…and isn’t this amazing…that Alexander the Great clothed his army in bronze. Now, how would Daniel know that? He didn’t live during that time. The liberal theologians want to give a late date to Daniel. They want to date it closer and closer to when all this history has passed. But the best scholarship dates all of this before end of the Babylonian Empire. The only way Daniel would know that this third empire would be characterized by bronze is if God revealed it to him. And Alexander the Great, who was consider one of the greatest…and still is considered one of the greatest military geniuses ever to walk on this planet. I think he was 25, 26 years old when Alexander had conquered the entire world as it was known then. And he wept after he conquered the world because there were no more worlds to conquer. Alexander the Great died at the age of 32. How does a man that young accomplish so much unless the God of the Bible is setting this into motion? That this Grecian Empire would overtake the Medo-Persian Empire, who had overtaken the Babylonian Empire.
0:21:55.6
And then the time came in about 146 B.C. when the Grecian Empire gave way to the mighty Roman Empire, the iron legs of the Roman Empire. What a picture of authoritarian rule, the strength of the Roman Empire. That same Roman Empire who was known for its iron-like strength and its iron-like implement of wars and even the iron nails that it fashioned and drove into the hands and feet of our Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who grew up under the tyranny and the authoritarian rule of the Roman Empire that lasted from about 146 B.C. to 395 A.D. The Roman Empire, and, boy, did historians have a time with that. How did the great Roman Empire fall? Well, God intended for it to fall.
0:23:02.3
He raises up some kings. He raises up some empires. He puts down others for His own plans, for His own purposes, because they are all part of the larger span and sweep of human history that is racing toward the end of the age, culminating in the return of Jesus Christ.
0:23:25.3
Now, it’s not just the four—the gold, the silver, the bronze and the iron. Daniel also interprets the feet. The feet are a mixture of iron and clay. It’s hard as historians to look back in time and to find another world empire following the Roman Empire that looked like that. And this is where this ceases to be ancient history to us and continues to be prophecy, because everything from this point of the statue and this point of the prophecy forward is still yet to be fulfilled.
0:24:03.2
Many Bible scholars link Daniel, obviously, to the book of Revelation that talks about how in the end of the age following the rapture of the church and the Tribulation…the seven-year Tribulation follows the rise of a world leader known as the Antichrist, coalesces his world power through a confederation of nations identified as the revived Roman Empire, thus the mixture of clay and iron. The revival of the Roman Empire. Daniel even mentions the 10 toes. Did you hear that in his interpretation? And we go to the book of Revelation, and it’s clear that there is a confederacy of 10 European nations that are the kind of rebirth of the Roman Empire.
0:24:52.5
What’s the mixture of clay? Well, every bit of authoritarian rule always has the clay-like outcry and voices of the people who are oppressed by tyranny and authoritarian rule. That is the story of human government and human history. We see it time and time again. We see it on planet earth today when tyranny and authoritarianism oppresses people and the people cry out. Even during the Tribulation, God’s people will cry out, those who come to faith in Christ during the Tribulation period. And there will be a great cry. And this revived Roman Empire is brittle. It’s weaker than the original.
0:25:40.0
The last part of the vision that Daniel interprets says, “King, you saw a stone. You saw a stone suddenly and spectacularly and even supernaturally come out of nowhere and strike the feet of the image here and break the feet into pieces.” And then in time the rest of the image breaks into pieces and falls to the ground like dust. And he says the wind comes along and blows it away such that there is no trace of the image left. No wonder the king was frightened.
0:26:25.8
And you say, well, who or what is the stone? Well, that’s an interesting discussion, but actually a pretty easy one to identify. The best way to interpret scripture is with other scripture. And when we do that, it’s not hard to see that this stone is a reference to Jesus the Messiah who promised to return at the end of the age and establish His earthly kingdom. In the Bible Jesus is the stone the builders rejected. He’s called the chief cornerstone. He’s a stumbling stone to the Jews and others who do not believe. He’s the spiritual rock in the desert. I loaded up your notes with all these references and scripture.
0:27:12.8
But this panorama of world empires, this flow of Gentile history through these world empires culminates at the end of the age with the return of Jesus Christ, who suddenly and supernaturally comes. Why do I say supernaturally? Because Daniel refers to this stone as a stone that was cut without human hands. One Bible scholar says, “Man can make bricks, but only God can make a stone.” And this stone, who is the chief cornerstone, comes suddenly, supernaturally. This is a picture of the second coming of Jesus Christ. And doesn’t just come and destroy the governments of men—these authoritarian rulers that coalesce under the leadership of the Antichrist at the end of the age—but then he says this stone grows into a big mountains. And the wind carries away the dust and the rubble of the world empires. It is a picture of the second coming of Jesus Christ, who establishes His reign and rule, His millennial reign. Remember, Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.”
0:28:34.3
Right now Jesus is building His kingdom, the kingdom of God in the hearts of His followers. And I hope you’re part of that kingdom. But there is coming a day when He is establishing His kingdom on earth, a literal kingdom on this earth. And what an exciting day that will be. That part of it is still…I can’t put a date to it, can’t put a time to it. If somebody tells you they know the time or the hour or the date when Jesus Christ is returning, they know more than the angels of heaven. They know more than Jesus Himself said He knew, because Jesus said, “Nobody knows the day or the hour of My return except the Father.” But there is coming a day. We wait in hope. We wait in faith for that time. We don’t know when the movement and the rush toward the end of the age…and, boy, we’re in the midst of it right now…will culminate in what I believe the next event in Bible prophecy is- the rapture of the church. You take the church out of this world, and all the forces of tyranny and authoritarian government by the elite few take over in a nanosecond and coalesce in the rise of world leader known in Bible prophecy as the Antichrist. And we’re off and running in what’s called the Tribulation period. All of that pictured here. What a fascinating, fascinating panorama of world events.
0:30:07.3
By the way, this revived Roman Empire pictured in the 10 toes of this image, many Bible scholars have linked this in the past to what is called the European common market, or what today is called the EU. Rome covered the known world at that time. A lot of what Rome and the Roman Empire was then are now all the nations of Europe. Right now the EU is 28 nations. And Bible scholars are kind of watching, sitting on the edge of their seat, kind of watching, wondering, you know, will that become 10 nations? Although if you look at some of the articles and the dialogues unrelated to Bible prophecy about the EU…I’ve read articles about the 27, 28 nations that are a part of it. I’ve also read an article titled “The Ten Major Nations of the EU.” I don’t know exactly how it’s going to work out. I know a lot of nations right now in the EU are trying to exit, namely Britain and Brexit. It may go from 28 down to 10, or among the 27 or 28 there are 10 major nations. Either way, Dr. Don Campbell who was the president of one of my alma maters and a Bible prophecy expert, he says, “This much seems certain. Europe will become a significant power block in the years just prior to Jesus Christ’s return to reign as king.” That former Roman Empire made up of the iron implement of authoritarian rule will rise up again. It will be less powerful than it was because the people will cry out, just prior to the coming of Jesus Christ.
0:32:07.1
Now, what do we do with a message like this? How does this go from information and fascination about Bible prophecy to changing our lives and transforming our hearts? Let me suggest a couple thoughts as we wrap up. Number one, human government will ultimately fail. Human government will ultimately fail. Don’t ever put your faith and your trust in human government.
0:32:35.4
There is an interesting observation to be made about this image and the metals and the materials that are in view here. He goes from gold to silver to bronze to iron to a mixture of iron and clay. I’m going to default to two experts who explain this in a wonderful way. Again, Dr. John Walvoord, a Bible prophecy expert, says in his book on Daniel, “The descending scale of value of the four metals suggests the degeneration of the human race through the ages.” You see, the metals go from high value, gold, to lesser value, in the iron. He says, “This concept contradicts the evolutionists’ interpretation of history. Instead of man beginning in the dust and consummating in fine gold,”…that’s what the evolutionists tell us. We’re getting better and better. We’re evolving. We’re getting faster. We’re getting stronger. We’re becoming more like…we know more than what those ancient cultures…they weren’t as wise and weren’t as advanced as we are. He says, “No, this prophecy contradicts that.” He says, “God reveals man in the times of Gentiles to begin in gold and end in dust.”
0:34:10.0
You see, the metals are decreasing in value. They are decreasing, we might say, in quality and in character. But they are increasing in strength. And what this is a picture of is that as time goes on and as history progresses, no, we’re not becoming more enlightened and better and more evolved. We’re not talking about the evolution of mankind, but the devolution and the denigration of mankind, certainly in terms of the quality and the value of the character of leaders who are on the world stage. It’s going downhill, friends.
0:34:54.5
While at the same time, the strength of the authoritarian rule…the strength of the metals get stronger and stronger, but the quality of the character of the leader is going down this way. But the human governments are increasing in strength. Here is the idea. As human history progresses, human history always leans towards and moves towards tyranny and authoritarian rule. We go from gold down to iron and the strength and the power of the authoritarian Roman Empire. All of these governments were authoritarian in nature, but they lost value in strength and quality of character as time goes on in terms of the leaders. But as we race towards the end of the age, make no mistake about it, friends, human government always tends toward tyranny and towards authoritarian rule by a few elite people, until at the end of the age when the church is snatched out of this world. All the momentum in that direction…it’ll be real easy for the Antichrist to walk on the stage and say, “Let me solve your problems. Let me solve your problems in exchange for world government control.”
0:36:25.3
You can see it happening. And you can hear the footprints and the hoof steps of the four horsemen of the apocalypse coming right here in our own country. I’m not about to get political. Do not confuse this with politics. This is Bible prophecy, and this is opening up our eyes to the flow of human history as it’s revealed in the prophecy here. But all this talk about socialism today right here in our own country—the land of the free, the home of the brave—socialism is the kinder and gentler path to tyranny an authoritarianism. Why do I say that? It’s kinder and gentler than a military invasion or a military coup, which is how most of these world empires rose and then fell again. All right? Military invasion, military coup. And you see it across the world today in various countries when there is a military invasion or a military coup, the strong arm of authoritarianism. But when you’re facing a nation like ours where nobody is going to beat our military, you take the kinder and gentler approach.
0:37:40.8
Socialism promises everything. It promises all these freebies in exchange for government control, a kinder and gentler path to tyranny, to authoritarianism. It promises free health care for the government control of health care. It wants to control the economy. There are no private businesses under socialism, very few. A socialistic government controls the major economies and businesses of that country. It wants to control the climate and weather through taxes on climate change and new green deals. But trust me, I’m not getting political here. I’m saying open up our eyes. Understand the flow of human history and the flow of authoritarian rule as we get closer and closer to the end of the age. That’s what’s coming.
0:38:39.3
It ultimately wants to control religion. I remember I was in Washington, D.C., years ago. I was invited to a pastors’ gathering with some congressmen at that time. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, I’ll never forget what she said. She’s a fine Christian lady. She says, “Socialism replaces God with government.” See, communism just declares an atheistic state. That’s the ultimate authoritarian rule. Socialism says you can believe, you can worship, but government is your God. And it creates dependency. It’s coming. It’s here. We’re electing them to Congress.
0:39:20.3
But Daniel talked about it and interpreted the dream more than 25, 26 centuries ago as is envisioned in these different metals. Decrease in quality and character of world leaders, increase in the strength of their appetite for authoritarian and tyrannical rule. Just don’t be fooled, friends. Don’t be fooled by someone who promises you everything. A government that is big enough to promise you everything is also big enough to take everything away from you and to begin to control everything about us. That will be the Tribulation period. That will be the reign and the rule of the Antichrist. As I understand Bible prophecy though, hallelujah, the church is gone. You know, we’re out of here through the rapture. But you’re nearing and feeling the footprints and the momentum toward this. Daniel gave us a glimpse of us 2500 years ago. But all human government will eventually fail because it’s brittle, it’s bankrupt. And it will ultimately fail at the second coming of Jesus Christ when that stone, that supernatural stone, suddenly and cataclysmically blasts into the base of this giant image and destroys all world government. Jesus Christ is here to rule and reign.
0:40:50.8
By the way, hold your place in Daniel 2. Remember another prophecy in Isaiah 9? We talked about this at Christmas time. But it’s not just about the first advent, it’s also about the second advent of Jesus. “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Makes you want to sing all the Christmas songs, right? “And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.” That’s the part of the prophecy that we forget at Christmas time. But you've got to understand, the prophecy here wasn’t about His first advent. The government was never on His shoulder in the first advent. The mighty Roman Empire ruled the earth at that time. “Of the increase of His government and of peace…” What government? Some of the Jews 2000 years ago were disappointed because they thought the Messiah would come and overthrow the Roman government. No, not at the first advent. That’s coming in the second coming of Jesus Christ. And that’s a time when the increase of His government, that stone that becomes the mountain…“Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end.” It’s the only time I’m for big government, because Jesus Christ is a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, a Prince of Peace who, when He comes and He initiates His kingdom rule—His earthly rule for a thousand years, the book of Revelation tells us—He’ll will be reigning like a wonderful counselor, a prince of peace, an everlasting Father, a mighty God from the city of Jerusalem. Washington, D.C., eh, not a power center. Jerusalem, the city of David, that’s where it’s prophetically going when Jesus Christ returns.
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Human government will fail. Don’t put your trust in human government. Secondly, there is only one God, the one true God who is worthy of our worship, and that’s the God of the Bible. Let’s go back to Daniel 2 and read on, beginning in verse 46. “Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. The king answered and said to Daniel, ‘Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.’” It goes on to say that Daniel was promoted. And Daniel, this great man of godly character, remembered his three friends, brought them along, too. And now the four of them served as high-ranking people in the Babylonian government.
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But do you see what’s happening here? This was a “come to Jesus” time for King Nebuchadnezzar. And King Nebuchadnezzar’s heart is turned away from the gods of Babylon, this pagan nation. And He is turned to God of Israel. He says, “Daniel, your God is the man. I’m just a king. He is the King of Kings. He is the God of gods.” And part of what Bible prophecy should encourage us to do is just what King Nebuchadnezzar did- fall on our face in awe and in worship of the one true God, not only of creation and of history and of eternity, but the God of Bible prophecy who is a realer of mysteries. Worship Him. Don’t worship any government. Don’t worship any king. Don’t worship any leader. Worship Jesus Christ, and put your hope in Him, because He is coming again, friends. And that’s the hope of the church.
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This is not about information. This is not about fascination. This is the message that should transform. The transformation of our hearts and the transformation of our perspective. I don’t lose hope when I tune into the news stations today and I see all that’s happening. I go, “Yeah, God. Wow, this is…” You know, He knew what he was talking about. And I know who wins at the end. I know who is coming again. Will it get worse before it’s better? Yeah, it will. Do we stand strong in our faith even in the times in which we live? Because we don’t know the day or the hour that He is coming. It’s not a time to grow passive, friends. This is a time to stand strong in your faith, knowing what the outcome is. To lead other people to faith in Jesus Christ. Now is the time to make disciples of Jesus Christ who go and make disciples, and to pray, “Thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Now is the time to step it up, because we know what’s coming. And I pray that you would join me in that effort. Amen?
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